by Kat | Feb 26, 2020 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers and Happy End of February!!
March brings so many good things, but best of all is Mason Dixon’s March Mayhem! I will be seriously contemplating all the “sock” entries! I know that yesterday I talked about planned making and socks are absolutely on that list! I am here this week with just over 1.5 pairs of newly knit socks!
Things to note… on the completed pair of socks: Yarn is Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn in colorway Happy Accident. There was a bit of time between sock one and sock two. I think I did a change to the stitch count in the heel in sock one, but I did not note that in the pattern, of course… So, one heel has a couple more rows than the other. However, I love this pattern for striping yarns because the heel! I think next time I make this I will use a contrasting color for the bottom of the heel so that the stripes can remain contiguous on the foot.
On the In Process Sock: Oh boy. Where do I begin with knitter errors (as in mine not Sarah’s!) First, I thought I was knitting with a size one needle, nope – I had a zero and my fabric was not at all even close to the gauge. I had to unravel it and reknit on size ones (and there was some serious unraveling because I finished the heel flap!) Once I was using the correct needle the sock does move right along! Then came the start of sock two… when I did not listen to the inner knitter shouting, “Hey… that is not matching up at all with the cuff!” I tried to explain to myself that flowing ribbing did not matter – but once I got the first “twist patterning” done I had to agree with my inner knitter and so I ripped back and adjusted to have the ribbing and the patterning line up correctly. I am positive this was a counting error on my part and as you can see sock two is now farther along than it was on Monday and part of it was reknit!
The reading had highs and lows this week…I know many of you loved Tell Me More, but oh boy. I did not like it at all as you can see below. However, I am suffering from some significant book hang over so perhaps that might be part of my issue.
The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book! What beautiful writing, what beautiful characters, what an incredible story. But Simonopio and his beloved bees stole my heart! The writing paints a vivid picture of life in Mexico with the sights and the sounds and the life described wonderfully! I did not want this book to end and the ending was emotional, including lots of tears. I highly recommend this book!
Tell Me More: Stories about the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say by Kelly Corrigan
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Things you should never write about: kids not flushing the toilet and the dog eating it. This was an absolutely unnecessary bit of information which gave nothing to the book, only detracted! I wanted to like it, but it all seemed so very fake to me. Or perhaps the author telling me that her reality is better than mine was the biggest put off. Read at your own risk.
What is Mine by Anne Holt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Scandinavian Noir at its finest! The first book in the Vik/Stubo series and it was a wild ride. I originally rated the book 3-stars, because I found an incident in the story felt, well… not right towards the books end. While this “thing” (no spoilers here!) did not make sense and still not make sense now in recounting it, it is just a small blip in the book which was excellent! A great plot that had me wondering all along who did it, and how it all came together as the mystery is solved is brilliant.
That is all I have for this week, but what about you? What are you making this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 25, 2020 | General, Words
Live with Intention. Walk to the edge. Listen Hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. – Mary Anne Radmacher
It turns out that January’s fumbled start was just what I needed to stop and consider what intention can mean for my life. And February brought lots of thoughts and even some ideas and before I knew it, being intentional slowly began to take root in my days.
One thing I wanted to be more intentional about this year was my reading. I really needed to give myself permission to slow down and savor a story versus being a perpetual participant in the Reading Race. And wow, this has been a surprisingly delightful thing. Part of that slowing down and savoring process has included writing brief reviews/thoughts on the books I have finished. I am taking time from when I finish a book to when I write the review – time in which I am processing the story, thinking about what I liked, what stayed with me, and what about this book makes me want to tell someone they need to read it (or not as the case might be).
The other part of my intentional reading includes reading more poetry. I know very little about poetry outside a few poems that my grandpa eagerly shared with me. He loved poetry and had so many poems memorized and it was amazing to hear him talk about them. But my poetry knowledge leaves much to be desired so this year my goal is to read a book of poetry each month. I never realized what I was missing by not reading poetry, but the journey thus far has been both eye and mind-opening!
The other facet of my life is making, and it is clear to me that I need to be be intentional in my making (as well as my reading!) I spent some time going through “in process” projects and a good number of them were unraveled. It felt so good to reclaim those needles and my “yes, I really want to make this” list is now manageable. I realized that making is not a race – I love the process of knitting. But, honestly…how many more sweaters, scarves, hats, etc. do I need?
I have been slowly going through my wardrobe with some intention as well and as a result I have more things that will be leaving which makes it easier to see “holes” that need to be plugged. Once I have completed this “clean out” I will have a list of things that I will work on making as the year progresses. Intentional making is a very good thing!
One thing I have been truly been missing is some kind of daily stitching – but again, I don’t really need or want to do twelve more months of stitching projects. However, a somewhat planned 100 Day Project might be just the thing and I have begun sketching out some ideas of what/where/how I’d like to create this textile. I’d like this to fall somewhere in between “play with abandon” and “continue to learn” or perhaps both!
I am joining Honoré and friends as we explore our words together! Stop by and see how everyone did!
Photo by Nubia Navarro (nubikini) from Pexels
by Kat | Feb 24, 2020 | General, In This Moment
Comes with a completed sock and a start on its mate!
It also brought day three of sunshine and I don’t know who is happier me or the hundreds of birds singing in my neighborhood!
Sadly, it includes lots of the “regularly scheduled” Monday things as well which will delay knitting and spending time outdoors.
I hope your Monday is low on “must do’s” and high on “want to do’s”! See you back here tomorrow to share my word update tomorrow!
Happy Monday All!
by Kat | Feb 21, 2020 | General, In This Moment
Any time, any time while I was a slave, if one minute’s freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it. Just to stand one minute on god’s earth a free woman. I would. — Elizabeth Freeman (MumBet)
Black history month is flying by, and sadly with little notice on my part. But this week I watched a documentary produced by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after hearing about it on NPR. I learned so much, but these words by Elizabeth Freeman have made me truly stop and think. Those weighty words remind me that the ease in which I ignore the significance of this month should not happen. I can and should do better.
Vera shared this link this week and it is most worthy of being shared again! It is true that everything old is new again! Timeless knitting is timeless indeed! I absolutely love every single knitted item! And, those knitting machine images… how the heck??? Wouldn’t that be something interesting to learn!
There were some interesting bookish things this week that caught my eye! First, Little Fires Everywhere is coming to Hulu on March 18th! The trailer certainly looks interesting! But, maybe even better NPR shared a 1st Read of Erik Larson’s new book about Churchill: The Splendid and the Vile! I am eager to get my hands on this book!
There were a couple of things that caught my eye on Ravelry this week: Ooodles of love for Isabel Kraemer’s Night Groove and especially the short-sleeved version! And Romi’s Mystery Shawl… if I can get my Cladonia figured out, I think I want to knit this! First clue comes April 3 – so the lure of spring colors is calling me!
That is all I have for this week! Have a great weekend everyone!
by Kat | Feb 19, 2020 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
The making this week included a wee bit of sewing… one more flannel Esme Tunic, although with the weather we’ve been having a flannel tunic seems rather silly! However, it is my “go to wear” these days and having one more in the rotation is a good thing. I did a bit of a different sleeve finish (a modification of a modification?) with this one and I like it! I have plans to make a denim tunic with these sleeves as well – I figure that will carry me through spring and into the start of summer!
The reading this week was incredible with two 5-star books. I cannot stop thinking about The Living Fire or A Long Petal of the Sea. I almost want to stay in the place that each book brought me and not leave for awhile.
The Living Fire by Edward Hirsch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First, I never, ever imagined that insomnia could be brilliant. Hirsch had taken a misery and made it genius. This collection of poems was brought to my attention one morning while listening to The Writer’s Almanac. That tiny preview, while brilliant, did not even begin to hint at the poems I found in The Living Fire. A few of my favorites: Incandescence at Dusk, Four A.M., The Reader, Earthly Light, I am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic, The Widening Sky, and After a Long Insomniac Night.
This is a book I need to add to my library so I can return to these words again and again. I highly recommend!
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My life has been a series of journeys. I’ve traveled from one side of the world to the other. I’ve been a foreigner without realizing I had deep roots…My spirit has sailed as well. [the] most important events, the ones that determine our fate, are almost always completely beyond our control. But do you know what I’m most grateful for? Love. That has marked me more than anything else.
This book grabbed me from the very first pages as Victor was treating the wounded in the Spanish Civil War. The lives of Victor and Roser took me on an emotional journey – one that was at times painful to read. I could not put this book down and I loved that each chapter started with the words of Pablo Neruda. I knew nothing at all of Neruda’s work to save thousands of refugees. I highly recommend this incredible story!
Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
We are the books we read and the things we love. Cal is the ocean and the letters he left. Our ghosts hide in the things we leave behind.
I really wanted to love this story, but it fell flat for me, perhaps because of the genre. However, the writing is poignant and if this book inspires YA to read some of the books quoted within the pages – that would be a very good thing.
If you wrote a post to share today, please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 17, 2020 | General, In This Moment
Is still the weekend, at least for some of us… I find it curious that Steve does not have MLK Day off but he does President’s Day…
Anyway, it was a good weekend, one with tulips for Valentine’s Day and, thanks to Sarah’s Saturday release, a new sock was started (and holy cow, look how much I knit on said sock on a size ONE needle!!) This yarn has been marinating in my stash for more than a decade, but I think it was waiting for these socks! It is perfect!
A frosty start, but we have blue skies!
Today, more sock knitting as I watch something on Netflix that my son, Sam, told me is MUST WATCH TV (which is rare for him, so I am starting today!)
I also made the most delicious pot of soup, which will be most convenient today as I binge a bit! Steve is off to spend the day at the Pittsburgh Auto Show, so I don’t have to “make a new meal” lol
I hope your Monday is full of good things! (and over quickly if you must work!) XO
