by Kat | Mar 2, 2026 | General, Welcome
‘March’ is a sharp word, brusque and bracing, like its month. ‘January’, ‘February’; they meander like rivers; ‘April’ is like the sound of raindrops on the windowpane; but ‘March’ is a gust of wind flinging grit. — Adrian Bell, A Countryman’s Spring Notebook
I read these words yesterday morning as the sun was just rising, welcoming the meteorological spring… and I am very eager for it. Of course, Mr. Bell’s beautiful words reminded me of other beautiful words… Maurice Sendak wrote of the March winds blowing in a door and spilling soup upon the floor… and the best part: Blowing once, blowing twice, blowing chicken soup with rice. Yes, bring on those March winds!
Yesterday, as if on queue, I watched the winds blow the delicate Snowdrops… their blossoms swaying on thin stems, yet they are sturdier than they look! Snowdrops, who straddle winter and spring in the very best way. Snow cannot defeat them, nor can the early March wind… they sway delicately as a few brave bees buzz around them. In my corner of the world, they are the earliest flower that offers something sweet to bees who wake after a winter’s slumber.
I recorded the return of the Red-winged Blackbirds last week at my feeders, the earliest I have ever seen them. They joined a trio of juncos searching for seeds in the still sleeping grass. A reminder that these two seasons, Winter and Spring, like to play a good game of tug of war before one relinquishes to the other. Yes that means a month where all the weather’s can happen… even summer takes a turn here in the south hills of Pittsburgh. (Yes, we have a forecast for temperatures in the 70’s [F] here this week, sigh.)
I spent most of the winter… wintering. It was a season that understood my grieving and settled in around me like a comforting blanket. Dark mornings where I could walk quietly in the silence. As January gave way to February, it seemed to me that the gradual increase in daylight was somehow timed to ease me out of that deep grief, I know it was not… but it felt as if the earth was very much a participant in my grief process. And now my early walks are not in dark (at least until we turn the clocks back next weekend, grrr) and it is no longer silent. I am accompanied by birdsong… Song Sparrows are the first to jump on the Spring is Coming Train… their melodious chorus is so loud! Robin’s soon join in and Carolina Wren’s as well.
I want to steep myself in spring as deeply as I did winter, except I know that won’t be as easy as I am imagining. Spring is a lot more everything happening all at once, everywhere, all at the same time… so don’t blink because you will miss it. So I am adjusting my schedule to make more space for the delight that is spring. A good schedule shake up is not always welcome, but I think it will be a very good thing so I can spend more time appreciating the wonders of March. Rilke writes frequently about this desire: want the change. I think there is some wisdom in that edict… change happens without our control, so rather than fighting change, I am contemplating how to be a Wanter of Change… and March is a very good month for that!
Yes, welcome March. I am so happy you are here!
by Kat | Jan 5, 2026 | General, Welcome
And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been. — Rainer Maria Rilke
I really am feeling like I need to set a few intentions for this month and year because I fear if I don’t the Great Wallowing in Aimless Days will consume me. I am really struggling to find a focus each day, I am not sleeping well… which might be contributing. But neither waking hours nor sleep seem to be good companions of late… so what’s a person to do in all this but to set some intentions with the hopes of redirecting myself a bit.
In 2025 I did not spend any time at all spinning and as I began to review the year in the last weeks of December, I thought about “what was missing” in my 2025 days… and spinning jumped right out at me. I have been thinking about spinning quite a bit since Full On Sweater Weather arrived… I have had a “sweater spin” that has been knocking about in my head, and it became a bit louder since I have been wearing this sweater. The spinning of the yarn for that sweater did not happen overnight and it certainly won’t happen at all for a new sweater if I don’t make a plan to do some spinning. So yes, spinning will be A Thing in 2026. I think the added bonus will be the very meditative quality that spinning provides will be a boon to my mental health.
I finished my 2025 Year of Stitching on NYE, but I have yet to sit down and begin my 2026 stitching project. I had intentions of getting it all prepped in December but that did not happen. I have added it to my list this week… perhaps the thrill of “checking it off” will be just the inspiration I need. As for last year’s stitching… it needs a bit of a wash and some gentle pressing before I can completely finish it. But I am excited to get it finished although my idea for how to use it has changed dramatically, I want to get it finished and tucked safely away.
Over the course of December roughly a half a dozen pairs of socks sprung holes with several more wearing very thin… so I am declaring 2026 Operation Sock Drawer Replenishment. I began a pair in late December and am moving down the leg of sock two. My plan for the year is to just keep going on socks… at least until the Sock Drawer reaches the correct volume of socks.
I had spent a good bit of last year thinking that 2026 would be the last year I focus on a “Word of the Year” and I thought it would be a good finish to circle back to the word I began this journey with – joy. I really did not understand or know what spending a year contemplating a word could mean and, as the year began and unfolded, I felt like joy and I could spend a good bit of time together… but then in August a new Emergence volume appeared and, while I ordered the new volume and companion book, I did not veer from my plans for A Year of Joy. But then as November brought life to a crashing halt… I realized that I could not stomach spending a year finding joy at all. So this year, it feels exactly right to contemplate Seasons as my word. I feel like this will be the exact journey I need to begin in this moment.
Finally, this whole blogging thing has really been a struggle for me recently because most days I do not feel very cheerful or upbeat right now. I have started a few blog posts that never went beyond the starting points. Forced cheerfulness is not an easy place to write from. The only posts I feel up to writing currently are the Unraveled Wednesday posts. Those will continue in the exact format they are currently… there will be a post every Wednesday with a link up for all those who want to participate. The community of making and reading bloggers is one I am so grateful for… I cannot promise that every Wednesday I will be cheerful and upbeat… but there will be socks, and stitching, and some spinning, and of course… reading. That being said, I don’t know if I will be posting anything at all beyond the Wednesday posts, although my thoughts are that I will share an update of how Seasons and I are getting along sometime near the end of January.
Whew, for not thinking I had anything to say… this sure got wordy and fast! If you are still here… thank you. I wish you all the Happiest of New Year’s and a healthy January.
I will see you all back here on Wednesday!
Header photo by Pixabay
by Kat | Dec 1, 2025 | General, Welcome
Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.
― Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
I am so glad to slam the door shut on November… so very glad. But as I look at December lying before me, it seems a lot. A lot of “must do’s” that I am not sure I am feeling capable of… so I am going to slowly ease myself into the month.
I am beginning slowly, with a couple of books to ease me into December… Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor (Thanks Carole for this recommendation!) and Nina MacLaughlin’s Winter Solstice: An Essay. Essays, short stories… seem just what my brain can handle right now.
I am going to try to put up a tree this year… wish me and Frankie luck. I think the memories that a Christmas tree holds will be good for me this year. My hope is that Frankie is entirely bored with the whole situation.
And… perhaps my most favorite thing of December is the Mystery Gnome knit along with Sarah Schira. I love the slowness of this knit along… the pace is perfect. I am really looking forward to it this year.
But that is about it and I feel good about the minimal-ness of it all.
What do you hope December brings for you?
Header photo by Adam Lukac
by Kat | Nov 3, 2025 | General, Welcome
Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life. — Rumi
November… whew. This year is flying, isn’t it? Too darned fast, if you ask me… though if I focus on headlines, the news, and all that chaos, it makes it feel like one long-ass year.
I am beyond privileged that I do not have to even give headlines, news, and chaos one scintilla of my attention. I know… I am so, so fortunate. So I consume what news I seek out, I am trying not to worry about things I cannot control, but rather… give attention (and resources as I am able) to causes that inspire me.
So I thought that this November, I would turn my attention to finding gratitude in my days… gratitudes that I will be sharing with you occasionally. Since about mid-July, I have been journaling about gratitude… and while I am not steadily writing daily about gratitude… it has become a focus in my mind. What started as a “task” has become something more like a meditation to the day. A very good thing!
This morning, I am going to share three very good things from last week (it was an exceptionally amazing week!!)
Gratitude One: I was truly worried about Heidi being induced… but that was wasted worry because on Tuesday, October 28, she and Christian welcomed a new baby to their family! Odette Elizabeth arrived late Tuesday night. She is perfect in every way! Yes, Odette arrived before her sweater was done! But… it is so close to the finish, I expect it will be in the mail to Heidi soon!
Gratitude Two: After a LONG summers nap, I pulled out my sourdough starter from the refrigerator. It was last given any attention way back in May! And after just a couple of days feedings it was back and raring to go! I baked bread on Friday morning and it was such a delight to have that fresh baked bread smell in the house again with the added boon of a delicious loaf of sourdough bread to eat!!
Gratitude Three: Time change… I know… I know! Even though no one else in my house was happy about the time change it was so nice to walk in the light on an early Sunday morning! I won’t need my headlamp, at least for a few more weeks, and that makes me happy! The other curious benefit to time change was the deliciously “slow” Sunday morning. The neighborhood was quiet, the house was quiet… ahhh!
So welcome, November… I am looking forward to your gratitude focus this month!
Header photo by Brett Sayles
by Kat | Sep 2, 2025 | General, Welcome
September showed up right on schedule, and lasted a whole month.
— Jenny Wingfield
Hello September… right on time again!
I am old enough to remember when September was my least favorite month. Sad endings and beginnings… The end of summer reading and the beginning of school… sigh. It is almost comical how having children changes ones point of view… back to school might not such a bad thing after all! I am thankful to say that my children enjoyed the return to school… for the most part and we were a reading household… no one ever complained in my house if someone was reading!
I have come to love September for its incredible light… the days of long shadows are delightful. And though we have had a spate of crisp, chilly mornings… I know that there will be plenty of warm sunny days to be outdoors appreciating those long shadows!
I don’t have a long list of things I want to accomplish this month… or perhaps it is better described as a not very varied list because there is a good amount of knitting! I figured out the key twist to success for those first and last sheep… and I am so happy with the results (more on that tomorrow!) But here is my list:
- Knit two more sheep-y baby sweaters!
- Begin the last blanket (I am not foolish enough to imagine it will be knit this month!)
- Learn about Ladderback Jacquard knitting!
- Finish Heidi’s counted cross stitch!
And there you have my hopes for September! What about you… what do you hope September holds for you?
I will see you all back here tomorrow!
by Kat | Aug 4, 2025 | General, Welcome
If one could “order up” a weekend, it would have been like the weekend we just had! Not a lick of humidity in the air so I opened the windows and let August in!
Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August. — Denise Levertov
August is the month of slow start mornings… right now the sun is not rising here until well after 6:00AM (and really closer to 6:30 AM) so the morning feels like it has a reverent, hushed quality to it – even the birds are quiet – and by the end of the month sunrise time will be edging closer to the seven o’clock hour! I love these slow start mornings so much… before the start of school diminishes the current solitude of the morning. Perhaps these slow start mornings are what Ms. Levertov is talking about with her August quote… there was plenty of sweetness to breathe in these first few August days!
This week ushers in a week of not my usual eating… I have some tests next Monday (an endoscopy is the main reason but they are doing my colonoscopy as well) No raw vegetables, no whole grains, no nuts… sigh. The nurse who went over the diet with me seemed excited for my “week of white bread and carb loading”… I wish I shared her enthusiasm…sigh.
August will find me continuing to knit for babies… I have blanket number two underway. Each stitch is filled with love for these new lives soon to be part of our family. I was delighted to see that Julia Farwell-Clay will be welcoming a grand baby this year as well and she has begun knitting her Welcome to the Flock sweater. I think I am going to join her and knit a trio of them for the coming babies… it will be the perfect sentiment to welcome them to the flock of my grandchildren!
I have reworked a few of the “daily stitching guidelines” to make the layout work for the remainder of the year… just 5 months to go. Which sounds so long… and so very short!
July stitching…
But mostly, dear August, my plan is to breathe in deeply of the sweetness of your days!
Happy Monday and Happy August! I will see you all back here tomorrow when I join Vera with a cross-stitch update!
Header photo by Pixabay
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