January Ease

January Ease

Now that the Christmas rush is over

I have time to construct a rib where before 

a stocking or garter would suffice

and at this January pace watch 

blue tits flitting off twitching stems of Martin's Spurge

note shoots even now breaking through compost

admire flames of  dogwood in the flower bed 

where Winter Daphne presides 

and even raise a brow at our one eyed kitty

who has already this week caught two mice

and an unfortunate house sparrow.

I think this sock will be some time in the making.

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2025

Winter Night Walk

 

Iluminated reindeer are grazing in suburbia

while Santa is doing headstands or climbing gable walls

your common or garden hedges are strung with flickering lights

that tango and foxtrot to a northerly breeze

and even chimney pots and eaves emit sparkles

that signal wonder into  outer space-

fairy dust thickens the air-

and overhead, if we could only see them,

migratory birds headed for warmer climes.

are using the stars to navigate night skies.

Copyright 2024 Cathy Leonard

Sourcing wool ethically?

 

A word about mulesing.

Having a Vegan orientated daughter I have been challenged on my use of wool. According to my research shearing sheep does not harm the sheep and is usually done in Spring relieving the animal of a heavy winter coat. However, how the shearing is done is of importance and the practice of mulesing is something to know about. According to Wikipedia:

Mulesing is the removal of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep to prevent the parasitic infection flystrike (myiasis). 

It is done with out anaesthetic and is now illegal in the UK

Australia is a major offender in this practice.

On my last visit to Winnies wool shop https://winniethewoolwagon.com/  I asked for wool which was sourced ethically and was told that Drops Wool is sourced from South America where mulesing is not practised.

I did find a wool that was sourced from plastic! and another made up of recycled wool.

It is all something to think about....

For more on the subject follow the link..https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/17/nobody-likes-mulesing-the-market-shift-changing-australias-wool-industry

I used Drops Karisma to make some wrist warmers.

And have started a pair of wrist warmers with Stylecraft recycled wool.

My daughter will love this wool by Scheepjies made from recycled plastics

And finally a poem to share. I read this recently at our neighbourhood gathering and by coincidence a friend sent me an audio version of it by email. It's the time of year for The oxen by Thomas Hardy. You can listen  if you click on link The Oxen by Thomas Hardy

The Oxen

BY THOMAS HARDY

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.

“Now they are all on their knees,”

An elder said as we sat in a flock

By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

They dwelt in their strawy pen,

Nor did it occur to one of us there

To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave

In these years! Yet, I feel,

If someone said on Christmas Eve,

“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb

Our childhood used to know,”

I should go with him in the gloom,

Hoping it might be so.

Winding the Skein

 

Have finished the fingerless gloves. I had to look at  the video relating to the m1L and m1R several  times. Also forgot to do the final rib over the knuckles and had to go back, pick up the stitches and make that rib!!!

Another problem was the thumb, but using the video below I managed. 

how to knit thumbs in fingerless gloves

This pair is fairly flawed so I won't be gifting it but I love these mitts all the same....

You may remember the Norse selection of wool by King Cole,that I blogged about. This is a gorgeous blend that definitely does look very Scandinavian. I use the same Regia pattern referred to in the last blog.

These are the Skoll blend, called after the wolf that chases the sun.

And finally and why not, a poem about winding the skein. Many of you have done this with your mother perhaps so it may trigger some memories....

Winding the Skein

My mother bought wool by the skein.

It lay in great looped hanks

that coiled like a snake on our kitchen table.

 

Once released from its parabolic curves

it stretched too loose and unruly to be worked

to pattern and needle.

My outstretched arms, a skein looped distance

between them, anchored the hank
while she wound, first from one hand and then

 

from the other, ladling the wool into balls,

unravelling my yarn dressed hands
that tilted up and down,

 

to the figure of infinity.
Firm but not taut.

Loose but not free.

If I missed a step the skein would tangle
and I would let go ‘til she set the pace again

strummed to the beat of her heart

Copyright 2024 Cathy Leonard

In through the Bunny Hole

 

It being the season of goodwill I've been knitting like fury to put together some presents for the nieces/nephews/grand nieces etc etc.

So not much yarning of my usual sort. HERE are some pieces, some patterns, pics and a poem I wrote decades ago which was published in Cork Literary review.

In Through the Bunny- hole

 

My mother never taught me how to m1L

 

I can slip knitways and knit two together

even through back of loop.

I can pick up and knit and turn and purl and turn and slip

and pass slip stitch over.

Enough to make bobble and cable.

Enough to make story.

 

They say that every Aran pattern tells its own tale.

I see us sitting, generations of women,

clicking fluently with our fingers

of where we’ve been and where we are going

while our tongues trip over new syllables.

 

My mother never taught me how to m1L

She never needed to speak of village clearance

or emigration

or a woman in white foreboding ill

or a thrush heralding good fortune…

 

But what if I do?

 

These socks are knitted using yarn from my favourite company, West Yorkshire Spinners. Fairy Lights Sparkle. And though you can't see it these socks do sparkle. For pattern details see...Regia sock pattern

And here is a new project. A pair of wrist warmers  in worsted, which means Aran weight, and I use another yarn from WYS, Shetland Croft tweed. 

For the pattern See a fabulous link which includes detailed instructions and videos.

https://blog.tincanknits.com/2013/10/03/lets-knit-a-mitten/

So far have just completed the cuff but I did make a scarfette in this yarn which will give you an idea.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/paulas-scarfette

Now I just need to find a little reindeer brooch...

Pigeon Post

You were more colourful than my usual pigeon visitor.

At first I thought-magpie rump?

but with your oil- slicked throat and chest 

and your plummage of black, white and brown contending

I reached for my Canon Powershot and google icon.

You turn out to be a feral pigeon-descendant of  rock dove

once native of rock cliff and mountain only

domesticated by monk and liege alike for your fine meat

cliff face becoming dove cote, 

but your tireless, fearless compulsion to reach home

even through war zones, trenches, and no man's land

carrying missives of great import, made you

a name for yourself, making history, making peace.

Today you straddle city street and just occasionally,

if lost or tired, suburban garden.

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2024

For an interesting video clip on feral pigeon gallantry during the two world wars follow the link below.

How does a pigeon know where to go?

Wintertime

 

A wood pigeon is doing a solo

performance in the bird table

its head nodding to the beat of its beak

pecking like a maestro on the keys of a piano

up one scale and down the other

while robin sits hopeful in the wings

and blue tit sways to the rhythm

of a wind strummed branch

and Mama pigeon on the table roof

sways and orchestrates the pit

and despite the allure of such temptation

the cat has taken, permanently it seems,

to the chair beside the stove

preferring the hiss, spit and roar

of fire and air complying

and the kettle whistling on the range

signalling another pot of tea.

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2024