I have been knitting and knitting and knitting… and I still have miles to go on the body of the Waffle Pullover. Each night, after dinner is done and dusted… I queue up a bit of Vera Stanhope and for roughly 90 minutes, I knit. And in those 90 minutes I maybe get an inch or so knit. Sigh. I am reminding myself that even an inch is progress… but the struggle is real! Dare I say I am eager for the sleeves from the simple fact that the rounds will be shorter?
And, because I have lots of doctor-y things coming up this month, I figured I better have a “simple knitting project” so I spent some time on Sunday casting on a new sock with the latest installment from the Farmers Daughter Fibers Sock Club. The color way is Quartz Sky and I am knitting Denise De Santis’ new pattern, Cuff Link Socks. I am calling these socks… Dreams of Summer Socks… perfect for this time of straddling the seasons. Even with knitting two cuffs, I quickly got them to the “mindless” knit stage that is just what I need for waiting room knitting.
I have one finished book this week… and it is a very good book at that! I listened to Matt Haig’s The Midnight Train and I loved it. I found Wilbur particularly delightful and I loved the idea of looking at a life’s success from two different paths. If you liked The Midnight Library, I think you will enjoy The Midnight Train!
One other fun thing happened on Monday, I looked out the back window and saw a bunch of Red-eyed Vireo’s all taking turns in the bird bath. I have not seen any all summer so these must have been making a stop on their migration south! It was a delightful treat to close out August!
I hope this week holds a few delightful things for you as well!
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It seems implausible to write… the last Wednesday in August… but here we are. It was a good month for making, a good thing for this penultimate August Unraveled post. I have not one, but three finished objects to share with you all today and not one but three book finishes to share as well!
Summer Ranunculus No. 2: Farmers Daughter Fibers Foxy Lady (Anne of Green Gables color way) held double with Oh Dang! (Desert Rose color way)
First, I owed you photos of my second Summer Ranunculus. This one a bit different than that first… and I love it so much. However, the neckline is going to be problematic. Sigh. I have a solution in progress and I think it will work well. I have the Ollie Top to thank for that solution… so I am knitting a bit of I-cord that I will thread through the neckline. Right now it is fine with a tee shirt underneath… and it has been a welcome layer as the mornings have been a bit chilly this week! The yarns from The Farmers Daughter were such a delight to knit with.
As you can see in the header photo, Vera helped me through the miles and miles of 2×2 ribbing and yes!! I have a finished Assigned Pooling Shawl! It was a delight to knit… and I have been wearing it and I believe that this will be in the regular rotation come September! It is a triangle shape, but it is more of an obtuse triangle being wider than it is deep. I could not be happier with it and I will forever think of this as my Vera Shawl… because without her, I fear I’d still be knitting it.
The Socks Are Off the Needles!! Wooo!
Finally… being on a real roll with Vera, I pulled out my lingering second sock and queued up another couple of Vera episodes and finished the second sock on Monday night! Just in time for sock weather to emerge! Ha! (and I think I will stay on this Vera Roll… I have my Waffle Pullover all queued up for tonight!) The pattern is a favorite of mine, Carole’s Picot Edge Socks and the yarn is from a Miss Babs Sock Blank (which was a pain to unravel but a delight to knit with!)
The reading… I have three finishes this week. My turn arrived for Louise Erdrich’s collection of short stories, Python’s Kiss. It was a slice of perfection. Each story better than the last, the writing was stunning and reiterated to me why I love Louise so much. I only wish it was longer. I finished it wanting more. Perhaps that is an indicator of a great book… it leaves you wanting more. If you like short stories and Louise… you’ll enjoy Python’s Kiss.
I also finished the reading/listening of John of John. This was my second time through this magnificent novel. I have not stopped thinking about it. The tender beauty of this novel is one that will stay with me for a very long time. I loved every character… and I did not after my first reading, but this second time through I noted several things I missed the first time through. And in that noting… well, each character in this book wriggled their way into my heart. This is the September selection for Read With Us and I am really excited to be part of this book discussion. And with this book, Douglas Stuart moved himself to the pinnacle of writers for me. I highly recommend this truly beautiful novel!
Finally, I read Madeleine Thien’s The Book of Records. I have been thinking about how to describe this novel… it’s not really time travel but perhaps more a time warp… a hub of multiple timelines. And ironically, and perhaps appropriately, the hub is a sort of a refugee camp, and the opener of the doors… a young refugee, Lina. I liked the book, even though it dragged a bit for me in the middle. I think this book would be a good one to reread… because it was way smarter than I was! I would probably understand more if I did reread it. However, the concept of this novel was brilliant… this young girl and her father in this “staging-post” where all these times diverge. I knew little about the some of timelines…specifically 17th Century Amsterdam and the Tang Dynasty of China. But I learned so much in the reading… and I’d probably learn even more if I read it again which I would have but there were people waiting after me to read it. I have noted it and will check back in with it when there is not a waitlist (or perhaps when there is a shorter waitlist!)
There you have my penultimate end of summer post! What about you? Are you ready for September?
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It was such an interesting class! I began stitching in class and continued over the weekend. It was a curiously structured class… with each of us having the same bag and liner and each getting Sashiko needle and some sashiko thread, but each kit had different “bits” to decorate our bag with. I loved it! I also loved listening to Paige share tidbits of her Japan Knowledge. The only machine sewing I did was to stitch on the MDK patch and to finish off the cords…. (thanks, Kym for the tip on finishing those cords!) I added some fabric scraps from my stash and I stitched in two inner pockets to the lining as well as did a bit of sashiko-style stitching inside. This was really one of the most fun things I have done in a good while! And now I have this delightful little bag!
"The more we have the less we own." ~ Meister Eckhart
Sashiko-style stitching
An old piece paired with new scraps
Pocket Number One
Pocket Number Two
More sashiko-style stitching
A fancy way to hide the ends of the cords!
Hidden surprises... cats on quilts!
The only book I finished this week is the “relisten” of E.B. White reading Charlotte’s Web. This is a book that I really enjoy… especially as summer begins to wind down. And it is a bonus to discuss the book with my granddaughter. She has the book and we did a bit of a “read along” this month. It is nice to be able to talk about kindness and sticking up for others. Vivi and I think the world needs a lot more Charlotte’s!
What about you? What fun things have you been making or reading this week?
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I am (still) plugging away on the ribbing for the Autumn Blips shawl… each right side row increases by 6 stitches so the rows keep getting longer. It is “almost” mindless knitting and I am enjoying it so much but I have miles and miles to go before I finish it! Not thrilling to blog about but when I sat down in the last week this is what I have been knitting.
The reading has found me immersed in a bit of a “mystery kick”. I picked up a book in the Max Tudor series… and spent a bit of time with Max in Oxford solving a mystery. It felt a bit like an Agatha Christie novel (think all the suspects in a room at the culmination of the novel) and I enjoyed it. It was light and engaging. I also raced through another in the Bruno Chief of Police series and enjoyed it tremendously. And I am still working my way through John of John (I am listening and reading with my eyes… I am just over half way through but I am taking my time with this reading and picking up a few things I missed the first time through!
I realize this is not much of an update and I hope that your making and reading week have been a bit more productive than mine has!
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
Greetings Dear Unravelers and Happy Wednesday to you all!
This week I have been “enabled” …. yes, last week when Kym shared her Assigned Pooling project… I could hear my own assigned pooling project begin to cry from the project bag it was sitting in. Poor, sad, pitiful little thing… I did not even give it the curtesy of finishing the row I was working on before tucking it into a bag. Well, I pulled it out and have been giving it some attention…And a funny thing happened! Skein One is nearing its end and Skein Two is wound and ready to go! Now, I still have miles to go… but this shawl has begun to sing the song of autumn to me. These random blips scattered about remind me of autumn walks after a good rain. Where the leaves are pressed to the pavement and …if I close my eyes… I can even smell autumn as I work away on it.
And… in case you think that was all the enabling Kym did last week… think again! I also purchased the yarn to make a Wakebrite bandana (Thanks also to the expert enabling of Kay and Ann!) It is my prize for finishing the Blip Knitting… although I am not sure that a project that is knit entirely linen stitch classifies as a prize… but there you have it!
I seem to have bandana’s on the brain because I finished another Alabama Chanin bandana this week as well! I thought I was done with it on Sunday but as I looked at it, it needed something. What I really wanted was something yellow, but I had no yellow anything to add to it. Instead I added a bit of green… and I think it works. It is just enough of a difference between the navy, ochre, and black… and not a bead in sight. I really am happy with it! In just under 80 days I stitched and completed three AC projects (including one with LOTS of beads!)
Bandana number two… and I really am pleased with it!
(And yes, that second Summer Ranunculus was finished as well! Although, it needs a bit of a bath and a few ends woven in! Photos coming soon!)
The reading… well, I finished my immediate reread of Whistler yesterday and it was even better than it was the first time. And later this morning I will settle in with John of John to read it again before book club on September 15th. I loved this book the first time through and I am really looking forward to this second reading.
So dear readers… where are your thoughts turning as August begins?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
