Self Care, Emotional Health, Joy and Singing!

I've been listening to podcasts about emotional health.  (Pete Scazzero is one of my favorite at the moment)...  I learned from Dr. Nicole LePera on the Do The Thing podcast, about how important the Vagus nerve is... and to activate it, deep breathing and SINGING are effective!  I'm not good at carrying a tune, but I have lots of wonderful old songs in my heart.  Today it was, "There is Sunshine is my soul today, more glorious and bright, than shines in any earthly sky, for Jesus is my light!"  Fun to learn that singing helps keep me healthy!!

Think Before You Speak

"If thou thinkest twice before thou speakest once, thou wilt speak twice the better for it.  Better say nothing than not to the purpose. And, to speak pertinently, consider both what is fit and when it is fit to speak.  In all debates let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest; and endeavor to gain rather than to expose thy antagonist."   William Penn

If you think twice before you speak once, you will speak twice as well for your effort.  It would be better to say nothing than to speak in a way that serves no purpose.  And, to speak pertinently, consider both what is proper and when it is proper to speak.  In all arguments let truth be your aim, not winning the argument, or unfair interest; and try to gain understanding rather than to expose wrong in your opponent.... 

How to Beat Craving and Complaining

About a year ago I discovered Podcasts at last.  Well, I'd heard of them a long time ago, but never had the time to listen to them.  Now I have plenty of time....  to knit and listen to Podcasts!  First I signed up for my Pastor's sermons... then some other sermons.... and then The Minimalists... and more. 

Rob Bell's Podcast The Robcast from May 21, 2018 titled "But He Shouted All the More".... 
Desires, cravings, even addictions....  my will power against the craving.....  But what do I REALLY desire?  Go further into my desires...  Do I really want the donut, or "is there anything I want More?" Yes!  I want my body to feel great.  I want that more than I want seconds on dinner... focus on that. 
"Let your desire for something greater overtake the smaller desire." 

"Figure out what you want!  Do this work."  So many resentments we carry around are because we never figured out what we want rather than what others chose for us.  Don't let people "should on you".   

Complainers & manipulators - ask them "What do you want me to do for you?" It will draw out the real desire and then you can deal with it. 

God, Help me want You more!  Help me to find my comfort and pleasure in You rather than in food, depression, complaining.  Help me be SATISFIED in You!! 

Be Meek!

Happiness Trigger #4 is Financial Savvy.  Learning how to use money to best advantage brings confidence and contentment.
Years ago I discovered the Crown Money Map as a means of planning, and taking steps toward the goal of financial freedom.  It taught me that financial freedom may not come in a month, or in a year, but it can come with consistent planning and self-discipline.  Just being on that journey, with a map to follow, brings peace.
Activate this trigger: (from Valorie Burton) 1. Live below your means, 2. Be meek- choose humble surroundings, 3. Generosity; Give some away!, 4. Buy experiences, not things, 5. Negotiate (for purchases, salaries, etc.), 6. Take nothing for granted, 7. Buy time - time is a worthy investment, 8. Pay now, enjoy later (anticipation for fun already paid for!). 

Am I "Others-Minded"?

This morning I read chapter 3 in the book by Valorie Burton.  Happiness  Trigger #3 is Service. 
Then I went to church, and the message today?.... was about getting involved, volunteering to become a part of the mission of the Church. 
Pastor Todd reminded us a bit of the history of The Church... starting most of the world's hospitals, universities, orphanages, etc. over the centuries.  Now it's our turn.... What will I do with the opportunity I have to influence others?  (Influence is a stewardship).
Burton encourages us to decide:  "Every day, I do at least one thing to brighten someone else's day."    John 13: 12-15 One-another-ing....
Matthew 23:11 servant-hood.....
Share knowledge, give things, smile, touch, serve others!  When I begin to forget to worry about my own annoyances, problems, weight gain, etc. and focus on lifting up others, I will begin to realize a lift in my HAPPY :-) 
It's as important as any workout or diet.  It will take discipline.  It makes me smile to think that I could begin a ripple of smiles in my neighborhood. 

Taming Expectations

What do you expect of yourself? 
Do your expectations of yourself match the person God created you to be?  Perhaps you feel like others around you are expecting you to be_______.... But your personal bent is more________......


Tame your expectations...... Author Valorie Burton points out: as women grow older, it has been noted that they also tend to grow less happy.... Expectations they set on themselves begin to create "perpetual anxiety, self-doubt, and a generally unhappy life"....

At Ease!  You have nothing to prove! (That's my new motto).  God created me to be creative, smart-ish, but every so slightly (or more so) air-headed.  Other women are so capable of multi-tasking and planning, and I'm just not!  I am an ordinary "pint person in a gallon world".  I do have positive qualities that make me a worthy part of the body of Christ, a useful citizen in my town, family, etc.
Don't let anyone, least of all yourself, expect your personality to include all the strengths and none of the weaknesses.  Enjoy the role God gave you.  Valorie Burton says, "... enjoy simple but profound pleasures.  Give yourself permission to be human and appreciate the ordinary."  SMILE! 

Laughter Yoga

*Laughter!*   Mainers know how important it is to implement happiness triggers during a long winter.  That's why the local newspaper is hosting a free Laughter session at the YMCA!  Judy just told me about it this week.  Thinking I'll make it part of my Happy Plan.  Moms - you could lay on the floor with the "cherubs" and see who can laugh the loudest, longest, etc.  :-0  What a kick! 

Smile! Especially on the bad days.

Happiness Trigger #2 is SMILE! 

"A Cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

"Happy feelings don't just bring a smile to your face.  A smile on your face brings happy feelings.  There is a feedback loop between your face and your feelings." Valorie Burton in "Happy Women Feel Better".  Valorie shares a bit of the science of happy hormones in Chapter 2.  So today, huddling inside due to church being cancelled and dangerous wind chills outside..... I'm going to SMILE at my mom and my dear husband, whether I feel like it or not.... Maybe I'll end up feeling it! 

Happiness Trigger #1 Anticipation

The first chapter in the book by Valorie Burton is about finding ways to enjoy anticipation, which was one of my lower scores.  I'm really not good at planning for future events.  So I put numbers on my calendar to count the days until our trip to PA to visit our daughters in April.  75 days and counting! ..... How to you enjoy anticipation - positive expectation?   

Happy Plan

We moved to Maine in 2012, and we knew that SNOW was a part of the deal.  And really, I do love the brilliant white with the sun reflecting brightly off it.... It really looks cheery to me.   But then, I detect a bit of the Cabin Fever creeping in.
Noticed, too that my attitude toward the people I see every day can sometimes get unjustifiably cranky.... Where's that sense of humor I need so very much!?

Add to that, the fact that I really, really, really want to lose weight and get back into the clothes that have gotten too tight..... and it's been dawning on me..... am I happy?  Well, it started when I considered why am I not losing weight?  I'm eating carefully, exercising more, and -nothing-.  Thinking about those people on the TV show, "Biggest Loser".... pretty much every single one of them has some despair or such trigger that was keeping them from losing.  How 'bout instead of going on a food diet, I focus on a Happy Plan? 

Then!  Focus on the Family interviewed Valorie Burton yesterday... she wrote the book "Happy Women Live Better".  I knew right away that reading that book had to be part of my Happy Plan.
In the introduction, she leads the reader to her Happy Woman Test .... learned that my Personal Triggers are Flow, Purpose, Savoring, Movement..... and my Power Triggers are Play, Winning Words, Service and Financial Savvy......   to be continued.....

Spinning.....

Over the past year I've really enjoyed getting together with some spinners in my area and gleaning from them.  Hatie and Liz and Dorothy have taught me so much, just by letting me be near them!  This week J&B Atlantic, a local store, invited us to come and sit and spin in their store, and meet people.  We met Dayana, an accomplished knitter new to the area, and look forward to meeting many more knitters and spinners in the coming weeks.  Hatie's handspun yarns and my hat kits are for sale at J&B, along with more and more "fiber-y finds"! 

Art: "This is how I see it."

When I was growing up, my brother Nathan was the family artist.  (If anything, I was the family talker.)  Flowers, frilly dresses, all pretty things delighted me.  Crayons and paints were among my favorite toys....but I was not the family artist.  Sometimes I asked to color the pictures Nate drew, but he wouldn't let me defile his pencil drawings for fear I'd obliterate his art.  So I stuck with the coloring books.....
Eventually I was taught all sorts of needle arts - embroidery of various kinds, sewing, as well as knitting and crocheting.  Thread began to replace crayons as I found I could make useful things to give as gifts or sell at the bazar to benefit the volunteer fire house..... but this was never seen as art.

But NOW!  Now, at last, my work is recognized as art!  The designs that take their shapes on my graph paper and then in knitted garments are expressions of my appreciation for the fascinating world around me.  Sometimes its nature, but also, often man-made beautiful creations draw my attention.

Supreme Court Tam 

My knitted designs show you, "this is how I see it."  That's art. 

Hats for Sale!

Lupine Meadow Tam

We are working on making labels for the finished wool hats we have for sale.  How incredibly complicated can a little label be!?  We are told people like information, and we're happy to share it with them.... but how much info can be expected to be on a garment tag?  A logo, care instructions, individual design inspiration and my biography... the price for the hat, the fact that our business qualifies for the "Maine Made" logo, room to punch a hole... wow!  It all adds up.  But soon, very soon, with all Stan's computer expertise and patience and my fussy critique, we will have labels to put on the hats that go into shops for sale.  If you visit Maine, look for Mrs Knitter Designs hand-knit hats in gift and artisan shops along the coast.  For more specific details on which shops, visit  Mrs Knitter Designs.

February Cheer

There's a lovey-dovey hat coming!  

Designing again

Next goal..... Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival!
I have several hat designs in my head, some partially on paper, or even charted in the computer program.  Now I'm getting at knitting them and preparing my part of the patterns so that "Mr" aka Stan can do his magic and make the patterns all pretty.  He also winds down the yarns to make the kits.  It all takes a lot of time, so I 'd better "get a wiggle on" as my Mom used to say!
Some of the ideas I'm working on: Lupines, Valentine's/Magenta Magpies/Love Birds, Falcons, Crabs, Loons, Buffalo Plaid..... Which ones will actually come to reality?!

October Traditions Tam

The pattern design that has been most popular this fall is my new "October Traditions."  We made up kits using the JaggerSpun colors I designed it in originally....

October Traditions Tam in JaggerSpun as in our kits

and then I began trying some Cascade 220 fingering  colors that I bought at Over the Rainbow Yarn in Rockland, Maine.  Since I bought a full skein each of 8 different colors, I could knit several hats, rearranging the colors any way I liked.  

October Traditions tam in Cascade 220 fingering

 Aren't they pretty!?  I think the mostly-rust one in the center is my favorite.  In the JaggerSpun, I really counted on their mustardy color called "Curry".  They have no good orange.  Cascade, on the other hand, had a good orange, but nothing like Curry.

Another autumn hat I enjoy knitting was originally designed in spring/summer colors.   It takes on a whole new look in autumn...

Trees in JaggerSpun

I really like the new look, and am going to use some Cascade to do it again.  

Random, Washable, One-of-a-kind hats

Norwegian Star

Pink Star

Burgundy Swirls tam

Burgundy Swirls tam

 I've been knitting away, enjoying the experience and letting the yarn tell me what it wants to be!  Self-striping sock yarn creates such lovely kaleidoscopes!

Swirls Flower slouch hat

Swirls Flower slouch hat

Swirls stocking cap

Swirls stocking cap

Want one?  Message me, as they are for sale!

Rainbow Slouch hat

Rainbow slouch hat

Rejoicing!

We will be busy this summer!  We are working now to fill an order for kits to be sold through The Mannings at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival next month.  Then we must also get kits made up to sell at the Boothbay Harbor Artisans co-op and the Lupine Cottage this summer.  Busy, busy, busy!!
We are putting our patterns up for sale on Ravlery, (go to Ravelry if you're a member) but if you want to make them using the same yarn and colors that I favor - buy a kit!  It's much better!

Rambling again... Rockland, Camden, Belfast

A few months ago Stan got a "Deal Chicken" deal for two nights at Camden's Country Inn.  We used them this week to visit the sights, yarn stores and friends in that area.  I also did a lot of reminiscing, since I went to high school in Rockport back in the '70's at  Glen Cove Christian Academy.

We enjoyed wandering around the "gift shop" districts of the sea port towns.  While we wandered around exploring Camden we discovered a new yarn store, the Cashmere Goat .  Misty took our card and went online to view our hat designs.

In Rockport, we left off some of our new designs at Over The Rainbow, a shop that already stocks our kits.  The staff there is always so friendly that I look forward to every visit.

The next day while we were exploring Belfast's shops, we came across Heavenly Socks.  Helen and Liz greeted us enthusiastically as we entered the shop, because I was wearing the Supreme Court hat, a design still in the prototype stage.  They were eager to ask about  it, so we had a great conversation.  Liz had lots of advice for us about how to sell the kits through Ravelry, so we came away from there with a bit of marketing education for which we are very grateful!

Then today - back at home - I got a phone call from Tammy at Maine Made.  We've been accepted into that program, and will be introduced on their Facebook page on April 24th... now to get a good photograph.  That was a struggle today as photography is not one of our best skills!  Miriam's helping, so we'll get it done.

Whew!  It has been an eventful week, and I'm ready to just sit and knit a while!

Rambling -- a little get-away to Seattle

We've traveling!  Stan and I have been holding on to some air-miles, and if we don't use them soon they'll expire, so we're going someplace we've never been.  Seattle.  Friends have given us some tips on the "must-sees" there.  AND... I was trying to decide what my travel knitting would be when the colors arrived for me to knit the Trees-at-Dusk/Summer Sunset hat out of Palette for the Knit Picks IDP.  So that's what I'll be working on while we travel.  Also have my Kindle all charged up, so I can read, too.