Some January RIFFing | 1.12.24

Some January RIFFing | 1.12.24

It has been a relatively quiet week here… Steve was back to “regular” work hours (whew!) and I found the time to knit myself to “fresh” yarn (as Carole so brilliantly put it!) on the Great Cabled Cardigan!

And I have been having great fun “unpacking” my word for the year… with some surprises that have been so delightful!

Reveling (in poetry) —

Most timely was the return of Poetry Unbound this month. Pádraig opened perfectly on the 1st with Eugenia Leigh’s poem about a Dung Beetle. Dung Beetle wisdom? Yes, please! Coupled with Pádraig’s thoughts it was the perfect way to start the month! As you all know, last year I read through 50 Poems to Open Your World… it was a great way to “meditate” through the year! I am continuing the practice this year with Poetry of Presence II and I am reveling in the fact that I am not limited to one poem a week, but rather I can read one daily if I’d like! I am enjoying the “little conversation” these poems inspire with myself in my journal.

Inspired (by) —

Emergence Magazine. I discovered some incredibly timely surprises! First, I listened to some poems from the Song Dynasty that have been newly translated. (you can listen here) But these words struck me: “The world is but a passing guest of my mind. Alone I strum my zither and sing, forgetting what year it is, while time keeps passing through my body, so time lives.” 

And then I listened to the conversation with slow journalist, Paul Salopek. (you can listen to the conversation here) Time just nudging me along this month in the most delightful of ways!

Fiddling (with) —

Sourdough Hydration. I mean, this is A. Thing. and I am here for it! Why? Well, higher hydration dough is airier, it leavens more, thus creating a more tender crumb (and a thinner crust.) Steve does not like dense, chewy bread with a chewier crust. So I am experimenting to see if I can find his Perfect Loaf. This weekend, I am going to give 85% hydration a go… wish me luck!

Finding (even more delight) —

In my backyard. I am loving how Margaret is leading me through these winter days. I am noticing more, perhaps with her guidance, or maybe just because I am spending more time outside! It has not been bitterly cold here (yet) and it has been so easy to spend time outside in the fresh air. I note how much the Mockingbird loves the spicy nut butter I put on the tree. He is a sassy little friend and I love his visits. I was even luck to have snapped a candid photo of him! (This weekend I am going to try my hand at “backyard drawing” inspired by Amy Tan!) This morning brilliant red skies greeted Sherman and I as we headed out for our morning walk. A walk that last month was in darkness… and I delighted in the returning light!

My fine and sassy friend!

And with that, I am off to finish my stitching! Have a great weekend everyone! See you all back here on Monday!

 

Unraveled Wednesday | 1.10.24

Unraveled Wednesday | 1.10.24

Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!

It has been a week with a good bit of actual unraveling here… sigh. Yes, on the Great Cabled Sweater… because of course. This time it is 100% knitter error… I somehow** skipped an entire section of the “straight” portion and went right on to the decreases. (Somehow** = the pattern author was lazy and instead of writing out instructions for the “right front” {which is a mirror of the left front, in theory, correct?} she has you follow the left front sort of. So you are shuffling back and forth between the fronts. Sigh.) I somehow** missed 16 rows of a repeat. So I ripped back on Monday and have not had much time to get myself caught up. All the shuffling means that this is not a good “TV” project. But maybe this afternoon I can catch myself back up!

However, the sock knitting… well it is going gangbusters! No unraveling, just the joy of pure mindless knitting!!

ALSO!! I have a new year-long stitch project to share with you. I spent a good bit of time in December thinking about stitching in the New Year. I knew I wanted to stitch, but I did not want to have to pull together all the “parts” to do so,  so a temperature project was out. Way back in 2018 I spent a year just stitching. I did a “sampler” each month. This was truly my favorite stitching ever… no pattern, no temperature tracking… just my own inspiration. I wanted to do something “like” that again… and I stumbled across Karen Turner on Pinterest and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to use her “starting point” for my inspiration. And so I began and I am loving it. I have one small space to fill each day and it is easy to get done with my morning coffee.

The reading is not going bad either, I have finished two (!!) books this year… Starter Villain and The Apology. And I am currently reading two more… I am listening to Somebody’s Fool (which I am loving despite not really caring for the second book in the trilogy) and on my Kindle I am reading The Caretaker.

What about you all? What are you making this month? What are you reading? Inquiring minds want to know!

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


Hello, January | 2024

Hello, January | 2024

Begin as you mean to go on… Charles Spurgeon

Here we are one week into the new year. I spent some of last week tucking away Christmas… a bit of a melancholic activity. But I also like the feeling of reclaimed space to start the new year… which helps to balance the sadness of packing the tree away.

I also spent some time contemplating the year… I got my calendar all set for the month. I always feel so organized by doing this and perhaps this year that feeling will linger!

And I spent some time comtemplating Carole’s idea of slowing down a bit in January.

And with those thoughts in mind, here is what I want my January to hold!

  • More poetry… I have three books from the library and I am excited to immerse myself in them!
  • More slow stitching… I have unearthed the appliqué project from last year. I began a new year-long “free stitch” project as well, I am using this project with my morning coffee and journal time… it is fitting in well!
  • More handknit socks… so I cast on my first pair on Friday using Carole’s Picot Edge Sock pattern… and have made incredible progress just knitting at night while we watch TV! (I might even have the first sock done by Wednesday!!)
  • More spinning… so I have “reactivated” a reminder for two afternoons a week. I am hoping the reminder to “sit and spin” will help this become a habit!

This is an ambitious list for someone who wants a slow January… but I am mindful that the activities here are all slow… and that they will inherently slow me down so I can savor January days!

What about you? What are you saying hello to this month?

Photo by Jill Wellington

A Year of Time | 1.5.24

A Year of Time | 1.5.24

Life can be very curious and last April I stumbled into this conversation with Jenny Odell. It was the beginning of time showing up for me… nudging me… as I moved through my year with Authenticity. I could not get the conversation with Jenny Odell out of my mind and I have listened to it again and again. I also began to write down the time nudges as the year went on. There were so many of them!

What songs are audible when the wind stops? What has been kept alive in the time snatched from work and sheltered from ongoing destructionwhat moments of recognition, what ways of relating, what other imagined worlds, what other selves? What other kinds of time?

What other kinds of time indeed!!

So welcome to my Year of Time! I can remember the first time I heard The Rolling Stones singing about  “time being on my side” and I can tell you that at age 63, I no longer believe time is on my side… but rather I have gotten to the portion of my life journey where my time reality is finite. So how can I maximize my finite minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years that I might have left? That is what I want to explore this year… stepping away from the finiteness of time… and perhaps finding moments where I can make time seem less measured!

Of course there is a Mary Oliver poem… right? The quote above is from Mary’s poem, Invitation published in Red Bird in 2008. It advantageously crossed my path in December and I have been reading it almost daily. It is all about the idea of stopping and listening to the goldfinches… finding the time… taking the time… slowing the time… to stop and appreciate the goldfinch song.

Which is ironic really, because the conversation with Jenny Odell is all about trying to find more “vertical” time in our lives where time is very linear… structured… filled.

So I hope you will come along with me as I search for more “vertical” time… and perhaps discover a plethora of other kinds of time. 

Why? Well.. the closing words of Mary’s poem perhaps hold the answer:

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he
wrote:
You must change your life.

Amen, dear Rilke… and so I begin to uncover the delights of time! (and I am so incredibly excited!)

A Year of Unraveling | 2023

A Year of Unraveling | 2023

…To not be making things is to be dead. — Donna Druchunas, comment from Melanie Falick’s blog.

Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy New Year!

Welcome to a new year of unraveling… one which I plan to continue exactly as we have been… sharing peeks into our making and what we are reading (or have read!) I look forward to our posts… our community of making is the best part of my week! I love to see what you are making (you all inspire me!) and what you are reading (you all help me add to my TBR list as well!)

This week, I will be sharing some stats of my year of making! Some might say it was not the most productive year… but I am happy with my time spent making and I am excited to see what I will make this year! Right now, I don’t have much on my radar… I want to finish the Great Cabled Sweater that I started last November… I am close, I have begun the second “front” and after that I just have the collars to knit. Happily, I took excellent notes on how I accomplished Pocket #1 so Pocket #2 has been a breeze! Once that is completed (and it is!) the knitting is a breeze of ever shortening rows… the right front should be done SOON! Then the Great Seaming can begin… which I am a bit nervous about, to be honest! I don’t seam much… but I do know how and I know how to “set a sleeve” in for sewing… it can’t be that much different in knitting… right?

My first “finish” of 2024… the last circle was completed on the 1st!

I did some swatching in December… a bit of “gift” swatching! LOL Steve picked his favorite and I will soon cast on a vest for him! It is a vest with some new techniques as well. Learning something new is always a good thing!

Swatch #3 was the winner… a marled mix of the two above!

But my year of making was very good! And like my Best of Reading, this list will work up to my favorite make of the year! So let’s get started!

  • I finally finished a crochet scarf (and have not used it once.) This speaks volumes about crochet in my life.
  • I crocheted one Bucket Hat… I wore it once. I think that it is safe to say that I have moved beyond my crochet fad.
  • I did some sewing this year… I made 3 sweatshirts. I love them. They are in the rotation on the regular. I also sewed a “pencil’ skirt… it got some wear in the warmer months but I don’t think the skirt is a “good” style for my “bottom heavy” body type.
  • I took classes for painting… and I painted some. But this last class confirmed for me that I need to go in a different direction than classes. I am not sure if the path forward includes painting… maybe it does, I do not know. I do know that I need to jumpstart my own creativity…. find my inner artist and give her permission to fail… or succeed…
  • I did some “improv” quilting and sewed some Heart Coasters for us to use in February.
  • I knit 5 pairs of socks… not a great number, but perhaps just enough. Although, I am contemplating knitting 6 pairs this year (heaven knows I have MORE than enough sock yarn to easily accomplish this! And I might have even stumbled upon some inspiration to make it fun!)
  • I managed to do some spinning last year… and I KNIT with what I spun multiple times! I confess that my favorite handspun knit might just be a Hitchhiker! Or my Hitch On The Move knit with handspun *and* commercial yarn. I want to spin more this year but something might need to shift off my list to accomplish that with any regularity.
  • I did have an epic spinning/knitting project last year… I knit a Saglan with handspun yarn. I love this sweater so much. I wear it All.The.Time! It fits well! My yarn is wearing well! And it just makes me so happy to wear it!
  • There was LOTS of hand stitching last year as well! One Temperature Project and one set of hand stitched autumnal coasters. Honestly, the Temperature Project became a bit of a drag… There was no impromptu sitting and stitching with this thing. I needed to have written down the highs and lows for the day… iNotes FTW here! I am NOT doing another temperature project this year… but I really love the result I got after stitching diligently all year! My favorite stitching time though was the “do my own thing” stitching.
  • As the year began to wind down, I gave in to the lure of sourdough with success this time! (For me, the third time was the charm… as well as the sourdough “house” to regulate temperature!) Since my success, I have been baking weekly loaves and I love it! I love every part of it… the process is slow… and  I like that slowness. It has become a mindful practice… I love the intervals of being alone with the dough and the quiet!
  • Gnomes… there were so many gnomes this year! I also knit some trees for those gnomes, some birds, and a rabbit! The gnome count for the year ended in the double digits! I love the December Mystery Gnomes, yes plural! They are perfect additions to Gnome-Land! I sent a good number of gnomes out into the world (one for each of my grands!) And, then came Mean Gnome Greene! Knitting gnomes brings such delight… I expect there will be more gnomes this year.
  • My best knit of the year however, is a simple skirt (but such a smart pattern!) I wanted to knit another, but the yarn gods did not smile on my second attempt. I plan to rectify that this year… I need another in my wardrobe!

And there you have my year of making and here I am in a New Year… New Opportunities… and I am so excited!

Lord Gnapier, on the right, with his dear friend Mr. Gnettles. The 2023 Mystery Gnomes!

Mean Gnome Greene, with his trusty Terrible Towel, sporting his favorite jersey… #55! He is now living on Steve’s mom’s mantle!

What about you? What are you excited about as we begin a New Year?

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


Reading…the best of the best | 2023

Reading…the best of the best | 2023

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.
George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

It has been an excellent year of reading (again!) I truly do not understand how the non-reader gets through the day… happily that is something I will never have to experience because reading is essential to my day!

I am most profoundly grateful for my local library… most of what I have read, I read courtesy of my library. My reading life is all the more richer and fuller thanks to them! I love the people that work there… they are some of my favorite people on the planet! They were some of the first to welcome me to the area when I moved here 10 years ago!

It was a stellar reading year for me… I read a whopping 106 books! I read more this year than last year, but less than other years. But the most amazing statistics from the year show how really magnificent my reading was this year!

I doubled my Netgalley books this year… I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to read 26 ARC’s (advanced reader copies) and so many of these books (Netgalley books are flagged with **)  made my “best books of the year” list!

I listen to books… a lot! Of the 106 books read, 54 of them were audiobooks and almost every single one was courtesy of my library!

There were 7 books that I did not finish this year… books that just weren’t for me. Years ago, I would have felt guilty to not finish a book… but “bailing” on a book was something that I embraced in my Year of Release… it was one of the best things ever.

I read LOTS of books that I gave a 5-star rating… of the 106 books… I gave 46 of them a 5-star rating.

So you might now be wondering how one chooses the best from that many “best” choices… well, I have some criteria for my Best Reading of 2023. The books on this list have stayed with me since I read them. They have delightfully lingered and for some of these books… they inspired me to read them more than once!

So here is my Best Reading of 2023 List… I highly recommend every book on this list! (They just might change your life!!) There are 11 books here with each book better than the one before it…. so when you get to the bottom, you have reached the best book of my year.

  • Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (I loved this book so much that I immediately re-read it.)
  • The Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude and Inciting Joy by Ross Gay (I think a bit of Ross Gay every day is a very good idea! I will be reading more of him in 2024!)
  • No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister ** (a book about the power of a book is one I have not stopped thinking about!)
  • Sarah Winman… yes, just the author! I read 3 of her books this year and each one was tremendous, thought provoking, and each lingered in the most wonderful way!
  • The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl. ** This book is life changing… and I loved it so much that I am going to spend the entire year with it… in my backyard. Two weeks in and I am discovering new things already… I can’t wait to see where my backyard and Margaret take me!
  • Above Ground by Clint Smith. A moving volume of poetry that took me back in time to when my children were small. I loved Clint, but these poems reminded me of a forgotten time!
  • Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward. ** This book was so necessary in a time where the “whitewashing” of history is happening in real time. I have not stopped thinking about Annis and her journey.
  • Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan. I would not have even known about this book were it not for the Read With Us book club… we read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and I needed to know more… so a bit of Googling led me to Brotherless Night. This story is one that has not left me, it reminds me that even the obscure story needs to be heard!
  • My Friends by Hisham Matar. ** This was a Netgalley book that “picked me” … an editor emailed (I am sure a volume of readers) and suggested I might enjoy this book. I am so glad I followed her suggestion! This book would have been my top read (if I did not read Rilke and Tommy Orange!) This book opened my eyes, changed how I think about the displaced… refugees… those without a homeland. Thank you, Hisham for writing such a compelling, beautiful, heartbreaking story!
  • Rilke… my goodness, I love Rilke so much. I read two Rilke books this year (a re-read of one by a different translator.) The more I read Rilke, the more I want to read more. There will be more Rilke in 2024 as well!
  • This last book barely squeaked under the wire… Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange ** (it will be out next March) It has only been a few days but I have not stopped thinking about the Star Journey. This might be Tommy’s best book ever… at least until he writes another one! Ha!

There you have it… 11 books… roughly 10% of my reading year.

I will be back tomorrow with my Year of Unraveling review!

Photo by Anthony 🙂

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