Sometimes Monday | 3.20.23

Sometimes Monday | 3.20.23

It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.
Rainer Maria Rilke

It has been a March of All The Weather… we have had very warm days (72° F on the first!!), some very cold days (a low of 18° F over the weekend, sigh), winds, rain, snow, more winds… and this morning clear skies and sunshine!

But despite all this indecisive weather… I can see leaves beginning on the bushes in our yard, the forsythia have some flowers, my neighbors daffodils are blooming (and stunningly the deer have yet to eat them!), and the maple tree in our front yard is full of “red flowers” that are the harbingers to Helicopter Season! And today I welcome spring! (and I am so very ready for it!)

I also am happy to say that taxes are “done and dusted”… whew! Of course, we owe… but it is such a trifling amount, I can’t even be upset about it!

I had some follow up bloodwork on Saturday… and the results were stunning. My cholesterol dropped 70 points in just six weeks! Thank you, Lipitor™!! Honestly, I am stunned by how quickly that little pill has made a difference… and this morning I am so grateful for the scientists who make life better!

I began the picking up of stitches on the neck of my handspun sweater… it was rather grand, I picked up *the correct number of stitches* the first time! I know. What?!? I am at the three-inch-mark of ribbing and I will put the stitches on yarn and try it on this morning to see what I think about the length… soon after I will be back on Sleeve Island! I could not be happier with this sweater. The yarn gives me such delight as I knit away.

I also raced past the heel turn on Steve’s Pi Sock… and I am in the “straight-away to the toes” which is still a good bit of knitting.

So… all in all, it was a very celebratory and productive weekend! Now I have a bit of homework to get done… the Penultimate Painting for the first day of Spring… it is one giant sea of green… but the real challenge lies in my ability to create the exact shade of green…it is vivid, oy!

See you all back here on Wednesday!

 

Hello, May | 5.1.20

Hello, May | 5.1.20

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!

My new Twitter Daily Chuckle (or two!) is Rate My Skype Room!

I was thrilled to see that Joy Harjo was named Poet Laureate again! And through her I discovered The Poetry of Home! You can listen to Joy read Perhaps the World Ends Here.  You should listen to all the installments! They are just wonderful! You will find Robert Pinsky, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Natasha Trethewey. Each installment is just perfect for these “stay at home” days.

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”!

Want something to stir your sock mojo? These beauties are perfect for spring (AND FREE!!)

And there you have it, dear friends – Happy May to you all! See you back here on Monday!

TGIF | 6.7.19

TGIF | 6.7.19

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. – Al Bernstein

June days are simply magical. The light gently wakes me, inviting me to greet the new day. The birds fill the air with their melodies and the low buzzing of the bees join to make the loveliest of harmonies. The lavender is full of velvety purple wands that dance in the breeze. The morning in the garden is my favorite time of the day. And, this morning I was greeted by the first Stella d’Oro daylily – a bittersweet sight because it means the deer will soon be here to snack on the blooms. But that first bloom was a glorious to see!

Triumphing!

Yesterday afternoon I finished the last sleeve of my Marsa Alam and this morning it is enjoying a Spa Treatment and will soon be laying out to dry. Pearl buttons will be sewn on this weekend (thank you all for your input!) Pre-blocking this is perhaps the best fitting sweater I have ever knit! The sleeve/shoulder fit is incredible – and can I just gush about Holst Coast yarn a minute? It might be my favorite yarn ever! The stitches are beautifully even, the ribbing looks nice, the hand of the sweater is incredibly inviting, and it is next-to-skin-soft. And, lets talk about value – I purchased a 500 g/3800 yd cone for about $24. Shipping from Denmark is not bad, and it only added about $10 to the cost of the yarn – and you get the most wonderful updates from Holst and PostNord. (Also, PostNord got the yarn to the USA in less than 24 hours, but it took the USPS more than a week to deliver it to my door…) My Marsa Alam used 324g of yarn – so yes, I have more than enough left-over yarn to use to make a Screen Door, which I cast on last night and flew through 8 repeats of the easy to memorize pattern! Knitting wins are such a good feeling!

Getting Ready!

I have a stack of fabrics that have been patiently waiting for me to begin cutting and assembling them into this quilt. Why that quilt? Genevieve is turning 4 next month and my plan is to make that for her birthday! With my new sewing set up, I think that I can manage to do the machine quilting myself. And while I love the overall stippling effect on the linked quilt, I think that will be a bit beyond my very-beginner abilities. However, I think that concentric circles might be lovely… sort of like the stitching I did for this piece:

Inspired by…

Something I saw on Pinterest last night, which made me go to see the original post on IG. Oh.my.gosh. I have the tamrack pattern – I picked it up in Grainline’s pattern sale earlier this year but had not been inspired to make one, thinking it would be a good fall project. And then I saw the magic that cjoy2 did with her tamrack (also her artwork…) WOW!! It is not bulky, I love the length, and it is incredibly creative – yet simple! She hand-stitched around the butterflies in the most wonderful way! And, her binding around the edges… it is brilliant!

Flattened!

I absolutely LOVE the MBR’s Rose Pants. They are wonderfully easy to make and to wear. I want to make a pair from a light denim – but denim and pleats or gathers seemed, well – bulky in an area I don’t need any extra bulk! So I had been wondering how hard it would be to remove the pleats/gathers from the front… well, wonder no more thanks to this post, which led me to this post. I have enough fabric to make a muslin trial run pair of shorts with a flattened front! Wish me luck!

And, that is all I have to share with you all for this first Friday in June! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!

Three on Thursday | 5.9.19

Three on Thursday | 5.9.19

I am joining Carole and friends today to share with you three things today!

It feels so good to almost be back to my normal routine (Steve still has a couple of days of vacation left this week) but it was especially wonderful to sleep in my own bed last night! I really love the little “cottage” we stay at in Interlochen, but that bed… and there is just something about sleeping in your own space, amirite? I get more restful sleep for sure! But as we are still technically “on vacation” – my things today are all about what’s happening around here as we wind down our vacation with a few days of stay-cation!

Thing One:

Asparagus is IN at my local Farm Market! These are my favorite words ever! And, we plan to head there to load up! When the asparagus is in, it is almost all we eat, and my mouth is just watering thinking about it!

Thing Two:

This weekend is Mother’s Day and Steve is going to the Three Rivers Quilt Show with me… okay, maybe he is going to the casino while I go to the Quilt Show, lol. I am super excited to see it because one of the knitters from Tuesday night has a quilt entered!

Thing Three:

Spring continues in my world – I came home to find my iris blooming and this year the display is fantastic! My rose bushes are covered in buds and I am excited to see that some of the poppy seeds I planted much earlier this spring are also growing! But the craziest thing of all is the volume of “helicopters” that cover my lawn (front and back!) from our maple tree. I am not sure what that means regarding weather – but they are a carpet on my lawn and my tree is still loaded with them!

There you have the things that are filling my brain but what’s on your list today?

P.S. I know I have a back log of comments and blogs to catch up on! I hope to get caught up over the weekend! XO

Eye Candy Friday | 4..26.19

Eye Candy Friday | 4..26.19

The morning greeted me with gentle spring rains and the sounds and smells are wonderful. On Sherman’s very short walk this morning I thought about how much I love the quiet beauty that spring brings – a mix of warm and cool days, more sunshine, and yes – even days of rain are welcome! Overnight more things have begun to green up, it is truly a feast for my eyes. And, I think the birds are as happy as I am about the rain today. In the back yard this morning the robins were busy cocking their heads to listen and finding success over and over and over.

And, this year is the first year that I could cut some blooms from my lilac. They are a treat for my eyes and my nose!

I am taking a bit of a break for the next two weeks and am unsure how much I will be posting, but there will absolutely be Unraveled Wednesday posts. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and that your weekend is full of the beauty that is spring.

 

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