Knot-Therapy

Knot-Therapy

I have had some lovely messages & conversations this week, via different media. Thank you to those who have been in touch.

One realizes the extent to which fellowship helps you carry heavy loads and make them feel just a little lighter. Not all contexts make those conversations possible, so they are even more special when they happen.

I’ll talk about a few of the takeaways from this week, but I’ll do so against a backdrop of something that I’ve mentioned before here on the blog… the lacemaking technique of tatting. As recently as January I mentioned that I was wanting to do a bit more… well, here’s what I’ve done since then…

Continue reading

A New Week

A New Week

There are days that begin early: Earlier than they typically do, earlier than they otherwise would need to, and earlier than is enjoyable… but you endure them because they’ll make someone else’s life easier.

That’s why I have a picture of my eyeglasses as today’s feature image.

Soph had to be in Poitiers for an 8:00am class, and mine didn’t start until 9:00am. To avoid the heavy morning traffic on the main road to Poitiers, or the cost of the highway, we take some winding little country roads which, during the daylight hours, take you through cozy villages and across swaths of arable fields. The earlier the departure, however, the more those same winding little country roads are a source of mild anxiety.

They wouldn’t be if I was driving them alone, but I’m not. I have to share them with a number of French Mario Andrettis. You remember the name Mario Andretti don’t you? He was a Formula 1 race-car driver. Enough said!

We did arrive safely, and I’d set my glasses on the armrest while enjoying my coffee and a few minutes of quiet before facing the day!

Continue reading

With Love for a New Year

With Love for a New Year

Are you familiar with ‘tatting’?

Tatted lace is made with one or two finger-held shuttles and very fine cotton, a bit thicker than sewing thread. I was visiting a friend in Quebec nearly 30 years ago and his (at the time) 92 year-old grandmother lived with he and his family. She saw me crocheting and asked if I was tatting. I’d never even heard of tatting before.

She showed me the basics and gave me a tatting shuttle. There’s a trick to it, which took me a couple of weeks to get, but I finally did, and the rest is history… I’ve been tatting off & on ever since.

The last couple of years it’s been more ‘off’ than ‘on’ but I picked it up again over the Christmas break and have been glad to get back into it when time allows. There’s a life lesson in there that I was reminded of, but first, let me bring you up to speed…

Continue reading

Short-Term Missions: Beautiful Knots

tatting, tatting shuttle, tatted lace, heart, tatted heart, beads & tatting


13/30

Welcome to day 13 of
30Days-30Pics: Defining Short-Term Missions.

Remember when you were a kids & learning to tie your laces (pre-velcro) and you wound up with a knot? Or are you a knitter and you’ve ever found yourself at the end of a ball of yarn and it gets into a grand knot? Or what about you ladies who brush long locks and your brush hits a knot?

Your reaction?  …. a frustration-laced eye-roll perhaps?
Today we’re talking knots!

Continue reading