Playing with yarn

So, today I had root canal. Yes, ouch. But the best part of this day was...

An evening spent with two friends playing with yarn. A few months ago, we had a service auction at church for Relief Society (the women’s organization for the LDS church). Everyone donated a service or skill they had to share. I donated crochet lessons. My friend SS bid for the crochet lessons and won them.

So, together with SS and other friend LY we had a great evening. We ate lentil salad and homemade blueberry cobbler. We talked about how to deal with political differences in our families--try to find mutual respect or just avoid the topic altogether. We shared the great books we’ve read recently --Bel Canto by Ann Patchett; On Chesil Beach & Atonement by Ian Mcewan; the Miss Read books; Love Walked In by Marissa de los Santos. LY, who is just recently married, shared about merging her life with her new hubby’s life—bliss is easier than she thought.

It was a little tricky trying to teach not just one but two people how to crochet, and one is left-handed. It’s interesting to take something I know how to do and break it down into its smallest steps and nuances to try to pass it on to someone else. But I think I did it. We started with a simple project of making a hot pad, because it uses the basic stitch and that’s how my mom taught me. Their stitches looked more even and loose by the end of the evening. I wish I had taken a photo. Here's the pattern we used: http://www.mielkesfarm.com/diagonal_hotpad.htm

Advice for new beginners includes: Remember to breath. Loosen up. Watch where you’re going. Don’t worry about the mistakes, just keep going. Loosen up. You’ll get used to it soon. Just undo it—you can start over if you want. Sounds familiar, right? I think this is great advice for life as well.

For a day that began with a root canal it sure ended on the right note.

Lentil Salad—I didn’t really use a recipe, but here goes.

2 cups of cooked lentils, seasoned with two smooshed up garlic cloves and salt. Chopped up fresh vegetables--Cucumber, red bell Pepper and summer Squash, Quartered cherry Tomatoes and Minced red Onion. Chunks of Feta. Two cut up Sausages of your choice—I used turkey with sun dried tomato. Season with Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Parsley, Basil, Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar To Taste. Serve over your choice of salad greens.