Thank goodness it’s Friday!
This week I finish a couple things and start a couple more. I share my interview with my husband for the Fiber Friends Tag. I talk about fear, food, and Warcraft. Enjoy!
Finished Objects
I’ve finished my second pair of 40-Yard Dash socks- my first knitting pattern coming out August 30th! These are a football-themed pair of socks. The colors represent my college, University of Tennessee. The crazy bright orange was dyed specially for my LYS in Tennessee {Bliss Yarns] by Spartickes Dyes. It’s even called “UT Vols”. Unfortunately, I don’t believe she is dyeing any longer. I’m glad I got to use this special skein of “gaudy” orange.
I also finished my second Flatiron Shawl by Toni Lipsey. This is an amazing, sparkly, rainbow version and I’m OBSESSED. Toni’s pattern is simple, yet engaging because of the fading and color changes. I’ve already made two, but another could be in the future! Perhaps a summer weight one next year… hmm.
Additionally, I wrapped up my Back to School Crochet Collection last week. You can find each pattern with a photo tutorial by going to my most recent blog posts. Or you can purchase the one-page printable versions on Ravelry.
WIP’s- Focus Projects
As it’s mid-August, I figured I should probably start my August socks– Waffle Creams by Anne Hanson. I’m using a beautiful lavender merino by Ella Rae that I have left after making my mom some gloves last Christmas. The pattern is a simple broken rib with a small cable running down both sides of the leg. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll put in my usual Fish Lips Kiss Heel or stick with the heel flap and gusset from the pattern.
I’ve started my second Christmas stocking- Snowy Mountains by Ursula Almeida {first one here}. My goal was to finish both stockings before the school year started… but here we are, oops! This stocking is for me and I know I’ll still finish it before Christmas. Since fair-isle isn’t great for TV knitting, I plan to take this stocking with me to knit night each Thursday. We’ll see how long it takes to finish it that way!
Something New
Have you seen the Fiber Friends Tag going around on YouTube? Essentially it’s a questionnaire about yarn, knitting, and crochet for podcasters to ask their husbands. As you can imagine, it results in a lot of laughs! I recommend the Yarn Hoarder’s interview with her husband Rick and Suburban Stitcher’s hilarious one with her husband Josh.
I was so excited that when I asked Kent to jump on camera with me and talk about yarn… and he said YES! You can find our Fiber Friends Tag on my IGTV channel on Instagram. It’s split into three 10-minute segments (per Instagram time restrictions).
We had a lot of fun doing the interview! Usually it’s Kent in front of the camera and me tagging along. A huge part of his job is to record and upload video content. It was fun to switch roles and see him be a little uncomfortable. He warmed right up of course!
You can find our video by going to my Instagram profile- @knittynatty. At this time you do have to view it through the Instagram app. I hope you enjoy!
What God’s Teaching Me
Fear can be two things: an indicator or a motivator.
I heard the brilliant Brittany from B.hooked quote this on her podcast this week. {I’m way behind so I’ve been binge-listening.} I was so intrigued by this mindset. Fear can be a good thing? The only other place that I’ve heard fear described a positive quality is in the Bible.
Praise the LORD! How blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments. Psalm 112:1
Fear. I’ve always thought of fear as meaning that you were afraid, and in turn, possibly cowardice. Fear is scary. Fear is shameful. Fear is not good. Stay away from fear!
However, this week I was given a whole new perspective on fear. Let’s go back to Brittany’s belief that fear can indicate. When we approach a any situation, it’s likely that we have some apprehension. Perhaps the circumstances are new or challenging or they could be wrong for us. That little gut feeling is our body saying “pay attention!”. Listen to what your fear is telling you. I love that approach. Instead of shying away when something is scaring us, we dig in and make appropriate decisions.
Fear can be a motivator. Right… fear motivates me to turn around and run the other way! But, I don’t think that’s the intention of fear. Once we’ve internally processed our concern, our fear should push us to action. Are we staying and pushing through the challenge? Are we letting this go and pursuing another path? We can’t just stay put or our fear will build into anxiety.
What is scaring you right now? Is it your job? Your relationships? Yourself?
Why is that fear there and what is it telling you? Step up? Move on? Shake the fear and just do it?
He will bless those who fear the LORD. The small together with the great. Psalm 115:13
And then, there’s the fear of the LORD. Lord is in all caps in the Bible verse above because this translation of “LORD” means “Yahweh” {I’m simplifying, don’t get too scholarly here!}. When the Bible uses LORD, it’s using the most proper pronoun for God. It indicates the all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving qualities of God. Yahweh means “I am”.
Fear in the case God means reverence– the kind of deep respect and abidance that the most trusting followers give. You know, like who devote themselves to a celebrity or politician and read their words as truth. Except, we can put our trust in God completely and know that he won’t fail us.
So when I’m feeling fearful I’m now thinking through these perspectives. I’m stopping to analyze what my fear indicates, then making a choice as to what my fear will motivate me to do, and filtering this decision through my love and fear of the LORD.
Fear is good.
What We’re Cooking
Last week during the madness of back-to-school, Kent took over some of the cooking {Sonic took over the rest- haha!}. He made this elaborate Jamaican-themed meal. He blended his own jerk sauce to marinate the chicken. The rice and peas and cabbage are all from scratch. He even fried homemade festival bread! I was so impressed and it was all delicious.
This past weekend it was rainy and cool. It couldn’t have been a more perfect knitting weekend. When I felt the need to bake, I looked for a simple cookie recipe with a little bit of sweet. These Easy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies have only five ingredients- six if you count the chocolate chips I added. At first I was worried because the batter looks more like an energy bite than a cookie, but they came out great! And, these stay soft and chewy for days.
I set off the fire alarm one night while making this Lemon Pepper Chicken… oops. I still haven’t quite got the whole “cook in a pan without charring things” down yet. The chicken came out great, but the bits of flour and lemon pepper burned in the oil. Combined with the smoke coming off the broccoli and sweet potatoes each time I opened the oven, our kitchen smelled like we were still cooking for days. Now I know to keep the stove top fan on!
Kent and I teamed up to make these steak fajitas on Wednesday. I marinated the flank steak the night before. I was very frustrated with the site where I found the recipe. When I made my grocery list I was able to look at both the ingredients list and the directions, so I bought everything I needed at the store. But when I went to make the marinade, the directions would pop up as a blank page- we had to wing it! Even though I marinated the meat whole, we cut it into strips before cooking it. Next time we’ll cook the meat whole to keep it tender. And of course, now that I’m looking at it a day later, the whole recipe pops up just fine. I think we will try these again and follow the directions completely!
What I’m Reading
If you or your significant other are a Warcraft fan, you know it was a big week in the World. I’m not a gamer, but my husband has played WOW since its inception. To prepare for the new expansion, we had to buy Mountain Dew in every flavor, Doritos, candy, and get Taco Bell for dinner… because that’s just what you do when you game!
Needless to say, I’ve been learning a lot about this game as Kent has been excitedly chatting about it for weeks. I don’t mind one bit, because he listens to me talk about knitting and crochet all the time. The World of Warcraft is really intriguing, and after learning that there are books, I thought they could be right up my alley.
Therefore, I’ve started reading what I think is the first World of Warcraft novel, Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak. My book is a massive paperback that includes four Warcraft novels. You can’t get these as Kindle editions, people- I’ve checked! So far I like it, which is a good thing, since there are dozens more to keep me reading for years.