A Perfect Weekend?

Friends, what a weekend! The humidity has finally left us and it’s starting to cool down around here. Not cool enough for sweaters but I did wear a pair of handknit socks yesterday and that made me very happy. I am excited to share our weekend activities, including a drive out to the ocean and lots of stitching!

My weekend began in earnest after I left the library on Saturday afternoon and brewed some espresso for a much needed latte, packed up sandwiches and snacks, and we loaded up to go to the beach. We were anxious to see the waves created by Hurricane Lee! And it seemed like everyone else had the same idea because I’ve never seen the beaches so full this time of year. There were tons of surfers and so many people just standing at the seawall enjoying the view. Bryce and Bronwyn were able to get out and run around on the beach with Matthew for a while, but Colton refused to budge from his seat so I stayed in the van with him and we enjoyed people watching. It was such a nice change of pace for us and there was hardly any arguing in the car between B&B — incredible!

On our drive to the ocean, I was able to work on my Tessellated Vest (here’s my Ravelry page with the yarn details). I’ve now completed about 3.5″ and this is a thrilling development! The pattern is easy, rhythmic, and perfect car knitting. Luckily, the mosaic knitting makes it easy to tink back when you’re easily distracted and make mistakes!

And the Fuwa Fuwa yarn? It’s the pop of green that you see in the picture above and is like knitting with feathers. It’s so luxurious!

A couple of Sundays ago I decided to pick up my Sunday Stitch project again. I started Consider the Lilies in January 2022 but stopped for several reasons:

– This is a massive piece of fabric. It’s at least a yard long and it’s difficult for me to work with. Here’s a picture with Agnes for scale:

Agnes is not a tiny kitten anymore, it’s just that this fabric is huge! And I’m going to need most of the length and height so I don’t want to trim it until I get the border stitched which will take about 3 more years, ha.

– The original design includes Adam, Eve, and that serpent. For many, many reasons that I won’t get into on this blog, I don’t like that. But I like everything else about this project, including (surprisingly) the verse at the center. It finally occurred to me that I could just leave out the serpent and replace Adam and Eve with something else, like an extra pair of bee skeps or baskets of apples. Why didn’t I think of that sooner?!

– The pattern calls for 28 count fabric (which is why there’s so much of it) and I’ve been considering scrapping my progress and starting over with a larger count fabric so that it’s easier to manage. But I’ve decided to stick with this piece of linen because I’ve already paid for it! Also, it is much easier to see than the 36 count that I have going with my other projects, so it’s something I can work on even when I’m really tired on Sunday nights.

Now that I feel okay about changing the design and have made a decision about the fabric, I feel much better about working on it! I’d love to spend an hour or so on this every Sunday, knowing that the progress will be slow but steady. I just have to get used to holding all of this fabric and working with it! I’m trying to remind myself that it’s going to look very impressive once it’s finished and up on the wall. Thinking about the end product is what gets me through these painstaking projects!

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Okay, did I rattle off enough about stitching today? All of this needlework means that there was very little reading over the weekend but I did a lot of reading last weekend so it all balances out. Stitching in the kitchen is a great way for me to stay present with my family on the weekend – I am able to play, chat, and meet their needs while feeling like I’m still making progress on some of my little side projects. It’s a great compromise.

We’re expecting a day full of rain, so we’ll be cuddling up with our schoolwork and baking something delicious. I hope your week gets off to a great start!