yarn along:: october 2023, new rhythms

Little things, like the height of the light switches or the number of steps from the landing to the living room, require more adjustment than our big changes.  When I descend the steps in the black early morning, I have to count 1-2-3-4, or I lose my footing.  I spend a minute feeling the wall at shoulder height before I remember to drop my hand a foot and flip a switch.  It's the tiny things that are done almost without thinking that need the most thought.  When I FaceTime with my tidy and well-organized sister, I cringe at how cluttered all our surfaces are.  The kitchen always looks like the cabinets have exploded. We're still learning how to live in a new house, tweaking our storage and the locations of things.  We need to make another purge!

In the precious few minutes I have had to knit, I made for little M an Oslo hat in some DROPS Kid-Silk held with DROPS Flora.  We made a visit to a new local yarn store, and I spent several minutes perusing their great yarn selection.  Little M made a beeline for all the different mohair blends and began rubbing skeins against her cheek.  I knew then we would not leave without something for her!  Thankfully DROPS is very affordable, and her new hat was under $10.  She wanted a shocking teal color (petrol!), but I steered her toward a softer blue (light jeans blue and denim blue), which will complement her eyes and hair better.  The finished hat is a hit!  A note about the pattern's construction--I found the instructions for making the brim's fold a little challenging for my exhausted brain to visualize and execute, so I did my own thing.  It works, but I'd like to try again, following the instructions exactly.

The rest of my seven or eight WiPs sit in project bags, strewn all over the house.  I'm making desultory progress on them all; every time I knit a row or two on one of them, I get restless and grab another to work on.  If I continue in this fashion, it'll be months before I finish any of them!  Last night I did unearth a shawl that I began in those whirlwind last weeks before our move and added a whole section repeat.   Maybe there's hope for me? The rows simply flowed from my needles, and gave me the nudge to finish the shawl.  It's my new priority.

Reading has also taken a back seat to other things this season, although I have been sneaking a few pages of CS Lewis's Space Trilogy at lunch or before bed.  I finished Out of the Silent Planet and have moved to Perelandra, the one in the series I've read the least.  Funny how this series has become my new comfort read!