New Light

It's that time of year when I have a bit of the manic cleaning bug. While washing the walls of the stairwell (don't they look clean) I was listening to Brenda Dayne's podcast, Cast On, which is wonderfully back on air, and she shared her own spring cleaning experiences. It's nice to have company when doing thankless tasks. I did not make these wall dirty by myself. There was the Canada Day incident with the cooler full of beer that was perched on the railing, the young friends who have to tap the wall above (even though they've been tall enough for many years now) and the dog hair. Oh, the dog hair. I once heard you should clean your house as if it belonged to someone else. My sister and I used to help each other with house work and garden chores. It was a great blessing. Nowadays my friends have house keepers. I'm not sure I can go that far. It's not in my farmer back ground and it failed miserably twice. 

But feel free to exclaim, "Look at those clean walls!" when you come for tea.

The light is shining in my sunroom. Soon I will be complaining of it being in my eyes. Isn't that wonderful? But the windows look so dusty....

 I finally felt the impulse to cast on something new. After Finishuary, I was just happy to have things off the needles. But my best friend's son is going to Oxford, and I think he needs a warm vest to wear in his drafty classes. This is Dr. G's Memory Vest by Kirstin Kapur. A great designer whom I trust. The yarn is from stash. I'm trying to cold sheep. Not buying any old yarn. That's not the same as not buying yarn. You can see the Opal Starry Starry Night sock yarn in the yarn bowl above. I've just started tallying it. March had almost the same number of yards in as knit. That would be OK if my stash wasn't bursting out of the plastic containers in the pantry and lining the shelf in the sunroom. I need to decide how big I want it to be, and then I need to weed out the partial skeins. There are several sweaters worth there and over a years worth of socks. Don't ask about lace weight. It doesn't weigh much.

 I did miss the Fibres West event this year. But my friends picked up a 5th skein of the Sweet Georgia Cash Silk Lace for my Nuvem. This is a big crazy wearable blanket. I was mesmerized by Supasteph's (Must Stash Podcast) hand spun orange one. Just had to cast it on and knit in the round (planarian shaped) stocking stitch, never ending, soft and luscious. Remind me when I want to rip my eyes out. But I'm 20% in and drawn to it for the comfort of simple knitting. That means no blankets until it's done.

 In Victoria I finally found the Matryushka fabric I've been looking for. I'm going to hem a runner for my Ukrainian MIL for Mothers' Day. We are travelling for two weeks before that, so I need to get it cut and started. Again with the simple stitches.
We are doing 4 extra pieces with our choir for Easter. It is a great thrill to sing in a mass choir, but the organizing of different choirs is a great pain!

 The March sock was done on time (barely) and the April Socks on a Plane in Casbah with Patons Kroy toes has begun. Much of my knitting time is now spent out of doors, walking/running, tidying up the garden. There is edging of beds, trimming of roses, planting of red dahlias, preparing the veggie patch and on and on. And in the house dusting and wiping. I know it's a lot of work, but if I don't do it now, I won't be able to enjoy the next warmer season.
I am also trying to dedicate more time to reading. I enjoyed the Edward Rutherford book, Paris, which helped me brush up on the history and absorb some of the map of Paris. Looking forward to our trip!
I'm a fan of Laurie R King, and finished her book Touchstone, which was a bit disappointing. My BFF and I are reading The Hare With the Amber Eyes as a nod to our defunct book club. It has stunning prose! Will we start another? I have books ready for travel in paper back and on my ipad.
Loving Neil Gaiman's American Gods. This time on Audible.com. What's not to love?
But I need to carve out time for writing.
Sometimes I need to say to myself, "If you could choose what you could do, what would that look like?" Because usually we do have the choice, but we just drift through our days.