Soft

Have you ever felt chinchilla fur? Maybe -- maybe not.  I'm not questioning that you may have touched a chinchilla, or a chinchilla pelt but, if you have, take a minute to think about the experience. Can you honestly say that you felt the fur?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Years ago, one of my coworkers at the bank was a fellow who raised chinchillas for their fur. He had a lovely wife for whom he had some chincilla pelts made into a cape. The day he picked it up from the furrier, he brought it to my office for me to see... and to touch.  I thought that I had a fully active and sensitive set of fingertips, but while I could see that my hand was touching the fur, I experienced no tactile sensation at all; the fur was so soft I could not feel it.  It must be quite like touching a cloud.

While I was on Sweetie Duty a few days ago, I started working on another Prayer Shawl, a ministry of our church.  I had noticed last Sunday that there was only one shawl left in our cabinet. It's amazing how many shawls are made by a relatively small group of participants, and also amazing how many have gone out the door to folks who have a need for them (anyone from the church may take a shawl to give away; they do not have to participate in their creation.)

In my stash were six skeins of an extremely soft yarn of variegated pastel colors, pictured above.  I can feel it with my fingers, so it's not as soft as chinchilla fur -- which is what got me started on my earlier train of thought -- but it is very, very soft, and a real pleasure to work with.  I cannot knit properly, so I crochet to create my shawls. Crochet is, to me, much easier than knitting, and it's much easier to correct any mistakes I might make and, being a relative novice, I make mistakes.

I've used about a skein and a half of yarn, so far.  I've discovered, through making other shawls, that it takes six skeins of this size to make a shawl of ample proportions (if it will wrap around my frame, it is ample.)  Since we don't know the size of the persons to whom the shawls will go, it's much better to err on the ample side than to have a skimpy shawl.

For me, working on a shawl is generally an evening activity, though I have been known to pick up one in progress when I just need a break during the day and don't care to read or watch TV.  Using my hands calms my mind.

If you knit or crochet, or create fabric in other ways (a few of our shawls were light-weight quilts of shawl dimensions), you might want to investigate the Shawl Ministry.  It's a good thing.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Ecclesiates 1 - Post 90

Hi! I'm still around, but have been having some "Ecclesiastes 1" moments for the past week or so (I've been reading Eugene H. Peterson's contemporary language Bible, The Message, although I grew up on the King James Version.)

Politics (bah and double bah!), the financial markets mess (bah!), unrest in my chosen religious denomination (not at my own small church, thank you, Lord) and a variety of other disquieting goings on are bothering my brain and robbing me of my rest. I have to keep reminding myself that I need to 'let go and let God.' Also, I had let myself get involved in too many things at one time, and sort of wore myself out. While I might like to think that I'm not "old," and the Good Lord has seen fit to let me live past my three-score years and ten, I'm paying the toll for the physical mileage I've racked up.

Weekly Wamblings

(I don't want to steal rhymeswithplague's Tuesday Ramblings)

I've enrolled in a Basic Photography course hosted by a local retail camera & video establishment. The instructor is quite knowledgeable and the presentations are excellent. The students range in age from late 20's (I'm guessing -- mothers of young children who want better photos for their scrapbooks) to two of us who are over 70, and all seem as interested in learning as I am. I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm hopeful that at some point I'll be able to do more with my digital camera than just take snapshots in full "automatic" mode. The photo below is the one I submitted for my first homework -- an easy task since the only requirement was that it be the sort of photo I like to take. I photographed this group of colorful leaves outside the library where we have stamp club meetings.




This week's homework, which has to be turned in tomorrow, Wednesday, the day before class, was more complicated; not because I didn't know what to do, but finding a suitable subject to photograph was a challenge. I don't care to go off very far when I'm alone, and what I had in mind was a bit hard to find locally. I took 52 shots this afternoon, and am not completely happy with any of them, and have to turn in only one. Ah, well.... if the critique session Thursday evening doesn't beat me up too badly, I'll share it, but I can tell you ahead of time it's not nearly so colorful as the one above.

Last weekend I attended the 50th Wedding Anniversary party of a dear friend and her husband. It was a joyous occasion in a beautiful venue. Both my friend and her husband are in general good health, have a wide variety of interests and are delightful to be around. I was happy to be invited to share this occasion with them.

I've also been on a reading marathon, and while not stamping, blogging nor reading (many) blogs, I've managed to go through 10 books in the last 10 days, and I have a stack of nine more sitting on my desk ready to pick up. Most of them (all, actually) are literary bon-bons; all sugar and no substance, not mentally nourishing but mind-occupying, which is what I've needed lately.

I've picked up my crocheting, again. I finished one prayer shawl and started on another, but have only ten rows or so done, so far. Our church maintains a cabinet of prayer shawls which are available for members to give to others, such as new mothers, new brides, persons who are ill or distressed. Each shawl has been blessed at our altar with a special prayer asking God's blessings upon the recipients in whatever circumstance they may find themselves. Since this ministry started last fall, I have completed 15 shawls. I think cooler weather may be more conducive to having a lap full of yarn.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.