Well, it's about time...

Well, I thought it was high time that I got around to keeping a blog as it was downright embarassing signing my name to other people's sites and leaving that url space blank. I did keep one when we went to China two years ago when we adopted one of our daughters, and I really enjoyed the outlet of writing, but I haven't written much since then. I used to write all the time, mostly journals. Years and years worth. But, life has gotten so very busy...I'll fill you all in bit by bit.

I have been a born again Christian for almost five years now and I'll share more about how that happened to me in some other day. I am very happily married to a wonderful, loving, blue-eyed man for 16 years and we have five incredible children, ages 13 to 11 months. Four of them are girls, and one little fella.

We are in our ninth year of homeschooling and I tell you, it has been the greatest endeavor my husband and I could have ever entered into. What began as a year-by-year basis has grown to become our identity as a family. We couldn't imagine any other way of educating our children. We love it so very much.

My blog name is Spring Valley Knits. Obviously I love to knit. I had crocheted for about 13 years or so, but it was an off and on hobby. Nothing too adventerous was ever undertaken and it was a neat thing that I knew how to do. Knitting had always scared me. The thought of one of my kids pulling my knitting off the needles sent me into a cold sweat. How could I save something like that? How do you pick up a stitch? Why do I have holes in my work? All these frightening questions kept me from this craft. Then almost two years ago, during my pregnancy, I firmly decided that I was going to conquer this knitting thing. There were just too many beautiful patterns out there for knitting...and there was just something "different" about a knitted garment compared to a crocheted one.

I bought me some dpn's (not so very brave...after all, I had knitted a garter stitch scarf and two children's hats in my lifetime) and some neutral sage green yarn and set to work to make an "easy peasy" baby hat. Pattern somewhere on the internet.

Well, months later, I learned a lot. I learned what a ladder is and why it is undesirable in knitting. Great for roofers. Bad for baby hats. I learned that I was knitting into the back stitch thinking that this was the normal way to do a knit stitch. So I got a nice twisted look to the hat. Couldn't really say "I meant to do that". I learned how to pick up a dropped stitch. I learned to ask a lot of questions to whoever might even look like a knitter. And I learned that I absolutely love knitting. Love it. Love it. Love it. Can't get enough of it, dream of yarn, read about yarn, research about knitting, listen to knitting podcasts, watch knitting videos, wake up dreaming about knitting kind of love. Crochet couldn't hold a candle to this kind of infatuation.

Almost two years have gone by and my passion has not cooled in the least. In fact, although I am a stay at home mama, I have been wanting to have some sort of home business for the longest time. We used to have one, oh, about six or seven years ago, called Ladbug Toys. We sold beautiful wooden, natural toys and dolls. So I have a little knowledge about wahm's, but I just couldn't decide on what kind of business I would want to have longterm. Well, enter knitting. I'm not sure yet what the Lord has planned for Spring Valley Knits, be it designing patterns, or selling beautiful yarns or handmade knitting needles, but keep posted and we'll see!

Well, I'm off to knit and listen to something on-line, maybe a Knit Picks podcast, or Knit Together podcast, or maybe a sermon or audio book. My quiet "coffee and knitting time". My husband just finished doing a "25 Things You May Not Not Know About Me" on his Facebook, so maybe I'll dedicate a future post to that.

May the Lord richly bless your day,
Lisa