The Knitting Bug

Our weekly Monday morning meetings continue to be a source of enjoyment. It’s great to get together with the “Purls” to knit and talk about our “passions” and our “purpose”. Debbie had put a lot of thought into our discussion and shared her personal passion and purpose with us so eloquently that I asked if she would write them out for me to post.

Thank you for sharing your heart with us, Deb. Your insights are an inspiration to us and your knitting projects are simply amazing! The following is from Debbie . . .

Purpose and Passion, what are mine?

Love is my purpose and it is also my passion.  Love is what I was created for, to care and nurture His beautiful creation and those people He chooses to cross my path.

My life is very much akin to a knitted piece of lace.  I love to knit lace.  It can be challenging, it is rewarding and knitting lace is just so interesting.  It begins with a solid foundation, then follows a pattern of knit and purl stitches.  Sometimes there are increases, sometimes there are decreases and these stitches row over row, change as the seasons of my life change.  At the end of the pattern, when the last stitch is bound off, the yarn cut and all the ends are woven in, hopefully a legacy of beauty remains, Beloved in memory and pleasing before the eyes of my Maker.

Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit are my cast on row, my foundation upon which everything else is built.  Early on in my life the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart “love”.  I was filled with passion to find my soul mate.  God is love and we are created to love.  As Jesus said in Matthews Gospel 22:36-40 “our greatest commandments are to love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.  The second resembles it you must love your neighbor as yourself.”  Without love in my heart, soul and mind I can do nothing for it is with my love for Him and His love for me that I can accomplish all the passions and purpose that the Spirit whispers secret or spoken in my heart.

Each lace pattern is prayerfully planned and carefully knit together and it needs stitches.  My husband is my knit stitch.  We two were knit together in 2002.  Steady, true, strong, the stitch that provides continuity, it is the stitch that provides my pattern with quiet wisdom and it is the stitch I love.  As our love was sealed by God Himself through the Sacrament of marriage, our catechism states “ the covenant between spouses is integrated into Gods covenant with man,’authentic married love is caught up into divine love.’”  As we both love in the name of Jesus we both have a deeper calling, self sacrificing love.  We are called to be a light for others a tiny beacon in a troubled world.

We increased our pattern and made two beautiful little girls, Sarah and Emily.  They too are knit stitches.  They are my vocation, a blessed vocation, to love, nurture and shape their little souls to blossom into sisters in Christ.  A vocation, yes, and the most important one I’ll ever have, one that requires His grace and love.  Their little worlds revolve around mommy and everything I do or say is with their little souls in mind.

My purl stitches are family, friends, writing, books, knitting, gardening, stained glass and food.  Purls are the precious little bumps, pearls if you will that give my pattern variety, interest and excitement.  They too require a great deal of love and care to complete well.  So my pattern is full and happy, not necessarily complete, but, full for the time being.

Cast on ten stitches

R1: K1 sow seeds, yo, k2tog tomatoes+melon, yo, k2tog garden to table, yo, k2tog family+friends, yo, fellowship and hospitality, k1.  Love to God.
R2: P1 nurture, yo p2tog seeds die to live, yo, p2tog work the ground + teach my girls, yo, p2tog love the girls + care for His creation,yo, p2tog harvest + share, p1.  Thanks to God
R3: K1 writing, yo, k2tog letter + cards, yo, k2tog family + friends, yo, k2tog share + celebrate, yo, k2tog contests + published, k1.  Praise to God!
R4: P1 books, yo, p2tog clear the mind + escape, yo, p2tog learn + teach, yo, p2tog gather + share, yo, p2tog family +friends, p1.  Praise to God
R5: K1 craft, yo, k2tog yarn and glass, yo, k2tog colour + texture, yo, k2tog peace + prayer, yo, k2tog give + receive, k1. Love, thanks and praise to God.

Repeat rows 1 to 5 until called home for the more that we are given the more we are called to share and it is in sharing that we love and receive.

Amen

We had a great first discussion from our book study (Debbie Macomber’s Knit Together). Debbie showed us how our passion is not necessarily our purpose in life. Example would be having a passion for singing yet not being able to stay in tune = not being a professional singer. This made me think of my passion for knitting. Anyone who knows me knows I love to knit - so knitting is one of my passions. However, after doing the small exercise in Chapter One I was able to flush out how I can use knitting as a means of getting together with other people for deep and authentic relationships. This can result in an “iron sharpening iron” experience as we share our lives, our faith and yes, our knitting projects together. So I would use my passion as a conduit for my purpose! Neat ! !

We welcomed Nancy to our group at our last meeting. That means we are up to 9.5 people. How do we have 9.5 people, you ask? Well, Sandi works during our meeting time and but pops in and out with her knitting projects. Linda, Nancy and Sandi are missing from the photo so next time we are all together we’ll have another photo session.

Meanwhile, I am working away on a Debbie Bliss jacket for my new nephew who is due to enter our world in April way down under in Sydney. I have been frustrated with the pattern as it is full of errata. I knew I was in trouble when I got to row 2. Thankfully, with the help of the internet I could get the corrections and am know ready to start the sleeves. I’m loving making this despite the rough start.

Here is a recent photo of our knitting group known as the “Salem Purls”. We meet Monday mornings from 10 -12 noon at the Salem Storehouse on Merivale Road in Ottawa. Starting on the left there’s Evelyn, I’m next, then there’s Mark, Heather, Debbie, Susan and Fay. Linda and Sandi were in Toronto on store business so didn’t make it in this photo.

We do more than knit and crochet together. Starting this Monday we will begin reading and discussing a book by Debbie Macomber (one of our FAVORITE authors) called, “Knit Together“. We are also knitting toques for Jericho Road Ministries and have a collection box right outside our door.

Thank you, Doug and Linda, for giving us this wonderful room on Monday mornings.

If you are in the Ottawa area on a Monday morning please join us!

On our recent trip to Massachusetts my seven year old niece asked me to teach her to knit. So out came the needles and yarn and there we were working on a garter stitch scarf for her doll. We cast on seven stitches and between my niece, her mom and myself we finished the scarf in no time.

And here is the finished scarf.

She was a very fast learner and I am sure if we lived closer she would be making her own scarf in no time!

I was chatting with John Adams at the store the other day and he asked me if I had ever heard of hockey star Jacques Plante. Since I’m not a big hockey fan I had to say no. That’s when he told me that Plante was a famous hockey player who was responsible for goalies wearing masks and - for knitting. I read an article about Jacques Plant and it said, among other things, that ” he stayed by himself in his hotel room, knitting his own undershirts and toques. . .”

After reading about Plante I decided to do a google search and see what other famous men knit. I had heard about  Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Gladiator) but was surprised to read about Lawrence Fishburne  (The Matrix and CSI). There are also rumors about Brad Pitt knitting - who would have guessed that one ?

So, if you are out there and reading this and know of more men celebrities who knit, leave me a comment and I’ll add them to my (short) list!

On October 23-25 I joined about 100 other women from our church for a spiritual retreat about 2 hours north of Ottawa. It was a lovely time away with great speakers and several workshops. There was also lots of free time which made it very relaxing.  Here is a picture of me and Heather (my roommate) attending a session. We made use of every knitting opportunity.

And these next two pictures are of the knitting workshop. It was a full workshop with a mix of knitting experienced ladies. The hour flew by very quickly and it was very rewarding to see the ladies catching on. We learned how to cast on and off and also the knit stitch. They all took their kits home with them and hopefully they are working on their dish clothes.

Our move to Ottawa didn’t slow down my knitting - just my blogging about my knitting. Anyway, I feel like I’m getting back in the saddle again. This coming weekend I will have the opportunity to teach a one-hour beginners knitting workshop at the Ladies Retreat of our church. I’m really excited about sharing my love for knitting. I am putting together 10 kits which will include a pair of size 4mm needles, a ball of cotton yarn, a row counter and some handouts. My budget is $5.00/kit! I have been using my Michaels coupons to get the needles as they are the most expensive item. A local yarn store, Yarn Forward, on Bank Street downtown has given me some great bright red bags that I will use for the kits. When I get them all together I will take a picture.

And if that’s not enough, I started a part time job at Salem Storehouse in September and have been given the green light to start a weekly knitting meeting. So on Monday morning, November 2, the SALEM PURLS will formerly meet for the very first time. I will keep you posted on how things progress.  I guess that means I will be revving up my blog again. It’s hard to keep two blogs going as well as Ravelry - I’ll do my best to keep on top of things.

I just stumbled across this YouTube. I hope it’s supposed to be funny!