The knitting is slow going this week however, I did get through the yoke color work and have divided for the sleeves on my Daytripper cardigan! I thought things were progressing well and then yesterday happened! Yes, I had some side effects from my second injection…the worst of which was an unbelievable headache so not much of anything got accomplished. Just a lot of lazing on the couch willing the headache to depart. I hope to feel more like knitting today so maybe I can get through the body and onto the color work at the hem! Okay, so maybe that is a bit ambitious…but at least I hope to be knitting today!
Before I went to get my COVID vaccine, I did manage to get a marled swatch done and it is perfect! I love when my “minds-eye” and reality are the same.thing! So another Purl Strings is waiting in the wings! This one should be a snap to get done since I already know what size, what needle, and how many repeats I am doing!
The reading this week was so good! Hard, but good!
A hard listen. Some things I knew, but so many more things I had no clue about. Compelling, well told stories. The variety of narrators worked well to portray the variety of writers. This should be a “must read” for every white person…
To the men and women who will make the twenty-first century, we say with affection: TO CREATE IS TO RESIST. TO RESIST IS TO CREATE.
A small bit of advice from a life well-lived. I would hope that I will be so bold when and if I live to 93 years old! Hessel reflects on his work and he makes a call to arms to us today.
This is my first experience with Elizabeth Alexander’s poetry and it certainly won’t be my last! There were so many poems in this book that I just loved… 1968, Paul Says, The female seer will burn upon this pyre, and Postpartum Dream #12: Appointment to name a few. Such moving writing. I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book and letting Alexander open your eyes to new things!
That is all I have for today! I hope your making is going well and your reading even better!
If you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
It is the seam between winter and spring—though seam suggests an even hem, and March is more like a rough line of stitches sewn by an unsteady hand, swinging wildly between January gusts and June greens. You don’t know what you’ll find, until you step outside.
― V. E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
This quote from Addie LaRue describes exactly the March I had. A rough line of stitches sewn by an unsteady hand perfectly recounts the days of the month. One would be hard pressed to sew a straight line with the wild winds that March brought! (I know because I attempted a bit of sewing on the pergola cover that the wind has wreaked havoc with!)
In March I jumped on the Costco Tulip Bandwagon and thoroughly enjoyed their brief, but spectacular display! I also got my first COVID-19 vaccination (dose two happens today!) which means I am one step closer to seeing family that I have so desperately missed. Though there is no photo as my daughter does not want photos shared online, Olivia reached the 6 month old milestone. Thankfully, I do get sometimes permissions from Heidi to share Vivi and Winston… and this month’s Winston just made me laugh! Those curled up toes. That hat! (Bald headed babies are just the best, yes?) I have been enlisted to do some hat sewing, which I hope to get to this week!
I enjoyed seeing the movement of the sunrise as it inched its way up from the back corner of my yard heading to its summer rising point.
Despite winter wanting to cling on a bit, the signs of spring kept gaining ground.
And that was March… I hope your March had some high points! See you all back here on Wednesday for some unraveling!
Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. — Carl Sandburg
Welcome to National Poetry Month! April has become my absolute favorite month and it is the perfect time to immerse yourself in poetry. That is just what I am going to do this month thanks to the genius of Kym who asked Bonny and I if we would like to have a bit of fun with poetry this month! I could not say YES fast enough and we will all be sharing some thoughts about poetry along with some poems that we hope you will enjoy!
There are so many different kinds of poetry and I am closing in on 40 days of poetry writing for Lent. It has been an incredible process that I have enjoyed tremendously. Three lines a day has not always been easy, but it has always been inspiring. And I think that most often poetry inspires us and it certainly inspires me!
But!!
That is not always the case. Sometimes poetry makes you think in a completely different way… it makes you see things in a new light…it changes your perspective entirely like this poem by Sally Fisher and I think it is the perfect poem to ease us into the holiday weekend. I think most people are aware of the 23rd Psalm, but have you ever considered the Psalm from the sheep’s perspective? This poem hooked me from the first lines and I hope you find the different perspective enlightening!
I am a sheep
and I like it
because the grass
I lie down in
feels good and the still
waters are restful and right
there if I’m thirsty
and though some valleys
are very chilly there is a long
rod that prods me so I
direct my hooves
the right way
though today
I’m trying hard
to sit at a table
because it’s expected
required really
and my enemies—
it turns out I have enemies—
are watching me eat and
spill my drink
but I don’t worry because
all my enemies do
is watch and I know
I’m safe if I will
just do my best
as I sit on this chair
that wobbles a bit
in the grass
on the side of a hill.
May your weekend have some inspiration, and maybe even a change in perspective! See you all back here on Monday!
“Like thousands of others, we survived the storm and the many dark days that followed because of the kindness of strangers who brought food, water, and comfort’.” ― Vivek Murthy
To say I am profoundly grateful for all your kind words for my post on Monday would be an understatement. I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of kindness. Though I have not “met” many of you, the kindness you shared made me feel very much a part of a community…this absolutely amazing Blogisphere we all participate in together. Thank you all for your hugs and your support!
Carole posted something I found incredibly profound on Monday and it is a very good reminder to me that doing is so much better than not doing. If you have not read her post, it is absolutely a must read! Thank you, Carole for this gentle reminder to be a “doer”!
Now, how about some knitting content?
I cast on a new project yesterday!! As you can see, I have started my Daytripper cardigan and I am so happy! I did not spend a great deal of time knitting, but it is going so fast! Yay for US 11 needles! (Also, the Knitting gods are sending snow this week to Pittsburgh so knitting with wool will be extra pleasant!)
But this sweater…
It was just a bit windy…lol
I am in love! The fit is perfect… the amount of ease, the length of the body and sleeves, the neck band are all just right! And this deep inky blue! I have worn it several times already and I am contemplating a Marled Purl Strings… I don’t know how the yarns will work, but I hope to do some swatching tonight to see how it looks.
(I am really hoping the reality is a good as the vision in my minds eye!)
I also got those birthday socks done with days to spare!! Waahooo!
The reading was so very good this week! Oh my!
The Confessor by Daniel Silva
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This series just keeps getting better with every book! Gabriel is again drawn in to help solve a murder. Intrigue at the Vatican makes for a fascinating mystery that you solve with Allon. The writing is good and the story is believable. Finally, I especially love the insights into art restoration… Allon’s “day job” and I highly recommend this series!
“Wintering brings about some of the most profound and insightful moments of our human experience, and wisdom resides in those who have wintered.”
I had really hoped to read this book last year, but boy am I glad I read it when I did. May’s thoughts, ideas, and story-telling was exactly what I needed right now. This book is inspiring and comforting. If you are looking for a respite from a rough patch, I highly recommend Wintering.
That is all I have for today. I will be back tomorrow to usher in Poetry Month!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
I am joining Carolyn again to share my March update on my word. A word that I have again considered dumping… releasing release. Or maybe just curtailing release to be my clean out the physical closets in this house companion, and keeping release out of the emotional closets of my mind. But I am persevering, because I am reminding myself how hard Focus was and how challenging Intentional was. Starting something new is never easy and so I persevere.
I have spent this very long month with my thoughts. And this quote from Brené Brown in my head:
When you numb your pain, you also numb your joy.
Oh boy. Yep, that is absolutely true. I am the master of saying nothing and numbing/ignoring the painful memories of an abusive and dysfunctional house. This month I have been opening the doors in my brain that I have kept shut and discovering that by locking those painful memories in, I was also locking in some good memories as well. I can’t erase the painful memories, but I don’t have to be numb and thus avoid all joy. It has not been easy and honestly, I considered just shoving all those memories – good and bad – back in the farthest recess of my brain and locking the door again.
But then I started reading Padraig Ó Tuama’s new book and this passage has become my new meditation, especially when I am feeling like shutting that door, locking it and throwing away the key:
To greet sorrow today does not mean that sorrow will be there tomorrow. Happiness comes too, and grief, and tiredness, disappointment, surprise and energy. Chaos and fulfilment will be named as well as delight and despair. This is the truth of being here, wherever here is today. It may not be permanent but it is here. I will probably leave here, and I will probably return. To deny here is to harrow the heart. Hello to here.
― Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World
The emphasis is mine, but the power of that sentence is exactly what I need. It is just for today and it might not be tomorrow. Yes, it might be back, but just like that small determined child…I will survive.
And I have a list of things I can begin to work on releasing next month: the shame of being a victim of abuse, the guilt that it was somehow my fault, the embarrassment of being talked about, the worry of being judged.
Thank you for reading and if you want to see my journey with release, you will find it here.
See you back here on Wednesday with a knitting update!
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi
Time for Outrage: Indignez-vous! by Stéphane Hessel
Antebellum Dream Book by Elizabeth Alexander
