Melanie's Thoughts and Musings on Life

 Hi Friends, This week, I was looking into doing a blog to make some money. I did a bit of researching and found out that to do that, you have to post affiliate links or do marketing. I am not interested. Also, it is recommended that if you are going to do a blog, it should be 1500 words or more. I love to write, it is not crafting, though it is artistic self expression, but 1500 words seems like a lot to me. Often when I read food blogs, I feel like they go on and on- and I am only interested in the recipe portion, not the process of how the person ended up making the recipe. That is just my opinion, but perhaps one reason why trying to make money as a blogger isn't my thing. Last weekend, I didn't knit at all on Saturday. My son graduated from highschool. I am so proud of him! I did do some catch up starting Sunday and all through the week.  That pink and purple shawl, I put it down for a while. I decided to get back to it and made some real progress. That is until I got to ...

This week I was looking at my knitting board on Pinterest. It made me realize how much I have grown as a knitter. There are many items that I have made (unfortunately I don't have pics because I didn't always take pictures of my stuff). Anyway, it made me think of my knitting accomplishments. I made a shawl which I thought would be the death of me, lots of yarn overs and lots of frogging- but I did it (it's the pink one that I showed when I started the blog). There are also patterns that I have made more than once, like the Higher Love Hat from YaYa Loves to Knit and hanging dishtowels from the Michaels website. I once made a round rug, and when I was finished with it, I thought it looked like a pointesettia in the middle, so I made one for myself that was red and green, then I sewed some gold buttons in the center. It is a lovely addition to my Christmas decor.  Speaking of Christmas, I long for it and while I do love summer, I look forward to Christmas items being in the ...

 This week I got a lot of crafting done. I finished a dishcloth, and then I started a new shawl- which is coming along nicely, though the colors- well I don't know about that. I also continued on a shawl that is pink and purple. Unfortunately, when I started the working on the lace part, I ended up with two extra stitches! So I frogged about 4 or 5 rows and started again, I am back on track and the lace is looking great! So about that shawl... I am making it with some yarn I was given. The yarn is varigated and as I started knitting with it, I realized that it looks like I spilled a bag of mixed veggies! As if that isn't bad enough, I decided to use a solid color with it too, and now it looks like mixed veggies in pea soup. What have I done?  I shared this with the Craft for YEG group and we all had a good laugh, some are now looking forward to seeing my finished product which I am hoping will actually look good. I am glad for the kinship in being a group of people with simila...

What is your love language? Do you even know what that is? If you are wondering where I am going with this, hang on, I will show you. A love language is the way a person prefers to express love or recieve love. According to Dr. Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages, those languages are:  Words of Affirmation Quality Time Gifts Acts of Service Physical Touch Generally, love languages are connected to how we want to give and receive love within a relationship, but I want to go a little deeper. I think your love language(s) can translate also into other worldly experiences. For example, I am a gift giver, gifts is one of my love languages. I think I would be remiss if I didn't share my Christian experience here... I love to cook. Previously, I often would cook or bake and then take the food to my church for the pastoral team to enjoy. That is an act of service, but also is gift giving. I believe we have been given gifts from God (who gave the ultimate gift of His son) to...