by Kat | 5 hours ago | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers and Happy Wednesday to you all!
First, a bit of housekeeping for next week. There will not be any Unraveled Wednesday post next week, May 1st. I will be back from Erie the following week and there will be an Unraveled post on May 8th!
Now that that bit of housekeeping is out of the way, why don’t we ease into some making and reading!
On the making front, with time to spare… I have a new Honey Cowl and I love it. I might have been able to do another round before the final rounds, but I did not feel like playing yarn chicken and losing! It is bright, fun, and will be the perfect addition for the cooler and windier weather on Lake Erie!
I have finished the bottom ribbing on my “pre-knit” sweater and I am much happier with the rip back and size adjustment I made.
That yarn that tried (and failed) to be some Feather and Fan socks has been cast on for another pair of Hermoine’s Everyday Socks. They are easy travel knitting (I don’t need the pattern and I can stop and start as needed) and will likewise be perfect for “nighttime TV watching.” I am also taking the sweater, but I am not really sure how much knitting will get done…
Wee Snowmen who will find a new life!
I started the Last Page yesterday and will be taking it with me to finish the final page. I am excited to put all these pages together! This last page will incorporate some cross-stitch snowmen that I started when Heidi was a very small little girl. I have cut up the fabric and will stitch them onto some “snowy hills.” This has truly been a project that has jumpstarted my creativity… and once the pages are all together, I plan on continuing a similar stitching project!
The reading this week… I had heard about The Salt Path recently and was fortunate that my library had an audio copy. It is my only finish this week. The story is true. It is a compelling, moving story… Moth and Raynor Winn lose their home in Wales, Moth is diagnosed with a terminal illness… and they decide (in their 50’s) to walk The Salt Path and camp along the way. They begin as two beaten down people, and as they continue along something of a wonder begins to happen… they get stronger, their minds get clearer, Moth improves significantly. And so Raynor brings us along on their journey as they walk the longest path in Britain. It is an inspiring story.
At night, I am meandering my way through the book of short stories, Table for Two, by Amor Towles… and they are delicious. I really don’t want the book to end… the stories are just so good! I am about halfway through and savoring every word!
And there you have my week! What about you? What are you thinking about this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | 2 days ago | General, In This Moment
The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. — Lady Bird Johnson
Earth Day 2024… it seems somehow more important after a winter that wasn’t really winter. And spring, well… she has been springing. Lots. But last night’s hard frost will set back things a bit. Sigh. This will be the second year in a row that our “backyard” tree will lose its first leaves to frost. (In previous years, this tree had not bloomed until mid-May.)
Ironically… I put up the new Oriole feeder and heard the sweet song of a Baltimore Oriole yesterday. Fingers crossed they like the jelly I put out for them!
I spent a good bit of time doing some “knitty maths” around my gauge over the weekend. This always makes me a bit nervous, but took my calculations and cast on based upon those calculations… a big yay that I am knitting a smaller size, thanks to my gauge! But still… there are nerves, it is bottom up construction – which is not always the “easiest” to try on for fit… I managed to knit about 30-ish rows which I then threaded on some waste yarn and “tried it on” and then promptly ripped back… I am bumping up a size, because I do not want “snug around my ass ribbing”… so I have a bit more confidence with the second try. I think once I get going, this sweater will move quickly! The pattern is fun… so fun! I am knitting with some skeins of Briar Rose Fibers yarn… Chris has been much on my mind recently and my plan is to knit some love her way…each stitch a meditation for her.
The one yuck thing on my list is packing this week… We head to Erie Thursday afternoon and I have LOTS to get ready between now and then.
So I better get started! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | 6 days ago | General, Poetry
Welcome to Week Three of National Poetry Month! This week our theme is Color… and I was so excited about that!
When I think of color and poetry, one beloved poet comes to my mind, Derek Walcott. I know of no other poet who has the thread of color weaving through so many of his poems and I have immersed myself deeply in his works… I don’t ever need an excuse to read any of his poetry, but a deep dive into his expansive works is always treat!
The poem I have selected today is from Walcott’s White Egrets, a book which contains a plethora of color-infused poems. The vivid picture he draws me into in this one is one I’d like to linger in. You will find more about Derek Walcott here.
53.
by Derek Walcott
The hulls of white yachts riding the orange water
of the marina at dusk, and, under their bowsprits, the chuckle
of the chain in the stained sea; try to get there
before a green light winks from the mast, the fo’c’s’le
blazes with glare, while dusk hangs in suspension
with crosstrees and ropes and lilac-livid sky,
with its beer stein of cloud-froth touched by the sun,
as stars come out to watch the evening die.
In this orange hour the light reads like Dante,
three lines at a time, their symmetrical tension,
quiet bars rippling from the Paradiso
as a dingy writes lines made by the scanty
metro of its oar strokes, and we, so
mesmerized, can barely talk. Happier
than any man now is the one who sits drinking
wine with his lifelong companion under the winking
stars and the steady arc lap at the end of the pier.
White Egrets, 53. Copyright © 2010 by Derek Walcott.
Make sure you stop and see what color Kym, Bonny, and Sarah have to infuse your day with!
Photo by Maria Kamitsi
by Kat | Apr 17, 2024 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Dear Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!
I have finishes this week! A completed pair of socks and one finished Gnome!
First, the socks! Pattern is Hermoine’s Everyday Socks with an afterthought heel and toes done in a contrasting yarn. They fit well and I think these will go into the sock drawer for me!
Now, a bit of mood music for the next finish…
Valkyrie Gnova, ready to ride!
Up next, that Gnome Valkyrie! Meet Gnova who is eagerly entering Valhalla to ride with the other Valkyries as she guides Gnomes (and perhaps, Knitters of Gnomes!!) to Odin’s Hall! I love her “leather” Hauberk! It took a bit of figuring on how best to accomplish the vision in my mind’s eye… a few tries later and voilá… one well fitting Hauberk! I was a bit less creative than this for her sword and shield, but I am happy with my rudimentary weapons! The best part… if you are very quiet, you might hear her singing out from Valhalla!
I saw this on IG and thought… hmm, Feather and Fan socks might be a fun knit! And, as luck would have it (or better yet, just a very good library!) my library had a copy of the Socks, Socks, Socks book. I cast on and knit a few inches, but my gauge is so tight! I need to rip it out and go up a needle size. Stay tuned!
Yay for well-stocked libraries!!
I also cast on a Honey Cowl that I am hoping to finish before we leave for Erie later this month! This is that crazy skein of yarn I spun from Wound Up Fiber Arts Scrappy Sock Bundle.
From this…
To this!!!
On the super secret knitting front… I have been miraculously selected to “pre-knit” Ailbíona McLochlainn’s soon-to-be-released cardigan sweater. I just got the pattern yesterday, so swatching is on my list today.
I have stitching as well, but that will have to wait until next week!
The reading this week… ahhh! So, so delightful! I finished The Seed Keeper… and LOVED it! I also finished a book of Michael Ondaatje’s poetry: A Year of Last Things. I have been reading, re-reading, and re-reading some more since January. It is good… so good! It is out now and might be just the thing you need for your Poetry Bookshelf for National Poetry Month… just saying!
The current listen in my ears is Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path (narrated by the divine Anne Reid!!) I am about a quarter of the way in and enjoying the journey with Raynor and her husband Moth, as they walk the South West Coast Path.
At night I am meandering though Forgotten on Sunday… Valérie Perrin’s soon-to-be-published book! I am enjoying it very much.
Now for the brief, but so very spectacular, appointment with my audiologist… Can I just say that technology rocks? The hearing aids of today are NOT your grandmother’s hearing aid! It has been a process to get here, but imagine my wonder and surprise when the audiologist took the results from my hearing test and input them into the “test” hearing aids and put them in my ears! I could not contain the tears… it was as if my ears had been packed with cotton wool and someone removed it… as in instant hearing of things I had long forgotten. Anyways, hearing aids have been ordered… now I am really eagerly awaiting their arrival! I go May 14 to get them! Really… after the brief soundstravaganza I had this afternoon, I can barely wait! I will share more about them, the costs, the process, and the fittings for a later post. But, this is a life changing thing… for the freaking better!
There is my week… what about you? What are you working on this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Apr 15, 2024 | General, In This Moment
Hello everyone… I hope your Monday is starting easy!
Mine started with a bit of an explanation point! Yes, just after midnight, I was awoken by the sound of an explosion of hail stones being hurled at the house. It was so loud and the winds were so wild!
That exclamation point was soon followed by more flood warnings as some areas near us were evacuated. April sure as heck has been rainy and we added another almost 3 inches to those totals last night! All this rain has upset my “sweater washing” apple cart… that task might have to move to May!
But… I do have a tulip or four to share with you!
Please ignore the jaggerbush at the top, I did not have a glove handy to pull it out! But it will soon be gone… never fear!
I have never, ever seen such short-stemmed tulips, but I guess in their Tulip Minds, they thought that with the lack of leaves to protect their blossoms, closer to ground might be better…But they BLOOMED!
Tomorrow is a big day for me… and I am more than a bit nervous about it. I go to meet with the audiologist to figure out hearing aids. So if you could send me all your calming juju, I’d be so grateful!
Happy Monday everyone! See you all back here on Wednesday with something FUN!
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