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Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Hello, Summer

Technically summer has arrived, but it is feeling a bit more like fall here this morning. We had some strong thunderstorms move through yesterday afternoon and evening (and thankfully we only saw heavy rain and the power stayed on), and behind it came some much cooler air -- we are only expecting to get to a high in the mid-60s today. That's just fine by me, though, after the sticky weekend we had.

Today is my last day of work this month, if you can believe it. My employer temporarily removed the cap on vacation time accrual during the pandemic, but it goes back on at the end of this month, so that means that if I want to acquire any more time, I needed to take about six days off. I rarely take vacation time under normal circumstances (usually a few days around Maryland Sheep and Wool and Rhinebeck, plus a day or two on either end of our end-of-year Florida trip), so it feels like a real treat to take time off for no reason! The Mister is resuming work travel beginning this week, though, so it will be good to have the time to spend with Rainbow. And we're also all going on a quick trip up to Michigan to visit my aunt and uncle for July 4 weekend after not having seen them since December 2019. After today, I won't have to log back into my work email until July 6!

And if that's not enough to be excited about, I'm also going to get my first haircut since, I think, November 2019 this evening! I gave myself a trim last summer, but I really need a professional to do it and feel comfortable going back to the salon now that I'm vaccinated.

But I'm guessing you didn't stop by to hear about all that -- you're here for the yarny stuff, aren't you? I haven't made a ton of progress, but I do have some photos to share.


I am just starting the fourth stripe on my ADVENTuresome Wrap, and the reason I haven't gotten much farther is not from a lack of time working on it but rather because I've devoted a good chunk of that time to weaving in ends. There are SO MANY ends to deal with on this project. Obviously there are two from each mini skein. But I've also been joining and then breaking the neutral yarn that's worked between each stripe each time, so that's been two more ends to deal with. I'm going to keep it connected and carry it up the side for the next stripe so see how that goes in the hope that I can eliminate at least some of this extra work. I've also lost a little bit of time to tinking back more than once because no matter how many times I remind myself, I seem to always forget that there are several rows in each pattern repeat that involve decreases worked on the wrong side. This is really not a hard pattern, but my brain has a tendency to go into autopilot mode far too easily. I'm hoping now that I am working on this more regularly, I will actually start to remember what to do.


I've also started my nephew's blanket, and that, at least, shows progress quickly. I can manage about a skein of yarn per crochet session; the tan and green, for instance, were added during this past Sunday's Zoom session. My plan here is to use up as much of each skein as I can until I don't have enough to complete another row (I want the stripes to be solid, so I'm only changing them at the beginning of a row). The second of three dark brown skeins will form the center stripe, and the color order will be mirrored on the second half of the blanket.

I haven't cast on any new projects, though I did restart the hat with the too-big brim (but I'm only a few rounds in). I think some new socks will get started next week in anticipation of the car trip, and pretty soon the baby knitting will commence because we'll find out if my nibling is a boy or a girl on July 7!

I'll be back tomorrow with less hair and more chat. Happy summer!

7 comments:

  1. That summer weather has landed here - looking at 88 - 97 degrees the next few days. So happy my hammock is in the shade. Enjoy your days away from the work screen.

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  2. Days off and a haircut sound pretty exciting to me! I think you are wise to weave in ends as you go, and the crochet blanket is progressing quite quickly! Your summer fiber pursuits are all lovely, with plenty of time to work on them.

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  3. Congratulations on the vacation time!! WOO-HOO!! I'm so happy that you can visit family for the 4th of July and YEAH for the haircut!! (I'll wait until I'm vaccinated, too). Also, I love reading about your day! We had similar temperatures here, lots of rain, but I'm very happy with that, sleep definitely comes easier when it's not super hot!

    The shawl looks great - kudos for biting the bullet and weaving in those ends right now! So much better than leaving it until the very end. And the blanket has already grown so much! What stitch are you using, by the way? Is it some kind of shell-stitch? I'll be looking forward to the haircut pictures! :)

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  4. yay for haircuts! (by professionals ;-) there's a lot of great stuff in this post - and I think I'm most excited (well, after the haircut) for you to enjoy some time off for no reason. Enjoy!!

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  5. Hooray for professional haircuts. Enjoy your time off with Rainbow. What a great start to your summer.

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  6. I think your storms moved all the way over here yesterday afternoon and this morning I wore a sweater to take care of the chickens!

    Your wrap looks so yummy - enjoy it! And yay for time off - this is a beautiful time to have a break from work :)

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  7. Yay for that haircut! (and this brief but so welcome bit of cooler weather!) That crochet blanket is off to a gorgeous start!

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