Conquering the World: Some Assistance Required

Ok, folks. A plea is coming. I really need your help.

After I got back from Ecola I was… bored. Lackadaisical. Lethargic and unsure how to occupy all of my free hours. At bible study I mentioned that I wanted something to do, and the very next day God proved yet again He hears and answers. A project sprang into being that will probably keep me busy for years. Or a year. Or months. It all depends on you.

Because I can’t do this alone.

It all started with my brother’s gigantic poster of the world that covers about half of one of his bedroom walls. Trying not to covet and aware he wasn’t going to let me steal it (like I do his art supplies…), I started searching the web to see how much it would cost to buy one of me very own (sic). The options weren’t looking as affordable as I would’ve liked so I started thinking… maybe I could just make my one. Pretty simple, right? From there it turned into an idea of a sort of art project/collage… Where every country was cut out of a different piece of paper or fabric. Then I thought… what if every country was made from something that came from that country??

Yeah, I know… I’m way over my head.

So far I’ve put together the outline and tied together some sticks that will go in the back. I’ve started collecting some fabric scraps but I still have quite a ways to go…

Here’s where you come in.

Anything helps. The countries range from the size of a dime to the size of a palm. A few, like America and China, are a bit bigger. I am looking for fabric, paper, paper currency. Pieces of packaging. Garbage! 🙂 Anything I can cut into the shape of the country. And I’m not going to be strict that it has to come from that country.

I’m not comfortable posting my address so if you have anything to contribute – or if your aunt does… or maybe that second cousin you talked to briefly at that family reunion fifteen years ago – just leave a comment and I can email it to you.
If you want to include a note telling me where the scrap came from, I’d love that. 🙂 And yes I am making up… every part of this… as I go.

Like they say, “anything helps”. 🙂

Thanks!

Sarah

Fringes

My new artwork, inspired from the song “Fringes” by Shane & Shane:

Convertible Gloves: Knitting Pattern

Since our family heats by woodstove during the winter, I found my hands would get pretty cold as I worked on my laptop upstairs. Answer: fingerless gloves. But I also liked having the option of mittens, thus: convertible gloves! (or “glittens” as I have also heard them called)

I actually found a nifty pair for 8 bucks at REI’s Scratch-and-Dent sale, but after bringing it home, I found out that I had two left-hand gloves!… which is not really useful… at all. Thank you to REI for the refund!

So, being the crafty and resourceful homeschooler that I am, I started my search for a good knitting pattern. And was rather surprised to discover how hard it is to find a free, online pattern for convertible gloves! I had expected for there to be a greater number of patterns available than the handful I found.

I settled on the pattern called “Chilly Podsters”, which is available for free on Ravelry. I didn’t have any alpaca yarn which was what they suggested using, so used some australian wool that had been on sale at Ben Franklin.I did the glove and the mitten flap in two different colors, which looks good while the flap is down, but rather odd when the flap is pulled over the fingers. This particular pattern also let you knit a small flap in the thumb, which would be helpful to owners of smartphones or similar touchscreen devices.

I didn’t feel I needed the thumb flap, so I knit the thumb normally.

I was familiar with knitting in the round and so had no trouble with the double pointed needles. I did encounter “ssk”, or slip-slip-knit, and the kitchener stitch, but those were easy enough to learn. I linked the stitch names to websites that will show you how to do those stitches.

The gloves were easy to knit up – probably took me a week overall, since I worked on them here and there. I found that the wrist and fingers were snug (I knit up the small size, since I have TINY hands), while the palm and back of the hands were a little baggy. I’m not sure how that could be corrected, though.

Also there were no instructions for making a small loop at the end of the flap so you could fasten it down with a button, but that can be figured out pretty easily. The pattern for Broadstreet Mittens could be used to help you insert a loop and button onto the Podster gloves, or if you prefer the look of Broadstreet, you could knit that up!

I enjoyed making these because they expanded my knowledge of knitting and they are entirely useful! After you make a pair for yourself, keep going! What friend and family member do you know that would not appreciate and be able to use these gloves?

If you have never knit in the round before, I encourage you to try it. It looks more complicated than it is! You could always start with something even simpler, such as a hat or a scarf knit in the round, to adjust to knitting with circular or double pointed needles.

Have fun!

Too Wonderful For Me

Our church has been reading through the Bible, together, chronologically, and we finished the book of Job in January. I love the beautiful poetry in the latter chapters, where the Lord speaks to Job out of a whirlwind, and through a barrage of posed questions and even a couple of sarcastic comments, breaks down the reasoning behind any appeals for mercy Job could have given.

These chapters are one of the moments where instead of God “becoming less” – tearing down the curtain of the tabernacle, drawing close and lifting us closer to Himself – He reminds us, almost coldly, of our smallness juxtaposed to His infinite glory.

With every question He gives and every answer He demands, we are forced to sink lower and lower, our pleas and excuses for why we deserve mercy caught in our chest, our hand pressed to our mouth to avoid presenting foolish words to the great YHWH.

Being able to understand, even slightly, just who we are compared to the Lord, makes His grace and loving attention to us all the more great and praise-inspiring.

From these chapters I was inspired to do a drawing, which I just finished about a week ago. Check it out.

Job 38-40

…the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

“Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.

What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!

Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it make an agreement with you
for you to take it as your slave for life?
Can you make a pet of it like a bird
or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
If you lay a hand on it,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
Any hope of subduing it is false;
the mere sight of it is overpowering.

No one is fierce enough to rouse it.
Who then is able to stand against me?
Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me…

Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

Can you bind the chainsof the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasonsor lead out the Bear with its cubs?
Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?

Then Job replied to the LORD:

I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.

I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer—
twice, but I will say no more.

My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes