Late April News

Warm and cool April days have been the norm, yesterday near 90 degrees and today a high of 63 degrees. I walked two  mornings, my usual summer routine, to avoid 80 degree weather. My husband worked on the garden plot and raised bed, preparing the soil and reframing the vegetable plot with new timbers. I might have complained that it was growing ever smaller with grass encroaching into the edges. Now I will have to do my part and start planting. Our last frost date is around Mother's Day so it's time to make a list. 

In the meantime, the lilacs are blooming. They are my favorite Spring flowers. My grandparents had three or four large lilac bushes in their and my Granddad always picked a large bouquet of lavender and white lilacs. He added a few red tulips before carrying it into Gram. The University of Nebraska East Campus has a lilac arboretum. I haven't walked through it for three or four years so I hope to get there this season.

Thank you to Kat for hosting Unraveled Wednesday. My knitting is much the same but I'm enjoying it. Last night I sewed buttons on the little cardi and took an outdoor photo for a better color representation. Although I knit to gauge, this sweater is an inch shy of the 2 - 4T size. It is small so will be a gift for another little person some day. Now I have an excuse to knit another little sweater for my granddaughter. 

I'm enjoying the Falling Water Shawl as it grows. Four more repeats remain before adding the border. I'm knitting on the second sock. I took it with me to see my sister, niece, and great niece last week. What a lovely lovely time we had catching up - in person - without masks. On the way home, I got a little extra time on the sock while waiting for a low tire to be checked. Knitting - don't leave home without it. 

Last night I read the end of Clap When You Land. What a remarkable story about many things but especially about forgiveness. The strong female characters, young and old are great role models for a YA novel. The format of a novel written in verse is intriguing. I might request an audio copy in order to hear the rhythm of Acevedo's writing. The colors in the sock remind me I also listened to Miss Benson's Beetle. What a hoot. If you need some lighter reading and a few smiles, I suggest Miss Benson's madcap journey half-way around the world. 

This afternoon I'm off to ponder my garden while doing a few chores and then walk. Have a good week. 

 

   

April Light

April evening light is so sweet. The flowering trees reflect the soft and bright whites and pinks. The greens are still new and daylight lasts longer. The temperatures have been chilly and on Monday snow fell but the trees seem to have weathered the cold. I started washing winter woolens but paused as I am wearing them. I enjoy a cool Spring so a few more walks with mittens and hat is welcome. Warmth is in the forecast.

Today I am back to a Wednesday post with Kat and the Unravelers. I finished one wild and crazy sock. (This is about as wild and crazy as I get.) The pattern I began with called for two extra plain rows at the top of the heel flap. I blindly followed the pattern, knit the extra rows, heel flap, heel turn, gusset and a few inches down the foot. When I tried the sock on, the heel was too big. I ripped it out and reknit it with my usual thirty rows of heel flap. Much better. That's the joy of knitting your own socks, making them to fit. I finished the sock and cast on the second. The stripes/colors won't match but I didn't expect them to do so. 

I knit a little cardi/shrug for my granddaughter. I knit to gauge but it looks small to me. She is petite so it might fit. If not, it can be for someone else. Also Little Miss Firecracker is a girl with a mind and voice of her own. As her oldest brother says, "she is kind of picky about her clothes right now." She might not want to wear it. The yarn, Bebe Cotsoy, is from deep stash and no longer being sold which is too bad. It's a nice washable cotton blend yarn for babies and toddlers. I finished it before I had time to take a photo of the cast on. It was a nice break from my current shawl. 

I am reading This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain's Knitting History. Esther Rutter knits her way around Britain while exploring the history and culture of her country. Any fiber history interests me and this is no exception. Some of the British vocabulary isn't familiar but as I read on, context brings the meaning into focus. I just began to read Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. This YA book is written in verse. The story is told in two voices of half-sisters, one in the Dominican Republic and the other in New York City, who lose their father in an airline crash. When I was looking for books to suggest in our book group, I found an online video of the author discussing her graduate school experience and this book and was intrigued. I think we will have a good discussion. I am listening to the latest Maisie Dobbs mystery, The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear. Dobbs and the familiar characters are living through World War 2. I know this series isn't for everyone but I enjoy it. A light mystery is good for evening knitting and listening.  

I hope your socks fit and the April light shines on the street where you live. 

Ravelry Links

Spring Socks 

Little Cardi   - pattern Sedona Rose

April Poetry

This April the brighter sunshine highlights the colors and markings of the birds. The starling's subtle teal and black gleams in the light. The robin's orange breast contrasts sharply with the grays of his head and wings. Two winters ago, I watched a downy woodpecker ladder up the tree. Her movement held a certain rhythm:  ta dum'  ta dum'  ta dum.' It reminded me of a line in a poem. 

Although no one knows for sure, poetry probably originated in the oral tradition of epics. Long stories were learned and repeated. Rhyme and rhythm helped storytellers or traveling troubadours memorize the words. When I have enough of a poem on a page, I read it aloud to hear the rhythm. Often with reading, I change a word without even knowing that it needed to be changed. Poetry is made from many moving parts but some kind of rhythm is critical. A break or change in the rhythm of a poem often signals the reader that something interesting is going to happen. In A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver wrote that "rhythm underlies everything."

Rhythm is pleasurable and soothing. Rhythmic rocking soothes babies and small children. Watch a woman with a cranky baby, even it is not her own. Her first instinct is to cradle the child while swaying side to side. The quiet or exuberant rhymes of children't books, like Goodnight Moon or Green Eggs and Ham become favorites of preschoolers and older children. Rhyming and rhythmical text help lay a foundation for language and literacy skills.  

Paul Valery said, "A poem is never finished, only abandoned." I worked on this little poem for quite some time. It began with a little downy woodpecker who made her way up the trunk of the birch outside my window. It is ready to be abandoned. 

Be Still and Wait *

Be still and wait

    walk into stillness

    pause with the wind.

Collect and gather

    honor stream, leaves, roots,

    junco, moss, and birch.

Sing a circle

    unravel a song

    follow one drop of rain.

Spin from the stars

    weave as a spider

    leave a strand undone.

Wait long in the center.

    Echo the downy

    begin again.

*Copyright Jane A. Wolfe, 2021

April Showers

After a string of gloriously warm and windy days, rain fell last night. Rain on the roof is so peaceful. Today is gray and damp with more April showers on the way. Some ornamental trees in the neighborhood bloom but ours will bloom later. Buds on the linden and birch just begin to send out green tips but the Japanese Lilac tree has leafed out. The crisp new greens are invigorating. Why do I so rarely choose green yarn? I don't know. Sometimes, like now, I look at my knitting and notice the projects are all the same color family. 

I am linking with Kat and the Unravelers and am happy to report no unraveling. Monday evening the wind died down so we carried our leftover Easter brunch dinner to the deck. No jackets were required. After we finished, I knit a few rows on this sock - outdoors. What a nice evening. The sock is coming along. The pattern has a diagonal line beginning at the instep and crossing the top of the foot. Someday I will follow this pattern as written. Well maybe I'll follow the pattern. Why make promises I may not keep? The broken rib has a nice rhythm and the diagonal would show better in a tonal or solid colored yarn. 

I'm also knitting the Falling Water Shawl. The designer, Bonnie Sennott writes a nice pattern. The side panel of texture keeps the knitting from becoming too monotonous. The colorway, Columbine, has more of a rose tint then shows in this photo. It resembles the color of the flower but also the lighter colored breasts of the house finches that frequent the feeder outside my window. 

I am reading Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews. I am just into the second chapter but am not wowed by this book. Andrews lives and works in the UK so of course, that is her orientation. Of the ten women writers profiled, eight lived or live in the UK. Anias Nin was born (to Cuban parents) in France, and Cheryl Strayed is American. I realize the scope of non-fiction work has to be limited but I think this book could be much richer if more women of color had been included.  Juliann posted about reading books about walking and we had a short conversation about how, in many places, the US is not set up for walking and that the Brits seem to have more appreciation and history of walking. Perhaps this influenced this author as she researched her book. At any rate, I'm going to read more of the book before I abandon it. 

What are you knitting this week? 

Ravelry Links

Spring Socks 

Falling Water Shawl

I should have removed the dish towel from the counter but I didn't so instead of still life you get real life; flowers against a homey background. 

Unraveled Wednesday

This morning a bright yellow goldfinch sang in the birch. His molt to spring and summer colors is almost complete. A winter junco hopped around the feeder in the backyard. I imagine he will leave soon. This last day in March is breezy and brisk but the yards and weeds are green. The Easter Sunday forecast is for eighty degrees.  

As I link with Kat and the Unravelers today, I can report one finished throw, one frogged shawl, one reknit mitt, and a new cast on. It was a wild knitting week complete with second Covid shots. We experienced eighteen hours of mild side effects and then they were gone. I was ever so grateful for the slight headache, body aches, and chills. I put on warm woolens, curled up in a quilt, and read. I also knit on the lavender mitts which wasn't a great idea. Somehow I shifted one cable on the right hand mitt. I didn't notice it until I was knitting the last two rows of ribbing across the palm.  I ripped it out and reknit it a day or so later.   

These look better on hands but my photographer wasn't available. 

The finished Scrappy Habitation Throw is the most crooked square I have ever knit. I wet blocked it to 56 inches square. The process required crawling around on the floor with lots of measuring and adjusting of pins. All fingering weight scraps are not the same and that was probably part of problem. The beginning corner was knit from a Koigu yarn that is heavier than the sock yarn at the ending corner.  I also think the weight of the blanket contributed to the looser gauge in the last corner. The scraps you see are what remains. I still have ten million ends to weave in, well maybe five million as I started using the clasp-weft join mid throw. I rather like weaving ends in, making a project tidy and finished, which tells you something about me. 

I frogged the red shawl. The previously sorted out spine looked great but one side had an extra stitch. I considered decreasing the extra stitch but decided against it. The thought of starting over right now didn't spark joy. I love the red shade in the yarn. Maybe next fall or near the holidays knitting a red shawl will be just the thing. I love that yarn doesn't spoil over time.

I cast on a new pair of socks. I wanted to knit on something bright. The fiber content is 75% wool and 25% nylon so these will be wooly socks. I hope washing softens them a little. Right now, the fabric feels a little crunchy. It is an experiment.

I continue to read The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine and enjoy it. I found a used copy of Woodswoman I: Living Alone in the Adirondack Wilderness by Anne LaBastille. The nonfiction about the Adirondack back country is great armchair traveling. I am not a rugged outdoors woman but it is fun to read about one. Vera recommended this author to me and I'm glad she did. If you like nature writing you might like this book. 

To those celebrating, Happy Easter. Happy last day of March and Happy Spring.

Ravelry Links

Lavender Mitts

Scrappy Habitation Throw

Spring Socks

Trader Joe' Daffodils - please excuse the kitchen sink

 

March's Season

March is the hinge between winter and spring. One day I'm shivering in my winter coat and hat and two days later the sun warms my shoulders clad in a light sweater. The wind roars and then settles into a gentle breeze, sometimes in the same day. The temperatures rise and fall and then rise again. Snow follows sleet and then turns to rain. The cranes fly. They stop in the Platte River Valley to rest and feed before resuming their journey. Light, not temperature, guides their transition between southern and northern habitats.

This March feels like a season of transition between pandemic living to whatever lifestyle comes next. Vaccination, although it brings a sense of relief, doesn't erase all of my low level Covid anxiety. Covid-19 is a still a nasty disease and uncertainty remains. While the disease touched our extended families, everyone has recovered. It could have been otherwise. Vaccination does not erase the loss of life, health, or livelihood experienced by so many. Still, the news about vaccine efficacy is encouraging. I am hopeful that vaccinated and masked we can travel soon. More than anything I want to see my family, near and far.

Like Spring, this season of transition will bring ups and downs. Standing on a soapbox looking out at the green creeping into the landscape, I choose cautious thoughtful hope. One way or another travel protocols, routines, friendships, and milestone celebrations will rearrange themselves. While I follow the CDC guidelines, I work on kindness, respect, and grace to move through this transition. In the meantime, the daffodils out back might bloom today. Two weeks from today, another vaccinated friend and I will meet (not in a coffee shop) for a cup of tea and long catch-up. 

Ever so gently, placing one foot in front of the other, I find my way. I wish the same for you. Safe travels. Namaste. 

Spinning into Spring

Spring continues to blow in with plenty of rain. Sunday I saw a flock of cedar waxwings in a neighborhood tree. Daffodils begin to bloom in our neighborhood but not yet in our yard. The tulips are up. Yesterday we ducked out for a walk after the rain stopped and noticed green at the tips of some leaf buds. Slowly but surely color returns to the landscape. This year it is especially welcome. 

During odd extra moments, I knit on these lavender mitts. The bottom edge is a little uneven due to the design but they feel great on my hands. Since trying the yarn was the point of this project, I plan to record the stockinette gauge in a notebook and on Ravelry. These will likely go in the gift bag. Many non-knitters are surprised by fingerless mitts and how nice they are during the spring and fall. In the winter, I have a pair at my desk, on my bedside table, on the front seat of my car, and near the corner of the loveseat where I sit to read. I am knitting on the last corner of the scrappy blanket, closing in on the end of that project.  

I continue to spin on spindles. I am almost half-way through a project to spin the white Cormo. I plied another skein yesterday. I was so enchanted with how long the spindle would spin, the skein was over twisted. After tying it off, I gave it a bath (as I always do) and then hung it in the shower to dry with a plastic hanger on the bottom for a little additional weight. The yarn felt pretty good today. 

Spinning, when it is going well is magic. Sometimes it doesn't go well but I love the spindles. Beautiful and balanced spindles are the mark of fine craftsmanship. I read about spindle storage and found a variety of opinions. The consensus is they need to be stored with care not to damage or distort them. We had a small decorative shelf that we weren't using. My husband put hooks under the shelf part so I can now hang four drop spindles from the hooks.  

Reading that drop spindling sometimes bothered my shoulder, Kat sent me a gift of a beautiful supported spindle made by Ann Grout. It is ceramic and in the shape of an acorn. This little spindle spins for a long time. She also included a bit of Hipstrings Fiber. The fiber blend is merino, flax, and Tussah silk. It was just the loveliest of gifts and brightened my day while waiting for winter to end. What a kind thoughtful friend. This little blogging community has been a wonderful surprise.   

Supported spindling requires different fine motor skills so I spent some time practicing on the leftovers of a merino braid. I have lots to learn but am enjoying the journey. Now and then I hear a smattering of information about sheep breeds and wool on podcasts. I decided to get out The Knitter's Book of Wool by Clara Parkes and refresh my memory on the details. 

I am also reading The Doctor's Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura. This nonfiction is well written. The tenacity of Elizabeth Blackwell is something to admire. Nimura does a nice job not idealizing these two women and shows their human foibles as well as their strengths. A few other titles have come up on my library holds. This is probably a good thing. We are getting second Covid vaccines on Friday and I plan on putting my feet up this weekend. I'm off to make a grocery list that includes soda crackers, ginger ale, and soup ingredients. Best be prepared. In the meantime I am linking with Kat and the Unravelers. 

I hope color and hope are returning to your landscape this early Spring week.  

Cormo before spinning the skeins above