Knitting and Reading

"What is so rare as a day in June?" James Russell Lowell

Today in Lincoln is the beautiful June day Lowell wrote about in his poem, "The Vision of Sir Launfal." I just looked up the line and don't believe I've ever read the poem. I enjoy following a line of information to it's origin. Anyway today is a welcome respite from hot days of last week and weekend. In Nebraska, we went from chilly April-like weather to what felt like the dog days of August. Still I am enjoying the warmth of sun on my back and making the most of the long light of June evenings.

This lightweight summer shawl is finished and blocked with the extra ends woven in snugly. I find the weaving in of ends rather hypnotic. As my daughter remarks, "sometimes there is something so satisfying about closure." Maybe that is one reason I enjoy knitting up scraps of yarn. Certainly scrappy knitting means extra ends from using up the odds and ends of projects. I often throw scraps I think will combine well into small bags. This week I pulled out a couple of those bags and cast on some small projects. I made a pair of  scrappy preschool sized mittens over the weekend as the temperature outdoors soared in the high nineties. This other odd little collection of leftovers is going to be a cowl. I am using the pattern for it's sequence of stitch patterns but will knit fewer rows. I don't have enough to knit the pattern as is and I prefer to wear smaller cowls that don't bunch up under my coat. 

This month my book group is reading Homegoing by Yaa Yaa Gyasi. The novel is well written. While the story of the two young African women caught up in the slave trade is quite difficult, I think it is an important story. I am reading it in small bits during daylight hours. I am also finishing Marmee and Louisa. This nonfiction work is an interesting story about two strong women coping with poverty created by lack of women's rights. Poor as they were, they were not subjected to the brutality of slavery. My next read will have to be something lighter.

Linking with Kat and the Unravelers today. Then I am off to enjoy this rare June day, happy that I don't need mittens.