what does it look like to you?

My friend, Emily gave me a miniature rose for my birthday a few weeks ago - it's still blooming, and very {pretty}.

I'm {happy} that I finally made myself finish up my pumpkin colored hand warmers.

a great challenge to take a photo with the left hand - when you're right handed

I still need practice in getting them just right, but since I have a thing for hand warmers, that shouldn't be a problem. (even though it's too cold here right now for anything resembling incomplete gloves)

My {funny} consists of some cream cheese cookies I made. They're good - no disasters here this time!  You shape them into logs and roll them in chopped pistachios.  However, I found that when I tried to photograph them, they end up looking like slices of poultry!  See what I mean:

Now doesn't that look like turkey to you?  Except the little browned one at the top, maybe. I wonder if it's the knife I used.

Thanks again to Leila.

Tuscan Sky hand warmers

Back to knitting, and the simple wristlets again. This yarn is too pricey for a large project, but eleven dollars for hand-made wool hand warmers?  Not to mention the pleasure I have in making them. The yarn's been discontinued, but I am so tempted to just buy up every color they have left and make a bunch of these.

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.

cherry red felted hand warmers

Yesterday on the spur of the moment, I cut up a thrifted sweater that I'd felted a year or two ago and made myself some festive hand warmers.

Much easier to make than to photograph  -  and way faster than knitting them myself.

warm hands, wet chives

It's Thursday again, and I'm joining Leila and Rosie for their {p,f,h,r} -

This is my {pretty} - some merino wool I got for a pair of hand warmers. Looks like a little pumpkin, doesn't it?  

And this is my {happy} - hand warmers which I just finished last night

The same yarn, got on sale from Jimmy Beans Wool for four dollars and something a skein!   For the next pair, I'm going to alter the pattern a bit.   We're definitely in the weather for these things - today it's in the 40s.

I was also {happy} for my hot cereal on a day like this.  Kasha with raisins.

The {real}ity of leaving things until almost the last minute caused me to end up with a load of wet chives, gathered in the rain, and too wet to do anything with but let them dry in the oven. Which seems to be working out nicely; warming the kitchen and spreading their lovely aroma - not too oniony, just nice.

Thank you, Rosie and Leila!

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

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.

hopefulness

 There are icicles everywhere. Riding along, you see scads of them, hanging on almost every building. I don't know why some buildings don't have them. It's very cold all the time, but when the sun is bright, I guess there is some melting, because these things are lengthening by the day.

I had finished knitting the hand warmers and gave them to my friend, but I'm knitting another pair with the same yarn. She wears them over thin knitted gloves, and the basic bind-off I use doesn't have any give, really - they could be a little less tight at the opening, and since I have more of the yarn, and they're easy to make, I'm knitting another pair with a different bind-off, and it does seem better. I have a book that's just cast-ons and bind-offs, and it's very handy. Sometimes you buy books you think it would be good to have, and they just accumulate and you wonder why you bought them, but I'm happy I bought this one. 

A year ago, I received a book of Coleridge's poems, which I'd asked for, but they haven't really clicked with me. I enjoyed Malcolm Guite's Mariner, so I guess I'm more interested in the man than in his poetry. But I do like this one which I read today:

All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair -
The bees are stirring - birds are on the wing -
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I, the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.

Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, o ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.

- Work Without Hope, composed Feb 21st, 1825

And we know from Emily Dickinson, don't we, that hope's the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

Easter Thursday

The morning kindles all the sky,
The heavens resound with anthems high,
The shining angels as they speed,
Proclaim, "The Lord is risen indeed!"

I found a new podcast, from First Things, and today they're speaking to a Lutheran pastor. One of this week's sponsors is an online music station called Lutheran Public Radio, and they are playing music for the 50 days of Easter, going up to Pentecost. It seems to be traditional hymns and classical-type music, and I'm going to tune in now and then.

I picked up another Brother Cadfael mystery, because Cadfael and most of the monks are good company, and I love the Middle Ages. I am also knitting a pair of hand warmers for a co-worker. For Christmas. No, not next Christmas, but the recent one. It has not taken me four months to knit two mitts, but I have had more setbacks of all kinds for this project - well, I could never begin to relate, but it's been strange. Anyway, I ended up buying her something else so I could continue knitting in some sort of peace. 

I'm almost finished! Just in time for the warm weather. (It was around ninety today, and will be again tomorrow!)

holiday warmth

 

My green Lands End scarf and red hand warmers made from the sleeves of a thrifted sweater. 

such a difference a day makes

Oh, May 1st and it was around seventy today - tomorrow, eighty five! The warmth just changes everything; after work I decided to wash my winter gloves - not the hand warmers, mind, I used a pair this morning - but the gloves. I didn't tell myself don't bother, you've been working all day, you've done enough. Spring is in the air and I wanted to get it done. 

Now they're drying on a towel in the spare room. Yesterday I put away my tights, tying each in a knot and storing them in a tote bag. I feel like I'm getting somewhere.

finis

 I am finally done with these hand warmers; well, I have to weave in the yarn ends on one of them. But, that's it! A very late Christmas present, just in time for the warm weather.

reading and knitting

 I felt like knitting, using up leftover yarn, but couldn't settle on a plan. So, I'm just doing it, with the ends of the wool I've used for the hand warmers. I'll most likely felt it. And then figure out what to do with the result. 

I've got a library book called Soldier of the American Revolution - it's got lots of photos. This part really surprised me:

"During the Revolution, American soldiers were the most literate soldiers in the world. At the beginning of the war, the army was almost entirely recruited in New England, where approximately 80 percent of adults could read as compared to less than 40 percent in England. The unusual practice of teaching reading to boys and girls from every level of society probably found its origins in Puritanism that promoted individual Bible study. " 

I am amazed. It goes on to say  "Reading and writing were taught separately, the former often without the latter. Of the people that could read printed material, only a small percentage could write and read cursive text. These were typically wealthy landowners, merchants, clerks, clergymen, or others whose occupations required correspondence or record keeping. An important part of penmanship consisted in mastering the art of carving goose or turkey quills."

Interesting; they could read but not necessarily write. 

knitting in August

I never want to knit in July or August - I don't enjoy touching yarn with my sweaty hands. But this year August is hardly recognizable! And a small project (color block hand warmers) isn't so bad while sitting in front of a fan.

being prepared

It really does pay to plan ahead. I knew I wanted to wear my lighter weight linen dress to this early October wedding, but had no idea of what weather to expect. Looking online I found an archive of temperatures on that date, in that region, for the past five years - it ranged from sixty three down to forty seven. And that's daytime temps; nights are always cool in autumn. I bought a pretty wool shawl, I knitted wool hand warmers, I bought under-layers and even footless tights!

When packing time came I almost left the mitts home - it's been pretty nice around here and I was wondering if I'd been overdoing it. Saturday was a nice day, even when we checked in. But I ended up with my shawl over me the whole time, and even my mitts, because the reception area was partly open-air and it was overcast and kind of damp.

I'm glad I don't have to think about this anymore, but it seems that planning was a good thing.

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.

knitting agony

After all these years of knitting, I am finally making myself do something with double pointed needles. Hand warmers.

What a misery.

But I'm getting used to it.

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.

on my mind...

Tracy over at Sunny Corner Farm has more than once mentioned Rhonda's blog, Down to Earth. Apparently on Fridays Rhonda has something going on called "On My Mind...".   and I thought I'd join in this week.

What's on my mind today is the situation in New England, of power outages and people I know shivering in their houses all night.  I was the only one among my co-workers who hadn't lost electricity, until yesterday - now some are beginning to get it back.  It started snowing on Saturday - wet snow, because it isn't cold enough for anything drier - and it stuck in bushes and trees most of which still had all their leaves attached. It got windy overnight, and limbs and branches bent and swayed in the wind and under the weight of the heavy accumulations. You'd hear cracks. You'd suddenly notice how tall and how close to your house the trees really are. A big branch fell over the roof of my brother's nice shed. In the middle of the night a big limb went over into our neighbors yard, and it was hard to tell how far it went, or if it touched their home. Our dear little ornamental cherry bowed down under the weight.

The lights flickered many times, and I knew they'd go out at some point. But they didn't! It seems (or so everyone says) we're on the same grid as the local hospital - we almost never lose power. We went to church next day in the cold - I wore my hand warmers and kept my coat on. The library was without electricity till Wednesday, and without internet and other computer services till today. I listen to my fellow librarians talk about their 47 degree homes, M. is sleeping with a nightcap on; D. heated up water with candles so she could wash up without freezing; L. said she's been taking cold showers -  I told her she should try jumping in the ocean in winter! G. was saying she was getting teary-eyed while driving to work - it's cold, and it's wearing on her. C. has been enjoying listening to the radio! - nice jazz at night with the family.

I had several come here to shower; cooked up some hot food yesterday if anyone wanted to come to a warm house and have some  -  a couple were able to.  Some roads in a neighboring town are still impassable unless you know the area and can take another route.  For the first few days, the lines at gas stations had dozens of cars in them; I knew at least four people who got theirs in the middle of the night to avoid waiting.

And then, our power went off today, and was still off when I came home from work. I was determined to make the best of it - why should I be exempt from what all the others have been suffering? I put batteries in the lanterns, found a couple of candles and planned to dig out my thermals. But then it came back on, and I knew they'd just taken us down ifor a while in order to work on the system.

In Iraq, people set off fire bombs and car bombs. In Turkey, the earthquake.  It's not that bad here. But I found myself wishing we had some sort of way to cook food if need be.  I realized I should keep a very few candles around, just in case, and forget about the fact that I don't like fire in the house.

I was reading Rhonda's blog a little. She got to a place in her life where she realized there had to be a better way to live. There are people in this world who are trying to live more simply, and learn how to do more things for themselves. We've so gotten away from all this knowledge!  I want to learn some of it, and find the balance between what I'm able to do and what's unrealistic.

Thanks, Rhonda.  Oh, the shed is fine, and so is the cherry tree.

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.