by Kat | Aug 14, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy (almost) Mid-August!
I have two words for today…. Flying By! As in what this month is doing… at warp speed! And I am feeling a definite loss with no Olympics this week… Paris was spectacular and the athletes were all amazing!
So what’s a knitter to do when the month is flying by and there are no Olympics? Well… I have come down with a case of cast-on-itis and I am going with it! Line up all the things to cast on! LOL
First sock done and so I cast on and made some headway on the second sock!
A wee mystery gnome… one that is being done by the publisher of Sarah Schira’s new book (it is free, if you are so inclined) Two clues are out… and I have a hat and the start of what appears to be a very stout body! I do love me a fat-bottomed gnome! Haha! (The book will be published this September and I will add a pro-tip… if you like your gnomes to look a specific way… this might be the book for you. All gnomes “parts” are interchangeable!)
A hint of a sleeve has begun!
My sleeve… at long last! Yes, it took a good bit of fiddling but sleeve one is underway! (And this is the fiddliest project with swapping balls of yarn each round… it was manageable on the flatlands of the body but in the round is not as fun.) This was also NOT a project for Olympic Watching… there are just too many things to count so it got little love during the Olympics… however, the color is screaming fall to me so I believe that it will be back in the rotation!
And a new scarf! This one I am really excited about… it is almost like striped sock knitting, except the rows are longer! I love that the pattern is completely reversible… so there won’t be a wrong side. And my hope is that this will be as beautiful as I think it is going to be! I am having a bit of an issue with “loose” stitches going from the knit to the purl (funnily… it is not the same with the purl to the knit) and the yarn is 100% silk, so giving it a good tug is not the same as when one does that will wool.
One repeat done… lots more to go!
Whew… that’s a lots of making for one person! The days have been so glorious, I have been doing lots of porch knitting and it would be totally okay with me if this was the weather for the remainder of August!
Now on to the books… I had just one finish this week, Sipsworth. It was such a delight! Perhaps it is the space I am in right now, but this book hit all the things I need a book to hit! An interesting character, a beautiful story, and an ending that was perfection! Bravo to Mr. Van Booy for the genius of making an 83 year old women the focus of this book! I highly recommend!
My current listen is a book that has been on my radar for some time now, and a bit of a “gap” in my hold list (and some technical error with Hoopla) allowed me to listen to Brian Doyle’s One Long River of Song. It is short story perfection… exactly the thing I need on these late summer days! It is not long so I am slowly savoring an essay or two a day to make it last!
A bit of a future note… Sarah mentioned recently that she picked up some books at a book sale… one of which is Rosamunde Pilcher’s September! This book has been on my radar for some time now, and so I sent a rapid email to Sarah wondering if she’d like to do a bit of a buddy read next month! She, likewise, thought this was a very good idea… and I would like to invite you all to join us in a September read of Pilcher’s September. (It is available on Hoopla, so that makes it very easy!)
And there you have my week of makes and reads! What about you? What is tempting you as the midpoint of August looms?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you! (and I will be back tomorrow with some poetry to share!)
by Kat | Aug 12, 2024 | General, In This Moment
Is still full of the energy from Friday’s class with Cecelia Campochiaro!
Yes, three hours on Friday afternoon have re-invigorated my life! If you ever… EVER… have the chance to take a class that Cecelia teaches, TAKE IT!
She is brilliant, her style of teaching is so engaging… she is a deep font of knowledge and she does not hold back! And she is smart… so smart. Knitting micro-swatches as I listened to her talk about color, about marls, about knitting… was genius. It allowed my brain to just focus on her. And when we got to the portion of the class where she began to use her micro-swatches to bring order to the little bits… well, my brain was just buzzing! It was amazing!
“Labeled” cones awaiting their turn to join the magic of marling!
I spent a good amount of time Saturday afternoon setting to order my micro-swatches… Thank goodness for Washi Tape! It worked perfectly to affix my swatches and also allowed for easy removal to work out my order (I lined them up in several different orders, but the one I finally settled on really flowed best for me!) So I mapped out my “course” through these swatches… the brilliance of Cecelia’s method is that your goal is to never change more than one strand of yarn at a time… this path achieves that and the colors (I thought) flowed best. (and her tip for not having to weave in ends made my heart sing!)
The next part was to determine the number of repeats for each color. (Note… a buzzing brain might not be as accurate with the maths… please double check your work! LOL)
I cast on late Saturday and I have never been so excited about a pattern in my life!
I would like to take a moment to thank Ann and Kay for making this stunning class available to “the masses”! This class is, hands down, the best class I have EVER taken! To Cecelia… I almost have no words… she is a phenomenal teacher. She is generous, she knows SO much… so much! And her color sense… genius (yes, she picked the colors for our kits!) Thank you, thank you, dear Cecelia!
Now, I am going to take this energy to do a spot of cleaning so I can get back to the knitting! Happy Monday everyone!
by Kat | Aug 9, 2024 | General, In This Moment
I don’t know about all of you, but I did not at all realize how heavy the weight of uncertainty was until JOY showed up on July 21, 2024.
Now, don’t get me wrong… I was 100% voting for President Biden in November and I believed that he would continue on, working tirelessly for all of us. But there was still that constant weight of uncertainty pressing me down.
Since then, each day the JOY has increased. Dramatically. There are times when the joy so overwhelms me that it leaks out of my eyes unexpectedly.
I did not know that joy could be so cleansing. So inspiring. So uplifting. So CONTAGIOUS! Because I am seeing a lot of JOYFUL faces in the places I go… yes, more smiles at the grocers… more smiles at the post office… more smiles at Joanns! The UPS man!! It seems that JOY is taking hold all over!
I know that all this joy is great, but what if we all just float along on the Sea of Joy and think life is grand and that it is so good that maybe our vote is not necessary… well, that Sea of Joy needs to bring on a TSUNAMI of votes!
Jane mentioned Vote Forward a few days ago and I began doing some research. I very much like what I found… the commitment is very doable… and it is NON-PARTISAN! Can I send a letter to some people sharing why I vote? Why, yes I can! Voting is the one thing that I believe most strongly about… it is our voice in what is happening… from the local boards to the national offices… my vote counts! And when everyone votes… well that is the absolute best way that we can participate in the sometimes messy thing that democracy is. When. We. All. Vote. So yes, I am committed to sending some letters to fellow citizens between now and Election Day.
Perhaps you all are looking for some way to be involved…. Vote Forward might be it!
Now, I am off to bask in the abundance of JOY that is everywhere! Happy Friday all! See you all back here on Monday!
Photo above by Matthias Zomer
by Kat | Aug 7, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Dear Unravelers!
I have one burning question today… how on earth are we already a week into August?!
I have been working on a new rhythm to my days and I am struggling quite a bit because Sherman was deeply woven into the fabric of my days. But right now, the most difficult part of my day are mornings. My routine very much centered on Sherman so I am trying new things and being tender with myself as I flounder through the changes. I know that a figuring out a new rhythm takes time.
I have been knitting… thank heavens for the Olympics! I have the first August Sock done! I will start its mate this afternoon!
July done… simple stitching but I love everything about this one!
My July stitching really helped me cement a “new” way of stitching for me. I am spending less time thinking about what to stitch… but instead, I am stitching the same stitches each day… I simply change the color I am stitching with. I love how this looks and am eager to continue on this path… so, as you can see above, my August stitching will focus on “stitch soldiers” … a simple straight line within a couched border. I am really glad I did NOT get May started before I figured this out… pluses and triangles, FTW!
My Obi-wan sock… and a sweater that is one big sigh right now.
Now on to the sweater… sigh. I did finish the left front but I have yet to give it a good soak and blocking… why? Well, we have like 9000% humidity and I am not certain when it would dry! Instead, I carefully (read loosely…lol) did a 3-needle bind off of the left shoulder and then I began the process of picking up stitches for the sleeve… and my stitch count did not work out for the patterning. So I ripped out the 6 rows I did and have yet to sit back down and try again. I really should wind the last hank of yarn I have, so I can blend that skein in over both sleeves. Fortunately, winding yarn is an excellent task for watching the Olympics!
The reading has, thankfully, picked up a bit… which is a good thing! I had three finishes… the best of the three is Liz Moore’s latest, The God of the Woods. It was brilliant and full of layers. If you are looking for something to read… look no further! I highly recommend it! My current listen is not at all in that category… I am listening to Cat Bohannon’s Eve… with very mixed thoughts. It started out quite fascinating… but then quickly jumped off the fascinating to the absurd? Unbelievable? Speculation? I don’t know… but I am about a hours in and not sure I will finish it… but I will try giving it another hour or so of listening to see if it gets back to the fascinating part.
There you have my week! What about you? What are you excited about right now?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Aug 5, 2024 | General, Welcome
August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time. — Sylvia Plath
Hello August and Hello Gentle Readers!
It is my hope that August holds some (more) rain this month…we’ve had some but we need quite a bit more in my neighborhood!
Welcome to the last full month of summer. The month where the tomato plants are supposed to explode with an abundance of fruit. Mine? Well… there will be some cherry tomatoes… though likely not enough to share and my big tomato plants were a bust this year. Not a single tomato blossom ever appeared. So a less than stellar summer for tomatoes.
So what can an August without tomatoes hold for me?
Some poetry for what ails me!
Well… thank goodness for poetry. I am reading poetry every day (especially poets who understand grief… Ada Limón and Ocean Vuong, I am loving my time with you!) The Sealey Challenge talks about reading one book of poetry a day… and some days I might read an entire little book of poetry. But most days, I have found that just sitting and lingering with a few poems are my sweet spot. (For my fellow Rilke lovers… Mark Burrows has a new translation of Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus)
A deeper dive into Time, thanks to the latest Emergence Magazine publication! It is chock full of good things!
To fuel my creative soul… I signed up for a MDK class with Cecelia Campochiaro. I have my “kit” and I am itching to begin “micro-swatching” with a color way kit that channels Carole… The Dahlia Color Set:
I love these colors and I am really excited to see how they marl!
There you have my hopes for August… what about you? What do you hope this month holds for you?
Header photo by Fauzan Fitria who had the perfect image for today’s date!
