UNRAVELED WEDNESDAY

It's a burst of energy in the MAKING department. First up is the little red sweater knitted last fall for a 4 year old, who wore it camping and got it full of dust, dirt, river water and paint.(don't ask about the paint...uggg). I soaked it for about 30 hours and would you believe, it came out with no paint and clean, clean, clean. 

The variegated yarn is being knitted into a fall sweater for the 2 year old. The yarn colors remind me of 'Indian Summer', a favorite time of year for me. I am religiously using up yarn in my stash during my COVID knitting time/experience. I have had fun pulling out bins of yarn and finding the perfect skien/s for what I have in my mind to knit. Maybe by the fall I will feel the urge to buy some new yarn but for now I am very satisfied with my stash. 

The gold and maroon yarn I frogged from a project 3 years ago. Love the yarn, just not the pattern I had chosen to use the yarn in, I may be having that same issue again! I decided to use this color combo for the Through the Loops Mystery Knit and I am not sure I like my choice. The pattern is amazing, but such contrasting colors, perhaps not. I think maybe 2 color yarns that blend together may have been a better choice for me. I am going to hold off knitting any more on the Mystery shawl and see how it turns out for the other participants. I hate giving up so soon and have had fleeting feelings of failure, then I come to a screeching mind halt and scream, "This is knitting, not a failure but accepting what I like and don't like."  I have never done a Mystery knit before for fear of not liking the end product and using up all that time and material that I could have been making something else that I do like.  Well, first mystery I guess is a bust for me.

The pink and brown quilt is a pattern out of Quilt Mania, that I started a year ago. I had finished 6 squares when I pulled them out 3 weeks ago. It took me all of 4 days to finish the last 24 squares and set in half triangles,( 2 weeks spent finding the magazine with the pattern).  Next the borders will go on, then the machine quilting will commence. 

Books:

Song Yet Sung   *****

I think this is one of the best books I have ever read!

The Last Runaway ***

Interesting, I liked the characters and the descriptions of the quilts. The story , so so.

Looking forward to finding some joy in the my next week of COVID life.

Joining Unraveled Wednesday with Kat

MID WEEK IN JUNE

Erin sent me this picture of her in part of her COVID  uniform. She works for a huge health system in the mid-west that is seeing a spike of COVID patients and has been reassigned to ICU(she has ICU experience) from the OR. She is not thrilled with the reassignment, but times  call for all hands on deck. N95 masks are uncomfortable to wear and with a shield, oye vey!

My heart goes out to her, she is tough and a trooper;-}

Finished Juliette Shawl and I am happy with the yarn I used. I frogged an outfit that I wasn't happy with to re-use with Juliette. Wish I could tell you the name of the yarn, I lost the ball bands...yikes. I am terrible at documenting my projects. Juliette is a great mindless knit and calmed my anxiety during all the issues we are having in America.

Working on a reproduction quilt that I started last year. I really need to knock off several unfinished projects in order to start all the projects I have in my head. I love to start new projects, then get distracted with something else, misplace pieces to unfinished projects or forget about  said unfinished  project(old age)...yada yada. I think I am back on track now and of course have BIG plans.

WHAT A MONTH!

                                                                        

WOW, this month sure is working itself into the pages of history and rightly so! I am optimistic once again with this country, seeing all the people, of all races out marching for change, and the majority are young! This is how real change happens! 

I am amazed that their is still a conversation around the confederate flag, a lost cause flag! A flag that symbolizes slavery and continued racism in America. I am so ready to move on, to look at my own biases, to help change policies across the landscape, to change! It is long past time! Remember to VOTE in November so we can start some real change in this country.

I finished NOTICE and wore it. Though I like the fit and the yarn I used, it is hot to wear! Of course, it is a wool and cotton blend. 'Notice' may, I hope, work for evening wear,( hahaha, like I have anywhere to go for evening wear and in a pandemic). Oh this summer will surely be one the memory books.

Have been getting some very interesting weather, rain, snow and high winds, (40-100mph winds) and of course hail. Thought my windows were going to explode during the last hail storm. The garden, if one can call my small box a garden did survive, though some of the flowers looking sad.

Soon, very soon hope to be camping and watching wild life. Always calming for me, being outside, under the sky and in the trees.

YARN ALONG

Boy, oh boy, having trouble uploading pictures to blogger. Computers, love hate relationship, that is how I feel about these machines! it must be an age thing.

Things I have been doing this past month:

cooking

bread baking

We are digging deep into the freezer for meat, experimenting with homemade salad dressing and cooking up dried beans that have been hanging around far too long in the cabinets.

Sewing, a spinning dress for the girl. She has decided she likes dresses and they must pass the spinning test! We have been having sleepovers every Friday night that have turned into dancing/spinning fest, and all to music that I grew up with...way back in the day;-/

Working on a REAL scrap quilt, using scraps that most quilters would just throw in the bin. I use telephone book pages for the base and willy nilly pull scraps from a HUGE plastic bin filled with every size and colors of fabric. One person's trash is another's treasure!

What I have finished that I can't upload the pictures :

Notice: the first summer shirt I have ever knitted for myself.

Triangle Quilt: finished the machine quilting.

Knitting:

TTL Mystery Shawl

Books:

Valentine  *****

Story of race, small community, Hispanic community, rape.

Pecan Man *****

You have to read this!

The Second Mrs. Hockaday *****

Civil War, women, South, rape, forgiveness, love marriage, redemption

Westering Women *****

Women, The West, Friendship, Redemption, Abuse.

America's First Daughter****

Jefferson, US Politics, Revolutionary War, Family, Slavery

May was a month of reading about Women!

Reading Now:

Tightrope

The American Plague

Nothing to See Here

Eleanor Oliphant

In the NEWS:

A new low, Trump now GASSING peaceful protestors, in AMERICA!  This man is EVIL, has no regard for the Constitution and will be removed from office in NOVEMBER!

YARN ALONG

UNRAVELED WEDNESDAY

YARN ALONG MAY

Continue to stay at home, being in the higher risk category, (higher risk due to age). 

Yes, we go to the grocery store, pick up occasional to go meals, and best of all we are seeing the kids on a limited basis. We are waiting to see the COVID stats mid May, if numbers are going down, will re-evaluate going out more, if numbers go up, tighten up our 'stay at home' regiment. I don't have high hopes that numbers will go down with so many people NOT wearing masks, feeling it infringes on their constitutional rights. Selfish, selfish people!

In the mean time, getting in daily walks. Taking pictures of amazing things in nature, I'm not sure I would of noticed before 'stay at home'.

Reading: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone  *****

Dark Money *****

Knitting: Notice

yarn ; Holst Garn

Are you on 'stay at home' restrictions? How is it going ? How are you using your time?

Wearing a mask when out?

Joining Giny at Yarn Along

Kat Knits; Unraveled Wednesday

APRIL HAPPENINGS

April is a Birthday month in my family. My granddaughter and I have our birthdays one week apart to the day. Of course, I am no longer able to celebrate my day for more than a nano second, since April is all about Betty's day. She started talking about her day early in the month, reminding all, that she is going to be four and that is really big! I was informed that since I couldn't go out, I should just wrap up some of my toys for her! Also, a blue cake was to be made by me, 'my mommy doesn't know how to make cakes, she can only make cookies'. Haha, her Mom owns and runs Me Oh My Pies and Coffee. 

Birthday presents consisted of 6 pints homemade strawberry jam, (Betty's favorite),  one Mimi made quilt, and a Blue Cake. Birthday was a success and a very happy day for Betty.

Yesterday, though cloudy, we went on a long drive up the canyon to look at the river, is it fishable or running to fast?  May, June and part of July, rivers in the West are rising with the 'run off'. All the snow melting in the high country, finding its waterway to the Missouri or Colorado River, depending on which side of the continental divide it's on. Though the run off has definitely started the river is not running too fast to fish. Hopefully we will be able to returned today for some socially distancing fishing. Fly fishing is ALWAYS a socially distance activity. Eric in the river and me on the river bank-knitting and reading.

April reads:

Read My Heart ****

A good 17th century  English aristocratic book. 

Rising Tide*****

Interesting story as well as extremely sad. Politics in the US  can and often is soo sad . 

This a story of taming the Mississippi River, a river that is crucial for the US economy. Though taming the river involves political, economic abuse of low income populations and especially people of color, think Jim Crow laws. 

The Mountain Between Us**

I found this book to be equivalent to a soap opera. I enjoy the part about how they got out of the mountains, but the love story, not so much. The ending was obvious from the first page....dumb.

Happy May day. Here's to hoping this month is better than the last few COVID months.

Take care and stay healthy.

HOBBIES

Deep End

The first, started and finish during COVID19

Scrap quilt using scraps most sane quilters would toss out...not me!

Eric's flying tying in full swing. He is making a few dozen for a friend.

Easter snow.

Anyone need some blue food dye? Oye Vey!

Amish quilt hand quilting.

Snow clouds building in over the Rockies, expecting 4-9 inches tonight and through tomorrow. We will see.

How has your week been? I feel calmer this week, getting out walking is soo helpful. Also, coming to terms and stop fighting-what I have no control over is helpful. Sometimes it is difficult to work out what I can control and what I cannot control, and lets face it, we really have so little control  in this world. The control I have, is how I react to situations that is thrown in my path.

I have been thinking a lot about when this 'stay at home' and life returns to normal, (whatever that looks like), what things have been removed from my daily life and what things I want to bring back. I have moments of feeling this isolation thing is a real gift (not the part of sickness and financial instability), but the gift of slowing the outside world down!  What else but a virus could do this and who ever thought in their life time this could happen?

Not me!

 I want positive lessons to be learned from this situation.

We all have time to ponder :

what is good in our lives

what to not let back into our lives

what to let in occasionally

what to change personally

what to work toward.

You?