yarn along:: march, 2024: scrappy

Has the winter gray and brown got you down? How about some color, friends!  

I must have wanted more color in my life when, mid-February, I threw up my hands and down the beige sleeve I was struggling to finish.    Instead of the beige, gray, and blue projects that were my February goals, I took a swim through my twenty years of leftover yarn and laser focused on three blankets. I'm surprised there weren't more scraps--I've been more economical with my leftovers than I thought!  

Two blankets you've seen here before, but the third, a granny stripe, is new.  For a while I've wanted to make a traditional granny stripe afghan using Lucy's tutorial, but felt daunted by the first row.  Once I overcame that, magic knot balls kept me chugging away at each stripe.  It helps that I have a very short memory; each new color was an exciting surprise, even if only five minutes had elapsed since I'd wound the ball.  It's addicting, stitching as quickly as I can to see what the next color will be. To be honest, the combination of colors hurts my eyes!  My rule for the granny stripe: only fingering weight yarn, NO heathered, Shetland style.  Leftover bits from knitted gifts in colors that I don't wear?  Perfect for the granny-stripe.  Only a foot of yarn left?  Awesome.  Crazy self-striping?  You betcha!  Add it to the magic knot ball. My husband loves homely, scrappy looking blankets, so I envision him claiming this one for himself.  It's about a third finished, and I've run out of scraps.

Don't those stacks of squares make your heart leap? I added a few more squares to my collection for the sock yarn square blanket.  Only a hundred square pairs until it's a good size!  I am in denial about sewing in all the ends. The rule for this blanket: solid, semi-solid, and lightly speckled colors of fingering weight yarn.  My Battenberg hasn't seen much action, but I've finished about a quarter of the colorful squares I'll need. More denial about ends. The rule: fingering weight, soft colors.  I am debating about signing up for a Row One Mini subscription to get a broader variety of yarns so I can finish these blankets (and enjoy them) sooner.  We'll see.  

I've been trying to change my digital habits lately; there's some after-dinner time that can devolve into mindless scrolling if I'm not careful.  What better way to change a bad habit than to start a good one?  The Scholé Sisters' 5x5 Reading Challenge arrived on my radar from a couple of sources, and it seems like a better way to spend my time than watching adorable bear cubs cross the street or searching for a dress for a fomal wedding we have in May.  I came up with a whole lot more than five categories, and I keep thinking of more as I go, so my Matris Academia will be full for a long while.  

For British History, I'm reading A History of the English Speaking Peoples.  I think I read a bit of the first volume years ago, but this time around I've got six years of CMEC British History under my belt.  Names, places, and events all have a place in my mind already; Churchill simply adds to the framework I already have.

For Geography, there's How the Heather Looks, which I have been wanting to read ever since I assigned it to Z her freshman year of high school.  It's a dangerous book for my wallet.  We have several new books on the shelves thanks to Bodger's shout-outs, and I hope to share about them as we get to them.  Little M and I just finished a sail around the isle of Britain in her geography, so this is a nice way to dig a little deeper.

For Spiritual Growth, Fr. G loaned me his copy of On the Cosmic Mystery.  St. Maximos' writing is notoriously dense, so a page or two each day is all I can manage.  Even then, I doubt I fully understand it!  

For Short Stories, I am just finishing E. M. Forster's Collected Tales, The Machine Stops being the reason I bought the book.  Definitely prescient of Forster!  Next up is anthology, which covers so many authors!  

And finally, for Sigrid Undset, I am re-reading the Master of Hestviken tetralogy, since I finally purchased the last volume. The Axe is on my Kindle, so it's not in the picture above.

And under all the books is the monstrous notebook for all my narrations!  

Happy Reading and Stitching!