Good morning! It’s 45 at 0600! This is a big deal around here … it’s supposed to get up to 73 and clear today (but don’t worry, we still have winter: tomorrow it will be only in the mid-30s!). What weird weather this winter has wrought!

So today’s yarn-along is a little different than usual … I am still working on the design for publication (so I can’t show you) but I did work on a design this week that I’ve just posted. A freebie, Noro Niceties, allows you to practice slipped stitches and stranded colorwork … and create something useful and pretty for your home. Worked in Noro’s Retro (a cool blend of wool, silk and mohair in a worsted-weight), the coasters (two for the cups, one for the pot!) make a great hostess gift or just to brighten up your part of the world. The pattern is available free on Ravelry.

Noro Niceties

And from my Lenten reading by then-Archbishop Cardinal Bergoglio (and now Pope Francis), speaking in Argentina:

In our task of evangelisation, God asks us to accompany a peole who walk in faith. We always do well to remember that the child, youth, and adult whom God places on our path is a neither a vessel to be filled with content, nor a person we must conquer …

The friends of Jesus were the worst characters of all. But Jesus embraced life as it came. He allowed every man and every woman to play the role they wished in their own lives. He would accompany them lovingly, tenderly, with doctrine, with advice. He never forced anybody.

Life is not imposed. Life is planted and watered, but not imposed. Every person stars in his or her own drama. And God respects that. Let’s embrace life the same way God does.

May you all have a blessed Lenten journey …