Goodness I am late to my computer this morning. This morning I walked later and longer, past several of my favorite flower beds. The calendar says August but there is a touch of fall in this morning's breeze. Thankfully the air quality has improved and most of the smoke has dissipated. Living near the western wildfires must be awful. This week I am watching a pair of young blue-jays hanging out in the near neighborhood. I haven't seen evidence of the virus plaguing song birds in some parts of the country. The birds typical in this area look healthy although last week I saw a few stressed by the extreme heat. Every evening of those hot days, I scrubbed the bird bath with a brush, rinsed it out, and refilled it with clean water. Otherwise I have kept it empty.
This week's Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends brings good knitting progress. I finished the shorty socks last week and unpinned the Spring Rewilding Shawl this morning. Blocking a lace pattern is as magical as turning the heel on a sock. When I bound off this shawl, I wondered if it was big enough. I blocked it with a moderate amount of tension and it came out great. I still need to weave in the last end floating in the breeze. I made some progress on Norah's little sweater and it is coming along nicely.
Do you remember this slipper pattern? It is a throwback to my childhood as my Gram knit these for us. This project comes with a little story. I enjoy some knitting podcasts including Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Kelly and Marsha live on the West Coast. They knit, spin, dabble in dyeing, and podcast. Kelly also weaves and keeps bees. When they attended Stitches West, the Duren Dyeworks owner gave them some bulky Targhee yarn to giveaway on their podcast. I enter giveaways only when I think I will use the product and don't often win. Well I won a skein and can report that Targhee yarn is quite soft and squishy. This slipper makes me smile because it reminds me of Gram and her knitting. Bulky yarn on size 9 needles doesn't take long but they will need pom-poms. Back in the day, Gram made her own pom-poms, mostly pink. (Between the last end of the shawl and the sock marks on my leg, I am doing my best to keep this blog realistic.)
Horizon is still on the end table for afternoon reading. I am listening to the Kopp Sisters on the March by Amy Stewart, a light humorous read. This is the latest in the mystery series based on Constance Kopp, a woman who was the first sheriff's deputy in NewYork in the early 1900's. While it is entertaining enough to past the time while cleaning, it isn't the strongest story in the series. At any rate Constance with her no nonsense forthright manner is easy to like and I love the camp nurse described in this story. I am also reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I have a copy with annotation for the French phrases and older vocabulary that is helpful. Both of these stories center around a young woman left alone to make her way in the world. Similarities in the way they are treated, Lucy Snowe in the mid 1800's and Belulah Binford in the early 1900's, are striking. Young women left penniless had few options and change was slow in coming. I picked up Villette because Emily Dickinson admired the writing of Emily Bronte and this novel was one mentioned in a recent commentary I read about Dickinson. Writers that writers admire interest me.
Stay safe, stay well. Enjoy the glories of summer while we wait for Autumn days.
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Your shawl is beautiful, both the pattern and the color you chose! I also like Norah's sweater (and matching bouquet), and those slippers take me back, too. My MiL knit many pairs and always had extras on hand at her house for any visitors with cold feet. I may need to knit a few pairs this winter and donate them in her memory. Keep up the lovely knitting, observations of weather and wildlife, and the realism. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour knitting is pretty pretty pretty
ReplyDeleteI have to make those throwbacks!
Gorgeous shawl... and those slippers are just perfect! (and will all too soon be necessary!)
ReplyDeleteHi - I love your knitting. I have some slippers very similar to yours that were made and gifted to me by a friend. Glad to hear all is going well. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to knit those slippers for my sister and I -- and they were one of my first successful projects as a young knitter, too -- so they are definitely in my fondest-memories-bank. (We had a dog who used to attack our slippered feet because she was so attracted by the pompoms!) Lovely knitting, as always. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the shawl, so pretty! Sadly the cool breezes are ending around here and we are going back to hot and humid (grr). I am eagerly waiting for fall and being cold.
ReplyDeleteI remember those slippers - at least I think I do - I have my original copy of the Bernat Learn to Knit book and they were one of my first projects. without pompoms.
ReplyDeletep.s. I didn't even notice the trailing end on the shawl or the sock line until you pointed them out ;-)
DeleteI had a babysitter who used to knit those slippers for us kids -- and we loved to slide across the family room floor in them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous shawl. The color is so pretty. It looks like a pretty complicated one, so congrats for finishing it!