by Kat | May 15, 2017 | General, In This Moment
Weekends are over just too darn fast, aren’t they?
Anyways, here we are and it is Monday and I was not ready to say goodbye to the weekend!
Saturday, we headed down to Mt. Lebanon for the return of the Farmer’s Market. New vendors this year meant that we had a bit of a Whiskey Tasting with Wiggle Whiskey (yes, before 10AM) and we also had a Maple Syrup tasting. Okay, stop the presses – that maple syrup was so good we bought a gallon of the stuff. Because, you know, we might want to bathe in it or something. Now, I am by no means a maple syrup connoisseur, but I know that I do not like any of the mass produced, high fructose corn syrup varieties available at the super market. This is made locally and it has a slightly smoky taste due to the fact that it is cooked over a wood fire. It is so good. Really. And, they ship, hint hint! Oh, and the wonderful gentleman who was there let me know that his mom is a knitter, so really can it get more perfect? Perhaps if they had sheep, and maple syrup, and knit…but 2 out of three is not bad!
We did a good bit of walking after taking our spoils to the car. The rhododendrons were all in bloom and even though it was an overcast day, the riot of color everywhere was stunning.
We also did a good bit of garden prep work. All the “deer netting” has been replaced and I will be transplanting my young plants out to their new beds over the course of the week. I am a bit worried about planting so close to our “safe time” (which is Mother’s Day) but the forecast is calling for a super warm week, so maybe I am okay. (Says the person who has been burned by this every single year since moving here…)
Mother’s Day was quiet, which was fine by me! I am almost caught up on Call the Midwife and am in the semi-mindless repeats on the Brambles Shawl. And, I made my favorite dinner – fresh asparagus, wrapped in Speck and roasted in the oven – topped with a couple of poached eggs.
Also, a blogging note…no post tomorrow but I will see you back here on Unraveled Wednesday!
How was your weekend?
by Kat | May 12, 2017 | General
It has been a long week at Casa del KatKnits and I am so happy that Friday is here!
This week saw the completion of several lists, the completion of a project, and (if you read yesterday’s blog) the confidence that I really can’t remember shit! And, beyond that, I am so confident in my ability to not remember correctly that I believe myself! Yep, no second doubting here! Anyways, good thing I pointed out so clearly how imperfect I am! Now, in the ideal day category? Why – my ideal day is any day I can do whatever I want, whatever that might be! Those days are few and far between, sadly. Which I think directly correlates to the can remember shit problem.
Coming soon?
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Who is up for another round of Summer Knit Along-ing? I could use a good dose of knit what’s in the basket! And, I have some incentive – I want to knit another Lopi sweater for the fall/winter! There are some projects I need to get moving on – from cast on to finishing, so it is not all “old projects”! And, for me the Through the Loops Summer MKAL is the best part of summer, so I will be knitting along with that as well! Anyways, if you are interested in joining again, there is a Ravelry Group and I will share a weekly recipe for a delicious libation. If you are not a knitter – you are still welcome to join us, we are a multi-craft friendly group! Same rules as last summer, which is no rules. It is a “go at your own pace group” and I like it just that way the best, don’t you? Summer Knit-Along kick off on May 27th (Memorial Day weekend) and run through September 4th (Labor Day). Feel free to grab a button for your blog, if you so desire!
Not a knitter, or a crafter, but you are a reader? Well, then I hope you will join Mary’s Summer Book Bingo, which I think will be so much fun! I will be printing out my book bingo sheet soon and begin plotting my summer reading!
Now, how about some links?
That is all I have for today. Have a great weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!
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by Kat | May 11, 2017 | General, Words
This week’s Think Write Thursday topic is to write a post describing your perfect day.
Last week, Carole and I received a couple of texts from Kym with some absolutely awesome ideas for Think Write Thursday. This is the first one, and I confess, it was not my first choice.
Perfect is just so impossible, you know?
I thought about this long and hard and no matter how I thought about it, Salvador Dali’s words of wisdom kept ringing in my head, “Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.”
If that doesn’t smack a body down, I don’t know what does.
So, how do I wrangle this around to work in my very imperfect world.
By accident, I stumbled across this: Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection. Whoever Kim Collins is, these words are just what I need. And, in fact this is my focus for everything in life – to continuously improve. It is the ruler to which I measure my days – was there improvement from the day before? And, honestly – some days there is none. No steps ahead, but LOTS of steps back.
But, all that makes for a very disappointing and uninspiring blog post to share, right? So, how do I inspire myself and in doing so, hopefully inspire you? While, my life is not perfect – each day I am working on improvement. And, if I achieve improvement I end the day better than I started and if I did not improve, what did I learn?
So, for me, the ‘perfect’ day is one with a balance of improvement and learning. And, if there is both, then it is the best possible day ever!
If you would like to see what others had to say about their perfect day, you will find them here. If you want to join Carole and me on Think Write Thursday’s you can sign up here. We would love to have you!
by Kat | May 9, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Welcome to Unraveled Wednesday! Today, I am happy to say, there has been no unraveling and I even have a finished object!
First up, Settler Shawl – okay, I don’t think I would actually classify this a shawl – more like a scarf or a shawlette perhaps, due to the yardage of my yarn choice. But, I only had one skein – I received Sterling Silk and Silver yarn from Kraemer Yarns and I have never knit with “sparkly” yarn because, well, sparkles are not my thing. However, this is not super sparkly, it has a very subtle sparkly-ness to it! But the hand of the yarn is really what I want to talk about – it feels very cottony, and in a very good way! There is zero itch factor at all with this yarn – so if you have someone who struggles with wool, this might be the yarn for them! However, the blend is not cotton – but rather silk. Because of the silk content (20%) I was a bit worried about how to wash and block the shawl. I did give it a good bath in tepid water (not hot and not cold) with a little bit of Soak Wash™, letting it rest in the water about 15 minutes. I then squeezed out the excess water and ran it through the spin only cycle on my washer. I did not pin this out to block it at all – I did not want to lose any of the garter squishy-ness! I just laid it flat to dry and gave it a little tug here and there to open up the crossed stitch sections. I would love to knit this again with the same yarn (this time with 2 skeins to make it be a shawl). And, yes – I would absolutely knit with this yarn again!
Now, I am back to cruising along on my “Air Soft Shawl” and I am to the point in the pattern where the repeats begin. So, the knitting is with pencil and paper to keep track of everything!
On the finished book list – nothing yet! I had hoped to finish The Lake yesterday, but it did not happen! But, oh my gosh I love this book! It is gripping from the beginning. And, I am adding Konrad Simonsen to the company of Carl Morck and Armand Gamache! He is wonderful! This is the first book I have read by Lotte and Soren Hammer, but it won’t be the last. I should be able to finish this up today, and then back to The Girl in Green.
There you have my knitting and reading for the week. What are you making and reading? Or is it an unravel week for you? Please share!
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by Kat | May 9, 2017 | General, In This Moment
Monday’s list was so successful that Tuesday is getting a Monday-esque list.
But, in among the tasks yesterday there were bits of joy; A gift from a friend, a hot cuppa, and yes – that bit of yarn means a finished object!
So, Tuesday – we’ve got this! What’s on your list today?
