Hello Gentle Readers. Mid summer arrives with very hot days and warm nights. This morning the sun is bright and a stiff breeze blows. My sister drove over yesterday. We visited, shared our knitting projects, and went out to lunch. She brought a scrapbook and photo album that my Mom made during her nurses training in 1944 - 1947. The young nursing students look so fresh and earnest in their striped uniforms and starched white caps. When they were not working on the floors or studying, they had fun. There were some cute photos of young women in dorm rooms as well as a few when they dressed up for a dance. We very much enjoyed our time together.
Today I join Kat and the Unravelers. This week I made progress on two knitting projects, a shawl and a pair of socks. I'm not thrilled with the clover eyelets in the body of the shawl. The spaces are not equal in size. There is a tip in the pattern to correct this but it hasn't helped much. Since I have completed five of nine repeats in the body, I'm going to continue executing the stitch motif in the same way. At least the unevenness will be consistent. Blocking may (the operative word) help some. I enjoy working on the shawl but do have to refer to the chart. This is not late night knitting. When I get tired I switch to the socks. The first sock now has a leg, a heel flap and gusset.
I continue to be amazed at Kate Davies writing and story in Handywoman. Last night I read the essay about knitting and how, after her stroke at thirty-six years of age, knitting and the knitting community supported her. During her recovery, she began to imagine a career as a knitting designer. She also wrote about her early academic work. Rather than condemning domesticity or looking at domestic skills as separate from women's political views, she looked for connections between the pen and the needle. If I can find it, I'd like to read some of her academic work.
I'm very late to this party but I'm listening to The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny because it was available on Libby. Reviews of this book are mixed. I'm approaching it with an open mind and enjoying it as an audio backdrop for indoor chores and making. If I recall correctly, it ends with a cliff hanger and that is not my favorite thing in a mystery series. Penny also introduces the new narrator. He does a good enough job but it is a change.
I hope you are staying cool in the Northern Hemisphere and warm in the Southern Hemisphere. I don't love the heat and humidity but so we are eating cold salads and fresh fruit. Today I plan to make a main dish salad of Farro, garden tomatoes and a cucumber from my neighbor. The salad requires other ingredients so I'm off to see what I have and what I might substitute without going out to the store.
This hybrid hydrangea grows along my walking route. Isn't it pretty?
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We've had a couple of days with cooler (and dryer) weather -- it was such a treat to need a sweatshirt to take the dog out first thing in the morning! But the heat and humidity are back, so I am enjoying the AC inside while I knit. I certainly hope blocking helps with your eyelets, but I also suspect that the average person is not going to notice a difference in size -- I often think we're much more critical of our work than anyone else. I'll be interested to hear what you think of The Grey Wolf. I suspect that the follow-up (which will be out in October) is going to be the last Gamache, hence the cliffhanger. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteI have appreciated the couple of days reprieve we've had... but after this mornings lovely start the temps have been climbing all day. I am really quite over this extra warm weather.
ReplyDeleteI try hard to bottle up the too-hot and too-humid days of summer . . . so I can "unleash" them in my memory later . . . when it's cold and dreary and winter is lasting far too long! Sometimes I'm better at "accepting" my errors than other times. I hope you can embrace your misplaced eyelets and just love the color and texture of your shawl! Enjoy your salad, Jane. It sounds like a perfect summer dinner. XO
ReplyDeleteWe had 1/4" of rain overnight and while today has been humid, it's only 86 degrees right now. Like Kym suggests, I need to bottle up that humid 86 for January, along with the "low" of 75. The forecast showed a low of 71 for Friday, so I fed the sourdough today and plan to bake cookies for Sam & Charlie Friday morning. It's been months since I refreshed their cookie tins!
ReplyDeleteI have my grandmother's yearbook and the Girl Graduate book where she and her friends wrote about graduating and what life may hold. This was in the Roaring 20's, but having only pictured her as an old lady, it was mindblowing to see her as a teen of her time.
ReplyDeleteThe time you shared with your sister sounds lovely. My sister and I only live an hour apart but she leads a busy life - she's still working and she is also raising her 11-year-old granddaughter. When we're together we rarely have time to chat leisurely or look at photos because she needs to help with homework or take her granddaughter to cheer leading practice. Maybe this will change in the next couple of years. We had a couple of comfortable days but now we're back in the heat and humidity. I guess it's expected in the summer but that still doesn't mean I like it much!
ReplyDeleteI don’t get to see my sister nearly enough as we are on opposite sides of the country. I sent a link to some of Kate’s other writing too.
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