FO - Rainbow Scarf 1

I was going to write a longer post yesterday, but blogger was not working. Today I'm busy with several other things, so this will be short. Maybe. You know how I am - I know how I am! {{grin}}

First, here is my current Finished Object:
I wasn't sure I really liked this as I was working on it on the loom. I didn't tighten the last 6 warp threads on the left enough and the farther I wove, the looser they became. I finally resorted to finding a small dowel rod, wrapping the extra warp around it and securing it so I could continue weaving without fighting with excess warp drooping all over the place on that side. That worked really well, until I was finished and the scarf was off the loom.

After taking it off, I realized that both sides were way too loose. Fortunately, the way I wove this, I could grab hold of those warp threads and pull them taut. Took a bit longer than usual, but it worked.

I also was not sure how to finish the ends. I need to find some different methods, which means I need to not be afraid to experiment. These scarves are truly experiments - teaching myself how to do different things on the loom. I am not an expert and should not expect perfection from myself. If I don't try, I won't learn...which means I really need to go throw a couple of these things in the washer and see what happens. I've been afraid to wash them here because I don't have a dryer. Hmmmm - be right back!

Ok, two scarves in the washer right now with a load of sheets. So, this is probably not how you are supposed to wash them, right? But this is probably how they are going to be washed later, so might as well see how they turn out!

Back to this FO scarf...

I am going to try this pattern again with a different color scheme. I'm also going to try it using two shuttles and weaving both sides at the same time (left side with one shuttle, right side with the other shuttle) while leaving the center threads alone for 5 or 6 rows again. Then I'll manipulate the center threads with my fingers and a pick-up stick and bring the right shuttle through them as before. We'll see how this turns out. I'm hoping it will give more substance to the edges. Also, I'll make sure those side warp threads are as tight as they need to be at the beginning!!

I like the overall look of this pattern. Therefore, I want to do at least one more scarf with it, that time not having any solid side at all - just another pattern repeat. Should make the scarf bow in and out as I go from pattern to plain weave to pattern again. We'll see. I won't know unless I try - right?

I also like the rainbow effect of this scarf. I had to use an orange that is much softer than the other yarn, though. In a way that is good because this orange is so bright. It would be overwhelming if it was as thick as the other yarn - I think. I'm also thinking of other ways to use the rainbow stripes because one side is so bright and the other is so dark. We'll see!

I have enough thoughts on scarves to last me at least 5 years.

hahahahaha!

Also, I've discovered something I can make with the loom waste. I'm weaving the longer pieces by tying them together and making little squares. I've got 12 done so far and 3 of those 12 woven together in a strip with a black 1/3rd size block inbetween each of them. I'm planning to do a few strips and then weave them together to make a very unusual woven blanket/afghan. I'm having fun with it - it's quick and I can work on it while talking on Skype or listening to a sermon here at my desk. I'll post photos of it when I get farther along. Each block is completely different because of the different lengths of yarn being tied together.

I don't have anything on the loom right now. Am taking a break for a few days to work on my embroidered blanket. I have decided that this is the best way for me not to get burned out by either one and end up with more unfinished objects - UFOs.

About 3 weeks ago I ordered some embroidery stuff via a well-known handcraft catalog in the States. I was pleased, while looking at their on-line catalog, to see that they now deliver to Ukraine! (Actually, I couldn't miss that fact - they had a nice little Ukrainian flag at the top of each page and a statement saying that they deliver to Ukraine now. :-) ). So, I bit the bullet and tried and experiment.

It used to be a lost cause to have stuff sent over here via postal service. Either the box would be opened and stuff missing, or it would never arrive at all, or you'd have to pay a large customs fee to get it out of "jail" at the post office here. But...we got a box from my parents ok (I think I wrote about that a couple weeks ago), so I thought I'd try again.

And it worked! About 10 or 11 days after they mailed it, there was a notice in our box that we needed to pick it up from OUR post office! Mel got the notice, went to the counter and by the time I arrived, he was already outside with it. I had been delayed while taking photos of some beautiful bushes in bloom that still had raindrops on some of the leaves:

Here are two photos for your enjoyment!

So, I may just order a few more things from this company in the future. I'm also going to see if one of the shoe catalog companies will mail to Ukraine. As it is now, when we need new shoes, we have them sent to my parents and then my parents send them on to us. (Mel wears a 15 and I wear a women's 12 - you just can't buy those sizes here!) That means double postage/shipping costs, so if a company will send them directly to us - voila! Only one shipping cost.

We'll see if that works. :-) :-)

What a Beautiful Sunset

Mel and I picked up the mail this afternoon on our way to the post office to mail out our Christmas cards and prayer/update letters. I've often wondered what the mail delivery person thinks about the mail that comes to this address. There are several names and last names that get mail here: my parents of course - this is actually their house after all!, Mel and me, our son Andrew, our daughter and son-in-law, and my nephew and niece still often get advertisements here, too. That's a total of 4 last names right there. Then my aunt and uncle got mail here for awhile after their house was foreclosed on and they lived here for 9 months. Two of my sisters still get an occasional piece of mail here, each under their married names. It's pretty amazing, actually. The mail boxes started out as TWO old fashioned mail boxes with a red flags on the sides. That was 40 years ago. Yes, 40 years ago. Wow. Where did the time go? Now, just around the corner from where that box was, are located 5 or 6 multi-box boxes. I don't know how many people live down this side county road now, but I know it was originally two families. Now - possibly 25 or more from the number of boxes. Some of the boxes are for people who live farther up the main county road as well. Every once in awhile, the post office puts in another post with more of those locked boxes on it.
Mel opened my parents' box and right there on the very top of the stack of mail were 2 notices that mail needed to be picked up at the Tamarack branch post office. Our visas had arrived. So, we drove on down to the main post office and bought stamps, stuck stamps on envelopes and then gave them to the clerk behind the counter. Then we drove north out of town - well, it used to be OUT of town, now it's just to the north end of town - and went to the second post office. We had to wait in line for about 15 or 20 minutes. And then, suddenly it seemed like, our whole world did a major shift. We held our passports in hand, looking at bright shiny visas that told us, and the world, that we could live in Ukraine legally for the next 12 months.We've been expecting these visas. We've prayed for these visas to arrive in a timely manner. Part of me said, "Well, it's about time." And another part of me cried out, "No! Not yet! How can I leave my home, my family, Colorado? I'm not ready!"

It seems that we have been living in a crack between two worlds for so long now that I'm not sure what it's going to be like to actually live 'for reals' in one of those worlds completely. A part of me is mourning. A part is rejoicing. I confess - mostly I am mourning.

My parents are elderly and both have had major surgery this year. My father is on 24/7 oxygen now and has fluctuating blood sugar levels. My mother is still recovering from her stroke 18 months ago, although most people would never realize she'd had one, she has recovered so well at this point. She is still recovering from her shoulder surgery this summer. It is difficult for me to leave them now.

My kids are doing well, overall, although this was a very difficult year for our daughter and her family. I dread leaving my grandkids... I don't think I can even write about it at this moment. Pain. Real, emotional pain.

So, Mel and I picked up our mail and then we went shopping for a few items. And then we came home, to my parents' home. And God gave me a blessing. As we came out of the UPS shop, where we bought a box to prepare stuff for shipping to Ukraine, the sky was ablaze in color. Mel drove up a road we know has a good view of the sky and this is where I took these photos tonight.

I know that I will not see beautiful skies until we come home from Ukraine. Colorado skies are Western skies and Western skies do not exist in Ukraine. We seldom see the sky in Ukraine, especially in the winter months - we see white or unbroken gray, but no sky. God gave me a gift tonight and I will hold onto it.

He will hold onto me.
He will not let me go.
I have His promise.

Two Old People

Late last week I went to the post office to check the mail. I had a notice that there was a box for me, so I went up to the counter.

Lyuda was helping a guy wrap a box he was mailing. I watched in interest because I have wrapped thousands of boxes for shipping and mailing. Thousands. Many thousands over the 4+ years I was supervisor in the mailroom. I rather enjoy packing a box, wrapping it as needed with tape, weighing it, fixing the postage on it and then shipping it off to other parts of the world.

Can I really believe I am getting sentimental over seeing someone get a box wrapped up with packing tape? Strange. Oh well... I did enjoy that job tho, yes, I did. ha ha

There was an old babushka waiting behind the guy. I thought she was with him because she was right behind him and neither one of them were in The Line, waiting to talk to the gal behind the glass partition. As soon as Lyuda saw me, she motioned that she needed to finish wrapping the box up and then she would help me. The old babushka started talking to her then, asking about her pension. Lyuda answered her while finishing the wrapping. No, she had no pension for her, she had no pension for anyone right then, she didn't know when the pensions would come in.

The man paid his postage to the other gal behind the counter and left. Lyuda went to get my box - a little box from amazon.com. She handed it over the counter to me and both the babushka and I stepped forward and reached for it. I actually ran right into her. Surpised, I looked at her and said, "Excuse me!" and then took the box. I realized right away that this woman was quite confused. Babushka then left while I looked at the package and squirreled it away in my bag.

I went outside and there she stood, tall and thin and not dressed quite correctly. Now I had noted inside that she had no hat on and the wind was quite cold and blowing hard. She had on a thin wool coat that was buttoned most of the way up, but no scarf. She had on boots, but no gloves, and one of her hands was fake, a prosthesis of some sort.

I stopped at the bottom of the steps, looked at her and said, "Are you warm?" I should have asked her if she was cold, but the first thing that came to mind was warm - was she warm enough? She looked at me in puzzlement and said, "Warm????" And then took off in a lot of Russian which I partially understood. But I said to her, "I'm sorry, I'm a foreigner and I don't speak Russian well."

Well, that got her started going on about how much she liked foreigners and how kind they are and so forth and so on and we started walking together. I kept my eye on her because I really was worried about her. She was not dressed right for a babushka outside in the winter. She was missing several layers of clothing, or so it seemed to me, the missing hat and scarf being the most obvious.

We got to the first corner and she stopped in puzzlement and said, "Where are we? What street is this? Is this xxxx street?" I answered, "No, xxxx street is farther that way" and I pointed ahead of us. No way was I going to let her go off by herself at that moment. So, we started walking on together and she kept chatting.

We got to the next alley way and she stopped, looked around and asked me again where xxxx street was at. I pointed just a bit up the street, just a few more yards. I asked her if this was where she wanted to go and she said (really she said this, I understood it) "Maybe I want to go over there" and she pointed in a vague direction toward some of the buildings down the alley.

But then she started walking on to the corner, and then stopped again. "Where are we? What street is this?" I pointed to the street sign posted on the corner of the building. It said xxx street 70. Then I asked where which number she wanted. "76" and she turned and walked off down the street.

I wasn't sure what to do at that point. Follow her? I was headed the opposite direction. Go up to the next building and see what number it was? I knew that down the street the way she was going she was going to pass a long factory and I just couldn't imagine that 76 was that way. But I wanted to make sure. So, I quickly started walking toward the next building, just a few meters farther up the road. Part way there I turned around to make sure I could still see her and

she was gone. Disappeared. Nowhere to be seen.

I stopped and stared down the street. There was no place for her to go, unless she had immediately turned around after I started up the street and had gone back to the post office, or maybe down the alley she had vaguely pointed toward. Maybe she was afraid of me and so misled me in where she was going? I quickly walked up to the next building and sure enough it was 72. I turned again - still no old babushka in sight.

I started praying. The light was getting to the point where with the cataract I have in my right eye now I have a hard time judging depth. I don't like to walk alone that time of evening because I am afraid I'm going to trip and fall, break one of my new knee caps or do some other bodily damage simply because I can't see the potholes or dips in the sidewalk very well.

I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't go hunt this woman down. So I prayed. I prayed all the way over to the main street. I prayed while I shopped. I prayed while I quickly walked home on the well-lighted street.

I've never seen her before. I don't know if I'll ever see her again. I feel kind of guilty that I didn't offer her my hat. I just pray, even now, that she made it home safe and sound and is ok.

~*~*~*~
Yesterday Mel and I walked over to the post office and then on to the store. We did our shopping and then came out of the building. Walking in front of us was an older man with a white cane.

I have seen the man several times in the general area of the store, either coming or going. He does very well. He wears very thick glasses, but doesn't really look at where he is going. My guess is that he has macular degeneration so looks at things out of the 'corners' of his eyes, but he uses the cane because he, is for all intents and purposes, blind.

We caught up to him just as the sidewalk narrows down to a one person width. We could have hurried around him on the side, but I wasn't in the mood to hurry like that right then. We both slowed down and walked behind him until we got to the stop down, off the cement sidewalk and on to the asphalt walk-way.

At that point I was watching him very carefully. I was sure he knew the step was there somewhere, and he did note it with the long cane. But he tripped on the gutter dip that was put in just before the step.

At the exact time he tripped and started to fall forward and to the right, Mel tried to pass him on the right. He hit Mel with a thud, immediately caught his balance, Mel stepped back, they both stepped down and I followed after them both.

All I could think of was: God ordained that Mel would be at that exact spot so as to keep that old fellow from falling and possibly hurting himself badly. He would have gone down a full 6 inches off the step, onto the paved walk-way and maybe then into the dirt.

We followed him all the way to the street, where we all crossed safely and then he took off at a fairly brisk walk, tapping his cane here and there. Mel and I walked on home, Mel helping me in the almost dark when I had trouble seeing exactly where the dips and potholes in the sidewalk were at.

~*~*~*~

I've thought a lot about those two old people. I've wondered at the way God works. It is no accident that Mel and I were at those two places at exactly those times. Two old people who needed help and no one else was there.

I will be thinking about these two happenings a lot. There is much to mull over in my mind - about the old people here, about us here, about how there are no accidents with God, about God Himself and the way He works in our individual lives.

There is a lesson to be learned here, more that just the simple facts that immediately meet the eye.

I will enjoy seeking it out and learning it.

Contrasts

Ok, so I was really grumpy this morning for reasons that will remain unwritten. I looked out the window and saw this, sitting there for the 2nd or 3rd day in a row. Fit my mood exactly somehow. (if you can't tell what it is, click on the photo and make it bigger)

Later today, after rearranging part of the office room so I can eventually rearrange the livingroom for Christmas, I went over to the post office. They were only able to get 85 postcards for me, but I got the full 100 stamps. I'll pick up other postcards or cards as I need them during the Christmas season. Shockeroo - as I walked in to the post office, there was one woman with an older child standing at a table putting a box of stuff together (looked like a bunch of apples and other produce to me) getting it ready to mail, and one woman just finishing at the window! I walked right up to the window. Wow!

I went early just in case I had a long line. It makes me wonder - maybe some of the stuff they have always done at the post office before is now being done some place else? Like paying out the pensions. I still see the newspapers, dish detergent, soap and stuff for sale. The head woman there, Lyuda, has not been in the last 3 times I've been there, so maybe she's gone some place else to do that? Or, possibly the next time I go over there will be a line out the door again. Time will tell.

I finished that errand early, walked over to the main bus stop and waited until just the right trolleybus came along. A newer one, not one of the old clunkers. I could have taken several other trolleys or marshrutkas before that one came along, but since I was almost an hour early for the next thing I needed to do, I thought, "why take just any old transport?" ha!

I got off at the bus stop in front of the internaught. Or maybe that is spelled internot. It is NOT internEt, but naught or not. That is the orphanage. I was to meet Melinda there at 4 and I arrived about 3:30. She arrived at 4:05 or so. I knew I was going to be early, and I knew there was no place to sit there, but I figured I didn't want to go back home for just 15 minutes (you never know about getting the right transport, so it's best to give yourself plenty of time - that's my thinking on it anyway).

I did not get out my camera because there were so many people walking by, but a very nice homeless dog kept me company the whole time I waited. I really liked that dog. A lot. I almost called Jamie and Julia to see if they would like a dog. I thought about seeing if Mel would let me keep him, but he was just too big for our little flat. He was obviously well cared for not long ago, but now very hungry since I could see most of his ribs. He kept checking everyone out - are you my master? are you my mistress? will you feed me? But he was not annoying, just kind of desperate. Oh, he broke my heart! I prayed for that dog. I prayed that God would give him a good home. And then I thought, maybe that dog was an angel in disguise, sent there just to keep me company, safe and sound while all those guys walked by. It seems that area has a lot of youngish men in it and while they were probably all safe, who knows? Everyone thought he was my dog because he stayed within 5 feet of me almost the whole time, often standing right beside my leg. Oh - I wanted to bring him home! I apologized to him, out loud, verbally. It was hard.

Then a little truck pulled up, drove around me, parked and two guys got out. I wondered at first what in the world they were doing? Right beside me on the intersection of two sidewalks! Then the driver started untying the big long ladder on the back of the truck and the other guy got out some bricks from the back of the truck (the bricks eventually were placed under one leg of the ladder to make it level while the guy climbed it - no OSHA here, no-sir-ee!). Aha! I'd been standing just a couple meters away from one of those big ugly billboards and they were there to replace the ad on it.

I kind of chuckled to myself because I had looked up at that ugly ad several times and thought many thoughts about it. First - it was for the main guy for the Socialist Party here in Ukraine. Second - the colors were garish to me, magenta and turquoise strips (top blue, bottom pink). Third - his name/signature was cut in half so that the top half of each letter was about 5 inches to the right of the bottom half of each letter. Since it was in script, like a copy of his signature, it was unreadable unless you already knew his name (I did). The back side of the billboard was exactly the same, only not offset. So, these guys started redoing the side away from me, the exact same ad, in non-faded paper. Makes me wonder if there really is an election coming up?

Melinda arrived when they were about half done and we walked away.

I have never been to this orphanage before, in all these years. She has invited me, I just never went. But today I did. It was a special day of recognition for those who sponsor the internaught or visit it on a regular basis or bring in stuff for the kids, etc. Due to the major renovations going on right now, the kids did not perform a concert. We just met them in their 'livingroom' and then the adult workers, all women, took us back into their sleeping area. A table had been set up and they had prepared a little food for us. Olives, pineapple chunks, little mandarin oranges, fish liver and cheese on bread, Melinda brought pumpkin bread, and to drink - Champagne, Cognac and fruit juice. Little chocolate rolls and candy were for 'dessert.'

We toasted each other and ate (sorry, I just couldn't eat the fish liver stuff) and Melinda talked with them while I mostly listened. I was SO thankful - I understood most of what was said. Only a couple times did I lose the train of conversation and then Melinda caught me up. Mostly I understood. That was so good for me! Of course, when they talked over each other I lost it, or when the one gal talked really soft and quick I couldn't follow all she said. But, the three staff were talking to Melinda and me - foreigners - so they were careful, and to two other sponsors who also were there.

Here is a photo Melinda took of me with the ladies and the kids:In the back - Olga, me, Marina, Valentina, Tanya, in front on the far right in green, Oksana. Olga, Marina and Oksana are staff there. I won't try to name all the kids because I don't know them all. Most come to Sunday School, but there was at least one new boy and a couple who had just returned from hospitals that I don't know. Vadim (vah-deem)smiles at me.

So, my day started out kind of crappy, but ended up really nice.

Post Office Surprises and Questions

I went to the post office today. I needed to mail some letters that have been sitting on the table for 8 days now. Eight days! I tend to put off going to the post office when I need to buy stamps because I know I'll be in for a long, hot wait.

Today was no different.

Except that not only did I need to mail a bunch of letters, but I was expecting a package. I ordered a couple of Christmas presents from the Friends of Yellowstone bookstore. I sent an email along with the order, making sure that they knew this order was being shipped to Ukraine, not to the zip code on the package. For some reason, Ukraine chose to use a zip code system that uses the same numbers as the States uses. Grrr. We've had letters mailed to us before that ended up in:
Logan County, OK
Zip code population (2000): 1,059
Estimated population in 2005: 1,053
before they reached us. The person at the bookstore responded that they were sending the order to me USPS first class, or global first class or something like that. I don't think there is an Air Mail now like what I used to use when I worked in a mailroom.

I opened up our little post office "box" and there was a letter from our employer and a little slip that said there was a letter waiting for us behind the counter, and scratched in at the bottom, a package, too.

I got in line.
And waited.
And sweated.
And waited.
And sweated.
And waited and sweated.
And - did I mention that I sweated while I waited?

Unfortunately, some dear person who will remain nameless at this point is going to receive the letter that was on the pile that got dripped on the most. Sorry. I couldn't help it! The sweat was dripping off my nose and chin before I could catch it.

Gross, huh? :):):) ha ha

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of listening to old women bitch at each other (I've been waiting for too long! Why don't you have my pension NOW? When will Lyuda be back and why is she gone? Can't you hurry up? Why isn't my favorite paper in here yet?) and to the old woman behind me in line who got up 3 times to stand behind me when she happened to think that maybe, possibly, could it be that the line was going to move forward? No. She was panting and wheezing and panting some more all over my arm. (She was kind of short...)

Finally it was my turn and I said clearly that I wanted stamps for these letters (this pile is all the same, these are different weights) plus an additional 20 stamps ("Plus 20 additional stamps?" "Yes.") and the woman behind the counter went to work. I wonder why their computer does not do addition and subtraction? Why do they use a computer AND an adding machine? Why does she have to look in 4 (I counted) different little books to figure out what a couple of additional grams costs to mail to the US? Why don't they have stamps in the correct amounts, but instead have to figure out "If I use one of these and two of these, then it will be ... a kopeck too much. Darn. Let's start over now. If I use three of these and two of those stamps then it will be ..." And finally she finishes and hands me my receipt and I say: "Where are the additional 20 stamps?" And she laughs at me and says, "You wanted another 20 stamps??" And I respond, "Yes. But not now. This lady (indicating Wheezer) has been waiting a long time. Next time." And I smile at her, wipe the sweat off my face one more time, pick up my packages!!! and leave.

Why is it that no one else standing in there is sweating like I am?? Maybe because I drink an appropriate amount of water every day and very few people here do? Most likely.

While I'm standing there quietly watching carefully everything that is going on, inside I am jumping up and down with anticipation because:

There is a surprise box for me!!! From SDSue!!!! And I think I know what might possibly be in it and I'm wondering how in the world I will ever be able to say thank you enough!!!

The post office is 2 blocks away. I walked over in less than 10 minutes. I walked back in less than 10 minutes. I was gone for an hour. When I got there, there were 3 people ahead of me, and one left right away.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

So, what was in the box? When I got home, Cheyenne wanted to know, too!
What does this say?
Maybe it says something on the back?
Maybe it's something tasty!
If I keep rubbing all over it, maybe she'll open it so I can see!!
No wonder "mom" was so excited!

Thank you, SDSue!!!! Unfortunately, we are going to someones place for dinner tonight so this is going to have to wait until tomorrow morning.

I hope I can wait that long!!!!