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.