Early March

This early March feels like hope. The remaining snow banks trickle away and will be gone by the weekend. Yesterday I walked by a tree where eight cedar waxwings faced the sunny afternoon. I also watched a squirrel climb up the birch to a nest with mouthfuls of grass. Fifteen minutes after he/she left, a blue jay flew in and out of the nest a couple of times. I wonder how that bit of nest building will end. The sandhill cranes are flying. Twice I watched long wavering lines of birds cross the sky. If conditions are right I can hear their calls. Next year, I hope to be on the pedestrian bridge in central Nebraska watching them come down to roost at sunset. Right now it is unsafe to stand on that bridge among a large group of watchers. 

At any rate, I am writing my Unraveled Wednesday notes in order to link with Kat and other Unravelers. I finished the purple sweater. I enjoyed the pattern and now have a dressy sweatshirt sweater. The color is hard to photograph but the mock cable details make the sweater. I knew when I began that the wool/alpaca yarn might grow and it did. After wet blocking, the sweater body is longer than when it came off the needles. I wore it on the last few cold days and it is comfy and warm. I would call it a moderate success. I may knit the pattern again in a different yarn.

After I finished the sweater, I auditioned some shawl projects with stash yarn. I think this Falling Water Shawl (link to designer's website) is a go, although I haven't created a Ravelry project page yet. I knit a little more of it last night and like the look and feel of the pattern and yarn together. This Quince yarn has been in the "up next" stash bin for about 18 months and was calling my name. 

I finished a pair of lightweight fingerless mitts from some leftover self-striping sock yarn. We took the photo on a gray day so excuse the lighting. The yarn in sample drew me to the pattern. Are you as taken in by the colors of yarn as I am? The cable was interesting too. Even after socks and mitts from this skein of yarn, I still  have leftovers. I think little balls of yarn multiply in the dark but only when you are not playing yarn chicken. 

I finished the heel and gusset of the second sock I'm working on and I'm going to have enough yarn. The socks would be handsomer if I had done a little more arranging of the scraps. Live and learn I say. Knitting is always teaching me something. 

I read Hiddenness, Uncertainty, Surprise: Three Generative Energies of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield. The first two essays seem stronger than the third but that could just be the day I read them. One of the things I admire about Hirschfield is the way she writes and includes both eastern and western traditions of literature in her writing. I enjoyed following her thoughts about these elements of poetry. 

What are you learning from making this week?

Ravelry Links

Winter Forager

Love Bug Mitts

As for the spacing in this blog post, I can't seem to change it without the photos being wonky. Sometimes Blogger is a mystery to me.