Tag: crafting on

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My summer is proving to be busier than expected, how about you?  I am still working away on both of these from last week and enjoying them so, so much.  I’m knitting an Ara shawl with the called-for yarn, Even Tinier Annapurna in color way Red Pear.  It is so very soft and dainty, beautiful to work with.  I’m also highly enjoying reading Mother Culture.  The chapters are short and topical so you can pick up and read wherever you want in the book, though I am reading it chronologically.  It is full of beauty, inspiration, and encouragement!

What are you reading or making lately?

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

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MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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Hello friends!

We were away last week to sunny California and I’ll share more about it soon, but for now, our regularly scheduled program of yarny things.

I barely did more than a few hours of knitting in the past week which is understandable because we were busy enjoying family and exploring in CA but also unfortunate because I’m working on a test knit that I do hope to have finished by the deadline in July.  I’m cruising along on it now and it feels good to see some progress.  So, I’m working on a test knit for Norah of FoxandFolk on instagram.  It is an absolutely darling button up cardigan with a peplum waist for Phoebe.  I tried it on her for fit yesterday and it is just going to be so, so sweet on her.  I really love knitting with Berrocco Ultra Alpaca, a yarn blend that is 50% wool + 50% alpaca.  It is so buttery soft, and having knit a few children’s sweaters and hats with it before, I have realized it is their favorite wool to wear because of its softness.  Noah’s last birthday sweater was knit with it and he wears it almost daily when he’s cold.  Anyway, gray may be a boring color but it will be so wearable for Phoebe!  And I’m realizing I need a gray cardigan for my wardrobe soon, too! 🙂

I also didn’t do much reading on the trip, but I am still slowly working through (affiliate link) The Artist’s Way, and hoping to make more progress in it soon.

What are you making or reading lately?

Joining Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

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MarthaKimball2 Comments

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There’s something about spring and fall that makes me crave rewatching the Anne of Green Gables series (the old version with Megan Follows).  I saw Marilla of Green Gables at the library yesterday and picked it up.  I’ve been needing some fiction lately, and I began it last night.  Here’s to hoping its a happy diversion.  I do plan to slowly re-watch the Anne movies, too.  It’s funny how my perspective has changed since becoming a mother/getting older as I watch these movies, how as a young girl I identified more with Anne and now I think more of what it must have been like to be Marilla.

I’m still making slow progress on the Minaret top but I needed some plain stockinette (the twisted rib using cotton has definitely taken a toll on my wrists) the past few days so I picked up my Felix pullover and started the first sleeve.  Clearly I won’t get much wear out of this sweater until the fall but it will be nice to finish it and tuck it away all ready for the cooler weather.

Joining Nicole’s Crafting On.

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MarthaKimball3 Comments

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Despite taking a bit of a break from blogging, I have been knitting away as usual.  I have finished a couple of shawls and socks since I last posted.  This week I cast on a pair of socks for a loved one and I have had a hard time putting them down.  The colorway is so spring-y and sock knitting is just so meditative and peaceful.  This is my first time knitting the blueberry waffle sock pattern, a free ravelry pattern that every knitter has probably knit, and I feel like it works so well with the yarn.  I’m really loving it and probably will be making a pair for myself soon!

I’ve also been reading (affiliate link) Mystics and Misfits: Meeting God Through St. Francis and Other Unlikely Saints by Christiana Peterson.  This was gifted to me by my sister-in-law over Christmas.  It’s a memoir about the author’s journey with her family moving to an intentional Christian farm community, finding help and focus through the perspective of the saints.  She shares how her perspective on simplicity, hospitality, contemplation, church, and death were challenged and re-formed.  I’m about 10 chapters in and enjoying it so far.

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

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MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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I’m working on a quick little birthday crown for Wren, her flax light sweater is blocked and finished, and her little linen birthday dress came in time, also.  It is very bittersweet to think we are already at her first birthday.  More than any of the other children, her first year has flown by in all the hustle and busyness of life with four kids.

I’m savoring Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace.  I’ll share some words with you:

“This magnetic pull toward beauty is an inclination most of us carry but too few of us acknowledge.  Even if we are aware of it, we seldom honor it as something planted in us for a purpose.  The rushing world has convinced us that beauty is something extra, not the thing itself.  I would never have guessed…that the hand that compels us to stop and stare at something as insignificant as a beautiful tree in flower might be the hand of God.  Rarely do we know what is at stake when beauty surprises us into stillness and we pause to listen, even for a moment, to creation’s song.”

I hope you find a few moments today to pay attention to that invitation to pause and enjoy the beautiful.

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.
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MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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This beautiful book arrived in my mailbox yesterday and I began the first chapter last night.  Christie Purifoy’s first book, Roots + Sky, was such a gift and came to me at just the right season in my life when we were in the early stages of looking to buy our first home, dreaming of a place to put down roots.  Since then I’ve followed her on instagram (and more recently her podcast called Out of the Ordinary), enjoying the beauty she shares with the world.  In Placemaker, Christie discusses what it means to co-create with God in the work specifically of cultivating beauty. I am always drawn to the theme of beauty–and I’m not talking about skin-deep beauty, but the breathtaking beauty of an arctic landscape, or the neat tidy stacks of laundry, or even the unlikely beauty of a somewhat disheveled home full to the brim with life and laughter.  I’m also drawn to the theme of ‘home’ and the way our hearts long for it, hunger and search after it, and why that is.  So I am eager to see what Christie has to share with us about these things.  I am thrilled to be able to read her words again and to share this book with you!  Yes, I will have a copy to giveaway to one of you readers very soon. 🙂

I’ve been working this week to wrap up a few smaller knitted projects, and in between I’ve been knitting on my cosmic remix shawl which feels like it’s knitting itself.  It’s just quietly and unobtrusively coming together and I can’t wait to wrap up in it once it’s done.  The yarn is so airy and soft.  What are you reading and/or making lately?

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.
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MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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A couple of years ago when the Syrian refugee crisis was the prevailing news story, I had talked with some friends about wanting to knit items to send over to those displaced.  I am so happy to hear about an organization collecting such donations and a group of knitters participating in the “Keep Syria Warm” knit-a-long, so I jumped on board immediately.  We are knitting this classic kerchief pattern by Fox and Folk, which she offered for free to those participating in the KAL.  It’s a sweet pattern that I had been interested in knitting anyway.  I am hoping to make a few of these to send off by the end of February, and it is a quiet delight to be able to do something with my hands, small though it may be, to send over to keep someone in Syria warm during the coldest months of winter.  I pray it is a blessing and a tangible reminder to whomever receives it that they are seen and cared for.

Still reading Sylvia’s Farm.

Wishing you a happy Tuesday!  It’s a dreary, rainy one here but we are attempting to make the best of it.

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

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MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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Today’s post probably looks just like last week’s (except for the leftover birthday jelly beans on the table), but I have made some progress.  I’m nearing the end of the garter triangle section of my cosmic remix shawl.  It has been so relaxing to knit on this project which has just been rows of garter thus far, and also with this yarn which is unbelievably soft.  I am close to beginning the lace border which I’m sure will be more involved and thus will go a bit slower.

I’m maybe about half way through Sylvia’s Farm (affiliate link) and just so enjoying the short farm stories and reflections as well as her writing style.

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On and Ginny’s Yarn Along.

 

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MarthaKimballLeave a comment

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I started over on my cosmic shawl using some beautifully soft superfine merino + alpaca blend yarn that my dad bought for me a few months ago.  I just wasn’t happy with the way the wensleydale was looking in the garter stitch and it’s too special of a yarn to not love the end product.  I will set it (the yarn) aside until I find the right project for it.  In the meantime I’m loving the way this gray yarn is knitting up and I think I prefer this shawl as a neutral anyway.  I have quite a few small projects on the go (a sweater for phoebe, a sweater + hat for wren, socks for me, etc.) and I keep rotating between them all.  I need to just hunker down on each one until it’s done so that I don’t feel quite so scattered.

I’m reading Sylvia’s Farm: The Journey of an Improbable Shepherd (affiliate link) which I originally heard about through Ginny’s beautiful blog some years ago.  I’m thankful for a lot of reading inspiration via her blog.  The chapters are short, winsome, and engaging.  Its been so enjoyable to read in the evenings before falling asleep.

We are supposed to get some ice and snow potentially today.  I hope if you’re getting some wintry weather where you are that you are staying safe and warm and enjoying the coziness!

Linking up today with Nicole’s Crafting On.

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MarthaKimball2 Comments

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Oh, how good it is to begin new things.  Fresh starts are on all of our minds this January season, aren’t they?  I finished and blocked my Tecumseh sweater yesterday and I cannot wait for it to dry.  It’s my first color work project and one of my knitting goals for last year was to try color work and brioche, both of which I did manage to accomplish in 2018!  I cast on a new shawl with delicious Woolly Mammoth Fibre Co. Wensleydale 4 ply that I’ve been sort of hoarding.  It is such a different fiber than anything I’ve worked with before and I’m really, really loving it.  I cast on for a shawl with it and I need to check gauge and make sure it’s working well at this needle size.  I think this knit is going to be so relaxing and mindless, while producing a very simple and wearable piece.

I also finished The Quotidian Mysteries last night and plan to start reading The Fledgling today, which I found at a book sale over the summer.  Reading fiction sounds really nice right now.  It feels good to finish and begin new things.

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.
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