It Was Still a Monday

I had really hoped that yesterday would be a good, relaxing day off, but it was a still a Monday, if you know what I mean, and so despite my hopes and plans, things did not pan out as I expected.

Case in point: Rainbow wanted to bake challah again, in part because she really likes having it for breakfast. So we figured out how to make half the recipe that we used last time so that we'd end up with just one big loaf instead of two, and we also discovered the with the smaller amount, the mixer can handle the dough just fine and do our kneading for us. We were delighted with how our loaf came out and were just waiting for it to finish its second rise in a slightly warmed oven before we could bake it.

And then the Mister came home from a bike ride and decided that he was going to heat up a couple of slices of leftover pizza for lunch. Now most people would probably do that in the toaster oven rather than use the energy of the big oven. Most people, knowing that their family was baking bread that day, might think to check the big oven if they were going to be using it. But the Mister is not most people. He is a smart guy and I love him dearly, but sometimes common sense escapes him. He went right to turning on the big oven, where this lovely braid was rising under a cover of plastic wrap. I think you can figure out what happened. When I asked him where he thought the bread was rising, he said the refrigerator. The refrigerator! Sigh. To his credit, he went to the supermarket to buy a loaf of challah so Rainbow could have the breakfast she was so looking forward to, but now it's clear to me that I need to be super obvious about what is going on in the kitchen. And at least I've learned that the half recipe works well and can do it again (I might do it on Friday if I have time), but I feel bad about the wasted time and ingredients.

My knitting has not been going much better, and I'm starting to wonder if it's just all the underlying stress that is making my brain not fire at 100%. I cast on for my Adventuresome Wrap (Ravelry link) on Thursday and have screwed it up so many times I've lost count. In most cases I've tinked back to fix the errors, but one was a missed decrease several rows back that I just decided to add in when I noticed and live with.

It's clear that the speckled minis are going to have much less contrast with the pale gray that's the main color in between the stripes, but I think it will be a nice effect overall. Now that I've finally gotten through a stripe successfully, I'm hoping it's not too hard to replicate it.

One benefit of that four-hour Zoom session on Friday was that I was able to knit through it and finished the first of Rainbow's new pair of ankle socks. I cast on for the second over the weekend and was knitting away on it while she and I did a FaceTime call with my mother yesterday afternoon, and then I realized that I'd forgotten to switch to ribbing on the sole after I finished the gusset and had to rip out about an inch of knitting.

At least in this case I know I can make up that time fairly quickly and that these socks will be perfect to work on while reading -- I have a new library book to start today!

The one bright spot in my crafting over the holiday weekend was a quick little crochet project. Rainbow wanted to try some basic techniques so she can eventually make some amigurumi projects, so I taught her to do a magic circle and increase in rounds. We were working on our own projects side by side, and when she lost interest, I carried on with any idea I wanted to try out. About an hour later, I had this little guy:

It was meant to be a pierogi, but it could also pass as a Cornish pasty or an empanada. I know my embroidery leaves a lot to be desired, but it's pretty cute, don't you think? I'm glad at least one thing went right this weekend!