The Harvest

We are back in that wonderful season of crispy leaves, juicy apples and cool mornings! Fall! I love it! We have had several days of sunshine and we are relishing it since our summer was so cloudy and cool.

It's a great feeling to know that the raspberries are all picked and are either frozen or made into jam. There is something about harvesting and preserving that brings a real sense of satisfaction. Even though the urgency of the harvest is a pain, the cupboard shelves full of dark red jam makes me feel I'm prepared for the winter.

My husband, Tom, was born a Wisconsin farmer. The harvest is very unsettling for him. It made him crazy to see the raspberries ripening every day and no one running out to frantically pick them before they fell to the ground. I'm a more relaxed reaper. I enjoy being out in the backyard alone with my MP3 player on a Saturday afternoon when my household chores are done and the kids are all doing what they do on a weekend. I can pick a few for the bowl, eat a few, watch the neighbor kids at play, stretch, etc. Tom has the need to be out at the bushes when the berries are perfect, morning, noon or night! One evening he picked a bowlful of berries and left them on the picnic table to stay cool overnight so we could freeze them in the morning. Not the best idea, the camp robbers (black and white birds who's real name of which I haven't a clue) were chowing down on his hard earned harvest! Lucy, the watch dog, smiled at them as they feasted... We rescued the bowl of berries and added them to our store of frozen summer sunshine.

The harvest is a complicated time. I imagine that's why Jesus talked so much of the "harvest." The urgency of the harvest, caring for the harvest and preserving the harvest. Harvest season is definately not the time to rest, there will time for that when the snow lays deep over the fields (or raspberry bushes) and the darkness of long nights keeps us close to the home fires. We will be able to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing the fruits of our labors are safely where they belong.

Knitting on Spider Legs

Fall is here and I'm jealous of the children and adults heading off to school! I did sign up for a Homiletics course at my local AG Bible College. That helps some. I also signed up for a sock knitting class. Now that is FUN!

The yarn I chose for my socks is a self striping yarn and it is also very fine...skinny in fact. Due to the skinniness of my yarn I also had to use skinny needles....four of them! To top it off, the main color of my yarn is steel gray and of course my needles are, what else, steel! Add the skinny factor of my yarn and needles, the indistinct color of gray and steel, my middle-aged failing eyesight together and the total is trouble!

The next challenge I faced was using four needles on one project! I have seen this done and it looks deceivingly easy! First of all I had to divide 54 stitches into even groups of 4 on 3 needles. They didn't tell me it was also a math class and story problems always throw me for a loop. Once I got the stitches on the needles I was ready to get down to knitting business! Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two...that I got down pretty quickly, it was how to hold all the needles pointing this way and that that made me crazy! It was like knitting on spider legs. I chanced a gander at all the other beginning sock knitters around me and noticed the strained and determined faces as they concentrated on keeping yarn and needles all straight. It was at this point that the teacher explained secret of reducing "4 needle stress", concentrate only on the two needles you are working on and ignore the other two! They will just fade into the background when you focus! What a deal! It worked! Suddenly foreheads unwrinkled, protruding tongues were pulled back into suddenly smiling mouths and peace reigned supreme at the knitters' table!

As I juggle work, home, church, class and even knitting, I find myself often feeling like my life is being knit on spider legs. I feel poked and tangled by the things waiting for my attention. I'm learning to focus on the "stitches" nearest me at the moment and the confusion of the "yarn and waiting needles" patiently wait their turn. Suddenly I can relax and even enjoy the portion of my day I'm concentrating on at the moment. My forehead relaxes and my smile returns...Sigh! It's nice to not be unraveled.