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Doing something a little different and giving you weekend quick takes! So enjoy!

We’ll start off with a Patticake photo, per usual….

(For new folks, Patty is my cousin’s girl and my goddaughter. She is not my child. :) )

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I wrote an essay earlier this week about risk and medicine and…well, things. Sort of COVID related, but it’s more like things I’ve noticed with COVID and….well, thoughts. So take a gander at it if you will. I guess I could call it a “long-form” piece?

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I’ve started working on this Moonwhistle Shawl from Drea Renee Knits and oh my goodness, I adore it.

Here are the yarns I used: Light blue is Wool of the Andes worsted in Whirlpool; Dark blue is Swish Worsted in Marine Heather; and the color change ball is Chroma Worsted in Drawing Room.

This is a pretty easy knit, in that I think I’d great for learning color work, and it’s simple. It’s all knit stitch (garter stitch) and slipped stitches, and one M1L (Make one left), which is explained in the pattern. One of the great things about Andrea’s patterns is that she explains everything, which is so great, and she lists the skills/techniques you need before you buy the pattern, which I WISH all designers did! If you want to check out the pattern for Moonwhistle, here you go.

One of best parts about the design is what she calls the “tweed” sections—where you work with the color change yarn. Oh my gosh this is so fun. So I am addicted to this and am trying to not knit all day, but it’s hard not to when a pattern is this great.

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Reading: The Hour of the Witch, Drums of Autumn, and the last book in Alison Weir’s Tudor Queens series, Katharine Parr: The Sixth Wife, which then led me to go back and re-read the entire series, so I’ve read Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen, and now I’m on Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession. The great thing about Weir is she’s a historian first, so her books are all informed on the latest scholarship, which in the case of Katherine of Aragon, Ames it pretty clear that she was not lying to the king about her relationship with Prince Arthur. (Yes, I’m a British history nerd, sorry.)

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I don’t really need a reason to re-read any of the Outlander books, but I’m doing it because I’mw working on my new project! Presenting….

There is so much good Catholic stuff in the books and even the TV series, and I’ve wanted to do a deep-dive into it for awhile, so I figure now is the time. So I’m re-reading all the books and making notes. I’m also trying to marshal my thoughts on organization—by book, by theme, by….? But anyway, that’s what’s going right now in my research. Very excited for this.

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No movie reviews this week (did you like that? Because I liked doing it), but I’ve been watching some opera. I do love opera. I sort of wish I would’ve loved it more when I was younger, because my voice teacher is an opera singer who now sings with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. But alas. However, I am classically trained! So I love watching opera—I find it much easier to watch than to listen to, if it’s a new work. Once I know it, then I can listen to it. I have quite a few operas on DVD because of that, as opposed to CD recordings. So I pop them in when I’m knitting (or really any time, I don’t need an excuse.) . This week is was La Fancuilla del West.

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And finally, the Ohio bishops have reinstated the Mass obligation, beginning the weekend of June 5/6. Has your diocese re-instated the obligation yet?

Anddd if you’d like to learn more about the basics of Catholicism, check out my ebook, Catholic 101! :)