by Kat | Jul 2, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dearest Unravelers and welcome to July!
Whew, summer is just moving right along isn’t it? I blinked and June was done! So perhaps less blinking in July… lol. Once we exited spring, summer came roaring in with heat and humidity… I don’t even want to think about how much the electricity bill will be because the AC is running all the time!
The bee balm that almost dwarves my tri-color birch!
Not everything is unhappy with this weather… the July blooming alliums are stunning and my bee balm!! Yeah… this is the same bee balm that never got very tall, had few or no blooms… the same bee balm that I contemplated ripping out last fall! I as so glad that I didn’t!! Say hello to my over 5′ tall absolutely loaded with buds and blossoms bee balm! It must love long slow springs… because it is absolutely amazing!
Even on a very rainy morning, the blooms go on and on!
The other thing that really worked in June was my stitching!!
All my June days stitched out so beautifully!
As you can see above the green vest is finished and I am so happy with it! It needs a good soak (but I decided not to do that yesterday… it was so rainy and I’d like it to dry outside) There is no rush as I will be tucking it away for the fall! This pattern is the best pattern I have ever knit. I love Noriko Ichikawa’s attention to details and the one piece construction is so smart and it fits so well! Will there be another one? Probably, yes! (I need to swatch with some yarn I have in my stash!) But in the mean time… I am back to knitting my Shakerag Top and I hope to have it finished quickly!
This week was summer reading at its best. I finished Robert Bryndza’s latest Detective Erika Foster book and I loved it! It is the perfect summery mystery… really! Yes, it is part of a series, but you can read it as a stand alone. I was totally engrossed with all the twists and turns! And how Bryndza pulled all the threads together at the end was just brilliant! If you like a good procedural mystery, this one gets high marks! I highly recommend.
I listened to The Stone Yard Devotional… and I have mixed thoughts on it. I enjoyed it, but I did not love it. The story is revolved around the idea of “can you run away or escape something you don’t want to face” but my thoughts could not stop thinking why would a person who is not at all religious escape to a monastery!? The writing is good but Wood is no Elizabeth Strout despite what the Guardian says! I gave it 3-stars but ymmv.
Currently, I just started a re-read of The Friend and I am reading Robert P. Baird’s debut novel… The Nimbus (which I am loving so far!)
What about you? What is bringing joy to your life this week?
A bit of housekeeping here… I have some tests next week so I am taking a bit of a blogging break so there won’t be an unraveled post next week.
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Jun 25, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Gentle Unravelers!
This is the final Wednesday in June and one that here in the Pittsburgh area that continues under a heat advisory. Yes, summer arrived and she brought all the heat and humidity she could carry. Thanks… really, thanks so much… not!
I know that insane temperatures and knitting with wool seems an oxymoron but I was feeling guilty about abandoning that Green Vest… so I picked it back up and knit! (Okay, maybe the constant AC running also spurred me to gather up some wool as well!) I achieved the desired body length and have begun the ribbing! The end is in sight…on the last version of this delightful pattern the sleeve/neckline ribbing went rather quickly! And though this vest won’t likely get much wear before October, it will be a nice surprise to pull out when the leaves begin to change!
I have made some headway on the Shakerag Top as well! It is a semi-mindless knit… I have to pay attention to rows… but for right now, it is such easy-peasy knitting! And I really love knitting with this yarn again!
The other “thing” I have been experimenting with is trying to get the hang of EPP sans glue… i.e. stitching around the papers. I have watched a number of videos with a number of different techniques and I think I found my groove! I have some incredibly inexpensive (i.e. not 100% cotton) fabric scraps that I am practicing with. I will keep at it until I have a good stack of hexies and then I will stitch them together and see how that goes. The learning process is just so fun… isn’t it?
The reading this week has been… slow… I have been listening to Eve L. Ewing’s Original Sins. I finished it yesterday and have not yet rated it… however, it is a book I will be thinking about for a long time.
At night, I am reading a Robert Bryndza mystery, Chasing Shadows. I am just barely into it… so I have no real thoughts about it yet.
What are you thinking about as we wind down June and, more importantly…what are you doing to cool?!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Jun 18, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unraveler’s!
If you are participating in The Great Mulch Watch… the garden beds still don’t have any new mulch. Sigh. I am not holding my breath for any mulch deliveries before Friday… so yes, I will likely have to weed a bit in the sauna that outside has become!
If you were anxiously anticipating the new Gnome Reveal… your wait is over!
Gnoddy with his big sister, Gniddy!
Here are Gniddy and Gnoddy all set to join the Gnome Village in the Big Blue Cupboard! Again, I circle back to the delight of Sarah Schira’s “Recipe Book” that makes modifying gnomes easy… and the “gnome parts” like noses and beards are all “interchangeable” so instead of the large round nose she used for her version of Gnoddy… I selected the small nose which was constructed exactly like the hands and hat top-knot… a small bit of I-cord joined together in a circle!
Hair attachment worked well!
Some months ago, I had an idea for Girl Gnome Hair… and the construction on Gnoddy allowed me to give it a try! The hat brim hides how I threaded a double strand of yarn around a knit stitch. It worked better than I imagined! I will absolutely be using this technique again!
Heading off to the Big Blue Cupboard!
I also made a knitting bag for Gniddy… cast on an odd number of stitches and then did several rows of seed stitch until I had a bag size I was happy with. Then I bound off all but three stitches, which became the I-cord for the bag. Sew up the two sides and voilà! A Gnome Knitting Bag!
Although I am plugging away on my green vest, I still have a ways to go before I can start the ribbing so what did I do… swatched for a new project! Ha! Yes, I am going to knit another Shakerag Top… this time with Kino Ito! Yep, the yarn I used in the great marled scarf! Kino Ito is available right now from Kay and Ann… and really, it is such lovely yarn to knit with! At this writing (Tuesday night) the swatch is not totally dry, but my gauge was spot on before giving it a soak and in it’s almost dry state so I cast on!
I am reading two books… one in my ears – John Boyne’s The Boy at the Top of the Mountain. And before bed, a Georges Simenon Maigret book – The Yellow Dog! Now this book was first published back in the 30’s but it came from Netgalley. I have never read any of the Maigret stories, so I thought… what the heck! And I am so glad I did! I am about halfway through the short book and loving it!
I also picked up the latest (and Pulitzer Prize winning) book of poetry: Marie Howe New and Selected Poems. I read a few poems a day over the past three weeks and she has given me so much to think about!
That is all I have for today, what about you? Have you been itching to start something new?
As always, if you have written a post to share please leave your like below!
by Kat | Jun 11, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy almost mid-month Wednesday!
I think that Saturday we will have mulch and (fingers crossed) a clothesline! I am most excited about both things, especially the mulch because maybe it will deter the damned weeds which are like they are on steroids with all this rain. If this weather continues, I am not sure how much a clothesline will be used… but I live in hope! Ha!
Okay… so first let’s start with a bit of Knitter Confession… that would be a confession to the knitting that has brought out all the swear-y type words this week. Apparently, duplicate stitch is not as easy as it sounds…. in fact, I could not do it. At. All. And, trust me… I tried and tried and looked at more YouTube videos hoping it would all “click”. It did not… but those swear-y type words… yeah… they flowed freely!
However… and because I wanted to remain in good graces with the Gnome in Progress… I moved on to Plan B: back stitching those four letters (plus an exclamation point!) I like how this looks better… okay, really??? In actuality, this was the sum extent of my adding letters later abilities! I do think it feels more ‘gnome-y’… at least that is what I am telling myself and dear Gniddy. Yes, Gniddy… big sister to little Gnoddy. (And for those who spin… you will find in these names the Gnome-ic version of a spinners friend the Niddy Noddy.) Gniddy is an avid gnitter… thus GNIT! You see, in Gnome-speak… it is gnitting that happens at the end of the day when they are gathered round to listen to stories, poems, and general gnome chatter. The sweater is done and I have begun the “body” finishing. I am seeing some lovely braids in Gniddy’s future… stay tuned!
The Big Reveal for this week is my finished 100 Day Stitch Book! I vacillated back and forth on finished edges and raw edges… decided on finished edges and then changed course when I sat down to sew. I decided in that moment on unfinished, raw edges… and I really like how it looks. I seamed the binding side, tuned and pressed and then sewed a scant 1/4 inch around the edges to hold the pages together. The stitches are almost invisible and I like that. I did not have any “suitable” binding cord, so I ordered some navy perle cotton (size 8 if you are wondering) and I cut 5 – 30″ lengths. I marked each page for stitching and began. It was a bit “fiddly” as you do each page, one by one… but I really love how this binding lays flat and does not need to be fussed with.
I have several reading finishes to share with you all… so I am going to do that – in depth – on Friday!
What about you all? What are you exceedingly proud of this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below!
by Kat | Jun 4, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unraveler’s and happy Wednesday!
We have jumped headlong into warmer weather… so a winter coat for my walk on Sunday and the AC on by Tuesday! I am sad winding down spring… I have savored every day of it this year! And even though warmer weather has arrived, I am still slowly adding a few rows to the Great Green Vest, but it does not look much different from last week, so no picture of it this week.
What I do have are some updates… my May Stitching to start. It was a very good month and I am very happy with how this is looking.
May stitching was just so fun!
I also made progress on the wee little gnome! He needs a beard and a nose but I really liked how his sweater knitting went! I really like the “recipe book” for gnomes. It has great ideas and some ingenious new designs! This poor gnome is currently nameless but I am going to knit a marled version of this same gnome next… a big brother, of sorts. Their stories will be intertwined… and I am eager to get started on the big brother!
One pint-sized gnome!
I have the binding thread coming today to finish off my book… so next week I should have the completed book to share! I am really pleased with how the pages turned out (and even more pleased that I managed to fix the issue with my sewing machine!!)
All ready for binding!
Most nights, as I settle in to watch a bit of television… I have been picking up my sampler to work on finishing my rows of stitching. I am enjoying this process and enjoying learning new-to-me stitches.
The penultimate slow stitching project!
The reading this week has found me savoring two delightful books… first Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness, which I am listening to in measured amounts each day… it is a beautiful story and the perfect book to slowly savor! Second, Richard Russo’s latest book, Life and Art: Essays (which feels a bit like a memoir but more conversational) and I really am loving every essay. This bit of insight into Richard Russo has been delightful… he feels like a person you could sit down and share a beer and conversation. His stories hit home for me as I read them. I am close to finishing… but I really don’t want the book to end – an indicator of a good book!
What about you? What don’t you want to end this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
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