Christmas Week

The morning sun streams in as I take photos of my knitting and sit here writing. Later I will take a walk. We are enjoying a quiet week. I am happy to be home baking cookies. Half of my holiday cards are waiting to be written. I am taking my time because I enjoy writing a brief personal note. The remaining recipients will receive Happy New Year wishes. My view is that real mail is welcome whenever it arrives. 

I will link this post with Unraveled Wednesday hosted by Kat. The Red Wool Peddler's Shawl is back on the needles and last night I finished knitting all the previously unraveled yarn. That always feels like a win to me. I hope to write a few notes on my project page about the mental gymnastics required to knit the pattern. The red alpaca is cheerful and warm in my lap. 

I also sorted out my spinning and finished the gold sections from two braids of Polworth fiber. As Kat once mentioned, some fiber has a definite preference for the direction it wants to be spun. I also fell into a habit common for beginners. I did too much pre-drafting making a very thin single that kept breaking. Here's hoping this third skein isn't too different in thickness from the previous two. If it is, I'll save it for something else. Spinning singles to ply into yarn to be knit into a project does feel like magic. 

Jonah and Norah are enjoying Wake Up Bear, It's Christmas. This book was a favorite of my two children so it is fun to share again. When I opened Christmas on the Great Plains, I found the bookmark. Years ago, my kids cut an uneven strip of white construction paper. Then one of them out a circle from a chocolate coin wrapper and stapled it to the top of the bookmark - twice.  When you are nine or ten, two staples is always better than one. The makers must have carefully washed and dried the wrapper because there are no grease marks on the underside of the paper. Then they carefully drew red and green crayon lines down the length of the strip. It makes me smile. 

I am reading The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny. This latest Three Pines story begins between Christmas and New Years and so is a nice coincidence. I find it refreshing that two male characters, Armand Gamache and his son-in-law, both in leadership positions, admit they are wrong and apologize. Penny's writing about the tangle of beliefs, opinion, freedom of speech is timely and well done.  

However you choose to mark this season, I hope it is filled with love and light. 

Ravelry Links

Red Wool Peddlers Shawl

Prairie Shawl

Polworth Handspun

Windy Wednesday

Yesterday just after sunset Lance and I walked in the neighborhood. The temperature was a balmy 53 degrees and seeing lights from the sidewalk was fun. I understand the appeal of a walking tour in a city or countryside. Today the forecast is for very high winds culminating in an afternoon thunderstorm. The wind forecast is such that the schools closed today. When I stepped out to pick up the newspaper, the sun was shining, the air was warm, and a little humid. This is very odd weather for December in Nebraska. Every now and again we have thunder-snow and I wonder if that won't happen today. 

As usual this Wednesday, I link with Kat and the Unravelers. I completed the garter stitch body and knit sixteen lace rows of the red Wool Peddlers Shawl. Alas, the lace rows need to be unraveled and reknit. The pattern was published in Folk Shawls in 2000. I think it came before the time of so many shawl patterns on Ravelry. The lace chart is oddly written, leaving off the edge stitches and maybe part of the center increase although none of that is clear from the written instructions. According to Ravelry notes, some knitters thought it easier to follow the written directions so that is what I did. The trouble with that is it makes me a blind follower. I'd rather work from a chart/visual design. I plan to lay the shawl on a table and rip back. I also need to compare the chart and written directions. All this is best done during daylight hours. In addition, I changed the method for the center increase and added an extra stitch to each side edge. Ten years ago I knit this pattern with the same modifications so surely I can do it again. It's all knitting. Right?

In the meantime, I knit another section on the Anker's Cardigan. Although the yoke is ribbing on small needles, it is pleasant knitting. After finishing the yoke, I will put it on waste yarn and check the fit. Then it is on to the stockinette knitting with more audiobook listening. 

I am reading The Paper Palace and wonder about the hype it has received. Maybe the novel is more of a summer read. Since it is a book group selection I plan to finish. Moments of Being is a good way to learn about Virginia Woolf's time and place. The piece, "A Sketch of the Past," is a window into her early years, including her parents' personalities. Now and then she writes a sentence or two about her writing.  Jonah and I read Red and Lulu, a story of a pair of cardinals and an evergreen chosen as the Christmas tree for Rockefeller Center. Since he has been to Rockefeller Center, it is a fun story for him. When we came to the illustration of the long truck hauling the tree, he remarked, "oh dear, they are on I-95." 

The clouds are blowing across sky and the wind is rising on this warm December day. If you are in the vicinity, put rocks in your pockets and hang onto your hat. 

Ravelry Links

Anker's Cardigan

Red Wool Peddler's Shawl

Handmade German Stars.

Sunshine and Coffee

The sun shines and the air is cold. This morning I took time off from December for a massage. The owners of Bella are meticulous with Covid protocols so I feel safe. I enjoyed every minute and had a hard time getting up from the table covered in a heated mattress pad. What a luxury. I came home and made deaf coffee with a splash of warm oat milk and dash of cinnamon. Anyway, here I am, linking with Kat and the other Unravelers. 

I finished the scrappy Christmas Quilt and placed it over the bannister. I love the four embroidered squares. It is nice to have this three year project off my sewing table. I also finished sewing a little apron for Norah as part of her Christmas gift. I chose Minnie Mouse fabric and bubble-gum pink bias tape trim using this free pattern. If you come home with two packages of Double Fold bias tape (instead of one double and one single) it doesn't take much time at all. Honestly, the applied bias tape looks fine in person. The photo reflects the shadows and makes it look wrinkly. I included a pink frosting spreader, pink sprinkles, and Minnie Mouse cupcake papers with the apron. Norah loves Minnie Mouse and she stands at the counter on a step-stool while her Mom cooks. I did not include any Minnie Mouse cookie cutters to prevent constant requests for cut-out cookies. We would like to be invited back.  

Last week I flitted between knitting projects. Organizing and wrapping Christmas packages for my children and grandchildren must have required most of my focus. At least that is my excuse. I put a few rows on my sweater, cast on some mitts that seemed fiddly and not the right color before I landed on this garter stitch shawl. Years ago I bought red yarn to make the Wool Peddler's Shawl, a pattern in the book Folk Shawls. The sample in the book was red and I wanted to make one. I frogged the project last Spring but tried again this month. It's going well and the garter stitch body is what I need just now. 

I set aside the Prairie Shawl until I spin up the remaining gold fiber. I'd like to know how much yardage I actually have and the spindle and I are out of sync. I need a quiet hour or two and some practice fiber to recover my tenuous muscle memory of spinning. I don't have a lot of gold fiber and I don't want to ruin what remains. So I set the fiber, the spindle, and the shawl aside for another day. 

I am reading The Paper Palace, the January selection for my local book group. I'm just into it so don't have an opinion yet. I'm also reading Moments of Being, a posthumous publication of memoir writing by Virginia Woolf. It is interesting to read her reflections about her parents and siblings. The way her mind worked fascinates me. For me, Woolf is reading for the daylight hours. I'm reading myself to sleep with some Christmas stories. I need a little sugar now and then.   

I hope you find some unexpected treats in these December days. 

Ravelry Link

Red Wool Peddler's Shawl

Unwrapping the Days

This week the days were unseasonably warm. While walking in a light jacket is lovely, I feel like I have one foot in Thanksgiving and another in the winter holidays. Holiday decorating with the windows and door open seems strange so I haven't done much. Instead I savor the late autumn days. When it comes to decorating, I prefer a few favorites while my husband loves all the things. Holiday decor is a compromise at our house. 

As a birthday gift in honor of my 70th birthday, my son and daughter, gave me an Advent Yarn Set. I have never had one. The dyer of this set is Irish and lives in Kent. She shipped Advent sets the first of November. As supply chain issues appeared in the news, I wondered if the yarn would arrive by December. Since it was a wonderful gift I decided not to worry about the timing. If it was in a shipping container floating in a harbor, so be it. I'd enjoy it whenever it arrived. When it miraculously arrived on November 30, I knew the knitting and postal gods had smiled on me. I opened the package but waited until December 1 to unwrap the first mini skein. 

The yarn looks like aran or heavier but that is photographer error.

 

Each day I open a skein and a little envelope with a tiny surprise, stitch markers to date. I plan to take my time with this yarn. Eventually I'll wind one skein to get a better feel for the yarn. It is a wooly wool in neutral colors and DK weight. The feel of the yarn reminds me of Juliann's November posts about wool. The possibilities are endless. Who needs sugarplums dancing in your head when you are a knitter with new yarn? The ball bands are a record of the sequence arranged by the dyer but I am enough of a planner that I want to see all of colors before I decide on how to use the yarn. 

The basket with this project is the first decor of the holiday. Who knows, maybe I'll tie a festive bow on the handle. I plan to get out the decorations soon but first I have a package to open. Each package of yarn is an invitation to thoughtfully unwrap another day of this season. 

 

A Thanksgiving Story

This gray breezy morning I think of those who make Thanksgiving for their families. My generation is now the group who roll out pie crust, mash potatoes, whisk lumps out of the gravy, and whip the cream. As a girl and teenager, I loved being underfoot in the kitchen listening to my grandmother, mother, aunts, and cousins chatter as they prepared Thanksgiving dinner. They were cooking for a crowd. 

In 1940, one of Dad's uncles lost his wife. My grandmother and sister invited Uncle Henry and his three daughters to join their two families for Thanksgiving dinner. From that act of kindness, fourteen family members began a Thanksgiving tradition that continued for sixty years. The cousins around that first table grew up, married, and brought their wives and children. The celebration rotated among families, several who lived in big old farm houses. My sister and I giggled our way through dinners with cousins and second cousins at a card table set up in a bedroom. We played outdoors in the afternoon. Leftovers and pie were served around 4:30 p.m. so the farmers could go home for chores. Since several of Dad's cousins were dairy farmers, the whipped cream was plentiful. 

After I married, the gathering moved to a community hall. My husband and I took our children a few times. At one of those dinners, a new daughter-in-law brought Cool-Whip to serve with her pie. No one turned up their nose or said a word. However Dad's cousin Ellen, with a twinkle in her eye, went to her picnic basket and pulled out a hand mixer and a jar of cream. She whipped up a big bowl of cream and added it to the dessert table. My generation scattered around the country so the reunion is no longer held but Thanksgiving reminds me of that side of the family, farm kitchens, and whipping cream. 

Today I am linking with Kat and other makers for Unraveled Wednesday. This week I completed the hand-quilting on my little Christmas nine-patch. Maybe later this weekend I'll cut the binding for the edges. I'll photograph it when it's finished. 

After some experimenting with patterns and yarn combinations, the Prairie Shawl is underway. In one of her novels, Willa Cather describes the prairie as shaggy and she is right. The fall landscape is one of dried mixed grasses, the bark of old cottonwoods and hackberry under a blue sky. The skein of gold superwash merino I originally thought I'd use was too bright and smooth. It didn't look like the prairie.  Another cake of lace weight was too delicate and too mustardy. I browsed a local yarn shop and (shock) couldn't find anything. Although I had this handspun polworth marked for another project, I wound up one small skein and gave it a try. Today's lighting isn't showing the fabric well but the tonal colors, the wooly feel of polworth, and the irregular handmade texture are perfect. When I finish the spinning, I will only have about 200 yards but I'll modify the pattern. Even though it is customary to spin all the yarn for a project before casting on, I tried this and love it. I best get spinning.  

Before I check on the dough for tomorrow's crescent rolls (it better be rising), I wish you a happy Thanksgiving filled with warm memories, good company, and a delicious dinner. 

Sixes and Sevens

Hello on this bright crisp day. The winds of November blow and the yards are full of leaves. Yesterday morning two friends and I enjoyed tea and muffins in a cozy living room. We talked of family, friends, the public schools, and books. We had a lovely warm time together. The afternoon came and went so here I am on Thursday. Even though I'm late, I'll link with Kat and the Wednesday Unravelers. 

My brother John is on my mind and in my heart. He loved autumn so this gorgeous long season feels bittersweet. Grief and joy surface at the oddest moments. I try to welcome all of these emotions and not avoid the sadness. I remind myself that loss isn't a tidy package to be wrapped and placed on a shelf by any given date. 

Knitting, even when at sixes and sevens, is a good companion for these November days. My finished Fractal Danger (above) has a shape unlike the other finished projects on Ravelry. Through no fault of the pattern, I took a wonky turn and created the unique corner you see on the end. Regardless, the scarf wraps well around my neck and I decided not to redo it. I love the color. The design, with short row sections, is interesting to knit and I loved the color and hand of the yarn.

I have long wanted to knit the autumn colors of Spring Creek Prairie into a shawl. Walking the prairie and knitting a triangular shawl both feel like coming home to me. I pulled these yarns from stash and have tried three different patterns. More often than not I over-think projects and this is one of them. This morning I realized my logical mind would rather start with the colors of the ground and work up to the sky with a soft lacy detail. I foresee more trial and error before I really get going on this shawl. 

I knit a few more ribbed sections on the yoke of this cardigan. This singles yarn has a lovely hand. I need a needle with a longer cable and I don't have one. I think physical comfort while knitting is important. How is it I have a basket full of needles but need another? Since I prefer either a Knitter's Pride or ChiaoGoo and my local shops don't carry them, I need to order one. I haven't looked yet but hope some web-based store has one in stock. 

I make good progress on my little holiday quilt.  It's amazing how working on something moves one closer to being finished. I have two borders and four corners left to quilt. I'm on track to finish this by the first part of December. 

I read The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. The collaboration between these two women is a remarkable story. The hard copy concludes with notes by both authors. I recommend reading them. The characters, particularly the women, are well written and drive the plot. At times the writing felt a little awkward but the story of Belle da Costa Green and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City is worth knowing and reading. 

I hope this November day finds you well and warm. 

Ravelry Links

Fractal Danger 

Anker's Cardigan, My Size

Prairie Shawl

Changing Season

I look out my window at a November day. The sky is gray with rain in the forecast. A few yellowy gold birch and ornamental pear leaves hang on to the branches. The yard across the street is covered in red maple leaves. The fall colors have been glorious. The season changes and with it the menu. I have four tomatoes and a sprig of basil. It's hard to let go of the fresh tomato/basil combination but a pan of roasted root vegetables also sounds good.

Today is Wednesday, the day to link with Kat and the other Unravelers and write about knitting and/or reading. I finished the toe on some scrappy socks. I used a clasped-weft join so I could clip off all the ends. I wove in only the beginning and ending pieces of yarn. They were fun to knit and make me smile when I look at them. Striping notes are on my Ravelery project page. Honestly there was a method to the madness.

I decided to finish a small nine-patch Christmas quilt that has been languishing for years. I can't remember when I began the piecing but I did embroider four spacer blocks last December and then sewed a few more nine patch squares to complete the blocks.

By January, a red and green project lost its appeal. Last summer I put the top together, marked it, and basted the layers. A few weeks ago, I was ready for a quilt on my lap. Most evenings, I quilt a few blocks. My hand-quilted stitches are not as short and even as in the past. However after a few evenings, I found a rhythm in scooping up stitches and pulling thread through the fabric. There is a bit of magic in evening lamp light reflected from the tiny quilting needle. Who knows what I'll do with it when it is finished. I'd just like to finish it. 

I finished Hamnet. The writing is beautiful and the portrayal of grief is poignant. I enjoyed the novel but wasn't as taken with it as I thought I might be. Maybe I read too much hype or maybe it's just the way the book struck me at this time in my life. Currently, I am reading Monument: Poems New and Selected by Natasha Trethewey, a two term U.S. Poet Laureate. Her poems tell such stories. I enjoy the way she her view of artwork inspires her poems. Her insight about women portrayed in art and photographs is thought provoking.  

The sky is turning autumn gun-metal gray. If I am going to walk, I should get going before the rain arrives. My sister has invited us for Thanksgiving and so I will be looking through recipes for a side-dish. I also need plan a few meals for the week and make a grocery list - the eternal grocery list. 

What's on your menu this week?

Ravelry Link

Scrappy Impossible Girl Socks

The Best of Both Seasons