Breakfast At McDonalds

I recently received the following email from a family member, who received it from a friend, who received it.....well, you get the picture.

This story is compelling and deeply touching, and, surprisingly, the author's email address appears at the bottom. I secured her permission to post the email on this blog.

Please read it. I hope that it will cause you to perform frequent acts of kindness to those whose need is desparate. You, too, can give the gift of "Hope".

Be blessed this Christmas season.....and be a blessing to those in need who God places in your path.

Hugs & Prayers
Lee
Serene Knitter

To all of my friends and family at home, work and play. I pray that you all have a day like this. 'Tis the season to be thankful for all that we have. God Bless you all and Merry Christmas - Tam

Breakfast at McDonalds

This is a good story and is true, please read it all the way through until the end! (After the story, there are some very interesting facts!):

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree.

The last class I had to take was Sociology.

The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'

The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake....literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.

It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.

I did not move an inch... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men.

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'

His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching.

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted..

He said, 'Coffee is all Miss' because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.

That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging
my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.

I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Thank you.'

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope..'

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it.

Then she looked up at me and said, 'Can I share this?'

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son,the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS -

NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

There is an Angel sent to watch over you. In order for her to work, you must pass this on to the people you want watched over.

An Angel wrote: Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart

To handle yourself, use your head..

To handle others, use your heart.

God Gives every bird it's food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

Tammy M Keil, Realtor SRES
Cell 805-797-2068 Fax 805-644-1381
tammyk@remax.net www.TammyKeil.com
150 Palma Dr, Ventura, CA 93003

Kudos & Clarifications

Last night Tia (my daughter) and I went to our guild meeting. It was the date set for turning in our charity knitting projects for donation to the Salvation Army. The local chapter has been getting a lot of requests for warm clothing from families who are experiencing severe financial crisis due to the suppressed job market and the mortagage industry troubles.

What a fabulous bunch of ladies make up the Woolgatherer's Knitting Guild! There were three 6 foot round tables heaped high with sweaters, hats, scarves, mittens, lap robes and afghans. What a sight it was! All kinds of colors, all kinds of yarns and more love than can be measured by anyone but God. The guild also passed a resolution to donate cash from our guild fund and envelope was passed for additional monetary gifts. Here in Michigan, we are already experiencing some very cold weather and the Salvation Army tries, when it can, to stave off shut-off of heat for families in distress.

Well done, ladies, well done, indeed!

Now on to the Clarification portion of this post.

I think I may have confused people with my post regarding the Basic and Master Courses put out by the TKGA. Some people think that you MUST be on-line and attend meetings and many people cannot do both. So I will try to clarify here:

Anyone who wants to go take the TKGA Basic Course should sign up through TKGA.com and get your materials in January.

Beginning in February we are going to start going through the course, setting goals and deadlines so that we stay on track and finish.

IF you live local to us, roughly Plymouth/Canton area of southeast Michigan you will be welcome to attend meetings at my daughter's home. We anticipate meeting at least twice a month and will determine which days after we get a consensus of who signs up.

IF you do not live locally you can still go through the course with our support by signing up for Skype on your computer. You will need speakers and a microphone or a headset with a microphone (my personal preference as it leaves me hands-free). We will set up a Skype chat room for our class mates and we can meet "virtually" on-line. We can see dates and deadlines and also have the benefit of logging on at anytime to see if anyone else is in the chat room, sort of a rolling Sit-n-Stitch.

If you live locally you can participate either way or both ways. Its all up to you.

Please be sure to sign up with TKGA, if you are not currently a member. In January, be sure to order the Basic Course from them so you will be ready to start off the first week in February. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment here, or email me at either of the following addresses.... mitchellle@dteenergy.com or serenedreamsftw@yahoo.com. If you leave a comment here and want a response you must include your email address.

We hope to see you there!

As always,
Hugs & Prayers
Serene Knitter

The yarn just did not want to be SOCKS!!!

Every knitter knows that sometimes yarn talks to you. You fondle a lovely yarn, feel its loft, its softness and immediately your mind is full of potential projects to make with it.

I bought some lovely Imagination sock yarn from Knit Picks in a colorway called Looking Glass (as in Snow White and the 7 Dwarves). Its all blues and cool and soft and relaxing. It is an alpaca/wool blend and very, very comfy. I was going to knit a pair of socks for myself as part of the Knit Picks sock knit-along.

I chose my pattern and cast on. I worked on it for a while but it seemed like the pattern just was not working the way it should. I checked the pattern, checked my gauge, checked my stitches. Check. Check! CHECK!! Everything was exactly right, but the whole thing was...wrong!

Undaunted, I tried another pattern. Again, it fought me. I've knit enough pair of socks that these should have been a piece of cake. No go!

Ok, this yarn does not want to be socks even though it is fingering weight and should be perfect for a nice pair of toasty warm socks. I got tired of fighting it. I wound it back into a ball and let it sit in a box and think about its transgressions while I moved on and used a different yarn and made socks.

This is Knit Picks Bare yarn that I had tie-dyed with Kool-Aid. I like the way it turned out.

Then I went back to the Looking Glass yarn and just petted it for a while. Eventually it spoke to my and told me it would behave if I wanted to try that SpiroGyra pattern from Knitty.com. You know the one....the beautiful fingerless mitts in the over-lapping lacy, spirolling fans pattern. I had been wanting to try it, but since I am not an experienced lace knitter I was a bit hesitant. The yarn, on the other hand, was quite compliant (perhaps sitting in a box and contemplating its poor behavior made it want to co-operate a little more...). So, I plucked up my courage and knit a pair of SpiroGyra's.

The yarn was thrilled...Iwas thrilled. It reveled in the soft lapping of the pattern and gentle spin around my wrists and hands. Its lovely shades of blue flowed coolly through the pattern. The mitts knit up with surprizing ease. The pattern is much simpler than it looks and the yarn was becoming just what it wanted to be!

Now these are my favorite pair of fingerless mitts. I wear them at work when typing. The cubby where I sit tends to be a bit on the chilly side and the SpiroGyra's along me to type away, unhindered, on the keyboard and my hands are warmer.

If you want to try out a small lace project I highly recommend the SpiroGyra pattern by Lynne Vogel from Knitty.com.

I have made other, more simple fingerless mitten patterns (see the next photo), but, hands down, I love the SpiroGyra pattern.

Sometimes, it pays to listen to the yarn! (Just don't tell the yarn I said that! Please!)

Have fun knitting, crocheting, spinning or weaving, just listen to the yarn.

Hugs & Prayers

Serene Knitter

Naming Contest for Ravelry Group

Good Morning Friends and Fellow Crafters!:



Please refer to the November 6th posting for the TKGA Basic and Master Courses. It explains everything about our plans.



That said: I need a name for our Ravelry group. It needs to define who we are and what we are doing. I am looking for something short and sweet that says it all.



As an example: Knitting Rose suggested "UnderGrads", which I like, quite a bit, but it does not define what we are doing and I am afraid that it would make people think we are a group of co-eds. Sorry, Rose, it was a great name, though.



So this is the contest. Come up with the most definitive name for out Ravelry group and win a prize. This lovely pair of Regia cotton/wool/poly sock yarn. Both matching skeins are 100Grams and you will get at least one pair, possibly 2 pair of socks in a cheerful self-striping colorway of pinks, oranges and blues.

How to submit an entry - Email me at serenedreamsftw@yahoo.com, put "Undergrads" in the subject line and your name suggestion in the body of the email (keep the name clean, my grandbabies ready everything on my computer screen). Make sure to include your email address so I can get in touch with you if your entry is selected.

DEADLINE: December 31st.

Number of entries: As many as your fertile imagination can produce.

Good Luck.

Hugs & Prayers

Serene Knitter

TKGA Basic Course Plans for 2009

Good Morning Friends and Fellow Knitters:

My daughter and I are interested in going through the Basic Course for TKGA (The Knitter's Guild of America). I am committed to continuing on through the Master’s Courses. This is our game plan:

If you are not a member of TKGA sign up as soon as possible. It's a simple process and not terribly expensive. For the price of a magazine subscription you get the TKGA quarterly magazine and membership.

Then, in January, request the Basic Knitters Course from TKGA, there is a charge for this program and the fees are available on the TKGA website.

Beginning the first week in February we will begin the course with any other members of our guild who also sign up. At that time we will agree upon a specified pace to get through the course and arrange to meet regularly. For those of you on Ravelry I would plan to open up a Ravelry group for those who would like to get into a Skype chat room and go through this program with us. This would be in addition to any guild group meetings we might establish for this course…sort of a virtual class room.

After the Basic Course has been completed I plan to move onto the first section of the Master's course. I have been knitting for over 49 years, nearly half a century, and there is so much that I do not know. I am opting to go through the Basic Course for three good reasons:

1. The Basic Course (if I understand correctly) is structured the same way as the Master's Program. This will give us a heads-up, clear understanding of exactly what will be expected of us. I am thinking that it is better to fumble a bit and "get our sea-legs", so to speak, in a course that we feel reasonably founded in already. Better to bumble a bit here than in the more advanced courses.

2. I want to be absolutely sure that I have all the skills that the Master's Program assumes that I have. That will save back-tracking and wasted time when into the more advanced program.

3. I would like to use this time to gather together a group of knitters who are serious about the Master's Program, (get us all on Skype with headsets and mic's, for the virtual participants) and for us to have the opportunity to get to know each other, form bonds and establish a group that knows what to expect from their fellow participants. I feel that this element will help us all to stay on track and stay the course...no wasted time, no procrastinating and no wasted money because we started with good intentions and did not finish. Additionally, I am sure that a natural leader or two will probably emerge, as in all normal group social behavior. It is better to establish the leaders and iron out any minor dramas in the Basic Course arena before we move on to the more difficult Master's Courses.

What do you think? Did I forget anything? Are you interested? I am totally committed to doing this. Please give me some feedback on this because I respect your knitting opinions.

Hugs & Prayers
Lee Mitchell
Serene Knitter on Ravelry
www.sereneknitter.blogspot.com

Charity Sweater

As a member of the Woolgather's Guild, Plymouth Mighigan we are asked to knit items for charity. We were directed to a pattern on-line (http://margarethubertoriginals.com/CHILDBLUE.html) and I knit up the first child's sweater. It is done on large needles with worsted weight yarn and knits up really fast! It took just a tiny bit more than one 6oz skein for a size 6. The sweater is knit from cuff to cuff in simple garter and stockingette stitches. Not that I ever just knit is simple garter and stockingette. I made the first sweater in bright yellow, left-over in my stash. I added a texture stitch (see left) and got a sweater I liked.

The second sweater, size 4, took a little less than one full skein, also bright yellow. I added ribbed cuffs and a basket weave pattern. I was really having fun with this pattern.
Thats 2 charity sweaters completed in a tad over 2 days.

Flush with success, I decided to re-knit Miss Belle's birthday sweater using this pattern (the original sweater was way too small). I added ribbed cuffs, a cable up the center of each sleeve, knit simple stockingette for the back panel but for the front panel I divided it into 6 rectangles of stockingette stitch with reverse stockingette in between and sewed butterfly buttons randomly on the panels. The buttons color coordinate with the Donegal bits in the yarn. She loves it! Score one for Nana!

Miss Belle's sweater took a bit more yarn, 2 full skeins, because I used smaller needles and made it a larger size, as well as making the sleeves longer than the pattern called for (and could have made them about 1 1/2 inches longer still!)

This a great pattern. It allows a lot of room to play with texture stitches and colors. I have seen it knit up so that the 2 garter stitch panels just to the outside of the stockingette panel were done in a different color and looked like suspenders. I recommend making the sleeves at least 1 1/2 to 2 inches longer than the pattern calls for. I tried a couple of different ways to cast on the additional stitches for the body and found that a knit cast on gives the neatest appearance, most consistant tension and best of all, no ends to weave in!!!

Have fun!

Hugs & Prayers

Serene Knitter

Just a little Holiday Fun!

I love to work a small project that is on and off the needles very quickly and then on to the next. This little decoration is lots of fun to work when working on a large project seems to just go on forever.

These small socks make adorable holiday decorations, a tiny Christmas stocking, if you will. These two were made of Moda Dea sock yarn. It is heavy sock yarn, just a tad thinner than sport weight.

What can these little goodies be used for? Stick a striped candy cane in it and hang it up as an ornament. Stuff it full of Christmas candy and tie it to a gift with a pretty ribbon. Make it just the right size for a small gift, add a little sparkling tissue paper and it becomes a unique way to give a gift.

I knit the larger of the two on larger needles because I wanted a stocking that would hold the long thin box that might contain a bracelet or a wrist watch.



Mini Christmas Stocking

Cast on 24 sts. I use 5 DPN's but circ's work just fine, go with your fave.
Join without twisting.
Work K1, P1Ribbing for 5 rounds.
Work Stockingette st, for 3 inches.
Place 12 sts on one needle to knit 3/4 inch heel flap. Since this sock will not be worn you can use any pattern you want to play with for the heel flap...plain stockingette, slip one/knit one heel st, alternating slip st honey comb....etc....this is the perfect place to play with new stitch ideas.
Turn short row heel:
K8, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, P5, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, K6, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, P7, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, K8, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, P9, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, K10, wrap next st, turn.
Sl1 wrapped st, P11, wrap next st, turn.
Knit across.
If using DPN's divide the 12 sts onto 2 needles.
Continuing around pick up stitches along side of heel flap, K12 sts, pick up the same number of stitiches on this side of the heel flap as on the first side, K6, this is the center back of stocking.
*K6, K2Tog, K around to 8sts before center back, SSK, K6.
*Knit even around.
Repeat 2 * rows until stitches number 24 once again.
Knit even until foot from heel measures 2 1/2 inches, begin toe decreases.
Starting at Center Back:
K4, K2Tog, SSK, K8, K2Tog, SSK, K4.
Knit even around.
K3, K2Tog, SSK, K6, K2Tog, SSK, K3.
Knit even around.
K2, K2Tog, SSK, K4, K2Tog, SSK, K2.
K1, K2Tog, SSK, K2, K2Tog, SSK, K1.
Kitchener st the remaining sts, weave in ends.


I did not give gauge. Use larger needles and heavier yarn for larger stockings...use smaller needles and use lighter weight yarn for tinier stockings. Play with this, one stocking can usually be completed in about an hour and a half. This is the perfect vehicle for trying new color combos, stitches, new yarns or unfamiliar needle sizes.

Have fun with this.
Hugs & Prayers
Serene Knitter