In Like a Lamb

March came in like a lamb. The sky is blue and the air is warm. Today the weather app tells me the air quality is not good. Tinder dry conditions put dust into the air and also make grass fires a possibility. Monday I stopped at a local nursery to see if anything was stirring in the greenhouses. I may have lost my marbles because I picked up one inexpensive package of violas and brought them home. The last frost date is over a month away. The pot is sitting on the kitchen counter and even if the plants don't live long enough to go outdoors, they lift my spirits. 

One of my grandmothers remarked to me that we would all be happier if we smiled like the pansies. Evidently she saw a smile in the blooms. By my girlhood, she was widowed and lived in a very small home on my uncle's property. She had a very narrow strip of ground next to her front door and some years grew a few pansies. Anyway it is a sweet memory and I think of her when I see pansies. That memory, the sun on my back, and a little dirt under my fingernails made me forget the state of the world for a few minutes.  

Fiber work is also a gift these days. Yesterday I opened a braid of Heathered BFL by Greenwood Fiber in the February birthstone colorway Amethyst. The colors are pretty and the BFL has a nice soft hand for a beginning spinner. I began spinning a single yesterday. 

Wednesday is the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers. I am pleased to say I haven't done any unraveling this week. The sweater continues. My hands needed a break from the sweater body on small needles so I knit on the cowl last night. I like the texture in this pattern. Once it is set up, it is easy to follow. I find this true for Bonnie Sennott designs. Her patterns are well written. I have knit several and enjoyed them all.  

Last weekend I plied these two skeins of  Polworth. Then I set out to spin the deepest blue at the end of the braids. Luckily I didn't spin much fiber before I noticed my fingers turning blue. The dye washed off easily and a damp rag cleaned the spindle. I know some yarns give up dye during the first wash or two so I suppose this is not unexpected. I didn't want my spindles to be stained with dye so will not be spinning that portion of the fiber. I spun these skeins of yarn spun from two braids of the same colorway. I see improvement in my spinning. This heavy fingering to sport weight yarn will make for some nice knitting. 

A week or so ago I plied a small skein of a blended fiber (merino, silk, flax)  from Hip Strings. I made an interesting yarn. 

Warning: I am about to get on a soapbox. 

I am listening to A Swim in the Pond: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class in Reading, Writing, and Life by George Saunders and have mixed feelings about the book. Although I plan to finish, I am not to the end. The short story form is not my favorite so I chose this title to learn more. The commentary on what makes a good short story is thorough, understandable, and informative. I also realize this book is based on Russian writers who wrote a long time ago but (here we go) only one of the four stories has an interesting (to me) female character. Two of the stories feature women as minor characters portrayed in negative ways. One story develops a woman character in terms of her relationships to three or four males who come into her life. Perhaps the point of the story is that women should not mold themselves to men but I prefer to read about positive ways women can thrive in relationships or grow in other ways. In other words, what a woman can do instead of what she shouldn't do. I know others have enjoyed this book and I could be missing the point. As I listen I am reminded, once again, how literature perpetuates stereotypes of all kinds. The four stories are read by strong voices. The author narrates the commentary. In my opinion, he isn't a skilled audio reader. Now that I've offered my opinion, I'll step down. 

Take care my friends. 

  

  

Progress Markers

A few flurries fall on this cold morning. Temperatures are in the single digits and wind-chill makes them even lower. Tuesday I made some lentil soup and hard rolls. It is a soup week. Today I have Ginger Tea in my mug in order to stay warm. 

I finished the pillow case for my living room pillow. I didn't have enough of any one of the fabrics to make a continuous strip of binding with mitered corners so I used leftover strips. I prefer mitered corners but this is fine in our living room. The fabrics were leftover from prints purchased years ago. I like making do with what's on hand.

Knitting keeps me warm and sane these days. I am posting a picture of my sweater mostly to remind myself I am making progress. This sweater of fingering weight on size 2 needles is meditation knitting but even meditation knitting requires a visual of progress. I clipped on a progress keeper and move it every Sunday night. This strategy keeps me from feeling I've entered the black hole of knitting where no progress is being made. I still enjoy the knitting and this sweater will remind me of the gift of yarn from my sister and also (fingers crossed) of spring. Between March 17 and 21, the landscape begins to green just a little. It's a seasonal progress marker on the horizon. 

When I had a few odd moments and wouldn't be able to finish a knit and purl row on the sweater, I put a few rows on a cowl. I prefer not to leave a back and forth stockinette project at the end of a knitted row. Stopping in that place often leaves a line showing in my knitting. I suppose it blocks out but I prefer not to leave that to chance. 

I just finished listening to A Tale of Two Cities via old CraftLit podcasts and found it well done. I don't listen to all of the books available on this podcast and I missed this was one from early in the podcast. Heather Ordover with her background as an English teacher, does an excellent job of annotating books in the public domain and making them interesting. The scenes in A Tale of Two Cities relating to mob behavior and the portrayal of vengeance as opposed to justice are a cautionary tale for our time.  

I am reading All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family's Keepsake The research that the author put into this book is fascinating. Tiya Myles, a history professor at Harvard, is a skilled writer and storyteller. Recently she published an essay for the New York Times titled, "When Everyone About You is Talking about the End, Talk about Black History." The essay is about this book and the resilience of Black Americans. I am enjoying the historical connections to textiles, women's history, and the history of slavery. I appreciate Myles' thoroughness in distinguishing between facts and opinions as well as her ability to look at more than one explanation for a behavior or fact. This is excellent nonfiction. 

I am late in linking to the Unraveled Wednesday Party but I will link just the same.  I enjoy reading about others' making and reading. 

March is around the corner and with that the end of winter. Progress indeed. 

 

Mid-February

The quality of the light changes in February. Even though we have another month of dry brown winter, the days are longer and the sun sets in a slightly different place on the horizon. Yesterday while walking in a jacket, I saw a large flock of robins eating some dried ornamental berries from a tree. A few robins winter here but that was a mighty big flock. I take is as a sign of Spring.

My grandchildren in Connecticut are recovering from Covid and for that we are very thankful. The three boys were vaccinated so two were asymptomatic and one had a mild case. However little Norah, too young for the vaccine, was very sick with croup related to Covid. With good medical care and vigilant parents, she is recovering well. It's a miracle that my daughter and son-in-law didn't get sick as well. The moral of the story is the vaccine works and everyone eligible should get one. 

I am linking with Kat and other Unravelers today. My thanks to Kat for providing the link-up. Stopping to consider the week and update my projects on Ravelry is a good mid-week marker. My making was a little scattered as I worried about my family but I made some progress on several projects. I finished quilting the square that will become a pillow top. I need to dig out instructions for the easy edging I put on the old one and find fabric for the back. 

I knit back to fresh yarn on the infamous sweater. I am thinking of the stockinette knitting as a meditation. I did know what I was signing up for when I cast on the project. One stitch at a time, one day at a time, and all is well.

Instead of knitting on the other knitting projects, I have been spinning. I continue to work on the blue gradient of Polworth and have nearly finished the second spindle of this medium shade. 

While one set of singles rests before plying, I spin on another project. Last summer I participated in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Podcast summer spin-in and won some fiber from Sincere Sheep.  I am spinning it on a turkish spindle. I want to try plying directly from the "turtles" made by spinning with this type of spindle. The fiber, 80% Romeldale and 20% Suri Alpaca is soft, springy, and lovely to spin. The label tells me the wool came from a sheep named "Sweet Pea" who lives in Idaho. The alpaca comes from an animal living in Morro Bay, California. It is fun to spin and think of "Sweet Pea" grazing in Idaho. 

While waiting for library holds to come in, I reread The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys. The novel is set in England during World War Two. The main character, a single woman in her mid-thirties, leaves London to supervise a small group of Land Girls. At her post, she finds among other things a tangled lost garden and sets about to restore it. She also searches for the story behind the garden. As the young women absorb losses of the war and ponder the unknown future, I found some parallels to living in a pandemic. Reading this bittersweet story about gardening in February was lovely. References to Virginia Woolf and To The Lighthouse were a bonus. The first time I read the book, I knew little of Woolf so in some ways it felt like a new story. I'm sure my seventy years are showing with this comment. Although the end wraps everything up a little too quickly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I hope warmth and light is returning to your neck of the woods.  Happy mid-February. 

 

Cardigan: The Second Verse

Today's blue sky with clouds blowing along is gorgeous. I wish I had a photo of the sky I watched while driving home from a haircut. Dare I say, the sky and temperatures feel like March. Right now I'm having what my working colleagues used to call a latte lunch, a decaf latte and a chocolate croissant. Every now and then I throw good nutrition to the wind. I'll eat stir-fry broccoli and carrots with roasted chickpeas for dinner. 

This midweek I link to Kat and the band of Unravelers. Soon I hope to have the privilege of separating the sleeves from the body of the Anker's cardigan a second time. The moral of this post is that the quiet voice is my head asking, "Are you sure this sweater will fit?" is worth heeding. Why does this happen over and over? As you may recall, I tried on the cardigan after knitting a few rows after the sleeve separation. I got my arms through the armholes and the sweater around my chest but at the time there wasn't much sweater body. Several evenings I thought, I should put this on waste yarn and see if it fits. One night I did so but tried it on over pajamas. The armhole stretched a little out of shape but I dismissed the fit based on the pajamas. Any rational knitter would have left the stitches on the waste yarn until the next morning and tried it on with a shirt and bra that would be worn under the sweater. Apparently my knitting rationale is gone by 9:30 p.m. 

Finally last weekend, I decided it was ridiculous to keep knitting and hope the sweater fit without knowing for sure. When I tried it on over street clothing, I knew I'd be happier with about 3/4 or 1 inch more ease. So I ripped out four inches of body and put the sweater back on the needle. The yarn held up well to frogging and reknitting. In my defense, I have a tendency to knit a raglan line a little too long. The last sweater I made has too much ease under the arm. Anyway, I like the yarn so I'll be knitting this into spring and wearing it next fall and winter. I am just getting my money's worth out of the yarn. 

I knit a little on the prairie shawl without unraveling any stitches. I also pieced a quilt block that will become a pillow top. A long time ago I made a pillow to use behind my back while I sit in my knitting corner of the loveseat. I used an old quilt block I bought at a second hand/antique shop for the removable pillow cover. The fabric has disintegrated but the form inside is just right for my back and has plenty of wear left. So I'll quilt this block and then stitch a new cover. 

I listened to The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman. The four septuagenerians are up against several ruthless criminals. This is the second in this series and not quite as snappy as the the first book but still a humorous read if mystery is your thing. My local book group will discuss The Water Dancer over Zoom this week. I listened to an interview of Ta-Nehisi Coates last night. What a talented, thoughtful, wise writer and human being. I am also reading Valentines by Ted Kooser. His metaphors are extraordinary, a red potato or a paper boat as a Valentine. Back in the day before he was named the National Poet Laureate, Kooser gave readings from his recently published books at independent bookstores. He sometimes distributed index cards to listeners for their names and addresses. For a few years, he sent everyone on the list a Valentine's Day poem. I was late to the list but received a few. The poems came on a white 3 x 5 card with one small red foil sticker. The series came to an end in 2007 and the poems were collected in a book published in 2008. 

I hope your knitting and reading are treating you well. 

Ravelry Links

Anker's Cardigan - My Size

    P. S. The irony of the cardigan's name, Anker's Cardigan My Size, is not lost on me. 

Prairie Shawl

Winter Knitting

Any groundhog brave enough to poke his head out of a burrow in southeast Nebraska would see his shadow today. Of course, no matter the sunlight, we will have six more weeks of winter. This morning is bitter cold and clear. The next big snowstorm will be south of us and so we continue with this dry winter. Red-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, chickadees and finches brave the wind to come to the feeder. I'm happy to help them out but once again it's time to buy more suet and seed.

Today I'm linking with Kat and a group of makers for Unraveled Wednesday. This morning as I photographed my knitting progress, it struck me that knitting and winter have some things in common.  Although the cardigan and the prairie shawl look much the same as they did last week, I have made progress on both projects. Winter weather is also in a holding pattern. Yet, one hour, one day at a time the earth tilts toward longer warmer days and one stitch, one row at a time projects do get completed. I enjoy the meditative quality of stockinette knitting as well as the peaceful feeling of winter.

Last week after a few evenings of steady cardigan knitting, my right hand and wrist began to ache. I realized both projects were on small needles and I was pushing a lot of stitches around in the sweater project. I went through my "up next" stash bin and chose this teal yarn leftover from the poncho I knit in 2020. I cast on a cowl that I have knit previously. I chose the project because it is knit on bigger needles and has some nice texture for interest. I am also trying to knit patterns I already own. 

Three knitting projects is a sweet spot for me. What is your magic number? For me, three is enough variety to hold my interest but not so many to feel scattered. Late in December I wound up a skein of yarn for socks. I tried three different sock patterns only to rip them all out. The yarn is a slightly heavier fingering weight. The  pretty rose color would be just right for February but that yarn doesn't want to be socks. The fabric I knit was as stiff as cardboard. It is nice yarn for some other project. I wound up another skein of pink with speckles and while winding I thought it was too thin for socks. The cowl is just right. This must be the Goldilocks approach to knitting. 

I finished Ann Patchett's book of essays, These Precious Days, a few nights ago. Her writing is beautiful and what an interesting life she lives. Kindness and compassion abound in the title essay. I pulled Sisters of the Earth off the shelf to read at night. I have the second edition of this anthology of women nature writers. The variety is interesting and in the past a selection has led me to read more by a new-to-me contributor. It is good bedtime reading. 

Between the cold and Omicron, it's been a rather quiet week. That's ok with me. Quiet is good.  I hope you are having a good week. 

Ravelery Links

Light Blue Anker's Cardigan

Bluet Cowl

  

January's End

On this Wednesday, the breeze is blowing and the air is cold. Little precipitation has fallen this month so the blue sky is welcome color in the landscape. Temperatures bounce between bitter and almost balmy. It feels like an odd sort of winter but maybe that is just the way I feel. I have made good progress with my knitting. 

Today I link with Kat and the other Unravelers to talk about fiber and reading. Two spindles of Polworth rest before plying and I had a bit of unraveling but nothing serious. The Anker's Cardigan - My Size begins to look like a sweater. I separated the sleeves from the body, knit an inch or so, and tried on the sweater. It fits which is good because this is fingering weight yarn on small needles and that yoke ribbing took some time. I left the stitches on the needle in an effort to save time. If you predicted I saved no time, you would be right. Some front stitches popped off one side of the needle. Somehow the edge stitch pulled out two rows down. I put the stitches back on the needle, fiddled with the edge stitch and knit another two rows. I didn't like the look of the edge so I pulled all the stitches off the needle and frogged down to two rows below the errant stitch. The sweater is back on track with the edge stitch corrected. I can drop down in the middle of a row to pick up or fix a stitch. I have fixed cables several rows down but edge stitches are a different story.  

I worked on the prairie shawl. Already it has eleventy-million ends but I don't mind weaving in the ends. I like closure and finishing a project. I knit in some odd pieces of a skein of Anzula that I used in another shawl. The clay color is a good addition. If you look close you can see a few rows here and there. Colors are so interesting. I pulled one other skein and a mini skein from stash and thought they coordinated well but when I knit them into the shawl they didn't go well at all. I enjoy playing with odds and ends in shawls of multiple colors. What can I create with what I have?  

I'm reading These Precious Days, a collection of essays by Ann Patchett. Patchett is a strong writer and I'm enjoying them. I haven't read the essay which Patchett used as the title of the book but I keep thinking about what those words mean to me. I'm rereading The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is  this month's selection in my local book group. Last year I listened to the audio and it was excellent. Reading the hard-copy and knowing the story, I notice some of the subtle fore-shadowing that I missed while listening. The subject matter is hard but the story is beautifully written. Coates vocabulary choices make me think differently. Do you reread books? 

I read a little ray of hope in our local newspaper on Sunday. Our House Representative in Washington is a man who has been in office a long time. I don't vote for him but he is an incumbent and enjoys success in our district. Running as a Democrat against him is a big leap of faith. Right now a state legislator, Senator Patty Pansing-Brooks, is running in the primary in order to oppose him in November. In an article about her campaign she was quoted, "I'm going to make it a journey of compassion and hope." I'd love to see that on a yard sign. Her words made me think of Leonard Cohen's song/poem, "there's a crack in everything, it's how the light gets in." I don't know about you but these January days I am looking hard for the crack and the light. 

Stay warm and well. 

Late afternoon light 

 

Bread recipe that I made into rolls. I omit the seeds on the outside because they just fall off. Bake at same temperature for shorter period of time - 15 - 17 minutes.  Hearty rolls that are great for dipping into soup or slicing and toasting. 

Ravelry Links

Anker's Cardigan 

Prairie Shawl

Of Beans and Yarn

A little snow fell Friday but melted over the weekend. Early this week, we walked in the sunshine but frigid weather has returned. Gray skies, low temperatures and wind make this an inside day. Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers to write about making and reading. I am making slow progress on the cardigan but yet another photo of a sweater yoke in progress isn't very interesting.  I'll write another story about beans and yarn.  

Monday I plied this Polworth yarn. Since I wanted to spend most of the afternoon spinning, I decided to try a new crockpot recipe for a white bean soup.  I usually use canned beans but decided to follow the recipe and use dried. This recipe called for cannellini beans. I couldn't find them. Google suggested great northern beans as an acceptable substitute. That was my first mistake. Usually I look at a new recipe and adjust amounts because I am cooking for two. Why I didn't do that I don't know. Instead I happily sauteed fennel, celery, onion, and garlic and added it to 6 c. of broth, 1 pound of beans (that is what the recipe called for) and some wheat berries. What was I thinking? As my grandmother would have said, " Enough food for thrashers." Well - maybe.  I plugged it in and went on with my day.

With a pound of beans bubbling in the crock pot, I plied this yarn. I show the yarn hanging from the pegs in the dining room because it isn't twisting back on itself. It has just the right twist and that is a first for me. The Polworth fiber from two of these braids.  

I bought them from Banshee Fiber Arts (Etsy) and separated the fiber by hue. I spun the gold and am knitting it into my Prairie Shawl. I am spinning the shades of blue separately. When I finish and calculate exact yardage, I'll decide on a project. I spun this medium shade on two spindles made by Jim Etcher of True Creations. They are beautifully made, easy to use and spin well.

I am also spinning on some Hipstrings Fiber that was a gift from Kat. When it arrived some time ago, I tried using it but wasn't happy with the singles I was spinning. A week ago I got it out while the spindles with blue fiber rested. My skills have improved. Saturday I even spun with it during a Zoom meetup with another spinner. This was another first for me, spinning and chatting at the same time. 

The spindle in this photo is made by Golding Fiber Tools and is a joy to use. It is a good spinner. My husband gave it to me as a birthday gift. I have only one Golding spindle as they are pricey but exquisitely made. Carefully crafted spindles are little works of art. These craftspersons take simple tools and create beautiful but functional pieces. That, here in Nebraska, I have access to spindles made in Vermont, New York, and Utah is one of the benefits of the internet. I have a couple of smaller spindles that I purchased from Greensleeves Spindles. I believe the maker behind this company is a woman. Kat gifted me another beautiful support spindle made by Ann Grout, a maker no longer making spindles.

After I finished plying yarn, I made cornbread to go with the soup. While the corn bread cooled, I checked the beans. By 6:00 p.m. they were not not anywhere near tender. I checked the recipe. Yes it said, cook on low and not high for 8 - 10 hours. The beans had absorbed most of the broth which had a very good flavor. In an attempt to save the soup, I added more broth and turned the temperature to high. Then I scrambled eggs that we ate with the cornbread and a little fruit. An odd meal but my husband is a good sport about such things. 

By 8:30, I pulled the plug on the crockpot. The beans were done, the wheat berries had cooked up to mush, and the soup was the consistency of sludge. Who knows what the problem was? Old beans, the wrong kind of beans, too many beans, a crockpot with a slightly lower temperature?  As Norah would have said, the crock pot was "full up" with beans. They went out in the trash today. I'm going to try a version of this soup on the stove top with different proportions!! and canned cannellini beans. The fennel, celery, onion, vegetable broth, and parmesan rind had a good flavor. Wish me luck. By the way, my sister turned me on to adding parmesan rinds to soup. When you are grating parmesan, save and freeze the rinds. They keep forever and can be added for additional flavor in soup. Put them in the soup while it is simmering and remove before serving. 

Oh - and the cornbread had an extra 1/4 cup of sugar. Monday dinner was a bit of a disaster but the yarn is beautiful.