Yarns - Blues Antarktis and Eclipse Shadows

     I'm working on Janina Kallio's Antarktis.  I just love her "ONE SKEIN WONDERS", just having finished Ardent.  My last week's post - Yarns -The Ardent Shawl Finished!

      This shawl is made from Hawthorne Fingering Multi Yarn in Goose Hallow.  I'm loving the color, but it's a tougher, courser feeling yarn than what I used for my Ardent.  I'm hoping when it's done I can wash it and soak it for a bit in a mild detergent.  I learned this from a comment from a customer on the KnitPick site who says this will soften the yarn.  I think in the future I'd rather knit with the Malabrigo Mechita Yarn that I used for the Ardent Shawl, but that's single ply, so it's soft, but it might not last as well as the plied Hawthorne, which is gorgeous!

 Finished Antarktis by Veveroben's

 veveroben's Antarktis

     I've gone onto the second book in The Century Trilogy by Kenneth Follett Winter of the World.  I'm continuing off with the same characters that I got to know in the first book, but it's about a decade later, leaping from the early 20's after WWI to 1933 in Germany, to start.  The kids are now grown up for the most part (later teens) and Nazi Germany is just getting rooted in Germany.  What I'm finding a bit shocking and in the face is the similarities to now.  I mean these are historical facts I am aware of, yet put in the context of now familiar characters, and starting to live several similar events, it's just so much more real.  One aspect of Nazi rule is the attack on the Press.  The rhetoric out of the Nazi leaders convincing the public that the news is inaccurate (hear the roar of someone shouting fake news lately?).  I am aware that is the first area a government and country will be attacked when there is a takeover, their source of news.  Brainwash the public and winning over the people is already done.  The battle of the mind starts first.  A good book to thwart this now is to read On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Kindle Edition by Timothy Snyder.  Timothy Snyder speaks about his book - On Tyranny: Yale Historian Timothy Snyder on How the U.S. Can Avoid Sliding into Authoritarianism.  The actual 20 Lessons - 20 Lessons from the 20th Century About How to Defend Democracy from Authoritarianism, According to Yale Historian Timothy Snyder.  Read these, they are profound!

Eclipse Shadows

  

Celebrate the Moments

Yarns -The Ardent Shawl Finished!

My beautiful Spring Ardent Shawl is done -

Made from Malabrigo Mechita Yarn - Indiecita

     I've started Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy, Book 2) by Ken Follett.  The first book Fall of Giants was great and I enjoyed it thoroughly, so I expect the same.  Also I so enjoy learning while I'm a having fun reading and it's interesting being immersed in another time period. 

Blues Antarktis

For more lovely shawls by Janina Kallio - ONE SKEIN WONDERS

Joining with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday.

Simply Saturday

   

     My Ardent Shawl is almost done.  I finished the pattern and still have yarn leftover so I've added a few more rows with holes, and now I'm doing the final garter rows till the yarn is gone.

      It's a good weekend to turn off.  Turn inward.  Quiet the soul.  Knit and read.  And turn off the news.  Sometimes, somethings are beyond our control and for me too overwhelming to contemplate.  I'm going to let the birds and trees surround me.  Knit, take a walk.  Breathe.  And hope.  Out of this place, I can handle next week better.  What else can I do but tend my little world?

     A cake to make.  My husband's birthday on Sunday.  Still some unpacking to do, clearing off the kitchen table, finally so I can block my shawl.  My teen starts school in a week.  10th grade.  Starting to talk about colleges.  Life goes on.  Embracing the simple.  A hot soup to make.  When the world seems impossibly crazy and out of control, what I can do is be thankful for what I have.  Breathe in, breathe out, because I can.  And hope for a better tomorrow.

Yarns - Socks Tackled Again

     Last year I started my My First Socks Adventure and got stalled after working on them all day at my daughter's college graduation.  Unused to tiny needles and seemingly so little progress, it got stashed away with the thought that that's it, socks are not for me! 

Last year:

     Then the past year I've been working with smaller needles and shawls with fingering weight yarn and I've gotten more comfortable with knitting with small stuff.  So I picked it up again this week and I'm really happy with the results.  Of course it helped I had most of the cuff done and now I'm working on the heel.  Now I'm dreaming of wearing them.  It's a cold rainy summer and warm socks would be dreamy.

I'm knitting up How I Make My Socks by Susan B. Anderson.

I'm almost done with Ken Follet's Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, Book 1).  It's been an amazing ride and I believe I've learned a lot about WWI and I feel like I've been immersed in that time frame.  I've got the next book Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy and I'll be ready to continue on to the next generation and WWII.

     I'm also reading a collection of short stories which are biographies of historical heroes.   Some forgotten long ago.   "Brave Companions: Portraits In History" by David McCullough.  I love these stories so much, I'm finishing a story and passing the book over to my husband when he gets home at night.  It seems just such a shame that we don't know about these people.  The first chapter is about a Naturalist (and many other things) that explored South America and did more for science than Lewis & Clark, but we probably don't hear about him because the U.S. is so centered on itself and ignores the history of any country that surrounds it!  Anyone know Canadian History?  Case in point.  This explorer, a Naturalist was Alexander von Humboldt.  If you love history and biographies this book is a must.  I love David McCullough's writing.  Very interesting, gripping stories.

Joining with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday.

Yarns - What's Up in Your Knitting & Reading World?

   In honor of a wildlife refuge in Texas threatened by the building of The Wall, I've started knitting the Passerine Hat by Erica Heusser.  I was excited I had the materials on hand and I've bravely waded in to tackle colorwork with Fingering Weight yarn (I'm a bit of a newbie on this, only having done one Fair Isle piece before - Technique Thursday and Learning Fair Isle).  Today I should get to the bird motif.  Read on for details on how the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is threatened.

Blue Bunting Cyanocompsa parellina

Passerine Hat by Erica Heusser

     In September the next fight in Congress will be over the budget.  Hidden in the proposed budget is funding for the Wall.  Surreptitiously testing the area, hoping to avoid notice, the US Customs and Border Protection has been working to get soil samples and check out a three mile stretch in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas to build a portion of the Wall. Today the Washington Post reported that Homeland Security will be evoking previous laws in order to skirt any Environmental rules or reviews for building the wall along the border The Energy 202: Trump to Waive Environmental Rules to Construct Border Wall. 

    The Santa Ana National Refuge is the home of the many birds and some endangered species - "The 2,088-acre Santa Ana refuge, located along the Rio Grande south of McAllen, Texas, is considered one of the nation’s top bird-watching sites, with more than 400 species of birds. The refuge is also home to two endangered wildcats—the ocelot and jaguarundi—and some of the last surviving stands of sabal palm trees in South Texas." (Mother Jone's - Trump’s Big, Beautiful Wall Will Cut Through a Big, Beautiful Texas Wildlife Refuge). An update from Texas Public Radio.

     I'm more than half way through Ken Follet's Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, Book 1).  It's a great book and fills in a lot of gaps of my understanding of WWI and the Russian Revolution.  The Characters feel real (and interspersed with real historical figures) and the plot keeps up a good pace.  Every page you want to know what's going to happen next.  I'm pleased I'm reading an accurate historical fiction, having fun and learning at the same time.  I'll have to remember to prowl the second hand book shops this weekend for #2 in his trilogy - Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy.

Join "Frontier Dreams" to post your  projects on Tuesday or later in the week.

Nicole says: "The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link" on her blog, link above.

Yarns - What are You Knitting and Reading?

     Do you have a favorite knitting project this summer?  Something you're dragging around no matter where you go?  I always have a favorite.  I'll have several things up on needles, but one project will always draw my more.

     This summer my shawl knitting is my favorite go to and I'm especially fond of this shawl from the designer Janina Kallio's One Skein Wonders Collection.  I seem to be gravitating towards trying all these patterns out, since I started an Antarktis also.  This one is an Ardent.  (Please note the designer has a Summer sale going on for her patterns, buy 2, get one free).  My project page - Spring Ardent.  I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Mechita in Indiecita.

 Ausable River, Adirondacks, Upstate New York

     My summer read is a large book on the beginning of the century - "Fall of Giants" by Ken Follett.  From the Welsh coal pits to the battlefields in France and Russia, the fictional plot is riveting, and exciting next to the real historical playout of World War I.  Worth all the pages and I'm so glad it's the beginning book in Ken Follett's "The Century Trilogy".

Happy Summer!

Christmas Procrastinator? KAL Starts Today!

"Procrastinate No More Along " A Christmas KAL/CAL

by 

     Love KAL's?  I do. This morning going through Facebook I came across a Free Pattern - Pan Galactic Helix by Heather R. Robinson for a zappy looking sock.  Following that link I saw the designers had a KAL that starts today July 25th!  Called "Procrastinate No More Along ".  An effort to get ahead on your Christmas, holiday knitting.  So if you're like me and love a challenge, head for your stash like I did this morning and attack Ravelry's pattern section and see what you can start today.  To qualify you must have at least 200 stitches on and join the group and post.  Good luck. have fun and the rest of the rules are on the link above for the KAL/CAL.

A Gifted Cowl

Christmas Cowl

Happy Early Christmas Knitting!