In Which I Start to Lose My Mind

Friends, the way I can tell that it's Rhinebeck week and I am not at all prepared is by how crazy I have gotten with the knitting. But first, for anyone who was concerned about my finishing in time, let me ease your mind with this photo:

Sorry for scarring your retinas this early in the day; I snapped this just as I was about to wrap them. These, obviously, are my father's birthday socks, finished over breakfast yesterday morning and then quickly treated to a citric acid treatment and a block. I worked on them as much as I could over the weekend, but there were enough errands and chores to do that I only managed to get to halfway through the toe by the time I was off to bed on Sunday evening. Thankfully I had a bit of extra time yesterday morning because Rainbow was off from school for an in-service day and spent the day at the office with me, so we didn't need to leave the house quite as early as normal. I did give myself a bit of a heart attack when I managed to somehow yank all the stitches off the needles as I was in the process of grafting the toe of that second sock, but I got everything mostly back in place and thankfully black yarn hides all manner of goofs (not to mention that my father will never know the difference if the graft isn't perfect). So they are done and blocked and ready to be presented to my father at dinner tonight. I used 87 g of my skein of Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce for these, leaving me some leftovers to add to my crochet blanket.

After finishing the socks, I got to that point where I felt like I had to cast on all the things -- I mean, I do have a lot of hours in the car coming up later this week, and I'll need some variety while I'm away! Yesterday at lunch I started a new hat for my nephew:

Despite the fact that the darker color looks blue here (bad early morning light, sorry), it's actually black, the same black as in the socks. I'm using two half skeins of FDW Traveler (sport weight) that were in my grab back to make a Halloween-ish hat. I used a new-to-me cast on for the brim, and once I get through the twisted ribbing, I'll be doing stripes with the two colors with some slipped stitches for interest.

I also started another little project last night, and this one I'm hoping to wrap up before I leave on Thursday. Remember that cute hat with the leaf on it? I'm making a pair of mittens to match.

I'm using the Snow Day Mittens pattern, with the leftover green from the hat for the cuffs and non-superwash blue yarn for the hands. I knit this entire mitten, including weaving in the ends, last night, so I think I can reasonably expect to finish the pair before I leave Thursday morning.

There will be more new projects cast on while I'm on the trip. Yarn has been wound and just needs to be put in project bags with appropriate needles.

The two skeins on the left are the latest shipment from the FDW Just Desserts club that I'm using for socks for Rainbow (toe up, which is why I've already divided it in half so I can knit until I basically run out of yarn). The mini skein in the center will be used for contrasting heels and toes. The blue and copper-y skeins on the right are from Dusty Tree Dyeworks and will be used for a new shawl design. (Rebecca also makes amazing soap and wool wash, by the way!)

As if all the knitting isn't scatterbrained enough, reading has also been less than focused. I'm nearly finished with Just Mercy and hope to get through the last 25 or so pages tonight. I also got notice over the weekend that my hold was up on The Nickel Boys from the library, so I started that yesterday as well. At least I should get some good reading time this weekend when I need a break from knitting!