It was wonderful to get Happy Birthday wishes from so many Signature friends and so many votes on whether we should go bigger or smaller after then next batch of circ sizes (the US 3 and US 4). If you thought politics was partisan it is nothing compared to the passion from the two groups!
Our friends Jeff and Mary recently had a special birthday in their family of baby Abigail. I wanted to do something special for her and found a pattern I had been saving for a sweater with a “smocked” top. I really like the way it looks and will most likely become one of my repeat little girl patterns.
As you know my straights and dpns are my favorite needles but I did use some of the Signature circs on this so I can try and expand my horizons. Of course those Stiletto points were terrific for the smocking section which was, in actuality, a lot like cabling without a cable needle.
A birthday present TO Signature arrived a few days ago and the joy that seeing this was obvious as people came into my office to find out what was in the box.
Of course how could it be anything but good when the package front says
“SENT WITH OUR LOVE AND PRAYERS”.
As you can see the box was filled with the most wonderful candles. The natural smell of the honey and the beautiful color is just astonishing… as is the source of the gift… the fabulous Mother Seraphima and the nuns at her convent.
When I see something that strikes me on an order I often email. People who are in the military, or who live in far away places, or the order is very unusual get an email. The first order from Mother Seraphima was one of those and started a long distance thread between her convent and Signature.
She is a worthy woman who manages her convent and makes money to support their efforts by selling candles which the sisters make. The quality is unbelievable—no smoking or dripping and all natural. Of course I was impressed by the fact they have a website to help sell their products.
But that is just the beginning of the story. Mother Seraphima also has her sisters knitting for charity. She has told me that this is good for them as a stress reliever and the products of their knitting go to a good cause.
Most of you know that our standards for quality here at Signature are very high which means that from time to time we have needles where the coloring might be a bit off, or a cap on a straight is dinged. Nothing that would affect knitting in any way but that we would never sell or have out in the world.
Mother Seraphima and sisters recent told us “Along with the great blessing of our new addition, we were able to establish a permanent craft room at the convent. Our craft room houses a lot of yarn, our knitting needles, spinning wheels and several looms
of various sizes. Of course, our needles of choice and our pride and joy are our Signature needles. We started with a few knitters and our numbers grew to over half of the sisters. I’m so happy that they have this craft as an outlet for their creativity, a little relaxation from our busy schedule, and a source of making gifts for those who show us kindnesses, the sick and others. They enjoy making hats, scarves, triangle shawls, mittens, gloves and sweaters – one sister has even branched out into little knitted, stuffed animals. The recipients treasure these handmade gifts from the sisters and so both sides are happy. We first ordered signature needles because of their beautiful colors, the fact that they could be individualized, the stiletto tips were recommended by the Arthritis Association … and because one
sister was knitting so tightly that she was breaking the wooden needles!”
The perfect solution is for us to be able to provide the sisters with needles so they can continue their work. This is a blessing for all of us and we feel like we can say we are the “official knitting needle of the Holy Nativity Convent”. And packages coming with prayers and love—what could be better.
And of course every single one of us should be saying a sincere “Happy Birthday” to our country. We need to remind ourselves what needed to happen –the sacrifice, the joy, the pain so that we could have our 4th of July celebrations.
See, we even have some red, and blue needles here—watch next week for the explanation. I have to go home early and get ready for the birthday party!
July 17th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Hi..great post!
It’s my passion over the years to knit with circular knitting needles and I love working with them because they are really suitable with my knitting projects.
This is great for knitting on the road — you can’t drop a needle when it’s attached to your work!
Thanks for sharing..