Lovely Yarn Escapes

My Adventures in Knitting, truly my Yarn-escape!

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Wednesday’s Yarns: A New Age of Brass & Steel Shawl

 


     So here I am again, almost a year from when I posted last year. And I’ve cast on another Age of Brass & Steam in another color of Malabrigo Silky Merino - Indiecita, a blue with purple and green tones mixed in. You know when Life gets stressful I like to knit for peace inside. But nothing would work for me lately. All other knitting required a focus I couldn’t give it and I finally gave in to my urge to do another Age of Brass & Steam. For several reasons: I can do it without thought, it’s second nature and I can read a book & knit. 


     Also more importantly, I can think of global changes politically and national politics and government changes. Our country has changed at a blitzkrieg pace. We are not the country we were just 7 weeks ago. And I suspect we will be totally different in the future. Whatever it is so far it’s not good. I literally woke up this week analyzing our nation’s border and the possibility of war with Canada. Then I remembered one of the few things I know about Canadian history is our failed last attempt in 1775 to take Quebec City. So that’s what you get with a History degree & Master’s level International Studies at the end of the Cold War. I am fascinated with current events. So while I’m concerned for what is happening now in our country and I relentlessly check the news and read books to make sense of this; my refuge is found in my hands, the feel of the yarn and the rhythm of stitches. My knitting is my peace.


     My reading has slowed down as I’ve created a Bluesky account @resistanceknitters.bsky.social to continue fighting this new administration. The previous one Trump 1.0 I fought on Facebook with a Resistance Knitters group. We knit for Migrants , Resistance Craftivism, and for Ukrainian refugees. But most importantly we kept each other company through the years. Now I’m back with my own space on Bluesky. Bluesky has become a place Liberals are flocking, especially with X being taken over by the Right, Twitter most likely made illegal and many boycotting Facebook because of Zuckerberg redirecting his energies in an opposite direction than Liberals. I’m not focused on knitting so much but on posting good, hard hitting journalism that is truth based. For me the fight is in accurate news. Many of my articles are from Substack, a somewhat new app for writers. Some from New York Times, my favorite paper still. You’ll find journalists that have left main stream news lately there on Substack. So I’m finding my knitting more a source of peace. But I’m also got a Craftivist project of a Temperature Shawl on needles. 

     Slowly I’m getting through a Peter Heller book. Which is kinda nice because he is a writer to savor the details. He writes for sporting magazines and is an amazing writer of nature and those poetic details that take you into the woods or on the waters. I’ve plowed through Burn his last year’s book. I read it too fast and it’s worth a second read. Now I’m reading Celine. Also other books by him The River & The Guide (read The River first before The Guide, same main character and you’ll ruin The River plot if you read The Guide first like I did!). Check them out at: Peter Heller.


     I’d especially recommend “Burn”. It is a tough read but it was written by Heller because he was concerned for what was happening here in our country and where it could lead - Civil War. The story is of two hunters that walk out of the Maine woods after hunting for weeks to see towns burned down to the ground. Now Maine is now politically a microcosm of the U.S. The coast is Liberals and go inland less than 10 miles and you hit Trump signs. But Heller’s book is devoid of politics. Very well done. He creates an intense suspenseful story and it builds with all the big political questions not really answered. Once a character says- who knows who did what?- and lists all these different opposing groups and says maybe any of them are involved. Almost like saying do the details matter so much when it comes down to this, the death & destruction? I like its ambiguity in that way. But it’s a good read, even if tough. Makes you aware that even here that could happen. Just look at today’s news. We never could imagine our government could be dismantled so quickly. We grew up with promises of “guardrails “ that were in the government. Our balanced government could never fall. Now I wonder at our Pride. We are now friends with our staunch enemy and strong-arming our previous friends and allies. I am ashamed to call myself an American. 




   Please forgive my dour mood & horrible splash of reality.  I’m not one to pull any punches as they say and I’m blunt & honest by nature. I am bottom line not only a knitter but a student of our history & politics & foreign policy. I can’t cleave myself in two. So I knit for Peace when the World falls apart.


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Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Yarn Like Summer Sunshine


     I ordered a lovely yellow Malabrigo yarn Silky Merino in Sunshine Yellow.  I've used it before and the memory of it was a delight of soft smooth yarn that's DK and works up quickly.  Previously I made an Age of Brass & Steam Shawl out of it and it's a perfect pairing of yarn and pattern.  It was a flawless plan for easy knitting for a time in my life where complicated anything will not work.  To stem the tide of constantly doing Eldercare I choose one of my favorite shawls to knit, it's rhythmic & easy to do and I need easy and handwork needing no thought.


     It’s been almost a year since I came to take care of my Dad who’s 91 with dementia. We're returning to the club pool where he likes to sit in the shade and have a lunch and read the paper. I get a quick swim and read & knit along side him.  Honestly I didn't expect to make it a full year with him at that age. But here we are planning for next month to be up in his cottage in the Adirondacks.  This time I'm in charge of the packing and getting ready. 

     I think the only snag with this pattern I finally figured out when I first did it is no matter what my count got off.  Finally I figured out I was doing the transition from a wrap to a purl stitch wrong and a stitch was dropped, or no wrap made.  You have to practically wrap the yarn around the needle twice to go into a purl and hold that wrap, so watch carefully as you do it.  You'll find once that is figured out the pattern is simple and easy.

     Hopefully with this knitting and some lovely books I'm reading now I can disappear into my own world of peace where my responsibilities fade away into a pause in my mind.  You know that place where nothng intrudes and it's just your world and quiet, and sunny yellow, soft yarn.



Saturday, December 2, 2023

Project Peace 2023

 


     I was pleasantly pleased yesterday to see an email from The Healthy Knitter announcing the Project Peace 2023! She's taken a 2 year break and I hadn't even thought about it but oh sweet peace and more of it I can always use.  I grabbed a Madelinetosh fingering yarn I had bought just because I liked the color and stubbornly stayed up to midnight wrapping it by hand.  Here I am trying to find little slices of time to start this project that has been so important to me in the past.  I'm now down in NJ taking care of my 91 yr old Dad who has dementia.  For three months I've lived in one half of his condo while my husband was in Maine.  So Project Peace is a very welcoming distraction. 

     This year there's no pre-planned pattern but with the suggestion we either reuse a Project Peace pattern from previous years or another shawl pattern she likes.  See her post about details: November 30th and the first post of the month to get started: December 1st.


     I've decided to do the first Project Peace 2016 pattern because I enjoyed the rythmic nature of the knit.  Granted that first cowl is stored away now with everything else in storage in New Jersey.  My husband just arrived to stay last week with a truck and my yarn and projects are somewhere in there.  I never finished it because I couldn't keep up with the daily quota required to finish the knit in 21 days. Four rows a day will give you a finished cowl.  I'm going to try it again, but if I can only do 2 rows a day perhaps an extended Project Peace into 2024 wouldn't be remiss.


     I'll try and update on how I'm doing on my Project Peace knit and what I'm reading later (Lynn Kurland books about Medieval days, light hearted romance & time travel, favorite books of mine).  I just wanted to post a quick one to give fellow knitters and Peace enthusiast a heads up about the Project Peace being back this year.

Enjoy!




Thursday, May 18, 2023

Offline for Awhile

   





     Last weekend before Hip Surgery on Monday.  Planting 2 raised beds with perennials (actually I picked out the plants, my hubby will plant them).  After we moved last year I really miss my plants.  I got some of my old friends and I'll add some through the summer while they bloom, like a Daisy in July and a Purple Coneflower in August, paired with a black- eyed Susan.  Favorites of mine.



  I'll be off the grid for a bit, focusing on healing.  Knitting and Reading, of course.  Six weeks to the dot from Surgery (recovery time with restrictions) I got a two night reservation in a Vermont State Park to camp.  We're on the way to stay with my 90 yr old father in the Adirondacks,  in a family vacation cottage.  The Dr OKd a trip in 2 parts from Maine; but he won't allow me to boat in with the rest of my family into camp in guide boats on the Upper Ausable Lake.  Sigh.  But good time to spend with my Dad who doesn't go in "glamping" with the rest of the family. Glamping is a very posh way to camp in old style rambling camps with fully functioning totally awesome kitchen, bathrooms but no electricty.  I always opt for the leanto on the lake with mosquito netting and a large fire pit.  S'mores anyone?





     The trip home is my birthday and we'll spend again 2 days camping in Vermont.  I like a tent but now we have nice cushy cots.







Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Wednesday's Yarns: Tidelines

 





     Tidelines designed by Janina Kallio is a very stress relieving knit and beautiful.   Simplicity is embraced in this knit alternating garter sections with fishnet lace and eyelets.  I love the result.





     Knit in a Malabrigo, my favorite single ply finger weight Malabrigo Mechita Yarn in Ninfas.  Colors that echo the many lakes and forests from Maine, through Vermont to the High Peaks in Upstate New York.  I grabbed it out of stash for my camping trip in the Adirondacks last week.  Perfect for a road trip.







     I just finished Cold Lake by Jeff Carson and it was definitely a roller coaster ride keeping me up to midnight last night.  The ending leaves you a bit sad and with some mysteries unsolved; but the series continues with book 6 Smoked Out and hopefully I'll get some answers and more sleep.  Yup it's all the books fault, not my sometimes lack of time management no matter how hard I try.  The David Wolf series makes it doubly harder with cliffhangers seemingly just when my bedtime arrives.   What's a girl to do?




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Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Wednesday's Yarns: Autopilot Cowl

 



      I finished my hat out of Chroma Worsted Yarn, a super soft single ply wool from Knitpicks.  It's %70 Superwash Wool in a gorgeous pallette of color combos.  The hat was very appreciated for the first night of camping at 32° and my LLBean sleeping bag (rated 40°) did well zipped up over my head with the hat and piles of fleece blankets.  The next days got warmer.  




     And the trees were popped out from inland Maine to Vermont.  The Adirondacks were so pretty.  The new leaves glistening in sunlight.  So, so appreciated after a long cold winter.  It was a nice break.  



       
                        Simple Slouch Hat

     After finishing up my hat I had a lot of Chroma Worsted left in colors Lake Front and Fathoms.  I did a search of projects on Ravelry done in Chroma and found Autopilot.   A really easy, rythmic knit that produces a gorgeous cowl.


                         anmar's Autopilot
                        Domknit's Autopilot





     I'm still reading the David Wolf books by Jeff Carson on Kindle Unlimited.  I intended to only read one as I waited for my next CJ Box, Joe Pickett book.  They're great high paced adventure, murder mystery books about a Colorado Sheriff named David Wolf.  It's takes place in a small town deep in the Rocky Mountains.  I'm on my 4th book Deadly Conditions where Wolf just skied after the murder suspect but ended up over the cliffs.  The recent snow fall saved him.  Bad guy gets away unidentified.  I'm enjoying them.  But I need to get back to Joe Picket! My husband is reading them too and he is gaining on me, and I miss Joe.


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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Wednesday's Yarns: My Camping Slouchy Hat

 


     We're off to camp in the Adirondacks this weekend.   I got a nice tent site in the only May 1st campground open near the High Peaks.  Two new cots and extra mattress should be a step up from our usual sleeping on the ground.  That should feel like deluxe camping.  My favorite part is when my husband gets the fire going and we curl up by the fire.  Hot tea for me, coffee for him.  Grilled Veggie burgers and S'mores at night. Going to get cold at night, I'm bringing lots of fleece blankets and my hubby got me a very soft LL Bean flannel sleeping bag.  



     The last week I picked up an old hat I started back for the Science Day March and I ran out of yarn.  It was an older color of yarn Preciosa that I loved but was discontinued.  So when looking at a different yarn at Knitpicks called Chroma Worsted I noticed the same color Lake Front.  It is almost a perfect match. The new colors just have more pop and are very soft and so nice to work with.  I did cut out a wide swatch of bright Pea yellow green, saving it for another time, and then matched up the stripes almost seamlessly.  Perfect, really looks like the same yarn.  Only difference is the Preciosa was %100 Wool and Chroma is %70 Superwash Wool, which is a total plus for donated hats.  Maybe these will be my go-to donated hats this year.  With a slightly bulky worsted yarn and size #9 needles even I, a slow knitter, got it done in less than a week. 




     The pattern is an old favorite of mine that is super comfortable and goes up quick.  They also make great hats to donate since they fit a lot of different people and Slouch is so in.   Simple Slouch Hat




     I started reading a very gripping series on my Kindle (Kindle Unlimited) while I waited for my Joe Pickett books to arrive.  They did, and in perfect new condition for $4 each from Book Outlet.  But in the meantime I got hooked on this other book series by an author that grew up reading CJ Box, Baldacci  and Lee Child (my husband's favorite) and patterned his books on them.  So these are a bit more ramped up but most of them are in Colorado with awesome descriptions of scenery.  Good fun reads by Jeff Carson; The David Wolf series.