Family Fun

Scripture Reading for Preparation Day: Tsom Asarah B'Tevet (Fast of the 10th Month)

Shemot (Exodus) 32:11-34:10
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 55:6-56:8

Zec 8:19 "Thus said יהוה of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth months, are to be joy and gladness, and pleasant appointed times for the house of Yehudah – and they shall love the truth and the peace.’


Torah Portion: Vayechi (And He Lived)

Torah: Breisheet (Genesis) 47:28-50:26
Haftarah: Melakim Alef (1 Kings) 2:1-12
Ketuvim Netzarim: Kefa Alef (1 Peter) 1:1-9

Gen 48:20a And he blessed them on that day, saying, "In you Yisra’ĕl shall bless, saying, ‘Elohim make you as Ephrayim and as Menashsheh!’ "


Today's Scripture Reading: Bemidbar (Numbers) 26:28-28:31

Num 26:65 For יהוה had said of them, "They shall certainly die in the wilderness." And not a man was left of them, except Kalĕb son of Yephunneh, and Yehoshua son of Nun.


Pinwheel Sweater: My Pinwheel Sweater is currently resting at round 106 because of other developments.

Hound Hoodie: As I was preparing for my weekly shopping and errands trip, I decided that I needed a smaller project than the Pinwheel Sweater to take along with me. The Pinwheel Sweater is now so big that it's easier to leave it at home, so I got out the Hound Hoodie, which is easier to pack up in a little take-along bag. By last night I had finished all the knitting on it, and now all I have to do is sew the center seam, the two hood seams and then weave in all the yarn ends (as my kids would say, this is the 'hatiest' part of completing a knitting or crocheting project for me). Then, it will be all ready for Harley (my daughter's puppy) to wear. I will hopefully have a chance to take a picture of him wearing it once it's all finished.

While I was working on it, this daughter (my 18 year old) and her little Harley were with us while we were visiting with extended family. Thus, I was able to check sweater and sleeve length on Harley in person instead of just guessing from memory, but he didn't like holding still for such measuring, so it remains to be seen how the sweater will actually fit. My daughter decided she wants me to make her a hoodie to match Harley's. Lion Brand has a free pattern on their website that is a pretty good match to the Hound Hoodie for the human form, so I put it (Hooded Sweater) in the Queue.





Jeanie: I suppose it was inevitable that I would be casting this on ASAP. I first saw this pattern (the Jeanie shawl/stole/wrap) as soon as the Winter Knitty was up, and my fingers have been itching to make it ever since. (For those who don't know, Knitty is an online knitting magazine. Here is a link to the Winter issue-- http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter07/index.html ) I found what seemed to be suitable yarn for Jeanie on eBay, bid on it and then got sniped. I then found the same yarn in a different colorway (Royal Purple) that I also liked, bid on it and won. Then I had to wait for the yarn to arrive, which was not easy, but when I went to the post office this last shopping and errands day (Preparation Day), there it was! So, of course, as soon as I got home, I had to get started.


The yarn I got is a handpainted fingering weight wool from Over The Rainbow Yarns, and it comes in hanks. This means each hank has to be wound into a ball by hand, as I don't have a yarn swift and a ball winder. These pieces of equipment are expensive. If I recall from the last time I checked, it would cost over $100 to get both of these. Except for the extra time involved, I rather enjoy hand-winding yarn into balls because I just love the feel of yarn. Anyway, I got my first ball wound, and then I did my gauge swatch, which was right on gauge with size 6 needles on the first go--Yay! This meant I was finally ready to cast on.

The Jeanie pattern begins with a provisional cast-on. This time I decided to try the crochet method for this, as I wasn't happy with the figure-of-eight type of wrap method I used for the sleeves on my Pinwheel Sweater. I am much happier with this crochet method, as it seems much more secure and sturdy. It doesn't look or feel as tenuous and vulnerable as the other way. I found a great demo of this crochet method on YouTube here-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3J-sUx_whE .

I had enough leftover lavender yarn to use as the provisional yarn for this cast-on, so it's a nice coordinating color to the Royal Purple of the shawl, which just makes for a pretty beginning for me to enjoy as I'm knitting this until the pattern of the cables is established and easy to see. Knitting is a real visual and tactile experience for me, so these little things add to my enjoyment. Even the coordinating colored markers help with this. So far, I've managed to get through the first three sections of Row 1, which is the set-up row for the charts. This is a charted pattern, so I really have to pay attention at first to be sure I don't goof it up. Those on Ravelry who have been working on their Jeanie for a while say that they found the pattern fairly easy to memorize after a while, so that's encouraging.

Clash Of The Choirs: The down-side of DVRs is that if a show runs overtime, we miss the end. That's what happened this time. We were in the middle of watching Michael Bolton sing 'When A Man Loves A Woman' when the recording ended, and we didn't get to find out which choir won. My husband later looked it up on the internet and found out that Team Lachey won, which I was happy to hear. I thought that they overall did the best and were the most like a choir. With the other choirs there was too much soloist-with-background-singers stuff going on, and none of them matched Lachey's a cappella version of Flight of the Bumble Bee. That is the kind of thing a choir is supposed to be (at least for me)--doing what a soloist can't do, all the harmonies and interplay of parts.

The Next Great American Band: The Clark Brothers won!!! I wouldn't have been disappointed if Sixwire or Denver & The Mile-High Orchestra had won because I love them, too, but I was so happy that The Clark Brothers made it to the number one slot. They seemed so shocked and happy when they were announced as the winners. Congratulations to them, and I'm sure that Sixwire and Denver & The Mile-High Orchestra will do well even without winning because now that people have enjoyed seeing and hearing them, they will want more.

Family Visit: Yesterday, we were blessed to be able to spend some time with family members who were visiting from several hours away. We were all at my in-laws, who live a couple hours away from us, so it was a shorter trip for us than for the others coming from farther away in the other direction. Part of the fun was having the annual plumbing disaster, which seems to happen at this time nearly every year. Thankfully a 24-hour plumber was available and he got the sewer line opened up before anyone's bladder burst. My sister-in-law's husband was everyone's hero, as he did all the nasty mopping up, treading where the rest of us feared to go. Overcoming the plumbing woes was part of the fun we all had together, and as usual, the food was delicious. We had the much-loved 'Taco Dinner', followed later on by a variety of yummy desserts, 'Chocolate Delight' being my personal favorite.