Good morning all and Merry CHRISTmas Eve!!!

I know this may seem like a weird title to a post, well maybe not, but you’ll see why is a bit.

God has been making a major overhaul in me in many ways – spiritually, emotionally, physically, etc, since the month before Guatemala, and I’ve seen it more than I have in the past when He does His work in us. I can’t just tell a small portion of the story, there are events that lead up to this story and I feel the need to share them.

December 20
We have our Christmas Cantata and some finger food afterward at the church. Everyone clears out and clean up takes place. Normally, I’m right in there cleaning up, but I went over the the sanctuary to get something, which ended up being not what I expected to get – time with the Lord with no distractions, broken, with pleas for release. That night He laid on my heart, it’s time for refocus and time to remember what He has called me to first and foremost.

December 21
He reminds and revealed to me of the following verses: For me, at this time, these are CRUCIAL.

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” – Matthew 23:12 – another pride verse or something I was doing to position myself as something I wasn’t, OUCH, but Praise God, He did humble me back to my face at His feet.

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.” – Proverbs 21:2 – this verse relates to my pride and how I view things in my flesh, but He knows I know His truth in my heart

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” – Proverbs 4:23 – this one I heard from Pastor Mike from PC3 so many times and it is true, we are to guard our hearts, the heart is not trustworthy, and when we don’t guard it, Satan will hop right in there and take over because there is darkness in it, something that is ungodly, and he does have permission in it.


“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you; Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” – John 14:27 – the peace that only God can give us that the world (the lost) does not understand because they don’t know who God is, and what He is truly capable of doing in ones life, bringing peace about situations that you would never think could be possible, which are impossible in the flesh, but totally possible with Christ.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. “ – Luke 12:6-7 – reminds me of my value in God’s eyes and to His kingdom and how much His children mean to Him.

1 I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;
9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
10 I believed, even when I spoke, “I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”
12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD! – Psalm 116 – I have only gotten through the first nine verses in 2 days, but these verses ring such truth and reminders of why we worship God and what He has done for us and what we should be doing –

God spoke to me throughout the day, and said stay home Tuesday, which was the day we were to deliver food to the families who were in need of help this CHRISTmas season. I was obedient, for a change.

December 22
He kept me in the verses above throughout the entire day, constant reminder of them, even Piper on His 41 year anniversary shared in those verses in some way, then devotionals did as well. That night, when I got home from work, I sat down at my dining room table and was studying the verses above, then God laid it on my heart to write a letter. If you know me….I don’t normally write letters, for one, my handwriting is small and it’s SLOPPY, but, I wrote….and I wrote…..and I wrote….and I wrote – 4 pages later on college ruled paper, I finished and my hand didn’t even hurt. Everything I said just flowed, God put words on the page that continued to release things that were buried deep for 3 years, things I kept hidden or lied about because I didn’t want my walls to come down to expose this. Praise God for this, and I am thankful for all that He revealed to me. During this time, I thought I was going to be good to go to the College and Career CHRISTmas party, so I had planned on going, sorta. I also bought a ticket to Guatemala for this summer. No dates were confirmed with John and Amy at this time to even come, or if that time frame would be ok, just God said do it

December 23
Still living with the same verses and more focused on Psalm 116. We had prayer meeting at Grace United Methodist Church as normal.
God tells me I’m not going to the C&C CHRISTmas party for BVBC. This is the reminder I have to keep telling myself. I figure I must be staying home because I had nothing else planned, except I know I needed to take Linda some things for CHRISTmas. I text Chris to make arrangements for him to get the dessert and cards I had for the group, we meet up and talk for a little bit and head our separate ways.

I leave there and head to Wal-Mart. I’m a people watcher, at least I thought I was. As I walked around Wal-Mart, I saw sadness all around me. Hustle and bustle of “christmas” for these people was not CHRISTmas, or so it seemed – my heart sank. I leave there and head to the house to get a few things together and call Linda to see if she is still in town, but she wasn’t she was home. This was around 5:00 and I get to her place around 6pm, with the intentions of dropping things off and heading home….God had different plans…

As I am fellow-shipping with Linda and Skip, around 7pm, my grand-parents call…now, had I been at the C&C party I probably wouldn’t have answered the phone…I know, selfishness. We talk for about 20 minutes and I share with them about going back to Guatemala….and I talk to my grandmother about the question that came up in the C&C study one night about loved ones dying while being called in the mission field. What a great peace that was given to me when my grandmother affirmed she would not expect me to return home to either of their funerals! Praise the Lord, as my heart has been concerned about this. She understands what God’s word says and knows that we would be seeing one another again. With all the things that happened on this day, God was clearly vocal. I look at the time and plan to head out and make my way upstairs….well….I end up not leaving, continue in fellowship while Linda is cooking, and man did it smell goooooood. We talked about many things, but finally around 8:45pm, I leave to head home.

I take my normal route home, except once on I-40, I see a car ahead with it’s flashers on…normally I pass right on by, HONESTLY I do…this night was different, well this whole day was different to say the least! I pull off the side of the road and decide to help, well God put a nudging on my heart to do it I would say, because umm…I-40 at night, under an overpass, not knowing who or what is in the car, cars flying by at 70MPH….scary right? Yeah…so I go to the passenger side of the vehicle and tap on the window, there is a woman inside, Gail..she has run out of gas, but the other side of the story is she is pretty gassed herself (she was three-sheets to the wind, drunk as a skunk) She also has her dog with her. I ask if I can take her to get gas for her car and she tells me she doesn’t have any money, and that was the least of my worries. It was cold last night, and I wanted to be able to get her home or to somewhere warm. We begin talking in the car and I ask her point blank if I can just take her home, she was in no condition to drive. She said she was fine, which I knew she wasn’t, but we continued on the the gas station. I take her to the gas station to get gas….well, I had to get a gas can first, because I don’t own one and she didn’t have one. While driving back I ask her again about taking her home, she wouldn’t let me but did ask if I would follow her home. I said sure she continued to repeat questions and we did get a chance to talk about the Lord. She is a 7th Day Adventist and she is a sister in Christ, wholly believes in our Savior, it’s just she happened to have a couple of shots and this was the result. Earlier in the day, her boyfriend of 2 years broke off their relationship, which they were engaged, a lot of things, but I won’t go into the other things.

We get back to her car on I-40 and she proceeds to get out of my car….wouldn’t you know guess what falls out of her purse into the car seat… her CAR KEYS The Lord just gave me a gift because she has no clue it happened. I grab the keys and put them on my side of the car. She looks for her keys, and looks for her keys and looks for her keys…I ask could they be in the car (ok…I know lying isn’t good, but this was for her own good and safety) she ended up leaving her window partially down on the passenger side and makes her way into her car (she was barely able to hold herself up almost falling over the metal guard rail in the median). I commented, maybe God doesn’t want you in this car tonight, He doesn’t want you driving. I am PRAYING she doesn’t have a spare in the car somewhere. She asks me to look in my car on her side, so I make my way to my car and decided to call 911.

While on the phone with the dispatcher, I explain to the dispatcher, it’s not a true life or death emergency, but I was helping a disabled vehicle and found Gail to be drunk inside the car. I continue to act like I am looking for the keys as the dispatcher is taking my info. We hang up and I go to Gail and let her know I couldn’t find them on her side of the car. I decide to stall and let her know I’m going to go ahead and gas up the car…as I am gassing up the car, Sheriff’s car #1 shows up – very nice man, smile on his face and just ready to help me out. He asks Gail to get out of her car and they begin to talk, as he is talking to her, he winks at me, it was my reassurance that he know I called and that I had her keys. He proceeds to take her back to his car and I continue gassing up her car. Sheriff’s car #2 shows up, this young man was a bit more stern, wasn’t really smiling, seemed like a “by-the-book” kinda of guy. I wasn’t verbally praying, but the Lord heard my heart in asking for grace for Gail. Officer #2 has Gail’s license and is walking back towards me towards his car. I stop him and ask him if there is anyway possible that I can take her home and would take full responsibility for whatever happens when we leave and vow to not let her come back to her car tonight. He looks at me with a puzzled look and tells me that I would have to be subpoena to court. I don’t think he heard me fully so I asked him for grace and said it is CHRISTmas and if he could tell her what her options were and let her choose, I would very grateful….God touched his heart and he went back to the car and told her what her options were 1) Go to jail and get a DUI with court dates or 2) I drive her home. I call Linda to let her know what has taken place and to be a witness for God, because she knew what my personal intentions were. The officer comes to me and I tell Linda I will call her back.
God’s grace. Gail came out of officer #1’s car and got into my car and explained to me what had happened. I grabbed her dog out of her car and put her in mine. The officers were discussing something in the car, not sure what it was, but officer #2 came back with Gail’s license and I got a chance to speak with him again and thanked him for showing grace and he sternly said “make sure she gets home and doesn’t come back here”. I reassured him, she would get home and thanked him again and wished him a Merry CHRISTmas and God Bless. The officers went back to talking to one another again and I proceeded to get in my car. I told Gail I found her keys and gave them to her as we got on the road. WE talked a lot on the way to Monkey Junction (where she lives) and she called me her guardian angel. We talked about the Lord and who He is to us, the importance of having a relationship with Him. I got her to the house, went inside and fellow-shipped and prayed with her. I left, and called Linda immediately.

God calls us to protect and help those who can not help themselves, to love on others. God puts people in our paths for a greater purpose than we could ever know. I have not heard from Gail yet, but I am going to head out to I-40 to see if her car is still there, and if it is…I’m going to go back to Gail’s home to see if everything is ok and see if she would like to go get her car and a bite to eat….hopefully this story will continue and I will be writing again tonight!

God said when you help the least of these you are helping me, it was a great reminder for me of what He has called me to – it is all about missions, the field is everywhere, Guatemala made a huge impact on my life, God did something amazing and things that haven’t even been revealed to me yet.

So this CHRISTmas season, remember what it really means….stop and help that car you see on the side of the road, you don’t know where that person is, or what is going on in that person’s life. Be bold for the Gospel of Christ, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our God. We’ve been given a course in the ministry of God, we must continue to share it and stay focused on Him in order to finish it. As you see, this was a story of where God called me NOT to be somewhere – those places were not to be with the College and Career party nor at home….but it is also a story of grace, grace undeserving.

Merry CHRISTmas all.

Love
Shea Lindon

UPDATE:
I never heard from Gail today. I went to her home to see if she was at home and there was no one there. I asked a neighbor and no one had seen her. I left her a Christmas card in her door and decided to drive back out to I-40, and as I thought, the car was gone. Was I bummed, yes, I was really hoping to see her again and invite her out to church with me tonight, but God had a different plan for her this day and for me. I am still in awe that He used me in this way. I pray I run into Gail again, to see how she is doing. I know this event has made me open my eyes more to many things and praise and glory to the Lord for opening my heart and eyes to this. I hope and pray that anyone who may read this will be encouraged and challenged in this part of their lives, be bold and courageous for the Lord.

Airlines face three-hour limits for how long they can hold passengers on stranded airplanes under new U.S. regulations.(Associated Press)

U.S. airlines will be forced to let passengers leave airplanes stranded on the tarmac for more than three hours, under new regulations that come into effect in mid-2010.

Airlines have strongly opposed a hard time limit on tarmac strandings, saying that forcing planes to return to gates so that passengers can get off could cause more problems than it cures. They predict more flights will be cancelled, further delaying passengers from reaching their destinations.

From January to June this year, 613 planes were delayed on tarmacs for more than three hours, their passengers kept on board.

Under the new regulations, set out by the U.S. Transportation Department, airlines operating domestic flights will be able only to keep passengers on board for three hours before they must be allowed to disembark a delayed flight. The regulation provides exceptions only for safety or security, or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations.

Airlines will be required to provide food and water for passengers within two hours of a plane being delayed on a tarmac, and to maintain operable lavatories. They must also provide passengers with medical attention when necessary.

Airlines that violate the coming regulations could face fines of up to $27,500 US per passenger.

“Airline passengers have rights, and these new rules will require airlines to live up to their obligation to treat their customers fairly,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement Monday.

Airlines fined

Last month, the department fined Continental Airlines, ExpressJet Airlines and Mesaba Airlines a total $175,000 US for their roles in a nearly six-hour tarmac delay in Rochester, Minn. On Aug. 8, Continental Express Flight 2816 en route to Minneapolis was diverted to Rochester due to thunderstorms.

Forty-seven passengers were kept overnight in a cramped plane amid crying babies and a smelly toilet because Mesaba employees refused to open a gate so that they could enter the closed airport terminal.

The case marked the first time the department had fined an airline for actions involving a tarmac delay. Transportation officials made clear the case was a warning to the industry.

Consumer advocates have been pressing the department and Congress for at least a decade to do something about extended tarmac delays. However, past efforts to address the problem have fizzled in the face of industry opposition and promises to reform.

Congress and the Clinton administration tried to act after a January 1999 blizzard kept Northwest Airlines planes on the ground in Detroit, trapping passengers for seven hours. Some new regulations were put in place, but most proposals died, including one that airlines pay passengers who are kept waiting on a runway for more than two hours.

The Bush administration and Congress returned to the issue three years ago after several high-profile strandings.

In December 2006, lightning storms and a tornado warning shut the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, causing American Airlines to divert more than 100 flights and stranding passengers on some planes for as long as nine hours.

Two months later, snow and ice led JetBlue Airways to leave planes full of passengers sitting on the tarmac at New York’s Kennedy International Airport for nearly 11 hours.

The Canadian Press, 2009

Airlines, flight schools want compensation for Olympic disruptionBusiness gives a lift to seniors, cancer patients

Eurostar passengers stranded in Paris, London and Brussels are desperately trying to get home in time for Christmas…. From BBC News. Full story

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LONDON, Dec 19, 2009 (AFP) – More than 2,000 passengers spent a chilly and hungry night stranded in the Channel Tunnel linking France and Britain after cold weather caused five trains to break down.

Stranded passengers wait at London St Pancras Eurostar terminal in London on December, 19, 2009 (AFP photo)

The trains failed as they moved from the freezing air in northern France into the warmer temperatures of the tunnel on Friday evening, operator Eurostar said.

All Eurostar services were suspended until Sunday, causing pre-holiday chaos on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

Some passengers complained they were left to fend for themselves when the trains were halted under the English Channel.

Lee Godfrey, who was travelling back to London from Disneyland Paris with his family, said: “We were without power. We ran out of water, we ran out of food and there was very very poor communication from the staff.

“We lost air-conditioning when we lost the power. We had to open the emergency doors ourselves.

“The evacuation procedure we followed was one that we set down ourselves,” he told BBC radio, adding that people were “very, very panicky”.

He added: “We have had children asleep on the floor, they have been sick. It has been a complete nightmare.”

Patrick Dussaut, who was with a group of 40 people from a French company hoping to visit Britain, complained they had been stuck in a Eurostar train since Friday evening and by Saturday lunchtime had still not reached London.

“People have been stuck in the train for 16 and a half hours non-stop, without being able to open the doors,” he told AFP by telephone.

“There have been heated arguments between Eurostar staff and passengers who were fed up of being shut inside the trains. On a human level, the management has been catastrophic.”

He said some of the passengers intended to refuse to leave the train when it arrived in London, in a protest at the compensation they had been offered — a new return ticket on Eurostar.

Eurostar said the cold weather had forced the suspension of services until Sunday, adding to problems for travellers trying to reach their families for Christmas.

“We have not had a situation like this in 15 years,” Eurostar executive Nicolas Petrovic told AFP.

“Five trains broke down in the tunnel between 8.30 pm and 11.30 pm (1930 GMT and 2230 GMT).”

Two thirds of the 2,000 passengers had reached London by mid-morning Saturday, he said.

The company said all the affected trains had been removed from the tunnel, denying reports that one was still stranded on Saturday.

Eurotunnel, which operates a drive-on train service for cars and lorries, said it was resuming services Saturday after it was forced to suspend its trains.

The disruption in the tunnel was the worst since a raging fire on a Eurotunnel train in September 2008 caused a two-day suspension of services.

The problems with the Eurostar trains added to an already difficult situation in Europe as temperatures dropped as low as minus seven degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit).

Eurostar’s British train drivers and staff had coincidentally begun a 48-hour strike on Friday.

Ferries between France and Britain were also heavily disrupted by the adverse weather conditions.

The motorway to the main British Channel port of Dover was partly reduced to little more than a parking area for trucks on Saturday.

Police introduced what they call “Operation Stack” to allow more than 2,300 lorries to be parked on sections of the M20 motorway to wait for ferries.

Air passengers also faced delays Saturday because of snow in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. Dozens of flights in and out of Britain were cancelled on Thursday and Friday.

A statement on British Airways’ website said the disruption was “likely to continue into the weekend.”

Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights before travelling to airports.

A planned strike by British Airways cabin staff which would have caused widespread disruption over the Christmas period was avoided when a judge this week ruled the action illegal.

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I’m writing this in response to a question posted by one of my blog readers, tokmoh (I’m  very sure he’s reading this now with a big grin on his face).

He asked ‘Don’t mind sharing what happened in ur twitter status: “Stuck in a Boeing 747 on the KLIA tarmac. 2 hours already! I’m gonna miss all my connecting flights… demmit.” Long haul… KLIA… Boeing 747… Malaysia Airlines, nope?’.

Well, that flight really was one of the worst I’ve ever had. Everything about it was poor and unsatisfactory, right down to the food (not that airline food is ever fantastic). Anyhoo, it started with me not getting an aisle seat. And anyone who travels over 10 hours is bound to want an aisle seat! For obvious reasons…

As we were about to leave, the aircraft stopped and returned to the gate. Apparently there was a minor failure to one of the motors which controlled the landing gear and this resulted in the aircraft not being able to turn. Hohum, I thought. But this is a Lufthansa flight! Aren’t the Germans always one step ahead in making sure technical faults are identified before hand? And isn’t Lufthansa one of the more reliable airlines? This particular glitch took 2 hours to fix… and we were not allowed to leave the aircraft!

Then, after we were assure everything was fine and dandy, and that we are cleared for take off something else happened. As we taxied to the main runway, the pilot powered the engines and readied everyone for take off. At maximum rev the engines roared, the planed slowly picked up speed and… and… he killed the engines! Literally powered it down until the plane stopped abruptly on the runway.

As we taxied back to the gate (again) the Captain said there was a MAJOR alarm in the cockpit which does not allow aircraft take off. It seems the earlier problem triggered another problem in which the landing gears won’t retract after take off. WTH?! And so we were at the mercy of the engineers as they tried to fix the fault. And they finally did, 2.5 hours later! It’s worth noting that again we were not allowed to leave the cabin.

So there you have it, my longest ordeal aboard an airplane doing nothing but wait, wait and wait (but I did manage to FB and Tweet). Obviously I missed all my connecting flights, had to reschedule all my meetings and was terribly exhausted upon reaching my destination 20 hours later.

A woman who was stranded in her County Fermanagh home because of rising floodwaters is rescued…. From BBC News. Full story

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Travellers who book holidays on the internet could receive more financial protection if this go wrong, new European plans suggest…. From BBC News. Full story

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Travellers who book holidays on the internet could receive more financial protection if this go wrong, new European plans suggest…. From BBC News. Full story

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I was starting to worry about the size of this sweater: will it be big enough to suit hubby?  He likes ‘em baggy.  It’s hard to say because there are no shoulders for the sweater to hang from yet.  The sleeves and shoulders are kinda being developed at the same time.  At this stage, though, it looks promising!  BTW, I think he assumes the sweater is for me.  He hasn’t inquired about it or commented on it at all.  Ah well, if it’s too small, it will surely fit someone else in the family and friend sphere!

In most industries, the customer is valued and served. Not always in the airline industory, who have tried to squeeze more people onto planes to get the most money per trip, recycled air instead of bringing in new, and more. I have to acknowledge here the hard work of many of the airline employees who put up with a lot of obnoxious people in their daily work.

However, there was a new episode on August 8th: airline passengers were stuck in a plane that had just landed for six hours. The plane had landed early in Rochester instead of Minneapolis, to avoid severe thunderstorms. The airport in Rochester, NY, was closed, and was only being used by Mesaba Airlines at the time (a division of Delta). Messaba employees wouldn’t open the terminal to the passengers stuck on the plane at 12:30am on August 8th.

The airport was closed and Mesaba Airlines employees — the only airline employees at the airport at the time — refused to open the terminal for the stranded passengers.(Yahoo News article)

(What was required? Did they just need someone to open the door, or put out the gangplank?!)

A Yahoo News article about passengers being stranded on the tarmac quoted the President of Mesaba Airlines, John Spanjers, as saying he “continues to feel it operated in good faith.” Really? It was OK to keep people who had already completed their trip on a plane on the tarmac? Why do we put up with this? Mesaba, a division of Northwest that was acquired by Delta last year, needs to revise its thinking of passengers rights. Would you want to be treated like that? And how about the ExpressJet employees, who operated the flight for Continental Airlines, who had to deal with all those irate people? Was Mesaba being fair to them?

There is a need to keep passengers safe, which I acknowledge. We don’t want people walking all over the tarmac. But there has to be a point where common sense dictates – I believe the ExpressJet captain should have called the airport authority or the police, and forced Messaba employees to open the terminal to weary passengers. At least they could have gotten a meal, shower, and slept in a hotel for some time.

The Department of Transportation fined Messaba $75,000 and Continental was fined as well, though less (the article doesn’t specify).

Congress is considering a law establishing a 3 hour limit for passengers being held on the tarmac, which the airline industry opposes. But there has to be a limit! At the 3 hour mark, the airline has forfeited it’s contract with passengers who paid money for the trip service. If they can’t complete the trip, they should let passengers complete their travel on other airlines, and help them book them. That’s my opinion.

With all of the knitting I’ve been doing for others, I wanted to have a little something for me.

I working on the Egyptian Mittens, found here or here. There are charts, and the pattern is in Finnish, but Google Translate takes care of that.

They are so pretty! Even though it’s been warmer here lately, I know I’ll want warm mittens when winter hits. I can knit a chart repeat in an evening, so as soon as we’re done moving, these are going to be my podcast knitting. I’m about halfway done, and I can really see these being finished by Christmas.

What are you knitting for yourself to keep warm this winter?

At last, both sleeves are attached to the body and it’s time for the decreases that will create the raglan “seams” on each side of each shoulder.  Since there will be a V-neck, I’ll be stopping the circular knitting in another inch or so and going back and forth to finish the sweater.  There are currently almost 50% more stitches per round than there were for the body … so each round is slow going.  The good news is: each round will decrease (on average) by 4 stitches so things will seem to speed up as the project nears completion!

Three oil rig workers are rescued by a Suffolk lifeboat after high winds forced their boat onto rocks…. From BBC News. Full story

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How do I get myself into theses situations?

H., a very good friend, has decided to make a scarf for her father. She is using a beautiful cashmere tweedy wool in a nice honey color.

N., a friend and coincidentally my mom-in-law, has decided that she will make him a lovely hat to go along with his scarf. She is using a nice tweedy dark brown yarn.

Thinking it would be nice to give Dr. P. a set for Christmas, I volunteered to use remnants of each of their yarns to knit up some mittens. This was my first error in judgment.

the yarns in question

These two yarns, while beautiful and wonderful in their own rights, could not be much different from each other. The first is a soft, honey, worsted weight yarn and the second is a dark, flecked with multi-color, sock weight yarn. Just touching the ball gives away their differences in life perspective. Okay, I thought – undeterred, a simple mitten with some striping on the cuff would be easy enough. I started knitting, using the sock weight as my guide for size as this would be the body of the mittens.

striping on the cuff

After finishing the cuff, I discovered the heavier weight cashmere had greatly added to the bulk of the cuff even though it was just a horizontal stripe. This resulted in a way-to0-wide cuff. Not exactly what I had in mind.

So, time to rethink my battle strategy. I am sure that this is knitting insanity, but who doesn’t want to flirt with mental imbalance now and again?

Ravelry Link: Winter Mittens

It’s been a busy couple of weeks at our house.  We painted (are still painting) the kitchen and my teaching and tutoring work has multiplied.  These are all good things, but they do cut in on the knitting time!

I’ve finished the body of the Norblu Sweater … its size prevented me from carrying it around and that was another damper on progress.  But here it is at last!  See the wrinkly yarn extending out of the picture?  I’m knitting directly from the abandoned swatch sleeve now.  See the gray yarn near the needles?  That’s marking Armpit Number One.  It and Armpit Number Two will be the very last steps in making the sweater.  They will be closed with kitchener stitching and will disappear seamlessly.  But first, Sleeve Number Two must be knitted and then both sleeves must be attached to the body.  I’ll continue upward from there to the shoulders and finish the collar and then … I hope this will all be finished before Christmas!

What was that bit about not having winter accessories to wear together? I am happy to report that problem has officially been resolved. Thank you for all of your lovely comments and encouragement along the way.

Let me introduce the Min Ulla Set! The scarf, hat, and mitten patterns are available as Ravelry downloads for $6.00 each. The set of three patterns can be purchased for $15.00.

Pattern: Min Ulla Scarf, Hat, and Mittens (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in #6289 Charcoal mix and #6201 Winter white, 4 skeins each color for the entire set

Needles: US 6 (4 mm)

In early October, I approached Berroco, Inc. with a swatch and sketch for this design and the company generously donated the yarn for the project. As I mentioned before, I tried this pattern out on a hat with Harrisville Designs New England Shetland leftovers, but it was clearly the wrong choice. Can you imagine how long it would have taken me to knit this at a fine gauge? I still have not yet finished that sample hat! I really wanted a worsted weight yarn, and one with a bit of a halo to it as well. Berroco Ultra Alpaca was a great choice because the yarn is smooth enough to show off the stitch definition but soft and fuzzy enough to make a really warm set.

This Scandinavian-styled scarf is made in the round as a tube, its ends grafted together in the finishing process. Symmetrical about the center point, it is comprised of many very simple peeries of small repeats, along with a few more complicated snowflake and XOXO peeries. The scarf pattern is given as a series of10 charts. I broke the pattern up this way to make it a more portable project since smaller charts are easier to read. Although the charts may seem complex at first glance, upon closer examination, one will find that at the level of the individual round, the patterning is quite simple. After a while, the charts should only be truly necessary for the XOXO and snowflake patterns, or when starting a new peerie. Trust me, it’s true.

The hat is knit in the round with a contrasting liner tacked to the inside of the brim for extra warmth. I could not decide on a brim pattern for the hat, so I included four different versions in the pattern. Two versions include small peeries like the sample hat shown, while the other two versions feature traditional snowflake patterns. Between this scarf and the other projects I’ve made with snowflake patterns, I was feeling a bit burned out on snowflakes by the time I started the hat; therefore, I settled on a version with peeries only instead. In the end, I think I prefer the look of the small peeries to large snowflakes at the brim. Each version of the hat is topped with a lice stitch, spiral crown.

This is the first pair of worsted weight, non-thrummed mittens I have made in a long time. I seem to have forgotten how quickly mittens knit up when not done at 10 stitches per inch! Amazing! Each mitten took me a day – a day with plenty of distractions too. I think I still prefer tightly knit mittens over worsted weight ones; however, these will certainly prove at least as warm as finer gauge mittens I’ve made because of the lining!

Although I love lined mittens, my one complaint is that a lined thumb renders it practically useless. The last two pairs of lined mittens I’ve made have featured keyhole thumbs in the lining. Bonus? Not having to knit a second thumb.

More photos can be found here.

Finally, I have one last pattern coming out in the next week – Hedge Fence Pullover – and then I swear, I’ll be done for a while. I have a baby to deliver, you know.

Claymont School 6^th Grade 1980’s

Captain’s Branch:

The seas were rough that day. I can remember. The waves were crushing against the sides of the ship. I was just one of several captains aboard the good ship Claymont. There was Captain Noah, Captain Becka, and Captain Walton (that’s me). Captain Noah was in charge of the crew. I was in charge of searching for land and communications, none of which we had for days. Captain Becka was in charge of Navigation and steering the ship.

I was in the crow’s nest when I looked down and saw the cabin boy, Than, taking a leak off the starboard bow. I looked away. No land in sight yet. Becka was having trouble steering the Claymont through the mighty waves. My digital watch buzzed, time for a nap. I climbed down from the crow’s nest, and went below deck.

I passed the Admiral’s cabin. He was an English bloke named Sir Edwin Hedge, and he snored like a hyena. Next I passed the kitchen. Aaron was the overzealous cook. Although the food was good, it was pretty much gone by the time he finished preparing it. Then I passed by the lounge. Cero and Danny were watching Space Balls. They were the International Medium Weight Crab Fighters of America Champions. The hostile native of the ship, Wendy, was playing with voodoo dolls. Anna was scrubbing the walls. Captain Noah was barfing in the mess room, which he did when the seas were rough.

I finally came to my cabin. Someone was inside! I crashed through the door, getting splinters in my hand. It was Sierra, the absent-minded maid.

“Oh hi Becka! I just cleaned up your room for you. Wanna play cards? No. Thought not. Who’s steering the ship? Maybe Becka is. Bye Danny!” Sierra said.

I waved goodbye, as Sierra left my quarters. Did I mention that she also needed glasses? I looked around. It was just as messy as before. Oh well, I thought, she tries hard. I laid down and went to sleep.

I heard something! I awoke with a start! It was my digital watch again. Time for lookout.

I sat in the crow’s nest. By the look of the clouds, I could see another storm brewing.

Land! I could see a little island! A little island with masts, cannon, and a steering wheel?! Oops, it was a pirate ship. As I sounded the alarm, our crew readied defenses.

The pirate ship pulled beside us, and boarded. They were the meanest. I saw Adge the assassin, Zack the mercenary, and Moses the peg-legged dog. I was the only one, apart from the girls, that didn’t have a weapon ready. I reached into my pocket. Inside I found my lucky rubber band, a cheerio, my automatic laser can-opener, my Captain Marvel decoder ring, and some sticky, unwrapped gum.

Then, I… I… What?! Oh. Oh yes, well, I took out my lucky rubber band and fired! Zoom!! The rubber band hit the pirate Zack on the nose, and both he and the rubber band plunged into the water. The storm was worse than ever now.

“Captain Noah!” I called.

“Captain Noah is in the mess room again sir,” Danny said.

More pirates were about to board. Quickly we pushed Aaron on their ship. We pulled him up just as the pirate ship sank to the bottom of the sea.

Lightning and thunder was everywhere. Admiral Edwin was cowering in a corner and said “Be brave men, be brave!”

“Who is steering the ship?” Cero said frantically. We looked around, but Becka was no where to be found. No one had seen Becka since the pirates had boarded.

“Sierra will do jolly good,” Admiral Edwin said. After a few seconds Sierra was spinning herself in circles, and spinning the ship all over the place. Just then a huge tidal wave engulfed the ship! I’m thirsty, I need a drink. All this story-telling parches one’s gullet, you know? Anyway, yeah, it was a huge wave from out of no-where. It surprised everyone on board, and wrecked the ship.

Ok. The next morning I awoke. We were all there except Becka. It was a rather large island from what we could see. Then again, any land bigger than our ship was large to us. Most of the island was a tropical forest. We were on the deserted beach. Our ship, The Claymont, was in pieces. All that remained intact was the food compartment pantry.

“Well let us make the best of it!” Admiral Edwin said as he stood up. “Danny and Cero, off you go to fetch some sticks. Let’s make a fire. Walton and Than, go get some food.”

As Than and I approached the food compartment, we heard some movement from inside. All that remained was Cook Aaron, leaning on empty canisters and barrels. “What?” he asked in response to our accusatory looks, gestures, and grunts. We went to bed without dinner that night, but Aaron was stuffed.

The next morning we found Wendy missing. We searched along the whole shore. On the far side of the island, a man about 4 feet tall jumped out! He was wearing a funny looking mask, which looked like this (drawing).

We all jumped back. The masked stranger sat there looking at us. Cero tried to talk to him in latino jibberish; “Mantero erocko senbala ka.”

“Yo man! What you sayin’?” the little man said.

Then we… ah yes. A drink is refreshing. At first we were startled, then gathered ourselves and asked him his name.

“I am a witch doctor. My name is El Mich. I am the long lost son of your Admiral. You may call me Doctor Hedge. Hedgey for short,” he said. Then Dr. Hedge showed us to his hut, and gave us coconut juice. We drank the coconut juice, and it was finally something rewarding after all we had been through. After that he showed us the crab cake trees, the shrimp trees, and the banana bushes. We took him to our campfire.

At night we were all around the campfire. El Mich said “See that path there? Never walk on it. That be Death Trail. It leads to the place of the crabs!”

“Good thing I brought tartar sauce!” Cook Aaron said.

In the morning when we woke up, Sierra yelled “Gold!”

“That is not gold. Those are beer caps!” Cero said. There were silver ones and yellow ones. We devised a way of using the caps as currency. We traded them to Dr. Hedge for food, and he would trade them for supplies. In that way we made quite a living for ourselves, despite all our troubles.

We were all collecting the caps, when a giant crab came from behind us and grabbed Captain Noah. Cero and Danny got into crab fighting formation. Dr. Hedge ran into the tropical forest. After much fighting, finally Cero and Danny (the wrecking crew) defeated the crab. Its great hulking mass collapsed upon the sand.

“I’ll get the grill!” Aaron shouted.

We had a great feast that night. In the morning we cleared out the shell to make a hut. Anna said, “Where is Captain Noah?”

We looked all around. We saw a mess upon the ground. Captain Noah, creamed by a crab, we never thought it would happen.

As sun set neared we sat on the shore, searching the horizon for a hope of rescue.

“Cero, do you think we will be rescued?” Sierra asked me.

“I don’t know,” I said.

Then she got up and started dancing wildly around. Sierra threw her hands in the air, and flailed about random comments of horses and taxes. Before we could figure out what she was talking about, she jumped into the ocean. We tried to pull her out, but she was already out to sea.

After the failed rescue of Sierra, we crawled into the crab hut and went to sleep. The next morning we found Admiral Edwin lying dead with marmite and vodka all around. I was in charge now. Before lunch we made a funeral pyre for the Admiral and buried it.

After lunch we began rebuilding the ship. We worked all night. By the next morning we had finished. “One thing gang,” Danny said. “We have a weight problem! Too many cooks, or in this case too much of one cook.”

Just then Cook Aaron sank into the sand.

“Well, that’s it then. Let’s go!” As Danny said that, the giant crabs led another attack! We managed to drive them back, but our ship’s haul was devastated. On top of our ship still being wrecked, our island food was diminished. We had picked all the crab cakes, and the coconuts and bananas were out of season. Unfortunately all the shrimp on this island grew on trees, which had all been picked as well. That left fishing, and bird catching. For weeks we honed our skills at those hunting methods.

A week passed. It had been a month since we first came there to the island. Fishing was a disaster, and we became so weak we could not even lift the rod. Bird hunting was fruitless as well. We had no strength to hit them, make traps for them, and there were not any birds around anyway by the end of the week.

Dr. Hedge had not been seen around. So we just sat. We could not survive another attack by the crabs, and we didn’t know how long it would be before we starved to death. We could see the fins of sharks lurking in the water. We heard “na na, na na, nana, nana…” then we told Cero to cut it out.

One day I saw something in the air! “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a UFO? Run!” I said as I remained sitting there staring upwards. We were too weak to run, instead we watched in disbelief. A beam shot down and teleported us into the ship.

Strange green aliens nourished us to health. After a while we felt normal. After being shown my quarters, I drew this map of the island from memory. Strangely enough, the aliens dropped us off at an old Washington Home. We said good bye to the aliens who had rescued us from the island. Times were good after that, and we made the best of things at that old mansion. We named our new home after our lost ship, The Claymont.

Nothing lasts forever, and after a few years of communal living at Claymont, we went our separate ways. We eventually became a part of the Capitalist Consumer society again, well most of us. After a few years of making money and getting in and out of debt, here I am. All I have left from those times of adventure are these 2 beer caps. Oh, its 7 o’clock which means its time to go to my psychologist.

If you ever wonder if my tale is true; just pick up a beer cap and use it to buy a rock. That’s all that money is anyway. We use paper cash to buy more worthless trash and then we throw that crap away; like beer caps. If you want to feel how it felt when we made a living as castaways, and survived on that island… bite into a crab cake.

X = Our Shipwreck and Aaron’s Grave

POC = Place of Crabs

Red Shell = Crab Hut

Dots = Resources (Banana, Shrimp, Crabcake, and Ruins)

Black Dot = Admiral Edwin’s Grave

Green Dot = Dr. Hedge’s Hut

A Water Violet person is an unfriendly person. Nobody approaches him as he thinks he is superior to others, while others are inferior to him.

Let us say, we go to a wedding reception. We only know the bride and the groom. We don’t know anybody other than them. How we are going to have company in the wedding hall? Bach Flower Remedy Water Violet will find friends for you.

Case History

A wife of an ex-minister attends a celebrity wedding. The street was full of cars. She left her car way back from the wedding hall and started walking towards it.

Water Violet and Larch goes hand in hand. When we meet people in superior status (Water Violet), then we will have low confidence (Larch). The lady chanted both Water Violet and Larch. She was approached by a popular actor. He took her in his car to the hall and accompanied her back to her car.

A Water Violet Person is…

Water Violet person will be working in an unfriendly and lonely atmosphere. As a boss, he will deliberately ignore others. Will do the work himself, as he thinks others can’t do the work as per his standards. So he won’t delegate work, though a leader should be able to delegate.

A Water Violet husband and wife won’t get a divorce but will live separately in the same house. Water Violet will bring them together.

A Water Violet person doesn’t understand the value of other people in his life.

Seeking HELP!

You are in an unknown place and stranded. Don’t know whom to approach. Rock Water and Water Violet is the combination required.

Or call the animal spirit guide Wolf and tell the animal spirit beforehand, ‘I will be there in such and such time. Please be there and take care of me’. It will take care of you!

Because of the new patterns I’ve put up this month, I feel as if I haven’t been blogging enough about my current knitting. The knitting interest I lost this summer is back, and my projects feel even more addicting than ever. I credit both the chill of autumn and not having any wool sweaters that fit over my gigantic belly with its return.

Like the hat I posted last week, this began as a Scandinavian-style sampler to test out some stitch patterns for a hat and scarf set I was planning. After a few inches, I thought it would make a nice edging for a simple, stockinette scarf. A foot into it, I decided to make the edging longer because it was so much fun to knit. Finally, I capitulated and eliminated all of the stockinette. You cannot imagine how addicting this knitting is! What is fascinating to me is that with the exception of four peeries, all of the patterns are so very simple: 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-stitch repeats. So easy are they, in fact, that I have barely consulted my chart. And yet, the scarf looks impossibly complicated. Isn’t that wonderful? So little effort for so much effect!

Although I have not been able to work on it consistently this month, I try to log a few peeries every day. I have about 18 inches to go. And then the hat. And maybe some mittens. Please, someone stop me!

The scarf is knit in the round as a long tube for extra warmth.*

The only problem?

Hypothetically speaking, if one were to lose a stitch marker down that hole, there’s little hope of getting it back. Not that I would be so careless. Nope, not me.

Stay tuned for Min Ulla progress!

* Actually, I knit it in the round because I was far too lazy to purl back.

Tears welled up in my eyes. What? The 26th? But that is a week far. And it means I will miss Christmas, all because of a couple of snowflakes.

Thirty minutes before I was about to fly back home, the spiteful, annoying, mean voice on the loudspeaker announced that all flights to Europe from London’s three main airports were cancelled. Thirty minutes!!

I had checked-in, passed through security check and was impatiently staring up at the screen waiting for the gate number to pop-up next to my flight. And to top it all, the next available seats to Malta were on the 26th!

I had spent a whole afternoon sitting down on the floor, playing with two small girls who had been at the airport since 3:00 in the morning. They were headed to Tenerife with their mum. Their mum was lost. She could speak, but not read English. The look in her eyes screamed of frustration.

Twelve whole hours and her flight had not yet appeared on the screen in the waiting room. She was anxious to get to her destination, but no one around her could help.

Arriving at the airport

Seven hours earlier I had set foot in the airport, and the scene that welcomed me was one of despair. The floor was covered with a carpet of sleeping people.

Every corner of the airport had children wailing, screaming their hearts out, wanting to sleep, go home, or play with other kids. Every bench was taken. Every electrical plug was being used. Every toilet stall was occupied. 

The number of people in the airport had accumulated as flights got delayed or cancelled. Long queues at front desks stretched around corners and across halls. The cafes must have made a fortune.

A booming voice was asking people to go back home and re-book their flights. But what about those who had no home in London?

I pinned my eyes to the screen, hoping that my flight does not turn red or green (cancelled or delayed), and as time went by I was sure that I was getting back home. Relatives and friends wished me a good journey via text messages. I had already planned the weekend. I knew what to do and who to visit.

That is, until the clock struck 15:30.

Flight cancelled

To add insult to injury, we were asked to queue for more than three hours, simply to be given a phone number scribbled on a piece of paper.

‘Call this number tomorrow, and explain what happened. Sorry, we cannot do anything, no refunds, no re-bookings. Do it on-line.’

Back home my mum was frantically calling airlines and browsing online looking for an alternative flight. People around me on their way to Malta were firing flight prices to each other, discussing the best alternative.

Prices for flights taking-off the next day from the only airport which was not closed-down were rising quickly.

An old British lady infront of me suddenly hugged me, excitedly telling me she had got a flight to the islands for 170 pounds. Five minutes later I got a call from home. I was flying the next day for 270 pounds.

In 5 minutes the price had gone up by 100 pounds, but sweet relief swept through me. A flight cancellation had cost me 300 pounds more, but I did not have to wait till Boxing day to get back home after all