Wednesday, July 15, 2015

yarn along: gritty









Happy Wednesday!  I feel like this is a week full of projects here and I am steadily making a dent in my list of things I hope to accomplish by the end of August. One of my goals was to do the annual cleaning out of the chicken coop and I got that checked off.  It's a big job that left me dirty and sweaty but at least my lungs stayed clean because of that very attractive mask I was sporting. 

I wanted to get my Radiance shawl unknit back to the dropped stitches, and I pushed through it only to drop another stitch - at least, I think it's a new one and the old one has been corrected!  A better knitter could just grab a crochet hook and pick up those stitches.  I am not a better knitter.  

So to celebrate, I'm going to cast on something new.  I am going to try following Elizabeth Zimmerman's directions for knitting a Fair Isle hat for myself with KnitPicks Swish Worsted in fuschia and charcoal gray.  You know, because I've been having so much success with my knitting that trying something new and completely out of my skill set seems like an excellent idea. 

I picked up my Shepherd's Bush cross-stitch again to make up for the struggles I'm having with fiber at the moment.  It will be a needle roll when it's finished and is my first project with beadwork and fancy embroidery.  I forgot how much I love the in and out of hand stitching and the delicacy of working on linen.   

I got All The Light We Cannot See at the library again so I can finish reading it.  I'm about halfway through and WHEW is it heavy.  The chapters about the girl character are not as gut-wrenching so far, but the ones about the boy are gritty (don't you love that word?  Gritty). The writing is excellent and I look forward to seeing how the two storylines weave together eventually. 

I'm returning to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and as I mentioned earlier this week, I have resolved to complete the KonMari method of tidying by Christmas (but hopefully much sooner).   I am so tired of living among clutter piles and spending the majority of my time just managing stuff and junk that doesn't have a home and gets pushed from one place to the next. This week I applied her principles to my clothes, the girls' clothes, and all our children's books and am really happy that we can now fit all our clothes in each dresser and closet with room to spare, and no longer have a pile of books on the floor next to the girls' bookshelves.  But more than that, I am even happier that when I look at the shelves I feel joy over each and every title, all of which are ones I could read over and over again. Jesse and I are planning to do the same with all the rest of the books here soon.  This is good. 

(As always, I am listening to CraftLit with Sense and Sensibility and am just starting to listen to King Lear as it begins over on ChopBard.  These are both several-month listens and I love that slow and steady working through a classic that I might not otherwise pick up at this stage of my life!  And Shakespeare!  I'm learning so much even just in the introduction to King Lear!)

Joining the Yarn Along fun at Ginny's Small Things blog with this very real-life knitting post.  Hope to see you there!

10 comments:

  1. I sat down just this morning and checked my summer wish/to-do list to see how we're doing. There's only six weeks before we have to start lessons once again, and my #3 son will be senior this year which amazes me (time flies). I had to return my copy of All the Light to the library and am on the wait list. Good luck with those dropped stitches!

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  2. Such a beautiful post Sarah. Your shawl is stunning. If I drop a stitch and don't find it for awhile always rip back too, it's just how I do things. I am looking forward to seeing your hat and I agree, challenging ones self makes us grow and improve our skills.
    I did a big house purge last summer and know that feeling you write about, it's a good one.

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  3. I too think your shawl is stunning. I have to rip things right out as I am no good at picking up stitches. We have that book on our book club list, not sure which month though.

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  4. eeeeeewwwwwwwww, the chicken coop clean out! That is one job I don't look forward to. We clean it about every two weeks but then in the fall we really clean it... cobwebs and all that...
    Glad you have corrected your dropped stitch. I'm with you, I couldn't pick up that stitch either...
    Your projects look lovely! Hope the rest of your week is great!

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  5. Fixing those knitting mistakes is not always easy - even for experienced knitters. I'm deciding if I want to read Light We Can Not See. I keep hearinf good reviews

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    1. I'll share what I think by the time it's done without spoilers... It's not really "my" kind of usual book, but so far I'm glad I'm reading it!

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  6. that shawl is gorgeous!!! (well worth the time and effort to make it right!!!) and I know what you mean about switching up crafts...the satisfaction of hand embroidery has me hooked, too!

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  7. What beautiful stitching. It has been years since I've done any cross stitch, I remember it being very therapeutic :) I've heard great things about the Koni Mari method, I think it's about time I gave it a try. We too have books stacked everywhere and the children's clothes are always getting mixed up. The Fair Isle hat sounds like a great project!

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  8. go you with the cleaning and tidying! I do love to organize around here :) I love that photo of you about to clean the coop, just priceless! I'd like to read the book but I'm waiting until I have more time to give to a meaty plot. Or should I say gritty???

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  9. Love that color of coral! I think that will make a fantastic hat. And you have influenced me to do more "listening" instead of reading! I have only recently discovered the joy of audiobooks. I read way too fast, and skim over half of the words, but the slow, steady pace of another reader is entrancing, and I LOVE it! I have been listening my way through the Narnia books (unabridged version), and am enjoying every minute!

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