Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

The day after Thanksgiving should be an easy day to be grateful, right? We have full bellies, leftovers, and…if we are lucky…a slice of pie for breakfast!

So where does one go from here…the last day of Kym’s Gratitude Week.

In years past, I have jotted down a Gratitude List of five or so things each day in a “Gratitude Journal.” But after awhile, this felt trite to me… so much of the sameness written down, but did that really help me focus on being grateful? So I stopped writing in my gratitude journal and noted that stopping made no difference in how I felt or my attitude.

And so I began to change how I thought about having a grateful heart. Instead of writing things down, I kept my eyes and ears open for things that might cross my path that sparked gratitude. Those things came easier it seemed.

  • A particularly cheerful bird song.
  • The palest hint of a sunrise or a sunset.
  • Hearing the school age children full of excitement to tell their mom about their day.
  • The hushed silence that a late autumn morning brings.
  • Reading a poem that moves me in a new or profound way.

Great things to be grateful for, but still… it seemed lacking to me. But one thing that Carolyn blogged recently has been rattling around my brain.

“Before bed, I jotted 3 things I was grateful for and 3 things I did for someone else that day.”

I have not stopped thinking about this: “3 things I did for someone else that day.”

Hard truths are never easy to share… but I don’t often do things for someone else.

Now, I am not including Steve, my kids, or my grandkids here… those are the people it is easy to do things for. The people you are happy to help with a cheerful, loving heart. Nor am I counting the places I make donations to… is making a donation a good thing? Absolutely! But it is something that is, for me, easy to do!

But what am I physically doing for the someone else’s that I have no connection with? The answer is a whole lot of not very much.

So where I hope to take Gratitude Week is to look for the someone else’s. I am going to go beyond simply keeping my eyes and ears open. I want to try and go deeper, to stretch my gratitude boundaries – to find the parts that “carry the most weight” (to quote Carolyn again) in the things I do for others.

And there you have it… my take on how to close out Gratitude Week.

I hope that your Friday is full of all the things you love! See you all back here on Monday with my Word update!

 

Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Happy Thanksgiving, Gratitude Week | 11.24.22

Abundance:
noun
the situation in which there is more than enough of something
an amount that is more than enough

Abundance is something I have been thinking about frequently this year, it popped up many times as I worked through my  word – full.

And the one thing I discovered this year was that the having all the things, being full, or overflowing… was not always the end goal. In fact, it is not a goal at all. So I spent this year paring down the abundance of things I have trying to get to the point of having just enough. Not more than enough… just enough.

And let me tell you, it is a struggle!

So today I am focusing on three things that I noticed recently…

  1. The news loves to tell us all that there are “supply chain” issues, yet I found an abundance of choices to fill my Thanksgiving table with more than enough. Did I have to skip things on my list? Yes, but they are not necessary… at all. We won’t go hungry today or this week! And yes, there will be leftovers!
  2. All the online retailers have now started Black Friday well before Black Friday. That includes online fabric stores, all the online yarny things, and yes… even nail polish. This has meant that I began unsubscribing from a plethora of things in early November! That niggling fear of missing out on “that next thing” really is one of my largest factors for adding to the abundance of things in my house.
  3. We cut the cable cord some years ago, but recently we have been discussing how we replaced cable with an abundance of streaming services. The New Year will see a vast paring down of those services… we have placed them all on a sheet and plan to discuss who stays and who goes in the coming weeks.

So you might be wondering at this point… where’s the gratitude? Me too! Ha!

I am grateful to have choices, to have the means to even contemplate abundance, and… perhaps most importantly… the ability to share, give, and do for others who might not have all the choices and abundance we do.

Now I am going to watch a video that Kym shared yesterday! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Unraveled Wednesday, Gratitude Week | 11.23.22

Unraveled Wednesday, Gratitude Week | 11.23.22

In life, as in knitting, don’t leave loose ends. Take the time to thank the people who matter in your life. — Reba Linker, Follow The Yarn

Welcome to the craziest Wednesday of the entire year… Thanksgiving Eve Day. If you have not begun T-day Prep, I am sorry because that means today is really crunch time for you!

As for me… I have just one pumpkin pie to make today. I am cheating on the pie crust and using a frozen one. I also need to toast up the bread cubes for tomorrow, but I can do that while I pre-bake my crust!

The Other Big Task for today is to get our lights up!

But before all that let me Unravel some Gratitude for you all!

  1. I am deeply grateful for those knits that require no counting, no charts to read, no increases or decreases. Just simple knitting that you can pick up and put down at a moments timer’s notice. My Pressed Flowers Wrap is really the PERFECT Thanksgiving Week knit! I can even stop in the middle of a row and not get confused about ‘where I am’!
  2. This week has had a good bit of prep-time in the kitchen and all that time spent with an excellent audiobook is such a blessing! I have invited Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to join my feast preparations and they are the perfect companions! (Of course, Sherman beats them both because he is the Superior Tidbit Snarfler although they do make the wash up much less tedious!)
  3. Finally… and to circle back to the quote above…I wanted to take a moment to express my deep gratitude for each of you… readers, bloggers, makers, and this week… feast preparers! You make this community one that feels close, caring, supportive, encouraging, and inspiring. Without you all, my life would be lacking so very much. Thank you all for taking the time to read this blog, for sharing your thoughts, for giving me ideas for new books to read and new things to make… and for helping this Blog-community be the loveliest corner of the internet!

And with that, I want to wish you all the most blessed Thanksgiving. I will be back tomorrow with some Gratitude of Abundance.

If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!


Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

A Week of Gratitude | 11.22.22

Today’s things I am grateful for are things I have absolutely no control over, but that does not mean I feel less gratitude about them!

Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart. ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
  • This weeks weather…there has been an abundance of sunshine and more for today and tomorrow! And!! The mild(er) temps to accompany the sunshine. I am doubly grateful because these things (sunshine and milder temps) will make putting out the lights much easier!

  • Speaking of lights, it was an absolute joy to watch my neighbors grown grandchildren come and put out their Christmas lights! They were as delighted to do this task as their grandparents had watching them do it! Bonus gratitude, seeing those twinkling lights lit up last night!
  • And my final out-of-my-control thing I am grateful for is that Steve is working from home all week. (Reason why? Well, they had a bit of a COVID Super Spreader Event at his office and so… back to work from home!) No, I am not grateful that people are sick… but I am grateful that Steve is, thus far, not sick and home!

There you have it… three things I am grateful for that are entirely out of my control! What about you? How do you look at those things you can’t control?

See you tomorrow with some Unraveled Gratitude!

Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Sometimes Monday | 11.21.22

is for contemplating Gratitude!

Kym has invited and I will happily join in!

My plan? To post three things I am grateful for every day this week.

And before you ask….Yes, Unraveled Wednesday will be here… but a gratitude edition! (I mean how can one not be thankful that they are a maker and a reader?!)

Things I am grateful for today:

  1. My improving painting skills and finding a creative outlet that both challenges and inspires me!
  2. Sherman… every single day! But especially this week as he is my constant kitchen companion!
  3. Poetry… which I cannot imagine not being part of my day… any day. But most certainly a week that we focus on gratitude!

And with that, I am going to begin the housework portion of my day… with a grateful heart. Happy Monday All!

 

 

 

A Gathering of Poetry | November 2022

A Gathering of Poetry | November 2022

It seems impossible that it is already the third Thursday of the month… and yet it is. And I have a poem to share with you all today (plus one to listen to, if you so desire!)  I had originally imagined that I would find something to share from the stack of poetry books on my desk. I am working my way through Ada Limón’s The Hurting Kind – again. And loving it more than the first time I read it! I am also reading a poem or two from Wendell Berry’s The Peach of Wild Things…which for me is Poetry Meditation.

I had a lovely list of poems to choose from, but then I discovered Carter Revard and I then knew that he would be the perfect poet for November. I have listened to this episode of Poetry For All multiple times… Revard’s poem What the Eagle Fan Says is so beautiful. And so I began the search for Carter Revard poetry… I first started here (which has not been updated, Mr. Revard died in January) and I was surprised that so little of his poetry was posted anywhere online.

No worries, because my library has one of his books and I picked it up this week. And so I began reading… beautiful poetry intertwined with equally beautiful stories. He was a Rhodes Scholar and I especially love his poems from his time at Oxford. The poem I am sharing today is from that time period… this is a poem that will linger with me long after I have read it. And though, I have never been to the Isle of Sky, Mr. Revard makes me feel like I have.

October, Isle of Skye

by Carter Revard

Wading up Brunigill’s rush
for a long time is a question
of where to place each boot
on a rock that will hold, advance,
of not slipping on moss-slime’s
green blackness under the swashing
of water past boots—
then eyes raise to a pool
too golden-deep for boots,
and before climbing around it, pause
and stretch and look down through
the amber lucence where
slow gold-lit ripplings touch
white crystals in rockbed,
till a rowan-berry comes bobbing,
red-round and lightly,
to ride through the pool—
then boots go up over sheep-paths
to the heathery ridge and
a bumblebee knee-brushed from
purple paper-firm bells
drops wet and stunned,
chill mist on her wings,
tumbles in browning blossoms
and on her back caught
in the jungle of heather her front legs
rise drowned and waking, hook
slowly a heather-twig, pull
the fur-body up as antennae wag
through green and amber sensing
late pollen, nectar
for bee-bread in burrows—
and light changes dazzling
in downstream mist,
blue brilliance,
cloudrush,
soft greyblue
sunfilled,
while newlit water
birdshrills and gurgles,
and down again climbing
bootplace by bootplace
to the stream and
its rowanberry raft
by moss-edge of pool—
that from scarlet seed
over amber movement
a green tree may sway.

October, Isle of Skye by Carter Revard from An Eagle Nation, published by The University of Arizona Press © 1993

I want to thank Bonny for providing the space for us to share our poems! And we’d love for you to join us if you have a poem to share…and I hope you do!

See you all back here on Monday!

Unraveled Wednesday | 11.16.22

Unraveled Wednesday | 11.16.22

Sweet dreams are made of this…The Eurythmics

**If you want to listen, click the text above**

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try a yarn just fights you every stitch of the way. This is the story of such a yarn…I spun this really gorgeous, buttery soft fiber. I worked hard at consistency… and it is beautifully consistent. I paid attention when plying so that my twist would be the same throughout the skein… a better than usual achievement! And I had dreams to knit this yarn into a sweater because I had spun more.than.enough to knit a sweater.

But the thing I absolutely hate is yarn pooling… handspun striping, I don’t mind… but this yarn was pooling at every gauge I tried… in other words… it was not going to work by itself in a sweater. Sigh.

Some months ago (and by some I mean more than a year ago) I drew up a sketch of Pressed Flowers as a rectangle rather than a triangle that I would not wear as often. I even swatched a bit… but my colors did not inspire me. Meanwhile, a brilliant knitter knit one rather quickly. But even with that inspiration, I procrastinated long enough to forget all about it.

Until I had a dream one night a couple of weeks ago. I had vision of Handspun Yarn dancing in my head… holding hands with the yarn from this failed sweater and I sat bolt upright in bed! Okay…I did not actually sit upright, but I did grab my iPad and open a note and write down what I dreamed about for fear I would forget come morning!

Last week I began the swatching process again with that handspun yarn and the failed sweater yarn.

And my dream? A nightmare.

They both would be GREAT in a Pressed Flowers wrap… just not together. So I frogged the swatch and thought about what that handspun yarn needed to shine. And wouldn’t you know… the yarn I had originally planned to use as the “background” yarn was PERFECT for the handspun yarn. I knit another swatch, measured my gauge, did some knitter maths, and cast on while the excitement was high!

And I am so in love! Deeply… profoundly… just knit one more repeat… okay, I promise to stop after this next repeat love! Kirsten Kapur knit 1/3 of her wrap in the close patterning before switching over to the wider apart pattern…but my plan is a bit different. I want each end to have a border… one side a little deeper than the other. And so I knit… happily… gleefully… the knitting that dreams are made of!

…who am I to disagree. — The Eurythmics

Details: My gauge in pattern:  Stitches 21 = 4″ and I wanted the wrap to be about 20″ wide so I cast on 107 stitches. I used the German twisted cast on (because it gives a nice edge to garter stitch) and then knit three rows. And then began the mosaic patterning… getting started took a bit of attention! I made some mistakes and had to do some negative knitting (thanks Jane for this AWESOME term!) to get back on track, but soon the patterning becomes intuitive… just one step up from mindless knitting. And ZERO pooling is happening! Woo!

How about a bit of my reading this week…I continue to be immersed in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Susanna Clarke is a master story-teller! I really love her writing style – which is a good thing because this is a LONG listen… 32+ hours! I am roughly 12 hours in with miles to go and I think I will be sad for this book to end!

At night I am *almost done* (I will be done by the time you read this post!) with Mouth to Mouth. This book… goodness. It is making me think about so many things! It is curious, a book with few redeeming characters, and yet I can’t stop reading it! I want it done though because I have The Marriage Portrait waiting in the wings!

I also picked up a fun stack of books from the library this week. Stay tuned tomorrow when I share a poem from Carter Revard… it is fitting I share something from an Osage poet for Native American Heritage Month! I hope you will enjoy my selection!

That is all I have for today… The next repeat is calling! What about you? Are you dreaming about knitting!?

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


Sometimes Monday | 11.14.22

Sometimes Monday | 11.14.22

Brings big changes and the urge to bake all the things!

Starting with the weather… last Monday ushered in a glorious week. We had temps in the 70’s several times! I had to break out the summer attire to stave off a need for Steve to turn on the AC during the week (I lost… he did turn on the AC, sigh.)

Today, the furnace has been running steadily and it was just barely 30°F when I took Sherman for our morning walk. My ears got cold, I could have used a hat! I saw a few flakes drifting gently down on Saturday, but no accumulation. But the inner child in me did a mini-dance of joy at this week’s forecast with better snow chances on Thursday!

This colder weather turns my attention to baking. Today I am going to whip up David Lebovitz French Apple Cake. His take on Dorie Greenspan’s version is my absolute favorite! I think there will also be some more pumpkin bread as well!

The big dough bucket will be empty this week so it will be time to fill it back up! That wheat dough… well the taste is wonderful and it stayed soft and moist for the 4-days it lasted! We finished it off Saturday night with a “breakfast for dinner” of eggs and toast! In my second attempt, I baked it in a loaf shape as the recipe suggested. I used the baking steel that we use for pizza and my results were so good!

Finally, I am going to make a big batch of Baked Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats because there is nothing better than some hot oats to help warm you up after an early morning excursion with Sherman!

And there you have my very full list for the week! I will see you all back here on Wednesday with some other sorts of making!

 

Museum of Me | November 2022

Museum of Me | November 2022

I have been thinking about this exhibit for some time now (since last month, actually!!) and it has been one of the most enjoyable exhibits to put together!

Come in and consider the Unsung Hero… or Sheroes as is the case for me. As you all know, I frequently sing the praises of my sweet Nana, and my grandpa’s (maternal and paternal)! But do I have an Unsung Hero lurking about in my past?

Indeed I do! And not just one, but a dozen! And today I would like to share a bit about these amazing women.

First, we have to go way back in time to the late 80’s… I was living with my soon-to-be-husband, who traveled most of the month for work… so I had volumes of alone time. And back then, I was a very regular church attender and I remember vividly the Sunday that the ladies quilting group completed an altar cloth for very special occasions. It was stunning… the work was just incredible. And I remember talking with these amazing artists (all of whom I had known for most of my life) and asking eleventy-billion-questions! And the women said these magical words… why don’t you join us? And so I did! They generally met once a week for several hours – cutting fabrics, sewing, making the “quilt sandwiches”, tying the sandwiches, and then binding the quilts. Oh… and there was always a potluck for lunch (which might have been the best part of the entire day!)

Not only did this group occasionally make gorgeous altar cloths, each year they sewed dozens of quilts for Lutheran World Relief.

And so I joined… a non-quilter, but one eager to learn. I never became as proficient as some of the ladies in that group, but I could cut squares and sew a straight line with the best of them!

But the Very Best Thing Ever, and my favorite part, was was the making of The Tulip Time Quilt Show Quilt! This quilt would be entered in the Tulip Time Quilt Show in Holland, Michigan. It was a Big Deal and they were all hand quilted. There are not enough superlative words to describe how wonderful it was to be sitting around the quilting frame with the dearest of friends as we stitched, talked, and in general… just loved the heck out of each other! We shared joys, sorrows, struggles, heartaches, frustrations, fears… and even the dreaded meal planning wall that we all have hit!! You know the one… where you don’t feel at all creative and are sick of everything you have recently been cooking. Pre-internet days, there was not a vast well of ideas… unless you were sitting around the quilting frame, that is! Some of my best meal ideas came from that group.

The things I learned from those ladies extended far beyond sewing quilts. They knew the importance of supporting each other… in all things. I am a better friend because of them… and my life is certainly richer for all the things they shared with me.

A true friend encourages us, comforts us, supports us like a big easy chair, offering us a safe refuge from the world. — H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

Those ladies were all that… and so much more.

Thank you so much for visiting today! I hope you can send some time this weekend thinking about the unsung heroes in your life!

See you all back here on Monday!

 

Unraveled Wednesday | 11.9.22

Unraveled Wednesday | 11.9.22

Greetings Unravelers!

Happy Post Election Day and I hope to provide you with some things to distract you while all the ballots are tallied. So… turn off the news alerts and settle in!

First up… The Eleventh Gnome, she is DONE! An extra hour over the weekend (plus a good series on Netflix) provided more than enough time to get the bulk of her on Sunday. On Monday I just had the small bits to finish up and it took no time at all.

Meet Gnaomi! She is an avid spinner!

I made several “tweaks” to the pattern. I used handspun to knit the sweater. I knit the sweater a bit longer than the pattern called for which meant I also needed to knit the body a little longer to allow the color work at the bottom of her “dress” to show… so she is roughly 15 rows taller, but I think her long stocking cap balances the bit of extra height out. The other change I made to the pattern was to knit the beard as her hair… I knit the start of the beard as written but then knit the “center” curl 5 times and then finished the beard as written. This was enough to go from ear flap to ear flap… giving her the loveliest curly locks. The final change was to make her arms longer so I could knot the ends to make it look like she was holding the spindle and fiber. I think I did 8 more rows of I-cord. Anyways, I think she is wonderful and she might be my favorite Gnome yet! Her spindle? It is a toothpick and a button… around which I would a bit of spun fiber.

As you can see above, I have also picked the five colors for the December Mystery Gnome. Yes, I am excited for December knitting! And a five color gnome is intriguing!

I have a plan for future gnome knitting as wellI! There are two gnomes from Sarah’s Gnome Family that I have yet to knit so I am planning a thirteenth Gnome in January to close out my Year of Gnomes! That will give me a baker’s dozen.  I contemplating which of the last two I will knit, but it will likely be her Never Not Gnoming pattern.

I also had great success with wheat bread baking this week! Vital wheat gluten might be my new favorite thing! I ended up with a loaf that had incredible crust, but the crumb was tender and airy! I am baking another loaf today!

The reading this week has been glorious. I am immersed in two books which I have divided into two categories:

  • Day Time Listening: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I am about an hour in and really enjoying the listening!
  • Before Bed Reading: Mouth To Mouth… a very curious tale. I am not quite sure how I feel about it, but I can’t stop reading!

But what I really want to talk about is something for you all to watch (instead of the never-ending election coverage) I discovered a limited series (there are just 4 episodes) with David Tennant and Stanley Tucci… Yes!! In.the.same.show!  The series is Inside Man and oh my, it was SO GOOD! It will be the perfect thing to take your mind off vote counting… so get some knitting, queue it up, and enjoy!

There you have my making this week! 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! I will be back on Friday with a Museum of Me exhibit!


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