Welcome June | 6.5.23

Welcome June | 6.5.23

Green was the silence, wet was the light,
the month of June trembled like a butterfly.
Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

Welcome June!

Although it is so hard to leave May… I am here to embrace every single moment of June… slowly.

I want to delight in the tiny coleus, impatiens, and tomatoes I planted last month… as they grow by leaps and bounds this month!

I want to find a way to love the hot days as much as I do the cooler ones.

I want to finish my vacation socks and make some serious headway on my Ooh La La sweater!

And I want to spin more… I have spent some time at my wheel recently and it is the best calming activity!

But! In case you think it is all sunshine and roses over here… June does have a downfall…sigh.

Allergies and insomnia… June is the worst month for my allergies and bad allergies makes for poor sleep. Five days in and allergies are bad… sleep is worse… but it all started after Memorial Day… so maybe the early start might mean an early finish? I am hoping!

What about you? What are you hoping for this month?

P.S. For the inquiring spinning mind, the fiber up top is Inglenook Fibers Freshwater Pearls on Targhee… and it is a delight to spin!

 

 

Unraveled Wednesday | 5.31.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 5.31.23

Greetings Unravelers and Farewell May… sigh. I don’t want May to end, it is the loveliest month and I have tried to  savor every moment.

However, June waits for no one and June does bring a bit of a treat. I have my yarn ready and I am setting aside some time tomorrow afternoon to begin a new gnome journey!

Meanwhile, the Skirt Marches On! I have about 3-ish inches to go before I begin the waistband. The big try on happened and IT FITS! Woo! I had hoped to have this finished over the weekend but instead I sat on the porch and read. It was delightful but I am back to trying to get 10 rows in a day so I should have this done soon!

Every year brings a plethora of inspiration with #MeMadeMay I did see some things that I have put on a “wish list” for making. However, I have gotten to the point in my wardrobe that every day is a Me Made Day for me. It is a huge thing for me to put on clothing that I have made… a big thing of self-love for sure! I have one huge hole though… jeans. I really need to face the enormous challenge of sewing myself a pair of jeans. I have the fabric, I just need to get something and make a bit of a muslin so I can get the rise, waistband, fly all worked out. I am a confident sewist, but I have all.the.fears. about sewing jeans. However, I need to get past this fear so a trek to JoAnns to get something I can use for a muslin is in order! Stay tuned!

This week was all about the reading though… oh my goodness. I read some simply delightful books: Hello Comfort of Crows, Sara de Vos, and Queen of Dirt Island! And one sort of “meh” book… sigh. Yes, Trespasses just was not a hit for me. (but, I think that makes it a much more interesting to discuss book and I very much look forward to that!)

I bailed entirely on Cursed Bread it just was not for me and I had a wealth of better books to read!

Currently, I am listening to the long awaited How High We Go in the Dark. (and I have Milkman queued again to listen to again before the Read With Us Discussion!) And at night, I am immersed in mystery solving with Matthew Venn in Ann Cleeves latest, The Raging Storm.

Whew… that is one heck of an ending to May – I read 12 books! A banner month of reading for sure!

What about you? How did your May end?

As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!


Yes! To Authenticity | May 2023

Yes! To Authenticity | May 2023

Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen. ― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

This month, Ali Edward’s team suggested a “Day of Yes” but I decided to take it one step further… to make it a month of yes to choices that allowed me to be real with myself and to let that self shine a bit.

It was not easy… old habits are so hard to break. But when I felt like retreating, I read poetry that lifted me. I tuned out the negative voice in my head and stood up for myself… to myself!

It was a good month of nurturing myself in the very best way. And as this month draws to a close, I hope that this month of practice begins to take root. I look forward to continuing to strengthen the positive things by continuing this practice as the year unfolds!

A huge thanks to Carolyn for providing a place to share my progress. I hope this was a good month for all of you as well!

See you all back here tomorrow with some Unraveling!

 

Late May RIFFing | 5.26.23

Late May RIFFing | 5.26.23

It has been a week my friends. Hard things… so many hard things. So this LONG weekend my plan is to just be gentle with myself.

Rejoicing —

This year my poppy feels like it looks like this and while it is not quite that amazing, this morning there are 17 blooms open with at least 3 dozen more waiting in the wings! Don’t ask me about the remainder of my garden… it has been a rough winter/early spring in my yard. However, I have become a Master Weed Cultivator! HA!

Interesting —

Here in Pittsburgh, we are so blessed to have Rick Sebak… he is our Local Treasure and loves to bring to light all things Pittsburgh in the very best way. He has a new podcast, Gumbands, and I have listened to the first two episodes and I love them. They are brilliant. If you once lived in Pittsburgh – you will love them. If you ever visited Pittsburgh – you will love them. If you ever contemplated moving to Pittsburgh – you will love them. In other words, you don’t need to understand Pittsburgh or Pittsburghese to get them. He has smart conversations with fascinating people…

Fledgling —

This word has been niggling around inside me for the past couple of weeks now. I have been a diligent watercolor student for almost a year now… and yet… stepping outside the lines of the lesson strikes fear into my heart. But my latest class has been all about values… and this has me thinking about the practice of watercolor in entirely different ways! Ways that include trying my hand at paintings that are not “a lesson.” I got a new, larger sketchbook and have been doing a few pencil drawings. My next step is to do some Value Studies and begin the process of taking all that I have learned (it is is so much!!) and making it my own.

Final Friday —

It is the last Friday in May, the start of the long Memorial Day weekend. For me today, I won the battle and purchased some plants to fill a few planters. (Steve thinks buying flowers for planting is the largest waste of money on the planet.) I have some tomatoes that will go into a few containers as well. Nothing says renewal to me than having my hands in the dirt with the hope that what I am planting will grow and flourish. I need some of that renewal badly this weekend.

I hope that your long weekend provides exactly what you are in need of. See you all back here on Tuesday with my May Word update!

Unraveled Wednesday | 5.24.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 5.24.23

Greetings Unravelers!

I hinted on Monday about organizing my in-process knitting and starting a bit of a Summer KAL… you are welcome to join if you wish! I had an overflowing knitting bag, full of in process knits. Some, sadly, have been lingering around for too long.

As you can see above, I have one skirt that is flying along… big ass rows and all! I am halfway through the decreases and after the next few sets of decreases, I will put it on waste yarn and try it on! I am very eager to get it done because I think it is going to be an awesome addition to my summer wardrobe!

However, I also need to work on this lingering pile of knits…  some of which will make great additions to my wardrobe as well! Here is my List of Lingerer’s that need to get done!

  1. Hermoine Everyday Socks – practically done… just a foot and a toe to go. I’d like to get these tucked away for November, when it will be delightful to pull out a new pair of socks to keep my toes warm!
  2. Ooh La La – I am in the “body straightway” and though the lace looks complicated, it really is not. A single strand of Coast will make this the perfect summer sweater. I am debating with myself on sleeve length… but they will go quickly once I get the body done! And once I get my skirt done, this moves to the top of the list!
  3. Pressed Flower Wrap – oof… I really let this drop off the radar but this will be the perfect lap of knitting in the AC Deep Freeze that is my Living Room…sigh. I am just over the halfway mark, and I know that once I get back to this, it is a mindless but thoroughly enjoyable knit!
  4. Handspun Musselburgh Hat – I am tight on yarn so this knit is all about how many grams of yarn are left to start the “second half.” I am no where near that, so right now it is just mindless round and round knitting but I need to get to it!
  5. Whitethistle Wrap – I don’t expect to get this done this summer, but I’d like it to be well on its way to finished! This one needs attention, the pattern is not one I can memorize… so Thinking Knitting!

Add to all of this the June 1 start of a Gnome MKAL and I have my summer making all set!

Which leads me into One Amazing and Excellent Reading Week! I have read such amazing books… more Sarah Winman… oh, Sarah Winman… how I love you! I have one more Winman book to dig into and it sounds amazing! But first… When God Was A Rabbit… loved it. Every word. Every character. This book was her debut novel, and it does not read like a debut novel… at all. If you are looking for a book to add to your summer reading list… add any of Winman’s books!

I raced through Robert Bryndza’s latest novel. I got an advanced copy from Netgalley and devoured it. It is a thrilling mystery with a good dose of government corruption, and the ending was not what I expected…at all. Fear the Silence is a stand alone novel (Mr. Bryndza also writes the Detective Erika Foster and the Kate Marshall series.) Looking for a thriller you cannot put down… this is it! It will be out in July… so not a long wait at all!

I also listened to Kate Atkinson’s Shrines of Gaiety and loved it. The narrator is the brilliant Jason Watkins (imo, he made the book!) This is a book about The Roaring 20’s in London… a time period I know little about, but Atkinson makes you feel like you can see/hear/smell the grittiness of it all. I enjoyed it (although I did need to make a character cheat sheet… it is very character heavy!)

My current reads are as follows:

Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses… I am about halfway through (at this writing) and expect to finish it later today. I know a bunch of us are reading it for our next Read With Us gathering on June 6th and I found it fascinating that PBS is showing a series on The Troubles – Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland. There are 5 episodes which give a really brilliant synopsis of The Troubles, what they were about, and why they happened.

At night, I am reading an advance copy of Margaret Renkl’s The Comfort of Crows… I just started it and have no thoughts yet.

In my ears is a Dominic Smith book – The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. I think Bonny mentioned it and I scooped it up from my library. I am about a third of the way in and enjoying it!

Whew… that’s a lot of making and reading! What about you all… what is consuming your week?

As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!


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