by Kat | Sep 26, 2022 | General, Words
Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. — Ashley Smith
This month, Allie Edwards team had a brilliant suggestion for my word this month… take photos! And so each day I captured some photos of what filled my days. It was fun… and very different from what I did way back when I captured one photo of my day. I made sure that photo was the perfect setting… edited for more “perfection” and when I look back on all those months of photos I feel very removed from them, as if I am an outsider looking in. They absolutely did not bring to mind the day or what happened that day or what I did that day.
This exercise, however, felt entirely different. They are not “perfect” photos… but I feel very present in these images and I hope that a year from now when I look back on them I will remember more of the day, what happened, and what I did… that this exercise will actually help cement the month in my memory!
I noted the changing light.
I sewed.
I knit.
I did lots of spinning.
I picked so many tomatoes.
I made pitas more than once.
I knit my “gninth” gnome!
There was painting and more painting.
Poetry…every single morning.
There were happy hours! Ha!
And, of course, Sherman.
All this is not to say that it was a perfect month… it wasn’t because there were struggles as well. I tried to remember that being a listener is better than being an advice giver… so I let my ears fill up and worked on keeping my mouth shut! (Sometimes I succeeded even!)
But!! There is still five more days in September and I am eager to fill the coming days with good things!
As always, I would like to thank Carolyn for providing a landing space for us all to share what we learned, how we grew, and how our word showed up for us each month!
See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Sep 23, 2022 | General, In This Moment
The Autumnal Equinox occurred last night at 9PM and it is as if Mother Nature flipped a switch… the arrival of autumn did in deed bring autumn-like temperatures! This morning it was a very chilly and hushed silence talking Sherman for his morning walk. No birdsong, no crickets chirping… just one sniffing pug to break the stillness of the morning.
It seems like a good day to do a bit of RIFFing… so let’s get started:
Remembering —
I saw this tweet this morning and my heart broke a bit. I know what my fall/winter is going to be full of… finishing reading her Wolf Hall/Thomas Cromwell series.
I have not explored any of her writing beyond Wolf Hall, but she has a sizable body of work to explore.
(when I have brief moments of) Insight —
My new painting class began yesterday and I have spent much of the month focused on the “sequence” of watercolor. From saturation of the page, keeping a wet edge, layers, damp and dry work. And to make things remarkably clear for myself – I have done a variety of “neutral” paintings. And on Wednesday… it all began to click! And I did what I feel is my best representation of all these skills combined. Good thing because the first thing Mr. Surowicz mentions in the first lesson of the new class is how important a “shades of grey” study is before you begin a new painting. I did some work to get my watercolor paper ready to paint, but today I am going to do a rough sketch (or two) in my sketchbook and do some value studies before I begin the “big painting” and I am so very excited!
Finding (answers) —
This week, Jane asked me a very good question: “I’m trying to think how many oz. of fiber it takes to spin enough yarn for a sweater” …
Such an excellent question and I thought I’d share how I make a determination about that very thing. Way back in my very early spinning life I asked that very question. The short answer given me was to “weigh a sweater I wear” and that will give me a rough idea of what I will need. Seems simple? If you think that is a clear as mud… you are not alone. For me, figuring out “how much yarn will I need for x project” was the greatest mystery of spinning! Until I discovered Felicia Lo, that is. Felicia is the magic behind Sweet Georgia Yarns and she is an avid spinner! She also blogs… and her blog is one of the best resources I have found to answer all the “mystery” questions of spinning I might ever have! Anyways, she gives a very clear and easy to understand method of determining how much yarn a sweater might take… that would be any sweater, any gauge, size inclusive, and how much “extra” to calculate. (Actually, this method would work for ANY item you want to knit… not just sweaters!)
I hope this helps you, Jane… as well as any other spinning knitters out there!
Friday (Jabs) —
Yes, that’s correct… later this morning, I am heading down to Rite Aid to get a couple of “jabs”… the new and updated COVID booster (thank you, Pfizer!) and a flu shot as well. I have sort of cleared the deck for the weekend, just in case I am feeling a bit puny from said jabs… but I am so thankful that scientists have made our lives so much better thanks to the wonder of vaccines! (And I am still in awe of how it is possible that I have yet to catch COVID!)
Have a great weekend everyone! See you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Sep 21, 2022 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
Happy Wednesday… or Happy Autumnal Equinox Eve Day! Haha!
Yes, it’s the time of year when a knitters heart begins to think Winter Is Coming… and the urge to cast on all the woolly things takes over!
Or, in my case… the urge to get a woolly thing off my needles so I can cast on something new! Haha! But I have departed for sleeve island and it is smooth sailing! Decreases for a bit then on to the Sleeve Straits before I reach the 2×2 Ribbed Shores and then begin again to complete the second sleeve! We are heading to Erie the end of October and this sweater will be a welcome addition on all the walks around Presque Isle! So it needs to be done!
The next sweater I am tumbling about in my mind… well, it will be one that I knit from my handspun! Yes, I am making headway on the spinning portion and in a couple more weeks (maybe??) it will be a Plying Fest! Then I can swatch and see what my gauge is (which will absolutely have an impact on what sweater I pick!) I’d like to knit DRK’s Everyday Sweater…so keep your fingers crossed I get gauge! If not, then perhaps a Weekender might be the one – since she has 2 versions in 2 different yarn weights… that gives me some wiggle room! Ha!
The reading this week was stellar. A new Keven Wilson book (coming out in November) and another Strout… Olive finally settled in for me! And!! I am listening to the most incredible book…I am almost done and but it was released yesterday! The Book of Goose by Yiyum Li is something you should put on your radar. I am listening to the audio version and the narrator (Caroline Hewitt) is excellent.
Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I first encountered Kevin Wilson’s writing in Nothing to See Here, which was a curious tale of children that catch fire. The writing was fun and engaging and the story made me think… lots.
So when I saw that he had a new book coming out, I requested it from Netgalley and was happy that I was given the opportunity to read more of Wilson’s work.
This story is just as engaging and I have thought lots about it since I finished the book this week. It is a bit of a coming of age story… and while that is generally not my first choice in reading, this coming of age story pulled me in. It is also about not fitting in… feeling different than everyone around you. It touches on divorce, single parenting, and more.
I loved Frankie… so very much. She is a tester of the waters, a try-er of new things, and yes… a budding writer! So Frankie and Zach (the other odd boy out in the town their mothers returned to after leaving their husbands) spend a summer by creating what turns out to be a very controversial bit of art… art they reproduce and post anonymously all over town. And they keep the fact that they were the artists for 20 years.
“The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.”
I wish I could have seen the artwork, although I have a picture of it in my mind, I am left wondering if the book will have an image of it.
This story also touches on what happens when people don’t understand something… and the way that people can cause each other to panic. (The title is just so brilliant!) I truly appreciated Wilson’s forward to the book, which explained why he wrote it. He had my attention from the first page!
I highly recommend this story!
I would like to thank Ecco and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had originally tried to read this with my eyes… and gave up quickly. I then went on to discover my joy of Strout’s writing by listening and so I thought I’d give Olive another chance in my ears and am I glad I did!
Confession… I really found lots to like and and even more to hate in Olive. She has the biggest chip on her shoulder (perhaps I could recognize that because I do as well?) and *everything* wrong is never her fault. But the story draws you along, and I ached for Olive… her frustration with herself that she takes out on everyone else. But when Henry has a stroke, I began to cheer for her… her humanity begins to shine through. I had thought this was a solid 4-star book… and then the ending just blew me away. There was no way that ending could not bump this up to 5-stars.
If you have tried reading Olive and gave up… I’d suggest you give her a listen.
I highly recommend!
There you have what is on my radar this week! What about you?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Sep 19, 2022 | General, In This Moment
Is full of random things…
This week I welcome autumn and over the last week or so I have been closely watching the subtle (or not so subtle) changes outside… Sherman and I head out before the sun rises now and this morning was especially dark with only a chorus of crickets to greet us. Rain is in the forecast for us today and it feels decidedly autumnal outside. And honestly, this fills me with such delight… I love autumn and plan on savoring every second of it!
Work has been so stressful for Steve the past couple of weeks and adding to that stress is the “revolving door” of people out with COVID… we sort of joked over dinner last night who would be out this morning. Really, it is not a joke at all… but rather the joke is what extra jobs Steve will have because of the COVID Casualties. And I am really trying to hold off on getting the updated COVID booster until October and pair it with my flu shot…sigh.
I semi-watched bits of the Queen’s funeral this morning and I heard a commentator talking about The Guns of August, which I had read a couple of years ago and the conversation around that book this morning spurred me to put it on hold to read again (apparently, lots of others were likewise inspired to read/reread it!)
My next watercolor class begins Thursday and I have just two lessons from the previous class to review. To begin with, I thought that I could use a “watercolor sketchbook” to review – thus not using actual watercolor paper – but that was not smart because there is nothing like actual watercolor paper. The techniques don’t work the same in the sketchbook as they do on watercolor paper… but lesson learned!
A dozen or so years ago, I bought several “linen big shirts” from Chico’s. I love them… but I am “down” to just two left so I am debating on taking one apart to draft a pattern from it… or look for something similar. I am not sure how I might draft the pattern without taking a shirt apart, but maybe there is a way? If any of you have any experience in this… please do share!
And with that, I am off to work on my list! Happy Monday!
by Kat | Sep 16, 2022 | General, In This Moment
This week was a good week for learning… at least for me…and I thought I’d share what I learned with you all!
Thing One:
Pita success happened. Or at least I found a very tasty and easy recipe. And while some of my pita’s puffed up, not all of them did – or at least not the entire pita puffed up. The answer to this dilemma is right here! (Hint… apparently I have a cold spot in my oven and Steve thinks that the baking steel heating the entire preheat might be triggering the oven to turn itself down.) So when I bake them again I will turn my oven up and put the baking steel in just 30 minutes before I am gonna drop those pita’s on it. Anyways. They were soft and delicious. The bit of whole wheat flour was the perfect addition… the taste was brilliant. To celebrate we had a “mini-happy hour” last night with my favorite baked feta with these tomatoes and these chickpeas.
Thing Two:
Also in the baking category…and perhaps this will give you a huge hint as to how incredible the weather was this week. I had the urge to bake.all.the.things! Ha! Anyways, I had such a craving for chocolate chip cookies… but I really did not want several dozen cookies laying around the house. Occasionally, nothing hits the spot like a warm cookie and I like the idea of the “ready to bake” cookies that the grocers have… the taste, however, leaves a lot to be desired. I wondered if I could make a batch of dough, bake a few cookies, and freeze the remainder of the batch…
And you know what! YOU CAN! Oh.my.gosh! This is a game changer people! I used the “recipe from the back of the chocolate chip bag” so the most basic of recipes. I then lined two baking sheets with parchment and scooped cookie dough exactly like I would if I was going to bake them and then I popped those baking sheets loaded with cookie dough in the freezer. The next morning, I pulled the baking sheets out and filled a ziplock bag with frozen cookie balls. Now here is the BEST PART! Want a cookie with your afternoon coffee… simple. Turn on the oven, pull out a ball (or two) of cookie dough and bake it exactly as the recipe says. Voilà! Fresh baked cookies! (Note… if you are baking a pan of frozen cookies, you probably will need to add some baking time)
Thing Three:
This had a visceral effect on me this week… another tick in the “man’s inhumanity to man” category. And then I learned that this was not a first. This listen by Codeswitch was eye opening, I had never, ever heard about Reverse Freedom Rides… and listening to the Codeswitch podcast from 2020 eerily similar to what happened this week. My hope… is that there are more people in Florida, Texas, and Arizona who are embarrassed (angry…disgusted…enraged…) at these tactics by their governors and that this will be a tipping point for change.
And that is all I have for this week! (Sorry for the somewhat lame image above… that is the Feisty Carolina wren who sings to Sherman and me everyone morning!)
Have a great weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Sep 15, 2022 | General, In This Moment, Poetry
Poetry is a constant in my day… it is the thing I start my day with – reading a poem or two. And my favorite month of all is Poetry Month which happens every year in April. But one month with a focus on poetry is just not enough and even though occasionally a poem shows up on my blog, it almost feels like an afterthought… The I-don’t-have-anything-to-post-today-so-here’s-a-poem post. And that is kind of sad, because poetry is never just an afterthought. So welcome to:
A Gathering of Poetry
The inspiration behind this idea was a post from Bonny which spurred a flurry of emails from Kym and voilá… every month on the third Thursday, we will be sharing with you all a poem!
This month, my poetry selection is from Ted Kooser. I really love his poems and he is such a prolific poet!
A Dervish of Leaves
by Ted Kooser
Sometimes when I’m sad, the dead leaves
in the bed of my pickup get up on their own
and start dancing. I’ll be driving along,
glance up at the mirror and there they’ll be,
swirling and bowing, their flying skirts
brushing the back window, not putting a hand
on the top of the cab to steady themselves,
but daringly leaning out over the box,
making fun of the fence posts we’re passing
who have never left home, teasing the rocks
rolled away into the ditches, leaves light
in their slippers, dancing around in the back
of my truck, tossing their cares to the wind,
sometimes, when I’m down in my heart.
“A Dervish of Leaves” by Ted Kooser Copyright © 2020
It is our hope that you will be moved to join us on the third Thursday and share a poem!
See you all back here tomorrow!
by Kat | Sep 14, 2022 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Gentle Unravelers!
Yesterday, a momentous occasion occurred here in the ‘Burgh… Sweater Weather arrived and it is a thing of beauty! I basked all day in wearing a sweater because of the weather! Please note… this is entirely different than wearing a sweater because the AC is set at 40° below zero, just saying.
It was perfect weather to do some knitting… and yes, even some unraveling! Gah! I had boasted that I was making headway on my sweater…open mouth, drop stitch… in the lace portion…which required me to rip back 10-ish rows. Sigh. So really no headway made… but at least I am back on track however, no knitting has been done because this was not the knit for the Read With Us discussion last night!
I do have some finished/almost finished sewing projects! I have 2 finished sweatshirts or one will be done later today when I get the Steam-a-Seam tape that I need to finish the funnel neck version. But, it is done but for that and a bit of hand sewing! Both are made from a lovely French Terry fabric that I got some time ago from Blackbird Fabrics. The fabric was fiddly in the cutting out portion of the process. It required extra care to make sure it was not stretched anywhere. But once it was cut out assembling it was super easy once I figured out the tension on my serger.
Funnel-neck with normal cuffed sleeve version.
The pattern for these beauties is the Cosmos Sweatshirt from Sew House Seven and it is a great “starter project” if you are new to sewing with knits! The instructions are clear. There are loads of tips for success in the actual sewing of knits.
These cuffs are perfect… not too tight at all.
And the end result is a nicely fitting sweatshirt that does not look very sweatshirt-ish at all. I did one small alteration on the sleeves for the Indigo crew-neck version. I shortened them an inch and a half and used my double needle to hem the sleeves!
Crew-neck with un-cuffed sleeves.
I really love Sew House Seven patterns… their Free Range Slacks pattern is my go to for pants. I have a couple more patterns in the queue from them, so look for some new additions to my wardrobe this fall!
The reading this week has been a bit of a mixed bag. I started The People in the Trees several weeks ago… and I really tried (I read half of the book) but it was just not A Little Life… at all. While A Little Life is about a group of friends and their lives together – one of whom had some truly horrific things happen to him – The People in the Trees was more about a person doing the horrific things to others… and justifying it all to himself. It was not a book for me but your mileage might vary.
I did finish a new children’s book this week… and I highly recommend it!
Magnolia Flower by Zora Neale Hurston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I got this book because I heard Ibram X. Kendi talk about it and I thought it would be a lovely book to send to my granddaughter.
It is a beautiful story with beautiful illustrations. This is a book that you will need to read with your child to answer the questions that will arise in the reading.
If you have children in your life and you want a book to help them grow in awareness that all things are not equal, this is a beautiful start!
I highly recommend!
And with that, I am off to do a bit of practice painting (my new painting class starts next week) and then I am going to work on that sweater and see if I can’t catch myself back up and *not drop any stitches* this time!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
Oh… and I will be back tomorrow with a bit of a surprise posting!
by Kat | Sep 12, 2022 | General, In This Moment
Greetings everyone and Happy Monday!
It was a full weekend… a full indoor weekend thanks to the grey skies that brought some rain to Pittsburgh! Much needed rain, mind you…so I am not complaining. (Okay, I am not complaining about the rain but the mosquitoes on the other hand…)
I tried my hand at making pita bread from scratch – it needs a bit more work – but warm sort of pitas on Friday were a treat! I just need to work on the “getting the pita from the counter to the baking steel” bit… that was rough but no fingers were burned in the attempts however oval pitas were not quite the look I was going for! Ha!
I did lots of practice sewing on French Terry fabric scraps… trying to find the elusive sweet spot for all the tension knobs on my serger. It took some time, but I did get it “dialed in” for my fabric. And then some actual sewing began. I have one sweatshirt almost done, and one more all ready to go! It was a bit stressful as this sewing is well outside my comfort zone… but I rewarded myself with an extra “happy hour” on Saturday while we caught up on the new HBO series Game of Thrones House of the Dragon.
Outside of that there was a Steeler win (in overtime) which made Steve insanely happy.
I spent some time reflecting on 9/11.
I learned a new word.
I also spent some time working on this month’s suggestion for my word, which is to think about my word visually – with pictures – this month. I am finding this to be so much fun, capturing images of the things that fill my days!
AND… I even spent the tiniest bit of time knitting on my puzzle-y sweater start! The back is patiently waiting for the fronts to get caught up… and they are moving in that direction!
There you have my weekend highlights…I am more than ready to get this Monday off and running. I have my list ready for the week… how about you? Are you prepped and ready to tackle this week? I hope so!
See you all back here on Wednesday with The Big Sweatshirt Reveal!
by Kat | Sep 9, 2022 | General, Museum of Me
This month the curators were encouraged to update the thoughts about school exhibit… not necessarily a back to school exhibit, for which my curator heaved a sigh of relief. No need to stress over my lack of “back to school wardrobe, notebooks, binders, pencils, etc.” Whew! It is not my desire to have you all feel sorry for me…at age 61 I promise you that my lack of those things then have had no lasting impact on my well-being now.
Likewise, this will not be a picture heavy post but rather a bit of a commentary on my thoughts about school… of which I have a few… thoughts that is!
I had a “love hate” relationship with school. I have already shared that I was the child who was picked last for everything. I had some amazing teachers – who are still impacting my life today! As well as some less than amazing ones, who thankfully, I barely remember them today.
However, today I am going to talk about two teachers that altered my life dramatically…
When I went to high school (back in pre-historic times, lol) every sophomore had to take “Speech Class” – it was required for graduation. And, somehow, the education gods smiled on me because my teacher was magnificent! Mr. Berghorst opened my eyes to a world beyond Holland, Michigan. He challenged me to over come my fears of public speaking – for which I am profoundly grateful. He also inspired us to read… everything. His class room had a border of dozens of The New Yorker covers encircling it. He had a copy of The NY Times in his classroom for students to read. He knew that reading could take us anywhere and everywhere – and he encouraged us to read to learn, not just to read for “fun”!
The other “set” of teachers that changed my life were the cluster of history teachers I had in high school. They unlocked for me my deep and abiding thirst to learn about the past…every bit of the past, but the one who most significantly altered my life was my “Michigan History” teacher, Mr. Schaap. Michigan History was a required class for graduation as well, and I took it my junior year. Through Mr. Schaap, I learned a bit of the ugly history of Holland Michigan. (What today, I am certain would be erroneously classified as CRT and removed from the curriculum!) But Mr. Schaap also helped me start the Young Democrats. There was a group of us (laughably, The Young Democrats were a larger group than The Young Republicans) and we worked with the Ottawa County Democrats and even helped get the first Democrat elected to a county seat! Through Mr. Schaap, I made some delightful connections within my community that I did not know existed. (Apparently, there were lots of ‘hidden Democrats’ in Holland! HA) I also learned that the best history is the history that is painful to learn… because that process is the one that begins change.
I think often of these two men and the impact they had on my life. I also think that sometimes taking a class you think you will absolutely not like, or don’t see the value of what you might learn in that class… is exactly what you need to do. Go in, open your mind, listen, challenge yourself to do what you think you cannot, learn something painful, and grow! Those things are the keys to success in life…
Thank you for stopping and listening to me share a bit about my thoughts on school. I would like to thank Kym for leading us (and for the new artwork!)
Have a great weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Sep 7, 2022 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings, dear Unravelers!
Welcome to the first Unraveled Wednesday of September!
It has been a slim making week… too much Holiday Weekending which left me with lots of catch up things to do on Tuesday! But!! There is a new Mystery Gnome… and I have Clue One done! Woot! Clue Two comes out tomorrow and I am planning that for my evening knitting!
Sadly, no sewing… which I hope to remedy today. Really! Ha!
I did however manage a few minutes each day for spinning… thanks to my trusty pop-up reminder! It is a thing I look forward to each afternoon. I have spun about a third of this “braid” and enjoying it tremendously! It is really such a lovely mix of fibers…BFL, Shetland, and Manx Loaghtan – a signature blend from Hipstrings. It is lovely to spin – not to slippery, not to sticky… just right!
The reading this week though… oh my. Excellent books, each and every one. And all so incredibly different from one another and all new-to-me authors!
Did you hear mammy died? by Seamus O’Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am not quite certain how this brilliant memoir came across my radar, but I am so very glad it did!
A peek inside a family living in Northern Ireland… a family of larger proportions…so buckle in and enjoy the ride.
Seven would have been considered crisply eccentric, and nine plainly mad. To be one of eleven was singularly demented.
O’Reilly tells a poignant tale… life after his mother died… poignantly, beautifully, and with a healthy dose of gallows-ish humor. The writing is pure and so spot on… at times it made me chuckle and at times it took my breath away. I finished it and wanted so much more…
I think you will too… I highly recommend!
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my first Pilcher book and I am left wondering why on earth that is!
This was a beautifully written story of the very well lived life of Penelope Keeling and her entirely imperfect children… and some “children” who were not really her children, but she loved them profoundly.
At times I worried this story would fall into the “romantic novel” category and while it veered close, it never quite crossed the line into that territory. The characters are richly developed… the story is beautiful and it quite made me want to say YES, I will go with Penelope to Cornwall with you! I confess… I shed a few tears through the journey and this is a book I won’t soon forget!
Dead-End Memories: Stories by Banana Yoshimoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I knew nothing about this author or this book, but the cover called to me and so I requested the audio version of this book from Netgalley. And then, I was simply blown away…
This is a collection of 5 short stories with a common theme… they are all lonely women. The stories at times discomforting… and more than a bit strange… but despite that, I could not stop listening. I needed to know where the stories would go… and they left me with a bit of hope and the promise of something better. They are stories that require some work for you to get through… you must listen carefully and sadly, I found the audiobook narration, by Kathleen Li, a bit stilted at times – making it difficult to pay attention. I had to go back and listen to bits several times. Thus, I think this book would be better read with your eyes… and that was the reason this book did not get 5-stars from me.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HighBridge Audio for the copy of the audiobook.
And there you have my update on what I am making and what I have read… what about you? What are you beginning September with?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
