A Better Day

I finally finished the Orchid Lace cloth last night. After wrestling and tinking and swearing and all kinds of things, I finally figured out that Row 5 isn't supposed to have as many stitches as the other rows, and therefore I wasn't missing a stitch at all. (Oohhhhh! I get it.) So armed with that knowledge, and a much improved understanding of how the pattern went together and which part was just framing - as opposed to the actual leaves - I finally cranked this out.
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It's basically just the lace stitch from the orchid lace socks on craftaholic's blog (link in my earlier post), but where she had 2 stitches of stockinette on each side, I have 4 stitches of garter. And instead of ending on the 3rd repeat of row 10, I had to keep going another couple of rows to finish off the base of that last leaf. And of course, I have garter above and below as a border.

It's easily my favorite of the leaf-type laces I've swatched so far for the anniversary prayer shawl, but it's also easily the most of a PITA to do. If you miss a yarn over or miscount in some spot, it's not really obvious until you've finished the row, purled back, and then get to the end of the next row and find the wrong number of stitches left for your border. It's the kind of thing which shouldn't be done in front of the television, and which may cause me to invent some new four-letter words. But I'm sure it will get better with practice.

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And I found the mohair mobius wrap! Another project which can't be done in front of entertainment, since the very fine yarn has to be watched closely. But the colors are just the perfect antidote to a Wisconsin March, don't you think?
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As far as the church thing - I think I was making the same mistake that the minister does: confusing his philosopies and ambitions with those of the church. (This is something I constantly have to guard against, since in the church where I was raised, the pastor was the be all and end all of authority and his whims and ambitions were, by definition, those of the church.) I have to remember that this guy is just an employee, and no matter what he thinks of himself, he's not in charge or control of the larger picture. He's merely an annoying inconvenience. I go to church for the other people, for the sense of shared philosophy and values, for the joy of being part of a community. His sermons don't inspire me and I certainly don't see him as a role model, but I can put him aside mentally and still get plenty out of it. And there are often fill-in ministers who do challenge my ideas and efforts.
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My Dad used to say that "everyone is responsible for their own happiness," meaning you can't blame someone else for your own misery. I am beginning to think that everyone is responsible for their own spiritual growth as well.
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So be it.

Adverse Possession

Today I'm frustrated with the orchid lace swatch, can't find my mohair mobius project, and didn't have a chance to photograph the cotton triangle shawl I finished on the way to Eagle River last week. What I did do is prepare a very short presentation for the networking group my office belongs to, since boss lady is sick and I had to substitute this morning. So you get that instead. (By the way, I'm not an attorney and this is not legal advice and all disclaimers apply and you know the deal.)
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Back in the 1800's when Wisconsin became a state, the surveyors of the time did their best to measure and plot out the land into nice neat townships and parcels. However, this was a time before GPS, and errors were inevitable. Some of those nice even squares overlap onto other nice neat even squares, and there are gaps, and . . . well, you can imagine. Additionally, back in the day it was not uncommon for people to simply pack up and head for the gold rush or whatever, so there needed to be a mechanism in place to assign title to land which was abandoned. And so, we get the principal of adverse possession.
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If you can prove that you have been in open, obvious, and continuous possession of a piece of property for X years (the number changes from state to state, and some even throw in the conditions like "notorious" and "exclusive"), you can start a court action claiming title to the land. Unfortunately, so can your neighbor - so it's important to know where your boundary lines are, and to make sure that anyone using any of your property to park their RV or to store that extra wood pile or whatever acknowledges in writing that it's your land and they're only using it with your permission.
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My favorite case on this topic was in Georgia (I think), where someone tried to claim the land because their family had been picnicking on that spot every Labor Day afternoon for 30 years. But we see cases all the time where the fence row wasn't really on the line, or the neighbor was just helpfully mowing that extra 20 feet between your lots, or the driveway paving was a foot onto the neighbor's property and nobody noticed, or whatever. And even if you win the lawsuit, you'll probably be out the cost of attorneys and surveyors and whoever else gets into the act.
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Anyway, I'm just saying.
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Grrrrr . . .

It's always when you're really feeling good that things slam you the worst. I had a very upsetting meeting at church council last night, and right now I have a headache from grinding my teeth all night. ("We only help people on our side of the county, because we were getting too many requests." "We can't do something nice and harmless and painless on this person's special occasion, because we've never done it before." "Is the constitution clear on how we can strip someone of their membership if we can't get them to shut up?") I can't decide whether to go on a holy war all by myself, quit in disgust, or just play Alan Parsons Project's "In The Lap Of The Gods" really loud, over and over again, like I did when I was angry in college.
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In any case, it's a good thing I had my knitting going, or I might have been tempted to use those needles for something much less appropriate. Here are my swatches of "Spring Arbor" and the beginnings of "Orchid Lace." One thing I've learned is that Orchid Lace is best done when you can actually count consistently. I missed a yarn over somewhere during last night's discussion, and ripped out 10 rows this morning to fix it.
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And a good time was had by all.

It was a wonderful weekend. Not warm, by any means, but wonderful just the same. About 60 women of all ages, including a grandmother, mother and daughter in one group and several sets of sisters in others.

On the way back I asked a few of my fellow carpoolers what their favorite moment had been over the weekend. The vote was unanimous: the blessing of the community prayer shawl. We had started a shawl in a very basic pattern on Friday night, and left it and the supplies in a basket by the hearth so it could be worked on whenever someone felt inclined. Several non-knitters managed to add a stitch or two under guidance, and one champion knitter stayed up until 2 a.m. on Saturday making sure it had some width. Even those with no knitting ability or inclination got into the act by tying the fringe. And when it was done, Rev. Ann blessed it on Sunday after brunch and we surprised Mary by giving it to her. She literally fell to her knees in shock, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

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The attitude bag was a star at the auction, and went for $26. Margaret and Mary, our leaders, were especially interested in the felted figure on the bag, and we're in talks to put together some sort of activity next year based on the same concept. I'm sworn to secrecy concerning the exact nature of next year's logo, but it involves a mirror and we were thinking that one of those big 1.5" sequins would be the perfect way to translate it into a cheap but unique group craft.

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The red hat bath set was my disappointment for the weekend. For quite a while the bid stayed at $2, and the sole bidder wasn't shy about saying she was mainly after the duckie. I think someone saw my disappointment and threw in another bid, so the whole set went for $5 in the end. But I paid $3 for the soap and $1.50 for the duckie, both on clearance, so my soap bag, tribble and washcloth together went for 50 cents. As much as I enjoy making such things, they really just don't do well in an auction.

I also did some outdoor exploration, although in each case the snow was packed hard enough to make snowshoes or skis more of a bother than a necessity. We did the chickadee walk, which was as fun as ever, and I hiked out to Vesper Point after dawn on Sunday with a Bible borrowed from the cabin. (I still think most of the Psalms fall into two categories: (1) "My God is bigger than your god, nya nya nana," and (2) "Oh, God, I've really screwed up again here, please bail me out." Parts of individual chapters resonate with me, in particular the beginning Psalm 25 - but David will always come across to me as a spoiled selfish brat.)

Anyway, all is well.