February Yarn Along

This morning as big fluffy flakes from another snow storm were falling I made the comment that we’re having an overactive winter.  But Paul made the very valid point, no, we’re finally having what used to be a normal winter.  Those first two pictures are from the ice storm we had last week.  Thankfully this time we did not lose power.  All that white on the deck is not snow but tiny ice pellets.  Between the ice storm last week and the current snow today when temps fluctuate between zero and the high teens we've had temps above freezing and then some thawing, better known as mud season.

There were a few days it cracked forty and on those days I was able to get out and have some proper walks, some with my camera, and check in on the two little baby lambs across the street.  Otherwise, it’s been indoor exercise, (yoga).  My daughter bought me a yoga wheel for Christmas, which truthfully has been a wonderful surprise.  She also had been trying to get me to read about red light therapy and I’m so happy I did.  I’ve been lying under it with it shining on my face and neck for twelve minutes a day.  I don’t know if it will do anything for my wrinkles, but it does a lot for my state of mind.

Getting into the spirit for Valentines Day I put up a few lights on the mantel and then I made a Scandinavian heart garland for the kitchen doorway.  I used some scraps of felted wool sweaters I had left in my scrap box to make the hearts.  Other indoor activities, I put together a puzzle I got for my birthday in November.  Women’s March, a 500 piece round puzzle that came with a little apology note, they left out two letters of the word “Individually”.  It might have been a little frustrating had I tried to put it together not knowing the word was misspelled.

I’m continuing with my effort to keep up my attempts at art.  I bought some Paperwhites to pot up in a dish of gravel hoping to bring a little early spring into the house.  Before I planted them I laid them out on a notebook page and took a picture so I could draw them later.  The second drawing is done in pastels, which I hadn’t used since high school.  I had forgotten how much fun they are to use.

Yesterday, Valentine’s Day, started out warm.  My son, granddaughters and I delivered much appreciated handmade Valentine’s and Meals on Wheels without jackets.  When Paul and I took off for our day it was in the 60’s.  We took about an hour’s drive to Melvern Lake.  We had read reports of eagle sightings in the area.  When we arrived we found large amounts of gulls walking on the ice.  They, along with the broken ice, were gorgeous and we got out so I could take some pictures.  We were shocked it had already dropped 20 degrees, and the temperature continued to drop.  We never saw any eagles, but we did see eight blue herons staying close together.  And I didn’t get out of the car to take any more pictures.  By the time we headed home the temperature had dropped a total of 40 degrees.

I’m still knitting the infinity scarf with my yarn from Peru, just now starting the second charted section.  But I also started a ten stitch blanket for my granddaughter’s birthday next month.  It’s a simple fun pattern that I’m making out of the Lion Brand Mandala cakes.  She really likes the yarn and asked for me to make her something with it.  But it’s a 3, light, which has me wondering if it will be heavy enough.  I’m considering starting again in another yarn.

I’m currently reading Winter Hours by Mary Oliver.  But I’m also finding out now that I’m not rushing out the door I can lose entire mornings on the internet researching.  Here is a link for an article and a podcast interview with Mary Oliver, who sadly just passed away the end of January.  And for another thoroughly enjoyable hour, I also found this podcast with Maira Kalman reminding me of her book The Principles of Uncertainty which I’m now reading again.

I’ve included three other internet links below that I found enjoyable, moving and thought-provoking.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Enjoyable: http://www.dinneralovestory.com/my-mom-was-a-fast-food-cook/

Moving: https://cupofjo.com/2019/02/julie-yip-williams-letter-to-her-daughters/

Thought-provoking: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/jakarta-january?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Poem-a-Day%20%20February%2011%202019&utm_content=Poem-a-Day%20%20February%2011%202019+CID_884909d4d25979de6aeb1951a596f890&utm_source=Email%20from%20Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Jakarta%20January

January Yarn Along

Our son and daughter-in-law traveled to Peru in September.  As a gift for helping to take care of their children, my son brought me back two balls of alpaca yarn, bought from the woman in the photo above.  He told me it was difficult to make her understand he wanted to buy just some of the yarn in her basket, not one of her blankets, sweaters or hats.  I imagine it was an unusual request.  But he succeeded and came away with it.  He gave it to me with the stipulation I had to make it into something for myself.  So I saved it till after the holidays to do just that.

I wanted to find a pattern that would be something like what it would have been made into had the woman in the market worked it.  I decided to make an infinity scarf, knitted in the round with a stranded chart worked twice, with two sections of stripes in between.  The colors are so soft that the contrast in the charted stitches becomes muted and a bit difficult to see.  The yarn is very fine, and wound tightly into dense balls.  I think that’s one of the reasons it continues to twist back on itself while I knit.  I did some research and found someone who keeps the balls in Ziploc bags, making it easier to hang them and let them unwind themselves.  Still, as I knit I’m noticing a twisting in the knitting.  I’m hoping with blocking I will be able to correct some of that.  In any case, I’m enjoying the process and the thoughtfulness of the kids’ gift.

I included some pictures of the knitting I did for Christmas, two blankets, three scarves, and three of the cutest jumpers made for our three youngest granddaughters.  I couldn’t have been happier with how the jumpers turned out!

I also got back to drawing and painting.  The cardinal is painted in watercolors from a photo I shot last winter.  The poinsettia is done in color pencils.  Unfortunately, when I’m under a deadline, art and reading are the first things to get dropped.  It’s nice to get back into doing it on a regular basis.

Yesterday I just finished reading Michelle Obama’s book Becoming.  I was on the wait list at the library for some time.  As it turned out, that was a good thing for me.  Not just because I wouldn’t have had time to read it during the holidays, but also because I needed the shot of adrenaline it gave me.  Having lived in Chicago for a few years, I enjoyed reading about where she came from.  Also how they met.  As you read you relive the sorrows and the joys of what happened in the years of his terms.  At times you wonder why anyone would ever run for president. 

But in the end, it makes you want to get to work.  It reminded me even more why Paul and I took on being chairs of our local Democratic party.  Living in a red state, and an even redder county, it’s easy to lose hope.  We took the “job” in April, I retired from my real job in June. Our daughter says it all the time; “you retired to take on a fulltime job without pay.”    And all we’ve been through is a midterm election.  We’re starting now to gear up for the general!

We had a difficult summer and fall taking care of elderly parents.  I made two trips to Texas over the summer to take care of my mom and my mother-in-law had to move in with us the end of August.  In a way, it’s a lot like dealing with kids again, but so much harder.  They need your help, they even ask you for your help, and then they fight against the help.  And you’re left without any way to deal with them because they are adults. To say we’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster is a vast understatement.  

So being retired helped allow for all of that work to be done.  I always dreamed of what retirement would look like.  There would be all the time I desired to knit, read, draw and paint, sew, cook, spend time with family, volunteer, learn new things, a lot of time camping at the lake, and I would never care about the clock or the calendar.  And I’m so lucky that’s mostly the way it is.  But life doesn’t always follow the plan exactly.  The important thing for me is to keep busy and moving forward.

SNOW

On Saturday we received over eight inches of heavy snow, the most we’ve had in a single snowstorm in years.  On Sunday we dug out.  Yesterday I was able to go for a walk with my camera.    

While the snow is beautiful to watch, it certainly brings its difficulties as well.  Saturday just before noon our power went out, only a few hours before the Chief’s home playoff game.  Both our sons and son-in-law were at the game.  Unfortunately, we opted to watch from the warmth of our home, which didn’t happen. 

This was the second time this season we’ve lost power due to snow.  The last outage was nine hours.  What made that time a challenge was we had our ten and seven-year-old granddaughters here for a sleepover at the time.  This time our power was out for 24 hours.  Our daughter’s house in the city is still without power, three days later.

We worried for our little fish pond, without power to keep the filter and pond heater going.  I’m happy to say the fish survived, although our cherry trees did not.  I have never found fresh cherries in season locally and the thought of not having them again is heartbreaking.

The first time when the girls were here we talked a lot about Little House on the Prairie and what it was like to live in a farmhouse without power.  We read, played the piano, had a shadow puppet show and struggled with keeping them entertained, as well as warm.  This time around it was a little less stressful.  Being adults we could suffer in silence, well almost.  And we could keep ourselves entertained.  I had just picked up three library books, some I had been on the wait list for, so it was the perfect time to dive under blankets and start. 

My camera is two years old and in that time I have never ventured off the manual setting.  For me, understanding aperture, shutter speed, and ISO have never been easy.  On Saturday I started reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson.  It was also very handy that my husband, who also had nothing to do, was sitting next to me and available to answer any questions I had.  He even pulled out his equipment and helped me with visuals.  Yesterday I had the confidence to shoot some photos on manual, but not enough confidence to not shoot in manual as well.