Rumba!

(magic flash sparkles not included)


At Threaded Bliss several weeks ago, Sheila was giving away free yarn. Somehow she'd ended up with loads of this horrible stuff called "Rumba" by Katia (see pic). Rumba is the sound made when lots of tiny rectangular animals get trapped inside pantyhose stretched vertically...well, maybe not, but that's what it looks like to me. Rumba is slippery nylon thread-ish stuff with little random rectangles at about 2 inch intervals. I took a navy blue ball of it home (like the one labled 5 in the picture below), but had NO idea what I (or anyone with good taste) could possibly make with it. To tell the truth, I hated Rumba just as much as Sheila did, but it was Free Yarn, so I took it.

On Memorial Day, I had made plans to go to an exhibit at the Frist Center with a friend. I found a white sundress in the back of my closet, but I knew I hadn't seen the belt/sash thing that came with it since I moved. So I decided to make my own belt. I went to my yarn stash, and just began putting colors together. And...(drumroll, please)....

I found a use for Rumba!!!

I made a belt/sash out of one strand of the very-odd-and-almost-frightening Rumba and one strand of simple-and-sturdy, plain-ole' cotton. Surprisingly, I kinda liked it. I just did a long crocheted chain, and then two rows of sc1, ch1, sc1 in 2nd chain from last sc. I made both the sash and the necklace in about 1 1/2 hrs, all while watching the local news!

It's just further proof that Free Yarn is always a good thing!

goodbyes...and other friends...

Last night at church, I said goodbye to one of my new Nashville friends. Lori is moving for happy reasons: because she's getting married in December, and her fiance has already started a youth ministry job in Knoxville, and she's gonna live in their apartment and get it all fixed up so he can move in in December. But she's leaving a large, Lori-shaped hole in our singles group that will be kinda hard to fill.

On Sunday afternoon, we had an official goodbye party for her (click on the picture above to see the rest of them), at a house w/ a pool in Murfreesboro. It was good to be able to see Lori and say goodbye, but it was equally good because it reminded me that I also have many friends here who are staying...at least for the moment.

And one more pic, just for fun!

A Few Definitions...

...for Knitting Between the Lines

• As a new knitter (though long-time crocheter), I sometimes feel like a little kid, trying desperately to color (or knit) within the lines...but still lacking the practice needed to make my pictures (or projects) look like "everyone else's."



• As an avid reader (and former English major), you could say that my knitting often takes a backseat to my reading habits (though with the lovely invention of audiobooks on ipod, I can sometimes do both!). Therefore, my knitting is "between the lines."



• As a girl who loved to play "secret clubs" and "spies," I also appreciate the history of knitting secret codes of stitch patterns during the French revolution...such as in Dickens's Tale of Two Cities. Some knitting projects can actually hold clandestine meanings--if read between the lines.



• As a Christian (and former psychology minor), I appreciate the traditional definition of "reading between the lines"--to see what isn't there in black and white. Hopefully, my knitting/blogging experiences will help me pause more often for contemplation of these truths, and to grow in unseen directions myself.

Good News/ Bad News

The good news is that I finished the ipod nano cover I was making for my friend Elizabeth's 13th birthday in less than a week! I gave her the cover, and also helped her load songs onto her new ipod, the night before she left for her big school trip to Washington, D.C. It looked great, if I do say so myself! It was pink, to match her ipod, and it was made from this yarn, which has natural antibacterial properties...just right for a 13-yr-old's ipod cover.

However, the bad news is that I committed that irreversible sin in homemade gift-giving...I completely forgot to take a picture of the completed project before I happily gave it away!!! So I have nothing to show for my work...unless I happen to sneakily take a pic of it one day when I'm over there. But, I do plan to make one for myself (since I have LOTS of extra yarn, and it did look really good on my silver ipod nano), so I guess I'll just take pictures of the second try. I hope it doesn't go the way of many of my project ideas--supplies purchased, I then find something else I'd rather do, and the supplies end up buried in my stacks of yarn, lonely and forgotten...

Perhaps I'll confess my intentions to crochet another to the Threaded Bliss group tonight. Maybe they can nag me about it until I get it done. Tonight I'm going to work some more on a lovely felted tote bag knitted in a beautiful shade of heathered dark green Cascade yarn.

Top Seventeen Things I Did This Weekend...

1) Flying to Dallas (I love to fly...and I love airports!)

2) My very first American taxi ride (though I have ridden in taxis in Indonesia, Uruguay, Argentina, France and England)

3) Learning that my roommate Katie got engaged on Friday night!!! (Isn't it sparkly?)

4) Seeing my friend Kaela for the first time in 6 months (and she brought chocolate!!!)

5) Seeing my friend Chan for the first time in 9 months!

6) Random road trip with Kaela and Chan to Abilene to see the ring/my newly-engaged Katie.

7) Lunch at Ann Thai Kitchen on Saturday with Katie, Kaela, Chan, Eric, and (briefly) Jeremiah

8) Shopping at Zida, where I got these gorgeous earrings!

9) Seeing Abi and Leigh Anne

back at Katie's adorable flat

10) Getting to ride on Mark's shiny red motorcycle

11) Seeing Jack Maxwell's Jacob's Dream sculpture--funding courtesy of our graduating class, and some wing details courtesy of my friend Chan (who was a student of J. Maxwell at the time of its creation)

12) Seeing Wicked with Kaela (and discovering that I do still fit in the dress I'd bought, but had never worn)

13) Waiting outside of the stage entrance after the show, and collecting autographs from each of the cast members!

14) Going downtown Fort Worth to Sundance Square

15) Wonderful (real) Mexican food at Mi Cocina

16) Browsing til closing time in the Barnes&Noble with the giant horse statue

17) A lovely walk down windy streets under trees filled with dancing lights

All in all...the best three day trip I've ever had!

Leigh Anne, Me, and Katie (roomies from last summer)

So, if you care to find me...

...look to the Western sky...

Just a couple more minutes, and then I'm off to catch a plane to Dallas to see:

Kathryne's Easter Bonnet

Lots to do tonight (including knitting group!), but I wanted to post the pics of my niece in the crocheted hat I made for her before they get too old. I actually made it for her back in February or so, but only gave it to her when my whole family came for Easter weekend. She loves hats of any kind, as well as high-heeled shoes 10 sizes too big for her chubby little feet. She's

just too adorable. Also, props to my sister Angela

for picking out a perfect dress to match the hat she

didn't know I'd made! : )