Boxing Day

A nice quiet day around the cul-de-sac.  Thankfully no bad weather here.  A little reading, a little tatting, and snacking (of course!) continues.

Miss Rumphius Shawlette

Pattern: Wendy's Summer Mystery Shawlette

Yarn: Quince & Co. Finch

100% American wool

221 yds/50 gr color Lupine 116

about 1.5 balls

a joy to knit and blocked wonderfully

Needles: size 6 KnitPicks options

This post is going to be less about the finished shawlette and more about the inspiration behind it.

Back in January I saw a cousin. I was wearing my Summer Mystery Shawlette at the time and she commented favorably upon it. I decided right then to make one for her. I had been hearing about the Quince & Co. yarns and wanted to try them so I began browsing and as soon as I saw the color Lupine I knew what I wanted to do.

( Barbara Cooney : August 6, 1917 – March 10, 2000)


My #1 ALL-TIME favorite children's book author and illustrator is Barbara Cooney. Her artwork is lovely. What a treasure! I absolutely canNOT choose a favorite book. Each time I consider them and pick one, I immediately think of another that I love equally well. ALL are wonderful. She has authored and/or illustrated more than 200 books and twice was awarded the Caldecott Medal.

Her book that inspired this knit is "Miss Rumphius"

A synopsis of Miss Rumphius:

Alice was a young girl who dreamt of doing wonderful things, just like her grandfather. She wanted to travel the world, then come home and live in a house by the sea.

Her grandfather approved, but told her "You must do a third thing. You must do something to make the world more beautiful."

Alice grew up and she did just as she planned. She traveled the world, then came home to a place by the sea. She planted lupines outside her bedroom window. Then one spring, an old back injury began to bother her and she could do nothing but stay in bed for a long time. She was sad that she was unable to plant more lupine seeds. At the same time, she had in the back of her mind her grandfather's instruction to her. She had no idea what she could do to make the world more beautiful.The next spring arrived, and Miss Rumphius was up again. Much to her surprise, she discovered a patch of lupines growing where she had not planted any seeds. She realized that seeds from the lupines she had planted had drifted on the wind and planted themselves. Suddenly, she knew how she could make the world more beautiful. She bought bags full of lupine seeds, then spent her time walking and scattering the seeds as she went. The seeds grew into lupines, which produced more seeds that flew off, so the lupine fields grew bigger every year.

About this book Ms. Cooney said “Miss Rumphius has been, perhaps, the closest to my heart. There are, of course, many dissimilarities between me and Alice Rumphius, but, as I worked, she gradually seemed to become my alter ego. Perhaps she had been that right from the start.”

So today's PSA is this: There is no age restriction for reading books for children. If you aren't familiar with her books, look for them the next time you are in the library or bookstore. I know you won't be disappointed. You may LOVE them as much as I do!

Changes in Fairacre

A quick post to remember a favorite author who died earlier this month on April 7. Dora Saint who wrote as Miss Read, was 98.

Mary was thoughtful and sent me this link to the obituary in the NY Times. I liked it best of all the ones I read as I thought it expressed her writing most clearly and summed up succinctly:

"There is ample humor, little real menace, no sex and not a jot of intemperate language."

I cannot now recall how I first happened upon Miss Read in the stacks of my library, but I am ever so thankful that I did. For many years I repeatedly checked out, read, and reread the books until Houghton Mifflin began reprinting some titles in paperback.

In particular, it became an absolute custom that I would read "Christmas at Fairacre" at some point during the holiday. The library's edition contained only the two stories "Village Christmas" and "The Christmas Mouse", but when it was republished I bought the hardback edition that also included the additional story "No Holly for Miss Quinn". I always waited for just the perfect, quiet moment during the rush of Christmas to reread it and it was, and continues to be, a balm and a treat every year. For that reason, it probably remains my favorite of all the books.

Weather and changes in the seasons play a large part in all her books as this sample, included in a different obituary clearly shows:

Although nearly blind for the last years of her life, Dora was always fully alert to the weather. The pace of life might have changed in her fictional villages as the years passed, but the joy of a hint of warmth early in the year, as in Winter in Thrush Green (1961), never alters: "It was one of those clear, mild days which come occasionally in mid-winter and lift the spirits with their hint of coming springtime. Catkins were already fluttering on the nut hedge behind Albert's house and the sky was a pale translucent blue, as tender as a thrush's egg-shell."

Saint believed that "happiness is the result of an attitude of mind."
Rest in peace, Miss Read.

Good Evening, Mrs. Craven

I just finished a lovely book of short stories, "Good Evening, Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes". I read it so quickly, but I just could not stop. Doesn't matter. I will be rereading this one many times I'm sure. Stories of England during WWII, those at home, evacuees, rationing (rationed chocolate!), sewing parties. Some humorous, some poignant. Naturally knitting got mentioned a couple of times.

The cover is so beautiful and features part of the painting "The Queue at the Fish Shop" by Evelyn Dunbar, the only salaried woman artist employed during WWII by the War Artists Advisory Committee. [How's that for a tie in during Women's History Month?!]

So England was in my mind when I stopped by the library this afternoon to pick up a book for JP. I wound up detouring through the non-fiction stacks and my eyes just happened to catch the book, "London 1945, Life in the Debris of War". I can pick right up where I left off. When you see the cover what is the first thing you notice? The red coat? It does stand out, but did you also happen to spot the string bags?

My knitting mentor is no longer with us, but she was born in England in 1923 and I heard some wartime stories from her. I can definitely picture her in a queue at the fish shop. If she were just down the road I know I'd be talking to her about the things I've been reading. I'd be showing her my latest knitting, too, I'm sure.

It was such a warm spring day here today. I didn't have to go into the office and instead made my way to a yarn shop where I purchased some yarn and Ysolda Teague's Elijah pattern for a sweet little elephant knit seamlessly (thankfully!).



"When she had hung up the receiver the clock was striking six. She went over to the radio, turned the knob, and sat down with all the other anxious women to knit and listen."
War Among Strangers" 17 January 1942
from "Good Evening, Mrs. Craven"

Time to (re)Read

I took this a few days ago when I finally began my Christmas rereading. There are a few more books that didn't make their way into the photo. Christmas, as I'm sure I don't have to tell you, is a busy, busy time. One way I try to relax and unwind from all the DOing, is to read and especially to reread those special holiday books that have brought such pleasure year after year.

That little dingy one on top is the one I shared in the previous post.

Next down is "Christmas on Jane Street" and a special bit about it (with photos!!) can be seen in a post from 2009.

The bottom two are technically books for children. Ideally we are all children at Christmas. This year I searched out other favorites from the children's department at the library. I enjoy reading Christmas carols, so in addition to my favorite carol book above, the library provided me with Tomie dePaola's "Book of Christmas Carols". What striking illustrations.

Another beautiful book, and new to my reading this year, was "A Carol For Christmas" written by Ann Tompert with lovely watercolor illustrations by Laura Kelly. Narrated from the perspective of a mouse, it tells the legend of how the popular Christmas carol ""Silent Night"" was written after the organ is damaged by mice. I love how she paints snow.

I also pulled out some old magazines. Remember when Redbook, Family Circle, and Ladies Home Journal used to have fiction? Often two or more short stories and also a longer one? These are fun, too, because you can time travel through the advertisements.

Hope you have time to relax and REdo some things that make your holidays extra special.

Everybody talks about the weather

Still HOT around here. Temperatures in the 90s continue, and we approach the first day of fall at least 10 degrees above average.

I, for one, am tired of overachieving.

Luckily the a/c holds out and I am inside with my really lovely yarn and Nancy Bush pattern.

On a recent Books on the Nightstand podcast, they had an episode titled "ice-cold pages" that mentioned books set in cold climates as recommendations of what to read during a heatwave. Well now that's a novel idea, so I decided to give it a try and I found The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin at my library.

This non-fiction account of a 1888 blizzard that hit the Dakota-Nebraska prairie may soon become too difficult to bear reading, but the first half is mostly getting to know the people that moved west to settle the area and the emerging science of weather prediction. Lots of Norwegian immigrants.

We may have oppressive heat and humidity but this book really puts my whines about the weather in perspective.

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."
(generally attributed to) Mark Twain

Bag Stall

A Borders card that I received at Christmas was burning a hole in my pocket. I finally took time to go in and browse and the timing was perfect.

Veronik Avery's new book "Knitting 24/7" had just been released.

The subtitle is "30 Projects to Knit, Wear, and Enjoy, On the Go and Around the Clock"

Well that says it all. There are quite a few in here that I want to eventually try. It is probably no surprise that I went straight for a bag.
Love bags.
Oh, sorry. Have I said that before?

This one is called Leafy Knot Clutch and is the same overall shape as this sewn one, often called a Japanese Knot Bag. Bonus for me is that it is knitted in a lovely leaf design.

The pattern calls for 2 balls of DK weight cotton. I had this one lovely lonely skein of Louet MerLin (a 70% merino/30% linen) that Mary sent from a Knitters Review retreat.

I love, love, love how the yarn is working for this even though it is worsted weight and I'm using bigger needles. Even though I do not have enough yarn. Sob.

I'm going to try to find another skein. If not I'll get other yarn because I Must Make This Bag.