by Kat | Jul 11, 2019 | General, In This Moment
I love the rain and everything about the monsoons! – Disha Patani
Another day of insane rains here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Hail, thunder, and torrential downpours greeted my morning. I am trying so hard to find the beauty in this weather – and am hopeful that if I focus on Disha’s quote today – it will help!
My things today are random and somewhat scattered, but that is my life most days!
Thing One:
I am not a fan of summer and I wanted to NOT be that person who complains every single day about how hot it is. It changes nothing, and you know bitching about the heat just makes it feel warmer. I am trying (so hard!) to find joy in the fact that we have AC that works almost too well. I see how much my gardens love these long, warm days. Especially the tomatoes which are full of growing fruit! It is an imperfect journey to find joy in heat (that is often paired with ghastly humidity) and I am finding that the inner does impact the outer. These are most certainly small steps but every journey begins with a step, right?
Thing Two:
Sometimes, there is nothing you can do but give in to an urge…and I did exactly that yesterday! I have seen so many amazing cropped sweaters and I love how they look but my inner critic tells me how those styles are not for overweight, middle-aged women. And, then this incredible Diva appeared on my radar! And, her pattern notes and images are even more amazing! Jennifer Jones, thanks to you I cast on my own Early Bloomer yesterday! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for inspiring me!
Thing Three:
Finally, is it just me – or does it seem to be much easier to figure out what to make for dinner when there is such an abundance of fresh veggies available? Also, a meal of all veggies is simply the best and that is what we are doing tonight! Why? Well, the sweet corn is in and that is what we are having for dinner tonight and I can hardly wait!
Those are my random and somewhat scattered things! Head on over to Carole’s to see what everyone else has on their list today!
by Kat | Jul 10, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
The fingers of the knitting women were vicious… Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
The finishing streak moves forward with my second Screen Door and I love it! I went up a needle size and only knit 22 pattern repeats, but it is the perfect size I think! Details are here, if you are interested.
I cast on one more wrap – this one with a skein of The Fibre Co Meadow. I have the pattern memorized and now am working to getting 105 stitches on the needles and I am just over halfway there. I think this will be a perfect transition piece in weight and color!
As for that sweater I started…. Oy. Well, suffice it to say there was some unraveling done this week. My row gauge was off a bit and I had hoped that my “fix” for that would work, but it did not. So, I am pondering just what I want to do and honestly – I am leaning towards NOT continuing. Curiously, I am not the only person who is having this problem as a number of fellow “Foxtrotter’s” are having the same issue. All of us with the problem are knitting size 38 and up… so I think it has to do with the increase rate, it does not seem to work at all for the depth of the armscye needed…so, there you have it. I think I just talked myself out of knitting the sweater! I could go back and do some more math to figure out ghost rows to make the arm shaping work…but I am not sure it is worth the effort. However, I am not missing the sweater knitting too much because yesterday I prepped the Uniform Tunic pattern to do a long sleeve dress. I finally sat down and figured out the bust adjustment I needed for it! One black long sleeved linen dress coming up! I hope to get the pieces cut out this morning and sewing will soon follow!
Last week, there were no reading finishes as I was immersed deeply in Middlemarch! Not so this week though – the reading has been marvelous! I finished Middlemarch, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and A Tale of Two Cities and they all made for some AMAZING reading!
Can I just say that I want to live in Middlemarch, please!? I absolutely loved Dorothea and it would be amazing to be her neighbor. Eliot’s writing is brilliant and I can understand why people re-read this book! It is simply the most amazing place! I have updated my review to reflect the audio version I listened to – the narrator, Wanda McCaddon, was wonderful! 5-stars and I highly recommend!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was a quick listen, but so brilliant! This is the story of a young man with autism – and he is so lovable! The entire book is the immersion into life as he sees it – from the Prime Numbered chapters to how Christopher views the world. The only problem I had with the book was with his solo trek into London – it did not seem believable to me. However, it is still an utterly enjoyable book and I gave it 4-stars!
Finally, A Tale of Two Cities – wow! Of course, this book is well written, but the crafting of the writing is so incredible. And, those vicious knitters…5-stars.
And with those finishes I have reached the time of my summer reading when I can see the completion of my bingo card. I have only 6 books to go and I will have my cover all. I started Between the World and Me yesterday and should finish it today. I have Song of Solomon and Hunger waiting in my queue. Purple Hibiscus is waiting for me to start and I will as soon as I have finished Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories…That means, I can soon settle in with War and Peace sans feeling the need to rush through it and that is a very good thing!
Mary asked me some weeks ago if I would be working on another card – I don’t think so this summer. I have a great many books that I want to read and I don’t want to think about how to fit them into a new card.
That is all I have for this week’s unraveling… what about you? Are you unraveling this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below!
And, Thank you!!
by Kat | Jul 8, 2019 | General
Greetings from an uber-soggy Pittsburgh. This song has been on replay in my brain and, like CCR, I am wondering who’ll stop the rain. Hilariously, when I searched for the YouTube link to the song – I was reminded that CCR not only has torrential downpours covered, but droughts as well! No matter what end of the rainfall spectrum you are on, there is a CCR song for that! And what Monday is not made better by a little CCR?
Today, I am all about making my weekend look larger than it really was which feels very appropriate given we did absolutely nothing the entire holiday weekend except eat and drink (and try to stay cool and dry!) The eating was so good though! Along with the regular “happy hour eats” Steve grilled some amazing ribs and I made these stuffed squash blossoms! We had sushi one night, and there was even a ratatouille sans eggplant! And so.many.happy.hours!!
We did not go to see any fireworks for the holiday and the rains kept the neighborhood fairly quiet as well.
I did manage to walk every day but Sunday because walking in a thunderstorm is a no-go for me. But can I just say that there should be bonus points given for walking in 4000% humidity? There should be – and those bonus points should be visible, so everyone knows what you did!
All this rain means the weeds look like they are on steroids so it is good that it also makes their removal much easier! Weeding in 4000% humidity and 90 degree temps is not for the faint of heart, but weed I did while Steve cut the grass for what seemed like the umpteenth time this week because the grass is growing like it’s on steroids too!
I spent some time knitting – not much time, but there was some knitting and early Sunday morning I managed to get outside with the camera for few seconds between rainstorms. Honestly, I am stunned I managed to get these images! I was so rushed and it was so cloudy and grey – and that combination does not for great macro photographs! However, this photo is proof that even a mediocre photographer can take a good picture sometimes!
For me, this is the winner… I love everything about this image.
And, there you have my delicious, lazy, long, but incredibly rainy weekend! How about you? Was your weekend all you’d hoped for?
See you all back here for Unraveled Wednesday!
by Kat | Jul 3, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Some weeks, I wonder what on earth will I write about and suddenly, all sorts of things fall into place!
Ravelry brilliantly continues to amaze with this week’s update to their previous update.
I had so hoped to finish my second Screen Door but instead I only reached the apex on Sunday – the last rows were slow going, not because the knitting is difficult, but rather my time was occupied by other pressing things. (Namely: weeding, ‘last of the strawberries’ jam making, and ‘the first Cherries are in’ Clafouti making!) But, I am back on track and I only have about 10 repeats of the pattern until bind of, so it will be done very soon!
On Monday I sewed up another Esme Tunic and I love the little details of it! I lengthened it a bit so I can wear it either as a dress or with leggings and I love the sleeve details! I used the selvedge as the hem! Also, rather than put the pockets on the front, I put the pocked on the side seam line and I like this placement much better. This color will work well into fall here in Pittsburgh, so I see this getting a good bit of use between now and October!
I am just a bit in love with these sleeve edges!
I love how the Handmaiden Sea Silk looks with the linen!
The pockets are also handy yarn cake holders as well!
I had truly hoped to get through Middlemarch by today. I am close, but not quite finished. I have about 2 hours of listening time before I reach the end. However, I was happy to see I had read 13 books in June which makes me very happy!
I also selected the book for my Classic you “should’ve read” square! A couple of weeks ago, Kym posted a link with some very interesting classics you should read, and I picked one from that list. I was thrilled that my library had a copy of Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian stories, legends, and other writings. I am about halfway through it and I am entirely enthralled. However, it is slow reading because there is so much to take in and to think about!
I also have had two more bingo books come in from the library – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and A Tale of Two Cities are happily waiting for me when I finish Middlemarch. My card is moving along nicely, and I expect that next week I will have several finishes to share!
As always, if you wrote a post to share – please leave your link below! This is it for me this week, I will be back next Monday! Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
by Kat | Jul 2, 2019 | General, Looking Back
I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June. — L.M. Montgomery
I think my photos last month show exactly what it might be like were every month June! And, yes please – can I get this on endless repeat?
It was a month of perpetual flowers, interesting skies, first fruits, and some darned good cocktails! Oh, and countless hours of outside time!
Why even the rainstorms were beautiful! And, though I was not happy to see it happen – that first super hot day was pleasantly delayed until month end. I know that hot days are necessary to make those tomatoes grow!
The videos also were so fun this month – and so much Sherman! My favorite is him barking at the Chantix Turkey. Yep, he hates him and he barks at him every time the commercial is on!
How was your June?
