I've finished!

(Kind of cross-posted on my other blog)

I've finished my baby sweater! I'm so excited and happy with it. I found a few "flaws" but they aren't very noticeable unless you are looking for them. Besides...it is my first sweater ever!
Yay!!!

Time for bed...pictures to follow tomorrow.

Blessings,
~*~

Magick on vacation

During my vacation last week I took many pictures. Because of the glare from the sun I usually couldn't see the lcd screen on my camera to tell what the picture would look like. I was amazed by how well most of my pictures came out. Going through the over 250 pictures that I took, there was one photo that was just seemed magical to me. It is a picture I took while walking on the beach. I think this is my favorite photo.


Blessings,

~*~

I'm headed to Cancun...

...so I won't be posting for at least a week. I am taking my tarot cards and my little spell book with me and plan to try to do a reading a day to help with my understanding of the cards.

I'll have pictures when I get back and will post them as soon as I'm able. I need to try to head the bed as I have to be up in four hours to catch my flight. I've also decided not to take my knitting as I just don't want anything to happen to it. I may change my mind though... :-)

Blessings,

~*~

Knitting news and packing... (cross posted)

I finally have knitting pictures to post! Yay! I know I kept saying I would post them but things have been so crazy I just haven't had a chance to get a picture. So, here it is... a few pictures on the progress of my raglan top down baby sweater.

To the left you can see a full shot from the front. I can't tell you how happy I am to be working on the last section. I have joined the fronts, sleeves and back and am just working my way down to the bottom. It is all seed stitch from here except for ribbing the last two rows. :-)


(Wow! I'm so happy to actually know what seed stitch and ribbing mean!)


To the right we have a closer photo of one of the sleeves. I think this sweater is just so adorable and I love, absolutely love, the yarn colors. I can't wait to finish it and be able to give it to my friend for her baby girl. It is sized for a one year old so she may not be able to use it for a little while, but I don't think I'll be able to wait to give it to her. :-)


In other news, I found my passport! Yay! This is a very good thing, because I leave for Cancun on Saturday! Yes, I'm going back to Cancun! Wooo Hooo! I'm slowly working my way down the list of things I have to get done before I leave on Saturday and finding my passport was top of the list! I still have a ton of things to do and am not convinced it will all get done, but I'm working on it. I suppose I will have NO sleep the night before we fly out. Won't that be fun!

I'm sitting here getting ready for the UNC vs Duke game and am really hoping that UNC will play today. I was very disappointed in them on Saturday against NC State. They really should have played better. Only 15 minutes before the game. Yay! Go Heels!!

I almost forgot one other piece of news. I cut my hair. (Lana, I swear I'm not copying you!) I have had nothing but problems since I had it permed last July and I just couldn't take it anymore. When it takes 30 minutes just to comb out the tangles, that is just too much work. It is a little shorter than I wanted, but it will grow back. :-)

Here are the before and after pictures...




















Alrighty...I have to start paying attention to the game now... the fights are starting up...
GO HEELS!
Blessings,

~*~

Big Circles or small circles...

This past Friday night, Imbolc and the full moon, I went to a women's spirituality circle. I was very hesitant at first because I am not good with large crowds and also because in the past group work was just not something that worked for me. I much prefer doing my rituals and celebrations as a solitary or with a few select friends. But, I'm trying to learn new things, and expand my comfort zone.

I had heard there were to be about 50 people at the group. 50 women. That in and of itself scared me. I don't mean this to be offensive, but when I think of a group of 50 women all in one room I think of chickens in a hen house cackling around. I was very worried that the sacred space aspect would get lost in the chance to gossip.

When I got to the shop, there were just a few people and I waited along with everyone else to go to the space they had reserved for circle. It was a long wait. Apparently they were not ready on time and then everyone had to walk a block to get to it. I have serious social anxiety disorders and this was not working well at all. After getting to the space for the circle, we had to wait in a line so that as we went in we could be smudged and cleansed. It seemed to take forever to get through that line. I had purposefully made myself wait until the end of the line so that I could be near the door in case the claustrophobia kicked in. There was another lady who suffered from the same thing and she kept getting out of line and getting behind me so she could be last. The area that we were using is used by therapists during the day and we were supposed to remain quiet while we waited to go in so as not to disturb the other people that worked there. I can't tell you how loud people were. It was as if each little group had to compete to see who could be louder. It was very annoying.

The circle ritual itself was nice. The organizers had arranged several altars that you could visit and had also setup several activities. The first part of the ritual consisted of an introduction as to what the group was about, why it had been setup and the each of us stated our name and said anything that we felt like sharing. After a short break we had our activities which included some questions that were written on scrolls and would be buried later (part of the Imbolc ritual). The questions were very well done and provoked quite a bit of thought and emotion from the attendees. Several people became emotional and even cried a bit. Overall I was impressed by the group meeting. I was not sure how I would like this format, but I think it went well and was well received by everyone in attendance.

Other than a few little things, like making sure everyone understands the meaning of sacred space and respecting that space, it was an interesting event. I'm even considering going next month.

Blessed Imbolc

Happy and Blessed Imbolc to all the pagans!

Tonight I am going to a circle gathering to celebrate Imbolc. It is a new group that is starting and tonight is the first meeting. I'm a little nervous as I am a mostly solitary witch. I have worked with groups before and had horrible issues within the groups which led me to practice as a solitary. I have enjoyed working as a group with a few friends that I have. We aren't an official coven, but we work together sometimes and occasionally will call on the "phone tree" for help with something. (Can anyone tell me what that reference is from?)

Anyway, I'll try to post something this weekend with my reaction to this event and my thoughts about it. From what I've heard they are expecting somewhere around 50 people (all women) and I'm just not sure I am up for that. I fully intend to stay by the door in case the claustrophobia or SAD kicks in.

So, Happy Imbolc to you.

Blessings

~*~