A good hike

A couple of weeks ago, Jon and I took Lucky for a hike in the foothills of the Sandias. It was pretty uneventful, although we did get a couple of really cute pics.

Jon, waving at me and Lucky.

Lucky, aspiring to get to where Jon is. Lucky likes ice :)
Lucky likes to eat ice. Don't ask. There was a steep rock face on our hike. Lucky kept trying to climb it and kept falling back down, so after a few attempts, I stayed where I could see him, and Jon climbed a little higher up. Here is Lucky, desperate to follow us up higher. Poor guy.

Ravelry

I am currently obsessed with Ravelry. Ok, not just currently, but for a while, i guess. It's a social networking site for knitters and crocheters. Geeky, right? But I love it. You can find patterns, find out how they turned out, see all designs by that designer, queue your patterns, stash your yarn and knitting books, meet other knitters, join all kinds of groups that have to do with everything under the sun, and show off all your own projects. I can't believe no one thought of it before. It has been nothing short of a REVOLUTION in my knitting life. For those of you non-knitters, smile and nod, and reconfirm that I am nuts. For those of you knitters, do yourself a favor and get on ravelry. Step two: make me your friend - my user name is Luckysmom. (big surprise on that one:)

Wrestling with God

"Our faith is not in words. Our faith is in a person. Our faith is in God, who is revealing the divine self to us in Christ and in the lives of the Body of Christ. The word calls us into a personal dialogue, not a slavish idealism of words, not a rigid love affair with ideas. That is fundamentalism.
The scriptures call us into a personal struggle like Jacob’s. He wrestled with the angel of Yahweh (Genesis 32:24-31). In that personal involvement, in our personal wrestling match with the mystery of God, we come to faith. Faith is not just another competing ideology. It is more a process than a conclusion, more a way of relating than a way of explaining, more a wrestling match than a classroom lesson."
- Richard Rohr - from The Great Themes of Scripture

I have a bumper sticker on my car that says "Faith is a journey, not a guilt trip". Same basic idea. I really resonate with RR on the subject of faith, both this piece and another I included several months ago. I think he gets it right.

Christmas knitting revealed

Well, I can finally reveal (at least most of) the Christmas knitting. I didn't do as much as some years, because I did a lot of birthday knitting throughout the year for my friends and family.

Here is a hat I made for Jon. I used a couple of different Scandinavian/Norwegian patterns. The bottom snowflake pattern was from The Knitting Bible, and the top triangular pattern was from a picture of a sweater in an L.L. Bean catalog. The yarn was undyed yarn from a small booth at the Taos Wool Festival. The booth was "The Fiber Fanatic". I dyed about half of it dark navy blue, and left the rest undyed. The rest of the pattern was just basically "custom estimated" for Jon's head.

The snowflake pattern: Snowflakes and triangles: The hat on me: Jon, looking very Norwegian:

The other hat I made is for my Aunt. It is the "Tweed Beret" from Interweave Knits from who-knows-what-year. Very simple pattern, quite fun and quick. I used Eroica yarn and the color is somewhere between pink and red. She liked the hat, I think. It fit her very well.
The hat on me:

Close-up of the interesting bottom shaping. There's one more to come, but I haven't given it to the recipient yet, so it will be revealed later.

Advent Prayer

"O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care: Come. O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel, you showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush and you gave the holy law on Mount Sinai: Come. O Flower of Jesse's stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all people; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you: Come. O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel, you [not the systems of this world] control at your will the gate of heaven: Come break down the prison walls of death. O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: Come shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; o Keystone of the mighty arch of humankind: Come and save these creatures you fashioned from the dust. O Emmanuel, God-With-Us, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Savior of all people: Come and set us free.
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." Amen. Lord Jesus, come soon! Lord Jesus, come and free us from the prisons of death. We ask for it together as his people. And we ask for it in Jesus' name. Amen. "
- Richard Rohr, from Preparing for Christmas with Richard Rohr

Men and Women Together

"St. Paul says, "There can be neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). The new humanity that we are pointed toward is not neuter, unisex or oversexed, all of which make love impossible. In Christ we are whole, one, in union, integrated. The self becomes wholly holy. That is the final product of the Spirit making all things one. It is the consummate achievement of God in Christ, who reconciles all things within himself (Colossians 1:20) and invites us into the ongoing reconciliation of all things (Ephesians 1:3–14).
Men must be converted to the feminine, women to the masculine. Maybe that is why God made sexual attraction so compelling. If we are converted to the non-self, everything changes. Thereby we approach authentic religious conversion toward the utter not-me: God. From the whole—and center—position, we see through eyes other than our own half-blinded ones. We see the other side of things and forgiveness becomes possible. We see that the enemy is not enemy but spiritual helpmate. Once we have met and accepted our inner opposite, there is nothing more to defend and nothing more to be afraid of."
- Richard Rohr, from from Radical Grace, "Masculine Spirituality"

My (big) baby and me

Who's your mommy?