May's End

Hello Gentle Readers. Here we are at the end of May with summer knocking on the door. Another storm blew through last week taking several large limbs from the Japanese Lilac Tree in our yard. The tree is in the middle of the backyard, away from the house so the limbs fell onto the yard. Lance cut up all the debris and I helped carry it up to the side of the house. Otherwise these May days are just right for morning coffee and evening stitching on the deck. The blue flax, penstemon, and blue salvia bloom in the pollinator garden. The tomatoes are planted, the cucumbers are up, and I have enough oregano to supply an Italian restaurant. 

I began writing this post yesterday on Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends. Life happened and so I will finish it today. A week or so ago I completed this hat. The background is a commercial yarn while the color work is from hand-spun Shetland. The yarns knit up nicely together and the hat fits and feels great.  

I've made some progress on this shawl, knit in another combination of hand-spun and some unknown skein of commercial yarn in the deep periwinkle. The solid periwinkle was in various sized balls so I used up smaller bits first, letting the yardage determine the number of rows. I've also increased the garter stitch ridges in between the eyelet rows. I'm playing with the pattern and enjoying the process.

I cast on a pair of ribbed socks. This yarn comes under the "what was I thinking when I bought this" category. It's rather pink. The colorway name, Red Buds and Cherry Blossoms, seemed appropriate for Spring knitting.

As for reading, I finished The Lost Flock by Jane Cooper. This nonfiction work is the author's late in life adventure of becoming a shepherdess of the rare Scottish Boreray sheep. Much of her story is fascinating. I admire Cooper and her husband for their tenacity and desire to shepherd the flock and the breed in a way that is respectful of land and animals. For me, some details of sheep genetics were dry reading but I do understand that she and her husband rescued the almost lost breed. This book records that process and includes interesting history about the use of wool and the breed.  

I am almost finished with Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden by Camille T. Dungy. This memoir speaks eloquently to our time. Dungy's work to create her Fort Collins garden is a metaphor for the value and necessity of honoring and creating diversity in our world. Her prose and a few poems scattered throughout the book are both beautifully written. Incidentally, the library copy I'm reading is printed on paper that has a slight feel of cloth. I don't know how else to describe it and I don't find any information about the paper in the book but it certainly adds to the pleasure of reading Dungy's writing. 

Here's to the blue skies of late Spring/early Summer. What are you planning to read this summer?

Ravelry Links

Juniper Hat

Curious Hand-Spun Shawl 

Red Buds and Cherry Blossom Socks