It is nearly baby shower time for my son and daughter in law, and I have this adorable, little munchkin set for their wee one. The eleventy billion ends are discouraging, but I am trying to work on them now so I can have the set ready for the shower. I will be starting a baptismal gown soon, and between that and Yathrib (a buttonless cardigan from a collection that will be published in November of next year), I should be quite busy this month and next. The second, adult sized, sample for Baladi is close to finished, and I have one of Yasmina's mittens completed.

There are three sets of gloves or mittens I have yet to do for the family, two convertible mitten sets for some friends, the baptismal gown and cap, Yathrib, the two final designs for the Trade Winds Color Collection to finish, another hat design for July, a Saint Nicholas stocking for both Autumn and our new grandbaby, another sweater design for the collection next year, and the graded for adults version of Saint Catherine to finish by the end of this year. I'd like to get more baby knitting in, as well, but these are the priorities. Two of these are at least half way finished, but it is still a daunting list. I'm having our LYS crank out sock tubes for me that I will finish with cuffs, heels and toes, which will both give me a lot more socks and will help me stash down some more. I have picked out yarn for all the family, as well as a few for me, and I hope to have those ready by Christmas. Since cuffs, heels and toes are basically swatch knitting, I am hoping it will be good weekend knitting after the mittens and gloves are finished and will give me some more FOs, and Christmas presents.

The kids and I are meandering through Chronicles of Avonlea. I finished Bearing God: The Life and Works of St. Ignatius of Antioch the God-Bearer and I picked up a fun book I started a while back, X Saves the World. That is an odd contrast to Saint Ignatius, I know, but it is a fun and interesting book.

On Ignatius, I think I mentioned how apt it was to read as a corollary to my Bible study of Romans. There are so many things in this short book about the nature of Christianity, the Church, and the Christian. For being so short, it is full of a lot of thought provoking and faith inspiring words. As I am learning how the words of Saint Paul, a Jewish Christian, define the righteousness of Christ not as the imputed or transferred or imparted righteousness of God to Man, but rather the actual righteousness of God declaring in our favor. In _Bearing God_, we red the same from Saint Ignatius of Antioch, "For Ignatius, Christian life is not about having a right standing with God (as would become an imporant theme in Reformation theology) but about bearing God within ourselves."

Many liturgical Christians are probably familiar with the quotation of his paraphrased, "Where the bishop is, there is the Church." There are some challenges to both Protestants and Catholics in Saint Ignatius' writing, and as he was both a first hand witness and hearer of Christ, and a direct disciple of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist (as Saint Polycarp was, from whome we learn that Saint John instructed the bishops to baptize infants and small children first, lest they lose their chance to be baptized in a world with high infant and childhood mortality, then to go on to adults), his testimony speaks directly to what both Christ and the Apostles taught and practiced.

Roman Catholics love and venerate Ignatius and include him on their calendar of saints. Yet he may be challenging for them, as there is nothing in the writings of this early saint to support the claims to supremacy for the pope of Rome. Ignatius offers nothing for that ecclesiology, even when writing to the church in Rome.

Ignatius is perhaps more striking and more challenginf for Protestants, most of whom do not have bishops, or, if they do, they are primarily administrative officers and not seen as successors to the apostles. Ignatius, who stands in the shadow of the apostles themselves, presents such a robust and forceful image of the episcopacy that he challenges those who regard bishops as some later medieval accretion. Indeed, so striking is his language that the nineteenth century saw various Protestant scholars attempting to disprove the authenticity of any text bearing Ignatius' name. Ironically, it was through this scholarly work that their genuine character was finally established."

I found myself marking so many pages in this to think on again and to share with the kids. I make note that, even though this book is from an Orthodox perspective, and does a good job of defending that perspective, there are parts of Ignatius' writings and teachings which are clearly a challenge to the East, as well. We all need to get both lungs of the Church back together to resolve this. Rich is planning on reading it when I am finished (we kind of ran out of time to read it aloud to each other).

There is another book I am reading a little right now and enjoying a lot, but I am trying to keep to one book at a time for myself, just because my reading time is limited, and I have been so exhausted. Maybe when the airshow is finished, I will add it to my reading. If you are interested in food history and traditional, regional American food, you will enjoy it: Twain's Feast.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

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Labels: Books, Design, FOs, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 2:29 AM