by Kat | Apr 1, 2019 | General, In This Moment
The weekend was full of all kinds of selfish pursuits! There was sewing and reading (and not one stitch of knitting! What??? Really, not one single stitch!)
Perhaps the best thing was this lovely little dress for Genevieve!
But, today these words are filling my mind, the absolute truth of them echoing in my head!
“The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
a cloud come over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And, you’re two months back in the middle of March.”
– Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926
So, silently I welcome April – hoping to not encourage the clouds and wind to blow us back into March!
by Kat | Mar 25, 2019 | General, In This Moment
Sometimes there are no words for Monday, but there are plenty of words to read.
I love these little interviews that The Guardian does!
Is Valium the new Soma?
Posthumous James Baldwin makes me want to read all his essays!
Hey, Kym! I think your Bunnies need some friends! (Psst, here are some Ready to Knit Kits)
This is a genius idea, and to start with French.Onion.Soup is brilliant!
Wait, what? Alcohol without the alcohol…
P.S. We had a rough weekend around my house – a grand-dog crossed the Rainbow Bridge. The tears have flowed heavily and consoling a 3-year-old who loves her Dolly seems impossible. And, my poor daughter has put her grief aside to comfort Genevieve – but it was just Heidi and Dolly for a long, long time.
If you could send some good thoughts (and prayers if you are so inclined) to my daughter today – they would be greatly appreciated.
by Kat | Mar 11, 2019 | General, In This Moment
Begin with Words of Now and hot coffee:
Lenten devotions. Meditation. Sherman snuggles. Stuffy nose. Journaling. Monday list making. Clear skies. Bird cacophonies. Audio-listening. Bed stripping. Laundry. Square cutting. Grocery list making. Meeting preparation. Pilates. Trip planning. Texting. Laughing. Warm weather sweater knitting.
I hope your Monday words are full of all sorts of good things – and thank you Michelle for this inspiration!
by Kat | Mar 4, 2019 | General, In This Moment
Looks like the return of winter!
The bitter cold and inches of snow are messing with my springtime yearning. Although this wintry blast might be the perfect backdrop to my latest listen – South by Sir Ernest Shackleton – it is a riveting listen!
And despite all this winter raging, I know spring is coming so I will be starting some seeds for the garden today.
Roar on winter, you won’t last forever!
by Kat | Feb 25, 2019 | General, Words
Sometimes the best thing about a Monday morning is an in depth review of what you did over the weekend.
We have been in a bit of a “drink slump” on the Friday Happy Hour™ recently so I pulled up my Pinterest Gin Cocktail board and picked a new drink. Why gin? To me nothing says warm weather quite like gin and we are wishing for some of that here. I made this recipe for an Old Tom – it was okay, but we thought it needed a little something. My easy fix was to juice an orange and split that between the two cocktails (my orange, juiced, was roughly 2 ounces) and that was the perfect addition! This cocktail is bright and refreshing – the perfect slump breaker!
Saturday… oh Saturday!
I learned some lessons about my memory, telling time, and how the heck can a yarn vendor be a yarn vendor if they don’t have a SQ* of yarn. My apparently failing memory tells me that Indie Knit and Spin usually started at 10am in their old location, and I remember seeing something about an 11am start on FB, but actually reading the starting times might have been helpful. Why, even reading the FB alert on my phone might have been helpful! Yes, we arrived at 11am only to discover that 11-12 was the “pay preview.” I will leave Steve’s response to this to your imagination – but, let me just say – it was not pretty.
The biggest shock, however, came with the “yarn vendors.” How do they call themselves that if they only have **ONE OR TWO** skeins of yarn in any color????? I saw plenty of yarn I liked, but my intent was not to buy a skein or two of yarn to enhance my already out of control yarn stash! I was on a mission and the only purchase I was going to make would be to fulfill that mission! Imagine my shock when one vendor said to me and I am quoting: “You knit sweaters?” – as if this was a foreign concept! (also, HELLO!! I was wearing a handknit sweater, thank you very much!!) However, I persevered and tried a different tactic – I asked two different vendors if I could place an order for a SQ of yarn in a colorway. Their responses: “Not in that yarn, I don’t stock that yarn.” (Really? Because THAT IS ALMOST ALL THE YARN YOU HAVE IN YOUR BOOTH!!) And “That is a ‘unicorn’ color which means it was a mistake and it cannot be repeated.” – I almost wanted to stay in her booth for the remainder of the day to see how many “mistakes” she sold versus her “planned” colorways… almost. I did not and I really wish them luck with their “yarn hobby.”
There is, however, a silver lining to this disaster of a day, and it came from Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works!! She had 3 skeins of yarn that I thought would work but, I needed one more skein. She did not ask me why I needed another skein – she just started looking through some show kits she had and found a fourth skein! Really, this was the most AWESOME customer service!! Lisa… you win the day (and you got the sale!!) Thank you!! And, no – this yarn is not for this sweater… I figured that having just one sweater on my radar might result in disaster, so I had a backup plan! I will combine this gorgeous yarn with an enormous skein Wollmeise Lace yarn that has been in my stash for ages. I have not swatched yet…but, I have thought about it more than once this weekend! If you are in need of a skein or ten of yarn, I highly recommend Lisa!
All this yarn angst triggered a bout of Day Drinking which Church Brew Works happily obliged! It was the perfect combination of good beer and great food!
Sunday had some bright moments but those moments did not include very much time outdoors – thank you Gale Force Winds, but that equated to some excellent knitting time. There was also some meal planning for the week in an effort to reduce the “what’s for dinner” conversation – and if this prolonged discussion eliminates the daily “what’s for dinner” diatribe – I am all for it. Because that conversation is my least favorite one to have, yet it is the most frequent!!
And, there you have it… after unloading all that I am ready for Monday! How about you?
*SQ = Sweater Quantity
