Busy as a bee

I've been busy today -- picking up, chatting on the phone, doing the laundry, getting the grocery delivery, making muffins, and knitting.

Yesterday I skeined the rest of my handspun Bluefaced Leicester and washed it, and this afternoon I began knitting. The scarf I'd planned was too busy for the yarn, so I fooled around experimented swatched until it occurred to me that the simplest pattern would be the best. 2X2 ribbing it is, then. The fabric is soft and drapey and has a high squoosh factor. 

I think I've satisfied my urge to start something new, once again, and so I might get back to work on my sweater tonight. 

It's been completely quiet here today, when I haven't been interacting with a person. Annabelle snores, of course, and I talk to her as if she's going to respond, but otherwise I've enjoyed the quiet of no television or music or audiobook. I need that every once in a while!

Budding fortune

I went wandering again today, but not far. I guess everyone knows by now that I love to visit Long Beach, on Little Peconic Bay near Sag Harbor (it has another, more official name, but Long Beach is just what it is). Ever since I moved here in 1993, this place has been a kind of touchstone for me. It was windy today -- loud and blustery, not cold but brisk. I got a good dose of it.

Back at home, in my own back yard, I found a lot of activity. The forsythia are about to burst.

The maple trees are, too.

And the dear, sweet wisteria that twines around the top of my stairs and makes me so happy (unless it decides to try to grow through my door in mid-summer) is just beginning to think about Spring.

This little leaf bud looks like some sort of bug, don't you think?

I'm still working away on my cardigan, but who wants to see a lumpy pile of yarn covered with a halo of cat hair? Sometimes I wonder why Annabelle isn't bald. To break it up a little, and because monogamous knitting is not something I can manage to maintain (forgive me, members of the Yarn Church), I began a new pair of socks. This is Ann Budd's lovely Celebrate Spring pattern, in Sundara's sock yarn, Sage over Butter.

I've also been -- gasp! -- spinning a little. I've decided to try to spin more, and only on my Reeves wheel. I've never really used it enough, and so I'm not completely confident on it. I'm not making any rules here, just establishing an intention.

The Knitter's Book of Wool Woolalong fiber for this month is Bluefaced Leicester, so I spun up eight ounces of dyed Superwash BFL top from Jen at Spirit Trail Fiberworks. If I finish plying the whole batch I might make something like a Morning Surf Scarf, which I think would work with this yarn.

My spinning ability has suffered a bit this past year. I don't notice it all the time, but there's some lingering neuropathy in my hands that doesn't affect my knitting (except that it slows me down a little). I notice it when I'm spinning, though. It's a good thing I don't mind, and that lumpy handspun is just as pretty (to me, at least) as smooth, even yarn. The spinning's the thing. I love to spin and listen to an audiobook, or to just the whir of the wheel. And the Reeves, though it's so big and daunting, is a joy to have and use. It's made so well, with thought and craftsmanship in every detail. I'm a fortunate spinner!

Low tide, stillness

I was out and about today: to the store to fiddle with a computer, to Sag Harbor to get the mail, and to my favorite place, Long Beach near Sag Harbor. This time I parked on the North Haven side, just because. The tide was out, and the pebbled beach was a good place for a little walk on this fine day.

The still water, blue sky, and beautiful sunshine on my face were just what I needed.

The closer I looked, the more I saw...

A world, right there, uncovered by the pull of the moon.

There's a lot going on at the edge of the bay, and I'm glad I stopped by for a visit.

I'm still having a great time knitting the sweater -- in a little while I'll go knit on the seed stitch border at the bottom, then it's on to the neckband, and then the sleeves. At the moment it's a big lump of knitting, so I won't get a good photo until the body is completed. The colors in the yarn are still shifting beautifully, and I'm pleased with my decision not to bother alternating skeins.

Sweater knitting has helped me focus on something quietly repetitious, and on what has been going on in my head. I'm past the serious pondering, and back to the regular run-of-the-mill stuff (What's for dinner? Will I get a chance to rearrange the art table today? Can I find the time to spin some BFL for this month's Knitter's Book of Wool Woolalong, or do I have some yarn?). This is life!

Pondering

Knitting is such a healing activity, isn't it? No matter how fully I think I know this, I'm still surprised by it. I'm working on this Knitting Pure and Simple Neck Down Shaped Cardigan #241, which is a mouthful of a name, but a very nice thing to knit. I'm in love with the seed stitch on the front edges. I'm in love with the yarn, too. It's one of those Sundara yarns that doesn't pool or stripe, except in subtle ways that make the whole thing better. I'm not alternating skeins, I'm just knitting. If it weren't such a dreary afternoon, the photograph might do it justice.

I think I'll knit along, and ponder my ponderables, and before too long all will be well.

And I'll have a beautiful sweater to show for it, which makes me smile!