Greetings dear Unraveler’s!
I am stunned to type this, but it is the last Wednesday in June… it feels like June was just beginning and quite impossible that the month is almost over.
Making this month has been so delightful! I am making my way down the second half of my Alabama Chanin scarf. I have had fun sampling new stitches! This week finds me stitching a new “wheel” in the morning and I yesterday I found my groove. I stitched yesterday’s wheel much quicker than the previous two days attempts. My new bestie in this stitch-a-thon is a Sewline pencil. I think most people use it to transfer Sashiko stitch patterns but it is perfect for transferring the ingenious dots from the Stitch Cards to this black fabric. Curiously, as I stitch circles this ear worm plays in my mind… which is absolutely not a bad thing at all.
I love stitching buttonhole circles with beads!
As you can see in the header photo, I am was racing along on another Ranunculus… sadly, I hit a speed bump and I found myself having to unravel a bit. Pro-tip… no matter how perfectly hand dyed skeins of yarn look in the hank… you need to remember to do a bit of alternating for several rounds to blend them together. I did not give myself enough space and had to unravel a half a dozen or so rounds to allow the skeins some space to settle in. In the plus column: the yarn unravels slowly. In the minus column: the yarn unravels slowly.
The reading this week… oh my! I finished Cecile Pin’s new novel, Celestial Lights. I loved every bit of this book. Every bit. It happens over the course of a couple of time lines concurrently and it is brilliantly done! It is the story of Oliver Ines, who was born at the exact moment the Challenger shuttle disaster. And what happens from that moment in Oliver’s life is nothing short of wondrous. In a story inspired by Odysseus, it is a story about a great journey… and one I will be thinking about for a very, very long time. I highly recommend it!
And to keep me grounded (as it were) I am listening to Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest, London Falling. I was a bit iffy on this one, but I am so glad I ignored inner me trying to quash reading it. He is a masterful storyteller and manages to pull together all the strings of something that happened and lay them out concisely for the reader. If you enjoyed his previous works, you will enjoy London Falling. I have about three hours to go in the audiobook!
And there you have my making and reading this week. What about you? Are you, like me, stunned at the pace which June is racing by?
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I love that song, and last week we were at a show where they sang it! Have you seen the muppets version? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tOp7bm8JzI
I can’t believe June is almost over! Why is it that the longest days seem to go by so much faster than the short days of winter? I am sorry about the unraveling, but it will be worth it in the end. You’re the second person to recommend Celestial Lights, and I’ve got London Falling up next on my nightstand (but it’s up after Land, so it has a bit of a wait).
HYPER-SPEED. It’s the only explanation . . .
Your stitching looks absolutely lovely, Kat. And I’m sorry about the unraveling. But . . . it happens, and eventually you’ll be glad you took the time to get it right.
XO
The wheels on your scarf are simply gorgeous, just like the rest of it. It’s one of those projects I would love to see, touch, and admire in person. Your newest Ranunculus will be done soon(ish) after some slow unraveling and alternating skeins. I have put Celestial Lights on hold; it sounds like an interesting premise. I have been resisting London Falling, but you’ve put it in the “maybe”column for me. Here’s to more good making and reading in what’s left of June.
The scarf looks beautiful with all the stitching and the beadwork. How fun it is going to be to wear that when it is finished! Rats on the Ranunculus. I hope you are back on track soon.
Thought I had commented earlier, but I guess it did not take…I’m loving your wheels and I love thinking about you slow stitching them in the morning. Your two books sound very interesting! I just started Whistler!!!
See I was expecting The Circle Game, that’s what would be in my head when stitching those :D. They look wonderful and I’m glad they’re flying along!
sorry you had to unknit but I’m glad you found it sooner than later. I am still on the same two projects, the shawl and the socks. It has been a slow creative week.