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.
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The jelly looks amazing as do your knitting projects. I spent a summer reading Louise Penny's books after watching the Three Pines series on TV. I enjoyed the books very much. It was fun picturing the actors from the series in all the new adventures.
ReplyDeleteI expect spring weather swings but 95 to 35 and back to 84 is quite extreme. I hope this doesn't predict an exceptionally hot summer. Your baby blanket looks nice but I know what you mean about knitting with acrylic. I love the shawl and socks, and that raspberry jelly looks really lovely.
ReplyDeleteI suppose we are all experiencing the wild swings in the weather; we had something like a 46 degree difference from Sunday to Monday (with some snow showers to boot!). I am thankful that the house has remained pretty comfortable and have just accepted that I need to deal with layers for a while yet. I don't love working with acrylic, but it is easy care, and the yarns that are available now are much nicer than the ones you could get when I first learned to knit in the '80s. The color of that raspberry jelly is just stunning!
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