* No one in the immediate family gets awards – their significance goes without saying!
* No one gets an award who would expect to get one – that defeats the purpose.
* Awards are presented in random order; I’m giving 7 for no other reason than that it seems like a good biblical number. (and, after two whole years’ worth of precedence, it’s now “the way it’s always been done”)

I’m sure you’ve been waiting eagerly, so with no more waiting, here you go!

Award #1: Synod Peeps
There are three in particular: M. Ehrenfried, T. Goodhart, and S. Midge. I could easily add J. Grevenstuk (but I won’t since she got an award last year ) or any number of others (there are several who could easily be added to that list), but these three have been consistent for several years now. Those who know me well, know that I look forward to the RCA’s General Synod each year more than just about any other event (General Synod is our denominations big yearly meeting). Not only do I enjoy seeing the church work at that level, I love the camaraderie and the unparalleled opportunity to worship, catch up, study, argue, and have fun with one another.

Award #2: The Webster Arboretum
If you live in the area, you must check the arboretum out. It is free; there are several beautiful paths for walking; it has a wonderful little pond, and it borders on a park with an excellent playground. No matter what life throws your way, it is the perfect place for a little bit of quietness.

Award #3: Richard Reinhart
Richard Reinhart is the author of a number of exceptional bread cookbooks. There is absolutely nothing more incredible than fresh bread. Baking it is good for the soul; eating it is good for the body; sharing it is good for community. All in all, there is little better than the smell of bread in the oven and Richard Reinhart’s books make it possible for normal people to produce nearly bakery-quality breads in a home kitchen. I particularly recommend The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and American Pie. You don’t want to actually go through the hassle of making your own bread? It doesn’t matter, his writing makes great reading, even for non-bakers.

Award #4: Letter Writing
I have never really been a letter-writer. Over the past months, however, I’ve grown to love letters and begun writing them. There’s something about putting pen to paper, about addressing an envelope, about affixing a stamp – something that isn’t matched by hitting “send” on an e-mail or txt. I’m not so ignorant as to believe that the “good ol’ days” were actually all that good (they certainly had they’re problems!) but I do appreciate some of the good ol’ things, and letter writing is beginning to rank among the items on that list – especially when done with a fountain pen!

Award #5: the Men who Knit
Whether it’s the men on MenWhoKnit.com or Ravelry, these men have remained a constant source of encouragement and support. Ironically, I have met few of them in real life, yet they are clear proof that online friendships can be strong and life-giving. I could name many, but particular mention certainly go to E. Mason, G. Patrick, B. Rohr, and J. Wilcox. I hope – over time – I can extend to them even a portion of good will and encouragement that they’ve shown me.

Award #6: AIDS Care, Rochester
I have only recently become aware of AIDS Care Rochester, but since then I have become increasingly impressed by the work they do. Testing, counseling, prevention services, etc., etc. The list of what they do is too long for this setting. I tentatively hope to ride their 5-day AIDS Red Ribbon Ride in August 2012. It is a fund raising ride, so stay tuned – in the next few weeks I hope to have my fund-raising page up and running!

Award #7: LuYH & Psalms for all Seasons Committee(s)
For the better part of a decade, I have been working with an awesome group of men and women culled from the RCA and the CRCNA in an effort to produce the first RCA/CRCNA bi-denominational hymnal. It has been an immense amount of work but everyone on the group is wonderful. I love every moment spent with them and, as the end begins to appear on the horizon, I’m looking forward to publication. The award goes to the subgroup who just published an off-shoot project entitled Psalms for All Seasons (you want this Psalms resource!) but also to the editorial committee of the hymnal (publication 2013). Love you all!

Have a wonderfully blessed and love-filled new year!

Grace and peace,
`tim

Finally!

As some of you know, I designed a knitted labyrinth several years ago; as a matter of fact, a few of you have even seen it – the first version of it sits in my office.

Unfortunately, the process of actually charting it for publication has been slow and tedious. It is, however, finally done! The labyrinth is knit flat and color changes are done on both the purl and the knit rows.  It can be knit with any yarn or any sized needles.  For best results, use colors that contrast well and needles that produce a tightly-knit fabric.

The 4-page download includes:

• An introductory page
• A single-page version of the chart
• An enlarged version of the chart split over two pages.

And – since I know you were asking – you can purchase your very own downloadable copy of the pattern for $14 at:

If you’d like a printed version, drop me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do!

Enjoy!

Grace and peace,
`tim

If you’ve never heard of Jared Flood (Brooklyn Tweed) – it’s time you did. He’s a knit designer, pattern developer, photographer par excellence, and his blog is incredible. Check it out here.

I’m a HUGE fan of his Koolhaas Hat, and recently downloaded the pattern for his Strago Mittens. The mittens use a fingering weight yarn and the hat uses worsted weight – turns out, double stranding the fingering weight from the mittens creates enough heft to make a matching hat. Cool, huh?! Anyhow, thought I’d share:

The yarn is Knitpicks’ Palette Yarn (100% Peruvian Highland Wool) in White and Ash; I used the pattern-specified DPNs for both.

If you’re interested in giving them a try, you should know that t I tend to knit pretty close to gauge and the gloves turned out quite small. They fit my wife wonderfully, but she has small hands. Also, both patterns are fully unisex and look great on both men and women!

(On a related note, I’ve made several of his Habitat Hats – indeed, one of them is the hat I’ve worn all winter – it’s a more complicated chart than the Koolhaas, but fun and challenging.)

Grace and Peace,
`tim

It’s done though, and I’m pretty happy with it:

Details:

If anyone is considering doing the pattern, I followed the medium pattern (the first numbers inside the parenthesis) but lengthened the body and the arms to the row counts of the XXL. The arms are a bit too long (which is better than too short) but the body length is about perfect. Also, I think the pattern moves the start of the row for final decreases on the neck shaping – it isn’t a big deal; simply follow the routine you’ve been doing for the rest of the decreases.

Also, I think there’s an error in the neck shaping Rnd 1. It reads “*K2, k2tog, work in patt as est to 5 sts…” I think it should be: *K2, k2tog, work in patt as est to 4 sts… (Rather than 5)

Finally, the pattern calls to decrease the neck down to 98 stitches. Even after redoing the cast-off and using a slightly-stretchy one, my head barely fits through it. If I’d do it again, I’d probably shape the front neck (to remove what looks remarkably similar to a double chin…) and decrease less (for a slightly larger neck-hole).

In any case… Have a great day!

Grace and Peace,
`tim

I think they turned out pretty well….

You can have the pattern here if you want it.

Grace and Peace,

`tim

For the rest of you, I thought I’d share:

Technical Details:

• Thread: HHLizbeth from Hobby Lobby
• Size 20
• Color 670
• Pattern: Original
• Finished Size: 8″ across

Grace and Peace,

`tim

A few weeks ago I promised something tatted for a friend of mine (aka JB); unfortunately, the bookmark I was working on was so ugly that I decided to dump it and work up something new with the same thread. This one is similar pattern, but more generous turns on the extremities (the 5-picot chains balance out the ends better than what I was previously doing.) This kind of thing, unfortunately, is a common problem since I seldom use patterns for bookmarks like this and like trying new things (which sometimes bomb.) (I tend to develop tatting patterns by trial-and-error rather than a plan-it-all-out-in-advance as I do with knitting patterns.)

It’s made out of JJLizbeth thread, size 20. I’m new to this particular thread (available from Hobby Lobby) but absolutely love it. It’s wonderful to work up and produces and defined and solid knot but it isn’t at all clunky.

For those interested, the rings are all 5-5-5-5 and the chains are all 3-3-3-3 (with the exception of the ends of each extremity, which are 3-3-3-3-3-3). It’s approximately 3 1/2 inches wide and 4 3/4 inches long. If you’d like more specific details, drop me an email or a comment and I’ll gladly write it up more carefully.

JB – if you’re reading this, I’ll bring it to the meeting we have next week.

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Last year I went home with very little (two lucets – one for myself and one for a friend). This year I had loftier goals; I wanted fiber.

As you may know, my dear wife got me a spinning wheel and, although I have some fiber, I’ve been waiting for the festival to pick up something a bit new and different. I did!

Upper Left: “Blue Heart” – 4.5 oz Corriedale from Barbara Lambrecht in Wayland, MI. (no website… yet.)

Upper Right: (Black) – 1/2 pound Columbia/Romney Roving from Centennial Farm Wools in Charlotte, MI.

Lower Left: (Dark Grey) – 1/2 pound Jacob Sheep Roving from Sweet Grass Farm in St. Johns, MI.

The most exciting purchase of the day, though, is that lower right-hand corner: 2 oz. of Buffalo! It isn’t Quivet, but it’s beautiful. Mixed with just a hint of wool. It’s soft, unbelievably warm, and Bonnie (from Catalynje Fuffalo Fiber Co. in White Pigeon, MI) is a hoot. I stopped at their booth last year and fell in love with the stuff but really didn’t have anything to do with it; this year, though, I have a wheel — I’m going to make it into a 2-ply with some Corriedale (that I already have)… eventually, anyhow!

On top of that, I had the chance to meet (in person… not just online) with a bunch of Ravelry-ers:

And from the podcast The High Fiber Diet:

(that’s Bethanyg, CoggieT, and yes, me)

I also finally got to put a face to CJ Kopec, who lives just down the road, but I’ve never actually met in person:

(dontcha just love those “hold up the camera yourself” shots?

Of course, alongside all of the people, the barns were full of alpacas, sheep, goats, and bunnies – I was a good boy, though, and didn’t whip out the Discover card and bring one home! (I’d rather stay married!)

All in all, a good day; next year maybe you can came to! It’s great to be around an entire group of people who are pleasant and friendly – that seems so rare.

Grace and peace,
`tim

Sometimes impractical fits the bill though, and Sunday I have the privilege of baptizing two little girls in our congregation – sisters. Baptismal celebrations aren’t about being practical… they’re about extravagance and celebration – that God is gracious to us long before we have any clue who God is. So, I pulled out one of my shuttles, picked up a ball of Cebelia, and got knotting (technically tatting is knotting, not lace – although I usually refer to it as a type of lace). I usually don’t give tatting as gifts or sell it at shows/auctions since no one seems to quite understand how much work goes into it – even the small pieces. I figure that, between these two little bookmarks, it works out to about 3,500 two-part knots. It’s amazing how quickly they add up!

Details:

Have a great weekend; I plan on it!

Grace and Peace,
`tim

Yeah!

For those who care about such things:

Needles: Bamboo DPNs (US8)
Fiber: Corriedale
(from www.coppermoose.com)
Pattern: Top Down Hat
(from the Knitting (Man)ual by Kirstin Spurlkand)

Grace and Peace,
`tim