I have essentially two topics today. 1. Lined Knitted Mittens because it’s below zero here!! 2. Having faith even when you can’t see the road ahead.

1. It’s getting super cold here. It’s been down to 20 below zero already, I think. Most days when I get out, it’s around 0 to 10 degrees, and it’s getting colder every week. It normally gets to 30, 40, and sometimes 50 below zero here. YIKES! That is flat out COLD, let me tell ya!! BRRRRR.

Already, my leetle fingers, they are COOOLD!! 🙂

And when living in climates like this, one has to plug one’s car in every night and during the day if one works (why am I saying one? ha ha!!), and so digging around in the snow for that cord, plus dusting the snow off the car, makes for cold fingers.

SO!

I saw this delicious blog post here, which you simply MUST go check out. She is so amazing. All of her projects are delightful!! Really amazing stuff, and many of the things she makes are from her hand-spun yarn. Oh, yes. Heaven is knitting with your own hand-spun yarn.

She has inspired me to create some similar mittens! I want them to be an equal mixture of aesthetically beautiful and completely warm and functional.

I think I’ll look up patterns for this, as I feel like just following instructions on these. I could make up a pattern as I went, but since I’ve never created lined mittens before, I’ll go see if I can find a pattern on Ravelry. When knitting new things, it’s nice to use a pattern so you can learn new tips and tricks from the designer that you might not have thought of yourself. OH! I’m so excited!

Now my brain is tossing around what colors, which yarns… What to make the lining out of. Silk? MMM. Cashmere? Yum. Camel? Nice…. Alpaca? Oh, I can’t wait! I think I’ll go with a wild and crazy color for the lining. Maybe. That would be glorious. Only I would know the super secret truth that the inside of my mittens are flamboyant! Shhh. Well, now you know. Oops! 🙂

Yarn Options:

I thought about using this hand-spun yarn of mine, which I spun up a couple years ago:

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Isn’t it delicious? Wait, I’ve already used that word in this blog post. Isn’t it beautimus? I love it, but haven’t been able to find the perfect project for it. Maybe this is it!!

I also have this super, incredibly soft alpaca that I dyed black and then ran through my drum carder and then spun up into a worsted-weight yarn:

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It has a lovely, dense, buttery feel to it and alpaca is incredibly warm. Maybe this striped with the wool yarn above? Hmmm. Too crazy? Too 80’s?

Maybe I’ll be really brave and do some color work with these. HMMM! More updates later.

I do wish I had planned ahead, knowing it was going to get this cold and had already made these mittens. But!! I didn’t plan ahead. So it’s all good! I’ll get them whipped out hopefully soon. Which leads me into point number 2 of this blog post, which is all about having faith and being prepared for what you want most to be.

2. I wanted to share my delight with you over something amazing that happened! I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before but I am learning to trade stocks and stock options. Fun for me, but probably sounds snoringly boring to you. Anyhoo. A month ago I had applied for an account with my broker, only to be told I was not approved for the type of trading I was wanting to do.

Eek! I didn’t understand why, so, I opted for the only thing that I knew could save my buttocks. GOOGLE! I googled why this might have happened and realized I had typed in some information that might have been misleading (oops). I reapplied Monday and woke up this morning to find I had been approved!

WOO HOO!!! This is so fabulous! This is one of those little “miracles” that I’m so thankful for, that I could just burst!

Perhaps you’ve had similar situations in life where you essentially need something to occur and yet have no proof that it will.

This is where “faith” kicks in. Or positive thinking. Or whatever you want to call it. It’s that inner knowing that “what is best will work out in the perfect timing.” Period.

We must hold to this belief until we see the fruition of what we desire. Sometimes it can be difficult not to worry. I say, don’t try NOT to worry. Address how you feel, honestly and admit to yourself if you’re afraid. Then say, “You know what? What is best for my life WILL work out perfectly and in the perfect time. I know this.”

Repeat this to yourself as often as need be. Dozens, or hundreds of times per day until you believe it. This works serious miracles in my life and hopefully will for you as well!

Another thing that helps me to keep my mind focused is to ask myself if I have any problems in this moment now. Not one second ago. Not one second from now. Not one week from now. Or a month. Or a year. But RIGHT NOW. And the answer is always no. I can always handle what is before me. And in truth, we only have RIGHT NOW.

I pray you have a glorious, miracle-filled day! Let’s stay focused on our dreams and goals and continue on in faith with the tasks before us today, knowing we are exactly where we need to be in this moment now.

🙂