One of my favorite professors told me once that George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda is his favorite novel, and I’ve been meaning to read it ever since.  But, it’s a long novel and I’m a busy graduate student, and I’ve just never gotten around to it.  I’ve started but never finished.  However, this weekend I did finally watch the BBC mini-series on Netflix.  And wow.  What an incredible story. It handles gender and Jewish-Christian relations in such an innovative and poignant way.  I thought I liked Jane Austen, but George Eliot is ten times better. Definitely worth a watch.

 We’re facing some pretty big decisions right now. My husband is graduating this May and has been offered a position far, far away, while I still have some time before I finish my degree and need to stay where I am. In the next few weeks, we have to decide what we’re going to do and where we’re going to be next year.

All of this decision-making had really started to bear down on us at the end of last week, and we were feeling pretty overwhelmed. At the last minute, we decided to pack up and take a weekend away in nearby Amish country. We found a cute little bed and breakfast, and spent the weekend reading and knitting and soaking up the countryside. Absorbing a little of the simple, down-to-earth lifestyle of the Amish was just what we needed.

an exerpt from Walden
by Henry David Thoreau

The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night. Little is to be expected of that day, if it can be called a day, to which we are not awakened by our Genius, but by the mechanical nudgings of some servitor, are not awakened by our own newly-acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied by the undulations of celestial music, instead of factory bells, and a fragrance filling the air—to a higher life than we fell asleep from; and thus the darkness bear its fruit, and prove itself to be good, no less than the light. That man who does not believe that each day concerns an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way. After a partial cessation of his sensual life, the soul of man, or its organs rather, are reinvigorated each day, and his Genius tries again what noble life it an make. All memorable events, I should say, transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere. The Vedas say, ” All intelligences awake with the morning.” Poetry and art, and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men, date from such an hour. All poets and heroes, like Memnon, are the children of Aurora, and emit their music and sunrise. To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun, the day is a perpetual morning.

I got up early this morning. I have a lot to get done today. I don’t know if I’ve yet felt Thoreau’s Genius, his aspirations from within, or his undulations of celestial music, but I’m trying! I could really use some of those auroral inspirations.

More socks!  These I knit following the Knitting Archeologist’s Spanish Dancer Socks pattern (on ravelry) and using some Lion Brand Wool-Ease Heathers yarn from my mom.  They’re nice and thick, and I imagine myself wearing them with PJs to keep my feet warm at night.

This blanket is for a very special little baby, the new daughter of some dear friends of ours.  She was born the day after Thanksgiving, and we got to meet her for the first time while we were home for Christmas.  Blessings to you little girl, and may this blanket bring you much warmth and joy!

I followed Jared Flood’s Umaro pattern (available on ravelry), but I added an extra pattern repeat horizontally and omitted a pattern repeat vertically because I wanted the blanket to be a square.  For yarn, I used Berroco Comfort Chunky, Ivory—a luxuriously soft yarn that’s perfect for baby!

Right before Christmas, I finished my first aran sweater! I really like how it turned out, and I wore it a lot during the holidays. I will say that if I had it to knit over again, I’d probably go up a size because the sleeves came out a little tight. Perhaps they’ll stretch a little with wear…

The pattern is Cirilia Rose’s Aidez, and I used Cascade Ecological Wool, Taupe.

A Shropshire Lad, II
by A.E. Housman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Today I’m thinking about savoring the moment and about red berries in the snow, so this poem matches my mood and circumstances perfectly.

When I woke up, it was snowy and slippery outside, so in lieu of a run, my husband and I bundled up and went out for a photo-taking walk instead. I don’t usually take my camera on our walks, but my husband is graduating this May and we’ll probably be moving out of our little house, so I’ve started to feel like I need to document everything about our life here so I won’t forget. These red berries especially caught my eye as we walked—they’re not exactly Housman’s cherries, but they’re striking against the white snow and worth remembering all the same.

This will be my last knitting update for a while.  But, I think I’ve saved the best for last.  This is my favorite thing I’ve knitted since I started knitting almost a year ago!  I loved knitting it, and now I love wearing it.  This was my first time with stranded colorwork—which, for my non-knitting audience, basically means knitting with two colors at once—and I had a blast learning!  I was so excited to see the pattern emerging that I kept bothering my husband every few rows to show him my handiwork.  I just couldn’t believe I was actually creating it!  Now that I’m finished, I’m having as much fun wearing my new wrap as I had making it.  It seems to go with everything I own, and I’m having a hard time not wearing it every day.

The pattern is by Madeline, of the lovely blog Frances Collier, and she based it on Toast’s fair isle twisted wrap. It’s a very well-written pattern, and I highly recommend it!

I’m pretty proud of this shawl collared sweater.  This was my first time seaming and putting in buttonholes, and I think both turned out quite well. I used a really cheap yarn–just good ol’ Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool–but I really like the result.  I think it looks classic and kind of rustic. I’m calling it my autumn pullover because it seems to me like just the kind of sweater one should wear for picking apples or going on a hayride!