Lenten Theme of the Week: Steadfastness, and cheese lasagna for meatless Friday...

Happy midish point of Lent everyone, and let's have a group hug for making it this far, yes?

🤗

I'm keeping up with my 2 devotionals, but I'm letting myself take it easy with regards to staying perfectly on a Lenten timetable. Right now, our lives ARE LENT, so I think that simply by remaining steadfast and hanging in there, we're doing just fine right now.

For our part, we've all been trying to stay busy at home, our creativity flowing via online means, and still liking each other by the end of each week. ;-) Mike and I have both been working with the kids on their schoolwork, and also trying to get our own teaching work done from home. It's been a tough balancing act, for sure.

On the upside, I've been finding lots of time for crafting! My in-progress shawl is coming along very nicely, and I'm aiming to finish it to wear on Easter:

Pattern is Find Your Fade

I also received a few new rosary purchases, and am quite in love! First up is our pal St. Patrick, I love the pop of green this time of year!

St. Patrick rosary over at Rosaries by Allison

And the next is a 7 Sorrows Rosary, which is a totally new devotion for me, and it's perfect for Lent! You could also pray this without the specialty rosary, and just keep careful count. :-) This custom rosary though has medals depicting each of the sorrows, very handy!

Created by Rosaries by Allison

The 7 Sorrows of Mary are:

1.) The Prophecy of Simeon
2.) The Flight into Egypt
3.) The Loss of Jesus in the Temple
4.) Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary
5.) Mary Stands at the Foot of the Cross
6.) Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in her Arms
7.) Jesus is Placed in the Tomb

In our evening time, we've been watching the Lord of the Rings movies as a family. This isn't our first time doing so, but it's been a few years, so we're really sinking into them anew. And Anne didn't remember the stories particularly well, so they're almost like new to her. It's been nice to have an installment to look forward to after a long day of work, and I've been making popcorn for the kids to go along with it. Lord of the Rings has also been inspiring my crafting life:

Journey hues kit from Expression Fiber Arts

Yarn purchases and project planning has been keeping me sane right now. ;-) Also keeping me sane is the vast amount of dance and fitness classes that are available online now! I've been doing at least 1 daily, and it's helping to keep my creative juices flowing, along with meeting some of the items on my dance goals list for 2020! I'm getting to study with dancers that I would ordinarily not have the opportunity with, so I'm taking advantage of everything that I can.

In terms of meal planning, we're still at it:

We've been getting takeout 1-2 times per week from a local restaurant, and that's been another way of cheering ourselves up in the early evenings, along with supporting local businesses that are really suffering financially right now. For our meatless Friday this week, we're making a 3 cheese lasagna similar to this one:

Mike isn't a huge fan of ricotta cheese (believe me, I too cannot image how this could be true :-0) and when he makes this, he subs in swiss cheese. Unconventional, and I was skeptical, but I will say that it is delicious. And it is a perfect dish for a Lenten Friday!

How are you doing, friends? Do you need anything? How are you staying busy at home? Let's cheer each other up in the comments. :)

Who's in the mood for a summer knit-along?!

You all know me by now. Prior traumatizing cast-on experiences, anxiety-inducing episodes brought on by glacial pace, results with faces only a mother could love... none of these things deter your Catholic Librarian when she gets her mind set to a knit-along!

*confetti!*

I LOVE knit-alongs. I love the community spirit, the camaraderie, the feeling of having a timed mission, the support as we work together, the excitement. Love. Everything about it.

And so the Downton Abbey mystery shawl memories are behind me, and I am all Full Steam Ahead on this latest endeavor. Want to join me? :0

Our mission is the Expression Fiber Arts Summer KAL (fancy acronym for knit-along). Expression Fiber Arts is pretty much my weakness when it comes to yarn. I mean it, go look, you'll see what I mean. The inspiration photos for each yarn, showing the color palette in question?

*swoons*

It's magnificent. I love her work. Indeed, I'm working on a project right now with her Resilient Sock yarn in the Appletini colorway:

Pattern is Merridy by Taiga Hilliard Designs

This is a summer lace dress for Anne. All of her colors are limited edition, so things aren't around for very long. She'll have something, and then when it sells out it's gone. Unless she decides to dye another batch of it, which she may or may not do. The thrill of the chase, I tell you. ;-)

So, let's get down to the nitty gritty on the Summer KAL (to access this link, you may need to sign up for a Ravelry account, which is free). It's not a mystery, but the pattern will not be released until June 1st. For now all we know is that it will be a small summer shawl. On June 1st, however, the entire pattern will be released.

We'll all work on it together through June and July, and those who officially sign up and finish their project by August 1st will be entered to win a prize. Which is, of course, free yarn. ;-) Not a knitter? There is also a Summer CAL (crochet-along). I thought about doing both. But then I remembered the Great Downton Abbey Debacle of 2016 and restrained myself. :0 I just signed up for the KAL. Both projects will be small shawls.

You'll need 400-550 yards of sport weight yarn for the project. You can of course use any sport weight you'd like, and likely could substitute fingering weight pretty easily. The official yarn (for which you'll receive 4 extra entries into the prize drawing at the end, if you use it) is Expression Fiber Arts Luster Merino Tencel sport. Naturally, I could not resist, and ordered some. There is a coupon code that is good right now for a few more days (Destiny15) for 15% off all Luster Merino Tencel and Resilient Sock. I used that to procure 2 skeins of the sport weight in a mint green color that has now sold out, called Spearmint. But there are still other lovely options available if you want to take advantage of the code. I also bought a skein of the Boston at Night colorway to knit Mike a cabled hat.

That sound you just heard is that of a happy yarn-aholic whose appetite has been totally satisfied.

I'm really looking forward to working on this. In the meantime, I'm working on other spring projects. The dress pictured above for Anne. A blue silk lace scarf for myself. Going to cast on for some self-striping Fourth of July themed socks for Henry. The knitting life is grand.

Anybody else interested in either the KAL or the CAL? Do write in and let me know!