Poetry in April: Feel the Love

April is National Poetry Month, so all this month, Bonny, Kat, Kym, and I are sharing some poetry on Thursdays. This week's theme is love, and while there's a ton of poetry out there related to romantic love, my thoughts turned to a different kind -- that of a parent for their child. I think this sort of love is so unlike any other, especially when it's a mother's love. So today's poem is written by a mother (poet Sharon Olds) for her child, and it captures some of the feelings I have begun to have as my daughter has gotten older.

Exclusive
   (for my daughter)

I lie on the beach, watching you
as you lie on the beach, memorizing you
against the time when you will not be with me:
your empurpled lips, swollen in the sun
and smooth as the inner lips of shell;
your biscuit-gold skin, glazed and
faintly pitted like the surface of a biscuit;
the serious knotted twine of your hair.
I have loved you instead of anyone else,
love you as a way of loving no one else,
every separate grain of your body
building the god, as you were built within me,
a sealed world. What if from you lips
I had learned the love of other lips,
from you starred, gummed lashes the love of
other lashes, from your shut, quivering
eyes the love of other eyes,
from you body the bodies,
from your life the lives?
Today I see it is there to be learned from you:
to love what I do not own.

Be sure to visit Kym, Kat, and Bonny today for their selections!

Unraveled, Week 16/2023

Good morning! It's Wednesday, so that means it's time for my weekly link-up with Kat and the Unravelers -- and this week I have an FO to share! Though I'm afraid you'll have to settle with having Matilda (my dress form) model it, as it's only just dried and I'm not yet in a state for modeling it myself.

Pattern: Love Note by Tin Can Knits, size S (41.5 in. bust)
Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles (100% Merino) in Potluck (one of a kind?), 1.56 skeins/624 yards, and Fibernymph Dye Works Floof (72% mohair/28% silk) in Toxic Green, 1.3 skeins/596.7 yards
Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)
Started/Completed: March 1/April 18

Because I am one of the last people on earth to knit this pattern, I don't need to say much about it. I will readily admit that I was a bit lax in my swatching, so I don't have quite as much positive ease in my finished garment as I should have, but that's just fine because that's what I was aiming for. I ended up following the pattern pretty much exactly, and my only modification (if you can even call it that) was to pick up some extra stitches under the arm when I started the sleeves and decrease them in the first few rounds. This sweater would have been a really fast knit if I'd been monogamous with it, but I'm happy it's done now. I have a strong suspicion that a certain teenager might steal it, and if she does, I won't have a problem with it. I think it might actually look better on her than on me!

I'm definitely on a finishing kick this week and am trying to whittle down my list of WIPs. I'm now down to three: my Birch Pullover (which is last on the priority list), the lightweight version of my latest design, and the ankle socks. The last of these is now more than halfway done; I have finished the first sock and done the cuff of the second. I even took them out for an author event last night:

My local indie bookstore hosted an event last night with V.E. Schwab in conversation with Clare Beams. Admission included a signed paperback copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It was really a great event, and Schwab was so articulate about her writing process in general and the process of writing this book specifically. And I spotted at least two other knitters there!

Speaking of books, I've been spending a lot of time with them in the past week and have finished another four since last Wednesday.

Late last week I was in search of an audiobook to listen to and everything I was interested in had a wait, so I decided to give A Children's Bible a try because I had enjoyed Lydia Millet's more recent Dinosaurs. Unfortunately I didn't have the same experience with this book. I understand what the author was trying to do, but I didn't really like any of the characters and the whole thing left me feeling a bit icky. I was tempted to DNF it, but I had nothing else to listen to at the time and I kept hoping things would wrap up a bit more optimistically, so I kept listening to the end. I gave it 2 stars.

Thankfully that same day I was able to dispel that icky feeling with something much more lighthearted. The Bandit Queens is on the Women's Prize longlist and centers on a group of women in India who are part of a microloan group. The husband of the main character disappeared years ago, and people in the town believe she killed him -- and now some of the other women in the group have decided to enlist her in helping them to kill off their own husbands, and hilarity ensues. Though this is overall a funny book, it does address some very serious issues of sexism, domestic violence, and caste, and it did teach me a bit more about social structures in India. I gave it 4 stars.

Continuing with the Women's Prize reading, I finished Cursed Bread, which Katie was kind enough to send along to me. This is a slim volume of historical fiction inspired by a real-life event in which an entire village in France was poisoned, though the details are still unknown. In this version, also set in a small French village in the early '50s, a mysterious couple moves in and strange things start happening. The book is very well written, but I felt pretty confused the whole time I was reading -- though that may be point, as the ending seems to suggest that the reader shouldn't be sure what is real and what is not. Reading this book was an instance of appreciating the skill of the writer while simultaneously being frustrated because I didn't feel smart enough to understand it fully. I gave it 3 stars. (And if anyone one is interested in reading it, let me know -- I'm happy to pass it along!)

Finally I got a palate cleanser in the form of a book I know many of you have already read and enjoyed: Remarkably Bright Creatures. I listened to this over the course of a few days and enjoyed it all. I think it's a given that some aspects of the plot require a suspension of disbelief, but ultimately it's just a lovely, feel-good story about people with deep wounds finding healing and friendship. I particularly enjoyed the narration of the parts of the story told by Marcellus the octopus; he sounded like such a proper gentleman! If you have not read this yet and need something that's not too difficult or emotionally draining, I recommend it. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm currently taking a little break from my Women's Prize reading to read Birnam Wood, which I got from the library a few days ago. I'm only about 20% in because I've only been reading it a bit before bed, but I think I will make some decent headway in the next several days.

What are you making and reading this week?

Unplanned, but Not Unenjoyable

When I last posted on Friday, I'd been planning for a quiet weekend with a lot of crafting time. That's not quite how it played out, but I am not complaining! After Rainbow slept nearly 12 hours following her school dance (which, obviously, she enjoyed), she wanted to go out and do something, so we went and did a little shopping. Our first stop was Michaels, in part to get some yarn for Rainbow to crochet a corner-to-corner blanket and in part to get some more for my mother, who finished her blanket and announced on Friday night that she needed a new project.

The shopping was fun, but it meant I was away from my projects for much of the afternoon. Somehow I still managed to ply a skein of handspun before going to bed last night (I'd finished the singles Friday night). Here is Low Earth Orbit on Australian Comeback wool, light fingering weight and approximately 469 yards:

I am absolutely delighted with how this came out. I expected it to bloom a little more in the wash, but that's okay. This is the ninth Southern Cross Fibre shipment I've spun this year, so I'm way ahead of schedule to spin a total of 12.

If you can believe it, I didn't do any knitting all weekend until yesterday evening, when I picked up my Love Note. But I have virtually finished the first sleeve -- I just have to bind off!

I plan to do the bind off, weave in the first sleeve's ends, and then pick up for the second today. I have a board meeting this evening (thankfully on Zoom), so I will need something easy to knit on in between taking meeting minutes.

Today's first order of business, however, is getting in my run, which should be nice in today's much cooler weather. Hope your Monday is off to a good start!

WIP Wrangling

Does anyone else feel like this week has stretched on forever? Maybe it's the heat (we've had highs in the 80s F for several days), but I have felt like Friday has been due for a while. Thankfully, it's finally here, and we have a quiet weekend ahead of us. Still, I have a to-do list today, and I'm keen to get on with it, so without further ado, here is the current state of my WIPs:

 

My focus was on my design sample for several days, but now that it's done, I'm feeling a bit unexcited by my other projects. I've been dabbling a bit on them but not made any significant progress, and that's really frustrating, so I think I'm going to have to start concentrating on one at a time until it's finished. My Love Note is the obvious choice, as it's in need of just a sleeve and a half. The project in the blue sheep back (which I'm hiding because it's essentially a lightweight version of my most recent design) is also close to completion. That first ankle sock just needs a toe, and a second would be pretty fast to knock out. That just leaves my Birch Pullover, which we all know is going to take a while anyway. Not shown in this photo is my current spinning project:

This is all the fiber left to be spun into singles, maybe two yards of combed top or approximately a quarter of what I started with. As I'm spinning my default singles, I don't really need to pay much attention to what my hands are doing while I spin, so it's a good activity to do while reading or watching something.

Today's plans include baking challah for Friday night dinner at my parents', and tonight Rainbow is going to her very first middle school dance (just with friends -- thankfully we aren't at the date stage just yet). The weekend's forecast has rain and scattered thunderstorms in it, so I am going to use that as a good excuse to focus on making progress on one or more of these WIPs. I'm hoping I have something to share with you on Monday.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Poetry in April: Ada Limón

This week, we are focusing on the poetry of Ada Limón, the current poet laureate of the United States. I was only somewhat familiar with her and her work before, but when Kym proposed that we choose one of her poems this week, I decided to get to know her better by reading her most recent poetry collection. The poem I'm sharing today is from that book.

In the Shadow

 

The wild pansy shoves its persistent face beneath

    the hackberry's shade, true plum and gold,

with the alternate names: Johnny-jump-up

    heartsease, or my favorite, love-in-idleness.

 

I bow closer to the new face. I am always superimposing

    a face on flowers, I call the violet moon vinca

 

the choir, and there are surely eyes in the birdeye speedwall,

    and mouths on the linearleaf snapdragon.

 

It is what we do in order to care for things, make them

    ourselves, our elders, our beloveds, our unborn.

 

But perhaps that is a lazy kind of love Why

    can't I just love the flower for being a flower?

 

How many flowers have I yanked to puppet

    as if it was easy for the world to make flowers?

From The Hurting Kind, (c) 2022

 

 

You can learn more about Ada Limón here, and be sure to visit Kym, Kat, and Bonny today to read some more of her poetry!

Unraveled, Week 15/2023

It's Wednesday, and I'm starting the day with an early dentist appointment, so I actually wrote this post on Tuesday evening so I wouldn't be too rushed -- after all, Wednesdays are my favorite blogging days because it means catching up with Kat and the Unravelers!

I've been doing a fair amount of knitting the past couple of days, but I can't show you what I've been working on because it relates to that design submission I had accepted at the end of March. I've got a quick turn on that (the pattern is due at the beginning of May, but I want to get it out of the way ASAP), so I've paused my other projects while I get to that. I have, however, been spinning, and I officially passed the halfway point on my singles on Tuesday.

I've been doing quite a lot of reading the past week, and somehow I finished four books! There's been a heavy focus lately on women authors in general and the Women's Prize for Fiction Longlist specifically.

I ordered a couple of the books from Blackwell's (which is such a great resource for books before they're released in the United States), one of which was Homesick by Jennifer Croft. If her name sounds familiar, you might know her as a translator who has worked with Olga Tokarczuk. I read the "novel" version of this book (there's also a memoir version that was previously released stateside), as that's the version on the Women's Prize list. Though this is categorized as fiction, it's very clearly about Croft and her sister as they were growing up. It's weird and sad but also touching. I understand that in the memoir version there are photos, but this version is all prose. I gave it 4 stars.

Because it's National Poetry Month, I decided to make a point to read more poetry, and last Thursday things were quiet enough for a bit to allow me to sit and read through Ada Limón's most recent collection The Hurting Kind. I've read a few of Limón's poems individually in the past, but reading an entire collection really allows you to get to know a poet, and reading this one left me wanting to get to know her more. I've found that like my favorite poet, Robert Frost, she uses imagery of the natural world as a canvas for her emotions. I expect I will go back and reread this collection several times in addition to exploring her other collections. I gave this one 4 stars.

I had bought Memphis, a buzzy debut novel from last year, when it was a Kindle deal several weeks ago, and I decided to read it given that it's on the Women's Prize list and already in my hands. Before I started reading it, though, Katie filled me in on some of the controversy surrounding the author's behavior in response to criticism of the novel, and it's possible that knowing about that may have influenced my feelings about the book. I found some really beautiful writing and some great characters, but the book did not flow together in a cohesive way, in my opinion. I'm not sure if that's a failure of the writer or the editor, but other way, I found it to be a bit unsatisfying as a result. And I also spotted several grammatical errors, and we all know how I feel about those. I gave it 3 stars.

Finally I listened to an audiobook I'd long had on my TBR list, a nonfiction work that's part true crime and part biography. Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee was not quite what I was expected. The background on the trial referenced in the title makes up more than half the book, and Harper Lee isn't really mentioned until the second half. It was well written and well researched, but didn't really contain anything revelatory about Lee. I will say that I learned more about her and her relationship with Truman Capote, but I felt that the background on the murder case and related life insurance fraud didn't add much. I gave it 3 stars.


Even though I said I wasn't going to try to read the entirety of the Women's Prize Longlist, I expect I will have read quite a few of them before the Shortlist is announced! I had already read three of the titles to start with, finished two more in the last week, and have started two more -- Cursed Bread, which Katie was kind enough to send me after she read it, and The Bandit Queens, which I got as a Kindle deal. After those, I have Trespasses (another Blackwell's purchase) and Stone Blind, which Margene sent me. I just have to hope that the Shortlist contains many of the titles I will have read by then!

In addition to the book, Margene sent me a skein of yarn she thought looked to be to my taste:

She was right -- would you believe I bought a skein of this exact colorway several years ago but had never knit it?! I guess Rainbow and I will have some matching socks in the near future!

A Weekend of Stitching and Sun

I'm not going to lie -- it was not easy to get up this morning! I'm not sure why it is that I will wake up on my own quite early on the weekend but struggle so much on a Monday morning. Thank goodness for coffee!

We had a really nice weekend with some beautiful -- and more seasonable -- weather. Because my office closed early on Friday, I was able to get a couple of chores done early so I didn't have to try to cram them into Saturday morning. Instead, I was able to get out for a walk before Rainbow and I went downtown to see Tina. I put a progress keeper in my sock when we sat down so I could get a sense of how much I knit during the show.

The show ran about two and a half hours, and here's how much sock foot I knit in that time:

Yesterday was another day with clear blue skies and lots of sun, so in addition to taking another walk, I spent time out in the yard, pulling weeds and trimming some dead growth off the hydrangeas. I also ordered some seed-starting trays and new gardening gloves so I can start prepping the garden. I am planning to order a planter to put in the front yard (where we get the most sun) this year for the veggies. I had pretty good luck with my tomatoes and peppers in the front last year except that bunnies kept nibbling them, so the idea is to get them off the ground and out of reach. I'll use the backyard for herbs and things that don't need as much sun.

I also spent some time yesterday at my wheel. I'm almost halfway through my singles and absolutely loving this spin:

It would be amazing if I could finish up this spin this week, but I know it's going to be a busy one, so we'll see.

And with that, I'd best get moving so I can get my run in before my first work meeting of the week. Hope your Monday is off to a good start!

TGI(G)F

Thank goodness it's Good Friday! I don't have the day off (though my office is closing early today), but Rainbow does, and it's nice to have her around after being alone all day the past week.

We had two really nice Passover Seders this week, the first at my parents' on Wednesday with all the family and the second last night at my brother and sister-in-law's with their next-door neighbors and my parents. It was unusually warm here on Wednesday (I think we hit a high of 85F), and my parents are temporarily without air conditioning after a careless driver drove into their condensers last fall and destroyed them -- they're scheduled to get the replacements installed next week because who would have thought we'd need AC in the first week of April, when it's not so unusual to get a late snowfall? So we were all a bit warm during dinner, especially when eating maztah ball soup!

My knitting projects are continuing to creep along, but yesterday I had to start a new spinning project because it'd been about three weeks, maybe more, since I last sat at my wheel and my fingers were getting twitchy. Naturally I went for a Southern Cross Fibre club shipment -- this is Low Earth Orbit on Comeback wool from June 2022.

I'm doing a pretty straightforward spin of this fiber. I split it in half lengthwise and am spinning the two strips end to end. I'll chain-ply the singles when they're done.

Tomorrow afternoon, Rainbow and I are going to see Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, so I've been pondering what knitting to take (because we all know I can't sit in a seat for almost three hours with no knitting!). I was considering casting on a new charity hat, but then I remembered that I had started a pair of ankle socks for myself at the beginning of the year that I'd largely forgotten, so they should be perfect. I'll just have to focus on finishing up the heel flap and getting through the heel turn and gusset before then.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy Easter if you're celebrating!

Poetry in April: Wonder

I know Thursday is not one of my typical days to post, but it's April, National Poetry Month, and several blogging friends are celebrating it again this year by sharing a poem every Thursday this month.

The theme for this week is "poems about wonder." The subject of wonder always makes me think of nature and how so much happens in the beautiful world around us. And when I think of nature and poetry, I think of Mary Oliver, so I turned to her for this week's selection.

The Other Kingdoms

Consider the other kingdoms. The
trees, for example, with their mellow-sounding
titles: oak, aspen, willow.
Or the snow, for which the peoples of the north
have dozens of words to describe its
different arrivals. Or the creatures, with their
thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze. Their
infallible sense of what their lives
are meant to be. Thus the world
grows rich, grows wild, and you too,
grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too
were born to be.

From The Truro Bear and Other Adventures, (c) Mary Oliver 2008

Be sure to visit Bonny, Kat, and Kym for more poetry today!

Unraveled, Week 14/2023

Happy Wednesday, friends! I've been mixed up about what day of the week it is for the past couple of days (I think because Sunday was so busy with cleaning and laundry and getting caught up on being at home). But I am certain that it's Wednesday today -- which means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers!

After picking up my Love Note again when we got home and made quick work of the rest of the body. Yesterday I also knit the collar (after spending about half an hour on Monday evening picking out the waste yarn from the provisional cast on -- it turns out that mohair will stick to everything, including cotton, so I had to pull it out a bit at a time rather than just yanking it out). I was a bit worried about whether I could get the collar over my head, despite binding off really loosely, but it was fine.

Further evidence of my lack of selfie skills

I've now started the first sleeve and have gotten about four inches knit. I've decided to knit full-length sleeves, because I figured if it's cold enough that I want to wear a mohair sweater, short sleeves aren't going to cut it. This will be my main focus until it's done, which I don't expect to take very long, though the yarn for my pattern commission arrived earlier in the week and I'm busy swatching at the moment.

I finished two more books before we left Florida (for a total of five books finished -- not bad for less than two weeks!).

At the last Read With Us Zoom, we closed by recommending a book, and Kat raved about the forthcoming No Two Persons. I immediately went to NetGalley to request a copy and was approved the next day. I would call this book a series of interconnected short stories; while some characters pop up a couple of times, each chapter can stand on its own, and each tells the story of an individual with their own struggles who is touched in some way by the power of a book. The book within the book is what ties these stories together (so beautifully illustrated on the cover), and the work as a whole is a beautiful tribute to the power of the written word and its ability to connect people with very different backgrounds. I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in return for an honest review. I gave it 4 stars.

After listening to the recent Novel Pairings episode about it, I decided to reread Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. This is not a new book; I read it the first time in fifth grade for English class, though all I really remembered was that it was how I learned about sharecropping and how it kept people of color in poverty. It was really worthwhile to reread it as an adult who knows more about the history of the time period and in the context of more recent discussions about race and discrimination. Told from the point of view of Cassie, it tells the story of the Logan family, their struggles against racism, and the ongoing challenges to keep the land they own. I'm actually quite amazed that my school assigned it in fifth grade; there are some very scenes in this book that were upsetting to me now, as an adult. But this slim volume has a lot to teach. I gave it 4 stars.

I am currently reading (in addition to the Outlander brick) Homesick, which is on the Women's Prize long list. I've got about 40 pages left to read, so I should finish it today or tomorrow.

Tonight is the start of Passover, so we'll be gathered with family to enjoy a big meal. And today we're supposed to see a high temperature in the mid-80s -- our air conditioning is on and I'll be wearing a t-shirt for my run this morning! I hope it's a good day for you, even if your weather isn't quite as nice.

Dorothy Had It Right

There really is no place like home. My parents' place is Florida is a very comfortable place to stay, but I sleep better in my own bed. We had a very bumpy flight home (and poor Rainbow had a bad bout of motion sickness), but we arrived only 20 minutes late, which is really quite amazing considering the dramatic weather. I really have to hand it to the pilots who landed the plane in gusty wind.

Yesterday was a day for catching up. I had a bathroom to clean and laundry to do, and then I had to take a walk to see what I'd missed in the neighborhood. Spring definitely arrived while we were gone -- here is just a peek at what I saw growing!

The local meteorologist also noted that today is going to be a high pollen day, so I've doubled up on the allergy meds today.

Before we left on Saturday, I did manage to finish the yoke of my Birch Pullover, which was a goal of mine. And it does indeed fit!

It's still going to be a slow knit, but at least now I don't need to keep track of a six-round repeat with increases; everything from here on out is two basic rounds until the body is the right length before I work the ribbing.

I thought it might be a good idea to finish a sweater first, though, particularly as I'm thinking about casting on yet another one, so last night I pulled out my Love Note. Before we'd left, I'd completed the main part of the body, so last night I was ready to work the short rows the make the back a little lower than the front. I completed those and started the body ribbing, which I think I should easily complete today.

I've got a big to-do list this week (mostly stuff that I put off while we were away), and that includes some preparation for Passover, which starts Wednesday evening. Rainbow is off from school on Friday, and I'm hoping my office will give us an early start to the weekend as well. Vacation is definitely over! Here's hoping it's an easy Monday for all of us.

Like All Good Things

Yes, today is our last full day of vacation (or kind-of vacation, in my case). We're due to fly home tomorrow afternoon, though they're predicting strong winds tomorrow in Western PA, and I hope that doesn't interfere with our travel plans -- I most definitely do not want a repeat of last year! It's showing up on time for the moment, so please keep your fingers crossed for us! It's been a lovely trip, but I am ready to be back in my own bed and to see the Mister.

When I posted on Wednesday morning, I was preparing for a long morning in front of the computer, though I had my knitting ready. We made it through about half of the session before it was abruptly canceled, and the reason why is a sad truth of our times: Our campus was put on lockdown because of reports of an active shooter at a high school a couple of blocks away from my office. It turned out to be a hoax, one of several false reports made that day, but it was a scary time for those who were in the office, and even after it turned out to be a false alarm, it was entirely understandable that people were having a hard time concentrating. I was concerned for my colleagues, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't quite sure why I was in this workshop to begin with, so I was just fine with its early end. I imagine it'll be rescheduled at some point, so I guess at some date in the future I'll have a block of knitting time. Despite the schedule change, I have made a lot of progress on my Birch Pullover since Wednesday morning (that progress keeper was placed at the beginning of the session):

I am now about seven rounds from completing the yoke and dividing the sleeve and body stitches, and I am fairly confident I can get through those rounds today. I've got 300+ stitches on my needle at this point, so the rounds aren't exactly fast, but I pretty much have the pattern memorized at this point. Once I get past the split, it'll be even easier because it will just be a two-round repeat (purl one round, alternated k1b/p1 the next round). 

If you look closely, you will notice that I now have two strands of yarn attached; I started working in the second skein of yarn yesterday. Rebecca (the dyer behind Dusty Tree Dyeworks -- as well as the soap maker behind Dusty Tree Soap) works in really small batches, so she doesn't have colorways or dye lots for her yarns. When I picked out my skeins, I selected the five that looked most similar to each other, but there's definitely variation among them -- as shown in this photo:

When I wound all the skeins before we left, I also also labeled them 1-5, from lightest overall to darkest, and I'm using them in that order. I'm alternating skeins every round when I join a new one, with the hope that will be sufficient to blend them. It's easy at this point, but I'll have to do a little math once I split the body and sleeve stitches so that I can set aside some yarn as I work the body to make sure the sleeves look like they more or less match (I figure I'll take the stitch counts for the body and sleeves to figure out what percentage of the skein I should set aside for the sleeves and wind that off -- so it's a good thing we're headed home to my ball winder!).

In addition to leaving for home with a sweater yoke, I'm also leaving with a longtime crocheter to whom I've taught some new tricks. My mother used to make blankets and buntings (the sac-like garments, not the strands of flags) as baby gifts for others, but she hasn't picked up a hook in a while. So while we were here, we made a trip to Michaels to pick up a hook and some yarn so I could teach her the corner-to-corner method. One evening earlier this week, I showed her how to get started and helped her as she got the hang of it, but now she's off to the races:

She is just about finished with the first yarn cake and is determined to get to the point where she is ready to join the second so that I can show her how to decrease. She's also taken after me and has crocheted during several Zoom meetings she's had while we've been here.

Today is a regular work day for me, but I'll be taking time for a long walk before we leave so I can enjoy the good weather as much as possible. I hope our travel plans proceed without a hitch and by my next post, I'll be back home, reunited with my stash (and my spinning wheel, which I've missed). I hope all of you have a good start to your weekend today!

P.S. I almost forgot -- remember the secret design knitting I was doing that I couldn't show you? Guess who got an acceptance yesterday?!

Unraveled, Week 13/2023

I could easily forget what day of the week it is here (apparently my Fitbit did on Monday, because it neglected to wake me up with my normal alarm), but work has given me an extra reminder that it's Wednesday in the form of a four-hour diversity, equity, and inclusion workshop this morning. I'm sure the content will be worthwhile, but four hours straight? At least I will be able to knit my way through it (I'm attending via Zoom), and that big block on my schedule is helping me to get my priorities straight this morning. The first priority -- well, at least the first one after coffee! -- is my weekly link-up with Kat and the Unravelers.

I brought along a crochet hook and a ball of kitchen cotton just in case, but as it turns out, I was in the mood for a little crochet and I'm headed home with two completed dishcloths:

I believe that the one on the left is the second one I did, though I can't be certain; I think this particular stitch pattern leads to some inherent wonkiness, especially in combination with my relative inexperience with crochet, but I did notice that the work was a little easier the second time around. I think my tension was a little more relaxed, as I had a much easier time getting my hook into stitches. I used all but about a yard of the skein of yarn, yet somehow the two finished cloths weighed only 96 g, so I guess I had a light skein to start with. The yarn is Knit Picks Dishie in a light gray colorway called Clarity, and despite the fact that the skein was light, I would absolutely recommend this yarn (and oh hey, it's on sale right now!). I find it to be much easier to work with than the cotton you can find in big box stores, and there's more yardage in a skein to boot. I used a 4 mm/G hook.

Now I'm really trying to focus on my Birch Pullover, and I'm halfway through the yoke increases. I have increased enough that the stitches now comfortably fill the full length of my 40-inch circular needle.

I do know what I'm doing now with the stitch pattern and when to increase, but it's not quite something I can do without looking, so I can only work on it while reading if I read with my ears. I'll be interested to see how much I can get done during that four-hour workshop.

Speaking of reading, I have been doing a lot! My mother almost always has books waiting for me when I come down, and I've gotten through two of them this week, both excellent reads

I have read all but one of Geraldine Brooks' books, and I was very much looking forward to her latest, Horse. If you haven't heard of this book and don't think it sounds that great from the description, let me tell you that it's about a heck of a lot more than horses. There are several story lines followed in this book that all converge on a horse, and those stories deal with topics as serious and diverse as race and racism, politics, art, friendship, and love. There's even a very good dog (and no, the dog doesn't die). Once I got into this book, I could not put it down, and I have to tell you that I cried a bit at the end. I highly recommend it and gave it 5 stars.

I'd been on a (very long) wait list for Spare on audio from the library, but my mother had bought a hard copy and finished it herself just a few days ago, so she passed it on to me. This was a quick read and, I think, worth it. There is much more that Prince Harry talks about than the more recent issues within the royal family, and I'm not sure I ever realized just how traumatizing it must be to lose your mother at a young age and be under constant scrutiny for your entire life. I fully understand why the Sussexes wanted to step away from royal life, and I think the book even makes a good case for abolishing the monarchy. I gave it 4 stars.

Finally, I listened to another Maisie Dobbs book early this week. I discovered that the audiobooks after the first in the series are no longer available to me on Hoopla, but luckily there was no wait for the one I wanted on Libby. To Die but Once sees Maisie investigating the death of a young painter working in the war effort, though the case often takes a back seat to other concerns in her life. I believe I have only three books left in this series, and as much as I've enjoyed them, I'm actually feeling a bit glad they won't go on forever. I feel like I know where Maisie's story is going in general, and I think I'll be satisfied when I finish the series up. I gave this installment 3 stars.


I'm still reading the big Outlander book (and will be for some time, I expect), but last night I started No Two Persons, which I requested from NetGalley after Kat raved about it. I've only just started it (I think I'm 3% in), but I think it's possible I'll finish it before we leave to head home.

Embrace in 2023: March

There are still several days left in the month, but as we've arrived at the last Monday, that means it's time for a One Little Word check-in. Thank you to Carolyn for hosting our monthly link-ups!

I was thinking over the weekend about this post and what I've embraced this month and coming up empty -- until I realized I was totally missing the obvious. Is there any better way to embrace working remotely than working extra remotely and being able to travel on spring break with my daughter? I know I've sung the praises of working from home before and how it's enabled me to have such a better work/life balance. I know it's not for everyone and that some people like the physical separation between work and home, but it's been a major stress reliever for me to be able to do things like throw in a load of laundry, get out for a run, and pick up my daughter from school when it ends. I no longer feel like I am racing against the clock to get everything done in a day, which used to be a major source of stress to me. And even though I am still working my usual hours while we're here, I do get to enjoy some of the benefits of being on vacation, most notably the extra vitamin D I so desperately need at this time of year. An extra bonus is that I will not be stressed out when we get back because I will return to a pile of work waiting for me (a primary reason I so rarely take time off).

I'm truly very thankful that both technology and my employment situation enable me to work in a way that works so well for me. I also realize that it may not always be the case, so for now, I'm embracing every aspect of it.

Winding Down

I will be the first to admit that working full time in Florida in March is very different from working at home in March, but all the same I am ready for the weekend so I can detach myself from my work computer for a couple of days. My daily walk or run has been my one escape, and the photo above is a college of some of pictures I snapped on yesterday's walk. My parents' house is in a large development here, so there are always gardeners and landscapers out planting, trimming, fertilizing, etc. Though plants obviously do grow year-round here, it wasn't until Rainbow and I came down for spring break last year that I realized just how much more color there is in March compared to December. The birds are also much noisier! It's been such a treat and delight to go out every morning when it's still a little cool and enjoy the sun, the sounds, and the sights. I'm sorry you can't all enjoy it with me, but I hope the photos at least can cheer you a bit if things are still cold and monotone in your neck of the woods.

I've been making slow and steady progress on two of my knitting projects (I haven't yet started the baby sweater), but I'll be headed home with at least one FO in the form of this very wonky dishcloth:

You can see from the wavy edges how imperfect it is (not that I very much care -- it's a dishcloth!), but I'm happy to have figured it out and have already started another now that I feel a bit more confident in what I'm doing. I used less than half a skein of Knit Picks Dishie for this cloth, so I should easily be able to get another cloth out of it with some leftover. And there is more crochet to come. Last night we went out to dinner at a place that's right near a Michaels, so we stopped there first to pick up supplies for my mother to make a baby blanket:

I'm going to teach her how to do corner-to-corner crochet, and we figured acrylic was the easiest and most practical thing to use (it's not my favorite fiber at all, but for a baby blanket that will need to be washed frequently, it makes sense). These Caron Baby Cakes are 560 yards each, so two of them should make a perfect baby-sized blanket.

This weekend we have plans to have dinner at our favorite restaurant here, which we didn't get to do when we were here in December, and tomorrow is our last Zoom discussion of the Erdrich-along. I'm sad to be finishing that, though I'm looking forward to moving onto Barbara Kingsolver for our next author study.

Do you have anything exciting on tap for this weekend? Whatever's on your agenda, I hope you enjoy it!

Unraveled, Week 12/2023

Happy hump day, friends and gentle readers! I'll confess that although I'm technically not on vacation, I've got a bit of a vacation mindset going and have lost track of what day it is a couple of times this week. My computer tells me it's Wednesday, which means it's my day to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and give you an update on my making and reading.

Work has been moderately busy the past two days, which means my hands have not been free to stitch much. But I have made some progress on my Birch Pullover, completing the short rows and starting the long work of the yoke rounds.

Specifically, I am working a six-round repeat with increases on the sixth round, and I have to work a total of 14 repeats of those six rounds. So far, I've completed two, I believe. This sweater is worked in half fisherman's rib, which is a cousin to brioche stitch; every other round, you work into the stitch below of every other stitch (and purl the other stitches). The fabric this creates is very squishy and attractive, but if you're someone who hates purling, you might want to avoid this pattern. I've accepted that this is a going to be a marathon of a knit, so my goal for while we're here is just to complete the yoke. Anything beyond that will be a bonus.

Last night during the Read With Us discussion on The Shipping News, I decided to try a little crochet and started a dishcloth:

I'm using a free pattern by one of the SSK teachers (we get extra raffle tickets for completing patterns by them), and it's a little wonky but, you know, it's a dishcloth. I haven't done any crocheting this year aside from some provisional cast-ons, so it feels good to stretch those muscles. I've got a board executive committee meeting this evening, so perhaps that will be enough time to finish this up.

I finished up two books late last week before we left.

First, I finished up my reread of the His Dark Materials trilogy with The Amber Spyglass. There is a lot going on in this book, as it culminates in big battle between the various forces in Pullman's imagined worlds, but the most important part of the story for me is the resolution of Lyra's story, especially the part of her story that involves Will. While much of Pullman's trilogy has a lot to say about religion and power, I think the heart of his message is about love and human kindness. I really enjoyed listening to all three books, and I'm slowly working my way through the HBO series based on them. I gave this final installment 4 stars.

I also finished up the final book for the Erdrich-along (though not my final Erdrich book -- I still have a small pile waiting to be read). The Bingo Palace is one of her older novels and returns to some of the characters featured in Love Medicine. The main character is Lipsha Morrissey, whose parentage was one of the big reveals of the first novel, and we follow him as he struggles with love and luck. As with all of Erdrich's novels, there is a wonderful mix of the heartbreaking and the hilarious. There's a small appearance by Fleur Pillager and even a mention of everyone's favorite, Nanapush. It really made me want to reread Love Medicine sooner rather than later. I gave it 4 stars as well.

I'm currently reading Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone and will be for quite a while; although it's nice to have a larger paperback than I had with the previous books in the series, it also means there are more words on the page and thus it takes me longer to read one. I may take a break from it while we're here because my mother left me the hardback of Horse, and I'd rather not carry it back home, but we'll see. So much depends on work, which I can't predict.

What are you making and reading this week?

Dispatches from Farther South

Good morning and happy equinox! I am happy to tell you that we arrived safely and only a little late in Florida yesterday afternoon, after having to sprint through a very crowded Charlotte airport to make our connection (on the plus side, pretty much everyone else had already boarded by the time we got to the gate, so we didn't have to wait to get on the plane). The weather here was not great yesterday, but this afternoon should be just about perfect to soak up some vitamin D while I work.

I started a new book and got a little progress made on a new project (which I'd started on Friday but really only done the set-up of a tubular cast-on done) while on the plane:

A Diet Coke was consumed only to supplement the one coffee I had before the first flight of the day, which started with a 5:30 a.m. wake-up

The project is a fingering weight version of the secret design submission, so I likely won't be able to show you much more until I know whether it's been accepted or not. But I can tell you that the yarn is amazing. It's Fibernymph Dye Works Heavenly, which is Lisa's MCN base, which I have somehow never used before. I won this skein as a prize in her make-along last year, and it's a gradient from this light blue to a darker blue to a gray. I'm just knitting basic brioche stitch right now, which I can mostly do without looking, so I was able to read while knitting. The book is the latest in the Outlander series; it came out in 2021, but I was waiting for the paperback to come out because these books are always bricks and I could not deal with the weight of the hardback version. I managed about 100 pages in total yesterday, so maybe I'll actually finish the book while we're here!

In addition to my travel project, I also brought the yarn for my next sweater (my Love Note stayed at home, though I did make some progress last week -- I'm ready to start the short rows on the body to lower the back), and I cast on last night while my mother and I were watching the first episodes of the new seasons of Call the Midwife and Sandition.

Apologies for the darkness of the photo; it was taken before the sun was up. This is the start of Andrea Mowry's Birch Pullover, which I'm knitting with the yarn I bought earlier this month. I did yet another tubular cast-on for this and nearly finished the collar, so soon the more involved stitches will start. I ended up going with size 3/3.25 mm needles, so this is going to be a marathon of a knit. I think it'll be a great sweater to wear when it's done, though, so I'm okay with that.

In addition to these two projects, I also brought yarn to knit a baby sweater as a gift for a coworker, who's expecting her first grandchild in June, and a ball of kitchen cotton in case I need a little instant gratification in the form of some dishcloths. I expect we will also make a trip to the local Michaels at some point because my mother wants to learn how to crochet corner-to-corner (she's a pretty decent crocheter, though she hasn't done it in a while, so I expect she'll pick it up easily). 

Well, I'd better wrap this up so I can get out for my run before it gets too warm and before my 11 a.m. team meeting for work! I hope your first day of spring brings you some sunshine!

It's My Own Fault

Happy Friday, friends! It is an exceedingly gloomy day here, with rain expected pretty much all day, but I am thankful that it is rain and not snow like we had earlier in the week and that I don't have to walk to work in it -- getting to the office half soaked was always such a drag in the old days. Today is Rainbow's last day of school before she's off for two weeks of spring break, and we're headed to Florida on Sunday (let's not talk about the fact that I haven't even started packing yet). I'm still going to be working while I'm there, but the ability to work while sitting on the lanai in the sun makes it much more appetizing!

Today I have another cautionary tale to share, another chapter in the long saga of the m*th infestation of several years ago. I've tried to be vigilant, but they're tough buggers to kill. When I took out my dress form to take photos of the secret design project the other day, I found some more damage. The dress form lives behind our bedroom door, and I've had what I now know is a bad habit of tossing shawls and cowls over it when I'm not wearing them. Of course, this is creating the perfect conditions for those little buggers: woolly items that I've worn (so they have body oils on them and thus a scent) in a dark area. Fortunately, I found only one item really damaged, but sadly it was my first Hitchhiker, which was knit from handspun, and in a truly ironic twist, I only just recently tossed the little ball of yarn I had leftover from the project.

This and two other handspun projects that were closest to where the m*ths seemed to be congregating went into a hot bath (everything else was inspected and then put into individual Ziplock bags), and once they were dry, I found some close-enough yarn in my stash to repair the holes.

If you enlarge the photo to see the repair more closely, you can see that the repair yarn isn't a perfect match, but I think it's close enough. After I did some duplicate stitch on both sides of the holes, I needle-felted the areas a bit just so that the ends of where the yarn was chewed through don't go anywhere. It's a bit upsetting that this happened, but I have only myself to blame for not taking better care of my handknits, and truly fixing the holes took maybe 10 minutes. I did find some m*th damage to an old sweater, one that was my first adult-sized sweater that never really looked good on me, so I've taken it as a sign to finally unravel it. It was knit from undyed non-superwash wool yarn, so it'll make some excellent dryer balls!

While I haven't started packing things like clothes or toiletries yet for my trip, I have of course planned out what knitting I'm taking. My Love Note, though it's grown quite a bit the last couple of days, is staying at home, but I need a bigger project to take with me, so I've been swatching for my Birch Pullover using the yarn I bought from Dusty Tree a couple of weeks ago.

My first swatch was on the size 2 needles recommended in the pattern, but last night I started another using size 3 needles because the gauge was looking a bit small (yes, I cheated and measured before blocking, but I figured I might as well start another swatch given that my time is limited). The sweater does call for positive ease, so I'd rather I have fewer stitches per inch than called for than more (in other words, I'd rather have my sweater turn out a bit larger than it should than smaller). I'm also planning to take some fingering weight yarn to knit a baby gift and a lighter version of the secret design project. And my mother wants to learn C2C crochet, so I expect we'll be visiting Michaels while we're there to get supplies.

I hope your day is less gloomy and m*th free! Have a great weekend!