Knit or Knot » love

WIP Wednesday: Anniversary Edition

Heather — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:50:05 +0000

Life at our house has been crazy of late, leaving little time for blogging. Today I am trying to take time to catch up on things I’ve neglected. There has been knitting behind the scenes. The shawl I meant to wear to my brother’s wedding is nearly finished. I did not wear it to the wedding after all. A week before the wedding, I tried on the dress I was planning to wear. I had only worn it once and was looking forward to wearing it again…such a gorgeous dress! However, I discovered the dress was now several sizes too big! I lost some weight over the past year and never stopped to consider that the dress might not fit. So, in a fit of shopping frenzy, I looked madly for a new dress. (Anyone else have trouble finding clothes for small sized petites?) I found one in the nick of time, but since the shawl I was knitting did not match, I tossed the project aside.

I am keeping up with my 12 Pairs in 12 Months sock challenge. I finished my June socks on Monday. I did footy socks, which means I had to knit two pairs to get credit. Today, in a fit of inspiration, I got an idea for a sock pattern. I charted a pattern, jotted down notes, then promptly cast on. Details will be forthcoming when I actually have a knitted sock to show. I am also planning baby knits…my little sister is having a girl!

Today is also Benjamin & I’s 9th anniversary!!! It is still hard for me to believe we have been married for nine years. He is still my best friend and my favorite person to spend time with. Our plans for tonight include dinner and a quiet evening at home. We were at a gathering last night, and are spending time with family and friends the rest of the week, so an evening in sounds like a nice respite.

Happy Birthday

Benjamin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:52:59 +0000

Happy Birthday Heather!

-Benjamin

A busy week, a new blog, and a sappy ending.

Heather — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:10:36 +0000

It has been a very long and busy week! I have worked quite a bit, and when not working I was busy sandwiching in appointments. Sewing was also a big part of my week. My new machine is a dream to sew on, and so much nicer than my old one. I took a quilting class, and today I finished my very first machine-pieced quilt top! (Sorry…it is too dark now for pictures. I will post some soon.) I have not yet decided whether to quilt it by hand or wait for the machine quilting class. I already have fabric for a second quilt, and ideas for a third. Whew! I am going to be busy! I have another class tomorrow morning. This one teaches me all of the ins and outs of the new machine. I have figured out all of the basics, but I know there is still much to learn.

My husband has been so nice and supportive of my sewing. He does not mind if I steal away in the evenings to work a bit on a project, and he has commented positively on my quilt-in-progress. He recently started a blog of his own, and this week he came home with a sly grin and told me I had to read his most recent post because it was about me. Actually, it was his side of our story. He usually makes me tell it when people ask, or we both tell pieces of it together, so I liked reading his perspective without any of my interjections. Being a man of not-so-many words much of the time, the length of his post surprised me. I was both pleased and amused by his use of literary quotes, especially the first one. It is a line from one of my favorite books:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

My husband knows me well. He knows of my love for literature and knew that quote would pique my interest. Literary quotes aside, it was my husband’s closing paragraphs that touched me the most and echo my sentiments exactly. He is my husband, my best friend, and my life-long mate.

Eight

Heather — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:29:01 +0000

Today, my husband and I celebrate eight wonderful years of marriage! Wow…we look so young in that picture! I cannot say enough good things about Benjamin. He is a wonderful husband and a pillar of strength. He was very supportive through the pregnancy and bedrest (he even worked from home so that he could be helpful to me) and then through the loss of our child. He was with me at the doctor’s appointments, went to the store for any need I had, and did not mind that I loafed around in sweats and no makeup while dishes piled up in the sink. He works so hard to provide for us and even worked a second job for 3 1/2 years (until his contract expired last Saturday) while also going to school. He is handsome, affectionate, and my best friend.We both truly believe that our marriage is a very good one. We made a promise of “till death do us part” in the eyes of God and men, signed our names to that contract, and firmly believe in upholding it. Because we both agree that divorce is not an option, we are not looking for a way out of our marriage. We are stuck (in a good way) and there is no back door to escape through. Through all of life’s joys and challenges, we stand firmly together with the help of God. I think that since marriage is a permanent thing and we do not have a way out of it, then our life together becomes whatever we make of it. It can be good or it can be awful, but it is our choice which it will be. We can each be rude, selfish, and unforgiving, or we can overlook one another’s faults and readily forgive shortcomings. If my husband can overlook all of my faults and love me just the way I am, then surely I can do the same for him. Happy anniversary, Benjamin – I love you!

For our anniversary this year, we are not exchanging gifts. Instead, we splurged on one big gift for both of us: new living room furniture! I am so excited about the new furniture. Our…ahem…vintage furniture was well past its prime. During our first few years of marriage we accumulated the mis-matched furniture that young newlyweds with little money are prone to accumulate: a denim couch that looked very worn very quickly (yeah, we forgot to think about what happens to a favorite pair of jeans), a third-hand recliner that smelled of cigarettes – even after Febreeze and a slipcover, and a parisian style bowl chair. When we bought our house, we were offered a set of matching furniture. Though it was not particularly my taste (maybe I could pass it off as granny-chic?), it was a neutral color and in fairly good condition, considering its age. So we have lived with it for several years, despite the worn spots, popping buttons, and lack of firmness in the seat cushion. The couch became damaged beyond repair several weeks ago when my husband accidentally sat on one of those flowing ink pens. The ink stain was bad: dark blue on a taupe couch. Benjamin diligently tried to remove the ink, and was successful in removing much of it, but the fabric did not hold up under the blotting and rubbing. We now have a stain and a rip in the middle of the seat cushion. Benjamin made the announcement that we were going to get new furniture a couple of weeks ago and the search began. Last night we made our final decision and the new set should be delivered in a couple of weeks! I must stay that our stimulus check was very helpful in making this purchase. (Thanks, Uncle Sam.) Below is a before pictures of the old furniture, taken a couple of years ago. (The chair in the foreground of the pictures has since been moved to the right, beside the entertainment center and next to the ledge, where the footstool is in the pictures.

I will share the after pics when the new furniture arrives!

*~*~*

I also want to say a big *thank you* to those of you who took the time to call, email, or leave a comment about the miscarriage. My husband and I appreciate all of the kind words and prayers.

News, News, & More News

Heather — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:31:34 +0000

This weekend was a busy one. I was hit with a case of insomnia not able to sleep on Friday night (I think it was a combination of adrenaline and knowing that I needed to sleep in order to get out of bed by 4 a.m.) We dropped off the newlyweds at the airport before 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. They made it safely to Chicago. Since we were already halfway there, my husband just proceeded to head into work for his Saturday job. He cannot get into the building until 7 a.m., so we stopped at Starbucks for coffee. We were still early, so we had egg souffles at St. Louis Bread Co. (That’s Panera Bread to those of you outside the St. Louis area.) I did some Christmas shopping and puttered around a few knitting shops while Benjamin worked. I was looking for the perfect yarn for some Christmas knitting and found it after a couple of false attempts. After my hubby finished working, we finally made our way home. I arrived feeling exhausted but jittery from too much adrenaline and caffeine from the craziness of the past 24 hours. After a refreshing shower, I crashed and slept hard until time to get up for church on Sunday morning. After church and a birthday lunch for my husband’s aunt, we even managed to not only get a new tree this year, but to decorate it as well.

Last night we picked up the new Mr. & Mrs. Smith from the airport at about 10:45 p.m. They came out of the terminal looking like the blissful newlyweds that they are. They said they had a great time in Chicago. They did a lot of walking and managed to visit Navy Pier, the magnificent mile, the John Hancock Building, and several malls. I probably managed to leave out some of the other things they told us.

Prior to all of these crazy goings on, I had other news to share: I both got a new job and consequently gave my two weeks notice for my current position!!!!!! I have been having shoulder problems for about six months now. I have seen doctors, done physical therapy, and had steroid injections. The only options my doctor can suggest for me are to either have surgery or quit my job (typing for hours on end). I definitely would prefer to avoid surgery at all costs. I had been approached several months ago when purchasing fabric in a local fabric/yarn shop. I was wearing one of my hand knitted shawls when one of the ladies in the shop approached me. She asked if I had knitted my shawl, and I replied that I had. She then asked if I would be interested in teaching knitting! Of course I replied that I would love to teach knitting! Long story short, life was busy and I had not been in to the shop in a while. When I went in a couple of weeks ago, I was instantly greeted and told they had been waiting for me to come in. They took down my contact information and I soon got a call from the owner. I had an interview last week and was subsequently offered a part time job teaching knitting classes and working in the shop! I promptly accepted the offer and gave notice to my current employer. One of the best perks of the new job: discounts on yarn and fabric!

I also received some of Heather Bailey’s beautiful Freshcut fabric in the mail today! They will be making their way into my shop shortly. I have a very limited quantity of each of these fabrics, so I am thinking of offering a special limited edition of my bags with slightly different proportions to make the best use of the fabric.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Heather — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:20:14 +0000

I almost called this post “Shock and Awe.” My baby sister Sarah decided to surprise the whole family by getting married today. She called me AFTER the wedding to tell me.

Oh, I forgot to mention that they had not yet even announced their engagement. My parents at least found out last night and were present at the wedding. I really, really wish I could have been there. She was getting so much flack from her friends about it that she was scared of negative criticism and did not want to tell anyone. Her new husband said she was so scared to tell my dad that she nearly had a panic attack, poor girl. My husband and I both suspected something was up at Thanksgiving dinner and were expecting an announcement that day. Something in their eyes gave it away. When they did not say anything, we thought maybe it was coming at Christmas, but they just could not wait that long.

I was told they were planning to wait a year to get married, but he is in the reserves and is being sent to another state in January for nine months. They did not want to be separated for that amount of time, so they planned a secret wedding. They got rings and she bought a wedding dress. After the wedding, she called me from the courthouse and told me the news. Then they went to visit the photographer, so at least I will see pictures of her in her dress.

This evening the whole family gathered together for an impromptu wedding dinner at our family’s favorite restaurant. Sarah had changed from her wedding gown into a cocktail dress because she did not want to wear her wedding dress to the restaurant. At least my mom took some snapshots of them at the courthouse and I will get to see pictures when they get the proofs back from the photographer. I had heard that she did not have a bouquet at her wedding, so I hastily visited the florist on the way to dinner and had a bouquet of red roses, white baby’s breath, and Christmas greenery made for her. Every girl should have a bouquet on her wedding day; it was the least I could do. There were fourteen of us present at the dinner, and it was nice to congratulate them and wish them well.

Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Smith!

Seven

Heather — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 04:50:35 +0000

Today Benjamin and I celebrated seven years of marriage. He is a wonderful man, and the best mate God could have given me. He is my best friend.

I look at that wedding picture and think about how young we were, and how naive and untried. But we were so eager to embrace the future. We have had our triumphs and struggles, but I would not change anything. I love him more now than the day we married…so much more. As he told me today, “Seven years down, seventy to go.” Does he honestly think we will make it to 100+? Probably not, but we will grow older together for as many years as God gives us.

(If you are curious, last year I shared a bit of our story.)

Back from Vacation.

Heather — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:32:02 +0000

I hope everyone had as nice of a holiday week as I did. My husband was on vacation all week, so we spent time together and with friends. I really did not mean to be absent from my blog for so long but we had so much to do and so little time.

On Saturday, July 1st my husband and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. He truly is one of the best things that ever happened to me. We have a very different story from most couples that we know. My husband and I did not date each other. We were introduced by a friend of my mother’s, and we did not experience any initial attraction. We got along well and had many similar interests, so we remained friends. He was nice but not to my taste, you see. (I judged him before I really knew him and made some assumptions about him.) I even tried to introduce him to other girls. Well, over time we became better friends. We kept in contact when I transferred to another college 800 miles from home. When I came home for the summer, we spent most of our free time together. It was all purely platonic and we did not even speak about dating each other. In the fall when I went back to college, I realized how much a part of my life that he was. Whenever something would happen I would think, “I wonder what he would think about that,” or “I cannot wait to share this news with him,” etc. Even when guys at school would ask me out, I would turn them down because I just was not interested. Then an unfortunate set of circumstances caused me to have to leave school in the middle of the semester. I was devestated. So, I packed up and went home. When I had been home five weeks, I was cleaning the house with my mom one day when I said, “Mom, I just don’t know what I would do if Benjamin were not in my life anymore. I mean, if he started dating some girl or just did not want to spend time with me anymore, I just don’t know what I would do.” That night, he came to pick me up for our usual Tuesday night Bible study. I had called to see if he was on his way, and I was a bit frustrated because we were going to be late. When I answered the door, he stood there with a rose beautifully wrapped with greenery and baby’s breath and tied with a ribbon. Thinking this was a peace offering, I said thank you and turned to find a vase. He said, “Wait, I’m not finished yet,” and pulled me over to sit down. There, in my parent’s living room before Bible study on a Tuesday night, Benjamin asked me to marry him. He presented me with a giftwrapped box which my nervous fingers could not seem to unwrap. When he finally got the question out, I said “Yes!” before I even got the box open. Inside the box was a beautiful marquis cut diamond and platinum ring. He had picked it out several weeks before and was waiting for the setting to be custom made for my small size 4 finger. (He guessed on the size and the ring fit perfectly!) That night we held hands for the very first time. We even made it to Bible study and were only five minutes late…we walked in grinning like the cat who swallowed the canary, and I kept my hand with the ring in my pocket until we made our announcement. I found out not long after that that everyone knew he was planning this except me (including my mother who I had spoken with earlier that day). I married my best friend seven months later.

For our anniversary we had planned to go to on a day hike, but with humid 100+ degree temperatures we opted at the last minute to go to Bonne Terre Mine, which is about an hour south of St. Louis. This is not the low ceilinged mine with wood supports that we all see in the movies, but rather a large stone cave-like mine with 50 foot ceilings supported by very large stone columns. My husband and I enjoy caving, so this seemed like an interesting place to explore. (Since we have been married, we have visited Meramec Caverns, Marvel Cave, and Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave’s Introduction to Caving tour was a wonderful experience, and we both highly recommend it to others interested in caving. It gives an opportunity to get off of the lighted and paved tour trails and explore the “non tourist” parts of the cave with a guide.) Anyway, Bonne Terre Mine was both an interesting and educational experience. The cave was shut down in the 1960’s after lead was declared to be hazardous. When the workers left, they did not know that the mine would be closing permanently, so everything is where they left it that day. There is also a nearby lake fed by an underground spring. When the mine closed the pumps were stopped and the mine filled with water. There are five levels to the mine, and levels 5, 4, 3, and part of 2 are filled with water. The 4th level down housed the stable for the mules, a cafeteria, and even a bowling alley. The water that filled the mine is exceptionally pure and crystal clear. It has a low oxygen content and therefore everything has been well preserved without rust or corrosion. Scuba divers go down to explore these underwater sections of the cave. Diving this mine was rated as the #10 adventure in America by National Geographic a couple of years ago. We did both the walking and the boat tour, and now my husband has the bug to learn to Scuba dive. I must say, I am a bit claustrophobic and never dreamed of wanting to dive, but I am definately interested in exploring more of that mine and now considering learning to dive. It would be another thing for us to do together and the history lover in me really wants to see that frozen piece of history. There is even a train down there. It is an undisturbed archeological site that has not greatly deteriorated with time.

And for some knitting content…

Since I had to occupy myself during the car trip, I worked on my footy socks. I am hoping to get the second one finished soon. I have not decided whether to add the pom poms or not.