by Kat | 7 days ago | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings gentle Unravelers!
It is my favorite day of the week!!
I have more progress on my vest! I almost have the body almost completed…I just have half a dozen rounds of ribbing to go and then I will begin the arm hole ribbing! I am not thinking about the neck yet but all too soon, this vest will be done!
My take on Crazy Quilting… I really had fun with this!
I have also completed the double page spread of my nod to crazy quilting. I loved using up odd shaped scraps this way! And I began a new page yesterday… a riff on an Amish Fan pattern. I had some scraps that were “basically” already the right shape, so I made some templates to stitch them with the EPP method and I am off and stitching!
Hand-dyed non-superwash incredibly yummy yarn!
Now for a peek at the Madelinetosh x MDK Atlas… it is positively yummy! I loved the colors (Deep and Wash House) they used in this vest and I hope to do a bit of a gauge swatch to see how it knits up. I will be casting on the minute I finish the CVM vest! Two new vests in my wardrobe make me happy!
I finished reading The Secret History on Monday… and I have been mulling over the story a good bit since finishing it. This was a second read through for me and either I forgot many things or I picked up many things on this second read… (the first time I listened to the author read it.) I am eager to discuss this one with the Read With Us crew later this month!
I also finished Colum McCann’s Twist, which I deeply loved! Oh my gosh… I learned so much about things I did not even know existed! And the characters are just so fascinating (but, McCann also shrouds them in a bit of mystery as well… mystery that he does not clear up before the story ends!) This book will absolutely be on my top reads of 2025 for sure… it will be published this month and I highly recommend it!
And I finished Eowyn Ivey’s latest, Black Woods, Blue Sky… another fantastic book! A curious Beauty and the Beast tale that I really enjoyed! The characters are likable but very flawed and the little girl, Emaleen, at times seemed the most adult character of all! If you enjoy retelling stories with brilliant twists, you will love Black Woods, Blue Sky! (and yes, I cried!)
That is all I have to share today, what about you? How are you doing as we work towards the end of March?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below!
by Kat | Mar 12, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings gentle Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday!
March weather certainly has been very March-like this year and I am most pleased! We have had sunshine, some rain, some snow, lots of wind, and even temps that neared 70 in the first 12 days of this month! I am not the only one pleased with this weather… my bulbs are poking some green shoots up and that makes me the happiest of all!
The other thing that is making me happy is the vest that I am knitting! It is the most ingenius construction and the pattern is masterfully written! I have arrived at the “straightway” where I will be knitting somewhere between the “full length” and the “cropped” versions. I would like to thank Sarah for finding this vest and sharing about it because if she had not, I don’t think I would have stumbled upon it on Ravelry. If you are looking for a lightweight layer to add to your wardrobe for the spring, I highly recommend this vest! I already have plans for a version in Coast as well to take me into the summer months!
Last Saturday was International Woman’s Day and Karen Turner shared some inspiration for all of us daily stitchers! I sat down and tried my hand at a row of ladies holding hands… it was fun and what a great reminder this “square” will be! I love her use of stitches… combining them to make shapes!
Jubilant, hand-holding ladies I stitched for International Women’s Day
The reading this week has been good… not great, but good. I finished Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno which is a collection of short stories. Some of the stories were really fantastic… others, just so-so. I liked Marra’s The Constellation of Vital Phenomena so much more but I am glad I read it.
I felt I was in need of a bit of a palate cleanser read so I picked up Anne Lamott’s Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. It was nothing I had hoped it would be… sigh. I think Bonny’s review summed up my feelings perfectly with her thoughts on the book and, I too, thought that the hope was well hidden inside her stream-of-conciousness style of writing. I listened to Anne read it, and at times it felt a bit “preachy” … not the palate cleanser I was hoping for.
At night, I am well into Colum McCann’s Twist... and I am loving this book so much! I am in that spot between wanting to know how he pulls this all together and not wanting the story to end… and I love it! McCann is a brilliant writer and I can’t imagine how he researched this book. It will be published later this month!
And there you have my weekly “what I am making and reading” catch up post… what about you? What are you contemplating as the seasons change?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Mar 5, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday!
Imagine my surprise when a simple spa soak (with a splash of Eucalan) removed every kink from my reclaimed yarn! That has never happened to me before… I always have to “weight” the yarn (I use a hanger… its weight is enough “weight” without stretching the yarn out) but this yarn came out of the bath relaxed and ready to be reknit! I gave them a quick spin in the washer to remove the extra water and then hung them to dry.
Freshly bathed, kink-free yarn!
So, as you can see above, yesterday afternoon I cast on for the vest that Sarah just knit! I read through and marked the directions Monday night… (and can I just say what a brilliantly knit pattern!!) It does not look like much now, but I have begun!
I also “planned out” some sewing for the month… I’d like to get 2 pairs of Free Range Slacks done and give this pinafore a go! The sewing will be the easy part… it’s the pinning out that I am dreading. Sigh.
However, last week, Jane asked a question:
“When you write “punch out” hexagon pieces what do you mean?”
Jane, forgive me for being a bit vague about my hexie template making. I purchased a hexie punch and have been saving heavier “flyers” we get in the mail to punch out hexies.
Hexie punch for precise hexies!
I purchased a 1/2″ hexie punch (on Amazon) but they are sold in a range of sizes from a variety of sources. It makes use of something that I would normally put in “recycling” and the heavier stock of the paper is perfect for wrapping fabric. It is an inexpensive way of cutting exact paper templates… at least for hexies! If I ever decide to do EPP on a larger scale, I might invest in a die cutting machine.
As you can see above, I have also made some progress on the first panel of the blanket… I am close to starting the second motif and really, this is mindless knitting at its best!
And February stitching is done and I am very happy with how it looks!
February stitching… in all her glory!
As for reading… I am almost finished with The Secret History for RWU Book Club! What horrendous characters inside such a brilliantly crafted story! I am listening to Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno… a collection of intertwined short stories. And at night I am reading Colum McCann’s soon-to-be-published Twist. I am not far in but loving the writing, so much.
I had one stellar finish recently that I thought I’d encourage you all to seek out this week… it is Ted Kooser’s brief memoir Lights on a Ground of Darkness: An Evocation of a Place and Time. Mr. Kooser is a writer of brilliant poetry but his brief recount of his family history is quite stunning. His writing is so evocative and so incredibly moving. But even better than all those things… what he writes about could be anyones family. It is just brilliant. My library has a copy but I will be adding this little book to my library… it is the perfect thing to read when life feels like it is in the shitter. I have been feeling a bit hopeless recently, and to contemplate Lights on a Ground of Darkness… well, it was exactly what I needed. As I said, the book is very short… I read through it twice and could have read it again and again (thus the reason for needing my own copy!)
And this is a wrap for me today… what are you making and reading this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 26, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers and happy last Wednesday of February!
It has been a month, hasn’t it? February in Pittsburgh contained almost all the seasons… we had rain and warmer temps and we had a good bit of snow and the month is ending on a rather warm week (we are heading to the 50’s today if the weatherperson is right!) But despite all the precipitation, there was also a good bit of sunshine and coupled with the visibly lengthening days… and that is a very good thing!
I am ready for March though… very ready!
I managed to finish the Bolin Cardigan… but… it has some issues. Sigh. I need to shorten the sleeves because I did not take into account the amount the shoulders would grow when being worn. Why? I believe the shoulder join is the culprit… yes, the 3-needle bind off is easy but it gives zero structure to a very unstructured garment with an incredibly drapey fabric. I should have bound off each shoulder and seamed them… that would have provided some much needed structure (or at least more than what it has now.) (Note… when I joined the shoulders and tried on the sweater, they shoulders did not sit at my elbows… where they do with sleeves attached) I also need to remove the button band and reknit it with fewer stitches. I do not like how high it sits on my neck. So there will be some alterations in the future but I am wearing it now with the cuff rolled back one cuff-length. However, all that being said … and knowing what alterations I would make knitting this again… I want to do just that… knit it again! I honestly think that a version in Lettlopi – held solo and sans sleeve cables, would be the perfect layering piece!
My finished, but in need of help Bolin. Imagine also, the outside three ribs removed from the button band!
The shoulders are a major culprit for the problems…
As you can see, the blanket knitting is making headway in the header photo… but stitching remains my life-saving force! My two daily stitching projects are always on my mind! I have just 3 more days to go and February will be complete! But I have not stopped thinking about those delightful little EPP hexies… I have a big bag of scraps and I have punched out a good number of hexie “blanks” on heavier weight paper… my plan is to practice the basting method in the evenings and see how I like that compared to glueing.
Pages 5 and 6… these were just so fun! I so enjoyed learning about Boro!
This week’s reading though… oh my! I finished Ann Cleeve’s newest mystery (coming in March!) and it was so good! There were a good amount of twists and turns and I did not figure out “who did it” before it was revealed! This mystery is solved in a rather communal way… and it was delightful! I really enjoy Ann’s mysteries series and I think that Inspector Ramsay will be one with whom it would most enjoyable to spend time with! And it is very good to still be in Northumberland!
I also finished Alice Hoffman’s When We Flew Away… and I loved it…so much!! The “what if” of Anne Frank’s life before she and her family closed the door to the annex was delightful! Hoffman really showcases Anne being just an ordinary girl… it was such perfection. The story is captivating and the ending is so powerful.
And that, my friends, is my week of making and reading!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 19, 2025 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday!
February is moving along… but not fast enough… sigh. I am so over the never-ending overload of BS… days that feel like weeks… and trying to stay focused on something positive seems a Herculean effort most days.
Thank goodness for making! Stitching continues to bring me joy… I have another page completed and have begun what will be a set of pages with the focus of Japanese mending. As you can see I have a bowl that I am doing some “kintsugi” stitching on. I will be adding in a few more “repairs.” The next page in the set will have a focus on boro stitching. I am enjoying the Japanese stitching rabbit hole… and I’d like to thank Laura of Daily Fiber for being the inspiration for these pages!
On the left are the delightful EPP hexies… and on the right my nod to Japanese Kintsugi.
I am close on a finished Bolin Cardigan… close, but not quite there yet. I while the rows are short, I will confess that it is a bit cumbersome flipping back and forth. I should have done the button band before I knit the sleeves. Note for any who might knit this in the future to jump ahead and finish the button band before you knit the sleeves! I will be happy when I am done and I can be wearing this delightful sweater though! The fabric is just scrumptious… the combination of Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Silk Haze are a match made in heaven!
Then it’s back to the blanket knitting, and for those who asked, I am using the exact yarn colors that Hélène used… but I want to swatch for this vest in the coming days (thank you, Sarah for bringing this pattern to my radar!) I would like to use Holst Coast… a cotton/wool blend. I love this yarn… it wears like iron, does not pill, and works for almost all the seasons!
The reading this week is saving my life! I finished Hisham Matar’s memoir, The Return. I absolutely love Matar’s writing and his memoir was moving and so educational. I know almost nothing about Libya, but his memoir made me see Libya in a different light… which is a very good thing. I immediately got on the (long) waitlist for his follow up to The Return, A Month in Siena.
At night, I am fortunate to be immersed in a new Ann Cleeve’s mystery. A mystery that ushers in a new series! A Lesson in Dying introduces us in a round about way to Inspector Ramsay. I loved Ann’s forward explaining the method to this novel… and I am really enjoying the mystery!
That is all I have for today… what about you? What’s holding your attention these days?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
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