Unraveled, Week 6/2026

Happy Wednesday, friends! The landscape looks a lot different today after some unseasonably warm weather yesterday -- think lots of melting and lots of puddles. I got an unexpected upper-body workout when Ruthie and I got back from our midday walk yesterday: The snow on the roof of the garage had all fallen onto the driveway and had to be shoveled out of the way. It might have been light, fluffy snow when it fell, but the melting turned it into wet, heavy stuff. At least I could comfortably shovel without a jacket or gloves -- and I was sweating!

As it is Wednesday today, that means it's time to check in with Kat and the Unravelers, and I'm happy to report that I do indeed have a finished pair of socks to share!

I ended up needing Monday to finish the toe of the second sock, and I even played a bit of yarn chicken, ending up using 99 g of my 100 g skein. If you're interested in the pattern you can check out my Ravelry project, but it's not one I'd recommend. There is no gauge listed, and the sizes are simply S/M/L, without any indication of what size foot those would fit. I ended up using the stitch pattern only on the front of the leg and on the instep and doing my own heel and toe. I didn't even try to get the stripes to match because of how long the color repeat is, but I'm happy that I more or less matched up the position of the stripes on the two socks. And of course I won at yarn chicken, meaning I don't have a ton of leftovers remaining. All in all a good stash-busting project!

I've since cast on two more projects. First, I'm doing another sample of my fingering weight colorwork cowl design, this time with a larger circumference for a more standard fit. Unfortunately, due to my apparently inability to reliably count to two, this is all I have to show for it:

That sheep stitch marker is where I have to tink back to in order to correct what is supposed to be dead-easy 2x2 ribbing. And what you see here is after tinking back and supposedly fixing my issues twice already. Sigh.

I also started the current fad in the craftivist world, a Melt the ICE Hat (Ravelry link) in some leftover HipStrings Buoy DK:

This will be my mindless knitting while Ruthie naps and I read for the next while.

Speaking of reading, I've only finished one book this past week. Reading has slowed down some since the big storm because I've been unable to exercise outside (and that's when I do most of my audiobook listening) and have only been taking Ruthie for normal walks in the past couple of days. I'm also reading a Big Book right now that will take me a while to get through. Fortunately, the one book I finished was a good one.

On the Calculation of Volume III follows Tara in her continuing repetition of November 18, but now there is a new development: She has learned that there are others trapped in this time loop. This provides an opportunity to discuss why it has happened, whether it's permanent, and if there's a larger purpose they should be pursuing with their opportunity to relive the same day over and over again. As was the case with the first two books in the series, this is a quiet book that is more about thinking and reflecting than about action or plot twists. I honestly wasn't sure how someone could write seven volumes about living the same day over and over again, but so far each book has had a different take on it. Unfortunately now I have to wait for the next translation to be published and for the three after that to find out how this story resolves, but I very much enjoyed this third book. 4 stars.

I'm still reading Anna Karenina and am a little more than 40% through it; I find that on a good day, I can get through about 5-6%, so I'm keeping up a steady pace. And I'm hoping that now that the weather outlook is looking a little more normal for this time of year, I'll be able to get some books in my ears again soon.

How about you -- what are you making and reading this week?

Let the Thaw Begin

It was another frigid weekend, and today started out positively glacial, but we are in for a bit of a thaw this week -- or at least we'll be having more typical weather for this time of year! We've gotten a little melting from the sun, but we're actually supposed to get above freezing several times this week! I might even get to exercise outside (would you believe I haven't got for a run in more than two weeks?)!

Because of the cold and the additional snow we got on Friday, we spent much of the weekend inside, but Molly and I did venture out to the tattoo studio to get her earrings changed for the first time. We had to wait a little, and now I can say that this was probably the oddest place I've turned a heel (tattoos may be no big deal for some of you, but they're looked down upon in Judaism, so no one in my family has one).

I spent almost all my free time working on that second sock over the weekend in an effort to finish it in time to qualify for the Pigskin Party, and because I got this post ready ahead of time, I can't say yet whether I was successful. I can, however, tell you that as of the end of Ruthie's nap on Sunday, I had about 24 rounds of foot plus a toe remaining, so chances were pretty good.

Here's your obligatory sleeping puppy photo, just so you can get a sense of the scene on Sunday afternoon:

The Mister left early this morning for a quick work trip, so I'm on double school run duty for a few days. But Molly also has a four-day weekend coming up (thanks to the end of the trimester), and that almost feels like a break for me, too. Assuming I have successfully finished the socks, this week will be about casting on some new projects!

I will be back on Wednesday with a finished pair of socks for sure, plus some new projects and an update on my reading.

Another Freezing Friday

Although I'm more used to it happening in January, we always seem to have a period of deep freeze in winter when the temperatures are frigid and it seems like the snow and ice will never melt. We've been in that phase for a while now, too long for my taste, and we're in for more snow (estimates are about 2 inches) and more extreme cold this weekend. But it's supposed to get up to and above freezing next week, hurrah! So we just need to get through this weekend and we'll get a little bit of a break.

In spite of the cold, we've been lucky to have gotten a good bit of sunshine this week, and it's even been enough to melt some snow and ice on roofs and help to clear the roads and sidewalks. I've been opening the blinds in the sliding glass doors at the back of our house, which face west, and that's meant some great light in the afternoons while Ruthie naps next to me. Yesterday, it helped me see well enough to graft the toe of my first Loud Plaid Shorts sock (shown on Ruthie for scale):

Its mate has been cast on, and I'll be working on it every moment I can this weekend to see if I can't get the pair finished up in time to qualify for the Pigskin Party -- technically I have Monday to finish if I need it, but that's also a work day and thus does not offer the same amount of time to be productive. Though I won't be working on anything else until the socks are done, that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about what's next.

I have this cowl pattern in testing now, and a couple of testers have noted that it's a little too snug for their taste, so I'm going to add a second size to the pattern and knit up another sample to determine the yardage required. In preparation for that, I've been pulling out the semisolid mini skeins I have and pondering color choices. I'll likely end up arranging the skeins in several different orders and taking photos so I can test their contrast in black and white.

We've got a fairly quiet weekend ahead, not least because it's going to be so cold. Tonight Molly is headed to a Galentine's Day party thrown by a classmate and her mother, and after we drop her off, the Mister and I are having a date night at one of our favorite restaurants. We (and by that I mean Molly and I) have plans to make snacks for dinner for Sunday in honor of the Super Bowl, though we don't really care that much about the game. I am, however, looking forward to the Puppy Bowl -- the first one I can watch with my very own puppy! I'd encourage you to click over and click through the gallery of the players; they always have a wide range of breeds and mixes, and I love that they always include dogs with special needs. And for those of you who are cat people, there's a kitten halftime show, too!

Stay warm, look for the good, and be well, friends!

Unraveled, Week 5/2026

It's Wednesday -- or rather only Wednesday, as it feels like it's already been a very long week -- and that means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers.

We have six more weeks of winter, regardless of what Phil or any other groundhog says, but we did have a little bit of a warm-up yesterday and some of the snow has melted. But it's going to get cold again, and there's more snow in the forecast for later this week, so I haven't stopped knitting socks. I'm through the gusset of the first one and am now cruising down the foot.

It might be a little overambitious to try to get the pair done by the end of the weekend, but stranger things have happened!

It's been a slower week of reading for me -- only two books finished. But they were both good reads.

Jews in the Garden: A Holocaust Survivor, the Fate of His Family, and the Secret History of Poland in World War II by Judy Rakowsky

I can't remember exactly where I heard about this book, but it sounded interesting to me given my Polish Jewish ancestry. Though it was published in 2023, my library only recently got it; I was the second one to read the digital copy. The author, a longtime journalist who covered organized crime and other investigative topics, was intrigued by the story told by her father's cousin of family members who had been hiding in Poland only to be discovered and killed by fellow Poles as the Red Army was advancing. The story claimed that while those who were killed were buried in the garden of the house where they were hiding, one of the daughters escaped and was still alive. The author joined her cousin on a number of trips back to his hometown in Poland in search of news of this missing cousin, but no one seemed willing to talk about it, and over the course of several decades, the political climate in Poland contributed to the difficulty of the search by making it against the law to say that Poles contributed to the Holocaust in any way. This was a fascinating (albeit also rather devastating) read and gave me a sense of what might have happened to my grandmother's family had they not left Poland for Canada earlier. It also made me reconsider what I have heard in more recent years about Poles saving Jews; it seems that the right-wing government that took power in 2015 pushed a narrative of Polish victimhood and quashed any mention of collaboration. This wasn't an easy read, but it was well written and extremely informative. I gave it 4 stars.

I've now officially finished reading all eight published volumes of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion and now need to wait for the next one to come out! I can't say enough good things about this series. They're funny, they're touching, and they're highly entertaining and well written. The audiobooks have been a delight, but I decided to treat myself to hard copies so that I can read with my eyes when it comes time for my first reread. I have been recommending these books to everyone, and if you haven't read them yet but need some joy and laughter, please check them out. I've given the whole series 5 stars!

Speaking of series, I'm still finishing up On the Calculation of Volume III (I'll only have to wait until April for number IV), and I'm slowly making my way through Anna Karenina.

What are you making and reading this week?

Winter Weekending

How is it already Monday again! Ruthie still doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in, so to a certain extent, weekends don't feel like much of a break for me. At least there was not a lot to do this weekend -- and the sun actually came out! It really tells you how cold it's been that when we went out for a walk after lunch yesterday and it was 17ºF but sunny, it felt downright balmy! It's the longest walk Ruthie has taken since the storm, too. Perhaps she wanted everyone to see her new coat:

I spent Friday evening grafting the ends of my cowl together, blocked it on Saturday, and wore it yesterday:

I didn't use a pattern for this, but I've knit enough that I didn't need one. I started with a provisional cast-on of 110 stitches, joined my working yarn, and knit until I had just a little left (I could have managed another round or two, but I got to a stripe that was close in color to where I started and decided to end there). I put the provisional stitches back on a needle and rotated one end of the tube 180º so I'd have that little bend in the tube to make it sit nicely around my neck. I grafted the ends together and that was that. I ended up using exactly 100 g, leaving just a small amount of yarn leftover. Easy peasy and very cozy.

The rest of my knitting time over the weekend was spent on a new pair of socks that I'm attempting to finish by the end of the Pigskin Party (which wraps up with the Super Bowl, so next weekend). I'm using the second skein of Woolens and Nosh self-striping that came home with me from SSK last summer. The colorway is called Loud Plaid Shorts, which I think is just perfect for these awesome bright colors.

These colors are the perfect antidote to the gray and white (and brown) that is all of the outside right now. We actually got a little more snow yesterday morning, not that we needed any, and with no high temperatures above freezing in the extended forecast, it looks like what we have is going to be sticking around a while. At least we got mail delivery on Saturday, for the first time in a week!

There's not to much exciting ahead this week, just the usual Monday-Friday work and school stuff. At least it will no longer be dangerous to be outside and the roads have cleared enough that we can actually drive places. I think it'll be a while yet before I can run outside (some people never cleared their sidewalks, so they've now turned to ice), but at least Ruthie and I can probably take some regular walks. I'm sure she's looking forward to smelling some new things as much as I'm looking forward to stretching my legs!

Good News to End the Week

Earlier this week, Kym asked us to notice and share some good news to help combat the onslaught of terrible news from across the country and around the world. As if all that news wasn't bad enough, it's been a hard week for us here following the snowstorm last weekend. This is apparently the largest snowfall we've gotten since the "Snowmageddon" storm of February 2010, when Molly was a newborn, and it's been a struggle to clean it up. We've yet to get mail this week, for instance, and it's been hard to get anywhere outside. We were all home Monday and Tuesday, and it felt a bit like the beginning of the pandemic again, so it wasn't easy to avoid the feelings of isolation and uncertainty again. The best antidote for those feelings is to look for the good or, in the words of the national treasure that is Fred Rogers, "Look for the helpers."

• While many of us were annoyed that we were trapped at home, I'll bet few of us thought about people who were here from out of town and got stuck. One of our local stations reported on just such a situation at hotel in the area, where the manager decided that because no one was going anywhere and all the nearby restaurants would be open, she might as well cook for everyone!
  
  
• Our city has a Snow Angels program through which residents can sign up to shovel sidewalks and driveways of neighbors who can't. In the aftermath of the storm, it was reported that signups had gone up dramatically. Even our new mayor got in on the action!
  
  
• Not to be outdone, our neighbor across the street noticed that there was a huge hump of snow at the end after the main road was plowed, so he took a shovel and cleared it enough so that we could actually drive off our street.

There is some good personal news to share, too. My parents have now both tested negative for COVID, and my mother talked to my aunt yesterday and reported that she sounded like herself. Today is pay day for me, and this month's check includes my annual raise, which I'm getting thanks to the hard work of my union after the university tried to withhold increases from those of us in the bargaining unit because our contract is still being negotiated. Finally, yesterday I published my first pattern of the new year, the Mosaika Cowl (Ravelry link / Payhip link):

I only managed to publish one pattern in all of last year, and considering I have a second one planned already, that means I'm already doing better this year.

We have no major plans for the weekend, mainly because the roads are still pretty bad and it's still going to be insanely cold. But perhaps we'll get together with my parents and maybe have a make-up birthday dinner for my father-in-law. For sure I'll be celebrating the end of my least-favorite month!

Stay warm, look for the good in the world, and see you back here on Monday!

Unraveled, Week 4/2026

Still here, still snowed in! I finally got out my yardstick yesterday afternoon to see if I could get a more accurate idea of how much snow we've gotten, and this is what it told me:

I have to say that it seemed like a lot more than that Monday morning when I went out to shovel! We've having some really bad luck with snow plows in the city, and even if we had all trucks active and they were all out on the streets, they wouldn't get to our dead end if at all for days. [Update: A plow came through a little after midnight! Incredible!] So I figured I should try to dig out some of the street so that we can get out of our driveway. An hour and a half later, here's what I'd gotten done:

The sidewalk only needed touching up after all the shoveling on Sunday.

I'm sure you won't be surprised that my arms and back were very sore yesterday! We've had a bit more snow since then, too, but luckily not enough that we've needed to go out and clear it. The bigger issue was the extreme cold, which kept all of us at home for another day. Today, though, the Mister has to go into the office, and Molly has a two-hour delay, which means I will need to drive her in for a 10 a.m. start. I'm hoping the roads are too horrible by then.

But enough about the storm! I know many of you are dealing with it as well, so you know my pain. It's Wednesday, which means it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers. I've been continuing to knit on my cowl, but it's not going to look much different until it's done and seamed, so I didn't bother to take a photo. Instead, I have an exciting finish -- I completed a skein of handspun!

I started spinning this non-superwash Shaniko wool from Cesium Yarn back in September(!) after buying it at SSK last year. I bought it partly because I wanted to try to the wool but mainly because the colorway was Neighborhood of Make Believe -- I felt like I had to, because reasons. I didn't do anything fancy with this spin, just spun the fiber from end to end, wound the singles into a center-pull ball, and plied it on itself so I used up every last bit.

The fiber was mostly white, so I'm not surprised that the finished yarn is so soft and pastel-y. It ended up fingering to sport weight, and it shrunk up a lot; I was expecting 400+ yards based upon the number of wraps when I skeined it up, but after washing and drying, it measured about 384 yards.

Reading has been good the past week, even if I had to sacrifice some reading time to shoveling. I finished three books.

The Small and the Mighty is a chronicle of U.S. history that looks at the lives of unknown or lesser-known Americans who played a critical role in the story of this country. I'd had this book on my Kindle shelf for several months, but given what has been happening lately, I wanted to be inspired by people who worked to make this country better, and it delivered. I was happy that I did recognize some of the names, but I got a more complete picture of even those. I will note that this book has a more conversational tone than a true textbook, but I think that makes it more approachable. Learning what I did, I could even overlook the handful of grammatical errors I came across (I figured the content was more important than the form). If you, too, are looking for reasons not to be ashamed to be an American, I'd recommend it. I gave it 4 stars.

I'd seen Best Offer Wins show up in a couple of places, so I put it on hold at the library on a whim. If I had to describe it, I'd say it's a thriller about a woman desperate to buy the perfect house in the D.C. suburbs. Yes, I said thriller. This book is, well, bonkers. I've heard about how competitive some housing markets are, and certainly when we were looking for a house, it was a stressful process, but this takes it to another level. I couldn't believe what the main character was willing to do to get her dream home, and then she went way beyond that -- and then beyond that! As a thriller, it definitely delivers, but a lot of the book made me feel icky (though I suspect that was kind of the point). I gave it 3 stars; I think it's well written, but I can't say I really liked it all that much.

My final finish was a book that my aunt gave me when I saw her in Florida in December. Florence Adler Swims Forever follows a Jewish family in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the mid-1930s. College student Florence loves nothing as much as she loves swimming and is training to swim the English Channel. Her married older sister, Fannie, is pregnant and on bed rest in the hospital after losing a baby following an early labor. When Florence drowns in an accident (not a spoiler -- it happens in the first chapter), their parents decide to hide the tragedy from Fannie, worried that the shock could lead her to lose another child. This decision impacts not just them but also Fannie's husband, Isaac, and young daughter, Gussie, as well as Anna, a friend of the family who has managed to get out of Germany on a student visa, and Stuart, Florence's friend and coach. This is a story of a family dealing with its grief but also dealing with the threat of Nazi Germany. It's not easy to tell a story from so many different points of view, but it's well done here, and I appreciated it all the more when I read the author's note and learned that the story came from her own family members. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm currently reading books in two series -- Emma Lion Vol. 8 and On the Calculation of Volume III -- and have finally started my buddy read of Anna Karenina with Katie. I expect that one will take me quite a while!

What are you making and reading this week?

How I Spent My Weekend

I took my knitting to see a show:

I did some plying:

I baked some bread:

I made some soup:

I did some reading and knitting while getting in some puppy snuggles:

And I watched the snow piling up and covering the composter and fake owl:

I also braved Trader Joe's first thing on Saturday (they were out of full-sized carrots?), did several loads of laundry, shoveled snow, took Ruthie out to frolic, and tried to get some extra sleep.

I hope if you were in the path of this storm, you are warm and safe at home!

Too Much Drama

Friends, I am always happy to see Friday come around again, but this week, I am extra relieved because we have had A Week. Not long after my post went up on Wednesday, we got a text from my mother that my aunt (her sister) had been rushed to the ER the previous night with a brain bleed. Oh, and she'd also tested positive for COVID and both my parents had as well. She was scheduled for surgery that afternoon. To say that I was anxious that day until we'd heard from the Chicago family would be a massive understatement. I will spare all of you the worry and let you know that the surgery was successful, that she's expected to make a full recovery, and that my cousin reported yesterday afternoon that she was cracking jokes and correctly answering questions on legal terminology. Phew! Also, it appears that no one who left Chicago on Sunday, as we did, got infected. My mother says she feels like she has a bad cold and my father is asymptomatic, but I feel bad that after avoiding it for almost six years, they finally caught the 'vid. I'm just relieved that they're not too ill.

After all that drama, we woke up yesterday to ice everywhere because it warmed up enough yesterday for some light snow to turn to rain, which then of course coated everything. Molly had a two-hour delay, so I drove to her school, and then I proceeded to slip and slide everywhere trying to walk the dog and exercise.

And if that's not enough, have you heard there's a huge winter storm moving through a good portion of the country this week? The last forecast I heard for our area is 8-12 inches of snow, mostly falling Saturday night and Sunday. I'm glad this is hitting on the weekend and we can be home, but it's going to be a mess, and our city has already been struggling with clearing the roads. It's very possible we'll all be home again on Monday.

As far as knitting goes, I have been doing it a little (not as much as I'd like) but don't have much to show for it. I did cast on my sweater, but all I've gotten done is about an inch and a half of ribbing. And I cast on for a tube cowl -- a long tube that I'll graft together -- in one of the new skeins of Fibernymph Dye Works fingering. The only photo I've taken in the past couple of days is the finished but not yet blocked charity hat:

Though we'll be hunkering down for the storm, we're planning to get out and about on Saturday. I'm going to send the Mister to do our grocery shopping after he takes Molly to take her learner's permit test(!). In the afternoon, the girls will be headed to see Wicked, which we were supposed to go see with my mother and which she'll obviously have to miss. My sister-in-law is coming, and one of Molly's friends will use my mother's ticket. We're also supposed to get together with the Mister's side of the family on Sunday evening for a birthday dinner for my father-in-law, but we'll have to see if any of us can actually get out. Honestly, I kind of hope we're snowed in for a day or two -- I'd really like a quiet day at home!

Stay safe and warm this weekend, friends, especially if you're in the path of this storm.

Unraveled, Week 3/2026

It's already Wednesday -- a nice benefit of a long weekend! It's my favorite blogging day of the week because it means I get to link up with Kat and the Unravelers.

Molly had a remote learning day yesterday, thanks to frigid temperatures, so I had her home with me and didn't have to do school pickup, which meant longer snoozy time with Ruthie. Thanks to that extra time, I got in a little more knitting and finished up another triple-stranded scrappy hat:

Yes, technically it was still on the needles, but when you have a dog sleeping next to you and want them to continue to sleep, you put off finishing the crown of a hat until later. This was a hat I pretty much made up as I went along, and I rather like how it turned out. I did take some notes as I worked so I can reknit it in one yarn -- in fact, I have some fuzzy bright pink yarn that would be perfect for it. But first I'll weave in my ends, weigh my remaining yarn, and give this one a block.

With all the travel in the past week, I haven't gotten a ton of reading done, but I did manage to finish three books.

The River Has Roots is a novella that is a sort of fairy tale about two sisters and the unbreakable bond of their love for one another. There is some magic in the river and in grammar, there is a love story, and there is a villain. I listened to the audiobook over the course of last Thursday, and while I really enjoyed the addition of sound effects and song in the background of the reading, I think this is a book I would very much like to reread with my eyes so I can both take my time and flip back and forth. Admittedly, I don't comprehend what I read with my ears as well as what I read with my eyes, so perhaps it wasn't the best choice. But it's well done and a great little piece of semi-escapist fantasy. I gave it 4 stars.

The Devil's Grip is the final work a small group of us are reading for our year or so of focusing on women in translation. It follows a woman who has traveled to Italy and taken up with a man she describes as ugly but whose transformation leads him to be attractive to other women. He cheats on her, and when she confronts him, he beats her. So she begins an affair of her own, with an American man who convinces her to come back to New Orleans with him. She finally gets up the courage to leave her boyfriend and fly to the United States, only to encounter a potentially even more dangerous situation. I won't bury the lede: I didn't like this book. I didn't understand what the woman saw in her boyfriend in the first place, I didn't like that she put up with his abuse, and I just didn't like her as a character. I would have DNF'd it if we weren't going to be discussing it. I gave it 2 stars, mainly because I could appreciate the writing even if I didn't care for the story.

My last finish for the week was, thankfully, a little lighter. The True True Story of Raja the Gullible, which won the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction, is told by the titular character, a 60-something gay high school philosophy teacher who lives in Beirut with his mother. In flashbacks, we learn about some of his formative childhood experiences and how they influenced his life's course. Throughout it all there is the constant of his relationship with his mother, arguably the most important relationship in his life, both as a child and as an adult. It's funny, it's sad, and it's heartwarming. I really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars.

I'm currently reading The Small and the Mighty on Kindle and Florence Adler Swims Forever on paper, the latter of which I was handed down by my aunt when we were in Florida.

What are you making and reading this week?

Readjusting

I do enjoy a long weekend, but it also makes it hard to keep track of what day it is, particularly when you throw travel into the mix. We had a really nice weekend with the extended family, even if it was really cold and I am now feeling like a total slug because I haven't exercised for three days. We are all off today for MLK Jr. day, and I'm hoping to get more or less back to my usual routine before we're all back to work and school tomorrow.

As predicted, I did minimal knitting while we were away. Most of the knitting was done on the airplane, in fact. It's been a while since I knit a patterned sock, in large part because the need to look at the sock slows me down. I know it'll be worth it in the end, but it does annoy me just a bit because I'm used to speeding through. When I put the sock away as we were landing yesterday, I'd gotten through the heel flap and turn.

We got home a little after 6 last night, so after dinner (we picked up from the CAVA that just opened up near us), unpacking, throwing some laundry in, and taking a shower, the Mister and I sat down to watch last week's episode of The Pitt and I pulled out another triple-stranded fingering weight scrap hat to work on:

Today I'm going to try to go for a run (though it's likely to be a slow one, as it's snowing lightly), finish up the laundry, and make some edits to a pattern that I just got back from my tech editor. Ruthie will be dropped off later this morning and will need a bath. The Mister is going grocery shopping and Molly has homework to finish up. And later I'm going to wind some yarn and get started on my sweater. It'll likely be a quiet, fairly boring day, but that's what I need right now!

Friday Finishes

TGIF, friends! Later this morning we'll be headed to the airport; I'm glad we have a flight at a civilized time today and I can enjoy my coffee and breakfast at home before we need to get on the road. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling almost completely better, though it's hard to tell whether my nose keeps dripping because of the last gasps of the sinus infection or because of the frigid weather that's moved in. Staying home on Wednesday proved to be a good move because it was chilly and rained all day, which means had I gone to the retreat, I likely would have been sitting around in wet clothes all day.

This week has been about finishing things up, at least as far as my knitting is concerned. I did in fact finish the charity hat on Wednesday night, and it used up a whopping 440 yards of leftover yarn!

Pattern: Sagamore Flyover Hat (Ravelry link) by Jennifer Lassonde, size L
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (superwash merino/nylon) and Bedazzled (superwash merino/nylon/sparkle), held triple
Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 8 (5 mm)
Started/Completed: January 11/January 14
Mods: changed the crown decreases

I have knit this pattern many times before and likely will again. It's very intuitive and easy to memorize and is a bit more exciting than a plain stockinette beanie. Plus, it works really well with fingering held triple. I used leftovers from a baby sweater and four pairs of socks, purposefully choosing colorways with bright shades. My only modification, which I've done every time I've knit this pattern except for the first, was to work more traditional spiral decreases of 8 stitches every other round. The pattern has you decrease much more quickly, leading to a scrunched-up crown that I don't care for. I had to do a little finagling to keep the stitch pattern consistent, but the thought required was minimal.

I also finally got around to doing the embroidery on my recent design sample. It didn't take very long, but I wanted to do at least some of it during the day when I would have some light to take photos for the pattern, and I didn't manage to find time for that until yesterday after Ruthie got picked up by the dog sitter.

The final thing I finished this week was the second swatch for my sweater. I went up to a US 8/5 mm needle, just to see, and it turns out to have been a wise choice because I perfectly matched stitch gauge and got even closer on row gauge. I'm not going to be starting the sweater until we're back from our trip, but at least now I know I'm ready to wind some more yarn and cast on when we get home.

There's also been a bit of stash enhancement this week. Although I am still very focused on using up the yarn I have, I really only bought yarn once (I think?) last year and decided I deserved a little treat. Plus, I wanted to support my friend Lisa, and she was having a new year's sale -- and offering a free gift with every purchase, too. And then she recorded her first podcast of the year and announced winners for the last quarter of her 2025 make-along, and wouldn't you know I was one of them? So now I have some new pretties:

The free gift was the two mini skeins on the left, along with some attached stitch markers. My purchase was the two skeins in the center, Traveler (sport weight) in Gathering Seashells and Bounce (fingering) in Tracks in the Snow. My prize was the set of Inversibles on Mountain Tweed (fingering). I don't have anything specific planned for these skeins just yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

As for trip knitting, I am only taking the socks I started for my mother when we were in Florida because I haven't touched them since we got back and we're not checking bags, so I don't have much space. My knitting time is likely to be limited, in any case, because we've got a full schedule of activities related to the bat mitzvah and have plans to visit with some friends who moved to Chicago last year. Plus it's going to be cold, maybe too cold to knit!

I hope you can stay warm and cozy this weekend -- have a good one!

Unraveled, Week 2/2026

It's Wednesday, and as predicted, I've had a little setback with sinus infection (which may or may not have happened after I read through the agenda for the retreat and saw "team-building improv session"). While we have miserable weather today -- rain turning to snow -- I will be staying warm inside with Ruthie, and I'll kick things off by joining Kat and the Unravelers.

As promised, here is the official FO post for the cowl, which has now had all its ends woven in and been given its spa treatment.

Pattern: Static by Kacey Herlihy (Ravelry link) size large

Yarn: Emma's Yarn Simply Spectacular DK (75% superwash merino/25% nylon) in Terrazzo (main color) and Simply Spectacular DK Smalls in After Dark (black), Wish You Were Beer (gold), and Briar Rose (pink)
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Started/Completed: January 5/January 11

Mods: none, other than binding off in pattern

This was such a fun knit. I either bought the pattern during a past Down Cellar Studio event or won it as a prize, but it was in my library regardless and I thought it would be a great use of the cowl set I picked up from the SSK giveaway table last summer, a full skein of DK plus three DK minis. Because of the three colors, it made perfect sense to do the large size with three colorwork bands (the smaller option has just two). I ended up with just small amounts of the colors and about 20 g from the full skein, so it was an excellent match of pattern and yarn. And I had such fun with this motif that I will definitely be knitting this cowl again -- though wouldn't that motif look fabulous at the bottom of a sweater? For now, this cowl will go in the charity pile, but I think eventually it'll keep someone very cozy because all that stranding makes for a very squishy fabric.

Speaking of charity knitting, the hat has grown a little during Ruthie's afternoon naps:

I should be able to finish this up by the end of the day (even with needing to make sure I catch all three strands in each stitch, this fabric works up quickly!) and then will need to sort out my next almost-mindless knitting.

It's been another good week of reading, with lots of audio!

I am grouping the three audiobooks I finished this week together because they're all Emma M. Lion -- volumes 5, 6, and 7. These books are such a delight, and they've been such a nice diversion from the heavy news from around the world the past couple of weeks. I have so enjoyed the most recent finishes that I've been reflecting on the previous books I've read and bumped them all up to 5 stars. They have been fabulous on audio, but I am planning to buy myself physical copies so I can have them in my personal library.

My other finish this week was Steven Rowley's forthcoming Take Me with You. Jesse and his husband, Norman, have been together a long time, and like many middle-aged couples, they are finding some aspects of their life together a little disappointing. But it's a shock to Jesse when he wakes up in their Joshua Tree home in the middle of night to bright lights outside and then to see Norman step into that light and disappear. Was it a dream? An alien abduction? Or did Norman simply leave him? Whatever happened, Jesse realizes that Norman is gone and he has to get his life back on track. Meanwhile, Norman's younger sister, Lally, has realized that she's not getting any younger and wants to be a mother, but to do that, she needs the embryos created from her eggs and Jesse's sperm back when Jesse and Norman thought they wanted to be parents, but she needs to find Norman to get him to sign off on releasing the embryos to her. Throw in a private investigator and a conspiracy theorist living next door in an Airstream camper and it seems like one of Steven Rowley's typically outrageous and hilarious books. But that's not what this book is. Yes, it is funny, but it's more touching and thoughtful than laugh-out-loud. This new novel speaks to those moments in life when you're on autopilot, or so you think, and suddenly everything changes, forcing you to correct your course and perhaps even question if it's a course you want to stay on. I gave it 4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in return for an honest review. This book will be published May 19, 2026.

I'm taking a little break from Emma for a few days, at least, while I catch up on some podcasts and am currently reading The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) on Kindle and The Devil's Grip on paper. How about you -- what are you making and reading this week?

Restorative Weekending

It's a new week, and I'm happy to say that the weekend was a restful one. Ruthie thankfully slept in a little both days -- until almost 7 on Saturday! -- and that combined with taking a decongestant before bed allowed me to get some much-needed sleep. Saturday I woke up without any sinus pain for the first time since this infection started, and I'm hoping that means I'm past the worst of it. I would still happily sleep longer and nap, but that's pretty much the case anytime.

Other than a trip to Costco (we very badly needed tissues, among other things), dinner out with the Mister, and walks with Ruthie, I didn't stray much from home all weekend. After we had a bit of "sprinter" last week, it got cold again, with rain on Saturday and snow on Sunday, so I was quite content to curl up with a warm puppy, a book, and my knitting. And I got quite a lot of knitting done! You'll have to excuse the very poor lighting, but here is a pre-blocked but finished Static cowl:

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern and can see myself making it again. This one, unless I decide it's perfect for someone I know, will be added to the charity pile; I really knit it to meet the requirements of the challenge and to use up the yarn. Once I weave in all the ends and block it, I'll take some better photos and give you all the details.

I also used the weekend to finish and block my sweater swatch, and it looks like I'll have to go through the process again with a larger needle, as I'm getting 18 stitches and 38 rows with a US 7/4.5 mm and the pattern calls for 17 stitches and 34 rows. I'll see what happens when I go up to a US 8/5 mm. There's always a chance that will be too big, in which case I'll use a 7 and perhaps make a larger size to compensate for the difference in gauge. But I'll wait until the next swatch is done before I determine my next step.

In the meantime, I've pulled out some fingering scraps and am holding them triple for another charity hat (apologies again for the photo -- there really was no natural light to be had yesterday):

I'm once again knitting the Sagamore Flyover hat (Ravelry link), which is so easy and fast to knit and has great texture. I've knit a ton of these with fingering scraps for some really warm hats. I'm using up some bright Fibernymph Dye Works leftovers in this one.

This is going to be an interesting week. The Mister is traveling for work and will get home just in time for us to all leave for Chicago for my cousin's daughter's bat mitzvah. Wednesday is my all-day work retreat, though I suspect I might have a relapse of my sinus infection and be unable to attend (oh darn!). At least it's a short week because of our trip and we all have next Monday off to look forward to. Let's hope there aren't any curveballs thrown our way!

Rough Reentry

I'm very glad that it's Friday. It's been a challenging week in a number of respects. First, my sinuses took offense to being taken out of the nice Florida air and being brought back north and have rebelled. I typically get a sinus infection once or twice a year and am used to having to ride them out, and thankfully this one has been pretty mild, but it's still uncomfortable to have sinus pain and pressure and then have a nose that's either dripping like a leaky faucet or completely stuffed up. Then, Ruthie's had some trouble readjusting to our schedule and was barking at 4 a.m. on Tuesday. Molly's been a typical moody teenager back at school after a long vacation. And the Mister's has to be at work early and been late getting home most of the week, so I've been doing double duty on school runs and had to do cooking and clean up. All that is to say that I'm pretty tired and ready for a weekend!

Fortunately work has been calm (as it should be, given how much I had to do before the break!) and I've been making steady progress on my knitting. I've finished the first of the three sections of the colorwork cowl:

I'm really enjoying this pattern, and though this particular cowl is likely going in the charity pile, I could see myself knitting it again. Wouldn't it be fun in some handspun, for instance?

I also located the yarn I intend to use for my cabled sweater and wound up a skein so I could swatch. I'm using size 7 needles and they feel so big!

I know it looks a little brown here, but that's just the lighting. It's actually a medium-to-dark gray called Wordsworth -- seems appropriate that for a sweater named after one poet, I'd use yarn with the name of another! Here's what it looks like on the Knit Picks site, for comparison:

I should be finishing up the swatch soon and blocking it, so by the weekend I'll have a better sense of whether I can proceed with the called-for needle size or need to swatch with a different one.

We've got a fairly quiet weekend ahead. Molly is attending a leadership event Saturday morning (during which time I plan to make a Costco run) and then a dinner party for a friend's birthday Saturday evening. The Mister and I are having a date night with dinner out at one of our favorite local restaurants. And Sunday is wide open. I'm really hoping Ruthie might sleep in a little, but if she doesn't, at least we'll have longer snuggle time in the afternoon. After a bit of a warm spell this week, it's supposed to get cold again over the next couple of days, so it'll be good to snuggle up with a warm pup inside. I hope you have something relaxing and enjoyable planned -- happy weekend, friends!

Unraveled, Week 1/2026

It feels good to start the count over again on Unraveled Wednesdays! It's the first one of the new year, and as per usual, I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers to share my making and my reading.

Since Monday, I have finished the knitting of my colorwork cowl and blocked it, but I still have to do the embroidery. That's going to happen later on in the week because I'll need to take some photos for the pattern while I do, and obviously that needs to happen during the day when there's sufficient light. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

The green is still looking very yellow in the photos, but I think that's to be blamed on the January light (or rather lack thereof).

I've also started another colorwork cowl, this one for a Pigskin Party challenge for the month in which we have to use exactly four colors. I had picked up a bag at SSK that was a kit for a cowl, but it contained only the yarn -- a full skein of Emma's Yarn DK and three DK minis. I'm using them for this pattern (Ravelry link) and will be doing the taller version with the three repeats so I can use each of the three minis.

Reading has been pretty prolific, given that I spent most of the last week on vacation. Since this time last week, I've finished five books. To keep this post on the shorter side, I'm giving abbreviated reviews this week.

On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J. Haveland

My rating: 4 stars

Tara is still trapped in November 18 and decides that staying at home is not going to help her stay sane, so she decides to create an artificial passing of the year for herself by traveling through Europe in order to create the seasons -- heading north for winter to find snow and then making her way south for the warmth of spring and summer. She adapts to her changing circumstances and needs and begins to write more seriously about her experiences. And it ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, so I'm eagerly awaiting what happens in book three!

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 3 by Beth Brower

My rating: 4 stars

This series continues to delight me. Emma is getting to know her tenant better and begins forging a friendship. At the same time, she is forced to team up with her dreadful cousin Archibald in order to obtain the much-coveted tickets to the secretive neighborhood performance of Julius Caesar. And of course she continues to be at the beck and call of her aunt Eugenia in service of her cousin's marital prospects.

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

My rating: 4 stars

Rhys, a former journalist, has been living off the grid in a remote house in the woods of the Pacific Northwest for seven years after being disgusted with the state of the country following the 2016 election and the rise of conspiracy theories, but when his two grandchildren are dropped at his door by a neighbor after their mother has disappeared, he knows he has to reenter the world to keep them safe. This book deals with far-right conspiracy theories, radical evangelical groups, guns, and Christian nationalists, and it becomes quite a caper, but it's also a beautiful story about family and fixing ruptures within them.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 4 by Beth Brower

My rating: 4 stars

Perhaps my favorite yet of the series! Emma is deepening her relationships with three men in her life -- her tenant, the resident vicar, and the Duke of Islington -- all of whom show up to care for her at a very difficult moment in her life.

Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp by Tracy Slater

My rating: 4 stars

This work of nonfiction just came out last year and tells the story of Karl and Elaine Yoneda, who, together with their 3-year-old son, Tommy, were imprisoned in the Manzanar internment camp beginning in 1942. Elaine was one of few individuals not of Japanese descent who willingly entered the camp in order to keep her family together. This was a really interesting and well-researched account of a dark chapter of our country's history. 

What are you making and reading this week?