The Everyday Sweater

I seem to get a bunch of things off needles at the end of April or beginning of May, but that's okay; it just means I have new things to wear when it gets cold in the fall!  In truth, I was able to wear this sweater all day Thursday in perfect comfort, as the temps are still chilly this week--yay!!  

This is the Everyday Sweater by DreaRenee Knits. It is an extremely straightforward and easy knit and went more quickly than I would have expected, given the weight and plain stitches, but I worked on it here and there from late February to early this week and finished it! I used sport weight Wool of the Andes yarn in the Papaya Heather colorway. It is a peachy-pink with some yellow heathering that gives the color depth and tonality. I love it.

At first, I dithered about whether to add a textured stitch to the yoke or some lace pattern, but I was stuck with my Poet sweater and fighting with the Not a Bláithín sweater at the time and just needed something completely mindless as a palette cleanser.   It allowed me to soldier on with the Poet sweater, and I finally completed the body this week!  I started one of the sleeves yesterday and made good progress on it. 

 

The Everyday Sweater pattern is nearly identical to the Stripes! one, except for the collar and hem ribbing, so I sized up to the third size, hoping to get the ease of Andrea's version but didn't quite get there.  I'm still not sure why her collar stands up and mine doesn't, but I see from others' versions that this is common, so it must be an ease thing.  It is a very comfy sweater, though, so it's okay.  I also added more stitches to the sleeves and decreased less based on my last sweater.  I'm pretty happy with the sleeve fit on this one.

Also, the yardage is WAY overstated, as seems to be common with her patterns.  I have more than half the yarn left that I bought based on the pattern yardage recommendation.   I might use it for a mosaic sweater in combination with some other pinks and reds I have hanging around.

I have a sweater's worth of this same yarn in the Hollyberry colorway and I had thought to make two of these, but I think I'll try something else for that yarn.  After I get my Poet off needles, I have a scrappy sweater to finish for Boo plus a fingering-weight shawl I've not touched since last summer, but after those are done, I can start swatching the Weekender and New Leaf sweaters I've had waiting in my queue!  

Ubi Caritas

One of the fascinating by-products of having kids in a classical school is that they come home with really interesting stuff.  Boo is not a natural student but he is very bright and aesthetically-minded; he would not necessarily seek out art and beauty for its own sake, but when exposed to it at school, it gets into him and excites him.  

A few weeks ago, he came home in raptures over the Non Nobis scene in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V.  He made me play it for the whole family because he wanted to share the beauty with the rest of us (and it is a beautiful scene).  

Yesterday, he came home and said we must listen to two versions of Ubi Caritas by Kings Return and Audrey Assad.  My personal favorite was the Kings Return version--it gave me shivers up my spine!--but Assad's is very beautiful too.  I wanted to share both here:

Ubi Caritas by Kings Return from Father Dyer Church on Vimeo.

Rewind

I almost can't believe it is Palm Sunday already.  (We in the East are a week behind this year).  The kids and I have been passing around a respiratory infection during spring break, so it has been a low-key week for us.  Birdie's infection developed into pneumonia mid-week, so I'm keeping her home from church this morning.  We'll stream the service from our cathedral in DC so at least we get the flavor of the day.  I've missed a number of Sunday services this Lent because of my own or my kids' illness, but that is okay.  To everything a season.  I'm grateful to have streaming options for times like these.  

We also received most excellent news this past week: my dad's cancer is in remission! Thank God!! He still has a long way to complete healing and recovery, and he'll need to be checked every few months for a while, but we'll take it. That said, even after recovery, he won't be going back to work as chief pharmacist at the hospital again, so his semi-retirement of September turned rather abruptly into a full retirement when everything happened last October. So we'll see what God has in store for him in this next season and will trust in His provision.  Thanks to everyone who has prayed, given financial support, brought meals, etc.  It has been such a help and blessing.

A dear friend of our family is also going through cancer treatment at the moment and I decided to make her a lap quilt.  My dad used his birthday quilt so much when he was in the hospital and during his recovery at home that I thought it might be a useful thing for her.  I had bought a couple of charm packs from the Moda Songbook fabric line and made up a simple patchwork quilt with some small sashing around the edges.  The backing and binding was from the same line of fabric.  The hardest part was figuring out the best arrangement of blocks!

I found a walking foot that fit my Bernina and quilted in diagonals, which was fun and satisfying.  I found the whole process of this quilt quite fun, actually.  My only complaint is that the walking foot is really hard on needles, and I had to change mine several times during the quilting process, but the result was so even and nice that it was worth it.  I have several more patchwork lap quilts in mind for both my home and as a gift or two.   

I finished several books lately.  Kristin Lavransdatter has been on my nightstand for a year now, and I finally finished the beast.  Fittingly, I started it last Lent, and finished it at the end of this one.  The last 50 pages were really beautiful, and I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll be revisiting the story any time soon.  (I know, I know.  I'm a terrible person.  Hopefully we can still be friends?)

I finished Martin Malia's The Soviet Tragedy after poking through it for several months and found it a very good and informative read.  Malia gave me a different perspective on Khrushchev that I appreciate very much.   It's also interesting to integrate Malia's work with Slezkine's, as they approach the same material with quite different frames, but both have important contributions toward understanding the period.

From there, I re-read Sana Krasikov's The Patriots, which is about the American emigration to the USSR during the Great Depression.  I noticed in her notes that she relied on a monograph called The Forsaken for parts of the story, and decided to run that book down.  It was an extremely engaging and informative read, although parts of the story are hard to take in and some are just plain infuriating.  (If you've seen Mr. Jones, the unconscionable Walter Duranty makes more than one appearance in Tzouliadis' book).  After that, I wanted to read more Krasikov, so read her first book of short stories called One More Year.  Each chapter is about a different post-Soviet immigrant.  Even though the book tends toward black humor, it was an informative window into the post-Soviet experience.

Somewhere in there, I also read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and enjoyed it very much. I loved the epistolary format, and wanted to read something similar, and found Letters from Skye, by Jessica Brockmole, which I started last night. I can hardly put it down, and am enjoying it almost as much. I also decided to re-read Dead Souls, which is a hilarious romp through the 19th century Russian countryside. Gogol was a comic genius.

Finally, I've been reading Pride and Prejudice aloud to the girls at bedtime for the past month or so, and we finished it this week in a marathon read-aloud on Friday during lunchtime.  We watched the BBC version with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth over several viewings this past week while the boys were occupied with a different show.  I also want to show them the 2005 movie version because I like both for different reasons.  The BBC version is extremely faithful to the book, but there is something about the condensed 2005 version that just grows on you.  I happen to like Matthew McFayden very much, and enjoyed his take on Mr. Darcy.   

We just started Persuasion, and I look forward to showing them the film version with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones when we've finished the book.  So much Austen, so little time!  I feel as though I'm getting a great books education right alongside my kids and it is fabulous.  

Outside In

Another inevitability, I suppose.  I wore the inside-out Coco dress a couple of times, but the fleecy texture was wearing badly and just looked odd.  Frankly, I felt really frumpy in the dress, and I was always cold in it.  So I decided to unpick the seams and sew it the right side out and hope for the best.  

I do like it quite a bit more with the right side out, and the color isn't as bad next to my face as I feared. It is also considerably warmer with the fleecy side in (who'd have thunk? Ha).

I love it with this oversize sweater that I thrifted in February.  It maybe isn't the most flattering thing I own, but it is a wool-cotton mix, and so warm without being stuffy.  I feel great in it.  It goes extremely well with a plaid flannel slip dress I found on a random rack at Target last month.  (Although what fashion genius thought a flannel slip dress was a fantastic sartorial choice, I'll never know.  It is an okay under much heavier layer for spring, but far too thin and short for winter.  But it is teal plaid and doesn't bind my middle, so whatever).

But back to this Coco. The shade of pinky-clay means that the color pairs well with burgundy, something I wasn't expecting. It looks nice with my Boneyard scarf (still going strong!) and my L'Enveloppe (which got a lot of wear this year in particular).

 

Not much to add here, since I made no cutting changes, just re-constructed the thing.  It is still pieced to the hilt, but not bad for a yard and a half.  

There was maybe a 5" square of fabric left at the end.  The sleeves are still slightly too long, so I end up folding the cuff, but that's okay.  The majority of my RTW tops and dresses have sleeves that are too long anyway.  In any case, a better make than the original, and I'm definitely happier with it.

I put more pansies in my garden this week, and am enjoying seeing what volunteers are springing up from last year (looks like I missed a couple of daffodils when I pulled bulbs last summer--oh happy day!)  I put in some bare root dafs, plus tulip bulbs that I'm hoping will grow even though my timing is way off.  As in previous years, I don't really have a plan in mind; I'm just sticking stuff in the ground and seeing what happens.  I think I'll probably do more ornamentals this year, as I think it is just too hot on our back patio for much food to grow, but I'll probably change my mind again in a month or so.

The raspberry cane that hasn't fruited yet is sending out new leaves, and I'm hoping that this will be the year for berries on that one.  (Some raspberries will only fruit on second year canes...I cut this one off at the soil level the first year, not realizing that.)  

Unfortunately, I think the little raspberry plant I got from a friend last summer that did fruit may not this year. I probably should have cut that one off sooner, as it isn't doing anything, so I cut it off now. It might yet come back. 

The cabbage and brussels sprouts that didn't bother to mature last fall are now looking quite healthy, so perhaps I'll still get a small harvest out of it.

The Sweater That Did Not Want to Be Made

Once upon a time, there were four balls of yarn, a lovely deep teal blue, a creamy off-white, a perky red, and a leafy green.  The four friends went along together one day until they came upon a meadow of blue and red flowers with green stems.  

The creamy white said to the others, "This looks like a good pattern for us, what do you say we yoke it?" The others agreed, and they arranged themselves on long sticks, ready to be yoked into the pretty flower meadow. The strands flew in and out and looped over quickly, forming the lovely pattern.

But it turned out that the shape of the meadow was wrong, so the yarns unwound themselves and prepared to be yoked again. In and out the strands flew, looping round and round until the meadow emerged again, but this time, there was a large lake below the meadow, and the lake's shores pushed up too far into the meadow.

There was also now a pond on the other side of the meadow with a strange shape to it.  So the yarns unwound themselves a third time and tried again, starting to feel tired as the meadow once again emerged.  This time, the lake's shores were far enough away, but the pond's shape was still wrong.  

The creamy off-white looked at the lake and thought perhaps it wasn't the best place for it to dwell.  The creamy yarn asked the others and the red and green agreed, and so off they went, leaving the teal blue yarn behind.  

The teal yarn sat by itself next to the lake and pondered its predicament.  It noticed a sky-blue ball of yarn lurking in the shadows. 

"Come frolic with me, and light the sky and the water!" said he. 

 

The sky-blue yarn ventured out of the darkness and into the light, where it proved to be a wonderful contrast to the teal blue of the lake.  

"Shall we weave together to make a pattern of the sky?" asked the sky-blue ball shyly.  "I believe it will be just as pleasing as the meadow was, perhaps more so."

"Yes, let's!  Those other yarns can find some other pattern to weave themselves into.  We can be sky and sea together," said the teal yarn with enthusiasm.

So they sat by the side of the lake and wove themselves together into a pattern of flowers and leaves, of sky and seas, ending with a small pond in the middle.  And the teal yarn said to the sky blue, "This is what we were meant to be."  The sky blue agreed and nestled happily into the floating strands.  

Unhappily, the teal yarn found that there were two tunnels next to the new pattern of sky and sea, and these tunnels were extremely narrow and long.  Too narrow to be going through with any comfort.  It vowed to make them larger, and so unwound itself from around the tunnels and looped round and round to create a larger space through which to move.  At the same time, the pond was enlarged and the edges narrowed so as to make an easy plunge into its shallow depths.  

Finally, the teal yarn was satisfied and nestled into the loops under the sea.  The sky-blue yarn mumbled a sleepy goodnight, and the teal yarn yawned wondered what fields his creamy off-white, red, and green yarny friends might weave next.   

"Goodnight, sweet sky."  

The End

***

Seriously, I knit this sweater three times over, easily.  (My ravelry notes are pretty extensive for it).  I started out to make a pullover version of Kate Davies' Bláithín, using the Stripes! sweater pattern for the body and sleeves, as the stitch counts/gauge were a close match, but it just didn't want to come together, either aesthetically or fit-wise.  

I ended up with something closer to the Lilias Day pullover, which I do like a great deal, and I know I'll get good wear out of it next winter.  I'm only slightly unhappy with the yoke fit--it wants to ride up and make a fold over my bust and I don't know why--but otherwise I like the look of it, and am happy to be able to wear it at least once this season.