Hello May

Hello Gentle Readers. May arrived here with a few warm balmy days. The rest of this week will be cooler but I love fifty and sixty degree days. The lavender irises bloom as does the flax. I love the old-fashioned scent of these irises. To me, it's a mix of bubble gum and grape soda at my Gram's home. 

Yesterday I planted seed for cosmos, bachelor buttons, and calendula. If they don't feed the bunnies, I might grow some bright annuals among the perennials. The flower bed survived the construction of the new fence. How or if the fence changes that microclimate will be the garden experiment of the summer. 

This Wednesday I will link with Kat and the Unravelers. I continue to knit on the Gemma Shawl and the Baby Blanket, gaining yardage on both projects. Larger projects take time and aren't the most exciting blog topic but this is the way I knit. I try to work on the blanket each day. It will be forever tied to The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lyon. I am currently listening to Volume 5. Emma is a delightful heroine and I'm speculating on how the story will end. I have been able to check them out sooner than the hold times would indicate. While they are a quick listen, I wonder if patrons put a number of them on hold at one time and then have to pass them on to the next reader. My local library system adopted a new hold policy which may also be a factor. Anyway the little blanket is a peaceful knit.  

I'm also enjoying the shawl. I have the pattern memorized and the wool/alpaca/linen blend has a slightly crisp but not unpleasant hand. The yarn color has some subtle shading as the three fibers absorbed the dye differently. I'm easily entertained by my knitting.

This week I read The Last Quarter of the Moon, written by Zijian Chi and translated by Bruce Humes. The narrator of the story is an old woman of the Evenki Tribe looking back on her nomadic life in remote forests of northeastern China. The tribe, although the men hunt and fish, depended on reindeer for clothing, shelter, and sustenance. She tells the story of what happened in five generations of her clan as Japanese, Soviets, logging, and climate change came to the forest during the twentieth century. Their life was beautiful, idyllic, cruel, and brutal. Although the story arc was tragic and contained a lot of sudden sometimes violent death, Chi wrote a quiet dignity into this novel. Learning a little about a people who often chose the common good over individual need was thought provoking.

I am not including any links in this post to see if that makes a difference in my ability to respond via email to your comments. Something in the gobbledygook in the email of blogger's response mentioned links. Google recently changed privacy settings policy so that may be part of my difficulty. When my dear son has a little free time, I'm going to ask him to help. I'm at that stage of life. I used to understand  computer terminology but it's much more complex. Remember Claris Works on the first Apple computers? It's been awhile. 

Carry on friends, what else can we do? I wish you an easy heart on this Spring day.

Flax at the edge of our pollinator garden.

 

  

April's End

Hello Gentle Readers. Greetings on this cool day at the end of April. This morning I turned on the heat and put on a sweater. Over the weekend rain fell and, in our yard, the first lavender iris bloomed. The sky is overcast as the neighbors have their fence replaced. Last summer a fierce storm blew down the wooden fence. 

I tend a strip of perennial flowers along that fence. The fence has always buffered the west wind and provided shade late in the afternoon. The new fence will maintain that habitat. I hope the flower bed isn't damaged in the re-fencing. The lavender iris, sweet peas, and medium tall phlox in that bed came from a friend who died years ago. I also wonder how summer sun reflecting off white vinyl will affect the flowers. I prefer wood but it's not our fence and vinyl may last longer. Gardens do grow and change. 

This last week, I finished the Rambouillet spinning project in the photo. In hindsight, it might have been better to ply some of these shades together and tone down the bright pinks. However the yarn is soft with that handspun kind of bounce. I may combine some of these skeins with another handspun yarn into one project. 

I finished the scrappy shortie socks. When I returned to them, the second foot was almost finished so now they are in the drawer. I knit a bit of 1 x 1 ribbing on the bottom of the sock. I went down a needle size for the ribbing and like the modification. It keeps them from slouching down into my walking shoe.

The other two knitting projects are coming along. The very light colors do not photograph well on a cloudy day. It's nice to be on the decrease side of the baby blanket. The shawl is peaceful knitting and I look forward to knitting a little bit each evening.

I read Storm Pegs: A Life Made in Shetland by Jen Hadfield. The book is a series of atmospheric essays without a recognizable structure. To me they felt very much "in the moment." Some of the writing is lyrical. She does not romanticize the rugged beauty or ignore the harsh realities of life on an island at "the seam of the Atlantic and the North Sea." Descriptions of the birds, ocean, the island, its inhabitants, and local customs are well done. Hadfield placed an essay about the history of "Shaetland" language in the middle of the work. The essay described variations among dialects, how the language is fading from use, and efforts to preserve it. She reflected on what the loss of language means for the inhabitants of the island. Given that she used Shetland words throughout the book, I would have preferred this essay closer to the beginning. 

She included a glossary of some vocabulary used in the book. Some Shetland words are italicized, other are not and not all of either variety are in the glossary. Sometimes word meaning was included or could be inferred from the context and sometimes not. If she had a pattern in mind for vocabulary usage, I failed to understand it. I don't have knowledge of the language or Scottish idiom so that was part of my confusion. All of this made for a choppy reading experience as I often flipped back to check the glossary. I did enjoy learning more about Shetland.

Happy end of April to you. I hope you have a good week.

Ravelry Links

Scrappy Helical Socks

Baby Blanket

Gemma Shawl

Regularly Scheduled Knitting

Hello Gentle Readers. Green explodes in the landscape and isn't it welcome? The linden and locust trees sport fresh bright leaves and the redbuds bloom. Earlier the ornamental pear trees lost petals to the wind and dry conditions. However when the wind finally calms, the Spring days are gentle and beautiful. Weeding or walking, it's lovely to be outdoors. Creeping Charlie and a close cousin grow prolifically. I pulled buckets of the stuff. Each year one weed predominates in our yard and garden beds. This year's award goes to Creeping Charlie. 

Even though Kat is on hiatus, I look forward to a midweek post about making and reading. Thank you for the kind wishes for my sore hand and wrist. It feels better but I am taking care by knitting less and stopping when it gets uncomfortable. I finished this small shawl. I enjoyed working on it but I have many this size so I may tuck it away as a gift. 

Most days I knit a few rows on the baby blanket. Sunday I reached the half-way point of my yarn and began the decreases. Some evenings, the blanket is warm on my lap so I hope to finish before the really hot days arrive. The sock project bothers my hand so I cast on another shawl. What the heck, they always fit and I can knit fingering weight yarn at a looser gauge without pain. I have knit this design previously and it blocked out well. Quill is a new-to-me yarn in a wool/alpaca/linen blend I bought last year on sale. Earlier I tried a different pattern but it wasn't for me. This design is fairly intuitive and I like the edge treatments.  

The past few week I read Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times by Tracy K. Smith. Although this book contains a few poems, it is a book about how poetry works. Smith does a masterful job of asking and answering questions about one or two poems per chapter. She is very thoughtful about what can be learned from a poem and how poetry might help us toward better conversations with each other. The last chapter is an analysis of various elements of a poem. Each chapter could be read separately although I enjoyed the book as a whole. Smith's voice is thoughtful and a good reminder that wisdom still speaks. If you want to understand more about how poems work, this book would be a good place to begin. I'm still thinking about a question she poses to readers of any poem, "What do you notice?" 

I also read a light-hearted sweet novel, Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin because it is my local book group's May selection. The quirky characters are the strength of this novel. Eddie Winston is a ninety year old gentleman looking for a woman he loved many years ago. Bella is a young woman grieving the death of her lover, Jake. When Bella brings Jake's belongings to the charity shop where Eddie works, the two gradually become friends. The story may be too sweet for some but it is easy reading with some funny moments. The ending seemed a little contrived to me but I understand the author's intent. 

I wish you lovely April days. I am having technical difficulties when responding to your comments. I hope to figure out what is going on soon. Please know I continue to read and appreciate your comments. You are also welcome to read and pass on commenting. 

Ravelry Links

Spring Nimilintu

Gemma Shawl

Redbud flowers growing out of limbs are fascinating.

  

A Poem

Hello Gentle Readers. Although April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., any month is a good month for a poetry. Back in 2002, I learned poets, especially women poets, wrote at all ages about anything and everything. Since then, I have discovered poems about feisty old women, lilacs, the ravages of war, dust, planting peas in a garden, tending to a loved one in a nursing home, iris flowers, a begging bowl, assisting a cow birth a calf, a sock, and more. It is not an exaggeration to say a whole new world opened to me.   

The way a poem works is fascinating. Language, punctuation, words, sounds, rhythm, meaning, metaphor, title, and arrangement on a page all come together in a short amount of space. One can read a poem and consider all, some, or none of these elements. Sometimes one element is more prominent than another and I wonder why. 

Lately, I've been thinking about the negative space surrounding a poem. How did the poet decide on line breaks, space between stanzas, or the placement on a page? Or did this space occur as a result of the words and phrases in the poem? I suspect either or both can be true in a poem. Negative space can make a powerful statement or it can be very subtle. 

Negative space is at work in all kinds of making as well as the natural world. In knitting, the beauty of lace depends in part on negative space. Colorwork is affected by space around patterns. Embroidery, patchwork and applique´ as well as the quilted design stitched through three layers of a quilt all make use of negative space. 

I began this poem thinking about negative spaces. Although it marks the month of March, I share it in April. Happy Poetry Month.

In March*

In this month between seasons,

trees marry shadow and shade.

Birdsong swells, 

green hesitates before rain.

Grape vine trails from frame,

sketches without a plan.

Thread the needle with words.

Stitch the space between lines.

Touch the letters.

Ponder the stars.

Beyond the edge of a poem, 

Open your heart. 

*Copyright, Jane A. Wolfe, 2026. 

Making Progress

Hello Gentle Readers. After a beautiful weather weekend of sunshine and temps in the high sixties, cool rainy weather is in the forecast.  After the rain and if my hand cooperates (see below), I plan to begin weeding the garden beds and stirring the compost. This Tuesday morning is gray and chilly. I watched a blue jay at the neighbor's feeder practically hang upside down to extract a seed or two. The grackles are out in full force, cackling around the entire neighborhood. A robin builds a nest between an overhang and the downspout on the southwest corner of the house. I'm thankful she chose a spot that isn't going to cause any difficulty for us. I haven't seen her there since Saturday so she may also be building elsewhere. Sometimes robins build multiple nests. 

On Wednesday, I'll link with Kat and the Unravelers to post about making and reading. Thankfully I haven't done any unraveling this week but I have also not done as much knitting. My right hand aches, mostly from hand sewing and quilting through multiple layers. My age is showing. Also when my husband had cataract surgery on his second eye, I knit on the Nirmilintu Shawl for almost four hours. Although it didn't hurt that morning, it was too much handwork. Since then I've knit only a couple of rows on the baby blanket in the evening. When the blanket edge is the width of my table or when I am halfway through the second skein, I'll begin the decreases. Progress! If my hand hurts, I stop, stretch it, and pick up a book. Anyway, the photo above shows this week's progress on the shortie socks, the shawl, and the blanket. For the record, I knit on the socks before my hand hurt.  

I listened to The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 2 by Beth Brower. As one would surmise, this is a series written in the format of a young woman's journal. Volume One begins in 1883 in London. Ms. Lion, a young woman orphaned as a girl is full of spunk, wit, and determination as she navigates London society, family, and neighborhood characters that include her dishonest cousin Archibald and strong willed Aunt Eugenia. I'm late to this party but Volume 2 is as charming and full of hijinks as Volume 1 and great as a "light" listen.

I'm reading Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and The World by Julia Cooke. This nonfiction work is the account of Martha Gelhorn, Emily "Mickey" Hahn, and Rebecca West during the years 1930 to 1954. These three intrepid women traveled the world and then worked their way into international journalism during World War II. They were adventurous and rejected society's stereotypes for women and women journalists. They wrote magazine articles, plays, novels, short stories, and nonfiction while living unconventional lives. They were both praised and criticized for their work as well as the way they lived and loved. The narrative is fascinating and full of detail, maybe a few too many details, but I am very much enjoying this book. The chapters alternate between the women. For me, reading a hard copy, with the option to refer back to previous events, is preferable to the audio version. 

As the little finches come to the feeder and the lilac buds appear, I wish you a Happy Spring.  

Hello April

Hello Gentle Readers. I am composing on Tuesday. Once again, the wind is blowing and stirring up dust and pollen. April showers forecast for Wednesday and Thursday this week will be very welcome. The view out my window is quite green this morning. Trees begin to leaf out and bright yellow dandelions bloom in the neighborhood. This morning I noticed a lilac bush with buds. The juncos have departed for the season. Next week I will begin to clean up the flower beds. Signs of early Spring are everywhere. 

On Wednesday, I'll link this post to Kat and the Unravelers. Knitting on the baby blanket continues but doesn't look much different than last week. For fun, I'm adding a mini skein or three to frame the lace sections of the Nurmilintu Shawl. Nurmilintu, a Finnish word meaning "little bird," is a sweet footnote to this shawl. Google also told me there is a Finnish lullaby incorporating the word.  

I completed the first sock of a pair of scrappy helical shortie socks. For me, a section of 1x1 ribbing on the soles makes shortie socks fit better. Helical knitting made the sock foot knit up quickly. I kept knitting to see how long the small balls of yarn would last as I knit the foot. The knitting games we play! 

This past week, I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox from the backlist of Maggie O'Farrell. Iris, a woman living in Scotland, receives a call about her Great Aunt Esme. The caller tells Iris, that her aunt, a woman she never knew existed, is being released from a mental hospital after sixty one years. The story toggles between past and present as it reveals deep secrets of the family. The narrators shift with no cues or ties to the timeline which can be a bit disorienting. However, this literary device suits the writing, the plot, and the characters. I soon got used to the shifts and was able to follow the story. This novel was published in 2007 but stands the test of time. I thought it was excellent. O'Farrell created the personal story of a young woman confined in a mental institution because she differed from traditional expectations for girls and young women.  

I hope you have a good first week of April filled sunshine and/or showers, as your heart desires.  

Late March

Hello Gentle Readers. Whoosh! There goes March in a whirl of wind. Literally. Many days in the month were blustery. Today the sky is hazy blue and the air quality is poor. That could mean dust and pollen and/or smoke drifting in from wildfires. Last Saturday the temperatures hit a record high of 95 degrees. That day, we attended the anniversary celebration of good friends which meant searching the closet for summer clothing. The next day the wind came up and the morning temperature was 35 degrees. The temperature is again on the upswing toward 84 degrees this afternoon.

Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers. By knitting a few rows most days, I'm making progress on the baby blanket in the top photo. I'm not wild about knitting with acrylic yarn. Next time I'm knitting baby or child knits, I'll look for an alternative. Often I use Swish DK, a superwash merino from KnitPicks, but I'd have needed multiple skeins for a blanket. I thought joining and weaving in ends of a solid color would mar the garter stitch done on the bias. 

Because garter stitch is always a good idea for me, I cast on a lightweight spring shawl.  Last night as I drifted off to sleep, I thought of another way to incorporate the contrasting mini skeins. Next time I pick up this project I plan to rip out the three stripes. Previously, I have knit at least three versions of this little shawl and wear them often. 

I cast on some scrappy socks for a carry-around project. I'm following a sock recipe for helical knitting created by Denise DeSantis, the Earthtones Girl. She offers a video tutorial on her Youtube channel and in her book, No Fear Sock Knitting. On recent warm days, I wore shortie socks while walking and could use another pair. 

I finished Norah's mittens and they were well received. Immediately on opening the mailing envelope, she put the new mittens into her backpack. In my note, I told her I taped the envelope very securely so the mittens weren't tempted into another adventure. 

Between the wind, changing weather, and state of the world, I have had trouble falling asleep. One of those nights, I picked up Still Life by Louise Penny. I listened to this series so I thought I'd read one in print. I also knew the good guys were going to solve the crime. It was fun to revisit Penny's introduction of the characters and the village of Three Pines. As I read, I noticed wisps of future storylines. I think she began this series with the intent to write four novels, each one representing a season of the year. Her success story is heartening. 

Thank you all for your kind words and good wishes for my husband's cataract surgery. All went well and his eye is healing nicely. The second surgery is coming up in another week or so. Thank goodness for modern medicine. 

Monday was perhaps the coolest day of the next two weeks so I made raspberry jelly. Last summer, I cooked raspberries down, extracted enough juice for one batch, and tucked it in the freezer for a winter day project. This year it became a nice March afternoon project.

Have a good week friends. 

Ravelry Links

Baby Blanket

Spring Nirmilintu

Scrappy Helical Socks

Stitching the Days

Hello Gentle Readers. I am composing this on a very cold Monday. Yesterday snow with strong winds made for a quiet day indoors. A large flock of house finches and juncos swarmed the bird feeders all afternoon. Next Friday, the forecast is for a high temperature of 85 crazy degrees. Several days last week, strong winds encouraged wild fires in rural areas of Southeast Nebraska. March blusters on in all of its iterations.  

Last week, I completed my Stitch Journal. This project began in January 2025 when I was intrigued by the 2024 stitch journal project created by Kathryn on her YouTube channel. Some pieces were inspired by her prompts and other times I went my own way. The small size was perfect for playing with fabric and embroidery thread on hand. I knew I could discard anything I didn't like but I never did that. Uneven stitches, patches, and wonky proportions added to the charm. I created for fun.  

Sometimes I began with an idea I wanted to convey with cloth and thread while other times the words came to me during and after the stitching. I don't know that I'll make another stitch journal but working on this one was a delight. Journey, journal, and diary all come from the same Latin root word, diana. The pieces record seasonal changes, joyful family visits, as well as a longer-than-I-expected recovery from pelvic floor repair surgery in May. As I look back through the pages, I see the journey of this past year. At any rate here are the last three pages. This February I stitched the "heart of the matter."  

The remaining two pages were completed in March. The first "nourished a (handspun) thread of hope and the second the promise of Spring.

Thinking of Spring, I copied the flower from my Mom's mug and added the sun and green landscape. I learned the Basque stitch to create the sun's rays. That stitch was "fiddly." I doubt I'll use it much but it's good to try something new now and then. 

Coincidentally this week, I finished reading With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories by Nicole Nehrig. In this nonfiction work, Nehrig set out to learn more about the importance of textile work in the lives of women. I have read nonfiction regarding the history of quilting, knitting, and spinning but the inclusion of weaving and embroidery was new territory for me. Did you know that some mathematical principles may have originated in weaving designs? I appreciated the way Nehrig included needlework from around the world and art created by women from marginalized and indigenous cultures. I'm still thinking about a project created by a woman to painstakingly unpick the threads of a Confederate Flag, comparing it to the difficult work of overcoming racism in this country. Nehrig's work is well researched and her discussion nuanced. If this sort of history interests you, I recommend this book. 

At some point on Wednesday, I'll link this post to Kat and the Unravelers. My husband is having the first cataract surgery on the 17th and then we have a follow-up appointment early on Wednesday. This is a routine surgery expected to go well but I may be scarce around blog-land this week as I am the designated driver and errand-runner. 

Mitten Adventures

Hello Gentle Readers. Monday, the high temperature was in the mid-seventies. Early this morning a light wet snow fell. Right now the sun is out and the temperature is just warm enough to melt snow from the tree branches. Still, signs of spring are everywhere. Under light snow cover, the yards begin to turn green. Red maples show the fringe-y looking growth that comes before the leaves open. Crocus bloom in the neighborhood and the daffodil spears grow taller.  

Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers with a tale about a lost and found mitten. Early last week, Norah lost one of her "Pop Top" mittens. She emptied her back pack and looked for it in her at-home cubby of mittens, hats, sandals, swim goggles, and other necessary items. She looked in the yard and on the school playground. Jonah suggested she check the school "lost and found." She didn't know about "lost and found" so my daughter notified his teacher he'd be picked up at a different door so he could search the lost and found table in the gym. The mitten was no where to be found and she was sad. 

Saturday over Face Time, she asked if I could knit another mitten - "not for her writing (right) hand." According to Norah, it didn't even have to be the same color but maybe a little longer as her hand has grown since last November (3/4 inch to be exact). Well of course I could knit another mitten but thought a pair would be even better. Sunday I knit the first mitten. This pair has cream colored cuffs because I don't have enough leftover pink to make two full mittens.

Monday night they called again, all smiles, as Jonah found the lost mitten on top of a snowbank on their walking route to school. Misshapen and dirty but without any tears, it survived three days in the snow and a weekend of rain. Norah and Jonah are certain that, a la the picture book The Mitten, a little mouse or bird sheltered in the mitten during the rain. The pair has since been washed and according to my daughter came out looking reasonably well. In the meantime I'm finishing up the slightly longer pair and will send them off tomorrow. I wish all of life's problems had such an easy solution. 

This week I read Blue Light Hours by Bruna Dantas Lobato. I loved this quiet story of a loving mother daughter relationship that unfolds mostly over Skype. The mother in Brazil expresses concern for her daughter, an international student in Vermont while the daughter worries for her mother because she lives alone. The novel chronicles a gentle but heartbreaking and humorous view of the immigrant experience. The writing is lyrical but sparse in a way where every word counts. I know mother/daughter relationships can be difficult but I enjoyed reading about these two women growing into a rich adult friendship. 

And so rather than a photo of snow, I leave you with one of Spring. I am off to make either a batch of cookies or scones to warm up the kitchen. I hope March is treating you well. 

 

Welcome March

Hello Gentle Readers. Around here, March came in like a lion cub. Sunday was a cold gray day but the temperatures are seasonable which I prefer. Sometime early Tuesday morning a sprinkle of rain fell. More rain is in the forecast later this week.

The best Spring news is that the sandhill cranes are flying. When I was out on the deck on Saturday morning their ancient music alerted me to the silvery gray ribbons in the sky. Back on the ground, a tiny yellow crocus blooms in a yard and the daffodils are up in the backyard. Spring is around the corner. In spite of terrible things happening around the world, the rhythms of the natural world comfort me.

Today I link with Kat and the rest of the Unravelers. On Sunday I put the last stitches in the Sophie Hood turned into a Shawl/Scarf. The photo is a Monday morning special in what has become my favorite at-home sweater this winter and sans makeup which I wear less and less. The fabric is lovely, soft, and warm. I took one last photo with the Valentine Quilt as a background because they went so well together. 

I cast on a simple corner-to-corner garter stitch baby blanket. My great niece and her husband are having a baby in August. This baby will make me a Great Great Aunt which is hard to imagine but here I am at seventy four. I decided to make something simple and washable from locally available yarn. The yarn has some soft gender neutral yellow and green speckles. This will be a nice project to pick up and put down in the next few months. 

I also wound up several skeins of yarn only to put them back in the stash. My knitting mojo as restless as the weather. This bunch of yarn might have the most promise. I'm looking for something with spring colors. 

This week I read Girls on the Line by Aimie K. Runyan. This historical novel was an average but easy read. The main character is a young woman born into the upper middle class in Philadelphia. Much to her parents' consternation, she becomes the commanding officer of a group of women telephone operators for the American Expeditionary Forces on the western front of France (WWI). I could have done with less romance and more detail about the work of these young women. The novel ends at the end of the war and the passage of women's suffrage. The ending was happy and predictable and that wasn't all bad this week. In the acknowledgements, Runyan detailed how these women were finally recognized as veterans in 1978. 

Did March enter your neighborhood as a lion or a lamb? 

Ravelry Links

Handspun Sophie

Baby Blanket

A brave flower and even some blades of green grass

February's End

Hello Gentle Readers. Last Thursday seven, yes seven, inches of snow fell on our neighborhood. This was the second measurable amount of snow this season, the last occurring over the Thanksgiving weekend. Since then the days have been cold but this week the temps promise to warm to sixty degrees. As the minutes of daylight increase, the light in February changes. This morning the sky is a silvery bright gray. Yesterday it leaned toward blue. 

Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers. My knitting is not exciting this week. I continue to work on the Sophie Shawl. I passed the apex of the scarf and am knitting down the width. Last night the repeats didn't take as long so that feels like progress. The shaping makes it the reverse of the return of daylight in the northern hemisphere. 

I finished these socks by knitting on them every time I sat down to knit. To me, this colorway named Kestrel, looked better in the skein than in the socks. I do enjoy knitting and wearing the Tenderfoot base by Polka Dot Sheep. No matter the colorway, warm feet are warm feet. Maybe I am weary of winter attire of sweat pants and wool socks.  

This week I worked on this little piece of patchwork. Off and on I enjoy piecing by hand. Last summer I put together some blue scraps and sewed some small squares together, Once the piece is square with eight darker patches marching diagonally down the center, it will be finished. It could be a pillow top or it might go back into a box with other bits of patchwork. 

This week I read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros as it is the March selection for my local book group. What a tender beautiful story from the viewpoint of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago. Although the book was first published in 1984, I received a copy of a second edition published in 2009. Cisneros' introduction to the second edition is as touching as the vignettes in the story. The structure of short vignettes about people, places, and events in the life of Esperanza suit the viewpoint of a young girl, living on Mango Street. Cisneros' writing is lyrical and some vignettes remind me of prose poetry. Her word choice is exquisite. She chose the right word at the right moment to convey the most meaning. Now I wonder how I missed this book, although my son was born in 1984, twenty months after his sister. I doubt I read much in those first few years of two little ones.  

I also read an older book of poetry, Radiance: Poems by Barbara Crooker published in 2005. I don't know when Crooker began publishing poetry but this little volume is packed with wonder, beautiful metaphor, and reflections on visual artists and their work. Crooker's poems come with hope and astute observations.  

Now the sun is breaking through the clouds and I can hear melting snow running off the roof. I leave you with a February sunset. Here's to changing light. Have a good week. 

 

Mid February

Hello Gentle Readers. This morning hazy sunshine greets me. The sun valiantly shines through light cloud cover. A string of sixty degree days makes walking and running errands pleasant. Some mornings the birds sing up a storm. Yesterday from our deck, the Merlin App picked up the song of house finch, chickadee, cardinal, sparrow, and a flicker. After the screech of a red-tailed hawk, the birds went silent. I wish the birds could sing up a storm that would bring moisture. Monday when the wind came up, the weather service issued wildfire warnings for rural areas.

Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers. Over the weekend, I sewed buttons on the blue cardigan. I am delighted with this sweater. It fits well and the buttonband (if I do say so myself) came out nicely. The yarn has a lovely hand and makes a warm, soft but not heavy fabric  Not that many of you would know, but when I looked at this photo I thought, "you look just like your mother." It's sort of uncanny how these things happen. 

This week I'm writing about the latest pieces for my stitch journal. Once I had a wonky quilt block given to me a long time ago by a dear friend. She was older and moving out of town but couldn't bear to throw away a box of quilting scraps given to her by a widower whose wife/quilter had died. This block was part of that box and one of the few pieces I haven't used over the years. 

Every time I tried to use the block in one of my projects, I took it out because it was so wonky but I never threw it away. Two years ago, I cut two triangles from it and made them into tree ornaments. Then, who knows why, I saved the leftovers. In January, I carefully snipped stitches holding the little pieces together and used them, along with other pieces to make the "January Blues."  

The second piece is inspired by stitching I saw on Instagram. This curved feather-stitch motif was used in different orientations. Honestly other than the pink and red suggest Valentine's Day colors, I had no theme in mind. I enjoy embroidering feather stitches (the pink) and thought this was interesting. I added a piece from a small bit of fabric that was eco-printed with leaves and some straight stitching. 

I read The Eights by Joanna Miller. This historical fiction is the story of friendship forged between four young women in their first year at Oxford University, 1920. They were among the first class of women admitted to the University with the goal of obtaining a degree. All of the regulations and expectations of  women, as well as events of the recent world war and women's suffrage movement in England are part of the story. The premise of this novel held promise but so much of it was very episodic. The story went from one event to another, over and over. Some episodes bordered on soap opera. The novel would have been richer with more complexity in and between the characters. If you want to read about the first young women at Oxford and a similar setting, I suggest The Bookbinder by Pip Williams.

Thank you for reading. Here's to enjoying the longer hours of daylight and return of warmer weather. I hope your projects are going well.   

Knitting Adventure

Hello Gentle Readers. Today the sky is a nearly cloudless blue while the breeze works itself into a gusty cool day. The juncos still frequent the feeders telling me that Spring has not yet arrived. Sunday when I walked I greeted neighbors washing cars in their driveways. Monday our high temperature was seventy degrees which is too warm for February but glorious for walking. The rest of this week will be more seasonable but still on the warm side. I know those in the north and northeast of the country are winter weary but here we could use a wet snowfall. 

Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers and feel grateful to be part of this group. Sunday I wet blocked my hopefully, finished sweater. Knitting can be an adventure. While waiting for the sweater to dry I went to work on the Sophie Hood. The pattern is a clever bit of knitting origami. Saturday night when I was almost finished shaping the hood, it looked like this. 

I pinned it together and tried it on. Thank goodness I did because the hood was not long enough from the top of my head down to the neck. Rats. This pattern has been knit successfully by many knitters. The error in row gauge is mine. As I worked on it, I couldn't quite wrap my head around the hood shaping. Once I finished, it made sense. In my defense, the pattern emphasized knitting the scarf end to a specific width before beginning the hood shaping and at that point I was spot on with the stitch count and width. More measurements in the schematic would have helped me adjust the pattern. An additional schematic of the hood laying flat would also have been helpful. 

Monday evening I ripped out the hood. It was work because I'm holding a strand of mohair/silk with the handspun. I like the fabric but the yarn won't stand up to a second time (or more) of ripping and re-knitting to get the correct size of hood. Maybe I just have a big head who knows? I'm now knitting a Sophie Shawl which is really a good sized scarf. The rate of increases and decreases will be slightly different than the Sophie Shawl pattern but I wasn't going to rip out the whole thing. As I like to say, I am getting my money's worth out of the yarn by knitting it more than once. 

In between, I pulled out another work in progress, a pair of socks. They were travel knitting during our Thanksgiving trip to Connecticut. I started the second sock on the flight home and since then they have languished in the project bag. I am on a mission to finish these projects before going on to something new. 

This week I listened to Murder at Gull's Nest by Jess Kid. This is the first book in a series of charming cozy mysteries and was a delightful escape from the world. The protagonist, Nora Breen, is a fifty year old former nun. I was attracted to the book by the idea of a woman reimagining her life at age fifty. About two-thirds of the way into the book, I figured out the culprit but that didn't curb my enjoyment. I enjoyed the setting, a small seaside village in Kent in 1954, as well as the quirky cast of characters. The narrator was excellent. I look forward to the next book in the series.

I also read a beautiful book of poetry, The Moons of August by Danusha Laméris. This book was a gift from my sister who knows how to choose poetry. This poet has known great sorrow and death but writes eloquently of life. Her poems are gorgeous and accessible. The physical presentation of the book is elegant. The cover is lovely while the beginning, end, and each section are marked by a line drawing of a crescent moon. 

I hope you are finding some peace and beauty in your week. If you need some inspiration, you might read about the group of Buddhist monks who walked from Texas to Washington D.C. to promote peace. I am not of their faith but find a great deal to admire in their message. Their gentle interactions with local law enforcement officers during their walk is inspiring. Yesterday they reached D.C. and celebrated their hope for peace with an interfaith service in the National Cathedral. Peace, Love, and Light my friends. 

Ravelry Links

Handspun Sophie

Connecticut Latte Socks

I love pink clouds at sunset.

Welcome February

Hello Gentle Readers. As I write these words, the day is very gray. I've seen photos of snowdrops blooming but that certainly isn't happening here. The only blooms I see are in the bouquets in the floral departments of grocery stores. With deep cold and little snow, the landscape rests in grays and browns. The cardinals and bluejays provide a spark of color. Sunday while walking, the brave sweet song of a house finch lifted my spirits. 

Today I am linking with Kat and the Unravelers to post about making and reading. I'm making progress on my projects. I finished the first sleeve of my sweater and am working on the second sleeve. In between, I finished this hat and will donate it. While I love the look of ribbing, my hands didn't love knitting it in heavy worsted/aran weight yarn. The yarn is a woolen spun wool with some alpaca so the hat is warm. I have another skein of this yarn but plan to knit a beanie with a ribbed brim and a stockinette body. 

Awhile back I finished spinning a small (123 yards) skein of two-ply fingering/sport weight yarn. This is the third skein from a batch of Rambouillet fiber in shades of pink. I'm currently spinning singles from another small nest of deeper pink fiber. I am spinning smaller skeins of more tonal colors instead of combining them into a larger skein.  

This week I read the historical fiction novel, These Days by Lucy Caldwell. I have read many books about the Blitz in London but none about the same events in Ireland, specifically Belfast. The story takes place over a short period of time in 1941 with two sisters as the main characters. Both are on the cusp of adulthood and trying to find their way. While the main characters are the most developed, Caldwell's secondary characters also play an important part in the novel. The descriptions of bombings with the random madness of destruction and loss of life are vividly but beautifully portrayed.  All the elements of this novel: writing, story, character development, setting are well done. 

I made an early Valentine treat. My daughter gave me a subscription to the magazine, "Bake from Scratch" as a birthday gift. The holiday issue featured an article on different kinds of cocoa including "black cocoa." As a treat, I ordered some to make this black cocoa cake with a vanilla glaze. It's like an oreo cookie only much better and worth the splurge on calories. In the glaze, I substituted oat milk for cream and added a tablespoon of melted butter for fat. I wish I could send you all  a piece. I also wished I'd centered it when I plopped it onto the plate. However, being a little off center didn't affect the flavor. 

Stay warm and safe my friends. 

Ravelry Links

Blue Cardigan  

Be Kind Hat

January's End

Hello Gentle Readers. January light streams in the windows this morning. Because of the bitter cold, a dusting of snow remains on roofs and the ground. Now and again a little bit of blue sky is visible. Sunlight behind the wispy gray clouds reflects off the snow and cold air to create a beautiful winter day. The sparrows and juncos scramble around the feeders trying to stay warm. They use seeds, feathers, and air pockets instead of hot tea, wool, and central heating. 

Today I will link this post with Kat and the Unravlers. In the last two weeks, I picked up and knit buttonbands as well as the neck band on this cardigan. Although I wondered about the narrowness of the buttonbands, I have to credit Isabel Kraemer (designer) with the very nice edge treatments. Her instructions are clear and easy to follow. I'm knitting down the first sleeve. This sleeve decreases the same way as the sleeves in her Forager sweater, a sweater I have knit several times so I shouldn't encounter any sleeve drama. 

While the sweater dried and I recovered from the sinus infection that followed the virus, I worked on the Sophie hood. Right now I'm blindly following the directions for the hood shaping and trusting this designer. Lots of Sophie scarves, shawls, and hoods have been knit so likely it will make up well. I love the fabric. 

In order to have a mindless project on the needles, I cast on a hat to donate. The discontinued yarn is from deep stash, leftover from a sweater I knit in 2009. I think the yarn might have been manufactured by Classic Elite so there is a blast from the past. Although the sweater met a sad end, I loved it. The soft gray color is soothing and peaceful and it will be a nice hat for someone.  

This week I read The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson. This book of true crime is the current selection for my local book group otherwise I'd never have read it.  A talented young American becomes interested in the rare feathers used for tying flies for fishing. Right now the story is all too familiar. An interest becomes an obsession, an intelligent young man avails himself of information via the internet to become the wonder of a fly-tying community. Along the way greed and obsession obscure right and wrong. This young man steals priceless birds from an English museum to obtain and sell skins and feathers. In the process, he destroys years of scientific information with little remorse. He and his parents hire a competent lawyer. Then some of the internet community who traffic in rare, extinct, or exotic feathers to tie flies circle the wagons to protect themselves. While fly-fishing in New Mexico, the author learns of the crime. This book is the story of his search for information and how the culprit escaped punishment. The book was readable if not up-lifting. I think it would have benefited from a little more judicious editing. 

This afternoon the temperature is forecast to soar into the twenties so I plan to bundle up and get out for a walk. No feathers, priceless or otherwise, will be involved. Stay warm and safe friends. 

Ravelry Links

Blue Cardigan

Sophie Hood

Be Kind Hat

Recent Stitching

Hello Gentle Readers. This is a week when knitting with wool pays dividends in warmth. Like many areas in the country, the local temperatures are bitter cold. Unlike the northeast, we have no snow. Still, this is weather for a favorite alpaca shawl, hot tea, and soup. Right now a Cooper's Hawk braves a cold breeze in the back yard. Between the cold and the hawk, not a creature is stirring in the monochromatic landscape. 

As always, I link this post with Kat and the Unravelers and thank Kat for that opportunity. 

 I have completed three December stitch pieces and they are safely sewed into my stitch journal. In many traditions, a  wreath symbolizes the cycle of the seasons and life. They also serve as a welcome when hung on an outer door. I so enjoyed stitching this little wreath of embellished feather stitches I documented the process with photos. I began by creating a feather-stitched circle.

Then I embellished the "feathers" with tiny straight stitches and eventually red french knots.

The remnant of red wool that became the bow was used in other pieces in the journal and I rather like that continuity. The stitches at top of the piece are variations of a crossed stitches, sometimes a t stitched on top of an x - if that makes any kind of sense. I don't know if there is a name for the stitch. I've seen them elsewhere. 

I stitched a waxing crescent moon to mark the Winter Solstice (that was the moon phase that night).  On the underneath paper page, I copied a Longfellow quote I've always liked, "One by one the stars came out, the forget-me-nots of the angels." The stars in the sky are in a few colors inspired by an IG post of a Christmas photo of Boston with lights reflected in the harbor. 

The third little page is a copy of Norah's rendition of a Christmas tree, complete with a garland and purple star. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was sitting beside her and we were drawing. She picked up a marker and very quickly drew a tree in this shape. And then she looked at me and said, "I don't know if I like that shape but oh well." I assured her I loved the shape of the tree because it was unique and asked her if she wanted to decorate her tree. She added a garland made of little circles and a purple star. Later I asked her if I could take a photo of her drawing because I might want to create a fabric likeness. I changed the garland to cross-stitches because I didn't want to satin stitch a bunch of little circles. I noted the date Norah drew her tree and wrote the words "O Taunenbaum" because my Grandmother Catherine, whose parents immigrated from Prussia, used to sing the carol in German. 

I have five pages left in the journal I created last January. I made the first piece on January 23, 2025. Right now I plan to create a few more pieces to complete the journal. Who says, the stitch journal year needs to end on December 31?  

This last week I read Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey. Trethewey is a former U.S. Poet Laureate. I have read and marveled at Trethewey's poetry and in fact once heard her read in person several years prior to the publication of this book. I knew of this memoir but never read it. I happened on it in a library display and brought it home. Generally poets write beautiful prose and this memoir is no exception. This story is the journey of Mother and Daughter navigating both joy and grief, dealing with the racism as well as the strong family relationships that supported both of them. Trethewey's mother was beautiful, intelligent, hard working, and courageous. She did her best to escape from an abusive relationship with Trethewey's step-father and in the end it cost her her life. At the time Trethewey was nineteen years of age. I suspect this memoir was terribly difficult to write but all the more reason it should be read. 

Last fall, I brought a Dragonwing begonia indoors. It sits in front of a southern facing walkout glass door in the basement. Ever since, it has been blooming it's little heart out but become quite leggy. Sunday I gave it a haircut and brought these blooms upstairs. They won't last long in water but they bring a bit of cheer to these January days. 

I am happy to report we are on the mend from a nasty respiratory virus. The older we get, the longer it takes to recover. Thank you for your well wishes. I hope you are staying well and warm. What are you up to these January days?