Just Buttons And Nothing Else

Fabricland had a BIG SALE this weekend. Saturday morning, after I drove my son to work, I told myself that I couldn't go shopping until the black sweater was finished. It is - sort of - enough to take to knitting on Tuesday night - and then...




... I'll replace the three needle cast off with Kitchener stitch to blend the wrap around edges together seamlessly and the crocheted seam with a lighter catch stitch to join the wrapped edges to the upper back. My first choices are too heavy looking. The seams stand too much. Otherwise, I like the shape and the fit although it's hard to be realistic about it right now. I'm very tired of this project. I've been knitting it FOREVER.

The gradual short rows worked much better. They are spaced every four instead of every two stitches and continue from one edge to the other. Short rows is a shaping technique I learned when I returned to knitting - about three years ago. It's fabulous for adding space like we would with darts or extensions in sewing.

Speaking of sewing.... the purple sweater is not finished. It should be. There isn't much left to do only I didn't sew all weekend. Saturday afternoon I read. Sunday morning, I went to church and then for coffee with a friend. Sunday afternoon, I went to Fabricland to look for buttons for the back. There were none that matched well enough so I bought two packages of covered buttons - just buttons - and nothing else. I didn't even look around.

It didn't matter how wonderful the sale was, the place busy, too busy for me. There were people everywhere and long line-ups at the cutting tables and at the till. Since I'd already endured crowds at Starbucks, I was tired of people. There's nothing like a line-up to clarify what you do or do not need. I was NOT waiting in that "mob" especially as Fabricland has good sales all year round.

Howard has today off. We're going out for breakfast and then I have an appointment and after that, I hope to sew. It seems that I need to kick my own butt - again - and get this sweater done. I can't imagine that I won't like it when it's finished however, just in case that happens, I would want enough time to sew something else before the party and the sooner I know, the better. I also...

... need to find another pair of shoes. I wore the red ones sitting knitting in the studio for a few hours last week and they were too tight across the left foot. Since they weren't leather, there was no hope of them stretching to fit so, perfect color or not, they went back. There's no use paying for shoes that I won't wear.

Unfortunately stores have this new policy. I understand it - it's just inconvenient. Quite a few will not give cash refunds over the Christmas season. This store in particular will only give an in-store credit between mid October and Christmas Day. It's not a store that I shop in often. In fact, the shoes might have been my only purchase ever since they opened YEARS ago. It's mostly skinny minny sizes so I'll have to do some looking around and hopefully will find another pair of shoes or a purse or some garment that I like otherwise, a friend shops there often for her daughter and she'll "buy" my credit note. How weird is that? Luckily, I do have back up shoes that I can wear if I don't find what I'm looking for. They're not as fun but they're already broken in. This is good.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - finishing the sweater (sort of) and liking it and breakfast with Howard

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Personal Growth - Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work. - Colossians 3: 22-25

Yesterday's sermon was on the dreaded "submit" verses in Colossians 3. I bet these are some of the best known and worsely interpreted verses in the bible. They are constantly taken out of context and given a meaning that isn't there. Growing up in the church, I've heard them so many times however... what struck me this time were verses about servants.

I'm a hard worker. In fact, I'm a bit of an over-achiever. I love to work and to do a good job. As part of a team, I enjoy helping my co-workers excel in their work. In a teaching role, I want my students to leave my class feeling enabled. I want them to have had a positive experience and some ah ha moment that forwards their work. Before, when I worked in customer service, I felt the same way about my clients. I wanted time spent with me to enhance their day.

The verses caused me to think about how am I doing in my role of staying at home. They complemented a discussion that the pastor and I had before the service. He asked me what new endeavor I was working on right now and I said that I was learning to wait patiently. That led to an interesting discussion about a situation in his life in which he also is learning to wait patiently. It's a tough situation. It's a difficult task.

Waiting patient is very difficult to do. In itself, it is tough enough learning and yet... while I'm waiting... there are some things that I can do better here at home. Doing the banking last week, I realized that we'd be much further ahead financially without those debits for coffee, breakfast, books, and fabric that can all be attributed to me. I'm buying my way busy and/or out of boredom. I think that's why I'm dragging out sewing projects. Something that should take a few hours is taking all week because... what's the rush.

And I've been reading lot lately, mostly junk reading, romances. I tend to do that when I'm working through some issues or avoiding something which means I need to give it some thought and figure out why especially as I'm a fast reader and - at ten bucks a book - it gets expensive if you are reading several romances a day. My coffee, breakfast, reading, fabric habits are adding up. Something to think about... and change. How? That's always an interesting question.

If I'm not doing it for me, or even for my family, if I'm doing it for God - I could be doing a MUCH better job.