This morning SwissMissshared this… which made me stop and think, especially at this suggestion, “Next time I book a trip I might book it around a library I want to see.”Umm… YES! That! And, so I had to Google libraries to visit, which brought up these interesting lists:
Happy Wednesday everyone! It is snowing in Pittsburgh this morning and my little birdhouse votive candle holders on the Pergola are getting a dusting of snow! Light, fluffy flakes are falling and it is quite lovely outside!
However, if you are not in the midst of holiday making, perhaps you can come over to my house to help me with a few things I foolishly imagine I am going to get done between now and Christmas! Haha!
The Carseat Poncho is almost competed… almost. The hood is giving me some challenges. To line, or not to line… that is the questions! And I think I have them figured out… hopefully the solution in my brain is easy to translate to some fleece!
I also cut out 100 Acts of Sewing Dress No. 2 yesterday. And, I have the body together, complete with in-seam pockets! Once that hood is done, I will get the sleeves in and make some flannel bias tape!
I even managed to knit a few rows on my ADVENTurer shawl yesterday as well as some rounds of Peace Knitting!
In the reading department…
I finished the very emotional We Were the Lucky Ones. I simply loved it – it is beautifully written story of the Kurc family that survived the holocaust. They are Polish, and the story is fascinating. This was easily a 5-star book and I highly recommend it!
I also finished The Folded Clock: A Diary and it gets 4-stars. This is a curious read… the writer reads her decades of diaries she finds from her childhood and she is disappointed at how lacking she finds them to be. And, so she decides to begin chronicling her daily life as an adult to see if she can’t improve on the mendacity of daily life. It is a lovely collection of mediations – especially the E.B. White chapter! Oh, and the chapter on rearranging furniture! Her way of writing about “today I” is simple, but brilliant.
And, I re-read Warlight. I listened to the book this time and my love for this book has deepened. I know Bonny shared some of her recent favorites, and I agree with her – it is early to make best book of the year decisions… but Warlight is perhaps my favorite this year! It is a story that lingers in your mind. And, the writing…spectacular!
That is all I have for today… what about you? What are you making and reading this week?
And, as always, if you have written a post to share, please leave the link below!
It is dawning on me that keeping pace with knitting a full repeat each day on my ADVENTurer shawl is going to be a challenge. Last night, as I sat down to begin my Not-So-Peaceful Knitting again the reality of that fact became very apparent.
And, that is okay…
Because what could be better in the waning days of December to have something to look forward to beyond Christmas!
So, today on my list is to do some Peaceful Knitting and focus my mind on the joy of making.
And, to get outside to do some Peace Walking in the brisk cold air today – a very good way to clear out the cobwebs!
Happy Tuesday everyone! May your day be marked by spectacular moments of peace!
This image should be a reminder of how I should start every day – really. It entirely changes the perspective of Monday from something harsh, to something most definitely not.
Calm. Quiet. Meditative. Restless.
I had some moments of doubt as I began knitting over the weekend.
Ambah’s ADVENTurer wrap got off to an uncertain start. KSH is lovely, but it’s entirely unforgiving of mistakes. You can carefully un-knit a stitch or two, but ripping back is an exercise in futility. My early and hopeful start on Saturday was in reality slow and needed to be repeated – I had cast on the wrong number of stitches. I also had momentary doubts about knitting with KSH…k2tog and ssk’s are easy stitches, until they are not… and with KSH they are definitely not! But my perseverance and working with my restlessness and this morning as I gather this soft, gossamer fabric in my hands as I knit, and all doubt vanishes. This is just what I want to knit right now!
Saturday, I also started the Project Peace Cowl – foolishly thinking this would be a wonderful last-minute and easy Christmas gift. Last night I got in bed to knit a bit while Steve watched the start of the Steeler’s game and I discovered I had an issue with the number of stitches not matching up with the chart – and so I ripped out my fitful start and will begin again today. What I thought was going to be an easy knit, is absolutely not having an easy start. I will try and begin again this morning.
While none of this sounds calm, quiet, or meditative…there is a sense of restlessness that I am welcoming in my Advent journey and this morning as I consider Bonhoeffer’s advice on waiting… “Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them.” I hope to spend my Advent learning to be restless so that I can become better at waiting!
It has been a rough couple weeks at Casa del KatKnits, Gentle Reader… I passed my 5th anniversary of moving to Pittsburgh on the 19th and shortly after that a case of Homesick for Holland hit…hard. And, honestly – I have shed a few tears by myself and even allowed myself to have a bit of a one-person pity party. This is not a good look, trust me, and I have been working on getting myself out of this funk. I don’t do melancholy well… at all, but every thought seemed to be focused back to all the things I think I am missing.
Thanks to Kym, I did have something else to try to focus on for some of this week! When I wasn’t drowning in self-pity I thought about what I want this Christmas to be. Honestly, Merry and Bright just sort of rang hollow and, while I love Bing’s White Christmas – it just is not what I needed to focus on.
But, then last night… out of the blue Steve sent me a link…
As usual, he has the perfect reminder for me… he does make it feel like Christmas, and so that is going to be my focus for the season. The blues might not be entirely gone, but I can see my silver lining shining through…and that is a very good thing indeed.
That is all I have for this week. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday!
Today’s is all about things I think you should not miss.
Thing One:
Unequal Scenes has some dramatically striking images. Looking at the images these words of Nelson Mandela are equally striking at how poorly we are doing at this: We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity, and power in our society.
The making this week has been varied! Some sewing, some knitting – and all of it good!
I have worked through 2 clues on the first mitten. I have been practicing holding both yarns in one hand and it is working well and might be a bit easier to maintain even tension as I knit, but as with all new things – the knitting is slow-going, but I managed to start the cuff of the second mitten yesterday afternoon!
The big project has been the sewing of the Car Seat Poncho! I am adding arm openings in the front and a pocket! I hopefully I can figure out some “bear ears” to attach to the hood at my daughter’s request! For a simple looking project, there is lots of bits of detailed sewing!
Reading:
I finished Dispatches from Pluto and really loved it! It gives a wonderful and realistic look into life in the Mississippi Delta through the eyes of an outsider. I highly recommend, and I gave it 4-stars.
I also finished re-reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship. It has been almost 25 years since I had first read it and Bonhoeffer’s words were the best balm for a weary spirit – 4-stars!
Squirrel Hill has filled my thoughts since the horrific tragedy at the Tree of Life and this beautiful essay in The New Yorker describes life in Squirrel Hill – yes it is an idyllic place – but it is also the best reflection of how life for anyone should be in America – open, welcoming, and most importantly – without fear.
That is all I have for today! If you wrote a post to share – please leave your link below!
[inlinkz_linkup id=808080 mode=1]
**We have entered the most dreaded days for photograph taking. It becomes a challenge to get a photo when light is at a premium. I apologize for the miserable excuse of a photo in today’s post!
I hope you all had the best of holidays with family and friends! It was a gloriously long weekend, but I am very happy that Steve is back at work today! Because I did not even think about a blog post at all over the weekend, I thought I’d share some random tidbits that have either crossed my screen or have been drifting around in my brain recently! And, sorry in advance for the long post!
Has anyone beside me been lamenting the microscopic print on food packaging? To solve this dilemma, I have placed a pair of readers conveniently on the window ledge in the kitchen. But, really… is normal print size too much to ask for?
The Great Christmas Tree Debate came to its fruition over the weekend with the purchase of a smaller footprint tree! The Home Depot Black Friday Sale was the tipping point… unexpected sale FTW!
Heidi texted me Friday night asking ‘how hard would it be to make…’ which meant a quick trip to Joann’s on Saturday morning to get the things needed to make a fleece car seat poncho. A Google search found a free pattern on YouTube that will just need a couple minor modifications!
The knitting of Blaer has halted as the elbow aggravator seems to be purling. I have not stopped knitting entirely though because I did manage to cast on a pair of mittens that I worked briefly this weekend.
In a somewhat related thought, I have put one thing on my list of Intentions for 2019… learn how to knit and purl in the Continental-style in hopes of curtailing this elbow irritation! I know how, but what I need to practice is keeping the tension even!
In the cuteness overload category, did you see the Little Red Long Johns? I am in love with them and think these are the most adorable things yet this holiday season!
Football was so painful on Saturday with Michigan’s loss to Ohio State. So painful. And, I am still not recovered! Way to go from #4 to #8 in one stinking game Michigan! Ouch!
There were some glorious moments of sunshine on Sunday which helped the exterior Christmas Explosion tremendously. Although, you’d think we never saw the sun this year as we achieved #2 for wettest year on record and with 34 more days this year, is the #1 spot achievable?
We have some odd changes to our recycling program starting January 1…they are reducing the number of items we can recycle including a dramatic decrease in the plastics allowed and the removal of all glass from the recycling list. What?? I have not yet determined what I will do with these items, but I think it will merit a call to my state representatives – perhaps it is time for PA to get on board with a bottle deposit!!
That’s all I have for this Mon-uesday! See you back here tomorrow for the last Unraveled Wednesday of November!
I have been spending some time thinking about how I will go about making my ADVENTurer Wrap. Mary mentioned that she might wind off bits of KSH for each day. I contemplated this as well but discarded it as not practical. This morning each I will make 24 slips of paper on which I will write a color. Then I will fold these papers up and place them in a yarn bowl. Each day of Advent I will then pick a slip and knit. I don’t have 25 skeins, but I have 12 skeins so each will be repeated once and on Christmas Day it will be “knitters choice” or…at least that’s my plan for now!
My elbow is feeling better, but it gets sore quickly with use… so I have done only a few rows on my Blaer, but I am close to the sleeve divide! Snail progress is better than no progress at all!
Now for the reading!
I finished Calypso by David Sedaris and LOVED EVERY 5-STAR WORD OF IT! Oh my gosh, this was exactly the balm I needed! It is funny and candid and full of pure Sedaris wit. I highly recommend listening to him read to you!
I am about halfway through Dispatches from Pluto and To the Bright Edge of the World and I should have them finished this week.
I am also looking at my library holds queue with some trepidation – it looks like I am going to have a bunch of things come off hold all.at.the.same.time. (or nearly all at the same time…) of course, lol. But I have been waiting for some titles for so long, I don’t dare pause my spot in the queue. And, this could give me the push I need to read 150 books this year. I have been slagging a bit since vacation and need to get back to it… pronto!
That’s all I have for this week… Steve is off for the rest of the week, so I wish you all the happiest of Thanksgivings – enjoy your time, no matter how you are spending it and I will see you back here next week!
As always, I am so thankful for your participation in Unraveled Wednesdays! If you wrote a post to share today, please leave your link below!
Since reading The Overstory, I have been more fixated on trees and really thinking much about this brilliant story that Richard Powers wrote. Recently, when I was flipping through a compilation of Derek Walcott’s poetry, I was struck by this poem and though I have not spent much time in eastern Pennsylvania, I can distinctly hear what he writes about.
I think this poem fits perfectly for Thanksgiving as well and perhaps this week when you are outside you will listen to the beautiful “mute roar of autumn” with deep gratitude.
Pastoral by Derek Walcott
In the mute roar of autumn, in the shrill treble of the aspens, the basso of the holm-oaks, in the silvery wandering aria of the Schuylkill, the poplars choiring with a quillion strokes, find love for what is not your land, a blazing country in eastern Pennsylvania with the DVD going in the rented burgundy Jeep, in the inexhaustible bounty of fall with the image of Eakins’ gentleman rowing in his slim skiff whenever the trees divide to reveal a river’s serene surprise, flowing through snow-flecked birches where Indian hunters glide. The country has caught fire from the single spark of a prophesying preacher, its embers glowing, its clouds are smoke in the onrushing dark a holocaust crackles in this golden oven in which tribes were consumed, a debt still owing, while a white country spire insists on heaven.
I hope your Thanksgiving preparations are going smoothly and whether you are traveling or are receiving travelers – may those travels be safe.
I will see you back here tomorrow for Unraveled Wednesday!
