Grace

I have four books fewer to read for my Newbery quest. (By the way: I realized that I have misspelled Newbery in my previous posts...however, at this point I am not taking the time to go back to change them all. I'm hoping for grace.)

Speaking of grace, which reminds me of love, I have always loved gardenias. Daddy used to give Mom a gardenia corsage every Easter, and the first year I was old enough to wear a flower without trying to eat it, he gave me a gardenia wristlet. Gardenias bring back lovely memories of my parents. I was at a friend's house the other day, and her gardenia bush was thriving. Mine was not. She cut a small bouquet for me, and graced me with memories.

Beneath the gift of grace are the four books- all non-fiction. The two poetry books spoke of insects and the fantastical residents of William Blake's Inn. The folk tale collection told stories of South America, and was written just like a story-teller would speak. The history book was longer than any book I ever read as a child! The book won the first award in 1922. It took me forever to read it- I cannot imagine a young person plowing through over almost 500 pages of the creation and politics and economics and revolutions through millions of years and zillions of kings and battles and governments and treaties up until the Great War! (I did read, however about a certain "disgusting" King Ferdinand VII of Spain who knit garments for statues while in prison! I tried to google more information, but could not find anything.) Subsequent chapters of more recent man since WWI has been updated by other historians. To be honest, I did not read "the rest of the story."

Grace happened again: my gardenia bush bloomed, several weeks after I had given up all hope. Thanks, God.

Now, if someone would just invent an app for a "smell-o-blog," I could share the sweet scent of memories!

Still singin' the blues...

Will it ever end? I cannot believe I have so much blue yarn in my stash- I'm more of a green/teal/autumn/burgundy, but the blues live on! Here is a hat, based on a couple of hats I've seen in person, but I do not have a real pattern for it. Basically, I just knit 4 rows, changed colors, purled 4 rows, changed colors, knit 4 rows, changed colors...until it looked right. Then I did a regular hat decrease pattern, K2togging and knitting (or purling) a decreasing number of stitches each row or so.

Again, I love the almost symmetry of the crown.

 

And here is yet another Ballband hat:

 Again, I still am fascinated with the crown:

And a baby sweater for our Knitting Guild charity project::

(It's based on the 5-hour baby sweater pattern.)

And I unearthed an only-missing-the-arms February Baby Sweater:

And I'm still working on the prayer shawl...it lives in the trunk of my car so that if I ever get stuck somewhere I'll have something to do!!!

As far as I can see, this is what is left to knit so I can stop singing the blues!!

(If there is the least bit of green in a blue yarn, it has been redeemed and does not get my scorn....) Normally I do not organize my stash by color- I use the weight/content method. I started out the year with a goal to use up my acrylic, but now I'm on a rampage to use use up all blue yarn- acrylic or not!! Hopefully this pond will be dry by the end of summer, assuming I don't have to do much frogging!

Old and New

Old:
These Newbery books were read earlier this spring, when Lily of the Valley decked my garden wall...

These books told me about the migration through Asia and Europe of Huns and Magyars and the rise of Atilla; the trials of an orphan from Barbados returning to colonial Connecticut:; the true story of a Dutch family and their Spanish matchlock gun during an Indian uprising in NYC; a boy, his cat, his collection of friends, and adventures in NYC; and a bratty prince, his "punishment stand-in," and their adventures and growing friendship outside the castle.

New:

The pattern is based on a watermelon baby cap. I've seen it does as a strawberry, a tomato, a pumpkin, and an apple. This is a squash. Maybe a blueberry next???