I snapped both of these pictures today, and only realized that they sort of go together when I pulled them off of my camera. It is officially long-underwear-season. At least some of mine is stripey. (Brrr!)
Here’s a broader view of this evening, if you will. Boh, asleep. Me, knitting and grading. A few more papers to go. And I’m on the last row before the lace section of terra. More soon.
That’s what K. said today when I tried to articulate that I felt the need to at least “look” put-together, even if I don’t feel like it right now. See?
Wednesday, before I got completely soaked below my raincoat and above my boots. Luckily, the torrential rains turned to snow for the walk back home.
And today, before bundling up in a down vest, handspun fingerless mitts, my handspun wurm hat, and my trusty pink spindle-spun cowl. Hooray for the arrival of handknit weather!
And here is Boh. He doesn’t fake it.
I came home between commitments today to walk Boh, read for fun, and drink a pot of tea.
And start the last repeat of the basic portion of my terra shawl. Thank you all for your kind comments on yesterday’s post. As I work to process the end of a meaningful relationship, I am just so thankful for my craft and for my community, both here in blogland and in real life.
Power breakfast.
Garlicky kale. (From this recipe.) Seems almost too simple, but this is delicious. (Well, I thought so. B was a good sport and had a bite, but his take on this kale was that it “feels like the skin of a bat.” More for me!)
Time for the second ball of Peace Fleece. I set aside a few hours on Saturday morning for knitting and podcasts, and made some serious progress on this shawl. I’m hoping to squeeze a few rows into my Monday morning to help me get ready for the day — last week’s writing is the subject of this afternoon’s discussion…
A while back, I won a jar of peach preserves on Libby’s blog, and yesterday, a beautifully wrapped package containing two(!) jars arrived, one peach and rum preserves, one peach and bourbon. After the appropriate oohing and ahhing, it was decided: this stuff deserves the best delivery system imaginable. So it’s off to the farmer’s market we’ll go on Saturday for some extra special bread. And maybe some ice cream. (Stay tuned.)
Terra is growing. I met my writing deadline on Monday (thanks for all the kind words), and then promptly stopped posting, turning my attention instead to everything I’d let pile up. In between wrangling laundry, paying bills, and prepping for my other campus responsibilities, it appears that I managed to knit a few (or twenty) rows. I said it before, but I’ll say it again: everything brokeknits says about this pattern is true. It is just what I need right now. And with that, I’ve got a morning section to prep for. Happy almost-the-weekend!
It is going to be another long day of writing. But I made good progress yesterday on my revisions, and last night I rewarded myself with sushi and yarn-winding.
And ten rows of Terra. Brokeknits is so right — this garter stitch pattern is rhythmic and restorative. Maybe I’ll knit a row or two after I adimpleate my coffee mug. (That’s the word I adopted yesterday here.)
That song by The Cars always makes me smile. Back in 2004, I found myself road-tripping across the country with a new colleague, en route to our new jobs as part of a youth voting initiative. Things that stand out from the drive? My first experiences with ‘driving’ stick (think me doing the driving, and my friend P. doing the shifting), and a lot of time spent trying to figure out what The Cars are actually saying after the line, “I guess you’re just what I needed.”
“I needed someone to –eed.” (The answer is that it alternates: feed and bleed.)
Anyway, I bring all of this up because Mary, a ravelry friend of mine, seemed to know just what I needed this week:
On Thursday, I returned home from campus to discover that she’d gifted me the pattern for Terra, a gorgeous shawl by Jared Flood designed to highlight his new yarn line, SHELTER.
After making it through what I absolutely needed to get done this week, I came home yesterday and spent some time indulging in a little daydreaming about what yarn to use for this absolutely stunning shawl, and I settled on some seafoamy green, tweedy Peace Fleece. And I can’t wait to cast on.
Mary, this was just what I needed this week. Thank you.
I also finally got around to winding yarn for the next sections of my ripe bananas lap blanket testknit (say that five times fast). Note that one of these balls is hand-wound — I think it took me awhile to get the rhythm of the niddy-noddy down, and some of my early skeins are twisted. I did some intense handspun wrangling to get all of this untangled and into a tidy ball. This kind of mindless task was also what I needed yesterday. So it’s cool.
Lastly, another action shot of my textured shawl recipe shawl. I do wish it was a little bigger, but it really is perfect for when I just need a little extra warmth on my walk to campus in the morning.
Alright, time to earn some more knitting and outside time by finishing off another book in the pile. Happy weekend!
barefoot rooster 