Wednesday WIPs

Good morning and welcome to the last full day of Thanksgiving prep! Rainbow and I have just prepped two loaves of challah for the stuffing (which translates to cutting off all the crust, cubing the insides, and leaving it to dry out a bit). Yesterday we baked three dozen pumpkin cranberry muffins and made fresh cranberry sauce. Today, in addition to mixing up the stuffing (my great-grandmother's recipe, which is really more of a savory bread pudding), we'll mix up the mashed sweet potatoes, leaving only the turkey, gravy, and apple pie for tomorrow. I honestly thought that I'd spend most of this week crafting, but cooking for Thanksgiving, even when it's a smaller-than-normal dinner, takes a lot of time!

Today I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers to chat about my knitting and my reading.

After I finished my Hitchhiker, I realized that other than a shawl that's in hibernation, I had nothing on the needles! There's still a fair amount of holiday knitting to do, though, so I wasted no time in casting on the first pair of man socks. These are for my father; I figured I'd do his first because they're in the darker (and therefore harder to see) yarn and also because I will want to mail my parents gifts early in December.

I know the yarn looks like a plain-old navy here, but it's actually a pretty complex shade of Knit Picks Stroll called Midnight Heather that has some green and teal shades in it.

Neither of the dads is very adventurous in his clothing choices, so this is about as wild as I could get for my father. I've picked an equally sedate color for my father-in-law, a color called Jack Rabbit Heather that I'd describe as a warm brown-gray:

Both guys are getting plain stockinette socks, worked over 70 stitches, with a heel flap and gusset and wedge toe. I started the first sock on Monday and worked on it through a (Zoom) board meeting, and I already have nearly 5 inches complete on the leg. If I can manage to find time to knit (perhaps while the turkey is in the oven tomorrow?), I think the socks will go quickly. It's really all about prioritization.

Meanwhile, the Giftalong started at 8 last night, so once I got Rainbow into bed, I cast on a gift for her. Last year she saw and fell in love with the Fantastical Fox Mitts (Ravelry link), and while I got the pattern, I didn't have the time or the right yarn to make them for her. So I'm making them now and keeping my fingers crossed that she still likes them!

I'm using Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Allspice and White and knitting the smallest size, though I think there will still be a bit of room for Rainbow to grow. As nice as it is to have her home -- and we've just learned that there are three diagnosed cases of COVID among staff at her school, so I expect she'll be home longer -- it does make it difficult to knit for her in secret! I can only work on presents for her when she's asleep, and this week she's been going to bed later.

Since my last Unraveled Wednesday post, I have finished three books:

 

Jew(ish) was an Amazon First Reads freebie, and it was a quick, easy read. It was interesting and gave me some food for thought, but as the writer is British and a lot of the book deals with British politics, I felt that there were large chunks of the book that I didn't understand and didn't really apply to me. I guess you get what you pay for, right? I gave it 3 stars.

 
I think I mentioned before that I wanted to read Bridge to Terabithia because Rainbow was reading it in school and I couldn't remember if I'd actually read it when I was her age. I have since determined that I never actually did read it, so it was worthwhile to pick it up now. While I can see why it's been so praised as a classic, I also found it really dated, so I do wonder how much kids today will relate to it. The edition I got from the library was a special 40th anniversary edition, and I appreciated the addition of a special reflection from the author on the occasion and the text of her Newberry Medal acceptance speech. I gave it 3 stars.

I'd had a long wait from the library for The Vanishing Half and was delighted to get it a week or so before I expected -- and frankly once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. It's a really beautifully written story of two light-skinned Black twin sisters, one of whom decides to "pass" as white and live her life as something she is not. Aside from the fact that Brit Bennett tells a really interesting story, I think the questions of race and identity that it poses are quite timely given current events and active efforts to understand and undermine racism. I gave it an enthusiastic 5 stars.

Today, in between all the cooking, I'm hoping to finish my current book, The Great Believers, and move on to the next Gamache book that I have on loan from the library. I hope that your WIPs and your books are entertaining you and that your house is filled with good smells today!