Hello there. Lent or Knitting? You decide!

It's been a while.

Having stopped blogging regularly several years ago, I find that I want, once again, to get back into the swing of it, but this time, under my own actual name.

So hello again!

So many things to blog about, too.

There's Lent.

There's the state of Civil Rights in the U. S. of A.... though I feel ill-equipped to add constructively to the commentary on the current nightmare. Lots of brilliant people of color commenting, though, so no dearth of things to read and places to learn and people to learn from. Some of my favorites are here and here and here and here, not to mention, here.

Not prepared to weigh in on the great issues of the day. Instead, I'd like to talk about knitting.

I'm not a champion knitter. I'm a solid beginner. I've mitered a corner (or two) in my day, but I need to keep returning to the directions. One thing I have down, though, are these baby hats.

"Umbilical Cord Hat" from Stitch 'n Bitch

That's because I make them for all the babies in the church... and we have a good number of those, all the time, it seems.

Now I'm starting something different. Last year I was intrigued, though not sufficiently motivated to jump in, when I read Stacy Simpson Duke's post about her new pattern, Crackerjack. A few weeks ago, upon re-reading that post, I learned of another conceptual knitting project: the My Year in Temperatures scarf by Kristen Cooper.

First, you gather up some yummy yarns in an array of colors-- I chose colors that I felt could correspond with the various temperatures, like an icy grey, or a warm merlot.

There's yarn on my piano! Andes Superwash from KnitPicks

Then I created a chart, with temperatures in increments of ten degrees, covering what I feel are all possible temperatures I might be exposed to this year (what if I travel? Go to Fiji, for example?). Each increment is assigned a color.

Can you see the problem with my chart?

Then you start knitting: one row for each day of the year, color chosen to represent the high temperature of that day.

I just started, so am catching up-- still finishing up January. But I am already in love....

Yes, that's a Buzz Lightyear Band Aid. What of it?

It was 50 on the day of the "Semolina" row... other than that, Zero to thirties, all through January.

So, maybe this is a tiny bit about Lent. I am not sure I realized it at the outset, but one of my Lenten practices has turned out to be around "a little bit at a time." I am really not very good at taking things in small increments. From losing weight to writing sermons to organizing my house, I'm very good at "ALL NOW" or "NOT YET." A little bit at a time is a sustainable practice for me-- or it could be. This scarf is one example of my attempting to make peace with a way of being in the world that is about small but deliberate steps towards all kinds of things... prayer and meditation, health goals, achievement of work-related goals...

And, yes. This lovely scarf.

Oh, and also blogging.

I'll keep you posted.