Sunday Wonder - J

J is for July.

Since this is my blog, I can say what I like about July.  You don't have to agree and you probably won't.  I have always thought of July as a disappointing month.  A rehearsal for the real summer of August.  It always has taken me almost the whole month to get into the mood of summer.  The real heat of summer never came until closer to the end of the month.

As a kid who loved school from the very beginning, July loomed huge and black during those last days of class.  July meant no more days spent learning stuff, seeing my friends and escaping from chores.  While my mother was a strong advocate of reading and learning, she had a home to run, a husband and five children to cook, clean and pick up after.  Having your oldest daughter home every day certainly provided extra hands and another child minder/entertainer. Who could blame her?

I never think of July as being a very festive month.  Back in those olden days, we didn't celebrate July 1 as we do now for Canada Day.  It wasn't even called that.  We were most of us, quietly proud to be Canadian but parades and festivals were few and far between.  A question of money?  Time?  The collective personality of our citizenry? I don't know what changed.  And fireworks were strictly for Hallowe'en in my town.  The biggest celebration that I knew of in July was my brother's birthday.  Not exactly cause for a town party and, anyway,  so far at the end as to be almost August.

The fruit season of course always began with rhubarb, strawberries and early cherries in June.  My favorite crop, blueberries, didn't  ripen in quantity until almost August.  The tomatoes were also not usually ready for much of July.  Not that July was a complete fruit desert...one could always look forward to the raspberries coming along in abundance.  Then, of course, there was the hot and steamy work of putting up the jams and canning the fruit.  Have to admit that got worse as the summer went along.

As a mom myself, July was when the kids started their summer vacation.  Home life's rhythms changed and weren't nearly so orderly.  It still seemed to take almost the whole of July while all of us adapted to that change.

So, July.  Not my favorite month. But, it's way better than January!

Saturday Stash Summary

Well, I didn't get done what I had intended.  What else is new around here?

In the 'Finished' column is one pair of socks.  I think it counts as stash if I bought the yarn in May.  In any case, I have been using the sock as a bit of fancy in a sea of garter and stocking stitch.

Unfinished is the Choco-vanilla Swirl Skirt.  I have one gusset left to knit and then a bunch of grafting.  156 stitches to be exact!  Good thing I kind of enjoy grafting...but that's for socks.  Totally different scene when it's this big.  Also unfinished is the baby dress.  That will be my tiny piece with tiny needles and a bit of detail work for this week.

And, this is why I'll need it.  I have two of these cones of white cotton sport-weight in my stash.  I had no plan for them and their purchase (at the thrift shop) probably comes under the "what was I thinking?' category.

But, a pattern drifted past me on Ravelry.  Another skirt, this one designed by Cindy Craig which she calls the Flouncy Skirt.  I seem to be smitten by skirt patterns right now.  But, it's summer and a white cotton skirt might be just fine. I had the thought that I'd never had a white skirt before but that's not true.  Back in the 60's I had a white pleated polyester skirt.  It must have been a part of the fad which included the Ben Casey blouse - mine was white with turquoise polka dots.  These were a way to show our teen-age devotion to Dr Ben Casey as played in the TV series by Vince Edwards.  Not sure why the devotion - of course that's the me of many years on speaking.  No accounting for teenage tastes. 

I cast on as soon as I did the swatch.  This will be even more mindless knitting than the other skirt.  But it uses up a lot of yarn which is important in this stash-busting game.  It also has some fun lace at the bottom.  And I will get there.  Going round and round and round.  You can see why I might need the small diversions.

Such a pleasure!

It's been a little over a year since I began to realize a childhood dream.  We acquired a keyboard and I had an opportunity to take piano lessons with a great teacher who had retired from kids and only worked with adults.

This has been my instrument up until last week- note the add-on concert music stand.  This is a 20 year-old keyboard with 5 octaves and no pedals.  I have had weekly lessons with summers off.  I have practiced and practiced.  Our teacher hosts a monthly workshop for all her students where we play for each other.  This was pretty scary at first, since I was the only student who was starting from the beginning.  I had to learn to read music as well as how to play.  Most of the others were returning to the piano having had lessons as kids.  But, now there are a couple more beginners whom I can encourage.  The workshops are a joy with many different levels of skill being shared. 

Now, I have a new instrument.  Oh, my!  What a difference it makes.  This is a real piano.  Well, it is a digital piano but that doesn't make it less real to me.  It  sounds  - and looks - like a piano should and it makes me want to play it.  And I do.  I'm still learning the basics but I feel way more grown up now. The music has gotten more interesting over the year though still pretty simple. 

I try to get an hour a day to practice which pretty much flies by.  I've gotten some great advice from other pianists.  Here are my favorite three:  play some scales every day (if nothing else);  never miss a chance to perform in front of others;  and play duets whenever possible.  These have been very helpful to me as I navigate my small corner of the world of music. 

 And now, I'm off to play.   

Looking back

As promised, I went digging in the pile of old knitting patterns to finish the little dress from the bottom of the box.

 
Now, I didn't find that particular pattern.  But I found lots of other neat stuff.   This book from sometime between 1940 and 1946 has a note on the front apologizing for the poor quality of paper.  It was the best they could do during wartime shortages.  I have a copy of a non-wartime edition as well.  The only difference I can see is that the pages are a bit heavier and glossier.  But the "poor" quality copy is as sturdy and readable as any magazine today.

And, on the back, is a box full of advice for the knitter on how to care for the garment and other important wisdom.  My favorite was the last sentence about the healthy properties of wool.  Today, wool producers are still telling us about these properties but they have changed over the years.  I don't think this one would get any dermatologists' approval today.

In the folder were some loose clippings from when my daughter was able to fit into that dress.  Most of them were taken from Woman's Weekly, a British magazine that always had knitting patterns that were useful.  Back then, all the US pattern magazines tended towards the adult and Vogue-ish styles.  Not only were there great patterns, but there was always at least two short stories and a serialized romantic adventure novel to take me away to some exotic locale while I sat in the laundromat waiting for the diapers to wash.

All this digging had me sitting on the couch with tears running down my face.  You know, those babies don't come back.  They do grow and become wonderful kids and adults with kids of their own, though.  But, really, I'm not sure why I was so moved.  Maybe just that the young mom that was me is also so long gone.  The patterns that I found?  Mostly never made.  Some things never change and that young mom just got older.  She still has to organize and then re-organize the things that don't get done.  I did make the little red jumper/sweater set (titled "Such a Poppet")  but I never got around to the lion.  I'll keep them, though, just in case.