by Kat | 4 days ago | General, In This Moment
The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. — Lady Bird Johnson
Earth Day 2024… it seems somehow more important after a winter that wasn’t really winter. And spring, well… she has been springing. Lots. But last night’s hard frost will set back things a bit. Sigh. This will be the second year in a row that our “backyard” tree will lose its first leaves to frost. (In previous years, this tree had not bloomed until mid-May.)
Ironically… I put up the new Oriole feeder and heard the sweet song of a Baltimore Oriole yesterday. Fingers crossed they like the jelly I put out for them!
I spent a good bit of time doing some “knitty maths” around my gauge over the weekend. This always makes me a bit nervous, but took my calculations and cast on based upon those calculations… a big yay that I am knitting a smaller size, thanks to my gauge! But still… there are nerves, it is bottom up construction – which is not always the “easiest” to try on for fit… I managed to knit about 30-ish rows which I then threaded on some waste yarn and “tried it on” and then promptly ripped back… I am bumping up a size, because I do not want “snug around my ass ribbing”… so I have a bit more confidence with the second try. I think once I get going, this sweater will move quickly! The pattern is fun… so fun! I am knitting with some skeins of Briar Rose Fibers yarn… Chris has been much on my mind recently and my plan is to knit some love her way…each stitch a meditation for her.
The one yuck thing on my list is packing this week… We head to Erie Thursday afternoon and I have LOTS to get ready between now and then.
So I better get started! See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Apr 15, 2024 | General, In This Moment
Hello everyone… I hope your Monday is starting easy!
Mine started with a bit of an explanation point! Yes, just after midnight, I was awoken by the sound of an explosion of hail stones being hurled at the house. It was so loud and the winds were so wild!
That exclamation point was soon followed by more flood warnings as some areas near us were evacuated. April sure as heck has been rainy and we added another almost 3 inches to those totals last night! All this rain has upset my “sweater washing” apple cart… that task might have to move to May!
But… I do have a tulip or four to share with you!
Please ignore the jaggerbush at the top, I did not have a glove handy to pull it out! But it will soon be gone… never fear!
I have never, ever seen such short-stemmed tulips, but I guess in their Tulip Minds, they thought that with the lack of leaves to protect their blossoms, closer to ground might be better…But they BLOOMED!
Tomorrow is a big day for me… and I am more than a bit nervous about it. I go to meet with the audiologist to figure out hearing aids. So if you could send me all your calming juju, I’d be so grateful!
Happy Monday everyone! See you all back here on Wednesday with something FUN!
by Kat | Apr 7, 2024 | General, In This Moment
An eclipse is one phenomenon that is actually more impressive from the ground. — Leroy Chiao
There has been so much Eclipse Hype on everything… the local news especially, here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh but I am not sure they counted for grey, cloudy skies… very cloudy skies and rain!
But today, as we creep up to the eclipse, I will be making Mourning Dove silhouette’s to sit on the lines from my backyard. These doves will grace the seventeenth page giving a bit of me to my daughter’s book. I love the doves that sit on those lines morning and evening… they are a constant in my day with their meditative calls and gentle nature. They bring calm to my day… for it is impossible to be angry or stressed with these sweet birds.
Ready for the birds!
I have some bits of fabric that I will use to create the doves from to “perch” on my stitched lines. I don’t know how many I will be able to do in my timeframe… but maybe I can get 6 or 8 of them cut out in 15 minutes today! (And no, I am not counting the drawing time in the equation!!) But this will be a very peaceful way to begin my week! Even a rainy, cloudy, likely to ruin an eclipse kind of day! But I am not going to worry about a potentially obscured eclipse, instead I will keep myself grounded in this Monday… with Mourning Doves and slow stitching!
Happy Monday everyone!
by Kat | Mar 11, 2024 | General, In This Moment
Welcome to the Mondayist Monday… the Monday after the Spring Forward time change. Are you all back on track yet? I am better than yesterday but still not feeling “right”.
Yesterday, Old Man Winter reminded us all that Winter Is Not Over. We had wild winds and white-out snow squalls that popped up through out the day. I found it curious that 30°F feels a LOT colder after a string of 60°+ days… and with the wind chill I was bundled up like I was heading to the Arctic Circle for Sherman’s walks yesterday. (In sharp contrast to my insane neighbor who was sporting a t-shirt and shorts when he was outside!)
There was no “Oscar Watching” here yesterday…it might have been fun, but honestly I was struggling to stay awake after dinner and was counting the minutes until bedtime!
There was a big moment that occurred last week though… on Thursday I hit Day 50 in my 100 day Journey! Yes, I am half way through this journey… 10 pages done and I am still having so much fun!
Halfway there!
And with that I will get back to my “usually” scheduled Monday Tasks… See you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Feb 19, 2024 | General, In This Moment
Is for processing the weekends thoughts and ideas!
You all provided an abundance of food for thought with your comments last week…thank you so much for your input!
Yes, I have been thinking LOTS of thoughts about that Great Cabled Disaster of a Sweater… starting with the painful thoughts of ripping the entire thing out.
And while that is a very real possibility for the sweater, I also considered a simpler starting point… buttons to see what that might do. I did not buy new buttons, rather I went to my button jar and pulled out 5 matching buttons and stitched them on. It helped… the tiniest bit. After sewing those buttons on, I am still not at all sure what the designer wanted with the button holes that she wrote in the pattern. Quite simply, they do not work… I managed to jam two buttons through two of the holes and if this sweater is not frogged… they will need some improvement. At the current size it also needs an additional button to snug up the collar.
Next on the adjustment list… the sleeves. The cuffs are just all.too.much. They need to be less bulky… and quite a bit tighter. It might not be too difficult to cut the current cuffs off, put the sleeve stitches on a needle and knit new, tighter, less bulky, better fitting cuffs. Still… this is a lot of work for a sweater that the scale is tipping more and more towards frogging.
I also did a bit of Ravelry searching over the weekend which might be the tipping point for this disaster of a sweater.
So after all this “thought processing” I am pretty sure I know where this sweater is heading… now I just need the right “binge watch” to get that process started!
Happy Monday all, I will see you all back here on Wednesday!
by Kat | Feb 12, 2024 | General, In This Moment
needs a bit of humor…
Yes, we have departed the Fool’s Spring and have arrived at the Second Winter portion of February. Sigh. The snow onslaught begins overnight…
Staying in the Land of Humor… I finished the seaming of the sweater. It might be a trifle big… okay, more than a trifle… more like the Entire Box of Chocolates Big. I am debating in my head the options for said sweater. Stay tuned.
See you all back here on Wednesday where there will likely be LOTS of unraveling!
Page 1 of 9812345...102030...»Last »
