Consider This.........

Press on

Spring time is a really beautiful time. Everything starts blooming, the birds come out in full force, people seem friendlier and knitters knit less and go out more!
I particularly enjoy walking in the morning, with music plugged into my ears. Most times I leave the music at home and then I get bored and cannot wait to get home.
On those days what keeps me going is the anticipation of seeing a beautiful sight halfway through my walk. There is this beautiful garden at my halfway point. Some kind soul has everything from lovely flowers to vegetables planted in his/her garden. There is a little bird bath and a small park bench which I imagine, is used a lot in the evenings. Everything looks so pleasant and peaceful that I cant wait to get there. When I do, I stop for a second and let the sight before my eyes sink into my heart before I continue back home. The sight gives me the energy to get back.
I remember the first day I saw that garden, I wasn't expecting anything so nice at this traffic-ky thoroughfare and what a wonderful encouragement it was!
I think about that garden everytime I need something to lift me up.
It has been over a week since the VA Tech tragedy. My prayers are with all the people suffering as a result of this incident. Most things seem senseless and unfair in our lives, it only sounds sensible to give up on people and assume that we all have to watch our own backs. But God promises a reward for everyone who obeys Him and trusts in Him. His Word encourages us again and again to never give up, to 'fear not' because He is with us.
Whenever you feel discouraged, whenever you think of giving up, whenever you feel that you have reached the edge of the precipice and there's nothing left to do except jump, when you can't take it for even one more millisecond. That is the time to press on. Do not give up! Press on and you will win the race. Maybe this post is going to be the 'garden' that encourages you. So keep going and let God encourage you with His word.
Consider memorizing this passage and claiming it everyday - (change the you's to me's and personalize it)
"For He will give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone" Psalm 91: 11-12

A coupla cakes!

I made these two cakes this year. One of course is for Valentine's day. As you can see I really didn't have any plans for that day except for having good food and some cake!! I was trying to watch Shall We Dance as I was decorating the cake. I obviously didn't catch much of the movie but I really loved Jennifer Lopez's clothes. They were all so very feminine and flowing! You thought I was going to talk about cake?? This cake has rosettes, drop flowers on rosettes and e-motion techniques. I used half a packet of red velvet cake mix. So the cake was gone in 60 seconds!!

I love this cake and I hope you think the same. I particularly like this shade of green. It is a combination of leaf green and juniper green. I have used the reverse shell border on top, it is my favorite border. So I am always drawn to make cakes that have this border. The flowers are wild roses. I was supposed to make them using royal icing, but I just used stiff buttercream icing and got by with it.

The Power of the Written Word

I walk in and immediately his face lights up. I think that he is happy to see me, or is he happy to see just about any new face?? I hope that somewhere in the map of his mind, he has given me a prominent place in his land of love. I know for sure, that he does love to share his new possessions with me. I am always invited, with a lot of enthusiasm to get my 'hands dirty' with the new 'gadgets'!

As I sit there watching him, I wonder what he is thinking, because he hardly said anything all these days and now when he does - I am barely able to guess his thoughts. Such people speak in tongues, they say, they speak in tongues that God has given them. Theirs is the language of heaven and one day all humanity will speak that way. But for now God has reserved it just for these 'special' ones (and a few others).

He looks up at me with indignant eyes, makes angry gestures at me and waves his hand around in frustration, when I suggest to him that he might have cheated in the last game we played. I had no clue that he actually understood the term 'cheat'. If he happens to call a truck - a 'tuck' or a car - a 'tuck'; you better wise up to his word definitions or you are bound to 'hear' from him.

As if this wasn't enough, he also understands the power of the written word!! He writes for hours and yet I am baffled by it all. To the unintelligent eye, it looks like the random doodling of a toddler. But I see the possibility of a great future! The hope of marvelous things to come, achievements to be made and lives to be influenced. I see the power to love all freely, give to all generously and embrace all without inhibitions. I see no ego, no prejudice, no misconceptions.

He knows the power he wields, when he makes his creations on his mom's favorite couch, my white dress, or his favorite wall. In the drool-covered crayola spirals of my favorite toddler, I see the power to be all that he can be.
One day I hope and pray that he will be ALL that God meant for him to be!!

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” - Matt 19:14

Please note: The below picture is a failed attempt by the author to depict the genius of the aforementioned young artist.

Of Birthdays and Cakes

Right after I attended my very first cake decorating class, I took it upon myself to bake cakes for a few wonderful people, I love. The above is the teddy bear character cake that I made YET again. To make it a little bit interesting, for the kid, I added balloons (in case you were wondering what those blue, orange and yellow globs were!!). This is the 2nd cake that I EVER decorated (including the one made at my first class) and I was so so happy when everyone at the party liked it. God is Great!!!

The above joker cake was made to supplement the teddy bear. I don't know how long it take others to decorate cakes, but I usually end up spending 5 hrs just to decorate and clean up. By the end of it I am ready to just slap the icing on :)) When I got done with the two cakes I thought that they looked real horrible. But looking back, I guess I was just too hard on myself.

I don't know how I manage it, but miraculously I was once again making two cakes on the same day. I taught myself the rope border to decorate this cake. I didn't have a plan or design for the cakes so I don't think they reached their full potential. But shown above is one of them anyway.

I have decided to avoid dark colored icing because unless it is chocolate icing, it will take way too long to get to the shade that you want. That's what happened to these red roses. I spent at least an hour and a half getting to the shade that I wanted. So if you can avoid dark icing, by all means please do!! Having said that I love this cake. It was for a beautiful young lady who had just turned 16, hence the 16 roses, red is her favorite color and her name comes from the term 'the Rose of Sharon' from the Bible denoting Jesus.

So that's it for now :)

Consider This.........

Looking for love?

In this world where everything seems to change all the time - where nothing seems permanent, how do we find love?

What should we do when the one friend whom we thought will never let us down, does?
What do you do when the love that you thought will last forever, doesn't?
What about the child who disappoints? Or the parent who is too critical?

How do you find acceptance among fellow teenagers, when they have already judged you by your race or by your hair or by your intelligence or by the neighborhood that you live in?
What can you do when your father leaves and never comes back?
Or how can you make amends when your loved one refuses to forgive you and give you a second chance ?

Is there any hope to find love? By the way what is true love? How do we measure it, when there does not seem to be a benchmark for it?

There is a very good example for love. In fact it is the only definition of love -

"There is no greater love, than to lay down one's life for one's friends."
-John 15:13

Do you know of anyone who fits that bill?

Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life." and He is the "Lamb that takes away the sin of all men"

So if you ever think that there is no love in this world, think again. This whole universe was created out of great love and it still stands because of the love and mercy of God.

There are three things that will endure - faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love. - 1Cor 13:13

Happy Easter!!

I am.................

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

Scrunchie & So So......

Now My So Called Scarf may have a so so name, but the scarf, or the process of knitting it, is in no way forgettable. The pattern is a simple stitch pattern which can be easily memorized but the wonder of it all, is how the strategic placement of a few known stitches can create the texture that it creates - no wonder that it is such a big hit among knitters. This scarf goes to show that you do not need any fancy lace or cable patterns to create something so fantastic. This scarf measured 4.5 inches in width and I bound off when I reached the end of the skein - around 48 inches.
Pattern: My So Called Scarf
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino in Harvest 1 skein
Needle: US #9/10.5 not sure
As I knit the first few rows of this scarf, while Mr. PT was driving me to my favorite gardens, I realized that there was a simpler way to do the first row of the scarf. Instead of -

Row 1: K1, *sl 1, K1, psso but before dropping the slipped stitch from the left needle, knit into the back of it

I did Row 1 - K1, *sl1, K1, yo, psso which is the same as the above.

Boy, was I proud of myself! I had truly become a knitter brave enough to identify a task that needed simplifying and changing it. When I went to my knitting group I was able to teach one of our very seasoned knitters, this pattern and even suggested the simplified version, which helped her understand it a lot easier. Well my pride didn't last very long. I went onto Knittinghelp and realized that our dear old Ingrid had already come up with this idea months before I did the scarf. It brought me down to terra firma, but hey I can still pat myself on the back, for they say - Great minds think alike!!

I wanted to knit a scarf, but I wanted to try a few different stitch patterns to see how they looked on this yarn. So as you can see, I knit a long swatch. At the bottom of the swatch is the flying chevron pattern, followed by the seafoam pattern, the daisy stitch and the rib & welt pattern. I did not think that any of them except for the daisy stitch suited this particular color yarn. So guess what? I chose to knit the scrunchable scarf with this yarn because it was for a male subject and I took the safe way out :)) But you have to agree that it looks real good.
I cast on 27+2 for the selvedge to give me a 5.5 inch width and 65 inches in length.
Pattern: Scrunchable scarf
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino in Palais - 1.25 skeins
Needle: US #8