A Time to Laugh

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.”

Malachi 3:1-4

I’m told I’m wrong about this. But no matter. I’m going to make my case anyway. Even if it is wrong because I can’t stop thinking about it.

I made a phone satchel this week for my new iPhone. I have trouble keeping the phone on me, so as usual I’d solve that problem with one of my two favorite coping methods: knitting.

Knitting as a process itself is pure bliss. But to be practical about it, my favorite construction method is really felting or, rather, fulling. Felting is what you do when you make a whole piece of cloth. Fulling is what you do when you make the garment and then shrink it to size. You knit something in wool about double in every dimension and through alternate hot and cold baths, friction, and soapy water the whole thing shrinks to a completely different looking item.

Felt is one of the oldest known ways to make cloth. They discovered it by some poor schlep sticking raw wool fibers into his shoes to keep his feet warm. By the end of the day, the heat, sweat, and friction had created something more sturdy and resilient than before.

Like with these Stetson hats.

I knit the thing with just a hunch about its future purpose. More instinctive art than exact science, I imagine the approximate proportions and the general design. And just run with it, changing as I go and incorporating mistakes as . . . well, challenges.

I wish I had taken a picture of the purse, post-knitting but pre-fulling. It was pretty ugly. It looked homemade. You could see each stitch and every tucked-in yarn tail. Every flaw was as plain as day. Yet you could see a vision of its final purpose too.

Then into the wash it goes. About 6 times. Friction, soapy water, and heat turns a floppy, gargantuan purse into a tidy little wallet. The stitches disappear. The curling that inevitably happens with a knitted garment is no longer a problem. It’s resilient now — strong and durable. And, in my not-so-humble opinion, it’s much prettier.

You need the soap. The oily soap makes the wool’s fibers slippery enough to “stand up” and the friction makes them connect. When cool and dry, the fibers lock and form the felt.

The NIV translates Malachi’s words as “launderer’s soap.” But the KJV and ESV choose “fullers’ soap.” The latter image is very different than the former. From my vantage point, that Soap is not just cleaning, but strengthening. It’s not only purifying, but also perfecting. The Knitter of our bones and sinews has a end purpose in mind for His creation. We start out floppy and misshapen — a kind of Burkean burlesque. But life’s friction and heat under the Fuller’s watchful eye and, of course, with His Soap make something entirely new.

It’s redemptive.

I know it took me forever to complete. I’m trying not to hyperfocus on that. Trying, but often failing. So I’ll tell the whole story again to distract me.

When our daughter Elise was born (still) in 2001, I was so out-of-my-mind overwhelmed that I didn’t bring any clothes for her to the hospital. The gentle and firm OB nurses found a little dress in their “drawer” — a dress that some lady in Greenville county had smocked for her. I was so thankful and touched.

To celebrate her birthday every year, I decided to “pay-it-forward” by smocking another dress for another little girl whose first day of birth was in Heaven.

On Elise’s fifth birthday, I was ready to do something a little different. I wanted to make a party dress for a little 5-year-old girl. But Gavin was brand new, and I was overwhelmed. I didn’t finish it.

And then the whole BJU thing happened, and I was out-of-my-skull overwhelmed again (I’m sensing another theme here!).

But I just finished it. Last night! So I now just need to find a little size-6 girl who wouldn’t otherwise have a happy little dress!

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Elise! Your brothers, your daddy, and I are going to have red velvet cupcakes to celebrate you!

I’m doing better at finishing the projects than I am at photographing them. If you think you might be on my Christmas gift list, then stop reading. Or if you want to put in a request, read on! 

I have a nice set of knitted confections, and I memorized the look of the plastic food at Target today so that I can imitate it. I’ve got to try to do a DQ cone! I finished a felted purse, but it needs a button, I think. I knitted the necklace and bracelet and a random leaf out of copper wire. Grant just laughs at the leaf. There’s got to be something I can do with that.

I want to:

• finish the scarf I just started.
• knit more food.
• knit another bag.
• bead a few bookmarks.
• knit some more wire jewelry. Might start crocheting.
• do this. And I think I can with stuff from here.
• a couple key chains.
• finish the Dollies‘ electricity.

And then my dear friend Mollie introduced me to this. Ah . . . . I want to do this too!

My first attempt at knitting with wire. Not bad, eh?

And when he saw the camera, my little punkin said “cheese” over and over. How could I resist?

I need to start posting some of my recent craftings. One thing that’s been holding me up is that I’m busy making them. The other reason is that I’ve got a couple of dear friends who’ve got mad photography skillz (Mollie and Kristen). Me? Not so much. So I want to learn a little. Not to rival them. But to just make my attempts marginally pretty.

This is not one of those pretty examples. This is just the only one that turned out in the f-stop experimenting that I tried amidst the whining and racing. And it documents the recent b-day present for my dear brother.

[tags]subversive crossstitch, Colbert, Truthiness[/tags]

You gotta watch those knitters. I mean, what damage could a crochet hook do? But a pair of needles? Add those weapons to a maniacal abilty to knot stringy things, and oh! that we could use our powers for good and (k)not for evil!

[tags]knitting, batman[/tags]

I’m done buying stuff. After some dear friends recommended that I find creative activities to occupy my evenings, I took their advice to heart. And I think I have enough to keep me occupied now.

• The Dollies’ house is ready for wiring. I have the pencil marks made and the wiring book is read. I just need to get up the courage to do it.
• I am ready to spider tie-bleach shirts for the boys. They are so into spiders these days with our resident family of Orbs.
• I found a steal on a free freshwater cultured pearl 18″ necklace from overstock.com. Go check it out. I’m going to cut it up and use it for the rhinestone rondelles I’ve been saving for something special. The colors are the birthstone colors of all my babies!
• I’m going to give knitting with wire a go. This stuff at Knitting on Impulse has me hooked. I’ve started to pay with crochet thread first. I finished a rose last night. Tonight leaves and daisies. Tomorrow silver-plated and copper wire!
• I need a Fall purse. But I’ve got two in mind — both felted from this special issue from Interweave. One is that interesting circle purse there on the cover. And the other is that Kokopelli Tote a little further down.
• And a scarf. There’s always a need for a scarf. I want to do the circle I-cord one from Nicky Epstein’s Knitting Over the Edge in a dark teal. Yummy.

That’s enough for now.

This isn’t a craft blog. There are so many wonderful ones out there, and I’ve been slurping them up this week — like the last drops of Breyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in my bowl. I would love to just gush about string and colors and beads all day long.

I bought this book for myself as a birthday present: Victorian Lace Today. Oh, yummy. I literally gasped at every page. The knitter-author resurrected old Victorian lace patterns in new colors and fibers. Fans have even started a blog just to account on project progress. This blogger has scanned in some of the yummiest pics. Knitting lace is amazing. It’s just string, metal sticks, math, and carpal tunnel syndrome. All mixed together, you get something celestial.

Now that I’m the ripe old age of 39, can I get away with wrapping these little numbers around my shoulders? On all those chilly nights that I go to the theatre?

I do have one lace project I can officially call completed. It, too, is an old pattern from a Dover book translated from German. In wool.

So whatchas think? Is my model as willowy? My camera as jazzy? Our environs as noble? I’m sure the professional model doesn’t floss her two teeth while on the job!

Now you see why I don’t have a craft blog.

You know you want one. Me too. Here’s the version I will sink my $$ into.

I’m in.