yarn along, Robin Hood and Gladys Taber

I started to knit a poncho, so I can join Ginny's yarnalong this month. I was never keen on ponchos, until I bought one from Lands End overstocks - wool rich, for fifteen dollars. I figured it might come in handy. It did, but after washing it gently in the washer every spring for a few years it felted enough so that it's too constricting now. And I miss having a poncho.

The pattern is on Ravelry, it's a Coats and Clark design by Marilyn Coleman, very poorly photographed. The yarn is Cascade 220 aran superwash. I wanted it warm, but washable. It isn't cheap to knit a poncho if you want some substance to it, so this pattern and this yarn seemed the best course. Let's hope.

I read too many things at once. But I'm trying to focus on the bottom two, which are interlibrary loans. The scenery descriptions in Robin Hood evoke everybody's ideal of merry old England, which is just delightful; Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge consists of letters written between Gladys Taber and Barbara Shenton. These women were so articulate, their letters so eloquently descriptive of their normal everyday lives, I feel like a dope because I know I couldn't do that. Of course, I don't try very hard, either; I'm a poor correspondent. But it makes you feel like you should try.

Dear Barbara, 
   So far as I know, none of our dogs has ever caught a frog. But I can hear the popping sounds all day as the poor things leap back into the water as the Irish [setter] lunges at them. When I go down to swim, one very green, very wise frog sits by the stone steps and waits for me, and he knows nobody is going to disturb him. He blinks a watery eye and just watches. He is the first frog I have ever known personally and we have nice little visits. ...

Dear Gladys,
   This morning as we sat at breakfast on the terrace, chairs pleasantly damp and cool from last night's rain, our own mockingbird singing incidental music and the trumpet vine nodding to us in a sunburst of bloom from the top of the gum tree, we cast a contemplative and, in the direction of Stillmeadow, a nostalgic glance back over our finally-realized trip.

I think I would feel better if I knew they had used the typewriter, at least.

nobility in small things

I finished my ankle warmers the other day by just joining the edges to make a tube. I thought they'd be too narrow, so I planned to knit inserts in them with extra solid colored yarn, like a stripe on each. But as I fussed over them I realized they would easily fit without stretching too much without bothering to knit any stripes. So. They are made with Adriafil Bi-Use, a most unromantic name for yarn, especially an Italian one, don't you think?

So hard to get a good picture, but I can still join Ginny's yarnalong.

I've been reading A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction, by Christopher O. Blum and Joshua P. Hochschild.

The challenge of Christian life is to find nobility even in small things. We should not need trumpets sounding, red carpets under our feet, or laurels on our heads to remember our dignity and the higher purpose we are called to serve. ..In this sense, even one of the lowliest station can live a noble life.

                                      -   from  A Mind at Peace

too much to read, but knitting anyway

It's not very often I join in with yarnalong.  I finally got going on my little scarf, and I am at a point where I've internalized it and don't need to look at the directions anymore.

I bought the pattern through ravelry - it's called Veron. By a woman named Poirot!  I wonder if she's related to Hercule?  Anyway, it's got a nice wide cabled border, and when your yarn weighs twenty percent of what it weighed when you started, you start the border on the other side. I hope.   I like this light blue yarn with the primary red, blue and yellow specks, plus some olive ones.  The knitting bag was a gift from Cheryl - it has a drawstring and is a good size for smaller projects.

I'm reading too many books, but sometimes that just happens. Because of my recent interest in Fruitlands and the "American Bloomsbury" group from Concord, MA , I've been reading "Little Women" again after so many years. I'm so surprised at how I'm enjoying it! I also found a used copy of one of Tif Fussell's books - she's the lady behind Dottie Angel - because I was curious about her.  Those two books are the light reading, and when my brain is working properly I am trying to learn more about our electoral system. This book by Tara Ross is very thorough - Very Thorough - and she's in favor of it. Which I am too, by the way, even though I find it hard to understand. So, that's why I bought this. Finally, I've been following along with Leila's book club with Josef Ratzinger's "The Spirit of the Liturgy" on Fridays.

I also want to congratulate Ginny and her family on the birth of little Mae. Many blessings to them all!

knitting in public

Well, I didn't know this till later in the day, but today is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Did you know that?  I had no plans to go out, so I made a point of sitting out on the back step for a while.  Next to the old watering can, with the sweet scent of the wild roses nearby.

But I don't think anyone saw me.  I've picked up my hand warmers again - I'd finished one, but then got sidetracked on them till the other day.

I've been reading The Princes in the Tower, by Alison Weir. All the to-do about Richard III's skeleton gave me a keen interest in the subject; then I discovered we had a book about it at the library. There are apparently many written since the discovery. It all happened so long ago - you kind of would like to think everybody's been wrong about him. I also read Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time - I did enjoy that and was beginning to really believe Richard wasn't the monster of history, but... Alison Weir thinks differently. In fact, she says she used to think he was innocent, too. Until she started digging (no pun meant). So, I'm feeling my disappointment rise as I read along. She deals in facts; it seems Richard's defenders deal mostly in emotion. Oh, well.

Joining Ginny's yarnalong.

hot like summer, but no fireflies yet

I have surprised myself at how well I'm doing with my hand warmers - I've only had to rip it out once, and that was at the beginning. I'm ready to switch back to the smaller needles to do ribbing, bind off, and make the thumb on the first one.

I'm still enjoying Out of Africa - her way of seeing things, and then telling them is so appealing to me. Here she speaks of a plane ride:

We landed on the white shore, that was white-hot as an oven, and lunched there, taking shelter against the sun under the wing of an aeroplane. If you stretched out your hand from the shade, the sun was so hot that it hurt you. Our bottles of beer when they first arrived with us, straight out of the ether, were pleasantly cold, but before we had finished them, in a quarter of an hour, they became as hot as a cup of tea.

I have this week off from work, and even though it's May, it's just like a summer vacation: hot and humid, except the nights are still pleasant, unlike in July when we usually have these temperatures. I'm loving it!  Memorial Day was very nice; quite warm but cloudy, and comfortable to sit outside for hours.  The only things lacking are the fireflies - it's too early for them yet.

making the pasta salad

The Fireflies

Here in the highlands, when the long rains are over, and in the first week of June nights begin to be cold, we get the fireflies in the woods. 

On an evening you will see two or three of them, adventurous lonely stars floating in the clear air, rising and lowering, as if upon waves, or as if curtseying. To that rhythm of their flight they lighten and put out their diminutive lamps. You may catch the insect and make it shine upon the palm of your hand, giving out a strange light, a mysterious message, it turns the flesh pale green in a small circle round it. The next night there are hundreds and hundreds in the woods.

For some reason they keep within a certain height, four or five feet, above the ground. It is impossible then not to imagine that a whole crowd of children of six or seven years, are running through the dark forest carrying candles, little sticks dipped in a magic fire, joyously jumping up and down, and gamboling as they run, and swinging their small pale torches merrily. The woods are filled with a wild frolicsome life, and it is all perfectly silent.

- Out of Africa,  by Isak Dinesen

Thanks to Ginny and her yarnalong

mostly wool mitts and Out of Africa

I wanted to join Ginny for yarnalong today (which was really yesterday).

Cyndi gave me some different yarns for Christmas which I hadn't done anything with yet; so, I picked out this Kathmandu Aran the other day, which is mostly wool, with some silk and a bit of cashmere, 104 yards. Since I have such a weakness for hand warmers, I chose this pattern - 70 Yard Mitts, by Hannah Fettig. They're cute, and I only just started.

Working with size three dpn's took me a few minutes to get used to, but now I think I'm good. I'll switch to sixes soon (that is, when Linda loans me hers, because I could have sworn I had some, but I guess not). The color is a sort of brick tweed, which is hard to tell here.

Two weeks ago I brought home Out of Africa to watch - had never seen it!  Now I'm reading the book, out of curiosity for the real story, because I know the film was romanticized; and I've looked with interest at it many times at the library. She was a real poet in her descriptions of Africa.

The chief feature of the landscape, and of your life in it, was the air. Looking back on a sojourn in the African highlands, you are struck by your feeling of having lived for a time up in the air. The sky was rarely more than pale blue or violet, with a profusion of mighty, weightless, ever-changing clouds towering up and sailing on it, but it has a blue vigour in it, and at a short distance it painted the ranges of hills and the woods a fresh deep blue. In the middle of the day the air was alive over the land, like a flame burning; it scintillated, waved and shone like running water, mirrored and doubled all objects, and created great Fata Morgana. Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be.

socks on straight needles

We got this new book at the library about using straight needles to knit your socks. The author has invented a special way of doing this for those who have a hard time with multiple needles. I've gotten over that issue but it looks interesting all the same, and I have some Wool-Ease I want to use up. I did the gauge yesterday, and cast on today; we'll see how it goes.

Joining Ginny for yarnalong.

knitting with Gladys Taber

I'm joining Ginny this week with another pair (the sixth!) of these handwarmers which are so appealing and easy to knit. I'm reading another from Gladys Taber, Amber being her five-pound Abyssinian cat. Gladys was an animal and nature lover and had many cocker spaniels, Irish setters and cats.

"Amber hears it [the Canada geese flying over] and it means something to her, although I cannot explain what. She listens, she watches, her tail comments.

The geese are going over, I say. I pray for happy landings."

She talks to Amber, explains things to her and on the whole, seems to understand her cat pretty well. Apparently Gladys Taber wrote quite a few books, and I am happy to look forward to reading them.

New Year yarnalong

I finished my cowl finally. I do like it! I wasn't sure - I've never had one before. I guess I need to block it.

Thought I must try a selfie, since it was just named the most annoying word of the past year but I couldn't get it right; still, it looks passable in black and white.

I'm kind of in between books right now, but have been looking through these two:

The Christmas one is from another library, recommended by Anne. The other was a present, and is very interesting, with much about ancient times.  Glad I don't live in that era, though.

Thanks to Ginny, and yarnalong.

two winter yarns

I'm joining Ginny again for yarnalong. I've begun knitting a cowl for myself, just because it's a good way to use up some Wool Ease Chunky - I don't know if I'll even like it. We'll see. I'm using the Simple Ribbed Cowl pattern here on Ravelry. 

I have issues with using circular needles - it feels like my gauge is loose when I use them, at least at the beginning of the work until I get going. So it was fortuitous that when I decided to make this, I didn't have any size thirteen circulars and had to go with the elevens.

My book is one of Anne Perry's annual Christmas mysteries, A Christmas Odyssey, from three years ago. These are always enjoyable and there are about a dozen by now, and can be read in any order since they're not a series.

green mitts and cats

I am still enamored with knitting these hand warmers, and getting better at it, too.  Susan showed me where to learn how to avoid those holes you get near the thumbs.  Practice.  Here is the link.

I've been reading Cat Sense by John Bradshaw, been quoting it here and am still at it - it's detailed and my reading's been slacking off lately.   Cats seem incapable of forming alliances between family groups, unlike, for example, some primates; negotiation skills of this sophistication lie beyond their capabilities. It's all quite interesting.

joining Ginny for yarnalong.

mitt progression

I finished my super bulky, thick and thin hand warmers. I absolutely love them.

You may be able to see the predictable hole near the thumb on the left-hand one.  The other is better since I wove in the ends and tightened up the holes. And that's okay, but I'd rather learn how to knit that thumb gusset without holes instead of having to sew it up!  

I'm practicing; I started another pair, with yarn I thought was a charcoal color, but is really more of a plummy brown. 

see the cat hair?

They work up in a trice! I'm still reading Outcasts United, but sometimes I want something a little different, so I've been going through L. M. Montgomery's work. Thanks to some tips I stumbled on at Ravelry, I picked up stitches further down when I did the thumb on this one, and that's an improvement. But I still don't have it quite right. I'm so sorry this yarn is discontinued - it lends so much interesting texture to these mitts. But I think there are some etsy sellers who make something similar. 

Here's a closeup of what I mean -

How satisfying to quickly whip up something with so much personality! 

Joining Ginny today for yarnalong.

very bulky hand warmers

Since finally getting comfortable with dpn knitting recently, I am happily supplying myself with hand-warmers. These are the Simple Wristlets, made with super bulky yarn - so fast! 

This is the recommended yarn, which is Malabrigo Gruesa, a terrific thick-and-thin wool which gives such an interesting look to these mitts - I don't even like them in plain old yarn. Gruesa has been discontinued but I managed to find some online. I bought two neutrals: a natural color and a charcoal. (but yesterday I ordered some more in lettuce green and a cool light blue!) Anyway, needless to say I love the stuff. I'm also finding that for double pointed knitting, I actually like wooden needles - my work seems secure on them, not likely to slip off too-slippery needles. For regular knitting, I've always preferred the old-fashioned aluminum or plastic I learned on (now I'm showing my age, I guess).

My book is Outcasts United, about a mostly-African refugee community in Georgia. It's about people from nations at war trying to make their way in a strange place. Also, a young Jordanian Smith College graduate who's good at soccer - she ends up in this town and coaches the young men from these families, giving them some focus and teaching them about teamwork. I like it so far.

Thanks to Ginny.

Ash Wednesday yarnalong

I'm still working on the squares for the baby blanket - I've done four; three pink and a cream.

I just finished Madam, Will You Talk?, another of Mary Stewart's thrillers. I so enjoy them every once in a few months. This is one I hadn't read before, and very exciting. Her books just suck me in, and I think a lot of it has to do with the level of descriptiveness; she had an amazing ability for that.

I'm still with The Devil's Right Hand, but now that it's Lent, I'm veering a little toward books which will help me along during the season.  Working in a library is funny - I buy books which appeal to me, and then find a spot for them on my shelf. And there they sit, because books at work grab my attention first. And anyway, if I own something, I can read it any time, right?  I won't be at the library forever!  (although I've been there 25 years already)

Well, Lent is a time to clear out stuff which is hanging around - spiritually and otherwise, so I'm going to be working on my bookcase, among other things.

I found the Miracles of John Paul II.   Which aren't really "yarns". But I'll be yarning along with them, anyway.

a baby blanket and a murder

I've had my eye on this cute baby blanket for a couple of years, I think.  I recently got some chunky yarn reduced at a local yarn store which was closing. I decided to make it!

I've got three squares done. If you're a member at Lion Brand, you can see the pattern, called the Country Cousins Baby Blanket. It calls for five squares of one color, four of another. I don't have enough to do it their way, but I can get four from the pink, and four from some cream.  I also have a skein of white and one of off-white. I'll figure out what I want to do as I go along. I may make some stripey squares.

The pattern calls for Homespun - a yarn I really don't like, although it does give it a nice appearance. How well it would hold up after a few washings I can't guess.  I used that yarn once and it separated while knitting - I don't trust it. Not to mention the curliness of it, which gives a nice effect, but you can't even tell what kind of stitch you've been doing!

Well, enough complaining!  I'm using Plymouth Encore Chunky, which is one quarter wool. We'll see how it turns out.

My reading choice is hardly something which juxtaposes very well with a baby blanket -

The Colt family story is kind of local history, and I am acquainted with the author. Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd have the stomach to read this gory tale. His Nathan Hale book was far more to my taste - history, I love!

Thanks to Ginny and her yarnalong.

yarning along toward Christmas

I'm joining Ginny's yarnalong today, making another crocheted bag to use up my yarn.  The pattern is so simple and enjoyable to work on.  This one will be slightly smaller by four rows - we'll see how it turns out.

A library is a constant drop-off point for unwanted books, and all kinds of things come through our place. I picked this up last year, and I'm just finding out what a treasure it is.

Filled with recipes, prayers and meditations, old carols and their histories, Bible readings, quotations - a feel-good book for sure.  And you may recognize Edith Schaeffer's The Hidden Art of Homemaking next to it, which always always puts things back in perspective for me.

I'm also perusing this magazine

which was given to me. How to choose which cookies to bake?  Our Christmas party at the library is Friday, and I'll be making something from these pages tomorrow, if I make up my mind!

Thanks to Ginny!

three books and a bag

I'm joining Ginny's yarnalong today, with my (finally) completed Attic24 crochet bag.

It was done a month ago, but I've been hung up with the flowers. First, figuring out how to make crocheted flowers, then making a few, then looking at other crocheted flower designs. Not to mention trying to decide if I even wanted flowers on it, and then determining how to place the handles. 

I just began reading Therese: Saint of a Little Way, by Frances Parkinson Keyes. I've seen her books on the library shelf, but never tried one. It's very good so far - at least, the preface was; this is a post-war edition to the original, where she's gone back to France where she wrote the book in the beautiful atmosphere of a Benedictine Abbey in Lisieux years before, to see a bombed-out ruin of a town. 

Here are the flowers I made for the bag, but when it came down to it, I thought I'd prefer it without. This time. Because I like the pattern, and will probably make it again. 

It's quite a large bag, the diameter at the top being twenty six inches!  The size of it is an invitation to load it up with things, but I doubt the handles could take the stress.  I'll try a smaller version next time, and maybe find a way to reinforce the handles. 

I am actually reading three books - Let God's Light Shine Forth: the Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI, and I'm still also with Columbus' log. All three enjoyable in their own ways.

Thank you, Ginny!

handwarmer yarnalong

Because of the storm aftermath, I have a little more time for a Wednesday, and thought I'd join in with Ginny's yarnalong.  I'm knitting another pair of handwarmers, changing them a bit from the previous ones, which I finished just in time for Mass yesterday morning in a church without electricity!  I'm making these with the same yarn, but a trifle shorter; and I'm wanting to change the edging - but I'm not sure to what!  Yet.  They're very simple, knit from side to side, then sewn up with a space for thumbs.

My book is The Log of Christopher Columbus, which I've been curious about for several years. I will probably not read every word - I'm no sailor, so  may not understand it all - but I expect it to be interesting. And the cover kind of matches my yarn, doesn't it?  That wasn't planned!!

I'm also using a bookmark which happens to be from Spain - I got it from this person after she went on a cruise in the Mediterranean.  We work together.

From the book:  "In a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella written in 1501 he [Columbus] said, 'I went to sea at an early age, and there I have continued to this day; the same art inclines those who follow it to wish to know the secrets of this world....I have sailed everywhere that is navigable....Our Lord found this my desire very proper....[He]...opened my understanding with his hand, so that I became capable of sailing from here to the Indies, and He set fire to my will to carry this out, and with this fire came to your Highnesses.'"

The pattern can be found on Ravelry - the Easy Fingerless Mitts, by Roxanne Richardson.

Thank you, Ginny!

yarning along with Ginny

I thought I would join Ginny today in her weekly Yarn Along.

I've done quite a bit on Lucy's Attic24 crochet bag - just a couple more rows, then I do the ruffle edge.  And I'm re-reading Persuasion along with Rachel who's got a discussion going on her blog. 

Making this bag is a way of trying to use up yarn, so it's not a lovely thing like Lucy's, with her carefully chosen colors. And because of all the colors, there's still so much yarn left!  But I haven't crocheted in years, and this is a fun and easy project; if it comes out well, I may do another.

If you haven't read any Jane Austen, Persuasion would be a good place to start - it's short, for one thing. And a very satisfying love story, for another.

Thank you, Ginny!