My Adventures in Knitting, truly my Yarn-escape!

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Monet's Water Lilies Shawl and "Track of The Cat"





     I got this beautiful yarn for my birthday gift from me.  A Madelinetosh Euro Sock yarn called "Across The Universe".  It immediately reminded me of Monet's Water Lilies and since I unveiled it on a porch on my birthday in the Adirondacks I have been trying to create a shawl pattern that would reflect the diverse textures found in the Water Lilies masterpieces (there were about 250 of them painted by Monet).  Hopefully, I'm projecting that I can knit it again in perhaps a plain blue yarn and put it out there in the Spring as a pattern on sale.  My goal at least.






     During my vacation, I read "The President is Missing" by Bill Clinton and James Patterson; a quick grab in the airport bookstore and a really exciting read.  But I had intended to finish Nevada Barr's first in the Anna Pigeon series "Track of The Cat".  I had thought the series perfect for a vacation and even though I'm finishing it at home it definitely would be an awesome read for vacation (I'll just pretend I'm on vacation).  The book series is about Anna Pigeon a ranger and each book is set in another National Park.  I'm told that keeping them in order is important and I couldn't find the next book "A Superior Death" anywhere second hand (I love the feel of a previously creased and used book in my hands).  So I just downloaded it and I have a stack of some of the books in the series that I did find.  I think I found the perfect summer reads.  Nevada Barr was a Forest Ranger and you can tell in lush descriptions of fauna and wildlife.  It makes me want to know the names of more plants.  A discussion I had in the Adirondacks, that I'd like to learn more of the trees' names.  I talked about it with my son's significant other Emily as we were rowed down the lake.  Which one was Balsam, or Hemlock?  Trying to identify the different textures of pines and call them by name.  It is like understanding a foreign language that only some do and I'd be able to "read" and define the forest I see.





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Wednesday, July 24, 2019

The Blues Antarktis Shawl and The Book "Things You Save In A Fire"





     I'm back from my vacation in The Adirondack Mountains.  I miss the lakes and streams, the water and lush green of the trees.  I stayed in a small cottage with my 87 year old Dad.  Sleeping in the same bed since I was eleven.  Up above through the trees is the "bunkhouse" where the rest of my brother's family and my kids were.  I got washcloths done when I was gone and gave them to my hosts.  I also read a lot and I read "The President Is Missing" by Bill Clinton and James Patterson which was the perfect vacation read.  Riveting, interesting, believable and lots of fun!  A book scarfed up at the airport on the way that lasted until just as I got home.





      When I got home I grabbed a shawl I started a few years ago and that gave me a satisfying head start.  The Antarktis Shawl I am calling the Blues Antarktis and is made from Knit Picks Hawthorne Fingering Multi in Goose Hallow.










     I came home to two Book of The Month books because it was my birthday month.  One book by Katherine Center "Things You Save in a Fire" is amazing.  Last year I read her book "How To Walk Away" and loved that.  The writer has a unique voice.  It's descriptive, sensitive, always first person and funny, even in not so funny circumstances.  This time the circumstances are not as dire as the first book which deals with the recovery of a burn victim.  This time our heroine is a firefighter forced into working a firehouse in the NorthEast filled with guys who are not sure they want to work with a "girl" and she is constantly having to prove herself.  Meanwhile trying not to fall for the handsome new guy, because that is just not done, especially since she's a newbie "girl" in a guys world.  That she had won an award for top Fireman previously in Austin, TX and can outdo all the other guys physically barely registers in this misogynist environment.  My only regret is I'm reading it too fast and I wish it was thicker.  A definite winner!




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