by Kat | Jun 21, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
I have a finished Gnome… and I have very mixed feelings about him. Gnifty is not feeling very nifty to me and those feelings grew as I assembled him last week. But… he has since been speaking to me… he let me know he is a bit of an introvert… and he is quite self-conscious about his proboscis! He prefers to spend his days in the woods… and I have promised him I will knit him a wee birdie or three to keep him company. I think he also needs a walking stick that also has a bit of a perch. I am still looking for the perfect stick! Also… I think a little cosmetic knitting will be happening to fix his nose and give him a beard. So while he is “done”… Gnifty is not yet finished… so stay tuned!
I also had a bit of a re-do (i.e. it was way too small) on my second bucket hat. The yarn is a bit lighter weight so I needed to rethink how to make this all work. (not so easy with crochet, let me tell you!) But I think I am on the correct path now!
My other finish was a scarf that I started eons ago… but I cleaned out a drawer and found it… and by doing a few “flowers” a night before I knew it, it was done! After weaving in eleventy-billion ends and I have a new scarf for the fall!
The reading this week has been marvelous! I am racing on to the finish of Birnam Wood… oh my, it is so good! Twists, turns… and intrigue! Finishing it is my reward for getting my chores done this morning.
The in my ears book is T.J. Klune’s latest, Under the Whispering Door. I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea so I have high hopes for this book! No thoughts yet, I have barely begun it!
That is all I have to share… what about you? What are you working on?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Jun 19, 2023 | General, In This Moment
The best thing for any day is poetry… and today is no exception! I stumbled across this beautiful poem by the brilliant Tracy K. Smith (you can listen to her read it here)
And if you want to hear the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters… well, enter the rabbit hole here!
Wade in the Water
by Tracy K. Smith
for the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters
One of the women greeted me.
I love you, she said. She didn’t
Know me, but I believed her,
And a terrible new ache
Rolled over in my chest,
Like in a room where the drapes
Have been swept back. I love you,
I love you, as she continued
Down the hall past other strangers,
Each feeling pierced suddenly
By pillars of heavy light.
I love you, throughout
The performance, in every
Handclap, every stomp.
I love you in the rusted iron
Chains someone was made
To drag until love let them be
Unclasped and left empty
In the center of the ring.
I love you in the water
Where they pretended to wade,
Singing that old blood-deep song
That dragged us to those banks
And cast us in. I love you,
The angles of it scraping at
Each throat, shouldering past
The swirling dust motes
In those beams of light
That whatever we now knew
We could let ourselves feel, knew
To climb. O Woods—O Dogs—
O Tree—O Gun—O Girl, run—
O Miraculous Many Gone—
O Lord—O Lord—O Lord—
Is this love the trouble you promised?
Tracy K. Smith, “Wade in the Water” from Wade in the Water. Copyright © 2018 by Tracy K. Smith.
See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Jun 15, 2023 | General, Poetry
I am gathering with Bonny and all the poetry lovers to share some poetry with you all today. (Make sure you stop by and see what we all have shared…and we’d love it even more if you joined us and shared a poem!)
Is it just me… or is June racing along? In my mind, it is still last week… and I have plenty of time to contemplate poetry for today.
Thankfully, Pádraig Ó Tuama came to my rescue with this introduction to the pantoum this week. That sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole on the internet and led me to the poem I am sharing today.
Pantoum’s are delightful and you can learn a bit more about them here and here. (And I highly recommend you listen to Pádraig read you the pantoum from this Monday’s Poetry Unbound podcast!)
The pantoum I am sharing this week is by A.E. Stallings for all us insomniacs out there!
Another Lullaby for Insomniacs
by A.E. Stallings
Sleep, she will not linger:
She turns her moon-cold shoulder.
With no rings on her finger,
You cannot hope to hold her.
She turns her moon-cold shoulder
And tosses off the cover.
You cannot hope to hold her:
She has another lover.
She tosses off the cover
And lays the darkness bare.
She has another lover.
Her heart is otherwhere.
She lays the darkness bare.
You slowly realize
Her heart is otherwhere.
There’s a distance in her eyes.
You slowly realize
That she will never linger,
With distance in her eyes
And no ring on her finger.
Another Lullaby for Insomniacs by A.E. Stallings appeared in the April 2004 issue of Poetry Magazine.
And that is all I have for this week… see you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Jun 14, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!
It’s that time in the week when we all gather together and share what we are making and (perhaps more importantly!) what we are reading!
I have an almost finished Mystery Gnome… that I won’t share this week because there are several “bits” that are not yet finished and my Gnome… well, he remains a mystery to me! I did stuff him yesterday so I am hoping that he speaks to me soon about the direction he wants to go! Stay tuned!
I made some headway on my Summer Knitting List… I have a finished pair of Hermoine’s Everyday Socks! I liked this pattern (especially the heel with the garter edges!) very much and I will be knitting it again! These socks are now tucked away for October or November when socks are once again needed!
My Summer Knitting List has decreased by two projects this week! I have frogged the Ooh La La sweater… I was not in love and began to ask myself were would I wear it. It was quick work to rip it out… and I have already repurposed the yarn! Yep, I have another Shakerag Skirt underway!
After seeing this… I got a crochet hook out and gave Ye Olde Crochet Bucket Hat a try… I used a skein of Euroflax I had in my stash to see how it went… and by George, I think I got it! Ha!
It is a bit “stiff” I think the linen yarn was on the heavier end of worsted weight… but it works! I have begun a second with some leftover Hempathy in my stash. Yes, I know it is a dk yarn, but I like the fabric I am getting, so I will forge on. It is fun counting and single-crocheting… ha!
And if that was not enough ‘making’ for the week. I finished a do-over of the flower pot lesson from my last watercolor class. This one I did on a quarter sheet (so much bigger!) and I ordered a frame yesterday because this one is heading off as a “congrats on your elopement” to my son and new daughter-in-law in Wisconsin!
So how’s my reading been this week, you ask? Well… I have just one finish… The Colony by Audrey Magee. I loved it! (There is painting in it! Ha!)
I have been savoring Fresh Water for Flowers… I really don’t want to leave Violette and her little cemetery… however, even though I have been savoring it, I should finish it today (I have about 50 pages to go.)
In my ears, I have been enjoying Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem. It is a collection of short stories and I am very much enjoying them!
What about you all? What have you been up to this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Jun 12, 2023 | General, In This Moment
Brings some much needed rain! I am hoping that it washes away much of the pollen that is making me miserable! (as well as bring a bit of life back to our very dead lawn!)
We did have a good weekend… there was a happy hour that might have celebrated a certain indictment! I made the NYTimes recipe for spinach artichoke dip (and it was insanely delicious!) A couple of weeks ago I picked up a set of these produce containers that Carole had raved about a few weeks ago. They are crazy… and amazing!
But perhaps the best thing of the entire weekend was this little cutie wandering into our back yard Saturday afternoon and spending a few hours with us!
So tiny and so stinking cute! For a few hours I felt very much like dear Margaret Renkl with her Comfort of Crows in my own backyard! (An added boon… that rabbit in the end of the brief video is the Papa Bunny who has successfully watched over his third nest of babies in our yard this year!)
Today I am going to savor the rain as I sit in and paint a bit today! Happy Monday everyone!
See you all back here on Wednesday with some unraveling!
