Unraveled Wednesday 3/11/26

 Good Morning!

Yesterday was simply gorgeous!  And warm - it actually hit 80 here in Eastern PA.  For the first time since last Fall, Fletch and I sat out on the patio with beverages before dinner.  A butterfly flew by!  Earlier I had said to Fletch that I'd like to see a bluebird and then we spotted a pair of bluebirds along the garden fence.  They were checking out the bluebird house.  It was a fun afternoon.

Now it's Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to chat about making and reading.  Not much knitting was accomplished in the last week.  There was, unfortunately, a bit of unraveling.  First I unraveled the cowl I had started back in December and then neglected for two months or so.  I was off by a stitch and when I tried to fix it I ended up dropping a stitch or two.  So, the whole thing came out.  I hadn't really done that much - maybe 15 rows or so.

Yesterday morning I unraveled the Hitch on the Move that I started in February of 2024!

There were many times I almost unraveled this project over the past year, but I never did.  But, I realized that every time I picked it up to work on it I hadn't liked what I saw.  I was using fingering weight yarn and I think this really needs to be knit in DK weight.  So, back to the drawing board.  I really like these two yarns together, so I may look for another pattern to use them together.  (The yarns are "Wish You Were Beer" and "Weathervane" and are by Emma's Yarn.  Both are Superwash Merino, Cashmere and Nylon.)

It was a good week for reading though!  I finished both the 5th and 6th volumes of "The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion."  These books are just plain fun!  

Fletch and I finished listening to One Wild Bird at a Time by Bernd Heinrich and have started a new audio book for after dinner - Blaze Me A Sun by Christoffer Carlsson.  We are both enjoying this one and once again we have lucked out with good narration!

Finally, with my eyes, I read Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood.  I enjoyed this book, though it began to drag for me a bit towards the last third or so.  Plus, way too much about the mouse plague!  LOL

Now it's time for me to get ready to head over to spend the day with Iris.  I hope your week is going well.

Tiny Needle Tuesday 3/10/26

 Hello and Good Morning,

Well, last night's sleep was better.  However, I was woken early by Mabel coughing up a hairball in the bedroom.  This, of course, necessitated getting up earlier than I wanted and turning on a light so that I could avoid stepping in anything.  Mabel is thoughtful and avoids (usually) puking on a rug.  Instead she usually pukes on the wooden floor which is certainly easier to clean up.  Not the best way to wake up.

Iris was good yesterday.  She is almost always good.  She had not slept well Sunday night and ended up taking a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon.  Though I don't sleep when she naps, at least I can close my eyes and rest some.

I'm happy to report that the socks for Iris fit!  Though they may be a little loose.  Colin and Iris were out for a stroller walk when I arrived yesterday morning.  When they came in it was minus one sock.  Iris had kicked off her blanket and, though Colin didn't notice it at the time, she had also kicked off one of her new socks and it exited the stroller.  While Iris napped Colin took a break from work and walked in the neighborhood where they had walked in the morning.  Luckily he found the abandoned sock!

Now it's Tuesday morning and time for a TNT update on Appil.  The cat now has a coat of fur and the ground on the bottom right of the sampler has been fully stitched.

An amusing cat for sure.  I'll be starting the left bottom side next!  Dare I say closing in on finishing this piece?

Today's plans include a trip to the library (a requested book is ready for pick up), some laundry (again) and grocery shopping.  It's supposed to be another gorgeous day with temps in the 70's, so I'm planning a light dinner:  shrimp salad on croissants.  Yum!!  I think a little salad to go with that will be nice.  And, Fletch left one of his socks for me to see a hole in the toe...I've already found the yarn with which to darn the hole, so I will do that too.  Finally I need to review all the papers for tax season - my appointment to meet with our accountant is this Friday.

Whatever your Tuesday holds for you, here's hoping it is something good!

Weekending 3/9/26

 Good Morning!

We are back to dark mornings with the switch to Daylight Savings Time.  But, the temperature is mild!!  I washed sheets this weekend and retired the flannel sheets until next Fall/Winter.  I figured that was a sure way to have another cold snap, but so far we are good.  And, it felt great to get into a bed with crisp sheets and to have the window open for fresh air.

How was your weekend?  Ours was very nice and I failed to take any pictures!  The one picture I have I took this morning.  A blooming Christmas Cactus:

So pretty, and there are more buds.  This one did bloom around Christmas and now it is blooming again.

Anyway, as I said, our weekend was nice.  We had dinner with the kids on Saturday.  Burgers, crispy potatoes and coleslaw.  I made a blueberry gateau for dessert.  The family socks were well received and appreciated.  I hope they fit - no one tried them on.  It was mild enough that we had a fire outside after dinner.

Last night I made mushroom bourguignon for dinner.  It was wonderful!  And, plenty of leftovers for another meal.  Definitely a dish I will be fixing again.

I'm missing that hour of sleep that I lost Saturday night.  Hopefully I'll have an easy day with iris today.  Here's hoping your Monday is off to a great start.

Unraveled Wednesday 3/4/26

 Hello All,

Another bleak looking day here.  Yesterday it rained pretty much all day.  At times quite hard.  When I sit on the couch in Colin's living room with Iris asleep in my lap (such bliss), I can look out through the sun room and see one of the many rain chains that are hanging.  The water was pouring over it!  Luckily by the time I left to come home it had eased up a bit.  Also luckily it was rain and not snow or sleet!  It is already a bit warmer today (37), but the dampness hurts my joints.  Oh well, on the positive side, I can feel the hurt!  LOL

Well, it's Wednesday and time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers for the first Unraveled Wednesday of March!  Did anyone hear the Hallelujah Chorus over the weekend?  No?  Well, yours truly was singing it.  The Family Socks are all completed!  Woo-Hoo. Here is a pic of Colin's finished pair and then the whole family:

And there you have them.  Family Socks or maybe Goldilocks Socks (Baby, Mama and Papa).  I am so pleased with how they turned out and also so pleased to (finally) have them finished.  I started with Mailing's in mid October with the thought of making them Family Birthday Socks.  That thought turned to Family Christmas Socks.  Mailing's second sock was finished just after New Year's.  Iris' were started immediately and finished by mid-January.  So, my thought turned to Family Valentine Socks.  However, Colin's took from mid January to the very last day of February!

There was a feeling of playing a bit of yarn chicken when making Colin's.  The blue skein was fairly large and both Mailing's and Iris' socks are short, but still...I ended up with just 2 grams of blue left and only 3 grams of gold left.  There are still 6 grams of turquoise and 18 grams of purple, so those will be used for something.

We will be over at C&M's for dinner on Saturday (warm weather forecast, so grilling!!) and I think I will take them over then.  Here's hoping they like them AND here's hoping they fit.

Meanwhile, Semplice is back in rotation!  Last night I pulled it out and found where my "issue" was (one extra stitch).  I was able to correct that and knit a couple of rows.

I'm so close to the end of this shawl and I'd really like to finish it up.  I think I have about 24 rows left in the final pattern section and then 20 rows of garter stitch to wrap it all up.   But, there are about 342 stitches on the needle and an additional 4 stitches are added every other row.  Obviously the rows are long and take a bit of time to knit.  Being garter stitch, the last 20 should be fairly quick (fingers crossed).  Anyway, it's good to be working on this again at long last.

Reading continues to be a good thing!  I finished the 4th volume of  The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion  by Beth Brower and now am nearing the end of Volume 5.  I do not want these books to end!!  They are such fun and the narration is simply perfect.

Over the weekend I finished Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.  This is our RWU selection which we will be discussing on March 17th.  I can't say I loved the book.  As I mentioned last week I found it to be a bit laborious to read.  The writing is good - no doubt about that - it's just not a book you can storm your way through.  I would call it a meditation on life, faith and family, but for me parts of it just dragged on and on.  Thank God it is a short book!  LOL

Fletch and I are continuing to enjoy Bernd Heinrich's One Wild Bird at a Time, listening after dinner.  We have just about a half hour left, so most likely 2 more nights.  I need to find the next thing for us to read together.

And that's a wrap for moi.  I hope your week is going well and I hope you will take the time to check out Kat's blog as well as the links to Unraveled posts - I'm betting you will be entertained and inspired.  Enjoy!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 3/3/26

 Good Morning!

After our glorious Saturday that felt like Spring, we are back to chilliness and it feels colder than ever now.  Yesterday despite wearing a turtleneck and wool sweater I felt cold all day.  This morning the cars are wet.  My phone says it's snowing, but I don't see anything coming down.  I know we are supposed to have sleet as well.  I think/hope it will warm up enough to change to rain.  Meanwhile my shoulders and hips (arthritis) are feeling it.

Enough of that nonsense!  It's Tuesday and, therefore, time for a TNT update.  And look!  Eve now has a full head of crazy hair.  LOL

That's a whole lot of crazy hair and it took a whole lot of time to stitch it!  But now Eve is finished and I am ready to move on to something else.  I should finish the cat and the ground under that...then, perhaps, Adam?  Time will tell.

Time for me to get ready to head over to watch Iris.  Hope everyone has a great day!

Weekending 3/2/26

 Greetings my Friends,

And welcome to March!  How was your weekend.  Mine was just about perfect!  After taking a couple of weeks off from yoga due to my back bothering me as well as my arthritis acting up - particularly in my shoulders (thank you dampness and extreme cold), I finally went back to a couple of Yin Yoga classes.  It felt wonderful.  Yin is such a relaxing practice.

Saturday, the last day of February, dawned sunny and warmer.  In fact, it ended up feeling just like a Spring day!  For the first time in I don't know how long, I went out for a walk.  Due to all the snow melt, I opted to walk along the Perkiomen River Trail in Oaks which is paved.  The sky was a gorgeous blue.

There were plenty of walkers and joggers as well as folks on bikes.  I think everyone felt a tremendous relief to finally be outside in comfortable weather.  There was still plenty of ice along the banks of the river.

Big chunks and shelves of ice.  There was even a large amount of ice across the path at one point, but easy enough to get over it.

Scents were in the air.  It smelled like Spring - a bit mucky and almost swamp like.  No signs of wildlife yet (other than geese flying overhead), but it won't be long now.  This coming Saturday temps are supposed to reach 70+!!!

The weekend overall was a great balance of things.  I found plenty of time for knitting, stitching and reading as well as getting outside.  But I also managed to get some needed chores done (laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.).

Meanwhile, today is a bit on the cooler side.  My phone tells me it is 23 out, but feels like 16.  My schedule is a bit different this week.  I'll be watching Iris on Tuesday and Thursday, so I will head to the grocery store today.  We are in desperate need of fresh produce.

Did you have a good weekend?  I certainly hope so.

Unraveled Wednesday 2/25/26

 Hello and Greetings,

The last Unraveled Wednesday of February 2026 finds me looking out the window at more snow...  Yup, it snowed a bit overnight.  Nothing big - roads are clear, but the car will need to be cleaned off before I can drive to Colin's.  And last night was one of those nights where I hardly slept at all.  I'm tired at 6:30 in the morning!  Hopefully that sweet child will take a nice long nap this afternoon.

Well, it's time to link up with Kat to talk about making and reading.  I'm still plugging away on the Family Socks.  Specifically the last one.  I thought I might be finished or at least speeding down the foot on the final sock.  Instead I find myself meandering and pausing now and then.  It's ok.  It will get done eventually.

I've been thinking about/toying with ideas of what to knit next.  Definitely another pair of socks, but I will pick up something else as well.  Perhaps I should get back to Semplice - it has been in time out for a bit.  The last row I finished found my stitch count off by one and I have not really wanted to deal with it.  But, I'd really like this to be off the needles and blocked.  We shall see.

Reading has been good.  The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion continue to delight and entertain me.  I finished Volume 3 and am more than halfway through Volume 4.  Already I am wishing that there was not an end to these books.

Fletch and I are enjoying listening to Bernd Heinrich's One Wild Bird at a Time which is giving us some interesting and surprising facts.

Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards was read with my eyes and I loved it.  Historical fiction set in Bruges, it includes mystics, saints, anchoresses and beguines.  Not something I would normally chose to read, but it was truly lovely.

If Canticle didn't provide enough religion, I'm now reading (with my eyes) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson for our RWU group.  I know I read "Housekeeping" by Robinson decades ago (when it first came out) and I think I liked it, but honestly don't remember anything about it.  Gilead is proving to be a bit laborious for me.  There are times when I'm reading that I thoroughly enjoy it and the writing is beautiful.  What Robinson has to say about family, faith and life is truly wonderful.  But then there are times that I keep thinking, get on with it!  Fortunately it is not a terribly long book and I should be able to finish it well before our discussion on 3/27.

Here's hoping your Wednesday finds you immersed in a wonderful book or two and having fun making something!  Enjoy and be sure to check out the links on Kat's blog.