Pickled

July and two hills of cucumber plants jump the edges of the raised bed. Since we returned and even before, light rain has fallen every morning. Weather patterns are interesting. The reservoir that supplies Lincoln's water is recharging and that is good news. I spent yesterday in the kitchen, slicing, dicing, brining, pickling, and canning. By six o'clock, I had ten pints of bread and butter pickles and a pile of kitchen laundry. Next week, I'll do it all again and then I'll be giving away cucumbers. They will be a hard sell. If my garden is producing, so is everyone else's. The tomatoes need some hot sun in order to ripen. And so it goes. 

I did a little too much car knitting so have been doing other things. My right shoulder, upper arm, wrist, and hand are sore. Still I enjoy the weekly posts with Kat and the Unravelers. I knit the thumbs and so finished the Kvetching Mitts. (No amount of adjusting in this photo made for better color.) Once I understood the pattern, I enjoyed knitting them but the worsted weight suggested in the pattern makes them heavy. I prefer fingerless mitts out of lighter weight yarn. Since I knit at a loose gauge, I'm pretty sure I could knit them with a DK weight. I plan to try the pattern again. 

This mitt project reminds me to think carefully about using scraps. Besides the weight, I am also not wild about the colors in the cuffs. Using partial skeins and scraps is satisfying but maybe not everything needs to go into a project. I mostly save all the scraps. When I am buy yarn for a sweater project, I often buy one extra skein to make sure I have enough. That leaves me leftover yarn. When I toss the stash, I think this is nice yarn. Lately I'm wondering if more of it could be moved on to a new home. Does this happen to you? If you keep leftovers, how do you decide what stays and what goes? Everyone decides differently but I am curious.  

The little swatch amongst the summer flowers is a test to insure the bright pink yarn is colorfast. Norah has requested a rainbow sweater with buttons. As soon as my shoulder and arm recover, I'll be casting on that project. 

While I wait for a library hold, I reread Willa Cather's Shadows on the Rock. This lesser known work of historical fiction begins in October 1697 in Quebec. The story follows a father, an apothecary, and his twelve year old daughter through a year. Although some cultural references are dated and perhaps inappropriate by today's standards, I find Cather's lyrical writing worth reading. She is a master at bringing time and place to the page. Although she doesn't gloss over the hardships faced by citizens iced in for the winter, she finds and writes of small kindnesses as well as the beauty in the place. This book was first published in 1931. 

Now the sky is blue, at least until the smoke wafts it's way down from the Canadian wildfires. I best go find room for ten pints of pickles on the basement shelves. I hope you are finding some delight in these summer days.