this and that

How are you weathering this spring, friends?  It has been a wild one for sure.  Across the street, our neighbor's jane magnolias have bloomed early and so profusely that now there are no bare branches visible.  Every morning I look out our living room window toward them and breathe just a little more deeply.  It's such a comfort to look out upon steadfast and stolid nature.  The spring will always come and the flowers will bloom, no matter what other distractions we have.  

Despite the beautiful weather we haven't been straying too far from our cozy backyard.  We'll probably run into our friends at all of our favorite nature haunts, and it would be too hard to practice social distancing.  Still, we may venture out.  The introverts in the family are coping just fine, thank you.  But those extroverts...well, it's harder for them.  My oldest son has been finding solace in our co-op classes online and FaceTime with special friends.  It's not at all the same as in-person, but it's better than nothing.

I finished my Chauncey sweater on Annunciation.  After church, which we streamed online, we took the rest of the day as a true holiday.  Six of us spent the afternoon gathered around our dining room table, listening to an audiobook and working on our little projects.   I sewed ribbon on to the button bands and then sewed buttonholes and buttons.  I like how it turned out, but the ribbon adds a little extra weight that I'm not crazy about.  The yarn knit up into a very light, drapey, warm fabric, so the button bands do need the stability.  There's really no ideal solution for that.  Other than my button band frustration, I love the color and feel of the sweater.  I heavily modified the sizing to fit my measurements, improving on the mods from my last Isabell Kraemer sweater.  There's still a little bit of dolman action where the yoke divides for the sleeves, but it's something I can easily live with.  My next sweater will be this one, in Léttlopi.  Hopefully it will be a much quicker knit!

We tore up the carpet in the dining/school room on Monday and watched the garbage men haul it away this morning.   The floor underneath looks fantastic.  Finally being rid of the carpet feels so good!  We have a long way to go before our house looks like what we envision, but each little step brings us closer.

And each day brings us a little closer to the end of the quarantine and social distancing.  I pray we all continue to weather the discomfort with patience.

p.s.  The wire figure artwork is T's.  It is his narration of this morning's reading in Our Island Story, a story that he knows well and loves. Can you guess which one it is? Here are two clues: the seated figure is King Alfred, and the standing figure is holding a burned cake.  If you don't already know the story, here is a version.