Another week in the bag and this one brought our first 90+ degree days. If this is a taste of what is to come…sigh. Honoré commented yesterday on my “summer sweater” and it not being very wearable in 90+ degree weather. And that would be true if it were wool, but it is linen and yes, I can and will wear it all summer long. Sorry I did not get a photo of it yesterday, but it was exactly what I hoped it would be! Light, airy, and so comfortable! I finally added my modifications to the project page if you are interested.
It was a week with lots of reflection and inward looking… and listening. So much listening. And that is where I am going to start this post.
And this is a fantastic 8 minutes and 33 seconds. Thanks, Casey Neistat!
Get Going —
Katie gave me the inspiration to cast on my Mystery Shawl. I did start. I am on Clue One. Clue Three is out. I am not stressing about being “behind” (okay, maybe a little especially when I have this list of things I want to knit and wear yet this summer!) what yarn? I am using Jill Draper’s Ansel in Forget Me Not 1 and 3. And this yarn… oh my. It is scrumptious. I just love woolen spun yarns… and this one is perfectly done.
And then Julia Farwell-Clay had this temptation this week! Oh boy. WANT!! I am planning on this to be the perfect August Knit, you know for those days when the constantly running AC makes the house feel like a deep freeze and a nice lap full of wool is just the thing you want!
Inspiration —
This year I have been spending time reading poetry. Each month I try and find a “new to me” poet and settle in with their words. It has been inspiring in ways that I never imagined. And these days poetry becomes more and more vital to my day. I am in awe of poetry writers and their ability to put their words and feelings on paper. I think it would be so much fun to take a poetry class… and perhaps a socially distanced poetry class!
Finally, open your eyes —
Yesterday’s episode on The Slowdown was brilliant, go listen… it will be the best 5 minutes of your day! (and it was the perfect thing to have listened to before seeing this:
“I can’t breathe.”
“I don’t care.”
Six words that say so much. Because of cameras, the world is finally seeing in vivid detail the brutality that Black communities have known for generations. Derrick Scott’s family deserves justice. https://t.co/cetEZUWQTd
That’s it for the week, I hope I shared some things that will make you stop and think, some resources to help us all be better, and a little knitting… because sometimes it is the only think keeping me (somewhat) sane.
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks around here, at least until we went “Yellow” last Friday.
Yellow for my house looks a lot like Red. Unlike my neighbors, we are not racing out to dine in a restaurant, shop at the mall, or get our hair done. It will be interesting to see in the next few weeks if the cases in the county reflect the colossal stupidity I see happening all around me.
But enough with the rant, how about some distractions!
While I have been gone, I have been doing lots of thinking about this blog and how to make it feel fresh to me. Some ideas are percolating around, but nothing concrete yet. For the time being, I will continue stopping in here at least a couple days a week.
Yesterday, we had a swarm of special visitors (who were welcomed, admired, and applauded). This immense swarm of honey bees is festooning on our trimmed bushes waiting for the Bee Scouts to come back and direct them to the new location of their hive! Somewhere in that swarm is their Queen, who left her previous colony and took about half of her workers and set off to find a new place to live. In a week of absolute shit news, this swarm lifted my spirits. I did not know that swarming is evidence of a healthy bee colony…yep, they don’t swarm if they are sick! I wish you could see the size (and weight!!) of these bees – the size of the swarm is about 15″x10″ in size and they are weighing down the sturdy branches so much that they are resting on my neighbor’s chain link fence!
My iPhone does not quite do justice to the magnificence that these bees are!
As you can see above, sweater knitting is moving right along, I have divided for the sleeves and am now just mindlessly knitting body. I am hopeful to have this done by next Wednesday!
These past couple of weeks I have been mourning the loss of singing – specifically choir singing. The realization that there won’t be any choir, or singing in church (if and when ‘in-person’ worship resumes) makes me very weepy. Who ever thought that singing would spread germs faster…certainly not me. So I spent a good bit of time watching all the “separate but together” choirs on YouTube – and there are lots of them, but this one kind of sums of how I am feeling…
I also have been practicing with “the big camera” this week. However, the weather conditions were either too windy, too sunny, or today – too rainy!
Lamb’s Ear makes me smile
Even in the rain, they don’t let go of each other. There is a lesson here for all of us!
That is all I have for today. I will be back next week to share an update on my word next Tuesday with Honoré! Have a good weekend everyone!
This week, oh boy. It was so hard. So damned hard. And so full of just horrific news… each day seemed to be trying to outdo the day before. I struggled this week to find a single thing for my gratitude list, much less a list of them. But here we are at another Friday and I will try and share some things that were, for me, beacons of hope in a very dark week.
Tiny Treasures:
Sometimes all you need is a letter to brighten you day. This week there were some incredible letters that filled me with hope. First up, Emerson – a letter writing devotee. (it’s a long thread, but a very worthy read!)
Sometimes, just one letter is all it takes to make a difference. Dennis Ruhnke wrote a letter with a huge impact.
‘My life is forever changed’ — The man who sent his family’s last N95 mask to New York just got an honorary degree from Kansas State pic.twitter.com/Aq3f6HFsZt
This week I am thankful that I live in the world with Emerson and Dennis (okay, and Kansas State as well!!)
Gather near and listen!
Something on my bucket list was to be in the gallery of the Supreme Court. This is one of those “gosh, I wish I could do that” things that my realistic mind knew would never happen. Enter the coronavirus, and with it the LIVE STREAMING of the Supreme Court! In my wildest dreams, I never imagined being able to hear Justice Ginsburg arguing for women’s rights LIVE, from her hospital bed. Yes, that is right – if you had doubts about her superwoman powers, doubt no longer! She might be small, but she is fiercely mighty! (Here is the LIVE STREAM link and here is the archived audio from Wednesday’s argument of Little Sisters of the Pour Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania)
Inspired Singing:
I don’t know about you, but when I am having a blue day – some music (that I can sing along with) helps. One thing I have loved is watching artists perfect together apart. This especially made me smile. And, a new word… CONFINATION.
Friday Birthdays Are The Best:
Finally, today is my Sam’s 28th birthday. He, thankfully, must work today. (that was not a guarantee earlier this week when he learned that his work was laying off 10% of the workforce) A solo birthday at home might not be the best thing ever – I sent off a care package and we will FaceTime later today where we will be together, apart.
That is all I have for this week; I hope your Friday is full of some shining moments that make your weekend glow with happiness! See you all back here next week!
Sweet May hath come to love us, flowers, trees, their blossoms don; And through the blue heavens above us, the very clouds move on. — Heinrich Heine
While March was eons long, April has just sprinted on by – hasn’t it? I guess when each day is the same as the last, at first they seem to drag and then they pick up speed!
May, I hope you do come to love us with more sunny days, mild weather, and some patio happy hours!
I spent more time this week outside with the big camera, practicing more! Better? Maybe not so much, but I enjoyed every moment and was inspired to keep trying! And May ushers in Macro May!! Look for more photos during the month! We had a very rainy April (only 12 days without any precipitation) but grey days are perfect for taking photos! And getting outdoors after the rain and capturing it dripping off the lilacs made the volumes of rain *almost* worth it! Ha!!
I don’t know how many of you use Nextdoor (I use the app on my phone), but over the last week or so there has been an uptick in people women in my neighborhood trying to find a hairdresser who would break the rules to cut and/or color their hair. I was happy to see that these posts have been met with no success (or at least no one openly offers in the post to provide these services). And then Julia Farwell-Clay posted this on IG! I just want to ROAR with her with my own Badger-striped hair!
And The Poetry of Home is just the inspiration I needed to gather some yarn bits to start Susan B. Anderson’s Little House pattern that Kym highlighted this week. My plan is to make one for each of my children with a little Pandemic Tag on it, but I think I will also include the words of a poem too! (FYI, Little House pattern is currently discounted…so if you are thinking about it, don’t think too much longer!)
Mary is a voracious knitter and I think I found her next sweater to devour! And the Ravelry Hive Mind must all be of the same thought because this sweater from 2017 is in my “Hot Right Now Top 20”!
I feel like I need to get a blackboard and write the day, date, month, etc. on it to help me remember what day it is! Yesterday felt like Wednesday – although, I am not sure Wednesday’s “feel” like anything, my brain was convinced it was. Today does not have a Friday vibe, but I am hoping the cocktail hour later today will fix that problem!
Third Time is the Charm?
Remember when I was all “this week’s charts are so much easier?” I am eating my words today…for the third time. I am going to try to “fix” my problem, but I am not holding out much hope of getting that to work. Which will mean I will be ripping back this section for the third time. My first mistake? I did not pay close attention to the chart rows with and without dashes – so I missed a row that was knit on the wrong side. Knitting this in one color, that row of purl bumps was crucial to seeing the detail of the pattern. So, RIPPPPPPP! And yesterday when I was almost done with the chart, I discovered that I dropped a couple of decrease stitches. Which, as you can see, sticks out like a sore thumb. Of course, this is in one of the “stitch clusters” or in my case… a stitch clusterfuck. One (good??) thing though…this has helped me with is my ability to rip out and pick up stitches like a professional! Sigh.
Grandmotherly Knitting
Two babies, means double the baby knitting!! I would really like to knit a couple of blankets (think Yarn Harlot baby blanket inspiration) and have begun looking for patterns, but have not found anything on Ravelry that is saying “knit me!” Perhaps all I need is a lace dictionary, yarn, and needles! If you have baby blanket suggestions, I welcome them!
Inspiring Poetry
These days I am more grateful that ever for the balm that poetry brings. It settles my mind and soothes my soul. This morning’s Writer’s Almanac was exceptional, and I hope you find beauty in Longfellow’s words, too!
Fri-nally!
Those flowers from last week truly are the gift that has kept on giving. I only pulled the gerbera daisy from the bunch, and now the lilies are opening! That makes me so happy! I hope your weekend is full of things that bring happiness to you!
