Recent Stitching

Hello Gentle Readers. This is a week when knitting with wool pays dividends in warmth. Like many areas in the country, the local temperatures are bitter cold. Unlike the northeast, we have no snow. Still, this is weather for a favorite alpaca shawl, hot tea, and soup. Right now a Cooper's Hawk braves a cold breeze in the back yard. Between the cold and the hawk, not a creature is stirring in the monochromatic landscape. 

As always, I link this post with Kat and the Unravelers and thank Kat for that opportunity. 

 I have completed three December stitch pieces and they are safely sewed into my stitch journal. In many traditions, a  wreath symbolizes the cycle of the seasons and life. They also serve as a welcome when hung on an outer door. I so enjoyed stitching this little wreath of embellished feather stitches I documented the process with photos. I began by creating a feather-stitched circle.

Then I embellished the "feathers" with tiny straight stitches and eventually red french knots.

The remnant of red wool that became the bow was used in other pieces in the journal and I rather like that continuity. The stitches at top of the piece are variations of a crossed stitches, sometimes a t stitched on top of an x - if that makes any kind of sense. I don't know if there is a name for the stitch. I've seen them elsewhere. 

I stitched a waxing crescent moon to mark the Winter Solstice (that was the moon phase that night).  On the underneath paper page, I copied a Longfellow quote I've always liked, "One by one the stars came out, the forget-me-nots of the angels." The stars in the sky are in a few colors inspired by an IG post of a Christmas photo of Boston with lights reflected in the harbor. 

The third little page is a copy of Norah's rendition of a Christmas tree, complete with a garland and purple star. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was sitting beside her and we were drawing. She picked up a marker and very quickly drew a tree in this shape. And then she looked at me and said, "I don't know if I like that shape but oh well." I assured her I loved the shape of the tree because it was unique and asked her if she wanted to decorate her tree. She added a garland made of little circles and a purple star. Later I asked her if I could take a photo of her drawing because I might want to create a fabric likeness. I changed the garland to cross-stitches because I didn't want to satin stitch a bunch of little circles. I noted the date Norah drew her tree and wrote the words "O Taunenbaum" because my Grandmother Catherine, whose parents immigrated from Prussia, used to sing the carol in German. 

I have five pages left in the journal I created last January. I made the first piece on January 23, 2025. Right now I plan to create a few more pieces to complete the journal. Who says, the stitch journal year needs to end on December 31?  

This last week I read Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey. Trethewey is a former U.S. Poet Laureate. I have read and marveled at Trethewey's poetry and in fact once heard her read in person several years prior to the publication of this book. I knew of this memoir but never read it. I happened on it in a library display and brought it home. Generally poets write beautiful prose and this memoir is no exception. This story is the journey of Mother and Daughter navigating both joy and grief, dealing with the racism as well as the strong family relationships that supported both of them. Trethewey's mother was beautiful, intelligent, hard working, and courageous. She did her best to escape from an abusive relationship with Trethewey's step-father and in the end it cost her her life. At the time Trethewey was nineteen years of age. I suspect this memoir was terribly difficult to write but all the more reason it should be read. 

Last fall, I brought a Dragonwing begonia indoors. It sits in front of a southern facing walkout glass door in the basement. Ever since, it has been blooming it's little heart out but become quite leggy. Sunday I gave it a haircut and brought these blooms upstairs. They won't last long in water but they bring a bit of cheer to these January days. 

I am happy to report we are on the mend from a nasty respiratory virus. The older we get, the longer it takes to recover. Thank you for your well wishes. I hope you are staying well and warm. What are you up to these January days?

Gray January Day

Hello Gentle Readers. As I write this Tuesday morning, the sky is gray but the temperature, fifty degrees, still warm for January. For once, the wind is still. Three female cardinals perch in the ornamental pear tree on the parkway. Perhaps they enjoy the peace and quiet. A squirrel builds a drey in the upper limbs of the birch. I wish I had a way to tell her the tree is scheduled for trimming in March. 

A winter respiratory virus has come to our home. My husband has been miserable. For over two weeks I've dodged the germ but this a.m. I woke with a scratchy throat and stuffed up nose. My luck has run out. The good news is we don't have any pressing appointments or plans and he is finally on the mend. One of us can get out for groceries and other necessities.

Instead of winter germs, let's get onto the Wednesday post with Kat and the Unravelers. I am working on a major unraveling project. In 2024, I knit a colorwork yoke sweater. Every time I put it on, I took it off because it didn't fit well. The underarms were saggy baggy with extra fabric and the bottom flared. At first, I thought I'd wear it around the house but the yarn is too nice and too expensive, to be relegated to sweatshirt status. I love the soft gray color with flecks of darker blue. I don't know how it will look after re-skeining and washing, but I'm going to try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

I finished the scrappy socks and they are tucked away for next Christmas season. Thank you for your kind comments. They kept me knitting to the finish line. Once I had the blue cardigan blocking, I knit exclusively on the socks. When I knit scrappy socks, I use a "weave in the ends as I go" method that I learned from a tutorial by Denise Santis, Earthtone Girls. So when they are finished, I just turn them inside out and clip off the ends. I've never had any trouble with yarns coming loose. 

In the meantime, I cast on a Sophie Hood using handspun held double with a strand of mohair to make a worsted to Aran weight. The fabric is lovely and the darker mohair matches the darkest shade in the handspun. The mohair also tones down the variegated handspun. I hope the combination of hood with shawl ends will be warm for walking and does less of a number on my hair. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try. I don't think I can look any more comical when I walk so I'm going to try this hood. 

I'm listening to the novel, Theo of Golden by Allen Levi and sorry to be nearly at the end. The narrator is wonderful and the story superb. I'm a little late to this party but the premise of the novel is the power of kindness to change lives and/or make people feel better about themselves. The main character, Leo, is a mysterious elderly gentleman of eighty six years of age. The story contains beautiful descriptions of food, unlikely friendships, art, music, and the natural setting of a small southern town. Some might find the story a little too sweet but if ever there was a time and place for a book about creative kindnesses, that time is now. This is a book to lift the spirits and begin to restore one's faith in the human race. If you haven't read it, give it a try.  

I wish you all a good week. Stay healthy and safe. 

Ravelry Links

Scrappy Christmas Socks

Handspun Sophie Hood

Two Steps Forward, One Back

Hello Gentle Readers. I write on a morning of sunshine and blue skies. January is unseasonably warm and dry in southeast Nebraska though there is rain forecast for later this week. I continue to enjoy a flock of robins that travel around the neighborhood feeding on fruit from ornamental trees. Sunday the temperature was near fifty degrees, the wind blew a gale and the robins were twittering away in the trees. Honestly, it felt like March. 

Today is the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers. Sunday evening I finished the ribbing and bound off the body of the cardigan. The pattern calls for knitting the buttonband and neck finishing before knitting the sleeves. I've not encountered this previously but Isabel Kraemer is an experienced designer so she must have a reason. I will block the sweater before picking up stitches for the buttonband. I also need to decide on buttons so I know what size to make the buttonholes. For now, I'm following the pattern as written.

As for the sock, I ripped out a good three inches plus the heel. As I knit the foot, I kept tugging on the heel thinking it looked cattywampus. Don't ask me what happened except that I knit a shadow wrap short row heel that I've only knit one or twice. Somehow it skewed to one side. Thinking I could live with the mistake, I tried it on but it wasn't comfortable. In future, I will stick with the heel flap, turn, and gusset that I could knit in my sleep and fits. I'm sure you are as tired of these socks as I am. 

This week I read Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell. This historical fiction is the reimagining of the lives of the Brontë siblings. In this account, the first person narrator is Emily. The physical description of the landscape is well done. I also enjoyed the interactions between Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. Occasionally there is a reference to a storyline from one of their novels. Some felt contrived but were fun to come upon while reading. There is nothing new in this novel but I enjoyed thinking once again of the way in which these young writers challenged rigid expectations for women in their time and place. 

As we ease into January 2026, I wish you time to unwrap a winter sunset.  

In Progress

Hello Gentle Readers. I hope that however you celebrated December holidays you found something to enjoy. We spent some time with extended family late this month and enjoyed both visits. Otherwise, I let the season unfold at a slower pace and took time with the things I enjoy. Yesterday I made a batch of peanut butter cookies because I wanted to do so. Here, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very foggy. Late on Christmas afternoon we took a walk in the fog and enjoyed the lights in the neighbors' yards. This past Sunday, the temps dropped dramatically, the wind howled and light snow blew around for a few hours. Tuesday afternoon, the day warmed enough for a good walk. 

Kat is not hosting Unraveled Wednesday today but posting about knitting and reading mid-week is a good routine for me. Have you ever noticed how knits in progress look a little strange? Non-knitters looking at them probably wonder why we make such odd things. Anyway, I am working away on the cardigan and scrappy socks. Monday evening I knit the heel on the second sock. Recently Connie mentioned how knitting a traditional heel flap, turn, and gusset means that a good part of the foot is completed. That doesn't happen with a short row heel. I knit a shadow wrap short row heel on these socks so I have a good long foot to finish. 

In order to keep moving on the cardigan, I attached a progress keeper (barely visible on this overcast day) that I move on Sunday evening. The games we play with knitting, right? At this point, I need about another inch before knitting the ribbing on the body of the sweater. Slowly but surely. 

This month I read The Place of Tides by James Rebanks. While Rebanks writing is beautifully descriptive and it was fascinating to learn about life on a small Norwegian island in the Arctic, I had mixed feelings about this book. To me, there is something unsettling about a man looking for isolation for his own growth, accompanying Anna and Ingrid as they work in old ways to support nesting ducks and collect and clean eider down. Perhaps due to the times in which we live, Rebanks' narrative felt a little like a privileged male interjecting himself into the lives of working class women. While he is respectful of them and willing to help in any way, some of his early comments about the women seemed judgmental. As the book progresses his ideas change and so perhaps that is the point. Certainly he respects the environment. As he writes, "if we are going to save the world, we have to start somewhere," which is what Anna and other "duck women" are doing. 

Our light snow has melted but I do love to see the little tracks of juncos. I wish you the best as we head into the new year. 

Mid December

Hello Gentle Readers. After a weekend of frigid temperatures, this week will be warmer. I look forward to walking on the forty and fifty degree days. Life is better when I can get outside and walk. I don't mind layering up against the cold but when the "feels like temperature" drops into the low teens and the wind blows, long walks are not for me. This will also be a good week for walking at dusk to view the holiday lights in the neighborhood. I love the quiet slow perspective of walking rather than driving past lights. It also brings back memories of our kids' excitement over "the lights." 

As I link with Kat and the Unravelers this week, I am experiencing some loose stitches in the cardigan on the needles. Last night I attended to the tension in the faux seam areas (adjacent knits and purls) where this is happening and it looks better. Earlier, I bungled a few stitches when attaching the second skein of yarn so I ripped out an inch and reknit those rows. The join is in the underarm/faux side seam and probably wouldn't have been terribly noticeable but it kept catching my eye. I couldn't make it better by pulling and adjusting yarn so I unraveled and reknit the rows. It's all knitting and attaching a second skein of yarn feels like progress. 

I finished one scrappy Christmas sock, knitting a green toe because I could. When I began, I weighed and divided the patterned yarn into two balls. I have some leftover from the first sock so will not do quite as many white stripes in the second one. 

The November stitch journal pages were about the colors and leaves from a beautiful end to autumn. The designs for leaves quilted into the above page came from leaves in the neighborhood. One day while walking I picked up the smallest leaves I could find. Three are from maple trees, one from a cottonwood, and the other from the birch in our front yard. On the next page, I carried on with an oak leaf I picked up on November 20, the day of our 48th wedding anniversary. Excuse the wrinkle, when I opened the journal to take photos, the page had been folded at a wonky angle. I figure a wrinkle or two is appropriate after forty eight years of marriage. 

I read some of  The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai. The writing is lovely while the story, not surprisingly, is melancholy. The novel takes its time, offering rich description, sensory detail, and family backstory to the lives of two young adults, Sonia and Sunny. I had a library copy that could not be renewed because of holds. While I enjoy the many cultural references about India, I prefer to search for information in order to understand them. There is much to savor in this book so I leave it unfinished at this time. 

Lastly, I was looking for a cookie recipe for my Grandmother's Spritz and came across this. Does anyone know where I might find a 69 cent bag of cashews? By the way, this candy is more like cashew brittle than toffee. I haven't made it for years but I recall it being quite good. 

Ravelry Links

Blue Cardigan

Scrappy Christmas Socks

 

Well Hello

Hello Gentle Readers.  As I write on Tuesday morning, sunlight filters through a cloudy sky. Three gold finches in khaki coats are at the tube feeder while the blue jays squawk from the tops of bare trees. They might be posting a warning about a Cooper's Hawk that sometimes frequents the neighborhood or they might be enjoying a call and response with their small flock. Today will be the warmest day since we returned from visiting our daughter and family in Connecticut. 

We left the Monday of Thanksgiving week in autumn weather and returned eight days later to winter. Several inches of snow had fallen over a layer of ice. In the budget parking lot, our car was covered in ice and snow.  At the end of the traveling day, we were grateful the car started and for the ice scraper and brush in the trunk. We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving and sharing a week in the life of that busy family. We cooked, baked, feasted, played board games and rousing games of UNO. We watched a little football and took some brisk walks. Lance and I took the kids to the independent bookstore so each one could pick out a book. We packed a lot of fun into the week. Then we came home to rest. 

 

Today I am linking with Kat and the Unravelers  and happy to be here. Before we left, I finished the cutest little pair of "Pop-Top" mittens. The above photo shows the fingerless mitt with the top positioned behind it. The first mitten went smoothly. It took a few minutes to puzzle out the second mitten as they needed to be knit as a left and right mirror so the pop-top was on the back of each hand. No doubt, this was just my brain in a bit of a muddle trying to get us organized to travel. Anyway, Norah loved them and wore them to school the day after we arrived. 

This last week I finished the blue mitts. They might be a gift or I might keep them for driving. The Rowan Norwegian Wool is a wooly but soft wool so these mitts are warm. 

In order to use the rest of a skein of West Yorkshire Spinners patterned sock yarn, I cast on a pair of scrappy Christmas socks. When I need a break from the blue cardigan, I knit on these socks. 

I don't have any finished books to review but last Thursday evening we were fortunate to attend a live concert by Yo Yo Ma at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Ma played his cello (no accompaniment) for over ninety minutes. His performance and music were absolutely elegant. The classical program alternated between pieces by Bach and other contemporary composers. Besides the beauty of his music, Yo Yo Ma is a gracious, kind human being. He spoke a few sentences in between pieces, creating a sense of presence and community in the large auditorium. His encore, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was a little bit of magic. I have been listening to his short podcast series, Our Common Nature, and can recommend it. He also has an Instagram account. 

Later I thought about all the human minds and hands that came together to make his performance possible. Someone or several someones imagined and crafted a cello with strings and a bow. Another person who lived in Germany, dreamed and composed the music he played. Then a boy born in Paris came to the United States at the age of four and began to study music. Family, mentors, and community supported his endeavors as he became a virtuoso musician. Now he shares so much more than his music with the world. Across time and place, we are a community. 

I'm headed out for a nice long walk and then to run some errands. What are you thinking about today?

Ravelry Links

Pop Top Mittens

Blue Mitts

Scrappy Christmas Socks

Mid-November

Hello Gentle Readers. November evenings come early. Still there are days of bright blue skies and burnished oak leaves. One sunny warm day last week, I was driving west at midafternoon. Sunlight filtering through oak trees created a beautiful butterscotch effect. Prior to the weekend, the temps swung up to seventy plus degrees but have dropped after a Monday evening rain. There is a richness to all of the November days. 

Since I last posted about knitting, I've made progress with existing projects and cast on something new. I wet blocked the current sweater in progress to check the fit. I'm glad I added a few rows to the yoke because right now, this part of the sweater fits. In photos, the color of the yarn fades out, even with filter adjustments. 

In the meantime, Norah requested some mittens that "flip open at the top." Some of her friends are wearing them at school. I found a child-sized pattern called "Pop-Tops" on Ravelry and promptly started the project. Remember the pre-Ravelry days of searching for patterns in yarn shops and books. It would have taken me a long time to find a pattern and I might not have found one. Ravelry may not be perfect but it sure is useful.

I finished the hand of the first Green Thumb mitt and cast on the second one. When I knit mittens, I knit both hands and then go back and knit the thumbs one after another. This increases the odds they will be the same length.  

This week I read Port Anna a debut novel by Libby Buck. The plot about a young woman down on her luck returning to her family's old cottage in Maine is heartwarming, if a little predictable. It contains a touch of magical realism and lovely descriptions of the rugged Maine coast. What I enjoyed most was the physical presentation of the library hardcover copy. The front cover evokes the feel of an Andrew Wyeth print, the back is photograph of the Maine coast, and the spine of the cover is a soft gray-blue with a cameo of a lighthouse. The opening page of each section of text contains a gray silhouette of forest pines. Although I know nothing about fonts, the look of the chapter numbers was also striking. 

Kat, who usually hosts the Wednesday link-ups for these posts, and her family have experienced a great sadness and loss. My thoughts are with her as I write. 

And, I have another photo of a November leaf. This one came from some late turning trees on a parkway along my walk. Likely I will not post next week. Mindful that holidays can be difficult, I do wish you a good November and if you celebrate, a rich grateful day of Thanksgiving. 

 

Ravelry Links

Blue Cardigan

Blue Mitts

Pink Pop Tops