Random: Knitting, Poetry, Weather

This post was originally titled "Random Sunday." Apparently that was optimistic, since I saved a draft and haven't look at it since then. I'll avoid the temptation to call it "Random Wednesday"...

Anyway, here is the first random item. I finished 2 hats.

This is the Hill Country Hat, by Clara Parkes. The first time I knit this hat, I made the ribbing section long, so it could be a double thickness.  This time I kept the short ribbing. It looks nice, but I think I like the longer version better. (That said, I have just enough yarn left to make one of these shorter versions, so I guess the longer ribbing will have to wait.)



We went to the Signature Gallery the other night. This shop is run by a co-op of local artists and craftsmen, and is open just during December. This year, they have wonderful objects - beautiful wood bowls; paintings; picture frames made from paper mosaics; notecards with hand-drawn beagles (yes, I succumbed to those); wonderful jewelry. There were some gorgeous knit hats. I think I could make them - it would just be basic stockinette in the round, with a provisional cast on so I can knit a 3-4" liner. But the yarn was soft and squishy and yummy, and the colors just lovely.

Random item #2. Back in June, when we visited the Joslyn Art Museum, there was one piece in the American Indian Collection that impressed me. Okay, there were lots of pieces that impressed me, but I made particular note of this one. Well, actually I didn't do a good job of that, since I don't actually remember the artwork. I think it was a drawing of moccasins, and dance steps, or something. Very vague - sorry. But part of the piece was a poem, and I really liked the poem. I wrote it down, and then when we got home, I was able to track it down. It is an excerpt from Dancing Circles in the Bearpaws (published in Ndakinna, by West End Press), by Joseph Bruchac.

The dance he speaks of is one that will unite generations: present, past, future. I think he creates a very strong image and emotion:

So we dance one more circle
and we share the breath
of these mountains in
a dance which may carry
our children into another century.
We dance our hearts into
the earth which loves us
as much as we care for it.
We dance for our elders
and for the grandchildren.
We dance slow and strong for those after us
whose steps must begin
where ours end
and in this same circle
will dance, will dance
where our feet have been.

Third random item. I took this picture a day or two after Thanksgiving, when it was a bit cold and snowy.

We had similar weather this past weekend - perhaps a bit snowier, and definitely colder. Brrr. It was in the teens, and windy. But regardless of the season, this view, from this window, is one of my favorites. The bushes growing outside the window afford some privacy, as well as a playground for birds and squirrels. Summer evenings, the setting sun throws light through these windows. Winter evenings, the blowing snow makes the living room seem cozier.

And at Christmas time, the lights from the Christmas tree are reflected in these windows, as if they originate out in the snow.