Lhude sing cuccu

Summer is definitely “icumin in“: Environment Canada is forecasting temperatures about 10 degrees above normal for the next week.

I went back to writing wishes and folding stars last week, and have almost filled the first gallon since I stopped.

I stopped working on The Wishing Star Project a little before Christmas because a minor injury sustained while on our cycling holiday last spring had turned into a frozen shoulder. I consulted a physio and was diligent about the exercises he prescribed, but my rate of recovery was glacial. My shoulder hurt almost all the time, and writing out wishes and folding stars seemed to exacerbate things. My shoulder only hurts occasionally now, and I have almost regained my normal range of motion in my right arm. I am being careful not to over-stress the joint and am continuing the stretching exercises, so I am hoping that I will be able to complete enough stars for the meditation labyrinth.

And what did I do with all those empty evenings when I wasn’t folding stars?

I knitted things.

I made a cowl like this

and a large infinity scarf which I can wrap twice around my neck and still have enough left to cover my head. (Both are black and don’t photograph well.)

I ripped out the knitting I had begun in Oxford on holiday and knit a tunic based on this pattern:

I decided the lace panel would be wasted since the yarn is black with red flecks, so I just did a plain front. I also made the cowl collar smaller, though you can’t really tell from this image.

Having omitted the lace panel on the tunic I thought it might be fun to try something in a simple lace pattern, so I knit a net shopping bag using some cotton left over from my weaving days.

Knitting the bag was fairly boring and took rather longer than I thought was justified by the results. My shoulder still wasn’t better, so I went looking for another project with lace. I ended up combining three patterns:

I used the upper body shaping and lace pattern for front, back, and sleeves from the first; the lower body shaping from the second (no pattern but the shape is fairly simple to achieve); and the edging for short sleeves and bottom hem from the hat pattern.

I am quite pleased with the results (the mistakes in the lace pattern are only evident if you go looking for them), and now it is too hot to wear it!

I did get some book-related work done this week: as well as poking away at the dot/dash idea and the map book, I prepared an adaptation of the Cabbage Pie book. It will be the subject of a mini-workshop at the June meeting of the CBBAG Saskatchewan guild chapter, and has gone through a slight name change.

I have also been updating my talk/slide show on altered books as I will be presenting it at the same meeting.

And I have begun planning for another DIY artist’s book to give away at the end of May when I will be writing my 200th blog post, but that is a month away. Should you feel in need of a bookish way to celebrate May Day, Susan Kapuscinzki Gaylord posted a little DIY book earlier this week.

You can read her post and download a printable pdf here.