Art

Missing Lunch

February 20, 2021January 6, 2022 annbh356Leave a comment

February 20, a year ago, was the last time I had lunch with the friends I dub my Art Group. We were in that in-between time. Corona virus was already in our vocabulary. We had made the definitional change from epidemic to pandemic. We had friends or family in parts of the world or on either coast that we were worried about but, in our small corner of Minnesota, Covid-19 still felt distant. We were still a month away from our first statewide lockdown. That day, as always, the food and libations were delicious and the company even better but little did we know as we set a March date for our next Ladies Night Out Lunch that it would simply slip by in a flurry of social distancing, masks and sanitizing wipes.

Over the years, I have self-described as the voyeur among this talented group of women all of whom were or still are SEMVA artists. Despite being the odd duck without any artistic training (although I did get A-s in my art appreciation college classes) I was always enthralled by the intriguing discussions about gouache and pastels, resists and French dyes, plein air and pallet knives. When I was still working, it was such a treat not to talk about library politics and, believe me, librarianship can be filled with intrigue. In my retirement world, lunch with my Art Group was always inspirational and nudged me to explore new fibers and different knitting patterns. Plus, what is not to like (and certainly miss!) when people appreciate the newest project off my needles.

While missing my lunch companions, I enjoyed a touch of Covid humor shared by a friend. This math word-problem is a spot on description for the year just ending and how 2021 is shaping up:

If you’re going down a river at 2 MPH and your canoe loses a wheel, how much pancake mix would you need to re-shingle your roof?

Knitting in the City

February 10, 2021March 24, 2021 annbh3561 Comment

When launched as a Covid coping tool, Knit+ Librarian was intended to highlight my current reading without being too book-reportish. However, a quick review of recent posts reveals a dearth of titles and lest you think this librarian has given up on books – not to worry. I have simply opted not to report each book title-by-title. My Goodreads account is a finely-tuned tool that provides titles, dates and ratings on a five-star scale, as well as a list of what I am reading and an ever-growing want-to-read list. At the moment I have six titles open:

Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare – a YA paranormal fantasy audio book for multitasking while I knit
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and A Good Time for the Truth, an anthology edited by Sun Yung Shin – for upcoming book discussions I am leading at church (reported on earlier)
The Bookseller by Mark Pryor – the first in the Hugo Marston murder series for the upcoming The Directors’ bookclub
The Art of the Wasted Day by St. Paul author Patricia Hampl – a recent gift from a friend
Knitlandia by Clara Parkes – another gift from a friend that I come back to chapter by chapter.

Let me recommend – – – For light reading with a knitting tie-in, author Penny Reid, provides the right combination of good things – character development, dialogue, humor, all set against a Chicago backdrop – in her Knitting in the City series. I have finished Book 5: Happily Ever Ninja and downloaded book 6 to my iPad. These contemporary romances can be read as stand-alone titles but there is a nice flow between the books as we meet seven good friends who gather every Tuesday night to knit or crochet all the while enjoying adult beverages and offering great worldly advice. As with every title within this genre, the expected occurs – girl meets boy, attraction, romance and love happen albeit with some challenges. Unlike some series where the characters are so interchangeable so as to be cardboard cutouts from one title to the next, the women of Knitting in the City are as unique as any collection of your friends. Reid uses knitting as a connecting thread week-to-week as the story and relationships develop sufficient to keep any fiber lover happy but without overwhelming the non-knitter. Sometimes she even slips in references to Ravelry patterns. And, for the really knit-nerdy, Reid offers a companion title that includes 27 patterns based on her characters’ knitting creations.

Happy reading!

Knitting

Project Peace – part 3

January 3, 2021March 7, 2021 annbh3568 Comments

Project Peace Shawl – a 2020 Knit-a-long with Christina Campbell

And with the end of 2020 came the completion of this year’s Project Peace shawl. I started with three stitches and, just before midnight, I cast off 483 stitches while enjoying Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse sing and dance our way into the New Year.

December was another Covid month; all our gifts arrived by mail but also sunny drives in rural Wisconsin, the first shovelable snow, and quiet knitting while enjoying Christina Campbell’s daily thoughts on peace. Her words reflect my sentiments on both knitting and peace:

Knitting... such a simple act, one stitch followed by the next,
lined up in columns of stitches, twisting and turning, 
openings here and there, 
ultimately creating a beautiful fabric to warm the recipient...
     knitting ... one stitch at a time from one continuous fiber...
     knitting does not promise to be easy...
     knitting does not promise to be without mistakes and flaws...
     knitting does not promised to be a constant state of harmony...
     and so it is true with peace.
           Christina Campbell, December 21, 2020

Reading

When life interests intersect …

December 15, 2020August 19, 2022 annbh3564 Comments

Throughout my library career I advocated for the Minnesota Center for the Book and the Minnesota Book Awards. I’ve booktalked Book Award nominated titles and represented Greater Minnesota on the Book Award Advisory Committee, as well as attended receptions at the Library of Congress to celebrate the work of Centers for the Book around the United States.

So I was excited to learn about a new book club – One Book / One Minnesota. Launched in the spring of 2020 as Minnesota went into Covid quarantine and libraries closed their doors to walk-in patrons, One Book encouraged Minnesotans to read together. The three titles selected thus far feature award winning Minnesota authors:

A blending of reading good books by Minnesota authors and retirement life came together last night as I led an online book discussion of A Good Time for the Truth. This anthology contains 16 extremely well written chapters, each by a different Minnesota author, each a Person of Color living and working in our state. Artfully edited by Sun Yung Shin. The first lines of her introduction read:

“You hold in your hand a book of visions. Memories. True stories. Shock. Grief. Dreams. Activism. Recognition. A call for us to listen and learn about one another’s real lives in Minnesota.“

While the setting and many of the references are Minnesota specific, the stories are real whether they occur in Minneapolis or Minocqua, Rochester or Rockford or any city, USA. Stories which reveal how those who look like me – white, middle-aged, educated, financially comfortable, that is to say privileged – take for granted our place in this white patriarchy. Or, conversely as Sun Yung Shin states:

“Most people of color in the United States have to think about race every day, multiple times a day. We are constantly negotiating our bodies, our selves, our identities, in a racialized society.“

These stories are so well written and revealing that I could only read one at a time before setting down the book and taking time and space to reflect, sometimes to cry, about the injustices and inequities to which I was blind. This same sentiment was expressed by several participating in our church’s Common Read book discussion.

We are living the great American democratic experiment. But for it to be truly successful, all the voices need to be heard. Those Indigenous People with whom our government has repeatedly broken trust. Those whose ancestors were brought here against their will chained in the holds of slave ships. Those who came to this “land of opportunity” for a myriad of reasons and every day enrich the whole of our existence but whose contributions are minimized because they are different. I encourage you to pick up a copy of A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. Read with an open heart the beauty of the language on the page and hear the stories of fellow Americans. After, give me a call or an email or a text so we can chat as we grow and learn together.

P.S. If you want to hear some of the authors in their own voices, check out this One Book / One Minnesota YouTube video with Sun Young Shin and six of the anthology’s authors.

Art · Knitting · Writing

Project Peace – part 2

December 5, 2020January 2, 2021 annbh356Leave a comment

Chihuly: Nature of Glass – Desert Towers, 2008

Each morning a smidge of peace arrives in my mailbox; just a click away from a longer meditation. From December 1-21, in addition to a wonderful knit-a-long pattern, Christina Campbell shares daily reflections on her 2020 theme “peace in place”. Her creative writing, landscape photographs, and peace building challenges are inspirational. I am writing more and reflecting on her definition of peace “…cultivating right relationships with self, others, and the Earth”.

While Phoenix is not our stay-in-place place in these Covid times, I remember a quiet walk through the Desert Botanical Garden. The trails wend through flora exotic to my Midwest field and forest eye. The garden offers brilliant pops of color against the subdued desert backdrop, as well as sculpture placed so artfully so as to merge with the landscape. Certainly what Chihuly intended with his Glass Towers. In another era we might have asked: Is it live or is it Memorex?

Join me on this peace filled journey at the Healthy Knitter. Knitting not required.

Baking

Happy Birthday!

November 11, 2020October 21, 2021 annbh3561 Comment

This was a kitchen day from mid-morning to mid-afternoon while prepping Richard’s simple birthday celebration requests.

Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake – Modified from one large springform pan to four small 5-inch silicone & glass bottom pans since there are just the two of us celebrating together in these Covid days. The topping is still to be determined. Do I go with simple fresh whipped cream, the recipe prescribed Amaretto flavored whipped cream, or a decadent chocolate glaze for a chocolate-on-chocolate birthday treat? (Decisions. Decisions.)

Barbecued short ribs – In the slow cooker after modifying Mom’s c. 1940 rib recipe from the Good Housekeeping cookbook she received as a 1945 wedding present.

All to be toasted with Glenlivet 15 Year Old French Oak Reserve, his early morning present. Additional packages mailed to Eau Claire to ensure secrecy will have to wait as we opt back into semi-self-quarantine with Minnesota and Wisconsin experiencing pandemic spikes.

Happy 74th Birthday, Richard!

Knitting

Project Peace 2020

November 8, 2020March 7, 2021 annbh3564 Comments

During a week of rollercoaster emotions but definitely a big add in my positive column, is the news that Christina Campbell will host another Project Peace knit-along. Since 2016, I have joined her and knitters from around the world by picking up my needles and conscientiously focusing on peace during hectic December days. What started five years ago as a unique idea to conduct a knitting “peace-along” after the electoral dismay of 2016 has continued each December. Every year Christina shares a new themed pattern and daily meditations. Project Peace 2020’s theme is “peace in place inspired by the need to connect with place during the pandemic and find peace in the now.”

My Ravelry project page is built and I am anxiously awaiting yarn suggestions (November 18) and the pattern drop on November 30. I am already imaging the fiber loveliness that will become an elongated, textured shawl since Christina’s previous patterns gave me these crafted beauties.

You can even follow everyone’s progress on Instagram: @thehealthyknitter by checking the hashtags: #projectpeace2020 and #knitforpeace.

Knitting

Traveling to the Beach – Virtually

September 26, 2020March 7, 2021 annbh3561 Comment

After years of attending library conferences that were defined by long days, lots of sessions, vendor meetings, networking and tasty meals shared with colleagues, as well as visiting unique locations – Wrigley Field, Independence Hall, or walking the Golden Gate Bridge, I am experiencing conference life – Covid style.

Repos Hat in a squishy Merino & cashmere blend

Just this month, I participated in restful meditations while knitting my Repos Hat with Solène Le Roux, a French knitting artist whose work I love. Her Zoom and Facebook Live sessions featured daily themed meditations in French and English, as well as stitch instruction that complimented her most recent five part mystery knit-along (KAL). (French to English translation: repos – rest)

After those quiet days, I joined the exuberant Marie Greene and her Olive Knit team for the inaugural beach and camp themed Knit Camp at the Coast. I joined hundreds and hundreds of knitters from around the world. (Although, I was in a couple of breakout groups with people from Carver, Rochester and Zumbrota, Minnesota – small world!) I learned new techniques for socks and stranded knitting which I can incorporate into current projects on my needles, tackled my first Brioche sample (that is going to take a lot more practice) and even took restful breaks led by Yoga for Knotted Knitters – great for my tense shoulders.

My comfort level with traveling in this time of Covid is very low (non-existent actually) so while I hope to join others in real places for future workshops and tours, the virtual learning and crafting opportunities are just right for 2020. Happy knitting!

Other items of interest

Audi Q5 worth the 7 month wait

September 19, 2020January 6, 2022 annbh356Leave a comment

After months of car spec research, Richard determined the perfect combo of options for our new 2020 Audi Q5. He placed a February order specifically timed for a spring delivery so we could enjoy driving at least one season with clear vision through a windshield without sand and salt micro-pits.

After decades of silver vehicles we thought we’d whirl the color wheel and picked Azores Green only to learn that color had been discontinued just one week earlier. Then came Covid. Audi factories worldwide closed and our order for a Navarra Blue Q5 with Nougat Brown interior went into limbo.

Our excitement began building when Richard read factories were starting up. Anticipation took a big leap when we learned our car was built on August 11, then grew a bit more when it arrived in Houston from Mexico on September 4 Needless to say I did a happy dance yesterday when we learned our new Audi was being prepped in Rochester for Saturday pick up. With just 15 miles on the odometer, we have a future of driving fun starting with fall colors and nearby blue line twisty bits.

Knitting · Travel

Denmark

September 16, 2020July 24, 2021 annbh3563 Comments

I know the answer to the Danish prince’s question; “To be or not to be…” Sadly it is not to be. I should be packing not writing about not traveling. The big trip of my 2020 travel itinerary (as planned pre-pandemic) was to be a “fiber adventure in Copenhagen & the Faroe Islands” with Rowan Tree Travels. My Danish nine days was to include the traditional highlights of Copenhagen (the Tivoli Gardens and the Amalienborg Palace) as well as visiting local yarn stores and enjoying a smørrebrød before flying to the Faroe Islands. And, in case you need a geographic reference (like I did) here is a quick Wikipedia fact … “a North Atlantic archipelago, about 200 miles north-northwest of Scotland, and half way between Norway and Iceland”. I would have spent five days touring the Faroe Islands visiting sheep farms and studying with fiber artists to learn traditional pattern work. All with a small group of 12-14 knitting enthusiasts. Now my international knitting escapade must wait for safe times in 2021.