June Delight

June passes by all too quickly. Sometime before dawn on Sunday morning, a front blew through and the air cleared. The last few days have been glorious. The garden is part of my June making. The yellow lilies burst into full bloom. 

A white sweet pea volunteers along the fence behind a clump of iris. The cosmos in the pollinator garden begin to bloom. I'm more than delighted to see the yellow blossoms amid the cucumber vine. 

The tomatoes begin to set on the vines. Right now everything is green and healthy. Summer's extreme heat has yet to arrive but July is around the corner. Delight is my word of the year. What I disover this month is that delight is a matter of noticing and taking time to savor what is around me. 

Kat is taking a break but I like the routine of a Wednesday Unraveling post. I finished the summer shortie socks. I rarely knit shortie socks but I am going to test this pair while walking. I used up the last of a skein of sock yarn and certainly have similar leftovers in my stash. I officially set aside a shawl in progress until cooler weather. For some reason, I'm not enjoying it. The Woolstok Light is 100% wool. While it is lovely in a previously knit cardigan, it feels a little wooly in this shawl. I'm going to get it out in October or November and see how I feel about it then. 

I'm listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and enjoying it. The voice of the reader portraying the octopus is very good. It is a sweet heartwarming tale. With my local book group, I'm reading The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. This novel is a powerful story about a young talented musician and the racism and support he encounters while pursuing his passion. The cover art on the hardback is heartbreakingly appropriate and beautiful. It is this young man looking in or out at the world of classical music? I wonder if music was added to the audio version? I may search for a play list. I'll post more on these books when I finish reading them.

Enjoy these last few days of June.   

Swinging into Summer

Here in southeast Nebraska, the summer days have arrived. This week's high temperatures are in the 90's. I walked shortly after 8:00 a.m. in a lovely 72 degrees but these mornings are numbered. This past Saturday brought a welcome bit of rain. Conditions continue to be dry and the reservoirs for city water are lower than usual so the city has issued voluntary water restrictions for outdoor watering. The restrictions make good sense. 

My garden is growing although I can't get zinnia seed to germinate this year. I've tried twice to put in the two short rows in front of the tomatoes and have three lonely flower stalks. I harvest zinnia seeds every fall and store them in the shed in a brown paper sack. I've always thought of them as fool proof but maybe not. The pollinator garden is growing and I spied a bumblebee in the lavender last week. I moved one stepping stone to make room for a Husker Red Penstemon. The garden is complete for this year. I'll be making notes and possibly adjusting it next Spring. 

Wednesday is the day for posts from Kat and the Unravelers. I don't have much knitting that is new but then that is how my knitting goes. I finished the Handspun Mittens and the Knitmeg Socks. The mittens came out very well. It's amazing how the slightly irregular thickness of handspun yarn is absorbed into the fabric and is not easily noticed. Knitting with handspun is a little big of magic. One has to embrace the irregular unexpected but often delightful way the yarn knits up a finished item. It's good for me. 

Because it is summer, I cast on a pair of shortie socks from a partial skein. I picked up a mini skein to go with the yarn from my LYS.  These seemed like summer colors. I rarely knit with coral or orange but I really like this shade. Hopefully I have enough yarn to complete the pair. If not I'll find another mini skein. I'm knitting along with the Knit Paper Scissors Summer Sock Camp. 

As for reading, I'm listening to The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear. Winspear is the author of the Maisie Dobbs mystery series. Right now this is a stand alone novel with a different heroine. I wonder if Winspear is thinking of writing a new series. It is an easy summer listen. I'm also dipping into an anthology of work by Willa Cather. I decided to reread some from my bookshelves. What do I keep these books if not to reread them? While (in my opinion) poetry was not Cather's strongest writing, the short stories stand the test of time. 

How can it be the third Wednesday in June? This month goes by too quickly. Happy Summer.

Ravelry Links

Knitmeg Socks 

Handspun Mittens

Summer Shorties

 

Hello June

I walked this cool morning and enjoyed the birdsong and all the flowers. I noticed the sweetest patch of bachelor buttons in bloom. Late last Thursday, we arrived home from a visit with our daughter and family in Connecticut. Sharing a week of their ordinary days was very sweet. All four grands play a form of baseball so we cheered them on at six games. Norah wanted her nails painted to match her T-ball shirt and uses a pink bat. Never mind, she loves flowers and is the smallest and the only girl on her team, she is all business on the field. 

Emmett, the oldest is just about to surpass me in height. We take this photo every visit. 

One morning while everyone was in school, Kate and I drove to RJ Julia Booksellers, a fabulous independent bookstore in Madison, Ct. The store had a large well curated selection of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, as well as an upper floor devoted to books for children and young adults. If you are anywhere near and enjoy browsing bookstores, I recommend this one. Madison is a small quaint New England town. 

Today is the day a group of bloggers gather with Kat to post about making and reading. Between our trip and catching up in the garden, I am still working on the same projects. Since our return, I finished the star table runner. The piecing isn't perfect but I did enjoy the hand-quilting. The runner goes well with our worn dining table. 

When we travel to see either of our children, I knit a pair of socks. This time I chose a Polka Dot Sheep yarn in the colorway Knitmeg because Connecticut is the nutmeg state. The colors turned out to be more than appropriate. By Wednesday, June 7, they reminded me of the colors of the very smoky air and sky. I'm sure you saw photos of the skies in the northeast. We were fortunate to be flying home the next day when flights were departing LaGuardia. At the time, they weren't landing. Anyway, as per my routine, I knit the cuff and established the pattern the day before we left and came home with a sock and a half. 

Last night, I worked a little on the second mitten from handspun. Because this yarn is more like a DK/sport weight, I knit an extra cable repeat to make the hand long enough. I also twisted the cables on the second mitt to mirror those on the first. 

As for reading, I'm enjoying the poetry anthology, How to Love the World in the photograph. It was one of the books I purchased at RJ Julia. While traveling, I read The Cottingley Secret. This was an average work of historical fiction with storylines in two different time periods. The story is neat and tidy, although I did like the way the main character, a young woman, went her own way at the end of the story. Driving to ballgames, we listened to part of the second Harry Potter book with Kate and the kids. Jonah likes the "magic and wonder" in the stories. I may have to read a few more of that series. Late to the party, I'm currently listening to Magpie Murders as I wait for other library audiobooks. It's good entertainment while I knit. Seems I've begun June with some light reads.

I hope the first days of June are treating you well. 

 Ravelry Links

Knitmeg Socks

Handspun Mittens