Happy Easter

I love Easter! It's my most favorite holiday and spring is my favorite time of the year. Even the record cold temperatures (low's in the 20s YIKES!) couldn't damper my spirits on this, the most significant day of the Christian year. I admit to getting a slow atart as I've had a migraine since yesterday afternoon, but fortunately for me church doesn't start until 12:30 so I was able to get things drugged and under control enough to make the Easter service. One of the unique things about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormons) is that multiple congregations (called wards) meet in the same building (called a meetinghouse). The Wards take turns as to gets the morning or afternoon schedule. It's not so bad here in TN when there's never more than 2 wards in a meetinghouse, in Utah it's common for there to be 3 or 4 and you could be going to church from 2-5PM. Not being much of a morning person, I always look forward to being on the afternoon schedule :-) If you are curious, you can find out more about the church here.

Mother suggested I stay home from church, given the migraine and all; however, I couldn't help but entertain the possibility that it might be my Father's last Easter on this earth (his health is so fragile, who knows?) and I knew I could not forgive myself if I wasn't sitting next to him singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." The threat of death is a strange motivator I suppose. I dug in the back of my closet and pulled out a heavy spring sweater, one that doesn't get enough wear here in TN, and then in a moment of clarity, I wrapped up in my Garden Pi Shawl, secured with a bunny pin that was a gift from my dearly departed best friend Laura Lee, and headed off. I sang with my father and felt only marginally guilty about not singing in the choir again this year--I had a very good excuse this time :-) The choir was wonderful. It doesn't hurt that Phil and Caryn, our aspiring opera singers, have elevated the sound of the choir to an all-time high. But the highlight of Sacrament meeting was the talk given by my dear friend Mitch Borden about Christ and the Good Shepherd. He talked about shepherds and sheep and told of the history behind the text of Psalms 23 as a part of his Easter message. This information was new to me and held special meaning in light of my newfound interest in sheep and wool and my knitty friends who raise sheep. Mitch promised to send me a copy of his message. I'll try to post a copy when I get it if I figure out a way for folks access it online.

As if listening to Mitch Borden's wonderful message wasn't enough to lift my spirits, my friend Elaine, listmom of the EZasPi group, sent the endorphins soaring. You see she posted a darling photograph of a laughing little boy and a lamb from Diana Cooper on the group homepage then asked group members to come up with a suitable caption. In a moment of Dissertation-induced delirium, I submitted my idea. You can see the photo and caption on Elaine's blog, Out of Hand. Apparently Elaine likes puns, so my caption was named the winner! How cool is that??? Diana responded by saying "Seems I'm destined to illustrate Kristina's words...congrats, Dr. K." These girls are just the best kind of friends!

While I was trying to find my equilibrium this morning (do you like that phrase? That's what my mother calls becoming "conscious" in the morning) I cast-on for the Spring Things Shawl. I nixed the plan to use the white Zephyr, as I have 3 balls and want to do something bigger with it, or at the very least knit the Estonian Lace Shawl with it. I didn't have enough of the Habu textiles silk mohair yarn and I didn't want to knit with the KSH I have in my stash as it's a smoky teal color (wrong color for the season). I could use some ColourMart cashmere, but I have enough for a big shawl and didn't want to "waste" it knitting a small shawl. I finally settled on a new lace yarn I just purchased from the Yarn Place called Gentle. This stuff is really cobweb wt, not the laceweight it is labeled. A 100g ball has 1350 yds. which, when doubled, would be just the right amount for the Spring Things shawl. I purchased 2 colors, but chose the butter yellow for this project thinking it would be perfect for a lot of my summer things. I rewound the ball using my ball-winder so I could pull one strand from the inside and one from the outside to knit the shawl without making a permanent commitment to double-stranding the whole thing-- just in case;-) I cast-on using my new Addi-Lace needles in a US5/3.75mm as suggested in the pattern but after knitting just a few rows into chart A I can see the look is a bit too lacy, so I'll frog it and start again with my old reliable size 4 needles. I want to use the new Addis, but they are already in-use so I guess I'll quickly knit off the last few rows of the Shh! It's a Secret Shawl so I can have the needles I really want. How's that for motivation to finish a project?