HANDSPUN HAPPINESS

Proverbs 31:19, "She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her handss hold the distaff."

Proverbs 27:26, "The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of a field."

Here is picture of me in our front yard holding my latest skeins of spun yarn. This group is Alpaca/Wool blend. I really enjoy spinning and knitting, but when I was thinking about the Proverbs 31 woman, I had to wonder if the charm would sort of disappear from the hobby if it were a duty--part of the necessary work of a woman. What if I had to actually spin all my thread, then weave it, then cut the cloth to make clothing? Since I also have some experience weaving, I can't begin to imagine the amount of work that would involve. I can't spin yarn fine enough to suit me right now, let alone fine enough to weave into cloth for clothing! I've been trying to consistently produce nice sport weight or fingering yarn with an eye to lace weight eventually. Yet, even that would be pretty large thread size to be made into cloth!

The sweater I have on in the picture is one I made a few years ago. The yarn is a bulky/chunky type of novelty yarn. I love it and yet it was a little scratchy on my neck as I wore the sweater today. I can't imagine what some forms of homespun would have been like for everyday clothing. It's so hard for me to think about creating all my clothes from the sheep to the shirt. But our ancestors did it on a regular basis. No wonder the Proverbs 31 woman was revered! I have trouble cooking supper sometimes and she was doing all kinds of hard work on a daily basis!

Well, anyway, it was a beautiful fall day here. Though it was cold, the skies were a lovely mix of dark clouds and vibrant blue skies with sunshine and shadows alternating. The browns of the late fall leaves and the occasional evergreen against dry yellow corn fields just made scenes worthy of a painting, in my estimation. This is one of the prettiest times of year, I think. I went to my spinning and knitting group today and had a great time. I hope you enjoyed the day too. Think of the Proverbs 31 woman while you are doing your daily tasks and be thankful for ready-made clothing, electric mixers, washers and dryers, freezers, and so on....Blessings, LORI

PROJECTS

Just wanted to post a few pictures of some completed projects. Take a look at the socks I've been working on, finally done! I am fairly pleased with them, but am already planning on how to improve the next ones.



This really bad picture is of me pointing to the "I Voted" sticker I got right after we went to the polls yesterday. Clint and I made history yesterday, not just in voting--because I think this election was of historic proportions--but because he had to do a graveside service in the late morning and he asked me to help by reading scripture. That's why I'm all dressed up. We did the graveside service, visited with the bereaved family over a lunch and then went straight to the polls. Clint does lots of funerals, (like nearly 100 in his 18 year pastoring career) so that's not history-making, but the fact that I helped is! For some reason, he asked me to read scripture yesterday. I was glad to do that for him.


The final picture is of the squash we finally got baked and scooped and bagged for the freezer. We have one more squash to do. A friend from church gave us these lovely huge squashes. I love to make pie out of butternut squash. We got three very generously packed quarts so far. One more fall project out of the way. Yesterday we also got most of the garden ornaments, lawn furniture, and various piles of leaf debris taken care of in the yard so we are pretty much ready for winter. Are you all ready for the snow to fly? Blessings, LORI