Meditations on Life

My older three kids just returned from their Upper School retreat but they are tired, so the house is strangely quiet.  Ponchik had me and my husband all to herself for 2.5 days and that was a unique experience for everyone!  I thought she would talk our ears off (because she isn't called Talky Pants for nothing) but actually, she was pretty quiet.  And slow.  So, so, so slow.  She's pokey at the best of times, but without her siblings as a prod, everything took twice as long.

I'm hesitant to even write this, because it can be bad for me as a writer, but I'm circling something right now, creatively speaking.  I don't even know if it will become a story, or it is just some creative process I'm being asked to go through for some other reason.  But the process is harder than I thought it would be.  There are a lot of pieces that have shaken loose inside me and they are jumbling around and it is uncomfortable.  And I wasn't looking for it!  It just kind of fell into my lap unexpectedly this summer.  I was thinking maybe I only had two books in me.  And maybe I do, since I don't yet know what "this" is.  But synchronicity is something I don't like to ignore, so I'm sitting with it all and trying to make sense of what I'm circling around and why.  Which is a long roundabout way of saying nothing at all.

While this has nothing to do with the work above, I recently ran across this beautiful interview between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper about grief, faith, and life.  It's not very long and I highly recommend it!

Geo Lace

Happy September!  The weather is delightful this week, and I'm happily wearing a sweater and tights today.  We had a week or two in August where I wore this sweater a bit too, but it seemed absurd to share it at that point!  

The kids are back in school and this fall is pretty busy with various activities and carpool schedules and such.  'Tis the season; with three kids in Upper School this year, I think this will be the rhythm of my life for the next few years.

But on to knitting.  I did way more knitting this summer than I usually do, not for any particular reason.  I wasn't sewing much at all (mostly thrifting these days) and I like to have busy hands, so it was nice to have some projects to work on.  I finished three sweaters, of which this was the last, but it is also the lightest in weight, so it is perfect for early fall.

I'm enjoying working with fingering weight. I found it so intimidating when I got back into knitting a few years ago, and stuck mostly to worsted or bulky weights, but now I find I prefer the lighter weight and also it is a versatile weight in my wardrobe in the way that the worsted or heavier weight ones aren't.

Not much to say about this one that I didn't write in my Ravelry notes, so I'll leave it there.

Reading Corner: Swamp Edition

Welp, we are in the home stretch of the summer, and I'm ready for school to start (although our fall activity schedule is a little more chaotic than I would like because Birdie was really set on being in the fall play at school and the boys are running cross country.  Oy).  Honestly, the summer has been okay.  The nasty hot/humid weather really only started last week; there were quite a few days this summer where I had windows open a lot of the day--that never happens!  Although I will say it has been a doozy since last week.  I guess the weather was saving it all until now.  

My kids and husband went to overnight church camp the first week in August and I had seven glorious days all to myself.  I read, watched a bunch of independent films, wrote a bit, and generally kept my own schedule for the first time in years.  It was a bit of a hard reentry when they returned--why do they need feeding so often?--but we'll get there again, I guess.  One possibly fruitful bit of that week was that I think I'm working my way around a writing project, although I'm not sure it will be anything yet.  Considering I thought perhaps I only had two books in me, it is nice to have the sense that there might be more to explore.  But we'll see.  It might fizzle once I figure out what it is I'm working with.  I've had enough false starts since finishing All This Without You to be cautious.

I said in my last post I've been reading a lot this year, and decided it might be time to write about some of it.  So, on to the reading stack!  

From the top down: The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman; The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilcrist; Feminism Against Progress by Mary Harrington; The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer; Clanlands Almanac by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish (not pictured: Way Points by Sam Heughan); Lost in Wonder by Esther DeWaal; The Soviet Century by Karl Schlögel; Dominion by Tom Holland; Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker; The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous by Joseph Henrich; (not pictured) Solovyov and Larionov by Eugene Vodolazkin

There was also a trio of Cold War spy histories by Ben Macintyre on my Kindle; each book read like a novel and was thoroughly enjoyable.  Agent Sonya reminded me a lot of the film Red Joan; both stories cover similar histories over a similar time period, so that shouldn't have surprised me.  I started a fourth one, In the Enemy's House by Howard Blum but haven't been as gripped by it, even through their narrative styles are similar.  I tried to read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (my second attempt!) but gave it up as a bad job about half way through.  I was bored out of my skull and the author was only at 1936!  I just couldn't see reading another 200 pages.  

Unrelated, but we got a lot of raspberries from my garden this year!

The Trueman, McGilcrist, Henrich, and Harrington books all covered similar ground from different perspectives, although I would say the Henrich book really bogged down on specialist material in a lot of places. The book could have been trimmed considerably for a general audience. McGilcrist is a paradigm shifter, and he recently published the two-volume follow up that is twice the length of the first.  My husband is reading that one now but I'm not sure I'm going to tackle it.  The first one was very meaty and good, but I'm not sure how much more I'd get out of the other two volumes.  We'll see.  There are lots of interviews with McGilcrist on his work on YouTube, so if you don't have time for an 800 page book, you can get the Cliffs Notes version there.  

I gave a lecture on Soviet communism to the seniors at my kids' school during the last week of school in June and revisited Yuri Slezkine to prepare for it, so between that and the nearly 900 page Schlögel, it's felt like a whole lotta USSR here the last few months.  I need to set that aside for a while, even if there is a great new Gary Saul Morson book that my husband loved.  It will still be there when I'm ready to tackle it. Tom Holland's Persian Fire was a birthday gift last month so I'm looking forward to reading that one.  Dominion was a great read.  I highly recommend this interview with Paul Kingsnorth if you are interested in the topic.  I read the book on the strength of that chat.

Boo wanted me to read Why We Drive aloud for his night time story this month, so it has been fun to revisit that book.  Matthew B. Crawford is such an amazing thinker and writer and a keen observer of the times we live in.  (He has a Substack now, although I don't have time to read much of it!) I've realized in the past months that I could spend all my time reading excellent Substack authors, but it doesn't feel like a good use of brain space or time.  I think differently through physical books and don't retain information as well when I read on a screen, so it is better for me to be mostly analog.  What writing I've done this month has been long hand as I find that a better way to start the process.

There were a few forgettable novels along the way as well as some fiction re-reads, but it has been a good reading season.  I've got some books on hold at the library that should keep me for the next bit.

Pentecost and the Garden

Hurtling toward the end of the school year, and while summer is never my favorite, I think it will be good to have a break.  Pentecost yesterday, and a nice day overall.  

I gave a lecture on Marxism and the Soviets to the 10-12th graders this morning and had a blast throwing apocalyptic millenarianism at them. I just re-read that original post and wished I had referenced it while writing the lecture since it was harder to organize my thoughts several years after reading the original book.  Obviously, I incorporated a lot of other material in my lecture, including several books I read this year, but still.  Hopefully I can do it again (even better) next year!

Strawberries are producing--have gotten quite a few already. The one upside to the construction behind our house is that it seems to be keeping the birds away from the garden, at least for the moment. The raspberry canes are absolutely loaded with immature berries, so we should get quite a crop in a few weeks! Blueberry bush has many green berries too, a vast improvement on last year's four. The dwarf mulberry will probably fruit next year (fingers crossed!)

I'm mostly focused on the berries this year since I don't know how the construction will ultimately affect the light situation on the patio, so I put in only one cucumber plant and a bunch of flowers.  

My hydrangea looks good this year!  It was a little peaky all last summer, but it looks lush and vibrant this year.  

The kids were hoping for another prodigious watermelon vine, but I just don't have room this year with how big the two raspberry bushes are.  

A few weeks ago, I moved the fig tree into the middle of the garden since it wasn't leafing out properly and it seems happier now.  Nothing much else to report about; still knitting away on various things, reading a LOT (I should do a separate post on that soon), trying to think about the rhythms of summer.

Fig is in the big green pot in the center of the picture.

Cypress Laneus in the Pascal Season

Christ is Risen!  Христос Воскресе!  We are nearly to mid-Pentecost (this Wednesday) and our weather is moving into more late spring temperatures.  I was still wearing sweaters all day last week, but it looks like this might be the last gasp of sweater weather, so I thought I better get my newly finished Laneus photographed!  

This was an extremely fast and enjoyable knit.  The pattern is Laneus and is by Teti Lutsak, the same person who wrote the Cinnamomum pattern.  I'm totally enjoying her stuff and love the finished fit.  These are the first yoked sweaters I've made that fit me very well through the shoulders and underarms and don't want to stretch out at the neckline.  My Not A Bláithín sweater is a good fit overall with a good neckline, but the yoke is just a smidge too long so it wants to fold up the excess all the time.  I still wear it a lot, though and highly recommend the yarn, as it wears extremely well.  

The yarn is from my previous Cypress pullover, as I frogged the thing in the fall after being totally annoyed with the fit.  I ended up being one ball short, so had to reorder to finish the hems and cuffs, but for once the different Quince dyelots didn't bite me and it looks pretty seamless.  My only complaint about Chicakdee is that it isn't the best wearing yarn; I had to shave the fuzz off even before I wore it because the original sweater had pilled.  At the price point, I wish it was sturdier, but I'm finding a few other options that seem more robust but still feel nice to wear.

As is probably obvious, I'm into textured work right now.  There was quite a bit of cabling on this yoke and the cuffs and hem, but honestly, it wasn't that bad.  Even though I really enjoy the process of color work, I'm finding I don't wear colorwork sweaters as much as my plain ones.  My next two planned sweaters are the Sarkle and Geo Lace (with a different body shape).  I have the yarn already for both but am working on some smaller accessories right now just for a change of pace.  

I'm not sewing at all right now, except to alter stuff I already have, but I'm probably going to get back to jewelry making soon.  I played around with some designs a week or two ago and it was fun again.  May is always so busy, I try not to make many plans for myself.

Cinnamomum at the end of Lent

С праздником!  It's Palm Sunday for us today, and it feels we are already in the full swing of Holy Week since Annunciation fell on Friday and we've had services every day since Wednesday (including twice on Friday and Saturday!)  We all wore our green today for the feast and it was a lovely service.  I've been sick on and off for most of Lent, including a truly nasty sinus infection that was like having glue in my face for 12 days.  I ended up having to do a course of antibiotics to kick it.  I have another mild cold right now, but I'm hoping I can muscle through the rest of this week and still have enough voice to sing the Pascha service.  Pray for us!

I have a finished object to show today--my Cinnamomum is finished!  I finished it just before the end of March, but it warmed up a bit and I thought I wouldn't get to wear it this season, but it got cold again the past few days, so I happily wore it yesterday for Lazarus Saturday.  

This sweater was a thoroughly enjoyable knit. The provisional cast-on in the middle meant that the fun and engaging part of the yoke was first, but the hem chart provided some interest after working the body down from the yoke. I made the fourth size (43") because I wanted some ease, and I'm very happy with the fit.  I'm still working out the sweet spot on fit in yoked sweaters.

I added the hem chart (with a slight mod) to the sleeves because I liked the symmetry and the stitch count worked out well. I added more stitches to the sleeve underarm cast on (18, I think) and decreased every 8 rows 13 times to 48 stitches, which gave me the right number of stitches for the hem chart on the cuff.  

I did end up knitting one of the sleeves twice, as I forgot to size up a needle and the sleeve came out too tight.  (Pro tip: when knitting small circumferences, tension tends to get tighter, so go up!)  I also had to frog the yoke once as I got a third of the way in and realized my stitches had gotten twisted somehow and I couldn't fix it without starting over.  (Blerg!)

Thankfully it was on an enjoyable part of the sweater.  I also frogged the top part of the yoke once as I forgot to twist the rib stitches and it bugged me enough to tink back and fix it.  Looks like this year is the year of "never say never," since I am finding cabling interesting and engaging now--maybe I'll do a complicated gansey or fisherman's style at some point!  I still enjoy charted lace and stranded knitting, so it is nice to have an array of techniques to move amongst.

I liked this designer's work so much, I immediately cast on another of her patterns, the Laneus pullover, using the yarn from my frogged Cypress sweater.  It too is a thoroughly enjoyable knit.  I like her Javelin pattern too (and bought it!) but I'm finding DK weight sweaters work better for me overall right now and that one is written for worsted.  Although maybe I can fudge the gauge somehow and make it DK weight anyway?  

That said, I want to make a light weight sweater for this time of year (and the corresponding shoulder season in the fall) and I have this beautiful heathered lilac colored yarn that I want to use for it.  It is the same line as my Lightweight Pullover from earlier this winter and I've gotten a ton of wear out of it.  My plan is to cast on the Geo Lace pullover, but I had to remath most of the pattern because the yoke and body stitch counts didn't match--why?!?  I buy patterns so I don't have to math them.  My plan is to do a provisional cast on and knit the yoke first like with this sweater since I like how it allowed me to adjust the yoke depth before doing the body.  The yoke as written seems a little on the shallow side to me; a provisional cast on means I don't have to tink back the whole yoke to fix it in the middle.

And for those of you whose eyes glazed over at all the technical knitting stuff, whew, I'm finished! I'm not sewing much at all right now; mostly just altering stuff I already have to fit better. 

My garden is full of spring flowers. The daffodils and crocuses and are nearly done, but the tulips and grape hyacinth are just flowering now.  The raspberries are leafing out nicely and it looks like the blueberry bush is getting some flowers.  The dwarf mulberry probably won't fruit this year, but I'll be happy if it leafs out nicely.  The strawberries and hydrangea weathered the winter pretty well.  I bought some pansies at the hardware store and put them into some of the big pots.  The building behind us (the brick wall you see in the photos) is undergoing a major renovation, including adding a third story, so I'm not sure how much that will affect our light situation here.  The new story is set back from the roof line a bit, so it may not impact us much.  There is also a new condo unit going up next to it, but it isn't supposed to be any taller than the other houses around us, so hopefully that won't impact our light either.  I'm making no firm planting plans at the moment.  Maybe some lettuces soon.

Onward into Holy Week!

What a Lightweight

Drumroll, please....another finished object!  I've been working on this sweater since the late summer/early fall, and while it is an easy pattern, it is also kind of boring.  

Miles and miles of stockinette in the round, with thin yarn on small needles.  It felt like the never-ending sweater.  

The sleeves went quicker than I expected (helped immeasurably by knitting through a few exciting basketball games at my kids' school!) and this baby is off needles and blocked.  It was quite cold the day I wore it, and while I had silk long underwear underneath, I wouldn't say it was the warmest thing for that day, but I think it will do nicely for the slightly-warmer-but-still-cold days ahead.

I used the Cloudborn fingering weight yarn for this one, even though it was lighter than the pattern called for, but I wanted something quite light.  I like the little cowl on it, as it is just a little something around the neck, but not stifling or constricting.  Maybe I'm just reliving the late 1990s or something, but I've been digging turtlenecks again this winter, as they give me a light layer around my neck for warmth, but don't put me in hot-flash danger like a full on scarf.

Nothing much to note, as I've made this pattern before.  I made the body shorter than the pattern calls for, but less short than my last iteration.  ~12" seems to be a sweet spot for me at the moment.  Long enough for skirts, but still short enough to look good with dresses.  I think it probably looks better tucked in, but I prefer it untucked, so whatever.  It's fine, everything's fine.

In other news, I started an Alpenglow, restarted the thing three times because I wasn't getting the yoke increases right (the LL1 increase is so confusing at first!  I get it now, but man...annoying). 

But on the third go, at the third yoke increases, I decided to frog the thing as I wasn't liking the color combo.  The gray/pink/cranberry worked well but that darker pink just seemed off to me.  It's a pretty intense sweater color-wise, so I knew if I didn't like it at this point, it wasn't going to improve with further knitting.  My original plan for the cranberry yarn was a plain sweater anyway.  So I decided to go for a monochrome sweater with texture instead.  I'm two rows into the chart and it's going pretty well.

Nothing much else to note!  I did the first of my Russia presentations in the 4th grade last week, and it went well.  Ponchik's class is very spirited, so I was a little concerned about how it would go, but they were very attentive and asked mostly good questions at the end.  I served them tea, Russian style, and Ponchik declared that she would always have her tea with jam in it from now on.

I've got two kiddos home today who were sick all weekend, although I think they will both go back to school tomorrow.  I'm a little congested myself, but I'm hoping it will pass quickly.  Somehow I have All The Things stacked up this week and don't have time to be sick!