May Delights

Good May morning to you. The lovely chilly Spring days have given way to sunshine, a few showers, and warmer days. The trees in my neighborhood are all the shades of green. The bright chartreuses of early Spring are beautiful. The everyday iris against the south side of the house are blooming. Growing in a sheltered warm space, they open first. 

While sitting at my desk on Saturday morning, I noticed a bird with a big white splotch on his wing. I guessed he was a northern mockingbird flitting around in the treetops. In the kitchen, I warmed up my coffee and grabbed the binoculars so I'd be ready if the bird returned. Ten minutes later, he came back and perched in the open on a tree trunk. It was a gorgeous red-headed woodpecker. According to notes in my field guide, I last saw the species in 2000. I used to catch a glimpse of one in the windbreaks along the highways in Northeast Nebraska. Later while walking that same day, I caught a little downy feather floating down in front of me. That is not so rare but still felt like a little bit of magic.

Kat has returned from vacation so I am linking with the other Unravelers. I finished the handspun  Pussy Willow Mitts. The fabric is quite warm and would be great for full sized mittens. The modifications I made, due to the weight of handspun and the size of my hands, are in my Ravelry notes. I have also knit the Alfresco mitt pattern by this designer. Both patterns are well written. I reached the widest point of the Sophie Shawl and started the decreases. This yarn is a handspun BFL. Creating projects with these early handspun skeins is a delight. 

I am listening to The Cliff's Edge, a Bess Crawford mystery, by Charles Todd. The series leans a little toward a cozy mystery with little comment on the class structure of English society. However some evenings easy listening is what I need. Bess, the narrator and main character, served as a nurse in World War One. This mystery is set in 1919 after the war has ended. My Mom trained as a nurse at the end of World War Two and I think she read the first few in the series so that is a connection for me. I finished Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater by Peggy Orenstein. I enjoyed the memoir. Orenstein's writing is witty while presenting information about the clothing industry and some insights into her own life as a sixty year old woman. Orenstein doesn't shy away from injustice but she also doesn't preach. The book is a contemporary entertaining romp through her project. 

These are the moments of delight from my week. What about you? Did you find something delightful to enjoy?

Ravelry Links

Handspun Pussy Willow Mitts

Handspun Sophie Shawl

  

Happy May

Lilac in the wind

Hello on a beautiful May day. Other than some very windy days, the cool Spring weather has been glorious. The lilacs are blooming. Monday I finished cleaning the L-shaped strip of perennial flowers along the fence and beside the shed. We dug compost out of one bin and forked it into the tomato patch. My dear husband finished preparing a new bed for a pollinator garden. Armed with lists from the University of Nebraska Extension office and the Nebraska State Arboretum, I hope to do some shopping this afternoon. 

Although there is no link-up today, I enjoy the routine of posting on Wednesdays. My preferred way of knitting is to circulate among three projects. For me, this keeps boredom at bay. Awhile back, I cast on a Sophie Shawl from BFL handspun. Knitting with handspun is a joyful surprise. I love the slight bounce of the yarn but didn't expect the subtle striping. The fiber came in a variegated/tonal blue braid that I divided vertically to spin a two ply yarn. Just for fun I pulled out a pair of straight needles but have since put the stitches on a circular to accommodate the increasing width. 

Sunday I cast on a pair of mitts, holding a strand of mohair silk lace with some handspun Falkland. This yarn was an early spin on my spinning wheel so it is thick and thin. The strand of mohair fills in space around the thin yarn. The fabric would be warm enough for regular mittens but I wasn't sure I had enough handspun. Although the pattern is well written, I modified it as I have a small hand and like a snug cuff. My notes are on the Ravelry page linked below. 

When I toss the stash in January, I create what I call the Up Next Bin. It contains a combination of yarns not yet wound as well as some bags of partial and/or odd skeins that go together. These two yarns happened to catch my eye. The light blue is leftover from a cardigan I made last Spring. The other is a much older skein that never seemed quite right for any project. They looked nice together so I put them together in the Up Next Bin. I'm auditioning the combination with a pattern from my library. The light blue color is called Spring Ice. It seems appropriate this cool Spring.

I finished the colorwork hat from partial skeins with enough yarn to knit a child's hat. Some yarns just keep on giving. The tension on it might be a shade tighter because I knit most of it while listening to A World of Curiosities. Louise Penny keeps writing the familiar characters in this series in a way that keeps me coming back for more. A visit to Three Pines is always a good visit. 

This is more than enough for today. If you read to the end, thank you. Have a good rest of the week. 

Ravelry Links

Sophie Shawl

Handspun Mitts

Spring Ice Shawl

Slouch Colorwork Hat

April Poetry

The American Academy of Poets lists today, April 27, 2023 as Poem in Your Pocket Day. Alternately, another website lists April 29 as the annual date during National Poetry Month. I think every day is a good day for a poem. Today, with great humility, I share one of my own poems. I am not a professional poet but I do enjoy the challenge of all the moving parts of a poem. 

When writing, I often end up with a group of poems that cluster around a topic. I don't start out with a specific topic or set out to write a collection but somehow one thought suggests another. Between March 2013 and April 2021, I worked on poems about women's stories and voices. The possibilities are endless. Perhaps more than ever, our stories need to be told, our voices heard. The following is a poem I wrote during that time. I played with metaphor but also with sounds and words that could be read aloud. Happy Poetry Month.

A Basket of Words*

Find a thin place. Meander

through reeds. Recover runes 

etched into a riverbed.

Sing half, whole, heart, and harbor.

Dip fingers into the current.

Send sticks and stubs downstream. 

Invoke the song of rock and stone.

Discover scatter, whisper, staunch, and shout.

Soak and stretch reeds.  Stand

your ground, shape the base.

Prevent the spine from cracking.

Braid a handle from listen, glisten, and gleam.

Compose with feather and cattail.

Choose letters from egret and heron.

Craft a basket of words.

Weave shelter, honor, season, center, and thrive.

*Copyright Jane A. Wolfe, 2021

April Skies

Light in the April skies is beautiful. As I walk these cool Spring days, I revel in the sky and the flowering trees. The Red Buds, Ornamental Pears, and others seem extra lush this year. I enjoy the little wild violets popping up in yards. This week I cleaned out the herb garden and am working on the perennial flower strip along the fence. I love 60 degree temperatures. I am pacing myself to take care of my back but it is wonderful to be scratching around in the green plants. My husband, bless his heart and knees, dug up a new space, a small oval bed that I hope to plant as a pollinator garden. 

Today is Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and other makers. It's been a finishing sort of week for me. I love the soft blush pink color with subtle tonality of this hitchhiker. I added some eyelet rows for interest. The simple classic design is so satisfying. I'm almost sorry it's finished.

I also finished this hat. I knit it to improve the tension in my colorwork. There are a few places where the red stitches are a little loose but they aren't terribly noticeable. It looks nice and is plenty warm so I plan to donate it. I am not crazy about the decreases in this pattern. Most of them are done by slipping a previous knit stitch over the two stitches slipped together. About three rounds in, I slipped the two stitches one at a time instead of together and came up with a neater decrease. Of course your mileage may differ from mine. 

I didn't use up all of the partial skeins so I cast on another child size hat. I plan to use some of colorwork pattern and my usual swirl-type decreases. 

Currently, I am rereading The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak as it is this month's selection in my local book group. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the novel so this time I have a hard copy. One member sent a link to an NPR interview with the author. She mentioned she chose a tree as a narrator because she wanted a neutral voice that would avoid the tribalism of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. I find this Romeo and Juliet story, the contrasts between the male and female main characters, and the fig tree as narrator charming. I finished Fresh Water for Flowers and loved the elegant unfolding of the main character. Violette's life is full of sorrow but with support of two friends, one male and one female, she becomes a strong gentle soul. She also has a knack for understanding the quirky people who are part of her life as a cemetery keeper. I found this to be a peaceful read. 

And here we are with only a few days left in April. I plan to visit through a local nursery or two this afternoon. I hope the rest of the week treats you well. 

Ravelry Links

Spring Hitchhiker

Slouch Colorwork Hat

Mid-April

Wednesday, Wednesday. This mid-morning I'm looking out at overcast skies on a humid 70 degree day. The temperature is going up to 83 degrees later this afternoon. As my grandfather would have said, "this is storm-brewing weather." Last night thunder rumbled and lightning flashed all around with but no rain fell. Most flowering trees are in bloom in Lincoln. Like most areas of the country, temperatures are fluctuating widely. Sunday was literally freezing. Ah Springtime. 

Today is Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends. As I wrote last week, I finished the purple birthday shawl, so named because I used a birthday gift card from my sister toward the yarn. The shawl blocked out beautifully. The fabric is delightful. I had this pattern in my queue for quite awhile. I wanted to knit all three repeats of the last lace section but wasn't sure I had enough yarn to knit the pattern as written. My solution was to omit the last wide garter stitch band. Instead I framed the "leaf/tree" lace with matching garter ridges. That worked well and the shawl is still a generous size. 

I've added five teeth to the Hitchhiker. It is pleasant knitting in the evening. I have a second skein so I can make it as long as I want. I'm going to measure it against the other hitchhiker in my drawer and decide. Have you ever noticed that when you knit stash yarn, it just changes storage areas? Part of my spring/summer clothing switch is going to include going through all the hand knits. 

I have worked some on the colorwork hat. Sarah left some helpful colorwork tips in her comment last week. I am spreading out the stitches on the right hand needle and that helps correct the pulling I often create in colorwork fabric. If the colorwork looks decent, I'll donate the hat to a charity. 

As for reading, I'm finishing up Fresh Water for Flowers and thoroughly enjoying the characters, the writing, and the story. The structure of short chapters suits the novel. I like the way the life story of the main character, Violette, unfolds. One night when I couldn't sleep, I pulled a favorite, The Heart of the Sound: An Alaskan Paradise Found and Nearly Lost from my shelf. Holleman's descriptions of Prince William Sound before and after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill are beautiful and heart-breaking. This nonfiction is part nature writing and part memoir. The author raises some good questions about resilience, restoration, and recovery. One hopes science, business, and government agencies have learned something from this catastrophe. 

I hope you have a good week. I'm off to take a walk. And just because life isn't confusing enough, I'll share this photo from my dining room. Flowers, I'll take them whenever they bloom. 

Ravelry Links

Birthday Shawl

Slouch Colorwork Hat

Happy Spring

Holy Moly, this day is so beautiful I went for a walk after breakfast. More than once during my working years, I vowed someday I would just sit and watch Spring arrive. While I'm not sitting all day and the pollen count is high, this Spring is unfurling beautifully. Daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom and some trees sport tiny green leaves. A few of the early flowering trees are beginning to bloom. Yesterday when I cleaned up the small iris beds on the southern side of the house, I noticed lilac buds. This week's very warm weather will bring more to enjoy.   

Today is Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends. It's my favorite blog day of the week. I've been working on the hitchhiker. Slowly it grows. I do love the soft blush-pink color. Sunday afternoon I finished the monstrous purple shawl with a little yarn to spare. Yesterday I wet blocked it to open up the lace pattern along the edge. Last night I finished the raspberry cordial socks and photographed them out on the deck. 

I am ready for a smaller project and would also like my colorwork knitting to have more even tension. I thought a simpler pattern would allow me to find a better rhythm so I pulled out leftovers and cast on a hat. Both the two shawls and the hat are being knit with yarn in my "up next" stash bin so that is a good feeling. 

As for reading, I'm almost finished with Piranesi. I don't read much fantasy so the story seems odd to me. Since it is this month's selection for my local book group, I will read all of it. Hopefully a discussion will shed light on the story. My main takeaway is that Paranesi, the narrator, is unfailingly kind and has an open minded way of looking at his (to me) strange world. I am also reading Fresh Water for Flowers. I find it a peaceful, charming read. The writing stands up to translation. 

Happy Spring or Autumn depending on your place in the world.   

Ravelry Links

Raspberry Cordial Socks

Spring Hitchhiker

Easy Ombre Hat

Welcome April

Hello and welcome to April. The sky is blue but the breeze is out of the northwest. Yesterday was a balmy 74 degrees and I almost bought a pot of pansies. Overnight freezing temperatures and a very chilly day make me glad I didn't stop at the nursery. A few brave daffodils, along with Creeping Charlie, bloom against the southern foundation of the house. (That darn Creeping Charlie is forever.) I have another little bed of daffodils and iris at the back of the yard. The neighborhood fox ate most of the daffodils in that location but a few spears are up so he didn't get all of them. I was surprised he was interested in bulbs but a google search told me foxes do eat some plant matter. 

Today is the mid-week link-up with Kat and the Unravelers. I will be a little later with my post as my husband and I are having lunch with some family members. Yesterday I reached the heel flap on the second sock. I made some progress on the hitchhiker. 

I have been knitting primarily on the monstrous purple shawl. I'd like to finish it before the weather gets too warm to have a lap full of wool, mohair, silk, and alpaca. The fabric is soft and very warm. To make sure I have enough yarn to knit all of the last lace pattern, I omitted the last full section of garter stitch rows. Even so, the shawl will be plenty big enough to wrap up in on a winter evening. After dropping another mohair strand of a stitch, I bought a new needle with lace tips. I decided not to drop down or tink back through the lace section to secure the stitch. Instead I put a length of the mohair through the errant loop, pulled it to the back, and secured it. The fudged stitch will never be noticeable. The new needle is a better match for these two yarns. So far so good. Although this isn't fast knitting, the pattern keeps the long rows interesting. 

As for reading, I am enjoying Atkinson's The Shrines of Gaiety. The many story threads are coming together with cunning and wit. I finished Booth by Karen Joy Fowler. Although the narrative is a bit heavy on descriptive phrases, I'm not sorry I listened to the novel. The story of the Booth family as told through the siblings of John Wilkes is fascinating. As per the author's end note, primary source material was readily available. 

I'm off to do a little cleaning and hopefully take a walk. I'll be back to wearing mittens and a hat today. The question is do I pick the daffodils or leave them to brave the weather. To those who are celebrating this weekend, Happy Passover. Happy Easter. Happy Spring. 

Ravelry Links

Birthday Shawl 

Spring Hitchhiker