by Kat | Aug 18, 2025 | General, In This Moment
August rain: the best of summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time. — Sylvia Plath
There has been some August rain recently here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh…which has been extremely welcome because things are dry, dry, dry.
August also dramatically takes away daylight… we lose 70 minutes of daylight between the 1st and the 31st… sigh. Although, those August rains coupled with slower sunrises have made for some beautiful orange skies on my walks last week. I will date myself, but as I amble about with Sherman, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds plays in the soundtrack of my mind…Marmalade skies are glowing around me and it is quite delightful. The birdsong has diminished on our early morning walks so that soundtrack has no competition! Ha!
May your Monday usher in a week that has some bright spots and perhaps some “marmalade skies”! See you all back here tomorrow with a stitching update!
by Kat | Aug 13, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday!
I confess it makes me the tiniest bit happy that we are almost halfway through August! The yard has gone from green and growing to something quite the opposite of that… it is brown and quite crunchy to walk on! And I am now rising long before the sun does… I am reminding myself to savor the light because by month’s end there will be even less of it!
I have passed the halfway point of blanket number two! It does not quite feel “downhill” but I am enjoying seeing just a few balls of yarn to go in the knitting bag! My son and daughter-in-law have had a couple of hiccups in their lives recently… some flooding thanks to the onslaught of rains that Wisconsin got recently. They have been battling water in their basement and now the great dry out is going on. They really could use a dehumidifier… but so does most of the Milwaukee area, so finding one has been a bit tricky. However, this is not the thing most troubling in their lives right now. The twins are too small, they are only in the 8th percentile, so my daughter-in-law is now seeing a new doctor for high risk pregnancies. If you could hold them in your thoughts, I would much appreciate it. Someday, I will tell the twins about all the love, care, and concern that each stitch in these blankets hold.
I have gotten a bit behind on my August daily stitching, but I have been working on getting myself back on track from my lapse. I am contemplating what I would like to do next year, and I recently read about a Tabula Rasa stitching project. It has fascinated me… especially this quote by Pierre Janet: “Every life is a piece of art, put together with all means available.” I have purchased the fabric for next year – some vintage French Métis I got long before the tariffs were a thing. Originally, I thought I’d do another whole cloth year of stitching… but my mind is imagining a year of stitching like a scroll. I have lots of time to contemplate still… I love the contemplation process!
The reading this week has returned me to the French countryside with Chief Bruno. When nothing else works… he is a marvelous distraction! I also raced through the latest in the Gabriel Allon series. I enjoyed it. I also listened to Amity Gaige’s Heartwood, which was so-so for me. I listened to it… but I think it might have been better to read this one with my eyes.
How is August unfolding for you all?
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by Kat | Aug 12, 2025 | General, Making
First, I would like to thank you all for your good wishes with my procedures yesterday. I am so fortunate to have such a fantastic gastroenterologist, Dr. Cho. She is incredibly amazing and I appreciate her so much. I don’t have any news to share, but she took two biopsies – one from my throat and one from my stomach – I don’t know when she will have results and I am not thinking about them… mostly. My throat is a bit tender post-procedure, but I am hopeful that today will be better.
I did manage to find bits of time last week to work on Heidi’s cross stitch… the top “half” is finished and I have begun on the door! I am surprising myself with how much I am enjoying this stitching! I really like that little half-round window… I love a house with a half-round window! I am really eager to see this hanging in Heidi’s kitchen… it is a fantastic motivator! I did no stitching over the weekend but I hope to do some stitching later this afternoon… this morning, the laundry basket overfloweth! Ha!
I have no backyard visitors to share, but instead I thought I’d share my recent good things that are happening with my indoor plants! First up, the African Violet that I got pre-pandemic from Trader Joe’s had been looking mighty sad and woeful… lots of yellow, dying leaves and so I did some research and discovered that it was likely “pot-bound” so I made a trek out to find a new pot for it and some African Violet potting soil. I transplanted it a couple of weeks ago and at first I was so worried it was just not going to make it but then last week it turned a huge corner… the new pot is working and it is blooming off the charts right now! The leaves are greening up and I think it is going to make it! This summer has also been very good for my “baby” Christmas Cactus as well… it has been growing by leaps and bounds! And during the pandemic Steve bought two snake plants from some online thing he found. Neither one has been particularly impressive… and the larger of the two died. I salvaged one “tongue” and it has been in water on my kitchen windowsill for a long time… and I mean months and months with no rooting, no nothing… until earlier this summer. Roots appeared and then a couple of tiny new plants! I transplanted it last week and it seems happy in its new pot! Not to be outdone… the smaller of the two plants also sent up new shoots recently! My interior garden green thumb seems to have found some new mojo! I am trying to contain my enthusiasm and not buy a bunch more indoor plants… but it is an effort!
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A very happy African Violet!
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The littlest Christmas Cactus is not so little anymore!
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Snake Plant one…
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Snake Plant two…
Now, the laundry waits for me… Happy Tuesday all!
by Kat | Aug 11, 2025 | General, In This Moment
August is sure Augusting! The warm hot weather and the humidity are back with a vengeance. I am doing my best to avoid it… early morning walks and then mostly hibernating in the AC.
Bonus, I can return to eating real food this week! Woot! Hello all the veggies and salads! I am planning to make the bean salad Vera shared last week… my mouth has been watering for it! I do love a good bean salad!
I will be back tomorrow with a stitching update!
Happy Monday everyone!
by Kat | Aug 6, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy First Wednesday of August!
First, thank you all so much for the tips you shared last week about weaving in cotton ends. I begin that process soon but for now my focus is on Blanket No. Two, which is underway… barely, but I have started it.
I ordered some Knitpicks Swish DK for the trio of Welcome to the Flock sweaters. My goal is to get this blanket done and then give myself a bit of a blanket break while I knit a “flock” of baby sweaters! Then it will be back to blanket knitting for Heidi’s baby. I really am enjoying baby knitting… which is a good thing! Ha!
As you can see, I did finally get my clothesline installed. Yes, with a single line… which is quite… inefficient. Was this what I asked for? Not in any way, shape, or form… this is what I described to the gentleman who installed it. So imagine my surprise that when the gentleman installer asked Steve for clarification on what I wanted and between the two of them they determined that I did not need more than one line. A decision made by a person who has never done laundry in all the years I have known him determined himself to be a “clothesline expert.” Has this been a point of contention in my house since its installation?? Yes it has… A very big point of contention that I am not over yet.
I knit this blanket using the Purl Soho prescribed color order… Blanket No Two is going to have a different line up!
In an effort to distract myself… I have been diligently researching the plethora of medicare choices so I am ready to sign up when October rolls around. It is a. lot. And it feels very much like I have been launched into an advanced calculus class and I don’t even have all my multiplication tables memorized! (at least that is the analogy that seemed to fit best for me!) I feel like there should be a worksheet that you can fill out which would direct you to the option that would best fit your answers… perhaps somewhere one exists but I have yet to find it.
As for the reading… I want to talk about a new book I finished this week (well, not really new, but newly translated from Italian to English) The Letter Carrier by Francesca Giannone. It was so, so good. The writing immersed me completely in Salento, Italy… and I fell in love with Anna, The Letter Carrier. It is a story about life… and so much more. It is about making a new home and trying to not be “the outsider” any longer. It is about returning home after being away for a long time. It is about family and friends who become family. It is about what you share and what you hold secret and how those things can alter your life. It is about making a difference in the community you live in. It is about love and loss. It is about being independent… yet still being a part of someone else and trying to find the balance between those two things. It really was the most beautiful story I have read in a very long time and it is one that will stay with me. If you are looking for the perfect book for August… try The Letter Carrier!
Finally… a bit of news that falls firmly into the delightful category. As a long time listener to The Slowdown podcast… I was over the moon to discover that the new host has been revealed…Maggie Smith will settle into the seat and will be sharing a poem every weekday beginning on August 18! If you have not been a Slowdown listener, you might want to become one because Maggie. Smith!!
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by Kat | Aug 5, 2025 | General, In This Moment
Hello and Happy Tuesday!
The moderate temperatures sans humidity continue here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh… I am hoping these days stick around but the forecast tells me that is not likely, sigh.
I did make process on the windows with their delightful little window boxes this week. I have one top window to go and then I think I will finish the stitching above these windows before heading down to the bottom windows, the door, and the blossom filled tree. There are still miles to go on this project, but even if I can only snag a scant 15 minutes to work on it in a day… I make progress!
The spot with a clear line of sight of our bird feeders…
This week, we have had a visitor that has unsettled all the other birds. This Red-tailed Hawk has been a very regular visitor this week. He fears neither me nor Steve. He is quite content to engage in a bit of a “stare down” with us. The other birds complain rather loudly about his presence. I have told him that I am happy for him to take any of the starlings he’d so desire… but please leave our Cardinal pair alone!
I also treated myself to a window feeder last weekend… I am eagerly awaiting the birds finding it!
Happy stitch-y Tuesday everyone! See you back here tomorrow!
