Do You Know Where You're Going?

Do you sometimes wonder how you started out in one place
going in a certain direction,
or so you thought,
and ended up somewhere else entirely?
I don't think this happens to all of us.
But it certainly happens to many of us.
I've been in the 'people' business for many years.
And I can tell you some people really know their direction.
They make plans
and with G-d's help they get  there.
More or less.
I was never that kind of person.
I kind of wing it.
But as I get older
I wish
I was a planning kind of person.
Which would mean
you make choices
and stick with them.
You continue to make choices
to support your original choices
and that's how you get where you want to go.
Its not a foolproof plan
but I've seen it work.
When I create
I follow both concepts.
Sometimes I plan.
Like in this sweater I made for my son.
Wonderful patten.
HERRINGBONE CARDIGAN.
I had to follow every stitch.
And it was so worth it.

I added the hat and scarf.
How could I not?
Want to keep him warm.

He decided to share with his son!

Then I go to this craziness.
Trying to make some art.
Not exactly any rules for me here.
so I start with this:

Which is actually not bad.

But I couldn't leave well enough alone.

so I did more 'patchking'

and ended up with this.

Interesting.

But not exactly what I hoped for.

Oh well.

I can always try again.

And here is a cardigan I started ages ago.

Finally made something for myself.

Yarn was given to me by a dear friend.

Last Sunday I forced myself to figure out how I would bring some excitement to the design.

I hate leaving unfinished projects before I start a new one.

This was in a bag for at least six months.

I found this wonderful leftover piece of lace

and 5 hours later

voila!

So very happy with the result.

An example of no plan
that went right!
So there you have it.
Put one foot in front of the other
and
GO!
“My direction? Anywhere. Because one is always nearer by not keeping still.” 

A hug from far...

There is no greater blessing than birthing a child.
When I got married I was young and naive.
I thought having children was a given.
What did I know about the world?
All I knew was my own little corner
in Crown Heights.
I had never even gone overseas until I was married.
Seems impossible now to imagine
how information needed to be accessed through sheer will
versus today
when you can plop down in front of a computer
and sit in a chair
casually drinking coffee
as you access the entire world
without burning one single calorie!
And the years speed by,
making the memories of my youth appear so simple and uncomplicated.
There is still one basic human function
which never changes.
Having children would be the one life experience
that connects us to our ancestors.
There is no 'more improved' way to experience a natural miracle.
We all are one, united in that moment
when Hashem grants us the gift of life.
Allowing us to feel a tiny moment of creation in it's essence.
How grateful I am for this awesomeness in my life.
Having children
and watching my children have children.
It leaves me trembling with gratitude.
Nothing compares...
I don't live near all my grandchildren so I don't get to hug and kiss them as much as I would like.
What I do instead is KNIT.
Each stitch represents a little kiss I string together
to create something they can wrap around themselves
as a substitute for a hug.
When my grandson was born I made a soft yummy blanket.

A hug from Bubby.

I love this pattern.

Now he is  a year older and needs a much bigger hug.

Now here's a lot of huggin!

I hope I can keep making hugs for many years 

for as many miracles as Hashem will grant me.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

I have been accused of loving 'my' knitting, scrapbooking, crafting
more than anything in the whole world.
The truth is
I love being busy.
I love color.
I love using my hands.
(used to play the piano)
I love creating somehing uniquely mine.
I love baking too.
But that doesn't last for eternity.
(Except on my hips.)
I love the idea that I might make something that could become an hierloom.
Imagine my great great great granchild wondering who I was.
Or possibly identifying with her namesake...
(now I'm getting carried away!)
The truth is I love to create.
Period.
I'm working on a sweater for myself.
It will be fun to see how it comes out
being that I'm not using a pattern.
The colors are totally me.
Hope I finish it before it gets cold here.

“Every day is an opportunity to be creative – the canvas is your mind, the brushes and colours are your thoughts and feelings, the panorama is your story, the complete picture is a work of art called, ‘my life’. Be careful what you put on the canvas of your mind today – it matters.” — Innerspace

I got this in the mail the other day.
I love that the school took the time out to send a picture of the artist and art to Bubbies all across the world.
It hangs on my fridg.
(painted black with chalk paint.
for another post.)

....and I'm also working on these two projects...

This will be an afghan I am commissioned to do for a client!

This will be an afghan I am doing for myself.

So there you have it.
Keeping busy.
How do you keep yourself occupied?
remember...

Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Earl Nightingale

Great News!

A few months ago I got a call from my DD.
"Ma open your email".
I ran to the computor while I kept her on the phone.
She was laughing and crying at the same time as I whooped in happiness.
THIS is what scrapbooking is for.
Isn't this the most wonderful way to break such awesome news!!!

So here we are months later with the most precious gift Hashem in his goodness bestowed upon us.
I immediately started knitting a beautiful little package to wrap this wonderful present in.
White is the perfect color for any newborn.
I found this luxurious pattern on RAVELRY and got to work.
I used the most delicious soft silky yarn.
With every stitch I knit I thanked Hashem for his infinite goodness in my life....

 

(Don't you all want to learn how to knit now?)

My beautiful little grandaughter is named after my grandmother.

 

 

I was very close to my grandmother.

I was fortunate to spend 7 wonderful years with her here in Miami Beach.

Her 'joi de vivre' was contageous.

She taught me alot about what it means to be happy.

Amazingly at 72 she began to paint.

Her "golden hands",

her eye for colour and composition

united with her irrepressible exuberance 

produced scenes of Jewish life which touched the viewer

with the simplicity and authenticity of her perception.

She composed poetry in Yiddish

which was published in Jewish newspapers.

Eventually my grandmother self published a little book of all her poems.

What is most impressive to me is no matter how involved she was in her creativity

(and she burnt many a pot as she painted the hours away...)

to her a day without an act of charity was impossible.

She loved people and used her upbeat personality to raise funds.

She carefully collected and saved enough money to put a down payment for a Yeshiva in Montreal.

She found joy in everything she did.

I remember one time we were going out to a gathering.

She asked me to put a little blush and lipstick on her.

She said "I know noone is looking at me, but still..."

She oftentimes told me she feels so young but her body is betraying her!

 

 

 

 

My grandmother would have appreciated the many talents of my children.

I wish....

Never mind.

It is when I scrapook these precious pictures of the past

that I come to appreciate what my Grandparents meant to me.

I am so grateful for this meaningful hobby.

My life is enriched by it.

 

 

 

 



If I knit fast enough, does it count as aerobic exercise?

“Sometimes, people come up to me when I am knitting and they say things like, "Oh, I wish I could knit, but I'm just not the kind of person who can sit and waste time like that." How can knitting be wasting time? First, I never just knit; I knit and think, knit and listen, knit and watch. Second, you aren't wasting time if you get a useful or beautiful object at the end of it.

I will remember that not everyone understands. I will resist the urge to ask others what they do when they watch TV.”
― Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

I too am accused of telling myself I am 'wasting time' when I knit.
But as any committed (as in crazy obsessed) knitter knows
it's an addiction with no side effects.
So lately I've been doing alot of sittin...
which I balance by taking looooong walks (as in an hour and a half).
There are times I work on projects that never end
as in this one here

or this one

And then there are those projects that I want to see done quickly.
More like 'instant gartification'
Which is an oxymoron in the knitting world.
I've been doing just that lately.

This beret came about as a result of leftover yarn from the project below
that did take a loooong time to make
but so well worth it....
my favorite CHEVRON stitch for a favorite girl's birthday.

 

 

Warm and sparkly

like the daughter I made it for...

 

 

Love this one below.

quick, easy and fasionable!

 

 

on to my next project...

At the end of the day

“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
― Elizabeth Zimmermann

Something to think about!

Been a while but here I am.
I've been doing some knitting.
So I haven't been wasting time exactly.
I'm actually on a scrapbooking 'strike' if anyone noticed.
Y'kow how people go on a starvation diet to bring attention to their cause?
Well I'm kinda doing the same thing.
Except it's for MY cause.
I NEED A SCRAPBOOKING/CRAFT ROOM.
I've come to the end of the road.
It's time.
It's time for me to be indulged.
Who's in?
Any ideas how I can pull this one off?
I'm thinking an entire wall in the 'sheitel room'
covered in peg board
like a store
(oh, my little heart skips a beat).
Let me end this with a line that I always say
(at the risk of Marrisa killing me)
i don't know...

But what I do know for sure to be true is that I love to read.
I love books.
Going to the library/bookstore still brings me the same thrill I felt when I was young.
Every Friday before Shabbos I remember walking to the Maple Street library.
(usually in fear of my life)
But nothing stopped me.
The excitement of discovering a new book kept me going  back.
Still does.
My favorite books are those that teach me something.
If there is one line that speaks to me, it was worth reading.
I envy those that use words to paint a picture more vibrant than what the eye can see.
Imagine being able to express your deepest thoughts
in a language so clear
that someone else actually understands...internalizes...relates to your experience.
Even if they don't feel the way you do.
ESPECIALLY if they don't feel the way you do.
Powerful.
I would like to share with you, from time to time, powerful words that I happen to come by
that resonate with me for one reason or another.
I will call these posts...

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

(Mishpach familyfirst Octo. 31 2012 p. 23)
"......Often we focus on the particular offending charecteristic as the problem. Rabbi Scwartz calls this seeing the issue from the middle, rather than from the source. The metophor he uses is that of a person setting out on a long excursion on a hot day. He leaves his home without taking water, and several hours into the trek is so thirsty that he feels faint. He thinks to himself, What shoud I do now? I don't have any water! He has a very real problem, but the true problem is that he didn't perceive the need for water before he left..."  -Debbie Greenblatt
To me this is a great lesson.
If you stand too close to the moment you are in
you fail to see the bigger picture.
Back it up.
That's when you see the real beauty.
Every step forward that you take today
should be planned way ahead of time.
That's what grown ups do.

 



I will get back to scrapbooking soon enough
but meanwhile I hope you enjoy what else I have to share with you.
and...
I  finally finished this pullover.

love it!

It's a new day it's a new dawn...

This time of year is all about a fresh start.
"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning,
but anyone can start today and make a new ending."
We are only hours away from Yom Kippur.
We are given the day of atonement as a gift.
To be introspective.
To contemplate.
Meditate.
And most importantly, to ask for forgiveness.
Because G-d knows that we are all good in our essence.
But we are humans.
And we will make mistakes.
That's ok.
If we learn from them they are not mistakes.
They are life lessons.
Cleansing our soul spiritually gives our body the energy to move forward.
When I want to start something new,
I need to close up the old.
So before I start any projects with renewed energy
I  force myself to dig it out
(when it's under something you can pretend it doesn't exist, or you 'forgot')
and get it done.
So here it is.
I'm finishing this one here...

(Layla get ready. This one's for you)

I also did this little number.
Just some mindless knitting.
If you want the pattern e-mail me.
It's really easy.
If you can knit with big bulky needles!

And then I finally finished both of these just in time for fall.
Dassa and Yaffa, here they come!

I loved making these sweaters.
At least 60 hours on each one.
Well worth it though.

I hope this year will bring us all pretty gifts
tied up in big fancy bows
with glitter and glitz!
Shiny
fresh 
colorful
heartwarming
full
undiluted
side splitting laughter
togetherness
Nachas
and most important
HEALTH!
To life to life,
L'chaim!
And to quote my Chanale the songwriter...

Blessed...

Have you ever felt uncertain

By the twists and turns of life

And it seems that there’s a curtain

Across the heaven’s skies

Don’t you know there is always One

Looking out for you

You’re an only child before His eyes

And He knows what you’re going through

Chorus:

May you be blessed

May you see His Grace in everything you need

May Hashem fulfill your every heart’s desire

Yimalai Hashem Mishailos Libcha Letovah

Have you stood at the bedside

Of a young and ailing child

And you wonder when the day will come

Will you ever see that smile

Have you found the one whose soul you share

Built a family of your own

As you stand under the canopy

You pray for peace in your new home

Chorus

Does the promise of redemption

Ever seem remote and far

Your faith is strong but it’s been too long

You can't take it anymore...........

It's been a year since I began this blog.

It's a new day it's a new dawn....

And I'm ready for what's to come...

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

Take seemingly ordinary everyday life moments like this...

And create a story.

I am not a 'fancy' scrapbooker.
By any means.
I do complex layouts once in a while.
When I'm inspired to be artsy.
But mostly I like to 'get the job done'.
Because I am the memory keeper here in my space.
I am not around to see many of these clips in the days in of grandchildren's lives.
But I feel them as much as I able.
I study each picture sent to me over and over again.
I 'hear' the message they tell me
and then I put it down on pretty paper.

My kitchen table today:

and that is why I need a craft room!

I want to make my little girls bows for the upcoming holidays.

Making a few is never an option.

It's gotta be dozens!

Can't wait to send them to my 'Big' girl.

She loves when I make stuff for her kids.

And I love to be appreciated.

Thanx!

My coffee table in the kitchen covered with another project yet to be revealed.

Busy week coming our way.

There will be lots of cooking and baking going on here.

I am so looking forward to eating yummy food.

Having some of my children here at home...

It's gonna be great.

“Live your life fom your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people's souls.”

Melody Beattie

Favorite Blog Monday

Today I choose for you a blog that inspires me for several reasons.
The main theme running through is beauty...
This lady has many talents and is very popular in the blogging community.
Probably one of the most 'saved' under favorite blogs.
Knitting, embroidery, quilting, cooking and more...
Beautiful photographs.
I've been following her for a few years  now.
I think you might too!
Check it out: Posie Gets Cozy
ENJOY!

I finished my first sweater.
2 more to go.

Yesterday I decided to try an idea I saw HERE
Many times I pin DIY ideas on Pintrest..
But how many of them do I actually do?
This time I decided to put myself to the 'test'.
Walgreens had these T-shirts for $2.99.
I already had tons of permanent markers.
So I was more than ready.

The one thing I will add to this project is:
After your design dries, you drop a second drop of alcohol to achieve a flower design.
It spreads the ink further apart.
I loved doing this project.
It was easy enough for a kid
And challenging enough for me.
Any one of you ever do this project?
I would love to see your results.

This is how I feel today:
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.” 
-Oscar Wilde

Don't Be Afraid To Try Something New. Be Afraid Not To!

Still working on this...

I am only knitting an hour or two a day, so it;s taking longer than I expected.
Meanwhile, I'm wasting a little time on THIS.

I like to try stuff I've never done before.
This was a really fun little project.
Recycling is what I really love.
Using paper to make these beads are right up my alley.
Once you get the hang of it, it's easy shmeazy!
I have loads of jewelry beads from the 'old' days.
So I took out my stash.

and came up with this...

  Me wearing my new jewelry.

I will be trying this again.
Next time I will be more specific in color and design.
You should try it too.
First look up "Paper Beads" on YOU TUBE.
Be very patient.
Most people talk really slowly.
It's worth watching several videos so you really get the idea down pat.
Then just do it!
Like I did.
Fun!

“If you try and lose then it isn't your fault. But if you don't try and we lose, then it's all your fault.”

Favorite Blog Monday

I started this blog as a way of recording my scrapbboking.

In the hope that I could improve and grow in technique and creativity.

This week I bring to you a wonderful scrapper.

She is creative, and what I envy most

she is able to make her ideas doable.

There is alot to learn from her

and she is more than willing to share.

That is the kind of person I like.

Because The More You Share The More You Have!

So check this out, Purple Mailbox.

If you are ready to be adventurous in your art

and you are ready to absorb and learn

THIS  is the girl for you.

Meanwhile...

here's some progress on the sweater I'm making.

I will probably always think about the Olympics when I see this sweater...

And while you're already here visiting

let me direct you to read this.

Let me know your thoughts on that. 

Please!

Just takes a little minute.

Come on!

Always working on something!

I'm excited about this project.
My knitting guru, Pat, gave me this pattern with the yarn and said
Knit Away!
Believe it or not, this is mindless knitting for me.
Whatever is stockinette stitch always is easy.
I am excited to make this 3 times!
By the time Fall settles in New York, I should be done...

So what are you working on this summer?
Not much time left to do the things on your
'summer list of things to do'.
I still have to finish this....

As you can see, I am procrastinating with this one.
Why do I start other projects before I finish the ones I'm working on?
Ahhhhhh, the million dollar question of the human Psyche.....

Gotta put sleeves on this one too...

Maybe I'll Start another project today.
Just kidding!