i like

i like monkeys.  i like toffee apples. i like op shops. i like my husband a lot. i like God much more. i like church. i like my sisters. i like vintage ephemera. i like laptops. i like vintage pillowcases. i like tutorials. i like postcards. i like bed heads. i like dogs. i like cupcakes. i like Lucy Maud Montgomery. i like languages. i like linguistics. i like alphabets. i like coconut trees. i like books. i like stairs. i like hieroglyphs. i like museums. i like canopic jars. i like scarves. i like boots. i like silky hair. i like dark chocolate. i like dictionaries. i like frames. i like googling. i like being 'shocking'. i like asking direct questions. i like being transparent. i like layering clothes. i like emails. i like knitting. i like crochet too. i like paper. i like doilies. i like coats. i like eurovision. i like the unexpected. i like calendars. i like mirrors. i like babies. i like arty-farty films. i like yarn walls. i like fruit. i like cultural difficulties. i like chickens. i like sugar cane. i like family. i like robots. i like sci-fi. i like parchment. i like sewing. i like heart rocks. i like swimming in the ocean. i like sand. i like unidentifiable edible delicacies. i like blankets. i like my name. 

Inspiration

The Storehouse of Things Old and New

My lovely husband has started a blog. Check it out here:  The Storehouse of Things Old and New.

It's a theological reflection blog mainly for 4th year projects at Moore College but it seems like no one else wants to add their thoughts at the moment so it'll just be Nathan for a little while. 

I've been working on a cabled beanie over the last couple of days. I'm finding cables pretty easy but I know this is a very simple pattern. 

Best get back to the essay(s). 

Silent is an anagram of listen.

{Image by Gustavo Aimar on Flickr}

Karen wrote this awesome blog post on listening. 

Last year I did a course on Clinical Pastoral Education. It was to train people how to work effectively in jobs like hospital chaplaincy. Listening is key.

How do you listen effectively to someone whose family member has just died?

How do you listen effectively to someone who just attempted suicide?

How do you listen effectively to someone who just wants to die and die quickly?

More personally for me - how do I listen effectively to someone I disagree with without alienating them? How do I really listen? 

Listening is a skill we all need to work much harder on. It's easy to say we are listening but like Karen pointed out we really all just want to be heard, not listen to someone else. 

Some of my favourite things

I'm completely swamped with college work at the moment. My Easter holidays are being spent in the library(ies). I've had a constant headache for the last 3 days due to all the non-stop reading and note-making. But it's all still interesting and valuable so I'll press on. I've been knitting and crocheting at night while watching Dawson's Creek and Veronica Mars as my down time. I still trawl the internet and my favourite blogs as part of my procrastination. Here's some current favourites from Flickr. 

1. potholder, 

2. Littleredteapotfromparis, 

3. For the Birds, 

4. vintage enamel flower pins brooches., 

5. "In Your Eyes" (title closeup), 

6. Swan Boat Hire-2833, 

7. *CoLLaGe iMaGe FReeBiE*, 

8. Untitled, 

9. YIP 365.40 :: Neighbor's Rose, 

10. Don't keep calm and carry on., 

11. Mamushka naranja, 

12. chandelier embroidery :: work in progress, drying, 

13. Just another cherry blossom, 

14. 103/2009: Spicery, 

15. Retro Age Vintage Fabrics, 

16. *FReeBiE CoLLaGe ViNTaGe GiRL with DoLLs PHoTo iMaGe*

Easter Bum Nuts

Growing up with my dad, the farmer/shearer/akubra wearing Australian country boy that he is, we always referred to eggs as bum nuts. Last night, on Easter Sunday night, my dad asked if I'd eaten any chocolate bum nuts yet. Replying in another classic Walker (my family's name) fashion, I said, "I'm waiting until Tuesday when they are all 75% off."

Easter's an incredibly special and significant time. If Christ was not raised then our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). 

I bought some gorgeous yarn at the Glebe Markets on Saturday from Vanessa who was selling it for Celia. I'm planning to make my first cabled hat. 

This Easter basket is so cute. Just perfect for some bum nuts to fill it up. 

Crafting a Mission

So after the car crash we had a good mission in the end. St Peter's is an interesting church. It's one of the oldest in Australia so comes with stained glass windows and a cemetary but also holds a drop-in center twice a week for street kids as well as supports a Fijian prayer and Bible study ministry.  The graffiti in the area is mind-blowing. I have much more appreciation for this kind of work. 

I was able to spend a lot of my free time between activities crocheting a blanket. I'm using only acrylic yarn from the stash I inherited from my Granny. It's the wool-eater pattern. Gah - it was a complete and utter pain to figure out from the 'pattern'. I think the designer tried to write instructions that emulated verbal instructions rather than just write a standard pattern with standard abbreviations. It is a beautiful pattern now that I've got it figured out. Also lots of people post pictures of this side on the internet. I actually prefer the other side (the flatter side - 3rd picture).

I also started this week on my quilt following Oh Frasson's instructions. Here

 are the 4 prints I'll use. These strips make up the first 2 blocks. I don't think I'll have quite enough to make up all the blocks and will start having to swap in other prints but that's the point of this exercise - to use up some of my fabric stash. 

Easter is coming. :) Nathan's preaching at church tomorrow so is writing furiously today. I realised yesterday how many essays I need to write in 2 weeks (4!!!) so I'm off to the college library and also the state library today. I don't think I can manageably bring the blanket with to work on on the train. I wish I had some knitted socks on the go - they are too hard to start on a train. 

I broke a knitting needle! Bah humbug

So once a year we have to go on a week long mission for Bible college. We don't cope very well with this activity. It's emotionally taxing and always involves activities that we feel ill-equipped to deal with but just have to do anyways. 

I guess it just comes with the territory of Christian work - there is always going to be things you don't want to do and people you don't want to talk to (not out of judgement but just pure exhaustion and lack of personal downtime and space). But it's all for a greater cause - telling people about Jesus which is always more important than my own personal comfort. 

But I need to get to the broken knitting needle story. 

So we don't own a car. We haven't for about 3 years due to a complete and utter lack of money. But we get by with public transport and scabbing lifts. But mission is next to impossible to do without a car since it's never near by and public transport never works out. So this year we borrowed a car from a college friend. 

And then we were involved in a car crash on the first day of mission and the car got totalled. *sigh* 

We were stationary and a guy crossed the double lanes and hit us at 60km/hr. We were propelled backwards and damaged the car behind as well. No one was hurt badly but Nathan got covered in glass. 

And my knitting needle broke in my bag. They were a really groovy pair from my Granny. 

I'm a little teapot

I've found so many incredibly interesting things I want to get into and do. There are just so many pretties all around. 

I've got 3 weeks of college holidays coming up over Easter. I've got a few crafty plans. These of course need to be smooshed around catching up on college work. 

I want to make a wool-eater blanket. The pattern is from Sarah London. This is a picture of Thornberry's WIP (work in progress). 

 

I want to do some paper cutting - Scherenschnitte. Like this:

My dad would love me to make him this:

(it's a beanie)

My big project will be a quilt. I love Frasson's quilting instructions. She makes it all seem do-able!

Lovey*Dovey

Here's a pretty from Kurt Halsey. Gorgeous emotive work.

I've been thinking and praying a lot for some friends. It has always amazed me that when you are in a relationship you are always influenced by the other person. Sometimes you can see it and are glad for it. Sometimes it's unintentional but natural to copy someone you love so much. Sometimes you fall so completely under their influence that you are unable to make decisions for your own anymore. That's when the relationship no longer reflects the good give and take relationship advocated in the Bible - where you become one flesh but remain who you are before God. 

Giving away Stardust

I'm a sucker for a giveaway. Stardustshoes is giving away some yarn and a cute pouch. There's a pattern that goes with the yarn too. 

I'm off to college today - but just for one class. Poor hubby is worried he's caught my cold. 

ETA: I made it about 10 meters up the road to the train station and had to go back home. I think I'm getting a cough now. Bah. I always get this. At least 4 times a year.