The Farmhouse White Palmyre

 

 

 

I bound off on my Palmyre in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  With a quick blocking on Thursday, I am already snugly wrapped in my warm shawl tonight.  This is the third iteration of the Palmyre that I have knit and I think that this one is my favorite!  I used nearly all of three skeins (750 yards) of Madeline Tosh Farmhouse White DK Twist that I bought in February. 

Because I wanted to knit a huge shawl, I knit the body until I had increased to 297 stitches.  In the first row of final four rows before beginning the lace portion, I added three extra stitches to bring the stitch count to 300 (once the final four rows are complete, the stitch count is 306).  Increasing the stitch count to 306 gives the shawl twelve repeats of lace.  

Aside from the increase in size, the only other thing I changed was to make the increases more visible.  To do this, I simply lifted the loop between two stitches and and knitted that stitch from the front as I would a normal knit stitch (to do a  m1 stitch correctly, you knit into the back loop to prevent a hole from forming)...  I did this for all of the increase stitches rather than the m1L and m1R that the pattern calls for.

 

Mornings Full of Far-Off Bells

 

I suppose everybody has a mental picture of the days of the week, some seeing them as a circle, some as an endless line, and others again, for all I know, as triangles and cubes. Mine is a wavy line proceeding to infinity, dipping to Wednesday which is the colour of old silver dark with polishing and rising again to a pale gold Sunday. This day has a feeling in my picture of warmth and light breezes and sunshine and afternoons that stretch to infinity and mornings full of far-off bells.

Angela Thirkell

Hidden Beauty

Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distorted. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute, at the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty."

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Annunciation Roses

 

 

I played around with colored pencil sketching while overseeing lessons today. 

Living and Learning: The Week Ahead

 

 

Church in the Home

A few years ago Laura created a one page printable life of Saint Mary of Egypt that we loved using prior to attending The Canon of Saint Andrew with the Life of Saint Mary of Egypt.  Print some out for your family and bring a few to church to pass out!

Listening  

Did you know that you can listen to the BBC Radio radio through the computer or through their free phone app?  I only found out last week and am already addicted!  My favorite program so far is Radio 3's Classical Breakfast show.  It's two and a half hours of music and educational tidbits.  I start in in the morning and listen to it at various intervals during the whole day.

In the Post

Lucy from Purl Two Together has outdone herself yet again!  I bought a ready-made tea cosy from her shop for my sister a few weeks ago and was so taken with it, I ordered a custom made one for myself.  It arrived today and I just love it!  If you are in the market for some hand-knits, pop over to her etsy shop!

Watching

Last night I stayed up late to watch To Walk Invisible.  I've been on a Charlotte Bronte kick since reading Jane Eyre last Great Lent and became fascinated by her life story.  Though the Bronte's story is a tragic one, I enjoyed this program very, very much.

In My Knitting Basket

I'm at the tail end of my Lenten Knit-A-Long project!  There are less than ten rows left of the lace portion of my Farmhouse White Palmyre Shawl and then I can bind off and block.  I can't wait to finish it!

Kourloukia

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and I spent the morning with our friends at the Greek Orthodox church in town making koulourakia (buttery cookies with a hint of lemon and vanilla) for Pascha (Easter). 

Again and Again with the Muscari and Hyacinth

Oh, the scent of these blooms is simply exquisite. 

Our Second Annual Pysanky Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to one of our parishioners who is a talented pysanky egg maker, our church held our second pysanky egg workshop after Liturgy on Annunciation.  The children all had a lovely time and the adults who attended even got a little time to make some eggs of their own.  I decided to try to give my eggs in one color using onion skins.  I ended up needing to use the regular dye to achieve the vibrant red that I was going for in the end.  I'm planning to give the eggs to my parents the next time I see them!

Blooming in Time for Annunciation

 

 

Cross Stitch Sampler

 

Our little girl has been working on this little cross stitch sampler this week and I just love it!   

Twelve Minutes to Spare

 

 

We took a little trip on Monday for my husband to attend a conference and for me to help my mother and sister with a few things.  I decided to challenge myself to finish the body of my Palmyre shawl before we returned home from this little getaway.  I finished up with twelve minutes to spare!  Now on to the lace...

Happy, Happy Birthday!

 

Happy, happy birthday to my beloved better half! He left for a conference at 6:30 this morning and came back at 10:30 tonight. Our son's dear godmother knew that today would be a difficult day for us to bake him a cake (we are away from home), so she kindly visited a Lenten/vegan bakery, bought him a delicious chocolate birthday cake, and dropped it off this afternoon for us to surprise him with. Isn't that amazing? 

As it Passes

 

  Teach us...  that we may feel the importance of every day, of every hour, as it passes."

Jane Austen

The Prayers of Jane Austen

Sunday of the Cross

  The decorated Cross for this Sunday at my father-in-law's church is so beautiful.

Happy Namesday, Button!

 

  

Button has been begging to be taken to the local trampoline park and his namesday seemed like the perfect opportunity!  We went for a little while in the morning and spent the day playing and relaxing (with a little cake baking thrown in!).  We had namesday cake after church and Papa entertained the Trio with stories about the Saints.  It was a lovely day!

Bursting with Energy

 

  On one hand, I've totally procrastinated on my Lenten Cleaning, essentially doing no deep cleaning or organizing for the past three weeks. On the other hand, I took advantage of a quiet day, extra energy, and sick kids, by deep cleaning three bathrooms (and organizing the drawers, cabinets, and line closets), the hallway and entrance (plus cleaning and organizing the dvd cabinet), living room (and organized the books, baskets, drawers, and cabinets), watered the house plants, swept the sun room, filled the bird feeder, and dumped lots of trash and recycling.  I find that I have to take advantage of these bursts of cleaning energy rather than trying to force myself to do something each day...  especially when we have a lot going on with school and church life.

Click-Clack

 

I'm nearly finished with the first skein of yarn for the Palmyre Shawl that I'm knitting for the Lenten Knit Along on Instagram.  This project bag was a recent buy...  I just love the gorgeous embroidery of blue delphinium and Queen Anne's Lace (our wedding flowers)!  

The Last Load

  We just received and stacked out last load of firewood until autumn, which will probably mean an instant return to warm temperatures for our area.  You're welcome.

Looking Out

  I love the view from the children's room in our library.  They have conveniently placed a rocking chair right in front for its maximum enjoyment.  It's a blustery cold day...  perfect for rocking, knitting, and enjoying the view, while I wait for the Trio to find their books for the week.

Monday

 We are feeling quite elegant with our head-colds now that we have this nice little rattan tissue box.  I bought it when we went up for Patrick's funeral and I really like it!  I am always tempted by things that hide commercial packaging or things that are ugly.  This cover takes care of the offending box and I am happy whenever I grab a tissue!

The kids are really interested in card games lately.  Their favorites are War, Solitaire, and Rummy.  It's really adorable to see them try to shuffle the deck.  I play Solitaire on my phone quite often, but I admit that there is something fun about going analog with a real deck of cards.  I remember playing card games in the evening with my mother while we took turns bouncing my baby brother on our knees.

I'm still enjoying the pretty roses that my little family gave me for my birthday.  I love their delicate creamy color.  They're cheering us up these last days of winter.

Blue for Annunciation

  It's too early to be setting up for Annunciation (25 March), but there were blue hyacinth and muscari bulbs at the store and I'm hoping that they'll be blooming by the feast.  The picture in the frame is part of my favorite painting (The Annunciation by Nesterov).

Day-Tripping with My Girl

 

  My little girl and I went on an adventurous day-trip today to help my brother-in-law and sister-in-law choose items for their baby registry.  It was a fun day that included a trip to Trader Joes, lunch at Legal Sea Foods (YUM!), and two different baby stores.  We can't wait for our new little family member to join us in June!

Lenten Knitting Progress

 

I've been knitting a lot while I home-school the kids and wait for them to finish their activities this week.  It's exciting to see the pattern emerge on the Amelie sock and to watch my Palmyre shawl grow!  

New Mattress

My birthday and my husband's birthday are about two weeks apart and we often buy joint presents.  This year e chose a new mattress and it arrived this evening. I ordered the queen mattress online and it arrived in a box only a little bigger than my nightstand.  It was vacuum packed inside and was very exciting to open!  We are very hopeful that we will like this new mattress and  will be able to get rid of our nearly twelve year old one that is leaning against the wall!

Cathedral Bundt

 

Though it is several months away, I bought the bundt cake pan we'd like to use for our daughter's late May birthday recently.  It arrived just in time for me to quickly whip up a cinnamon swirl bundt cake for a potluck after Presanctified Liturgy.  The cake was a hit and the shape is so fancy!  I can't wait to use it again!  

Blooming

 

 

Our early spring daffodils are blooming like mad and we even have a little pink hyacinth poking out her head!