Watch-It Wednesday: Maewyn Succat

No, lest a completely bizarre thought dares to enter your mind, I haven't gone crazy. Let me prove it to you: I know it's Saturday, not Wednesday, I just missed "Watch-It Wednesday" this week (it was Pi Day for those of you who didn't know. I hope you had pie.).

One thing I know for sure, though, and hope you know for sure, is that today is St. Patrick's Day (how could I not, when I woke up to a cute duo of girls wearing BRIGHT green shirts and pinching everyone who dared not wear green?)! Sadly, the spiritual state of Ireland is absolutely no different than last year, so please remember to keep the people of Ireland in your mind and prayers, as your celebrate this day in memory of a man who loved and worked among them. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

One Year - Imagine That!

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Do you know what today is? Today is my first bloggy-birthday - isn't that exciting?? One year ago today I
was reallyandtruly introduced to the world of blogger. One year ago today I began the never-ending fun of playing with blog designs. One year ago today I typed my first four-lines-of-a-blog-post.


One year.          115 posts.          Imagination.          Smiles.          Lessons.          Colors.
    

And, of course, YOU!!! :)


In celebration of the fun, I'm hosting a give away! What do you suppose it could be? Come come, you've been reading my blog, what's your best guess?

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You're right - a book!

But not just any book. It's not a romance, not a classic, not a forgotten old treasure, but a book that had me hooked at the preface, nonetheless. A chewing book, according to Sir Francis Bacon's definition. It is, in fact, Anthony Esolen's ten ways to destroy the imagination of your child. In this poignant, witty satire on all aspects of child-rearing - from school to "play dates" - Esolen submits for your review 10 easy steps with which to destroy the imagination of any child. An excerpt from the preface:

"We must, then, kill the imagination. The ideal, of course, would be to cease having children, but that might have some adverse effect upon the long-range economic prosperity, besides threatening certain industries with extinction - the manufacturers of tasteless clothing, for instance, and importers of refined sugar. Since we must have children, we should be sure to subject them to all the most efficient and humane techniques to fit them for the world in which they will live, a world of shopping malls all the same everywhere, packaged food all the same, paper-pushing all the same, mass entertainment all the same, politics all the same. We owe it to them, and, what is more important, they owe it to us...."

There now, doesn't that whet your literary appetite? Wouldn't you like to read such a book for yourself? Well, let me tell you how to enter to win it!


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Mandatory:
~ Post something imaginative on your blog - it could be a story you've written, a quote you read, a photo you took, a video you made...use your imagination! - and leave a comment on this post with the link!

Extras: (one comment for each additional entry)
~ Leave a comment with the title and author of a book that has most sparked your imagination
~ Follow The Lord's Lass
~ Leave a comment with the title and author of one of your favorite "chewing" books

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 pm of Thursday, March 23, 2012. Good luck, and happy imagining!

NOTE: The drawing is open to both U.S. and international bloggers! :)

Make it Monday: Odds, Ends, and Dress-Ups

A while ago (two years, actually), I won a fantastic basket of yarn in a raffle. Nice yarns. Beautiful yarns. Cottons, wools, and mohairs, to be precise. But I soon discovered a problem: there is very little you can make with just one skein of yarn - and the basket held no duplicates! I don't really care to make 20 cell phone cases or finger puppets, which seem to be the sum total of the brilliant, one-skein patterns available, so the yarn sat unmoletsed in that basket for TWO YEARS (can you believe it?). Finally, I decided I needed to either use the yarn, or toss it, so before going to Texas I decided to just start a project I'd been wanting to try (Stimson Ave. Stole) with a skein I had and see how far I got. :) It managed to be about half the proper length, and the other skein I used for the edging got me half-way around and then ran out - but I'm glad I did it anyway. The little girls get it to play dress-up with, and I know now how easy and beautiful the pattern really is. :)

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 Ta-dah! Definitely something I will make again, with the proper yarn amounts. :)

This last week I "finished" the stole and began to search for a pattern that could be used for some lovely, lavender, lace-weight mohair. Fingerless Tea Gloves! I think I will be able to get at least two little girl pairs out of the skein (no prizes guessing who those will go to)...I love how delicate and lacy they are!


crocheting

 After starting numerous projects and not having anywhere close to the right length of yarns, I finally found a pattern for these fun ruffly neck-warmers. I made one of wool (the green/tan one) and one of...some other, mysterious, unlabeled yarn (I have a hunch it's at least partly acrylic). I think they're wonderful, but the picture is model-less, as I've yet to get buttons.


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 After the wool neck warmer, I was left with simply scraps of wool - too little to be made into anything, and too much for me to feel like throwing it away. It is such nice wool! So I've started a sort of "scrap quilt". Only it's crocheted, and not really a quilt at all, just a little zig-zag pattern made out of cozy wool. This one will be a long time in the works, as I will only add to it when I have useless lengths of wooliness left over from various projects. But I like the idea, and feel quite happy with it. :)

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Then there was a great, thick skein of cotton. A while back mama had made some knitted washrags that had different patterns on them by alternating your purl/knit stitch, so I decided to try it for myself! Here is washrag #1 (#2 is still in progress):

And finally, remember when I mentioned that the neck warmers needed buttons? Yes, well, I went to Joann's to get said buttons, but...did not...that is to say... when I returned home, it was not with buttons. I returned with some absolutely gorgeous, brilliantly-colored, happy-smiley bamboo silk skeins, which I've been making up into fun flower-granny squares for a blanket. I don't know yet if it will just be a lap blanket (all I could make with the squares I currently have) or if I dare go back to Joann's to buy more skeins - what with yarns, and fabrics, and patterns, that place is downright dangerous to the pocket-book!

crochet

 And those are the projects that have been keeping me busy this week. I find that I phase in and out of obsession with regards to yarn - apparently I'm in the thick of one such phase now. :) Linking up with Kirsteen from Life in My Houseful of Boys today! :)

Watch-It Wednesday: More History Lessons

No, I'm not obsessed with these Horrible Histories (well, maybe just a little), but this one was actually related to a conversation that took place the other day...

"What was World War I about, anyway?" mama unsuspectingly asked one afternoon. "Well, it's rather complicated." Ben replied. Complicated indeed!

Wishing you a far-less-complicated Wednesday!

In Case You're Wondering...

For the record, I like watching movies with my bros. I like that they don't mind watching "period films" (aka "chick flicks") with us. It makes me smile when they comment to each other about the gentlemanly manners of the hero. But...sometimes it gets interesting.

Take tonight, for instance.

Emmy, Rachel, and I settled down to watch a movie of the above genre, and Benj and Josh joined us. All was going well (of course, they threw out a few comments, but...), until the end, when they dubbed  the hero + heroine their "favorite football team" and sports-casted the "touchdown" (kiss)...

I sure hope Rachel threw that remote hard enough those welts and bumps on their heads heal soon.

This Morning...

"God thunders marvelously with His voice;

He does great things which we cannot comprehend.

For He says to the snow,

'Fall on the earth'..." - Job 37:5-6a

"He gives snow like wool

He scatters the frost like ashes;

He casts out His hail like morsels;

Who can stand before His cold?

He sends out His word and melts them;

He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.

He declares His word to Jacob,

His statutes and His judgments to Israel

...Praise the LORD!" - Psalm 147:16-20

"Like the cold of snow in time of harvest

Is a faithful messenger to those who send him,

For he refreshes the soul of his masters." - Proverbs 25:13

"For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven,

And do not return there,

But water the earth,

And make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower

And bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;

It shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please,

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:10-11

"I watched till thrones were put in place,

And the Ancient of Days was seated;

His garment was white as snow..." - Daniel 7:9