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Destash Alert!
Some of the yarn babies in need of a new home. Iām having a big destash to start the year. Clicking on the photo above should take you through to the Flickr album showing all the goodies. 100g skeins and mohair blends are Ā£10 each. 50g skeins, Rowan and WYS are Ā£5 each. P&P is not included. Iām in the UK so be aware that there are some places I cannot send parcels to. Iām posting about this onā¦
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In Which a Very Strange Week Was Had by All
I know, I know. A whole week without posting.
We donāt know each other well enough for me to go into the details, so letās just say that several things collided in my personal life, and updating the blog was not a priority.
Despite that Iāve managed to keep going with the analogue side of my Reading to Write project, and I will post those entries, and write a little reflection on how itās gone,ā¦
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New Torch
I donāt dare to carry a light. Wind rushes through the reeds, batters stunted willows, and we creep along the lane, navigating by shadow and starlight. His right hand is warm in mine, the other makes his pocket rustle. A slight whine in his voice, he asks, ābut why canāt we use the torch?ā Reminder that itās shiny new, the fat batteries hardly used. āBecause Heāll come.ā I mutter back. āAnd chaseā¦
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Thoughts on Wallpaper
Todayās poem was āThe other brideā by Pauline Yarwood (The Emma Press Anthology of Contemporary Gothic Verse Ed. Nisha Bhakoo, 2019), author of the pamphlet Image Junkie, and a founder-director of Kendal Poetry Festival.
Iām struggling to write anything much today, despite the image of unlikely wallpaper catching my fancy, so instead have another of these disturbing insights into how my brainā¦
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The Pier
Donāt go near it on the hot days of Summer: all lobster-red, shaven-head men trailing wives in designer sunglasses, and ice-cream-smeared children, to a carnival music soundtrack.
Evenings are best avoided too: all Goths and lovers needing a fix of drama in the cool night air. And steer clear of early morning constitutionalists, especially before an acceptable level of caffeine has been imbibed.
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Routine
She did not like to see him go. He held her to his chest, his beard drawing strands from her neatly coiled hair, whispered, āIāll be home by Spring. Watch from the window; wait for me there.ā
And so, each day, she brushed her hair to gleaming gold, dressed herself in white, and ascended to the highest window to wait. Spring came and went with no word. Each Spring that passed stole the glow of herā¦
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Omens
When the crows circle then we know the battle is at hand. Word carries from wingtip to wingtip: thereās fresh meat to be had. The horror of a crow head deep in the flesh of a fallen friend has unnerved many who seemed fearless in battle.
When the crows leave it can only mean that something worse is on itās way. Then we should fear indeed.
āExodusā is by Elaine Baker (The Emma Press Anthology ofā¦
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The Boats Have Eyes
The Boats HaveĀ Eyes
The symbol of protection from the Evil Eye is also an eye, but this one watches out, keeps guard, extends protection. Nowhere is this more needed than at sea ā who knows what evil lurks beneath the waves, what storms will come, what wreck or ruin awaits?
The eyes do not just guard but lead; through rocks, to fish, and home again when the stars are silent. What person would dare risk a blind boat?
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A List of Things I Know about Haworth, West Yorkshire
A List of Things I Know about Haworth, WestĀ Yorkshire
The village is over 800 years old;
The Bronte family lived there;
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway has a station in the village;
The Railway Children was filmed in Haworth;
Liza Cole (parachutist) died and was buried there;
The main street is cobbled;
Haworth is a Fair Trade village, and twinned with Machu Picchu;
Haworth hosts an annual Steampunk weekend;
It takes me around an hour to walk fromā¦
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Seasons in the Northern Hemisphere
Seasons in the NorthernĀ Hemisphere
Winter lingers longest. Arrives in November, nipping at Autumnās heels, and sucks us into winter cheer before casting us into the dark new year of January misery and dull February.
Spring lifts her head in March, then takes till April to wake up. Tearful ātil May when she begins to flirt with Summer.
Summer, enlivened by the kiss of Spring, runs wild and lush through June and July, only pausing,ā¦
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Liminal
She had hoped to be the first to arrive, but Dreadmoon was there ahead of her. Of course. She tilted her head to the side, watched. He stood like an oak, stance wide to brace himself against the unmoving ice, broad shoulders twitching as though his thoughts itched.
āDonāt do that.ā His voice was quiet, but held a rumble of the wrath that stirred so easily. When he turned his head, one milky eyeā¦
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Secrets
Do seven magpies symbolise a secret waiting to be told, or neverto be told? Unspoken words have potential and therefore power. Creation and Destruction. What might an untold secret fuel? A simulacra; a spell? A name is the greatest secret, and must never be told to a Fae. The most powerful words bind, and none is more powerful than a name. Sometimes we must break free of that binding ā of theā¦
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And now for those of you who have been hopefully tapping on the Arts & Crafts link in the menu since I fired up the blog again, a knitting post.
Iāve been meaning to knit a new tee for a while. I made a Marettimo tee a couple of summers ago and have worn it year round. Ā I used a fairly cheap Rowan yarn as the main colour and it has not worn all that well [also itās an acrylic blend so I overheat like crazy].
The Marettimo fresh off the needles in 2018.
I decided to use lockdown to make a Navelli tee to replace it. Iāve had the yarn for this for a while: three skeins of Baa Baa Brew Marble 4 ply in the Mulier Fortis colours āEmmelineā and āValentinaā, and the ooakĀ Tits Out Collective skein from Bluebell Yarns. Since both are a BFL/Masham 4 ply I knew that theyād work well together.
This knit took me longer that I expected [I started in April I think?], partly because I had to pause for some gift knitting, and partly because I was alternating the two skeins of Valentina to get an even colour [the joy of hand-dyed yarn is that each skein is unique, but man, alternating the skein every second row is dull], but I am really pleased with the end result:
I did modify the sleeves because the way the pattern is written the sleeves would have ended up as a double layerĀ ā fine if you plan to wear this as a tee, but excessive when Iām primarily using it as a layer. It does mean that I sacrifice the way in which the additional weight would help the sleeves to hang correctly. The body also has a cm or so more length than it should because I went over and couldnāt be bothered to rip backĀ ā can you tell Iām more of a project than a process knitter?
The problem with my being a project knitter is that my Anxiety [that control freak] tries to plan all the projects I will knit for the rest of my life, and basically sits in my brain with a stopwatch and clipboard yelling at me to stop browsing any patterns or admiring any yarn that isnāt on her list. The result is that I stop knitting because it stops being fun.
For me the solution is to knit what I call a palate-cleanser [mmm, sorbet!]: a one-skein super-simple shawl project, using whatever beautiful yarn most appeals to me at the time. All other WIPs are ignored until itās done, and the process short-circuits Anxiety and helps me to enjoy finishing whatever else I was working on. My usual go-to pattern for this is Louise Tilbrookās Fuss Free Festival Shawl, but Iāve already made 3 or 4 of those so I went for Justyna Lorkowskaās Close to You shawl using a skein of Countess Ablaze The Bluefaced Baron Fingering, colour āGirl at the Rock Showā.
I know this photo is terrible, I was in a hurry. But you get the idea.
I wound the skein at least a year ago so it was nice to get it out of a project bag and turn it into something. Iād like to think Iāll wear this, because I love the yarn, but I enjoy knitting shawls more than I enjoy wearing them [they fall off and try to lose themselves, or I strangle myself trying to adjust them ā I should probably just resign myself to the fact that Iām a cowl girl], so this may end up in the gift knits box instead.Ā
On the needles
Iām 2 sections away from finishing a Nefelibata shawl thatās been languishing for months, and Iām making another Fuss Free Festival Shawl [I know, keep reading] as part of the Every Knitter Group KAL. Hopefully, Iāll be back to show at least one of those off next week.
Wardrobe Additions And now for those of you who have been hopefully tapping on the Arts & Crafts link in the menu since I fired up the blog again, a knitting post.
What comes after the Witching Hour?
What comes after the WitchingĀ Hour?
They say that midnight is the Witching Hour. (Theyāre wrong, it falls between 3-4 AM; that break in the old canonical hours when everything supposedly good rested). But what then is the time between dawn and sunrise? (The Iberians call it madrugada). A momentĀ of colourless light when all creation seems to hold itās breath to see the sun reborn. Who haunts it? Following in the footsteps (or lackā¦
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Citations Needed
This is the Greek in us ā can another citizen attest to the fact that you are indeed a citizen? Two witnesses would be even better. All the paper in the world cannot beat the word of a man, but always a man, and then only if heās the right colour.
The Renaissance was not a rebirth but a rediscovery, and toĀ the slogan of ad fontesĀ the churches began their fall, and the European project ofā¦
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Shopping list for an Exorcism
salt
holy water
candles
a cross (a crucifix?)
an old priest
a young priest
plastic sheets?
Ā āExorcismā by Kitty Coles (The Emma Press Anthology of Contemporary Gothic Verse, Ed. Nisha Bhakoo, 2019), was the poem for day 8. The shortness of this entry reflects how awful I was feeling that day.
Iām mostly over my cold (yes, just a cold, but Iām being cautious) so Iām hoping to get the past fewā¦
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Thoughts on Shadow
What I didnāt allow for when planning this reading / writing project is that I might get ill. I therefore have no energy for actual writing, and have created another mind-map for your enjoyment. On shadow, so I will absolutely be coming back to this in October.
You may have spotted a few book titles and / or references: I heartily recommend N.K. Jemisinās The Killing Moon, and I am a late, butā¦
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