Bleak Midwinter
Along with my earlier laments about no one mentioning Jack Frost after the December holidays, it occurred to me that the December timeframe is also thought of as Mid-Winter, and that we have all kinds of events to get ourselves through that - candles, lights, festivals, presents, etc. What we haven't yet established is an integrated coping mechanism to get us through this long period of time between Mid-Winter and Spring, especially this year with yet another polar vortex offshoot on the verge of overtaking us for the coming days. I think now is truly the Bleak Midwinter, when the ground has been snow-covered for so long that patches of driveway or lawn are surprising and foreign-looking; when we never forget to leave the house, even for a minute, without an outer garment and socks; and when the occasional sunshine is still stunningly bright and warm.
Perhaps that's why this caught my eye on Ravelry this morning:
(I'm hoping that the above link to the source Ravelry page provides sufficient attribution for this photo - it's definitely not mine!)
This is a super cool and funky idea that I'm dying to try. Of course it's a ton of i-cord knitting (100 yards of yarn), but what a great outcome! And who doesn't have random bits of coordinating sock yarn (or even a partly-used ball) longing to become something meaningful! (The designer used DK-weight, so some modifications would be needed for fingering weight, but I think that would be more fun somehow).
Other knitting, and the occasional needlework, continues to progress, but it will be a few days until I have anything completed. Perhaps it's time to fish around in the "finishing" pile to block something (ruana replacement?), attach a pom (February Hat?), or darn a sock so that we can all get a sense of accomplishment?
In terms of wildlife sightings - things are still pretty quiet around these parts, but late yesterday afternoon about 10 deer grazed their way out of, and back into, the woods and were fairly close to the house at one point (but not close enough for me to want to scare them off). This morning these was a really big crow pecking its way around the area of the burn pile (I call it the Martin Landing Strip, although it's round; it's slightly raised and the center is covered with charcoal, which looks a bit like scorched earth from a distance). Our friend who lives nearby tells us there aren't too many crows out here, although I did hear one (perhaps this one) caw-ing in the distance the other day.
Perhaps that's why this caught my eye on Ravelry this morning:
(I'm hoping that the above link to the source Ravelry page provides sufficient attribution for this photo - it's definitely not mine!)
This is a super cool and funky idea that I'm dying to try. Of course it's a ton of i-cord knitting (100 yards of yarn), but what a great outcome! And who doesn't have random bits of coordinating sock yarn (or even a partly-used ball) longing to become something meaningful! (The designer used DK-weight, so some modifications would be needed for fingering weight, but I think that would be more fun somehow).
Other knitting, and the occasional needlework, continues to progress, but it will be a few days until I have anything completed. Perhaps it's time to fish around in the "finishing" pile to block something (ruana replacement?), attach a pom (February Hat?), or darn a sock so that we can all get a sense of accomplishment?
In terms of wildlife sightings - things are still pretty quiet around these parts, but late yesterday afternoon about 10 deer grazed their way out of, and back into, the woods and were fairly close to the house at one point (but not close enough for me to want to scare them off). This morning these was a really big crow pecking its way around the area of the burn pile (I call it the Martin Landing Strip, although it's round; it's slightly raised and the center is covered with charcoal, which looks a bit like scorched earth from a distance). Our friend who lives nearby tells us there aren't too many crows out here, although I did hear one (perhaps this one) caw-ing in the distance the other day.
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