can you guess what this is?

Nanna’s knitted a LOT OF HATS but they’re not for Little Brother – who doesn’t like hats, anyway – or for Big Brother who already has a snuggly purple hat.

The hats Nanna’s been knitting are to give away to kids who don’t have a Nanna or Mum who knits for them; or who need to stay at someone else’s place and don’t have time to take their clothes (Foster Hope). We’re lucky coz we’ve got lots of clothes at home and some at Nanna’s house, too.

So, can you guess what Nanna’s been knitting just now?

Here’s an idea: Nanna says it’s similar to – that means, kind of like – another one she knitted, but this one’s smaller. We’ll show you:

Littlebrotherbigbrother.com
Littlebrotherbigbrother.com

It’s going to be a hoodie!

It’s a bit like the tunic Nanna’s finished, that’s ready to buy:

 

just try it on… please?

 

 

Nanna just finished this jersey. It’s made from hand spun wool she got from a knitting group friend, with some shop bought wool for contrast. She knit it in funny squares and rib patterns, with a V neck.

Then she needed a model. Big Brother didn’t want to put the jersey on, and Little Brother’s too little for it.

“Come on, Big Brother, please!” she said. “No!” said stroppy Big Brother. “No!” echoed copycat Little Brother.

Guess what? She bribed him! Big Brother tried on the jersey, and Nanna took several photos of him, looking sultry like a “real” model, as well as smiling and posing. And she gave him a lolly!

When he’d eaten his lolly (and Little Brother had one, too), he shrugged off the jersey and checked it on the sofa. Nanna said, if he liked the jersey he could have it. But he said, “No thanks”.

So now the jersey is for sale.

Maybe your little kid or grandkid would like it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

who will wear these winter woollies?

Nanna says the navy and off-white striped hat is for Little Brother, but he won’t wear it. Little Brother does not like hats.

Nanna’s knitted navy and orange things – hat, mittens and socks – in adult size. Just now, they’re on sale at the Winter Woollies exhibition at Kapiti Gallery, along with the jersey that was meant for Big Brother, but is… way too big!

We wonder who the stripy hat and mittens and baby ugg boots are for. The mittens might fit Little Brother, but if he won’t wear a hat, he probably won’t wear mittens, either.

Little Brother has very decided opinions, and he’s only two-and-a-half. What will he be like when he’s as old as Big Brother (four-and-three-quarters)? Nanna wonders.

New book: “Something new to say”

Buy now in Kindle or Paperback format from Amazon.

from Endless Advent:

“This year, may we enjoy this time of preparation, thrilling to angel song and sparkling lights, Snoopy’s Christmas and Silent Night; may the little boy drum for us, and the wise ones’ gifts be ours, as we birth each day the Christ of synagogue and stable. Let us be the gift we long for, after the paper’s discarded and the cards are put away…”

From Space for wonder:

“At this time of year, we can get caught up in the myth, the image of a baby as the fulfillment of hope rather than the start of a lifetime’s responsibility and care, the work of the village, not just the single parent or unstable family. So we hold all parents, all families in our hearts—the wounded and abused, the loved but uncared for, the grandparents exhausted from bringing up children when their own daughter or son is in prison or drug-dependent, mentally or physically unwell…”

from Where are the others?

“As we gather around the child of hope, we’re joined by a heavenly host; the kin-dom of heaven gathers with us—
But where are the others? The brothers and sisters, the half-brothers and step-sisters, the broken relations, torn-apart siblings, the unblended families, the reconstituted ones. All the children with bruises on their bodies; fathers with bruises on their psyches; mothers with bruises on their hearts? Here they are! The jailbird cousin and the crazy aunt. The depressed daughter who’s dragged herself out; the edge-of-hysteria, manic sister; the autistic grandson beind a haybale, rocking; the transgendered, the cis-gendered, the queer and the straight, the birth children and adopted children and fostered children; these fragile families of blood and of choice. All the whanau of Jesus: gathered to celebrate heaven on earth, in the promise of a child…”

SNTS Cover 1

 

she followed the pattern, but…

Silly old Nanna! We’re not being cheeky, she said this to herself.

Nanna says the followed the pattern this time BUT she forgot she was knitting 10 ply instead of 8 ply wool. So Big Brother’s jersey is WAY too big, and Little Brother’s jersey is, too. This means Big Brother can wear the jersey meant for Little Brother, but Little Brother has to wait until Nanna can knit another one for him.

Nanna thought she took photos of Big Brother’s jersey when she’d finished it, but she can’t find them. We think she’s just teasing and being silly.

the right to express an opinion

 

“The problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it.

“The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!”

―Professor Brian Cox

Brian Cox

something new to say

Coming soon… “something new to say” – the 2nd title in my ‘words of spirit and faith’ series.

This time the liturgy resources are for Advent and Christmas: poems and prayers, blessings and reflections.

It will be available as an ebook from Amazon’s Kindle Store in mid-May.SNTS Cover 1

you who delight me now an ebook

News flash!

Available from 1 May 2017, “you who delight me” is now for sale as an ebook. Buy your Kindle version now, from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.uk

Plus a new volume of Advent and Christmas liturgical resources is in preparation. Be ready to purchase the new ebook soon!

You Who Delight Me front cover graphic.jpg

3 funerals, no weddings, not-so-new website, not much writing…

So since I last posted here, I’ve been to three funerals – each one totally different from the others in style and content – and missed another funeral and a memorial service because I was just all “funeralled out”.

I’ve been knitting a lot, and blogging about knitted items on my not-very-new website www.littlebrotherbigbrother.com and for sale via bronzart shop on felt.

The past year or so hasn’t been great for creativity, but I’m getting back into it now. Here are my plans for the next few months, so you can check on me if I don’t get onto them:

  1. Check out converting my book “you who delight me” to an ebook and selling online.
  2. Self-publishing another collection of writing as an e-publication (rather than through brilliant but costly publishers).
  3. Revisiting a novel I haven’t worked on since 2005. I kept copious notes, timeline, character descriptions etc – but I didn’t think clearly about plotting and need to find a resolution and meaningful ending.
  4. Keep on knitting: items for sale, winter woollies for my grandsons, and for an exhibition of the Kapiti Arts and Crafts Society, whose Facebook pages I curate.
  5. Take more photos. I mean, apart from the hundreds of my grandkids who are just too gorgeous and cute and smart and charming (of course!). I’m beginning to take cityscape and quirky images again. I’ll post a few recent ones here.

And I think that’s it for First Quarter resolutions.

If you’d like to check out my occasional knitting blogs, written in the imaginary voice of my real grandson, you can follow my Nanna Says posts.

And, depending on your hemisphere and beliefs (or lack of): Happy Easter – Blessed Samhain or Eostre – Shalom Pesach!

Blessings and peace. The light will return…

 

she’s knitting for us, this time

After making quite a lot of things to sell, Nanna says she’s knitting winter jerseys for us just now. She’s nearly finished one for big brother, and then she’ll start on little brother’s one.

When they’re done, she’ll post photos of us wearing them. If you like them, you could commission one.

(Nanna, what’s comishun?)