by Kat | Sep 2, 2022 | General, In This Moment
At long last we have arrived at the cusp of my favorite season… autumn. I live all year for autumn… and though I have learned to live happily in the moment of *now*… my heart is always longing for autumn! This week we have had some lovely “teasers” with cooler days and nights and I am so ready! I am sorry Summer, but I am really over baking hot days, endless sun, and all.the.humidity! And I’d be ever so grateful for some days of soaking rains… all day soaking rains! Yes, September brings lots of hopes for so many things!
So let’s get RIFFing, shall we?
a REAL goddess —
The Goddess in action!
I don’t know about you all, but this week I have had a laser focus on the US Open! Why you ask?
One word… Serena! (and personally, I think all players should be in self-designed twirly, sparkling tennis attire!)
As of this writing she has played just two games, but both were both so incredible! She is sparkling from head to toe… and taking no prisoners! And I am here for every single bit of it! (She played again Thursday evening… doubles with Venus! Sadly, they lost… but what a match it was!)
Inspired —
This is Week Six (and the last week) of my Beginning Landscape class. This week the Watercolor Gods smiled on me as I feel I did better that I had in any previous week. I know I still have miles and miles to go on learning, but small bits are beginning to click. I have roughly 3 weeks before my next class begins and my plan is to go back and redo each and every lesson… begin again, as it were… with my newly acquired skills! That means 2 lessons a week and I am so excited to “do them all again!” Is there anything in life better than inspiring yourself? I think not! (If you doubt that… see the Goddess above!) And no photo’s here… I shared both paintings on IG!
Finding (my inner sewist) —
Autumn is looming and I really need to sit down at the sewing machine and actually do some sewing! I have things cut out… patiently waiting… to be assembled into garments. In the same thread… I have a garment in mind that I want to make. I have looked for patterns, but have found none that check all my boxes… so I am going to make my own pattern for a simple a-line denim jumper/tunic. And…. I have another Grinch-y Advent Calendar to make for Olivia. (I need to get black flannel and an assortment of colorful buttons…) Anyways, this is notice to me that the coming “Unraveled Wednesday” posts should be all about the sewing… NOT the knitting!
Finding (visibility) —
I saw this tweet yesterday and was intrigued by the photo… Ruth Marcus and Strega Nona? What?
I am gifting you all the article so you can read as well. It very much struck a chord with me having made the decision some years ago to stop coloring my hair… the invisibility factor for women of a certain age (and older) is very real. Ruth goes on to address how a woman looks… you are damned if you are gorgeous (See the Sanna Marin nonsense) and you are damned if you are not. Women have to think about tone of voice, inflection, what they are wearing, hair – as in appropriately colored hair. This is not a new thing… I am sure you have all heard the adage about Ginger Rogers “doing everything that [Fred Astaire] did…backwards and in high heels.”
Some days it really feels like that for every step forward, we are knocked dozens back… but maybe, just maybe… Ruth has cleared the pathway for us all a little. Maybe we can all pick up some of Strega Nona’s bad-ass-ness, which in my mind… is a very good thing! (And in case you are wondering, yes… I absolutely have read the Strega Nona books to my kids… they are so awesome!)
And I think, Ruth is the perfect Goddess Bookend for this blog post… two amazing women how showing us all how to be the most amazing badass women!
And with that, I am out of here! I will be back on Wednesday with some fun unraveling to share! Have a great LONG weekend everyone!
by Kat | Nov 11, 2019 | General, In This Moment
…is for remembering.
It is a long weekend in my house and usually long weekends are all about, well… the weekend and extending it one more day.
Today, however, I will spend some time contemplating all those have served (and are serving) so that I can enjoy a long weekend in November.
I hope you are having a good weekend – and are doing some remembering as well!
See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Nov 27, 2018 | General, Words
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!
- Nicola Sturgeon shared her rebellious reads list last week and yes, I have added a thing or two to my read list! And, imagine my surprise in finding that Sunset Song has been made into a truly lovely little movie.
- 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!
by Kat | Aug 31, 2018 | General, Making
Houston… we have colorwork!!
Yes, I am on the downhill portion of my Strokkur and my favorite part! I feel safe in saying that this sweater will be done next week! This despite the realization that I did too many decreases in the short-row section – I should have done NONE and did them not “as above” but “as the previous page.” All this meant that I considered ripping back 8 rows of knitting… (yeah, yuck). My option was to just drop back stitches in the decrease areas and re-knit them sans decreases. It was fiddly, but it is done. AND, yes… colorwork has started!!
Moral of the story…really read every word the pattern author writes… knit to marker means just that. I blame this entirely on Joe Biden’s amazing eulogy yesterday for distracting me!
Is it just me or have you all noticed the huge influx of new patterns on Ravelry over the past week? You’d think a new season was coming, or something… ha! It’s true, a HUGE influx of new patterns and, sadly, not all of them were anything to write home about… or link here. But, I did find some really fun things to share with you this week!
First up, a couple of non-knitting links!
If you want to show a little RESPECT today, Aretha’s funeral will be broadcast on television and online.
Next up: Crostini, 3 Ways was posted this week on he Laine blog…oh my. This might be coming to a happy hour table in my house soon!
Are you a sock knitter?
Sockturnal… think this is your typical sock? Think again… it starts in a very unique place: the heel!
Dip your toes might be too cute to put shoes on!
Intiaanisykst are sure to be a quick knit using Aran weight yarn!
Perhaps you are more of an accessory kind of knitter…
Glitch might mean malfunction, but this cowl definitely is NOT!
Enderby is most interesting!
Magnolia Hat is so cute!
So is Hari Hat!
Ysolda’s Knitworthy 5 will be out next week!
Quince’s Dune and Ridge
However, it was Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner for the sweater knitters:
Dale was the first pattern released from Quince & Co. Core Wool 2018 (also see Dune and Ridge above… these first patterns are all about gauge!)
Jane Morris by Carole Sunday
The Throwback by Andrea Mowry
Hoar Cardigan has two sleeve style options
And, finally…The Sweater Opus: Lindisfarne which is a “labor of love.” Wow!
That’s all I have for this week! See you all back here on Monday! Have a wonderful LONG weekend!
