As promised, finally, here are some photos of the frogs I crocheted for my mom and the slippers I knit her for Hanukkah!

Here I am posing with the frogs. I thought my mom would enjoy these shots. =)

Here is the tree frog I crocheted her. Here’s the Ravelry link. It’s a great free pattern by Brigitte Read from Roman Sock.

Here’s the frog pin cushion I crocheted her. Here’s the Ravelry link. It’s another one of Brigitte Read’s free patterns from Roman Sock.

Notes on this pattern:

• I had to rip one round of the bottom mouth pieces because they were way too big for the top mouth piece/head, so I guess it’s smaller than the pattern would call for, but the top of the head is the right size, as are the feet and the lily pad…

• I used white felt instead of green felt for the lily pad because I didn’t have any green felt, but I used green thread to sew it together… so, it doesn’t really look like a lily pad, but oh well.  He’s cute any way, ain’t he?

You can see more photos of these frogs in my knitted toys set on flickr here (even though they’re crocheted)!

Here are the slippers I knit for my mom. Here is the Ravelry link. They were also a great free pattern, Mountain Form Slippers, by Jun Miyamoto, published in Tricoquelicot returns.

While I was knitting, I noticed the slippers were getting too long, so I shortened the stockinette section before the toe decreases. The opening was too big so I sewed it closed a bit, I think 3 garter stitch ridges worth, so the slippers would be nice and snug and warm, since my mom’s feet are about the same size as mine. You can see in the photo below the slipper on my left foot is how it looked before sewing it up and the slipper on my right foot is how it looked after sewing it up. Our feet are about size 7-7 1/2 for reference, if you’re knitting the pattern.

After we ran out of Hanukkah candles for my menorah, we used this candelabra and some random free-standing candles I had laying around to put together enough candles to light for the 6th through 8th nights of Hanukkah. It was pretty ghetto…

Helix’s nose is so skinny that it fits between the bars of the crate. He’s too cute!

He’s such a lapdog! I’ve become too lax with letting him jump on my lap whenever I say “Helix” or “Cutie Pie.” The other day when I was meditating, all of a sudden he ran across the living room and jumped in my lap. I was just sitting there silently meditating, and all of a sudden, WHOOOOSH!, the wind was knocked out of me as a 50 lb. Helix jumped on my lap after running about 15 ft across the room at full speed! I was so stunned that I opened my eyes and my jaw dropped and I just sat there, with the meditation CD still running. I looked at R, who was sitting on the couch, and he said, “You know, you can say ‘No!’” So, I did. I was in such shock though. Man. Bad dog. Cutie, though! Talk about meditation interrupted! At least I have managed to meditate almost every day (I think I’ve missed maybe two days) for the past 3 weeks or so.

TNNA Winter Trade Show Update

Unfortunately, because of my health, I’ve had to cancel my Spiral Cabled Chemo Cap class at TNNA. However, I will still be going to the trade show and wholesaling patterns and greeting cards made from my mother’s wonderful paintings of sheep in San Diego next weekend, January 17-19. I will be debuting my new Burana Jacket and Wanda Felted Purse in the Fashion Show on the 16th at 7pm. Sicily will also be making an appearance in the Fashion Show. Thankfully, my mother will be coming with me to help me out in the booth, since I don’t think I can handle it on my own.

I hope to see some of you there!
Stop by booth #1141 and say hi!

Thoughts on Mindfulness

Here are some things I wrote down during my mindfulness class this fall that I thought I would share with you…

• “The moment is uncomfortable because it’s something other than what you want it to be.”
• “Watch yourself struggle and let go; struggle and let go; struggle and let go.”
• “I am not the pain.  I observe the pain.  The observer is not the pain.”
• “Meditation is everything you do; every moment of your life.”
• “When you’re not kind to yourself, it’s hard to be kind to others.”

I watched Keeping the Faith yesterday, a great movie with Edward Norton, Ben Stiller, and Jenna Elfman. There was one line in the movie that an elder priest said to Edward Norton, who plays a priest (Ben Stiller plays a rabbi), that really caught my attention.

“The truth is, you can never tell yourself there is only one thing you could be. If you are a priest, or if you marry a woman, it is the same challenge. You cannot make a real commitment unless you accept it is a choice that you keep making again and again and again.”

I think that this quote not just applies to choosing to be in a relationship, but it can apply to choosing a career as well. I think it is a good thought to meditate on, as people often seem to think they are stuck in one relationship or one job for life, that’s not true; it’s a choice that you keep making again and again and again. There are all kinds of consequences to your choices, but you still make choices every day.

The Yarn Harlot’s daily calendar let me subscribe to an email daily calendar, and I chose the zen-a-day calendar, which I got for a few years when I was in high school. I thought it might help me to have something to think about before I meditated every day. After seeing Romi‘s blog post today mentioning the Daily Om inspiration, I subscribed to it as well. I think the more zen inspiration I have, (hopefully) the less I will be distracted by the most recent movie or Netflix TV episode I watched, or my latest knitting design, or other things like that while I’m meditating.

A few days ago when I subscribed to the Zen-A-Day calendar, I had the idea of trying to keep a meditation journal and writing something down every day after I meditate (so far I haven’t written anything down).  One of the recommendations in the happiness book I’m reading (very slowly) is to write three things you’re happy about at the end of every day.  I was doing that for a while, but I stopped doing that a few weeks ago too.  Maybe I can combine that with my meditation journal.

R apparently found a gorgeous spider’s web freshly covered with rain, because I found these photos when I downloaded the last bunch off of my memory card…  (I LOVE my new macro lens!)

P.S. I think I may have gotten colitis or a stomach ulcer from going on the raw food diet… I’ve been having a LOT of stomach pain the past few days, and other unpleasant things I will refrain from talking about on the blog. I’m going to see a doctor tomorrow to investigate the problem more…

P.P.S. Here’s what it looked like at my parents’ a few weeks ago…

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