by Kat | Mar 29, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
March is almost over, April is right around the corner! (And I hope that April will be bringing the nice weather! I am so over cold, grey, rainy, windy, snowy weather!)
I have been working a bit on the Easter Gnome – meet Gnormanda! She still needs a nose, an arm, some braids, and a few wee little eggs… but soon, Gnormanda… soon!
Although the Spring-Clean-athon is well under way at my house I also have one Pi-Sock done! I have a good start on the second…small portable knitting is just the thing though, right? This week it is a good thing because tomorrow I have the appointment with the sports medicine doctor. I have high hopes about the appointment based on the pre-appointment questions I filled out earlier this week!
I have settled into a new book… The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (of Cutting for Stone fame.) I had foolish thoughts of finishing it in a weekend… ha! And then I realized it is almost 800 pages long! I am almost a quarter of the way in and loving every single word. Dr. Verghese is an incredible writer… one I do not at all mind spending a good bit of time with so I am reading and enjoying!
In my ears, I just began Ed Yong’s An Immense World. I don’t remember who put this book on my radar, but it is fascinating… a very good “day time chores” companion!
And there you have my week of making… what about you? What’s on your needles this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Mar 27, 2023 | General, Words
March was a month of heavy lifting… interior heavy lifting… which is not always the best blog fodder.
Ali Edward’s team did not make this month’s work any easier… they suggested having a conversation with our word, and so I spent a great deal of time in quiet contemplation conversing with my well-hidden authentic inner self. I pondered much and wrote quite a bit in my journal. I also got a great deal of help from Ada Limón’s book of poetry, The Hurting Kind… I have found this little volume of poems to be so perfect for ‘what ails me.’ Ada so perfectly gives voice to what I am seeking to fix… free… find…
One poem in particular was in my regular rotation this month and I am sharing that poem with you all today in lieu of all that interior heavy lifting I have done.
Sanctuary
by Ada Limón
Suppose it’s easy to slip
into another’s green skin,
bury yourself in leaves
and wait for a breaking,
a breaking open, a breaking
out. I have, before, been
tricked into believing
I could be both an I
and the world. The great eye
of the world is both gaze
and gloss. To be swallowed
by being seen. A dream.
To be made whole
by being not a witness,
but witnessed.
Sanctuary by Ada Limón The Hurting Kind© Milkweed Editions, 2022.
As always, I want to thank Carolyn for providing the space for us to share ourselves as we support each other in our journeys. See you all back here on Wednesday with some Unraveling!
by Kat | Mar 24, 2023 | General, In This Moment
By March, the worst of the winter would be over. The snow would thaw, the rivers begin to run and the world would wake into itself again.
Not that year.
Winter hung in there, like an invalid refusing to die. Day after grey day the ice stayed hard; the world remained unfriendly and cold.”
― Neil Gaiman, Odd and the Frost Giants
This quote just feels right on this chilly, very gloomy morning. I know some of you have the *s* word in your forecast… sigh. And yet… I know spring is coming but I’d like it to hurry a bit!
Relieved —
About so many things… but lengthening days, two-nights in a row of sleep more than once (!!), chemistry that makes a difference (!!) certainly top the list. But also a return of my knitting mojo which was so out of sync at the beginning of the month. Also painting which completely halts all other thoughts…well… that might be the best relief of all.
Inspired —
By the creativity of others. I follow Jo Avery on IG and she never fails to inspire me, but her latest project is my newest obsession. I love the little quilt squares she shares on IG. And she has all the squares in her stories, if you are inclined to see the collection individually.
Finding Fun —
I treated myself with some new nail polishes… and gave myself a manicure! If the weather can’t be springy… well, my neon bright nails certainly are. This weekend… my toes will join in the fun when I break out the pedicure box for them! My feet might still have to wear shoes and socks, but there will be something fun underneath!
And, if there is a boon for insomnia… and granted, that is a mighty big if…because insomnia just sucks! Anyways, one thing kept percolating around my brain in the sea of sleeplessness… an Easter Gnome. That’s right… some sleepless inspiration… I have a Gnome that is soon to come to life. She will be springtime pastel colors and I have an idea for some delightful knitted eggs for her! I have two things that I must get done first… one sleeve (which I finished yesterday!) and that first Pi Sock… toe decreases starting in three… two… one!
And with that, I have some knitting to do! I hope that whatever the weather, you all have a great and rejuvenating weekend! See you all back here on Monday with my March Word Update!
by Kat | Mar 22, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
A small delight filled my brain as I typed the palindrome date… such a simple thing but delightful none the less. Which is perfect because it has been a week of delights!
As you can see, the ribbing will relax beautifully with a soak and some simple blocking.
Delight Number One: A finished collar on my handspun sweater. It is perfect… really. It does need a good soak because soaking will relax those ribs a bit…. but gosh, I love it! I took Kym’s advice about giving it a good soak and blocking… pausing my trip to Sleeve Island to knit the collar and I am so happy with the results of that little detour! I have not one thing in my wardrobe like it. Now I am back to the Joy of Sleeve Island. This sweater is moving closer and closer to the finish line and I.can’t.wait!
Delight Number Two: I have reached cruising altitude on Steve’s Pi Sock… I am much further than the above photo shows thanks to last night’s Read With Us discussion of The Shipping News. Really, this sock and that book are the perfect pairing! Each began with so many problems… but eventually, each settled into a working rhythm… a very good thing!
Delight Number Three: This week’s reading! Oh my gosh! First, I need to plug a book that will be coming out in May… No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister which I am telling you all is a must read book! I loved it so much and if I did not have another book that I need to read, I’d have read it over again… really. It is so good! But, I do have a book that I have been waiting awhile for, Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott… and it is due back to the library soon, so I am not rereading No Two Persons.. yet. But soon! Haha! I am also listening to Michelle Obama read me The Light We Carry… and I am loving that as well. But the most curious book I am reading is one I picked up recently from the library, In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova. I am just a few chapters in and it is … delightful… absolutely delightful!
When Manicure and Watercolor Meet
Finally… some of you asked me to share my painting this week… so I present Overwhelmingly Green Painting Meets My Springtime Manicure! Yes that’s right… this week’s homework is done and yes, Because matching your nails to books and knitting has been done, however, is there a nails matching your painting hashtag? I don’t know… maybe it just needed more green! Hahaha! Not the favorite painting I have ever done but, as always, I have learned so much!
Whew! That is enough for a post… but what about you? What’s exciting you and inspiring your creativity this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Mar 20, 2023 | General
It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.
― Rainer Maria Rilke
It has been a March of All The Weather… we have had very warm days (72° F on the first!!), some very cold days (a low of 18° F over the weekend, sigh), winds, rain, snow, more winds… and this morning clear skies and sunshine!
But despite all this indecisive weather… I can see leaves beginning on the bushes in our yard, the forsythia have some flowers, my neighbors daffodils are blooming (and stunningly the deer have yet to eat them!), and the maple tree in our front yard is full of “red flowers” that are the harbingers to Helicopter Season! And today I welcome spring! (and I am so very ready for it!)
I also am happy to say that taxes are “done and dusted”… whew! Of course, we owe… but it is such a trifling amount, I can’t even be upset about it!
I had some follow up bloodwork on Saturday… and the results were stunning. My cholesterol dropped 70 points in just six weeks! Thank you, Lipitor™!! Honestly, I am stunned by how quickly that little pill has made a difference… and this morning I am so grateful for the scientists who make life better!
I began the picking up of stitches on the neck of my handspun sweater… it was rather grand, I picked up *the correct number of stitches* the first time! I know. What?!? I am at the three-inch-mark of ribbing and I will put the stitches on yarn and try it on this morning to see what I think about the length… soon after I will be back on Sleeve Island! I could not be happier with this sweater. The yarn gives me such delight as I knit away.
I also raced past the heel turn on Steve’s Pi Sock… and I am in the “straight-away to the toes” which is still a good bit of knitting.
So… all in all, it was a very celebratory and productive weekend! Now I have a bit of homework to get done… the Penultimate Painting for the first day of Spring… it is one giant sea of green… but the real challenge lies in my ability to create the exact shade of green…it is vivid, oy!
See you all back here on Wednesday!
