Day 74:
I thought I’d counted everything up very carefully, and that I had more squares than I needed for the cardigan. It looks like I still need 20 or so more. Oh well, I love crocheting granny squares, so no complaints. I’m impatient to finish this project, but I just said a few days ago that I need to learn patience, so here it is. Sachs is happy with my progress.
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Day 73:
To a Skylark
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
(stanzas 1-2 of 21)
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
This evening I walked to the top of High Point, where I met a twittering horned lark. We regarded each other for a bit, and then it took off and climbed the sky, higher and higher. And then it sang. Just like the lark in the fields outside Bolanderhof so many years ago.
You might want to go read all of Shelley’s poem. You might want to walk up High Point just before dusk and watch for larks, smelling the green of the meadows, and greeting a carpenter bee buzzing around your car like a tiny flying puppy. There is joy to be found.
I steamed two more stacks of squares today. One more stack to go tomorrow, and them I’ll lay them out to see if I am ready to construct the sweater.
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Day 72:
Focusing on completing these projects has definitely matured me as a crocheter and knitter. I have a new willingness to unravel something I’m not satisfied with, as I did with the Covid sweater. I have discovered that I need to keep re-making and prototyping pieces until I am satisfied, as I did with the eyes. And, impatient as I am for final results, I am blocking my squares.
I seriously resist buying stuff for blocking however (my house needs less stuff, not more), so I looked up some ideas online, and found this plan for using knitting needles stuck through cardboard to make a blocking frame. I have plenty of knitting needles for the project, and I found this lovely little box in the garage that stabilizes the base really nicely. Jon was saving the box, as you do, because it’s a REALLY nice box, but he was gracious about letting me have it.
You can see the difference in the blocked (left) and unblocked (right) squares, so I suppose I am a convert, especially since it’s so easy to make my own little blocking rack, and I can steam them in batches of 15 or so. Patience, Beth, patience.
I’m ready to take your suggestions, crocheter friends, for what method you prefer for putting the squares together. I am inclined to crochet rather than whip stitch them, and I don’t think I want to do anything too fancy. I guess I’ll research that while my blocked squares are drying.
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Day 71:
Five eyes today. I don’t need a lot for the sweater, so this may be it. Now I have to decide how I am going to put it together, and commit to that plan this time.
I love the swelling buds on the sage plant, and that empty seed pods (is that the right word?) of the winter aconite.
Life is a beautiful cycle. Seed and bud and harvest. A new baby born and growing, and the celebration of the life of a wise and treasured elder who died at 100 years. Life can be hard and holy at the same time, joyful and treacherous, anxious and abundant. May wonder and delight, beauty and awe, pleasure and possibility, bring balance to your days.
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Day 70:
Today I made one further adjustment to the eye granny square, and I think I am finally happy with it. I undid some of the work I had done a few years ago to put some of the squares together before I abandoned the project, and counted the squares I have—62. I want to research different ways to put together a granny square sweater, because I kind of like the idea of setting them on an angle. But then I think I need to learn how to do half granny squares: Hmmmm. Traditional evil eyes are blue, but I am going to make some green and brown as well.
Feels weird not to write a poem.
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Day 69:
I took a walk up high point this morning. A raven flew by as I was sitting on a rock and breathing. It uttered a very sweet little gronk as it passed, which is how I knew it was a raven. Crows caw. Ravens gronk. It probably wasn’t talking to me, but I took it as such, anyway. I also heard and saw a blue grosbeak (visible as a black dot in the tree) on my way back down the hill.
On one of my early drafts of a 100 Days of UFOs list, I had included Tidy My Altar. I had meant to get to that long long before today, but May Day, the fire festival of Beltane, seemed as good a day as any to renew the altar energy. I had several little odds and ends to burn when I was done, so I put them all into the little cauldron and set them on fire.
There were chunks of resins in there—dragon’s blood and copal and myrrh, and some wax. I was hoping it would burn, and was startled when it burned intensely for at least half an hour. I think the message of my Bel fire to me is to tend carefully to my rage. To tend all my energy, I suppose. I had to move the cauldron from the stump to the fire pit, and then all the leaves in the fire pit caught fire, too.
I made another eye for the granny square sweater.
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Day 68:
I experimented with granny square eyes this evening. I think I have a pattern I can work with now (upper left corner of the X in the photo with the granny square in the middle). It ends up being a little larger than the other granny squares, but I think if I block the squares well, it should be okay.
And it’s the last day of Poem-a-Day writing for National Poetry Month. Whew. I’m a little pooped out from doing two projects at once. Next year, I think I might have to weave Poetry month into the 100 Days (make it all poetry?) or forego April Poetry completely.
Beltane Moon
by Beth Weaver-Kreider
Wood thrush calling over the hill by the pond
and moon caught in sycamore branches.
Chill breeze awakens, enlivens the skin,
a green fragrance rising from the fields.
What is calling you back to life?
Who is speaking your name in the shadows?
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Day 67:
I finished the shrug today! I love the feel of these sleeves, and the way they drape! I am definitely going to use this stitch pattern again, and bamboo yarn whenever I can get my hands on it. I stitched the black around the granny square eye. I’m still not totally satisfied, but I feel like I am getting somewhere. Just in time, because I need to get into the next UFO with a will, so I think it’s going to be granny squares for the next little while.
Renewal
by Beth Weaver-Kreider
When the snake women—
lamia and gorgons—
and the dragon women
shed their skins,
we gather them
where they have fallen
beneath the witch hazel trees,
to adorn ourselves
in their cast-off rage
and we remember
our power.
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Day 66:
Today was a problem-solving day. I think the shrug is going to be okay! I got one sleeve crocheted together, and I’ll manage the other tomorrow during crochet club after school. I also made a smaller eye that I think will work for the granny square sweater. I just need to get that black layer around the outside.
Longing
by Beth Weaver-Kreider
The Bird of Longing will sing in your soul.
Her brilliant wings will unfurl within you.
Her bright eye will lead you to your deepest desire.
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Day 65:
Before I even thought to look for him, Oriole is back!
Behind the bird chorus, behind the sound of wind in the trees, the hum of bees from the rogue hive in the barn. Scent of pine and mayapple in the woods, and lily of the valley by the house. Hidden blooms of pawpaw, and the tender blessing of a friend: “Stay safe, stay well—”
I put the shoulders together on the bamboo shrug, then began adding the orange sleeve, but I got the seam on the wrong side. I unraveled. Tomorrow: take two.
Oriole
by Beth Weaver-Kreider
how the oriole
returns to me whistling loud
and sets the treetop aflame
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Mockingbird Chronicles 