Lovely Yarn Escapes

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Tuesday's Eclectic Thoughts

Following doing Technique Thursday- Knitting a Dishcloth for Beginners to Advanced Knitters

where I showcased Dishcloths I started my own simplest dishcloth and I'm loving it! Dishcloth #3117 by Lily Sugar'n Cream and Bernat Design Studio.

I like the soft cotton and the Spring colors. It's inspiring me to get more white cotton (Peaches & Creme for about $1.75 at Walmart) for a Spring Cardigan in a simple kimono style: Risotto Stitch Kimono Cardigan

Photos from Ravelry- Risotto Stitch Kimono Cardigan

If you have a knitting project you want to share today check out Frontier Dreams on Tuesdays on Keep Calm and Craft On.

Previous weeks Baking Blog featured-

Sweet To Be- Spring Vanilla Pound Cake

Keep tuned, I hope to blog on my baking blog next week- Sweet To Be an amazing Chocolate Pound Cake that I've been making for years. It's from "Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor". It's labeled "Light" because it's made with yogurt, but it also has oil and 4 eggs. I think of it as a healthy (kinda) version of a cake mix. My daughter and husband are sweet addicts and I try to make healthier versions of sweets for them without seemingly overly like Health Food (which they won't eat). So this is an amazing cake- moist and so chocolatey!

Now I have a date with my book to finish it so I can go on to something fresh to read.

For an upbeat positive slant to Today's Positive News, check out my new posting on the Sony World Photography Awards. These are some of the final photos selected, winners will be announced April 21st. (Photo credits on my blog)

Teaser Tuesday

Today's Teaser Tuesday is from Janet Evanovich's and Lee Goldberg's fun read- The Scam.

"Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!"

"The Scam", pg 226:

"That would be a tragedy. Maybe I can save you from that, at least temporarily. We'll pay you a hundred thousand dollars to help us take down a bad guy who launders money for mobsters and terrorists."

"What do I have to do?"

"Kill me," Nick said.

Chet smiled. "I'd be glad to."

Monday, April 4, 2016

Musing Monday- Oh What to Read?

Musing Mondays is hosted by Jenn at Books and a Beat. Head over there to post your comments or link to your blog to answer this week's questions about your current read or up and coming reads-

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

I’m currently reading…
Up next I think I’ll read…
I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
I can’t wait to get a copy of…
I wish I could read ___, but…
I blogged about ____ this past week…

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What is your favorite “comfort” read?

Up next I think I’ll read…OK- I feel like this is confessions time. I'm still reading the same book- The Scam and I'm hoping to finish it so I can go on to....I'm not sure. I like to pile a bunch of books up when I'm done with one and I'll read the first 2 pages of each book and then decide- so we shall see.

I was trying to figure out what my comfort read is and the only thing I can think of is the Psalms from the Bible. I love the Psalms. When I'm down. When I'm happy. I need inspiration- it's there. The Bible. Many of the Psalms were written by David. A man that had to run for his life who had been a simple shepherd who played and sang for the King. He hide in caves because God had chosen him to be the future king, but the ruling King wasn't so pleased with that and wanted to kill David. He often hid in caves. That's a man I can relate to! One that's been real down and knows what it is like. Who's seen the dark side of life. And lived to worship and thank God- not just through the good times.

Daniel F. Gerhartz

Some Psalms are of repentance- he sinned with another man's wife, and then had the husband killed (ever notice God's people in the Bible are real human and prone to some real doozies of bad actions?) Psalms written after David confessed his sin. I love the Psalms. I have several Bibles scattered about just opened to them. Old Bibles from my college days with the pages of the Psalms fallen out.

Bill Sharp

Once when we were down on the bottom- homeless. Crossing the country, 2,000 miles of driving and living in a tent to try and seek shelter with family back East only to encounter rejection and- personally a fist. Fleeing back across the country with only a bit of money. Stuck in Illinois. Down to very little, with 3 cats, a dog and a 13 year old and the car is broke. Now what? I sit down in the car repair place and after sitting there for hours I look over at a huge blackboard next to me and the chalked scribbles on the board clear in my brain and there is written in bold letters- FAITH. Just that. How I didn't see it before? I don't know. I'm praying and I just know before we even broke down on the huge highway someone had wrote that down and I'm sure it was for others too- but at that moment I knew God had meant the word FAITH for me.

How does He always know? OK- yeah He's GOD- but it always takes me by surprise! So I stared at those words and tried real hard. You know when your thoughts are- "Repeat after me- Have Faith".

Faith Hope Love Chalkboard Poster

That night I found one of those clumps of pages that had fallen out of my Bible years ago from repeatedly reading there and it was the Psalms. We had brought bits and pieces of what we could in the car (left the rest in storage in Colorado) and it was stuffed in somewhere. I handed it to my husband and that's all he read till we got back to Colorado. He said they were the perfect inspiration at the time. Generosity from co-workers (they hired him back at almost his old wage), an advance on my inheritance from my family. A chance friendship with a man who maintained apartments in our town here led to him buying my old wooden rockers for hundreds of dollars (they were cast-offs we had) so we could move into a place in time for my Daughter to get back into school. Lower rent, minus paying water and heat. We could finally afford Life! Just plain life (what so many people take for granted) and live, in peace.

Have Faith. Sometimes having Faith- even for a longtime believer like me can be hard. The simplest of words with the grandest of results. Hold on and read the Psalms.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Friday Fantasy Knits- I Dream Of Ponchos!

As we dream of Spring here in Colorado, it actually snowed yesterday! I know Spring exists elsewhere and it will come here as well, I mean it is April right? So I've been seeing more ponchos lately (on the warmer days) and I guess they've made a comeback since the 70's. So here's a dreamy collection of (mostly) lighter ponchos to knit up for those in-between seasons. Or just look and stare and dream, I do love dreaming.

Poncho Top with Fringes