Museum of Me | February 2022

Museum of Me | February 2022

“Without Valentine’s Day, February would be … well, January.” — Jim Gaffigan

Welcome, Gentle Readers to the second exhibit of the Museum of Kat. We are going to be using the Way Back Machine today and I also have the BIG flash light just in case because we are going to the furthest depths of the Museum… watch your step and no lagging, please! Stay with the group so you don’t get lost on the way to our Valentine’s Day Exhibit.

You might think it is curious that we are so fixated on being loving for one day a year and if you do, I think your thoughts are on the right track! One thing I have learned in life… one day does not make love. One day does not make the year special. In fact… I think that how you show love on the other 364 days of the year are far more important than any single Valentine’s Day.

But I digress…today we are going to an exhibit on the Love of Extended Family!

So let’s go back in time… Stay together, please, the Way Back Machine can be fussy and leave some of you in an area that has not been curated… scary places, trust me!

We are going back to in time to a very much younger me…. I think I first realized that Valentine’s Day might be something to take note of was in school. Now I went to school long before anyone worried about a child’s self-esteem… suffice it to say, I never, ever brought Valentine cards to school to share with the other students. I was not the only child in this predicament… but we brought nothing, we were not allowed to participate in the “card exchange.” Sad, I know… but we all survived.

If you look at the sum of this exhibit, you might think it is very sparse on material…and you’d be right. However, it is not sparse on content. The content is incredible and despite the fact that I have been dreading this month’s exhibit because of the lack of content (I honestly worried that I’d have to post the Valentine’s Day cards from my ex… oy! lol)

But I persisted! And on a whim I opened a long forgotten box of things and found some treasures.

My sister, Susan, my Nana – Mae Jacoby-Huxhold, me, my Grandpa – Oliver Emil Huxhold, and Great-Aunt Marion Huxhold-Bollendorf. You can’t see in this photo, but my Grandpa is standing with the aid of a cane… this was the last year he could maneuver himself outdoors. 

Rather than talking only about the treasures… I am going to talk about the treasure givers. I was one very blessed child to have not one, but two incredible and amazing Great-Aunts. My gosh, I loved them so much. Now… I looked high and low through so many boxes for a single picture of my Great-Aunt Sylvia (who lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin almost her entire life) but I could not find any pictures with her. What I do have is this fabulous picture from July 1965… My Nana (on the left) My Grandpa (in the back), and my Great-Aunt Marion (on the right). My sister, Susan, is in my Nana’s arms, and I am standing in front. This picture was taken at my grandparent’s house… and I remember this day very well. Aunt Marion and Aunt Sylvia were my grandpa’s sisters. Aunt Sylvia, was the second child of five, my grandpa was the middle and the youngest of two boys, and Aunt Marion was the fourth child… the second of three girls. (Oldest brother Albert, was named after their father, and youngest sister, Kathryn… who I am named after!) Aunt Marion and Aunt Sylvia were maiden aunts for most of their lives, but then came Uncle Fred Bollendorf. His first wife died, and his second marriage was to my Aunt Marion. We all loved Uncle Fred… he was the perfect addition to our family!

Whenever they came to visit my Nana and Grandpa, I always, always spent the night… and I slept downstairs with Aunt Sylvia. It was the best… that picture above… it was the first time I spent the night and Aunt Sylvia was so worried I would wake up and want to go home. But nope! I spent the entire night and in the morning we are all treated to the absolute best pancakes in the world made by my nana. The memories of time spent with these ladies are some of the sweetest ever and I cherish them!

Aunt Marion and Aunt Sylvia were the only people in my childhood who sent Valentine’s Day cards to us (My mom, dad, sister, and me) At least that is how it started.

Now I am a card saver… I think I have every card I ever received… honestly. So I am not sure what happened to any other cards they absolutely sent. All I have are these four, but I am so happy that I have them!

This card, which is 3-Dimensional, was sent to my entire family.

I have no idea what year this card might have been sent. The envelope is long gone… the price of the card though… 50 cents.

Then we have the cards that were just sent to me! Treasures, I promise you!

This sweet little bunny was from my Great-Aunt Marion

Again, I have no idea at all of a date on this card… but I believe this predate’s the “group Valentine” since the price is priceless… a whopping 15 cents!

Finally we have a card with some dates! Aunt Marion sent this in 1974 (I guess by age 13, I knew who was sending me this particular Valentine, but I love the “Guess Who”). It included a Love Stamp that in February 1974 was 8 cents. I know… it seems insane to me!

I think Aunt Marion knew I spent every moment I could in my Nana’s kitchen!

Finally, I have one single solitary card from Aunt Sylvia, which seems unlikely to me because I have dozens and dozens of letters from her. But one card was all I manage to save…

While I like the others very much, this one is my favorite.

Suffice it to say that flowers for Valentine’s Day are lovely and chocolate is too! But nothing beats these little bits of sunshine that I had all but forgotten from my childhood.

I hope you have some little bits that make you smile on Valentine’s Day too!

Thank you so much for visiting this very nostalgic exhibit. Now, if you all stay together once again the Way Back Machine will get us back to the present day! I so appreciate your taking the time to stop and listen today!

A big thanks to Kym for being the Master Curator for these posts!

Happy Early Valentine’s Day and I will see you all back here on Monday!

Unraveled Wednesday | 2.9.22

Unraveled Wednesday | 2.9.22

The making this week has been entirely focused on the Super Secret Test Knitting I am doing… In a different world, I would be done already. But instead I am on my third try…yes, you read that right. The third try! First time… I cast on 4 too many stitches. And while I might just do 4 k2tog in real life, in Test Knitting Life that is not what the designer is hoping I will do. So… Ripppppppp! And start again. The second try I entirely effed up the pattern (because… somehow I thought when the designer said to “put markers” between sections… I did not think she meant me! Ha! I think she wrote that direction because of me!) Again… Ripppppppppppppp! (The second time I was a lot farther along… sigh.)

So today I have the exact amount of stitches, markers were placed exactly when the pattern says. And I am past all the previous knitting I did (albeit incorrectly) and, though I hesitate to say it, all is good!

Instead you have a photo of my Base 12 Hitchhiker in the brief but spectacular sunshine we had late yesterday!

I am hoping that I will be back to knitting a Cabled Gnome and that Hitchhiker later on this week! Fingers and toes crossed!

The reading, though sparse, was so very good this week!

The Lost SpellsThe Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A book to savor – and I did! I read it slowly in delicious little bites. A book to read over and over – I want to read this book until I have it memorized! A book full of beautiful artwork – oh my gosh, the artwork… it is just perfect.

I loved every minute of this book and I loved it so much I have purchased my own copy. I want to take this book to Presque Isle Park in Erie PA and read it to the birds, the water, the trees, and think about how beautifully written this book is.

I highly recommend!

Future Home of the Living GodFuture Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oof. This was a chilling read… but so brilliantly written!

Enter the world of Cedar Hawk Songmaker (perhaps the best name for a character… ever!) and what a messed up world it is. Some cataclysmic event has happened and the word as we know it is gone. It is both a journey of discovery and a journey of desperation.

For me… listening to Louise read her novel made the journey better for the listener. I might have missed things had I been reading… but listening, I allowed myself to be drawn along in the story as it unfolds.

And the ending… oh my. It was not at all what I expected… and yes, I cried.


I am excited because I have picked up Agatha of Little Neon and if the Knitting Gods keep smiling on me… I might be able to start reading it this week!

That is all that I have for today… what about you? What is on your making or reading radar this week?

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


Thoughts for a Monday | 2.7.22

Thoughts for a Monday | 2.7.22

We are just one week into February… how then does it feel like that week had way more than 7 days. Is it just me or does it feel like it should be the 17th of February?

I don’t think this bodes well for the remainder of my month! Haha!

What have I been doing in the past seven days? Hmmm, if productivity equals time… then in reality it should only be the second or third! Sigh.

What I have been doing is lots of thinking about Full and it’s Opposites (my list currently has the following: lacking, empty, inadequate, wanting, and incomplete.) And that last word has really been getting a work out.

Some years ago, I did a Year Long Stitching project and I loved every minute of it. I did not have a pattern, no charts, no direction… except my own. And for as much as I loved that project… it is incomplete. I stitched, I washed, I dried, and I readied them to be assembled… and they are *still* waiting exactly where I put them.

But I loved stitching so much, I thought that perhaps doing *more* stitching would help inspire me. So I signed up for a 100 Day Poject and I stitched for 100 days. And that has likewise sat, tucked away in my stitching basket.

Above you can see the “top half” of the 100 Day Project… this is the “bottom half”

Perhaps you can see where this is going. My thinking has turned back to stitching… it is a thing I miss… lots. I have tried to do cross stitch and it just does not bring the same joy… nor does it spark the same creativity. And in the past few days I have been looking at that 100 Day Project… and it seems…. lacking… unfinished… incomplete. (Exactly like the Year Long Stitching Project!)

As soon as I am done with my Super Secret Test Knit, I am pulling out both projects and plan to fill some of the moments from my week with them. I have an idea of what I want for the Year of Stitching… I just need to begin the work to complete them!

And it brings me great joy to think about filling in that incomplete 100 Day Project!

And those are the thoughts filling my brain on this cold, but very sunny Monday morning! What about you? What is filling your head right now!

See you all back here on Wednesday for some Unraveling!

 

Friday Finds | 2.4.22

Friday Finds | 2.4.22

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — Nelson Mandela

It is Black History Month and in these days of an outrageous number of people wanting far too many books removed from libraries, I thought a good place to start this month is with books!

So I did a bit of Googling to see if I could expand my recommendations of books to include in your February reading and I found several great lists (that even included the books I have read!) I am sharing ones that I loved, ones that have been on my radar, as well as some that were not until I discovered them this week! I hope you find something you’d like to include in your February!

  1. Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
  2. The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne
  3. Deacon King Kong by James McBride
  4. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  5. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  6. Between the World and Me by Ta–Nehisi Coates
  7. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah–Jones
  8. (and if you have children…) The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah–Jones
  9. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
  10. (Double digits… double books?) Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents and The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
  11. How The Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith (and if you are looking for a second Clint Smith book pick up Counting Descent... his poetry is wonderful!)
  12. You Don’t Know us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston (I read Their Eyes Were Watching God and loved it so I am excited to read her collection of essays that was published posthumously)

Now I am off to do some super-secret test knitting for my favorite knitting designer. Which means my Base 12 Hitchhiker and the February Gnome will be gathering some dust… sigh. But I have a very short time frame to finish the Test Knitting… very short. Oy! My yarn arrived late yesterday so you know what’s next… Let the Swatching Begin! Haha! I am hopeful that the Knitting Gauge Gods will be smiling on the process…. my fingers are crossed!

That is almost all I have for this week aside from this wee tiny post script for all you Wordle fans… it seems that all good things must come to an end…okay so maybe Wordle is not ending but soon it will no longer be free. This closing paragraph to the article might be the most brilliant thing I have read all week:

I’ve learned my lesson. Don’t get attached. I’m staying lower than lo-fi with my games from now on. A brilliant friend of mine — he’s nine — plays a variant called “Wordle in Your Head.” He thinks of a five-letter word, and you guess. He replies with your progress: green, gray, gray, yellow, gray. So far, he hasn’t charged a dime.

Yep… World in Your Head with a nine year old sounds like the best thing ever… unless I can convince a certain six year old I know to try!

Have a great weekend all! I will see you all back here on Monday!

Unraveled Wednesday | 2.2.22

Unraveled Wednesday | 2.2.22

This is what a ball of yarn looks like after you have cast on, knit a bit and ripped out every stitch… not once but twice.

Confession time: I put the ball of yarn in a bag with the pattern and needles and have not looked at it since last weekend – save to take the photo for my blog – then it went right back into the bag. One of us is in time out or perhaps we all are! Ha!

Frustration, Thy Name is Feather!

Yes, there is a very, very steep learning curve that was beyond my brain bandwidth last weekend. I need to do some practice… okay, who am I kidding. I need LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of practice with yarn that I may or may not knit into a hat, lol. In other words, some yarn from my stash.

And speaking of the yarn… can I confess that I do not like how the yarn for the hat feels… it feels somehow sinful to say this, but there you have it. I do not like the hand of the yarn at all. I am afraid that I will be knitting worsted weight yarn on US3 needles and that is a daunting prospect.

So… I did a good bit of Happy Knitting on my Base 12 Hitchhiker… Bonny… I got to the color change! I will be in the Land of Minty Green and Purple for a bit and it is a very happy place to be!

I also started my February Gnome! A wee cabled hat is in the works!

And there you have my making since we last talked!

The reading this week has been fun! And sometimes you just need to read for fun… right? I have The Lost Words from the library for 21 days… and I have read it every day since I picked it up. I think The Lost Words as meditation is quite perfect and it certainly goes extraordinarily well with my morning coffee!

The Lost WordsThe Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Enter Macfarlane’s magical world of words and you will want to stay there!

This book is gorgeous. The artwork is stunning, but the poetry is simply perfect. Each acrostic poem succinctly describes the subject.

I happily dove into The Lost Spells… I think February should always have some time spent in Macfarlane’s magical world.

I loved this book so much that it will be my Valentine’s gift to my grandkids! I highly recommend!

While Justice SleepsWhile Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good, not great. Fast paced until it drags a bit towards the middle. Plausible until the ending… when all plausibility departs.

However, it was a fun read – I listened but I might have liked it more if I physically read it because I could “speed up” the slow bits.

If you are looking for a legal escape that includes a side of science on the side… this might be your book!


That is all I have for today… what about you? Did you have any struggles or successes last week? Please share!

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


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