Early March

Hello Gentle Readers. As I write I look out at snow and blue skies. The wind blows a gale. Tuesday late afternoon an old-fashioned blizzard blew into the area. The wind howled as rain turned to wet heavy snow. Monday while walking in a jacket, a flock of sandhill cranes flew overhead. In flight, they look like someone tossed black pepper in the sky.  As our president signs an order to permit trees, including old growth trees, to be harvested from our National Forests, it is comforting to see and hear the cranes. I contribute to a group insuring the cranes, that have followed the same path of migration for thousands of years, have a natural resting/refueling place in the Platte River Valley. The value of natural resources goes well beyond dollars and cents. Although I am preaching to the choir, see the book, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer or the writings of Margaret Renkl if you are skeptical. 

Today I link with Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday. I am nearly at the decision point on the Giddy-up sweater. This evening I plan to join the front and back. I have finished two projects. I knit a good portion of the scarf above while I chatted in person with our son, Aaron. It's a nice way to remember his latest visit. I used two different skeins of handspun. The free pattern makes an almost reversible scarf and I plan to use it soon for a wash cloth. 

I also finished a pair of fingerless mitts. Because I am a lose knitter, I modified the pattern. Next time I knit these mitts, I plan (if I remember) to increase the count of ribbed stitches. The mitts are quite lightweight but will nice on a cool Spring day. I needed another project so I cast on a pair of socks with stash yarn. The blue gray isn't quite the shade of the gray cranes but reminded me of them. I pulled out the little book, Those of the Gray Wind: The Sandhill Cranes by the  Paul A. Johnsgard that I often reread this time of year. 

As for other reading, I listened to The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. This novel is classified as historical fantasy, not a genre I often read. Arden did her research and presents the senselessness of World War One in all of its brutality, cruelty, insanity, and horror. The idea of a Canadian and German soldier being thrown together by terrible circumstances and then coming to care deeply for each other is well written. The parallel story is of the sister of the Canadian, a wounded nurse, who is searching for information about her brother who was reported missing and then dead. I thought some fantastical elements were narrated in an overly dramatic manner but I continue to think about ideas in this story. 

My plan for today is to wipe down the fronts of the kitchen cupboards and then make a pot of lentil soup. I hope March is off to a good start for you. 

Ravelry Links

Handspun Scarf

Align Mitts

March Socks

Stitching Toward Spring

Hello Gentle Readers. This morning I saw a little sparrow with a beak full of grass. She flew into a bird house in the neighbor's yard. As Emily Dickinson wrote, "Hope is a thing with feathers." She survived the bitter cold and now builds a nest. What a difference a week makes. Saturday our temps began to climb. Monday and Tuesday brought highs of sixty five degrees. I hear more bird song when I walk. The soft changes of February light are so welcome. It isn't Spring yet but in spite of all of us, it isn't far off.  

Wednesday is the day to join Kat and company for Unraveled Wednesday. Besides the handspun scarf, my other knitting is a tentative project. Inspired by Mary's sweater, I cast on the Giddy Up Sweater using handspun Corriedale. The yarn is on the lightweight wide and also slightly wooly. The construction is new to me and interesting to knit. I plan to work an inch or so past the point where the front and back are joined for the body. Then I'll block it, try it on and decide if it is a go. 

I completed more pages in my stitch journal. Thank you for all your lovely compliments about the stitching. Here is my version of K3N's heart. Behind it is a Willa Cather quote about love that is a favorite of my sister and I. The quote comes from Death Comes for the Archbishop and begins "Where there is great love, there are always miracles . . ." 

I love thinking about hands, the miraculous combination of bones and other tissue that can do all kinds of things. Hands transmit and receive touch. We lend a hand to others and on and on. Once I drew around the hands of my extended family and used them as quilting patterns in the border of a quilt. As my parents and brother have passed away, I am thankful to have that record but I digress. Since I file patterns and templates from my quilts (as in I rarely throw anything away) I had a file folder of hand patterns. 

This little one is my daughter's toddler hand. Behind this piece is a quote from Women Who Run with the Wolves, that goes something like this, "There is hogan on a Navajo reservation that has a red hand beside the door. It means, we are all safe here."

I am enjoying the poetry anthology, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, edited by Ada Limon. Although some poems appeal to me more than others, I appreciate the diversity of poets and landscapes represented. As more than one review notes, our landscape is changing dramatically and this is a modern version of poems about nature and location. Again, I found this volume by chance in a display at my local library. 

How are you fairing this last week in February?  What's bringing you hope?

Deep Winter

March may be ten days away but winter has a firm grip on this February day. Other than a cold but dry snap early in January, we've had all our winter in this week and the previous one. Last Wednesday six inches of snow fell and the temperature dropped dramatically. Monday another six inches fell with more sifting down on Tuesday. Yesterday morning the wind chill made the feels like temperature -22 degrees.  That's the weather report here. I enjoy being tucked in at home but also feel the need to move. Although I don't like it, I may resort to walking at a mall this afternoon. It's way too easy to stay curled up in the corner of the loveseat with my tea and projects.

I am happy to link with Kat and the Unravelers to post about making and reading. Last week I finished and blocked the shawl in the photo. It was a long standing WIP cast on last spring so I'm happy to have it off the needles. There might be a few missing rows that are now a design element. I blame election stress as well as Covid. In one space I omitted a garter ridge and in another I added one but I'm not telling where. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Our son is working remotely while visiting this week, so while we chat I work on the handspun scarf. I'm about half way through and working from another handspun skein in a coordinating color palette.  It's a peaceful easy knit. It is wonderful to have him here.

I am almost finished reading Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner. I discovered this book in a Black History Month display at my local library. Turner writes the story of herself, her sister, and a good friend who grow up in the 1970's in Chicago. They are the third generation of families who came north during the Great Migration. While there are parts of the book that could have been better written, I admire Turner's courage in telling and writing her story. Her Grandmother, Aunt, and Mother are a force. The way they support each other and the younger generation is an example for all of us. At times the story is heartbreaking but it also a tribute to friendship and the resilience of black women. I'm enjoying it and thankful that the local library system created the display. Let's hear it for the public librarians.

I'm leaving you with a photo of a rose I received on Valentine's Day. Our son went to breakfast with us on a cold cold morning. When Aaron was at home and in Lincoln, he and Lance breakfasted at this local diner every Friday morning.  Anyway, last Friday the diner gave each woman a rose as a thank you for being a customer.  With a drop of lemon grass essential oil in the water, the rose is still pretty in this morning's sunlight. 

Have a good week. Stay safe and warm in winter's last blast. 

 

Ravelry Links

Prairie Touchstone Shawl

Handspun Scarf

Rose Tinted Knitting

Hello Gentle Readers. Here in southeast Nebraska, we are experiencing bitter cold temperatures. As I write on Tuesday, the sky is overcast but bright and there are a very few snowflakes in the air. The downy woodpeckers, a red bellied woodpecker, some finches, and sparrows fly to and from the feeders. Earlier, as I made a cup of tea, three blue jays flew into a tree visible from my kitchen window. I haven't seen the cardinals but no doubt they are around. The birds are a good predictor of the approaching winter storm. We could use some snow.

Wednesday is the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers. I haven't done any unraveling - yet. A few years ago, I vowed I wasn't going to knit projects just to use up yarn but rather to knit what I enjoyed. Last night the color combination in the scrappy Habitation Throw looked garish to me. I need to see it in the light of day before deciding whether or not to continue. 

I find joy in knitting with handspun so I cast on this scarf. Just for fun, I pulled out an old pair of straight needles. I have a few from my Grandmother and also some that were mine. I wouldn't knit with them all the time but I'm enjoying the scarf on these rose colored needles. Rose- tinted knitting needles - someone has to do it. Right? I also cast on a pair of mitts. I wanted to try this indie naturally dyed yarn.  

Late last week, I plied a second skein of some BFL fiber ordered last February. This skein contains 257 yards of sport weight yarn. The first skein contains 215 yards. I still have another 4 oz of this fiber to spin. Eventually I'll have a nice bit of yarn.

As for reading, I am rereading A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman. I needed a comfort read. I also enjoy reading novels that feature older remarkable women. Marvellous Ways is one strong, kind, generous woman. The story is about kindness and love. I also finished The Asking: New and Selected Poems by Jane Hirshfield. If you enjoy poetry, this is a wonderful anthology of Hirshfield's work. Reading the work of a poet, from early to much later dates of publication interests me. It's a fascinating glance at the way the poet and her writing change over time. 

I'm off to make another cup of ginger-tumeric tea to help tame some Covid related inflammation in my mouth. It's interesting how stress affects the vulnerable systems of the body. I'm also going to pick up my rose tinted knitting needles and find some bits of joy in this winter day. 

TGIF 2.7.25

On this first Friday in February, I am happy we are half way to the Spring Equinox. Usually I settle in and enjoy winter as a season of soup, warm woolens, quiet, and a good book. This brown warmish winter hasn't had the same quality. More likely, I am not the same person and the world is not the same.

This Friday, I am thinking about everyday activities as a meditation. That is I am savoring chopping carrots and onions for soup, holding a book of poetry in my hands, unloading clean dishes from the dishwasher, steeping a cup of ginger tea, dusting a wooden blind, and choosing cloth scraps for stitching. Last night, instead of thinking of this shawl as a never-ending project, I thought of each stitch as a prayer. 

I am grateful for a warm house, the little downy woodpeckers in the neighborhood, blue sky, a walk, the smile of a neighbor, grocery store shelves that week after week sell red bell peppers, onions, broccoli, mandarin oranges, apples, decaf coffee, oatmeal, and more.  

I am inspired by all the school employees, including my daughter, who are developing protocols, arming themselves with information about legal procedures in order to face the federal Immigration authorities when they come calling for school children. Whoever thought educators and school therapists would be called on to do this?  

This week I made my own fun. Yesterday, I made Valentines for my grandchildren. They are getting their cards ready for classmates and their enthusiasm was catching. The three younger ones decided to include themselves in their preparations. As Jonah says, then he has an extra if anyone gets left out. Maybe we should all make a Valentine for ourselves and one for those who are left out. This week, I bought a few extra groceries in order to stock a Little Free Pantry. It is something I can do. 

I hope you have a peaceful weekend. 

Hello February

Hello Gentle Readers. February's cold gray days come with the promise of increasing hours of daylight. Yesterday I tested negative for Covid so that is a positive. How is that for paradox? We both feel better although the cough lingers. Thank you for all your well wishes. When I walked on Monday, I saw a Cooper's Hawk perched on a fence. I stayed still and watched as he held his own in the blustery winds. I was reminded that remaining upright and steadfast in the wind is an accomplishment. 

Wednesday is the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers. Today I'm writing about my Stitch Journal. If you remember, I began by hand quilting a piece of fabric for the cover. Loosely following videos from k3N Cloth Tales, I made the journal, leaving space between paper signatures to accommodate stitch pieces. Last year while when I discovered this channel, I stitched on a blush colored piece of fabric. Right now, it lays inside the back cover as an endpaper of sorts. It isn't permanently attached. In 2024, Kathryn posted a series of weekly prompts for stitched pieces. I am stitching pieces at my own pace, not weekly. I plan to follow some of her prompts but also create my own. 

I won't drive you nuts posting all of the pages but I'm celebrating getting started and completing three pieces. These little pages have been good company this winter. For me, hand stitching is peaceful. Underneath each piece, I write something. The first page is a piece of cloth weaving with a poem I jotted down over a week or so. *

The second page is the night sky accompanied by the poem "Mrs. Moon"  that I have always liked.

I have no idea where I first saw it but it reminds me of the classic picture book, "Goodnight Moon." 

The third page is my version of Kathryn's prompt on Light and Dark. Her emphasis was on the balance of light and dark. Lately I've been thinking about what we gain by being in darkness. Regardless of clouds, smoke, precipitation in the night sky, the light of the moon empties and fills. The stars shine even when they are not visible to the human eye. 

I finished reading Becoming Willa Cather: Creation and Career by Daryl W. Palmer. I have written of this nonfiction previously because I picked it up and put it down several times. In this book, Palmer looked thoughtfully at the changes in Cather's work, from early stories, her one volume of poetry, and through the three novels (O Pioneers!, My Antonia, The Song of the Lark) that made her reputation. Interesting to me was the influence of territory making and how maps were continually redrawn, the railroad, and how growing up in that time and place both constricted and allowed her to explore gender in her writing. Palmer doesn't ignore the fact that Cather didn't attend to the genocide of Native Americans. Nor does he dwell on Cather's sexual orientation. The writing is a little dry in places and probably isn't for everyone but it expand my thinking about Cather's work. 

Thank you for sticking with this long post. Here's to a new month, February and a breath of fresh air. 

* The poem and all creative work is copyrighted by Jane A. Wolfe

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.