January's End - Unraveled

Hello Gentle Readers. As I compose, the sun shines brightly and the days are unseasonably warm and dry. Moisture in any form is needed but I am enjoying the sun's rays. Covid came to call at our house last week so we are home with mild symptoms, soup, and hot tea. Mostly, the vaccines are doing their job and for that I am grateful. Soups in the freezer have come in handy. I feel ok if I stay quiet, so knitting and an audiobook are the order of the week. 

I'm joining Kat and makers for Unraveled Wednesday. Last week I finished the Comfort and Joy socks. The KnitPicks Stroll made a nice sturdy sock and the colors do not bleed. The socks are tucked into the drawer for the next holiday season or sooner if I decide to wear them for a bit of green in my landscape. 

I also finished the gray "Green Thumb" mitts. They aren't exciting but they will be warm and I hope a hug for a friend's hands. In a few weeks I'll wash them so they are germ free. 

Saturday, I needed some comfort knitting. I got out a bag of sock yarn leftovers and mini-skeins and cast on a Habitation Throw. I could manage garter stitch and a big easy at-home project to work on now and then appealed to me. The bright colors cheer me. Maybe one of my grandchildren will like the wild crazy combination. If not I will find another home for it.

Currently I am listening to The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng. The story begins in Malaya in 1949. All of the main characters have been touched by the brutality of World War II and it's long aftermath. The narration is excellent. The writing is lyrical and the characters are scarred yet resilient and strong. Stories about building a garden, healing, redemption, and forgiveness weave through the narrative. Gardens connect life and death and the one in this novel is no exception. The book validates my thoughts about the absolute waste of war and violence and the value of small kindness and all kinds of love. I'm enjoying it and plan to read another by this author. 

It's been a week. Be careful out there. I hope you are all well and finding some peace at the end of January. 

I Shall Wear Purple - Handspun

Hello Gentle Readers. I hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are staying warm. Mother Nature has treated us to an arctic blast. Saturday through Tuesday were bitterly cold. The birds gobble seeds from the feeder. They must need a lot of calories to stay warm. Maybe that is my excuse for cookies with hot tea. Monday the winter sun shone in the sky in and out of clouds. When the cold is extreme and persistent, the air takes on a different light. Tuesday's low was -12 degrees. Today the temperatures begin to moderate. Although it was too cold to walk, I try to keep moving indoors with yoga videos and upper body weights. "Move it or lose it" as the cliche goes. 

Today I'm joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday. I finished this sweater, knit mostly from handspun yarn. Monday night I wove in many ends. I spun the darker colored yarn on spindles that produced small skeins of yarn. 

The other yarn was spun on a wheel so the skeins were larger. The two-ply construction of the gray Patagonia Organic Merino by Juniper Moon combines nicely with my two-ply handspun. In order to achieve a reasonable gauge with the darker colored yarn, I held it with a strand of mohair silk lace. I wondered if the silk in the lighter colored yarn and the fuzzy mohair with the darker yarn would clash but given the variegation of the yarns, it wasn't a problem. 

This is what I learned while knitting this sweater. When knitting with a yarn I have used before (the Patagonia), I'm treating the yoke as a swatch. Even though it might involve some frogging, more knitting gives me a better idea of the fabric and gauge. In this case, I knit one yoke down to the sleeve split that I frogged. And that's after I knit a gauge swatch that was spot on. On a whim, I measured my chest which I haven't done for quite some time. Holy cow, my bra size and my chest measurement are not the same. What a difference this made. 😊 Thick and thin handspun yarn is forgiving. Wet block often. I blocked this sweater twice while in progress and once at the end. Knitting sleeves in tandem with the body is a little fiddly but doable.  When I finished the body, I had less than three inches to knit on both sleeves. That was fun. So now because I am old woman and whether or not horizontal stripes flatter, I shall wear purple - handspun.  

To celebrate, I cast on a pair of mitts for a friend who is having a bit of a hard time. I'm looking forward to a more color in my knitting but I thought this soft gray suited her. This pattern, with a leaf as the thumb gusset, is fun to knit. This is my fifth or sixth pair. 

Over the weekend, I finished reading Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tiya Myles. I thought the biography was excellent and provided a rich understanding of Harriet Tubman. Myles' research methods are intelligent and thoughtful. She respects her sources while pointing out possible shortcomings. She clearly identifies speculation and her reasoning based on research. The structure of the book including title and epigraphs for each section, the art and photography, as well as the author's notes make this a book worth reading. 

I suppose the grocery list won't make itself.  Onward we go through January. Take good care.

A Gathering of Poetry

Hello Gentle Readers. For months, I've meant to join Bonny and friends as they share a poem in "A Gathering of Poetry."  This month I'm late to the party but determined to add my voice. I continue to read poetry by Jane Hirshfield and admire her way of looking at and writing about the world. Hope and love seem very timely. 

(I cannot figure out how to better space a poem with Blogger so please excuse the odd spacing. The line length is Hirshfield's but the space between each line is not. I also know the bird above is not a blue heron but I do love this photo taken in October 2023 in Connecticut.)

Hope and Love

All winter

the blue heron

slept among the horses.

I do not know 

the custom of herons,

do not know

if the solitary habit

is their way,

or if he listened for 

some missing one ---

not knowing even

that was what he did --

in the blowing

sounds in the dark.

I know that 

hope is the hardest

love we carry.

He slept 

with his long neck

folded, like a letter

put away. 

Hirshfield, Jane. The Lives of the Heart. New York: Harper Collins, 1997. p. 39

Steady Progress

Hello Gentle Readers. Here, mid-January is dry with seasonable temperatures. Thursday will be warmer than usual and then cold again. So it goes. When it's safe, I layer up and walk. I complain a bit as I get ready but once outdoors I enjoy the fresh air and a chance to clear my head. Just now, a little downy woodpecker fluffs up feathers to keep warm on this cold sunny day. 

Today is Wednesday and the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers as we post about making and reading. My knitting is repetitious but I'm making progress. I am close to finishing the handspun sweater. I blocked the sweater to see how much more length I need on the body and sleeves. I don't need much. I plan to fade back to the gray and then knit all the ribbing in gray. The sweater is more fun than the red stockinette of the Comfort and Joy Socks. I am ready to move on from red and green but prefer to finish them now. Otherwise they'll languish until next December. I'm knitting the gusset so I'm on the downhill. 

When I need a break from knitting, I stitch. I have this little piece sitting on the table. The words will say, "Out in the meadow where the wildflowers grow." The pattern belonged to my Mom. Now and then, I add to it. I have no idea what I'll do with it when it's finished. I'm also quilting the cover fabric for a stitch journal. So the making is not new and exciting but slow and steady. 

I read The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder through Science and Poetry edited by Maria Popova and illustrated by Ofra Amit. Popova writes a short essay about a history/discovery in science and then connects it to a poem. Poets range from Emily Dickinson to Tracy K. Smith. I learned some things I didn't know about the history of science and the book itself is beautiful. The visual art is so interesting and I love the end papers (a dark blue with constellations of stars). 

I'm nearly finished listening to How to Read a Book by Monica Wood. This is the March selection for my local group but was available so I skipped ahead. This is story about second chances, women in the prison system in this country, and forgiveness. These ideas will make an interesting discussion. Books and their power to change lives figures in the story also. Still it's an average read for me. At times, the novel feels a little like a soap opera. 

What projects fill your January days?

 

Choose Your Own Adenture

Hello Gentle Readers. Last weekend's winter storm brought bitter cold and wind with less than two inches of snow. Most snow fell to the south of us which is unusual. But then, these are unusual times. Monday I bundled up in layers and woolens to walk on the sunny 21 degree day. Now it is Wednesday, the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers to catch up on making and reading. 

I'm making progress on my knitting projects. The choose your own adventure sweater fits which is a small victory. Over the cold weekend, I faded in the next yarn, a darker BFL spun in 2022 on a spindle. I added a strand of lace weight mohair to get the same gauge and to even out the thick and thin of early handspun. Knitting this sweater is like reading a page turner. I keep knitting to see what or even if it will be a sweater in the end. I knit through the colorwork and into the cranberry red on the second sock so this project is portable. 

I chose a piece of fabric for my stitch journal. I'm hand quilting around the leaves and vine on the fabric. The stitches will fade into the fabric but do make the cover more substantial. Besides I enjoy hand quilting. In this odd photo, the piece is sitting on top of my sewing basket in the sunshine. The fabric is very old stash, the last of four fat-quarters I bought at a quilt shop in Kansas when the kids were young. The shop was housed in an old country church. I always liked this print but couldn't bring myself to cut it up into small quilt block pieces. 

Early last year, I began keeping a book of poetry on my nightstand in order to read a few poems each evening. I finished The Lives of the Heart, an older work by Jane Hirshfield. Her poems are beautiful. I admire how she writes about everyday objects and also her multiple perspsectives. I also enjoyed the several meditations on "the heart." Currently I'm reading Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. It's fun to visit familiar characters. Having Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge in conversation is a treat. 

What projects are keeping you company this January?  If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, stay safe and warm. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere stay cool and enjoy the sunshine. 

TGIF 1.3.25

Hello Gentle Readers. Welcome to the first Friday of the month. Since I had no other occasion to post these sunset photos, I'm sharing them today, looking both backward and forward.  The first was taken early in December from a plane east of Kansas City, Mo. Our flight had been delayed by three hours. I was too tired to knit or read so I watched the setting sun. Here in the northern hemisphere, darkness comes early and it can be beautiful.

Today I am thinking (maybe overthinking 😏) about the construction of a cover, spine, and pages for a stitch journal. Some makers stitch pieces/pages and then assemble them into book form while others make the journal and add pieces as they are completed. I'm going to make the physical book/journal first. This week, I pulled some fabrics for the cover and need to play around with size and measurements. 

I am inspired by a new year and a new word for 2025. Earlier in her "Cup of Kindness" posts, Kym wrote two posts about "protecting your peace." To support the practice, I chose "nourish" as a word for the year. I hope it's a way to not only shelter but also enrich the coming year.  If you are interested in choosing a word, Kat has posted some ideas and links. Later this month, I'll write more. 

I am grateful for many things. This afternoon, I returned library books and picked up two more holds: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout and Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People by Tia Myles.  I looked at the shelves of new fiction and nonfiction but nothing else caught my eye. Public libraries are a treasure. I am grateful for access to a robust city library system and especially for the librarians who staff them.

Earlier this afternoon I had a fun coffee date at The Mill - Telegraph with two dear friends. (The Mill is a locally owned coffee shop with several locations in Lincoln and one in Omaha. This particular shop is located in what is called "the telegraph district" because it used to house the telegraph office and the telephone company.) We caught up on family/friend news and talked books. Two of us knit a few stitches. 

I'm easing my way into the new year and reminding myself everything doesn't have to be done or decided at once. January is three days young with plenty of time to savor winter days.

This last photo was taken very near the end of 2024. Here's to unwrapping beautiful sunsets in 2025.

A New Year

Hello Gentle Readers. Monday rain fell. Briefly, the rain became wet snow but by Tuesday morning temperature rose above freezing leaving wet streets. New Year's Day promises to be sunny, clear, and chilly. Perhaps I'll walk. I don't mind bundling up against the cold but I don't like to walk in the rain. 

As I link with Kat and other Unravelers, I'm enjoying a cup of decaf green tea while reviewing my making in 2024. All but one of last year's projects were a success. The yoked colorwork sweater I finished early in the year does not fit well. In spite of the alterations I made, it's too big. The neckline continues to grow as does the circumference around the hem. Sometime this year I may rip it out and reclaim the yarn.  

For Kate's July Birthday

I very much enjoyed learning more about slow-stitching. My first project, a cloth pouch, holds stitching notions: a thimble, a pair of embroidery scissors that were a gift from my Mom, a small needle book, and whatever floss I'm using on a current project. I made and gave other pouches to my daughter, nieces, and sister. This year, I plan to create a Stitch Journal and will share as I work on it.

My current knitting projects are the holiday socks, a shawl, and a sweater. I finished the first sock Monday evening and cast on the second one. I am making progress on a current sweater but don't have a photo to share. I am pleased with the fit - so far. I'm working the body and sleeves in tandem. The mental gymnastics and yarn manipulation is fun - for awhile. One night I needed a quieter more predictable project so I pulled out a shawl cast on last spring. Garter stitch and easy lace to the rescue. 

I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho as it is the January selection of my local book group. First published in 1993, it felt like a book from a time gone by, a time when I was more idealistic. The metaphorical story centers around one young man, a shepherd, and another man seeking their "Personal Legends." I wonder what my feminist group will have to say about a story where women are portrayed only in secondary stereotypic roles. An older woman features as a fortune teller. The other two young women are passing romantic interests waiting at home for men to return. The book is readable. Perhaps I am old and cynical and/or missing something. 

I reread Clear by Carys Davies in book form because I wanted to see the words of the old lost language in print. I found the writing just as eloquent and the story touching. I continue to think about all the meanings and nuances of the word, clear, and the ways that simple kindness radiates in unknown ways. 

With kindness on my mind, I ease into 2025. Happy New Year.