A Fall Friday

It has been a busy week. Well, maybe that's not quite accurate. It's not so much that I've had a lot to do as it feels like I've just been up and moving a lot this week. On Tuesday alone, for instance, I had to go into the office twice and had racked up 20,000 steps by lunchtime! Leaving the house has also been a bit complicated this week because after the work to replace the gas lines in the neighborhood was completed, this week crews were back to dig up the temporary fillings of the holes they'd dug and repave those areas with a combination of asphalt and cement. We live on a dead-end street, and the work was being done all along the street that we turn onto when we leave, so getting anywhere was a bit of an obstacle course.

The one big positive of the past week has been the weather. It's been peak autumn here, with cool (sometimes even cold!), crisp mornings and warm (but not hot) afternoons. Though my first trip outside with Ruthie each morning is now in the dark, I'm rewarded for my early rising with some stunning starry skies. On Wednesday, it was so clear that I could even see the part of the moon that wasn't illuminated. The leaves are starting to change and fall, and my favorite trees in the neighborhood at this time of year are beginning to look like they're on fire, like this one:

I've noticed the shifting of the light as the sun's peak is lower in the sky, and as it sets at the back of our house, it's blinding through the sliding glass doors off the back of our family room. Most days I have the blinds on those doors up in the afternoon so that I can turn the overhead lights off; soon the days will come when the natural light isn't strong enough to allow me to read and I'll have to flip the lights back on, but for now I am enjoying the afternoons of golden sunlight pouring in.

My afternoon knitting project has grown quite a bit since I shared the brim earlier this week, and I expect another day or two will see this hat finished.

It's going to be a busy weekend for Molly -- she's working the yearbook table at her school's Fall Fest (for the younger students) tonight, working at her job tomorrow, going to her homecoming dance tomorrow night, getting her COVID shot on Sunday, and then planning a trip to the pumpkin patch with friends on Monday (it's an in-service day at her school). As for me, I've got a date with the Mister this evening and am planning a trip to fill the gas tank and fill up on a few household essentials at Costco tomorrow morning. My knees have been telling me that all the running I've done over the last two weeks is maybe a bit much, so I'll also be resting them. And if we can find some apple cider, there might even be some donuts baked to really get in the fall mood!

Unraveled, Week 40/2026

It's Wednesday -- time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers!

On Monday evening, I finished up the dark charity hat and wove in the ends. And when I went to take a photo of it yesterday morning, I discovered an error in the ribbing. Oh well! I didn't see it at first, and I'm betting whoever ends up with the hat won't, either.

Obviously this hat still needs to be blocked (which should help with the wrinkly top), but it's done and used all but a couple of grams of yarn -- yarn that turned my fingers black while I knit with it, so the hat will be soaked by itself and rinsed.

It was so satisfying to use up a skein of sock yarn so quickly that I've decided to do it again. I'm using another skein of Socks That Rock, in the colorway Pepe Le Plume, to knit a Chit Chat Hat (Ravelry link). At the moment it's only a very partial Ruthie big, but it's knitting up quickly:

I noted last week when I had a low (for me) number of book finishes that I was close to finishing several that were in progress, so you're probably not going to be surprised when I tell you that since last Wednesday I've finished six books. As there are so many, I'm going to try to keep my reviews brief.

Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson (digital)

My rating: 4 stars

Harry Flynn, a former journalist turned war correspondent turned POW, has been enlisted in the massive effort to put on the Festival of Britain, designed to raise people's spirits and patriotism after the end of WWII. He works with an eclectic group and enjoys meeting and drinking with the many attractive women employed by the festival. But when one of them goes missing after a date with him, he becomes a prime suspect in her disappearance and must try to figure out why it appears he's being framed. There are many threads that rather brilliantly come together in the end, with many amusing characters met along the way.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (audio)

My rating: 2.5 stars

I'd never heard of this book until it was one of the choices for Molly summer reading assignment this year, and I was intrigued on curriculum night when her English teacher described it as a modern retelling of The Scarlet Letter. I'd say it's a mash-up of that and The Handmaid's Tale, with a little science fiction mixed in. In this dystopian society, those convicted of crimes are genetically changed to become a color associated with their crime. When Hannah Payne wakes up, she is the red of a murderer -- because the abortion she had is now considered a murder. She refuses to identify the father (the married preacher of their evangelical church), and has to reckon with the tenets of the religion she was taught her entire life. It was an interesting premise, but I think it failed in the execution a bit, with things working out just a little too well for Hannah given the harsh society the author created for her.

Restoration by Ave Barrera, translated by Ellen Jones and Robin Myers (paperback)

My rating: 3 stars

This was the final book I read for this round of my postal paperback club, selected by Katie. A woman in her 20s who is studying architectural restoration is hired by her sometimes-boyfriend to restore the long-neglected house of his recently deceased great-uncle, a famous photographer who taught him. As she moves through the house, the reader gets snippets of the life of the woman who used to live there, and both stories are interspersed with scenes of the modern couple recreating old photographs. It's creepy and weird and mysterious -- pretty appropriate for October. I enjoyed it but was still confused when I finished.

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez (digital)

My rating: 4 stars

This is the book that kept getting put aside for library borrows, so I was happy to finally finish it. Olga has a successful business as a wedding planner and has a busy life with her big Puerto Rican family, including her congressman brother. But she still bears the scars of her abandonment by her mother, who left the family to join a group of revolutionaries. When she meets Matteo, a man with some issues of his own, can she let down her guard and let him in? And when she realizes, amid a family crisis and a devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico, that she's no longer happy with her life, does she have the courage to make a major change?

Tell Me More: Stories about the 12 Hardest Things I'm Learning to Say by Kelly Corrigan (audio)

My rating: 4 stars

I started listening to the podcast Kelly Corrigan Wonders very near the beginning, in the midst of the pandemic. She's a great interviewer who talks with people doing really interesting things, and she brings a lot of her own life in. This fairly short book of essays wasn't entirely new to me, as many of her family stories were familiar. But there is comfort in that, and as a middle-aged woman with aging parents and a teenage daughter, her point of view and reflections are very welcome.

Wool by Hugh Howey (audio)

My rating: 4 stars

Despite this book's name, it's not a novel about yarn crafts (though there is a brief passage about knitting!). This dystopian tale is set in a world where the outside is toxic people are living in siloes built into the earth. When someone does something that violates the silo's laws, they are sent outside, with a wool cleaning cloth, to clean off the sensors that show the outside world and then, shortly after, they die. When the sheriff asks to be allowed out, following in the footsteps of his wife a few years ago, he is replaced by Juliet, a woman who had been working deep in the silo's mechanical floors near the bottom. She soon realizes that there is something that those in charge are hiding from the silo's inhabitants and that the just society she thought she was raised in may not be so just. It was a compelling, propulsive read, as evidenced by the fact that I got through a 15-hour audiobook in just three days. I very well may read the rest of the triology, too.

What are you making and reading this week?

Recharging

As much as I love the ability to go out and do things on the weekend, it's also nice to have one without much to do. I kept this past weekend that way on purpose because I was getting my COVID vaccine on Saturday and was counting on feeling lousy for a while afterward. And I did feel tired and a little achy Saturday afternoon and evening, though whether that was from the shot or from doing a lot of running (the race last Sunday plus at least 10K on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) in addition to not sleeping well last week, I can't really say. I did take a couple of doses of Tylenol to be safe and snoozed a little bit with Ruthie, but overall I felt better than I ever have after getting one of these vaccines. I don't know if that means my immune system is getting weaker or this year's shot had milder side effects, but you will hear no complaints from me. Other than a series of walks (on my own and with Ruthie), I spent my weekend mostly resting, and it was just what I needed.

I kicked off the weekend by finishing up my hat on Friday afternoon:

The color is a little darker in real life, but my phone didn't want to capture that no matter what I tried. I used up 65 g of the 100 g skein of Malabrigo Sock, so I still have a fair amount left plus a full skein. I made the large size, although as hats go, it looks to be on the smaller side to me, but I'm sure it'll fit someone's head and that's the goal.

Progress also was made on my sweater:

Several inches of the body have been knit, but because it's in stockinette, it's rolling up quite a bit. Some time this week I plan to try it on to be sure everything is fitting as it should.

It's going to be a mostly typical week for me, the exception being an in-person-only staff meeting on Tuesday that will require me to walk into the office twice to attend both that meeting and my regular team meeting and take Ruthie out for her midday walk; on the upside, they're giving us lunch during the staff meeting. The weather forecast for the week ahead is looking dry and cool, so I think I may even get to break out some handknits!

October or August?

As incredulous as I was that it was the last day of September on Wednesday, yesterday I was even more unlikely to believe that it was the first day of October because we had a high in the mid-80s! I actually had to switch our thermostat from heat to air conditioning, even though I know I'll likely have to switch it back soon. As excited as I am for weather more conducive to wearing my knits, it was nice to be out in a t-shirt again.

I am also pretty excited for the weekend. It hasn't been too hard of a week, but I haven't been sleeping well, probably in part because Ruthie was having some tummy troubles last week and I was worried about her (all is well now). I never expect to be able to sleep in on the weekend, but at least if I'm tired, I can actually take a nap instead of struggling to keep my eyes open. I'm getting my COVID shot tomorrow, too, so I expect there will be several naps in store for me.

Ruthie didn't seem to be too troubled about her GI issues, in large part because it meant she got chicken and rice and pumpkin puree instead of her boring old kibble for a few days. She's been less happy about our handyman being around this week to power-wash and restain our deck and seal our driveway. He's the sweetest guy, but he is very tall and has a mustache, and she does not trust him! On the plus side, she did make a new friend this week:

I've made slow and steady progress on my hat over the past few days and yesterday finished the body repeats.

I like how it looks, but this stitch pattern isn't all that fast, so my next hat will likely be stockinette. I already know what yarn I'm using for it, too:

This is a very old skein of Socks That Rock from back when I was in the Rockin' Sock Club, so probably sometime in the 2007/2008 timeframe. Certainly it's older than Molly! My Imaginary Internet Points thing has a monthly challenge for October to knit with yarn that's at least 25% black, and this skein more than meets that requirement. I'm planning to hold it double and knit a simple stockinette beanie for charity. Much like the Malabrigo Sock, this yarn is 100% superwash merino, and I know for a fact it does not hold up well in socks.

Other than getting my shot tomorrow, I have no plans for the weekend and am just fine with that. I always feel crummy for about 24 hours after getting the vaccine, so I plan to lay low and relax. It's a good excuse to snuggle my pup, read, and knit -- though you all know I never need an excuse for that! If you need an excuse to relax this weekend, you're more than welcome to use mine!

Unraveled, Week 39/2026

Can you believe today is the last day of September? I feel like it just started! I guess the start of the school year, the High Holidays, and the change in weather make for a fast-moving month. As it's Wednesday, that means it's also a day to link up with Kat and the Unravelers.

On Monday night, I finished up the patterning in my sweater yoke and decided that I might as well take the time to block it. Rather than faff around with waste yarn, I simply grabbed another circular needle and knit about half the stitches onto it, then threw it all in to soak. I knew the needles (both sets were metal) would be fine in the water, but it wasn't the easiest to deal with, given that there were four needles that all seemed to be poking me at once.. I also tried it on before blocking and it was sitting just fine, so this block isn't strictly necessarily for checking the fit. Still, it's nice to see the yoke flat like this!

Now I'll be splitting the sleeve stitches from the body and carrying on with the long stretch of stockinette. I know many sweater knitters like to do the sleeves first, but I find sleeves much faster than the body and prefer to do them after.

After finishing up the socks for my sister-in-law, I needed a new smaller project, so I started another charity hat:

When I was doing my stash organization project, I came across two skeins of Malabrigo Sock in Ivy that I think I won as a prize for something or other. I think Mal Sock is nice to work with but a bit too soft for socks (and I haven't used it in years because of this), so it'll be great for a hat. I'm using one of the skeins, holding it double, to knit a Hollyhocks Hat (Ravelry link). I got the pattern for free and it's from a Pigskin Party sponsor, so extra points. Obviously I haven't even gotten the brim done yet, but I think it'll be a fairly quick knit.

I've only managed to finish two short-ish audiobooks this week, mainly because my library holds kept popping up as I was just starting a book already on my Kindle shelf and then when I tried to get back to it. No worries -- all reading is good, even if it takes me longer to finish a book that I've started because I keep having to set it aside!

I can't remember where I heard about Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, but I do know that it was one of the books I had tagged "to read" on Libby the longest. The book was published back in 2014, well before the more recent reckoning with race in this country, but I'd say it's still quite relevant. Debby Irving was raised in a predominantly white Boston suburb and never really considered herself to have a race until she was an adult. While working for community organizations and trying to make them more inclusive, she couldn't figure out why the efforts weren't working, so she took it upon herself to learn more about race, racism, and the systems that uphold it. Part memoir, part educational resource (each chapter ends with questions for the reader to ponder), this book gives what I felt was a really good perspective on what learning about race and racism should look like for a white ally: not relying on people of color to give the instruction but taking the initiative to challenge one's beliefs and understanding of the concepts. Notably, Irving doesn't shy away from sharing details of all the times when she was well intentioned but got things very wrong. It was an engaging book to listen to and a good reminder that the work of anti-racism is never done and starts with us. I gave it 4 stars.

Based on Carole's recommendation, I listened to Woodrow on the Bench: Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog over the weekend. This is a relatively short memoir of Jenna Blum's much-beloved and very senior black Lab in the last year of his life. While the focus is on his decline, there are stories about his younger days and the great joy he brought to his owner. But mostly this is about how she cared for him -- and how her friends and family cared for her -- as his health began to fail and she knew his days were numbered. Obviously it's no spoiler to say that the dog does die in the end, but I didn't expect quite so much detail (some of it kind of gross, frankly) about the illness he experienced along the way. It is a sweet story, and anyone who's ever had and loved a dog will understand how hard it is to say good-bye. I gave it 3 stars.

I'm currently in the middle of four books: Our Noble Selves (the most recent library hold interruption) and Olga Dies Dreaming (now set aside twice) on Kindle, Restoration on paper, and When She Woke on audio. I'm hoping that by this time next week, I'll be done with most, if not all, of them.

What are you making and reading this week?

An Okay Weekend

This past weekend went by quickly, as they always do. We had lovely autumn weather -- crisp mornings, warm sunshine, a gentle breeze. Things were a bit busier than usual, or at least it seemed like it because Iw as in and out a lot. We ended up going out to dinner with my parents Friday night; on Saturday morning I took Molly to get her flu shot; and then we had the anniversary dinner out on Saturday, which ended up being a bit of a fiasco because the restaurant seemed to be overbooked and so we didn't even get our food until around 8 and by the time we'd dropped off my in-laws and I'd taken Ruthie out before bed, it was basically time for me to go to sleep. Fortunately yesterday was calmer, even if I did have to wake up early for the race.

The Mister did end up running, though I think he was in pain for all of it and he was certainly slower. He was just a little ahead of me for most of the race and then ran with me for the last mile or so. I put on a bit of speed at the end so that I finished just ahead of him. As I predicted, I didn't come near last year's PR, but I wasn't that much slower. According to the official results, I finished in 24:50, placing sixth in my division (women 45-49), 98th among all women, and 363rd overall (of 2,345). It felt like a pretty easy race for me, though there's a hill in the middle right after mile 1 that's always a bit of a challenge (it's not steep, but it's long -- probably a good half mile). I got a good adrenaline boost so I was able to run at a slightly faster pace overall. And of course lately when I run I'm doing a longer distance, so 3.1 miles is a light day for me. Next year will be the 50th Great Race, so I expect some fancy swag. This year's shirt, as you can see, was very "America 250" themed, as was the medal. Anyway, another year is in the books.

I didn't get as much time with my sweater this weekend as I hoped (in large part due to that long dinner Saturday night), but I am quickly approaching the end of the yoke patterning:

I have just one more eyelet section, I believe, and then it's just straight stockinette until I reach the target yoke length. I'm still debating whether or not to block the yoke after this point and before carrying on, as suggested in the pattern; it'd be nice to see the texture get a bit crisper, but I also know that I'm good on gauge and likely don't need to make any adjustments to the yoke depth. I'll make a decision once I get to that point.

One accomplishment for the weekend was finishing up my sister-in-law's rainbow-striped socks (well, finishing the knitting, anyway; they'll still need to be blocked):

They did end up very well matched, as advertised, and I've got some leftovers that I think would make some adorable preemie hats.

I'm not sure what the week ahead will bring at work, as we've just finished a big weekend (homecoming, a celebration of 100 years of the Cathedral of Learning, and the launch of a $3B capital campaign). I'm hoping for a bit of a breather before the next big thing starts up. Molly is going to a concert on Tuesday night, so the Mister and I will get a date night, and I'll be on call should my parents -- who are babysitting my niblings all week while my brother and sister-in-law are on a trip -- need extra help. I hope those of you who are on the East Coast have survived the nor'easter without too much damage or trouble, and I hope you all can enjoy these last few days of September.

Welcome, Autumn

After starting out the week with rain and chill, we've been lucky to have what, to me, is perfect fall weather to end it. It's been clear and mostly dry, with warm sunshine but low humidity and highs in the 60s. We did have to turn on the heat upstairs because the house was actually colder than it was outside, but I've been happily walking Ruthie wearing long sleeves and a light sweatshirt on top. It feels so good not to be melting! I'd say we're a bit off from peak fall color, but the dogwood in our backyard -- always early to turn -- has started changing from green to red and yellow, so I know it's just a matter of time.

Speaking of Ruthie, she has also been enjoying the cooler weather by cozying up in her fleece blanket:

The weekend ahead looks beautiful, and I'm so glad. We're going out to dinner Saturday night with my in-laws and my brother- and sister-in-law (and their two boys) to celebrate both couples' anniversary, which they share. And Sunday morning is the Great Race, in which I'll be running the 5K. Molly has decided not to run this year, and the Mister is going to make the decision whether he's up to it or not on the day (he's still recovering from his injury). To ensure I'm rested enough, I'm taking today off from running, though I don't expect I will break last year's PR even though I'm now regularly running longer distances. The older I get, the happier I am to have a slower pace but the stamina to run for longer. It will probably be chilly Sunday morning, but it should be dry! I'll let you know how I did when I check in on Monday.

Until then, please enjoy this first weekend of fall, officially, in the Northern Hemisphere!