I haven't shared any pictures of the second shawl I began, but here it is, with my nearly finished Vespers. I've been wanting to get to it for several years now, and I am happy with how it going, though I'm only working on it during the weekend, so it isn't growing as fast as Ember Days is. I finally realized why Vespers wasn't getting finished. I started it on February 20, just about when all this craziness started to really filter in though our news, and it will not finish until we are finished. Or when I finish it, the house arrests will end. I will finish it today, so you and we can be freed!

The last week has been challenging, and my allergies are acting up quite a bit more, which means my eczema is acting up, and I have just been exhausted, so am only reading a little in Babel. Most nights I fall asleep before I can get to it.

The littles and I are almost finished with The Long Winter, though. We watched a little documentary on Amazon prime about Almanzo Wilder, and the kids were horrified that everyone called him Al-MAN-zo. How do you pronounce his name? We have always read it Al-MAHN-zo, especially since he was named after an Arab named Al-Mansour.

Since tomorrow is the Feast of Saint Bede, I thought I would read a little from the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People tonight.




Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On.

Labels: Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Quarantine, WIP, Yarn Along

Yasmina's mittens are finished! Just in time for Summer. There are a few ends that need to be woven in and they still need to be blocked, but they are finished. It's getting to the 70s on a regular basis now, so she really needs mittens.

Vespers is still taking longer than I wish it would, but I am making good progress on Ember Days, which at least feels better. I have taken to working on one each day, alternating, so I see some real progress, but still break up the work a little. Because the shawl grows faster, and takes far less yarn and time than the infinity scarf, I am working on it Tuesdays and Thursdays, and working on Vespers Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The weekends are still for non-design knitting or crocheting, so I am looking forward to continuing a shawl I started Sunday. It's for me and my first time trying my hand at intarsia, with a contrast edging that is knit with the shawl.

Though I am still not finished with Babel, I've made more progress in it lately than I have in a while. I am finally able to focus a little more each night when I read, so that is a bonus for me. We finished By the Shores of Silver Lake, and have finally started The Long Winter. Our winter was actually much shorter than it normally is, and we are well into spring now, but this sequestering at home has been a similar isolation. At least we aren't frozen and starving.


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On.

Labels: Books, Design, FOs, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Quarantine, WIP, Yarn Along

So, our Imperial Governor will not release anyone in our state. The soonest things might open up, but we are pretty sure he will not go through with it, will be the middle or end of August. How has your week gone?

I am not finished with Vespers, but have made progress, and I am speeding along on Ember Days, mostly because it is at the beginning stage of quick growth. The sunshiny color is one of my few consolations right now. I knit on Yasmina's mittens this weekend, finished the first one, and am working on the thumb gusset increases on the second now.

Since I have been exhausted with depression, I am still reading Babel and we still have a few chapters in By the Shores of Silver Lake.


Linking to Yarn Along and Keep Calm and Craft On.

Labels: Books, Design, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Quarantine, WIP, Yarn Along

Even though I haven't finished Vespers yet, and even though I didn't finish the two pairs of mittens, pair of socks, and Saint Nicholas stocking I wanted to for April, I have wound yarn for Mad May. There is going to be a low key, less structured event this year. I have two designs that are being made with Madelinetosh yarns, and a shawl I have wanted to make from a friend's design for a while. One of the projects I didn't finish this month, though, also fits the event, because it is made with Vintage yarn, and there is a WIP category this year. So, Yasmina's mittens will also be part of May for me. I pulled them out this weekend, since I had to frog the first one in January, and I had restarted it, but left it at the thumb gusset increases for a while. It was my liturgical and weekend knitting this week. Do I think I will finish all of these? Unlikely, but I am hoping to get one of the designs completed, the other with decent progress made, and Yasmina's mittens completed.

Are you planning for this next month? I am really hoping that our governor will get some common sense and start lifting some of the restrictions. We are doing pretty well in our state, and there are enough essential workers already out there and bringing home any exposure they might run into that it would be good to start to see even a little normalcy. I miss my weekly knit nights. Maybe next week?

This weekend, I made some progress on my reading, as well as those mittens. Right now, I am about halfway though Babel and about to start the chapter on Malay. It would be great to finish it this week. It would be great to finish it before the end of April. That is not probable. It will be the first book I have finished this year, which is a bit embarrassing. Technically, that isn't really true, because we read Tending the Garden of our Hearts together, and I have read Farmer Boy, On the Banks of Plum Creek to the younger kids, and we will finish By the Shores of Silver Lake in the next day or so, and that doesn't include the short story books, of course, but I mean the only book I have read just for myself.

While Bottom of the Pot isn't a book I am reading cover to cover, I did want to give it a mention. I've cooked several recipes out of it over the past few months, and really enjoyed each dish. Last night's dinner was the Khoresh Bademjan, the eggplant and chicken stew. It was so flavorful and not hard to make at all. Persian cooking, in my opinion, is to greater Southwest Asian cooking as Japanese cooking is to greater East Asian cooking, or Cuban cooking is to Latin American cooking. It is not so spicy, in terms of heat, but is layered and complex with a subtlety that is lovely.


Linking to Keep Calm and Craft On.

Labels: Books, Design, Faith and Morality, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Quarantine, WIP, Yarn Along

Between the holiday weekend and dealing with bureaucratic foolishness with my passport (which was applied for with more than 12 weeks before our travel and is still not issued because of their ridiculous snafus, with only a few weeks left, no I'm not frustrated and bitter about it, why do you ask?), I have not completed either the knitting or the pattern writing for Brume. I'm almost finished with the knitting, and I'm trying to get it done tonight so it will count for the MadMay event this year. Winter Wonderland is still my Sunday knitting, though I haven't posted progress pictures like I ought, and I'm doing the increases on the body right now. I wish I had done an inch of ribbing rather than the half inch in the pattern, but I don't want to go back and redo it. Rich keeps asking me about it and looking at me like he knows that it's going to drive me crazy every time I see it and that every time I see one of our children in it, I will have a look of disappointment on my face making them think that I am upset with them and then they will grow up thinking their mother didn't love them. Or something like that. So, probably it's going to stay here and I will rip it out and redo the ribbing when I get back from Paris. If I get to go.

We go to the passport office in person this week. Please pray that it goes well. Rich had to take a day off of work so he could come with me, and we're basically going to inundate them with documentation and paperwork in an effort to get my stinking passport. I'm also bringing my old passport from before I was married, which looks exactly like me now, only thinner and with much less white hair. Feh. I'm tempted to bring all of our kids into the office, too, and just hang out there until they issue my passport, while the kids eat their snacks and ask where the bathroom is.

The only reading I've done this week besides our daily Morning Prayer and Bible readings has been some read aloud time in The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic. While it is a fun story, we have detected a little bit of a modernist, secular message that is not really great. It's well coated in honey, but the bitter center is still there. We're still reading it, and we will see how it plays out in the end, but now it's a game of finding the message and pointing it out to each other. This is the danger in a lot of modern fiction. It's more about the message than the story. In this case the story is still good, but the message is intruding more and more, so it may end up being something of a regret. Though, we are having a lot of great discussions about the story, the message, and how that message is being conveyed.





Because of the government snafus and the holiday weekend, we have some repeats this week. We did get to get our hillside picnic and even flew a kite.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Nacho Breakfast, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Loaded Chicken Burritos, Strawberries, Lemon Bars, Fudge Frosted Brownies
• Monday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese and Bacon, Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Grilled Pizzas, Salad, Watermelon, Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream with Cookies, Strawberry Cloud Dessert
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Toast, Bananas, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Grilled Pizzas, Salad
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Cheese Toast, Bananas, Tea with Honey
  Dinner:
  Macaroni and Cheese, Salad, Sliced Watermelon
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Dutch Baby Pancake with Sauteed Apples and Cinnamon Sugar, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Homemade Hamburger Helper, Rice, Salad
• Friday
  Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Apples, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Black Bean and Pepper Quesadillas, Fruit Plate, Salad
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Sausage and Egg Breakfast Casserole, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Cottage Pie, Salad, Fruit Plate

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Books, Church Year, Design, Family, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen, Yarn Along

This week should have been all about finishing Ventus. I really want to get it to the editor soon. Instead, I mostly worked on Brume, and started Winter Wonderland for my Sunday knitting. The problem with Ventus is that I need to pay attention to it. Which isn't a problem, it goes pretty quickly when I have the attention to spare, but my life is full of distractions and people I need to listen to or otherwise attend to, so it's not a project I can easily work on during knit night or while I Knitflix with Rich. The good news is that I am making progress on Brume, which will get it off to the editor's sooner. It should be available in the late fall. Also, in case you missed the announcement last week, Amira was released at long last.


Aside from needing to buckle down and get my design work completed, I'm also trying to get a handle on this whole social media thing. You can keep up with me here, on Facebook where I'm trying to keep up conversation with a question each week, subscribe to my newsletter, 1,001 Knits for pattern release information, stories about my travels and finds, and the best coupons and sale information, join my Ravelry Group where I run preview KALs and contests (I'd love to see more interaction there), or follow me on Instagram to see a lot more behind the scenes images, as well as sneak previews of work to come.

This week was another light one in terms of reading. I got a few more pages in Messenger of Truth, and the younger kids and I started The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic as a fun read. We're enjoying it so far, and it is nice to sit on a blanket in the yard and read it in the fresh air now that spring has finally arrived here.

Labels: Books, Design, Family, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Patterns, Yarn Along

Bah'ar is finished, blocked, and given away and I have finished the knitting on the marine layer scarf. There are two buttons to sew on before I can count it as finished, finished. That makes the set complete. These are intended as a gift for someone later this year.

It's been a while since I picked up Nejat's star blanket, but as I am still working out the neck line on Amira, I figured I'd get it and see if I could make some progress. I am working on the clouds. Since the star afghan is a little too big and requires more attention now, it is staying at home to be worked on there, and I picked up the Celtic braided scarf and have made significant progress on that. I forgot to make the strips for the braids in stockinette stitch, but I think I'll actually like them better still in 2 X 2 ribbing.

Since Mr. Yarn is marking their yarn down significantly more than they already did (if you order $75 dollars or more in retail price of the yarn, it is now 35% off and free shipping), I picked up some yarn that is even more beautiful than this photo. It is far deeper and richer than that picture, and the picture is so beautiful that it sold me on the color.


Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted in Saltwater
I am trying to decide if I want to make it into one of these three sweaters:

Graduated Ribbed Top, which I've wanted to make since I first bought that book in 2000 or 2002.

Tubey (solid colored, without striping).

Corcoran.

The first two leave me with only about 100 yards to spare, the third will leave me with nearly 400 yards. I like the graduated ribbing on the first sweater and the neckline of the second one. I do like the third sweater quite a bit, but then I have to have the right shirt underneath to match the yarn color and I don't know how much I will wear it, while I think an interesting ribbed sweater will get worn quite a bit. So, I may mash up the first two to keep the parts I like best about each.

I started and finished Double Fudge Brownie Murder, and started Wedding Cake Murder. It looks like there was a book in between the two, but our library doesn't have it. So far, they haven't refused any of my purchase requests, so I may ask them to order it.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On.

Labels: Books, Crochet, Design, Family, FOs, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Yarn Along

Not finished with Michaelmas. Also, I'm not really thrilled with the proportions of the opening for the placket. I used the industry standards for length, and I think it's too short for Nejat. And I'm making it in a size 4. Maybe she's taller than the average three year old? Since this has been mostly designed on needles, I had sketches and notes, but though I started writing out the pattern, I changed how I was making it pretty early on, I'm back to note taking. Also, I wanted to avoid calculating raglan sleeve decreases, and sewing sleeves to the sweater, but I think I'm going to write the pattern bottom up, and have it knit in the round to the armholes, knit the sleeves in the round to the armholes, and just sew those parts together, working the front and back separately. Not really what I wanted, but unless my jogless jog blocks out perfectly, it still means changing colors on the front, where any shift is more obvious. Nejat likes it, though, which is what matters at this point.

I'm still working on bah'ar, but I haven't progressed very far on it. I'm still reworking the neck on Amira. And I have about half a sock to finish. I'm also pretty stressed out and exhausted from all my health issues. Please pray for me and my health.

I'm trying to sign up for a birthday swap on Ravelry. I told Rich about filling out the questionnaire and making a wishlist of patterns. He asked me if it wouldn't be easier just to buy myself the things I wanted. He missed the point. It's about the fun of putting together a package for someone and receiving a package from someone. He just figured I could shop and save myself the trouble.

I should be receiving my Magnolia Sweater Club shipment in the next week, and I'm not sure if I canceled the Paradise Yarn Club before the cut off for this month or not. It will be stash diving for the rest of the year, with rare exception. So far, I have resisted ordering, even when extreme sales are e-mailed to me.

Facebook and Ravelry groups are just about the only thing I have been reading lately. I did start reading The Trial of Job, which my library got for me through inter-library loans. I wanted to read it during Lent, but it arrived after Lent. So far, it is excellent. And short. Which is what I need right now. Fr. Reardon's remarks really impressed on me that Job was a rebuke to the school of thought that Proverbs 22:6 is a guarantee rather than a general tendency.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On, and The Philosopher's Wife.

Labels: Books, Design, Family, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Yarn Along

I'm trucking right along on Michaelmas. Mid-knit, however, I made a construction change, but I didn't want to rip back and restart, so this one will be slightly different than the pattern will be. Which means I'll need to re-knit it this summer, but I was planning on doing that, anyway, in a different size, for the pattern release. I just won't be able to use this one in the photographs for the pattern. I think the pattern version will be better, but I didn't think it was better enough to undo all the work I'd done and restart it. I hope Nejat doesn't mind.

Still reading The Suspicion at Sanditon, and not even watching much this week.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On, and The Philosopher's Wife.


This past week pretty much wiped me out for this week. My health has been such that I can push hard enough to do what is absolutely necessary (and sometimes not even all of that) and then take a break, but if I have to push hard enough for things that take more than that, I have to take a break over several days. That's kind of where I am right now.

The dance was a success, the food was wonderful and beautiful, and I will share some photos after the menu plan. This week is also pretty packed, but not as hard driving as last week was. Again, I am grateful for kids who are capable and can help with cooking when I'm just done for the day.

It's exciting to be coming up on Pentecost, though. We will be having our Tongues of Flame Barbecue on Sunday after church. I always pray a little more around this time, and seek Rayan's prayers, as the due date was around Pentecost. I am grateful that Nejat's birthday usually falls around Pentecost, too, as it brings joy to a time that is difficult for us.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins and Brown Sugar, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Croissants, Chips, Brown Sugar Shortbread, Leftover Petit Fours from the Dance, Sparkling Cider
• Monday
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs Toast, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Sausage and Egg Scramble, Toast
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Craisins, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Lamb, Summer Squash and Tomatoes with Cous Cous, Fresh Pineapple Spears
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Ful, Hot Sauce, Chopped Radishes, Toast, Sliced Mango, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Spinach Egg Puff, Tropical Fruit Salad
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Harvest Pancakes, Fried Eggs, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Sausage and Lima Bean Stew, Bread
• Friday
  Breakfast: Almond Butter Toast, Bananas, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Butter Tomato Pasta with Parmesan, Salad
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Pancakes with Maple Syrup, Fried Eggs, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Chicken and Rice, Steam Sauteed Yellow Squash with Garlic and Chives, Blueberry Ice Cream

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.


I thought I had a separate photo uploaded of the punch table with the mini-cheesecakes and the chocolate covered strawberries, but I can't find it now. You can see them behind the main food table here.

Labels: Books, Church Year, Design, Family, Fesah', Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Menu Plans, Misfits, Pascha, Tales from the Kitchen, Yarn, Yarn Along

This month, I'm participating in Mad(elineTosh) May, and I'm trying to get a child's sweater and a loosely knit sweater for me. The Michaelmas sweater is a citizen from the Island of Misfit Knitwear from this past fall. I resubmitted it this spring when there was a call it seemed to match, but they had double the normal submissions, and it was a child's garment, which is always a tighter competition. In any case, I'm writing up the pattern for four child sizes, 2 - 8, right now and hope to have three baby sizes to add to it this summer. The goal is to have the pattern written, sweater knit in two sizes, and the pattern tech edited, then knit by previewers by August. I'd like to be able to release it before Michaelmas. We shall see.


This is the beginning of the sweater I had to frog, because the directions give you a funnel neck instead of the wide, almost boat, neck pictured with the pattern. Bleh. I've switched to a pattern that is almost identical, only written better.
I'd like to finish a lace scarf as a gift as well, and I am working on Amira, because I'm not happy with the design quite as it is, and I have a sock on needles (one of which broke, by the way) I would like to complete, so the pair will be finished, but those may not be completed in the month of May.

Rich and I may have an opportunity to go to Paris next year, so I have instituted a pretty strict yarn diet. I'm even cancelling my yarn club with Paradise. Since I have more than enough yarn and patterns, not to mention design ideas, to work through over the next year (or six), this won't be that bad, really, it's just that all the pretty things are tempting. I have the last two shipments from the Magnolia Society Sweater Club coming, and a package of yarn from Mr. Yarn closing (which made me want to cry), and a purchase from someone's stash reduction, for a specific yarn I was looking for already. I have made an allowance for one other yarn I am looking for rather specifically, and if I absolutely need something for a design, I will buy it, but the goal is to work from what I already have. I want to be able to get wonderful things in Paris, if we do end up going.

My reading this week has been much less thoughtful and much more brain candy. I'm reading a tiny bit in a happy, little, murder mystery, The Suspicion at Sanditon, which satisfies both my love for Jane Austen and cozy mysteries. Mostly, I have been watching Jeeves and Wooster and Grantchester instead of reading.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On, and The Philosopher's Wife.

Labels: Books, Design, Homemaking, Knitting, MadMay, Misfits, Yarn, Yarn Along