Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Mid-February

The quality of the light changes in February. Even though we have another month of dry brown winter, the days are longer and the sun sets in a slightly different place on the horizon. Yesterday while walking in a jacket, I saw a large flock of robins eating some dried ornamental berries from a tree. A few robins winter here but that was a mighty big flock. I take is as a sign of Spring.

My grandchildren in Connecticut are recovering from Covid and for that we are very thankful. The three boys were vaccinated so two were asymptomatic and one had a mild case. However little Norah, too young for the vaccine, was very sick with croup related to Covid. With good medical care and vigilant parents, she is recovering well. It's a miracle that my daughter and son-in-law didn't get sick as well. The moral of the story is the vaccine works and everyone eligible should get one. 

I am linking with Kat and other Unravelers today. My thanks to Kat for providing the link-up. Stopping to consider the week and update my projects on Ravelry is a good mid-week marker. My making was a little scattered as I worried about my family but I made some progress on several projects. I finished quilting the square that will become a pillow top. I need to dig out instructions for the easy edging I put on the old one and find fabric for the back. 

I knit back to fresh yarn on the infamous sweater. I am thinking of the stockinette knitting as a meditation. I did know what I was signing up for when I cast on the project. One stitch at a time, one day at a time, and all is well.

Instead of knitting on the other knitting projects, I have been spinning. I continue to work on the blue gradient of Polworth and have nearly finished the second spindle of this medium shade. 

While one set of singles rests before plying, I spin on another project. Last summer I participated in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Podcast summer spin-in and won some fiber from Sincere Sheep.  I am spinning it on a turkish spindle. I want to try plying directly from the "turtles" made by spinning with this type of spindle. The fiber, 80% Romeldale and 20% Suri Alpaca is soft, springy, and lovely to spin. The label tells me the wool came from a sheep named "Sweet Pea" who lives in Idaho. The alpaca comes from an animal living in Morro Bay, California. It is fun to spin and think of "Sweet Pea" grazing in Idaho. 


While waiting for library holds to come in, I reread The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys. The novel is set in England during World War Two. The main character, a single woman in her mid-thirties, leaves London to supervise a small group of Land Girls. At her post, she finds among other things a tangled lost garden and sets about to restore it. She also searches for the story behind the garden. As the young women absorb losses of the war and ponder the unknown future, I found some parallels to living in a pandemic. Reading this bittersweet story about gardening in February was lovely. References to Virginia Woolf and To The Lighthouse were a bonus. The first time I read the book, I knew little of Woolf so in some ways it felt like a new story. I'm sure my seventy years are showing with this comment. Although the end wraps everything up a little too quickly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I hope warmth and light is returning to your neck of the woods.  Happy mid-February. 

 


8 comments:

  1. Oh, Jane! I'm so sorry your grandchildren had Covid, but I'm happy to hear they're all doing well now. Poor little Norah! You must have been In A State with worry about them. Thanks for the update. I've been noticing and enjoying the changing light these days, too. Spring is coming. XO

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  2. I love the color of the sweater. Beautiful work! Amen about Covid vaccines. My husband, son and I are all vaccinated. He got lax in max wearing and got Covid, but was over the worst of it in about 3 days. Hubby and I were around him and never got it. I hope little Norah is soon healthy again. Looking forward to the day when even the littlest can get vaccinated.

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  3. I'm sending up all the healing thoughts for your CT family - and glad you've had some steady stockinette knitting to keep your hands and mind busy. I got a pedicure today and thought SPRING! sigh, my pretty toes won't see real outside for weeks, but it felt good.

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  4. I'm so sorry to hear that your CT grandchildren were sick with covid but very happy to hear that they are now doing well and recovering. You were the one that told me about knitting a son safely home, so I'm now imagining you knitting and spinning them back to health. The Lost Garden sounds exactly like what I would like to be reading right now, so I'm going to hope that my library has it. Thank you for the fine recommendation!

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  5. No warmth here. They c1aimed it was 50 today in Wisconsin. NOT HERE. But we wi11 escape the next snow event, again and I'm happy for that. I 1ove that you know a Sweet Pea whose yarn you are spinning!!! That is so coo1

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  6. Oh gosh! I too am so so sorry your grandchildren all got COVID...I am nodding at Kym's comment... yes, I'd have been In A State. I hope they are all on the mend and that vaccines for children under 5 are available sooner than later!

    Lovely spinning (and I too am savoring the gradual return to light!)

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  7. I'm sorry to hear that all the grandkids were sick -- and I'm sorry that you had to worry all that time! I hope they're all fully recovered soon, if not already, and thank goodness for vaccines!

    I feel sure there must be some long German word for the moment when you are reknitting yarn you unraveled and get to unused yarn again and the feeling that you are once again making forward progress.

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  8. I am so glad your grands are on the mend, there is always something to worry about!! I've been knitting at night and busy with random appointments during the day - I'm hoping that within two weeks I'll be back to a mundane life!!

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