We went for a walk at Hemer Park this morning. Hemer Park is beautiful all year round. Ducks, Swans, Yellow Iris, Indian Pipe, Beavers and birds, so many birds. But this the time of year that the Swans start to show up!
I had been hoping to see a swan or two this morning, I had seen them many times before, but that was not to be this time. We saw a few in a field driving home from Duncan on Wednesday! So I was hopeful.
It was beautifully sunny in Nanaimo as we headed out. But as we got closer to the south end of town and Cedar it got foggier – like pea-soup fog!
So instead of swans we saw a different kind of beauty. Fog enshrouded tree tops, ducks floating across invisible water, modern art as interpreted by drowning trees, burbling water across dead marshland and that awe inspiring quiet that comes with a foggy day!
The sun was trying its best to clear the fog, but the fog remained, grey and all encompassing. So quiet and so serene.
The fog was all encompassing,it was above us,and all around us.The sun almost made it through.The only noise was the burbling of water.The ducks seems to float across the water.Fungi emergingA green goddess bridge, fallen and twisted.Natures crown – lichen.Reflections and reality, modern art on the water.Still foggy as we left.
The colours made me want to pull out a range of yarns, in greys, blue grey, green grey, golden grey and every shade in between. Those colours, they could be the base of a new fair-isle hat design, that seems to be floating around my head.
And its a new plan. There is no Retreat this year. It is kind of odd to have that space vacant. I have no planning to do, no sample knitting, my time is free.
Not that I won’t knit, or plan or even have that much free time. I am bound by my creative nature to keep on creating – a new yarn, a new colour, an idea that blooms as I experience a walk, or a book or a conversation – I never lack for ideas! But I won’t have that event to shape any of those ideas around. Some what freeing from my regular focus at this time of the year!
So what shall I knit in the next months? I do have a couple of projects that I need to finish.
Serenity Wave – the pattern is complete except for the cover picture – I need to finish the edging. It will be done before the end of the month.
7 Hats More – there are a couple of small projects left to finish for that book. They also will be done before the end of the month.
I need to complete the patterns for two shawls – Roamin… or Lizzie’s Hap and the Georgia West Hap. I am also aiming to have those done by the end of the month.
Hmmm…. Busy month! Maybe I should add a few extra days to the timeline – anyone know how?
I did muck my initial plans up a little by adding another shawl. A Shetland styled lace stole in BC Garn Bio Shetland. Scrumptious wooly wool with a great crisp hand that creates well defined stitches. I gave myself this last week to work on it and I am almost halfway. It will be hard to put down as I work on the planned completions!
I am not sure what happened to the last couple of months of the last year – not really sure what happened to the last year. I have been struggling to cope – keeping busy does help me deal with the stress I feel. Writing usually helps – but I was too busy knitting – I am working on a balance. Funny – when I read my last post I was working on balance then too! Maybe this year I will be more successful.
My Schiehallion yarn has become Failte – a cozy beanie!
What are you working on? How do you balance life and stress right now? I would really like to know.
I haven’t walked every weekend – but more than I was before. I am watching what I eat! Way more than I should this last month! But it is my favourite time of year! And I did do some Christmas baking – I have a little dark cake and shortbread left. Just a little lingering sweetness to extend the Christmas Season. The tree and decorations came down yesterday and the lights today.
So today I start my planning for the New Year – you are part of my plan! Talk again soon!
Be Well and Knit Happy!
Lynette
PS – I baked a blackberry pie today – my husband picked the berries this last Summer. So we are smelling the sweet smell of summer blackberries as the pie cools on the counter. I hope that you can smell the sweetness of the pie and of life too.
The title this week is perfect on a number of levels:
a.) I am finally able to work on the edging of The Serenity Wave Shawl. I have had a back issue for the last few weeks that required pain killers and muscle relaxants. Apparently drugs, knitting lace edging and adding beads to said edging do not work well together! Who knew!? So the shawl edging had been on hold for a couple of weeks. I got back to it this week and I am at about 40% of the edging done. I can hardly wait to finish the knitting and block the shawl.
b.) I have been working on my own Serenity. Peace of mind in this crazy time has not been easy for any of us. And I had been having a rough time of it lately.
So I took this last week off. I napped. I rested. I knit. I visited one of my favourite relatives, my Aunty Evie, and really tried to work on looking after myself. It has been a good week.
My auntie and I share a love of sewing and fabrics. So I had to show her my new purchases from Gala Fabrics – the best fabric store and another reason to visit Victoria. They have this vintage woolens section…. $10 a metre. It was so much fun!
My back is starting to feel better, my shawl edging is finally under way and my ebook, 7 Hats More is slowing growing.
I added a new pattern on Tuesday, Diagonal Spin and will be adding another one tomorrow.
Usually my knitting keeps me sane, but some weeks are more challenging than others. I have been feeling challenged lately.
Do you have tasks or activities that you indulge in that helps you look after your sanity?
For me – I knit – first in line. I bake and/or cook – second in line. And I love to walk on the beach or in the woods – third in line. And lately harder to do, harder to make time for, simply harder.
Perhaps because it means leaving the house – leaving this very safe place and entering a not so safe environment. I use up all my courage heading out the door every weekday morning to go to work! Don’t get me wrong – I love my job, but in these Covid times everytime we step out our doors we are adding a little risk to our lives. I am newly risk adverse. Well not newly – I am not much of a risk taker in any way, but I have never before considered walking out my door risky business.
Perhaps I am channeling my inner Bilbo.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.
Lord of the Rings
So I am determined to add a walk to every weekend. We will see how I do. The payback is worth the risk.
Earlier this week, between the rains we went for a short walk at Departure Bay Beach, just down the hill. It was the morning after the big windstorm and there was debris, shells and leaves on the beach. The skies and views were still very grey, so that the colours of the leaves and shells popped!
I also practiced a little yarn therapy. Never heard of it? I thought not. It is also called retail therapy. I bought some new yarn. Technically I ordered new yarn and it arrived this week.
Kate Davies is one of my favourite knitting writers and she also creates wonderful yarns. Schiehallion is her new yarn and it is a bouncy, wooly, dk weight yarn that comes in all of my favourite colours (I added a little extra purple as well)! How could I resist?!
I hope that you manage to find some serenity in your life.
Covid has hit us all in different ways. How we cope has been different for us all as well. I cope by knitting and designing things that keep my mind occupied and my hands busy. I have taken a few others along on my distraction journey by creating a KAL with my first attempt at distraction – Covid be Damned or the Impulsive Shawl. For this I picked the happiest coloured yarn I owned and a variety of beads and patterns and just started knitting. I am actually planning the next distraction!
This KAL is designed with relaxation in mind. There will not be anything too drastic in shaping, or anything too difficult in terms of the lace sts chosen. I am hoping that we can relax and go with the flow as we work our shawls. The stitch patterns will feature flowing lines with intriguing shapes.
Think of your idea of a serene colour or colourway and pull those colours together for this shawl
Dimensions are approx 22 by 62 inches – most likely a little larger. Dimensions will be updated as the shawl is created.
This is not a mystery KAL. The shawl is a long oval shape and can be knit with 1 yarn or three different yarns. All yarns are fingering, light fingering or heavy lace weight.
Beads are always optional but if you are using beads you will need approx 3000 beads size 8/0 plus approx 100 larger drop style beads (I am using leaf shaped beads) for the edging.
There is a thread in my Ravelry Forum about this KAL. There are sketches and links to beads in the discussions.
The Serenity Wave KAL starts Sept 8 and runs until Nov 18.
There will be prizes, support and conversation. This is intended to be fun and if not totally easy at least not so difficult as to cause hair pulling.
If you are looking for an interesting knit amongst friends please join in the fun.
I used to write a blog. A simple blog with stories and photographs. I tried to get fancy and add stuff and screwed the whole thing up. So after a couple of years of thinking on it I have decided to write a new blog. A simple blog with stories and photographs.
Time to spread our wings and take flight
I used to think that life would get simpler as I got older. It turns out I was wrong. The children are grown, but they have new issues. I am growing older but my father is growing younger. And life keeps throwing new challenges. It certainly has gotten more complex because of Covid-19, but it was already moving that way long before Covid arrived.
I am looking to help sort out my life by writing again.
My favourite spot for a little serene contemplation. I go here in my mind when I can’t get there physically.
