Friday Finishes

Ever have one of those days where you turn around and it's 3 in the afternoon? I'm having one of those days today. It started out calm enough -- after rain all day yesterday that was supposed to switch over to freezing rain and then snow, it finally did change last night, right around the time that Rainbow's school decided to close again today. So when I got up this morning, there was no need to rush or get her out of bed, and I was able to savor my coffee while I checked my email. But then I had to start making bread (we're having dinner with my brother and sister-in-law tonight, and I promised I'd make challah) and try to get a walk and shower in before I had to go to a 1 p.m. doctor's appointment (just an annual check-up), and in the midst of that our internet decided to stop working. Suffice it to say that it was not my intention to get this post up so late in the day, but it is what it is.

I have really been on a finishing kick this week and have two of my three main projects wrapped up. First, I finished the last steps of my combo spin -- although I'd finished the plying on Tuesday, I still had to skein and wash it to set the twist and then wait for it to dry to measure it and estimate my yardage. There's a lot of it!

My pre-wash estimate ended up being spot on: I have a bit more than 2,300 yards of three-ply fingering weight. This is excellent news, and not just because I now know why it took so long to spin and ply and why it took me an entire afternoon to wind these three skeins. I'd spun this yarn with the Garland sweater in mind, in large part because there's a coordinating kid's sweater called Little Garland and I thought it would be cute for Rainbow and I to have matching sweaters again. Originally I thought they'd be more coordinating than matching and that I'd spin something else for her main color, but I have enough yardage to knit us both sweaters using this yarn as the main color (I'm planning to spin an undyed light wool for the colorwork), even assuming I want to make sizes that give us several inches of positive ease. She's on board with this plan, so the contrast will be the next thing going onto the wheel.

Next, though I'd already gotten corrections back from my tech editor on my new sock pattern and made the adjustments in the pattern, I still had to finish the second sock so I could take pattern photos. I did that yesterday, and Rainbow was kind enough to take some glamour shots for me.

Expect to see this pattern available early next week -- it's ready to go, but there's a lot of admin work to get it ready to be out in the world, and I plan to use the weekend for that.

Finally, while my sweater isn't completely done, it's much closer now that I've finished the first sleeve and started the second:

I even taught myself how to do a tubular bind off in the round for the cuff (it's a bit different from the instructions for doing it when working flat) and wove in my ends on the first sleeve before I started the second. I estimate I've knit about three inches on the second sleeve, and of course the rounds get faster as I work more decreases. As soon as this one is done, I'll be turning my attention to my long-neglected Shifty pullover with the hope of getting it off the needles this month as well.

Now, can I interest anyone in some fresh-baked challah?

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!