Unraveled, Week 9/2024

Happy Hump Day, friends! It's the last Wednesday in February, and we woke up to lightning and thunder. By this evening, we may have snow. And we had some surprise snow over the weekend as well, after which it was in the mid-60s the past couple of days. I know we often have False Springs in Western Pennsylvania, but it feels like we've had half a dozen of them already this year. I don't love winter but would accept its sticking around, but I have to say that this constant up and down is wreaking havoc on my sinuses!

But enough about the weather -- it's time to join up with Kat and the Unravelers! I'm happy to share that my STRIPES! sweater is done! But as I just blocked it yesterday afternoon, there hasn't yet been an opportunity to take modeled photos, so you'll have to wait until Friday to see it. I'm very happy with how it turned out, and Mo has admired it so much that she's asked me to knit her one using two skeins of yarn I bought for her at SSK last summer. I told her I'd be happy to do so, but I need a little break from knitting stripes for the moment. In the meantime, I am working on her socks:

I'm making this pair to be a little large on her at the moment, with the anticipation that her feet will grow a bit more. Conveniently, if they end up being too small for her at some point, they just happen to be my size! I've just started the second sock so I'll have it to take to my board meeting tonight.

I've also returned to my spinning, though with less sense of urgency. I learned on Monday that David of Southern Cross Fibre is retiring, and March's shipment will be the last from the club. So the shipments I have in my stash, plus the two that will soon be on their way to me, will be the last. It's sad news for sure, but I cannot begrudge anyone their retirement, and I know David has had some health struggles in the last several years that have made keeping up with his dyeing more difficult. Although I will miss his fiber quite a lot, there is still plenty of fiber to spin in my stash. What I'm currently working on is the August 2023 club shipment, Island Sunset on grey Merino. It's nearly impossible to capture in the darkness of the storm we're having right now, but the grey base makes for such amazing depth of color.

Reading has again been quite good this past week. I've finished three books.

After exploring, in depth, the works of Louise Erdrich and Barbara Kingsolver, the little group hosted by Mary is moving on this year to back list winners of the Women's Prize for Fiction. First up is the 1998 winner, Larry's Party by Carol Shields. This is an interesting book because there's not really a plot. Instead, it's almost like a series of stories about the main character at different points in his life. I had some feelings about the fact that a book about a white man was awarded the Women's Prize (and I'm sure it will be a prime topic of discussion when we meet this Saturday), but I did really enjoy the writing, and now I am interested to read more of Carol Shields's work. There are some truly laugh-out-loud moments in this book and some heartwarming parts, too. I gave it 4 stars.

I was in need of an audiobook to listen to over the weekend and Hoopla is giving me grief again (it's not recognizing my account), so I went to Libby and borrowed the first audiobook in my "to read" list that was available. I'd heard of Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory from Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters, I believe. It's a collection of essays that I'd put in the category of memoir. You may or may not be familiar with Sarah Polley, who I first knew from the series Road to Avonlea. She's also an award-winning director and screenwriter and a political activist. Her essays deal with a lot of trauma, from the difficulties in being a child actor and the death of her mother when she was young to dealing with sexual assault and the long-term consequences of a concussion. They're well written and thoughtful, though certainly not for everyone. I gave the book 4 stars.

Finally, last night before bed, I finished The Custom of the Country, just in time to listen to the Novel Pairings episode on it that dropped yesterday. This novel follows the ambitious Undine Spragg, who is unfailing in her desire and determination to move up in society but who finds herself wanting more each time she achieves what she believes to be her aim. The book takes aim at American society of the time and, I think, provides a pretty convincing case that money can buy many things but can't guarantee happiness. This was an excellent book to be reading as I've been watching The Gilded Age on HBO. I enjoyed it, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what Sara and Chelsea have to say about it. I gave it 4 stars.

I now find myself reading ... nothing! I've got to pick my next book to read, which I expect I'll be doing later today.

What are you making and reading this week?

Better in 2024: February

Here we are on the final Monday of February, a month I can always count on to fly by. And while this particular February hasn't gone as I expected (hello, running accident!), it certainly has gone by quickly. Even though it feels like I just revealed my One Little Word for 2024, it's already time to check in with my word for another month. Thanks to Carolyn for hosting our monthly link-ups!

When I chose Better as my OLW, I wasn't thinking about it applying to physical health, but this month, it very much did. Even though I didn't do much to actively get better from my injuries, I've certainly been monitoring my progress. And I've been amazed at how quickly the human body can heal. If you look at my face today, two weeks after my accident, you might not even notice -- what's left of the scrapes and bruises doesn't look all that different from my usual splotchy skin.

That red spot below my eye? That's all that remains of my black eye. And I'm going to be calling the dentist this morning to schedule my appointment to get my tooth fixed (I tried doing that on Friday, but the office was closed).

While the physical healing has been happening, I've also been focused on being better about paying attention while I am out running and walking. It may be mere coincidence, but the stretch of sidewalk where I had my accident was being leveled last week -- I wasn't going to sue the homeowners, but it's possible they realized that the uneven sidewalk was a bit of a hazard after I fell. There are still plenty of places to trip out there, though, so I am taking my time and watching where I step, keeping in mind that while I'm exercising for my long-term health, I also need to be better about looking out for my immediate safety.

Time to get to work. See you back here on Wednesday!

Let's Wrap It Up

Happy Friday, dear readers -- it's been a long week! And it was an early morning for me, as I was off to the orthodontist shortly after 7 so they could look at my broken retainer/night guard and scan me for a replacement. I will say that the nice thing about such an early appointment is that I was able to find a parking space easily, right out front, and I didn't have to wait. And I was even home before the Mister and Mo had left for work and school! It has been a long week, and I'm very happy to see it come to an end today.

My sweater is continuing to move along at a good pace. I tried to take a modeled photo of it for you (because my face has healed enough at this point that I'm willing to show it on camera now), but between the dim light this morning and my general lack of skill in taking selfies, it did not go well. So you'll have to settle for a photo of it on Matilda:

My first sleeve is pretty much halfway done, and I am completely tickled that it appears that the stripe sequence will work out perfectly to result in the cuff in light blue to match the collar and the hem! Whereas I went through the sequence three times on the body, it'll be four times on the sleeves. I'm still weaving in ends as I go, which does slow my progress down a bit but is something I know I'll thank myself for doing when I get to the end.

Although I'd like to get this sweater done by the end of the month and probably should really focus on it to do that, I felt I needed to get another spinning project going, particularly as the most recent club shipment just arrived. So I've started in on the shipment from last August, Island Sunset on grey Merino:

I love how the gray base fiber add such depth to the dyed colors! I've split the fiber into strips lengthwise and am spinning them one after another to chain-ply the resulting singles and end up with a self-striping yarn. I didn't do a great job of splitting and ended up with three strips rather than the four I was aiming for, but that's okay. I decided to put the biggest of the three in the middle, so I'll end up with slightly longer/bigger stripes in the middle of the skein and narrower stripes at the beginning and end.

I'm hoping for a calm last day of the work week and a productive weekend of sleeve knitting. Happy Friday!

Unraveled, Week 8/2024

I know that February is a short month, but I feel like I've missed a week somewhere. At least I know what day of the week it is! It's Wednesday, which means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers.

As I'd hoped, I was able to ply my latest singles on Monday, and the heat is still on enough that I could leave it on the radiator overnight to be dry by yesterday morning. This skein ended up more or less as I'd expected:

The finished yarn is in the heavy fingering range and approximately 357 yards. I do like how the blues and grays ended up pretty evenly distributed. I'd hoped for a little more yardage, but clearly I wasn't spinning as fine as I thought. I've already pulled out the fiber for my next spin but haven't yet decided how I want to spin it, so I haven't started on it just yet.

And check out my progress on my sweater!

I tried it on again yesterday while I was almost done with the 12th stripe to verify that it was long enough and was satisfied with the length. Now it's on to the sleeves!

It's been a very good week of reading here.

I have a feeling that several of you who are on NetGalley also downloaded Real Americans when it was available (no approval required) for a limited time. This is a family saga spanning three generations told by three different characters at three points in time. Each character's section reveals a bit more about this family and their struggles, but there are themes that run through all three: the parent who wants the best for their child but struggles with how involved in that child's life to get, the repercussions of the decisions a parent makes with regard to their child, and the many facets of identity and how they play a role in fitting in (or not) in a given society. While there were some strands of the plot I wanted more of, I really enjoyed this book and think it would make for great discussions because of some of the moral and ethical questions it raises. I gave it 4 stars.
I received this book from NetGalley and Knopf in return for an honest review. This book will be published May 30, 2024.

I am late to the party on this one -- like more than a decade late! -- but I so enjoyed Kate Atkinson's recent collection of short stories that I finally decided to read Life After Life. Though I missed this one when it first came out, it had been on my radar for a quite a while, so I'd bought it on Kindle when it was a daily deal several months ago. Now I wish I'd read it sooner because I simply adored this book! The premise is an interesting one: Ursula Todd is born and dies and is born again, repeatedly, and in each life things go a little differently. It's a bit like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, except that there are no choices to be made. I think what I loved most about this book wasn't the creative structure of it but rather the vivid portrait it paints of life in England in the first half of the 20th century and the beautiful family relationships it portrays. It's a long book but went quickly, and I'll admit I didn't want it to end when it was over. I gave it 5 stars.

Finally I treated myself to a little light murder mystery. I'd read Magpie Murders a couple of years ago and had been meaning to get to the sequel, so when I was in need of an audiobook over the weekend, I decided now was the time for Moonflower Murders. As with the previous book, this mystery contains a separate book within it, so it's kind of like getting two novels in one. While I can see the very strong influences of other mystery writers (and certainly Atticus Pünd feels very much like Hercule Poirot to me), this one hit the same sweet spot for me as Masterpiece Mystery shows do -- and, in fact, I was rather tickled by the fact that the audio is read by two of the actors who starred in the Masterpiece dramatization of Magpie Murders! I gave this one 4 stars.

Now I'm trying to finish up Larry's Party and deciding what my next ebook will be.

What are you making and reading this week?

Let's Not Have a Repeat

Good Monday morning, friends! I'm feeling fairly chipper this morning, but I'm also hoping that this Monday is not in any way like the last one. I am healing and looking much better, but I was also awakened at 4 a.m. yesterday by the realization that my retainer/night guard had broken in two, so I'm feeling a bit like I still have some bad karma related to my teeth. Calling my orthodontist is on top of my to-do list today!

The weekend was very quiet and relaxing, which was what I desperately needed. There was a lot of baking. I made challah on Friday, of course, and then I made cookies just because on Saturday and Mo and I make pumpkin bread/muffins yesterday because she'd been craving them.

The cookies were made using this recipe, though I made a half recipe, omitted the marshmallows, and used half chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips that I found at Trader Joe's recently. They are amazing! I also made chicken soup from scratch yesterday for dinner, so needless to say that house smelled pretty good all weekend.

Having a warm, sweet-smelling house felt very appropriate given that we woke up to about half a foot of snow on Saturday morning! This was predicted, though they'd said 3-5 inches, and luckily it was light, fluffy snow that didn't really stick around much on the roads, so it caused minimal disruption. Much of the day was sunny, though still cold, and occasionally the wind picked up and blew the snow around. When I came downstairs Saturday evening, I was treated to this sight out the back of the house, which faces west (please excuse the dirty windows):

Though some of the weekend was spent doing the usual household chores, I also got quite a bit of crafting done. For one thing, I've finished the singles on my latest handspun project, so I'm ready to ply today:

And I also worked quite a bit on my sweater while the soup was simmering yesterday afternoon and am now closing in on the end of the body:

I've got a long to-do list today aside from anything that comes up at work, so I'd better get started! Have a good one, and I'll see you back here on Wednesday.

Week's End

I want to start off by thanking all of you for your comments on Wednesday's post about my accident. I really appreciate your concern and your well wishes! I am definitely improving every day; the scratches are healing and shrinking, the bruises are diminishing, and the sore spots are getting less so. I will have to wait a bit until my smile looks normal; once my lip fully heals, I'll go back to the dentist for a veneer to cover the broken tooth. But the dentist was able to smooth the rough edges of the tooth, so at least it feels less awkward in my mouth now, and I'm more or less able to eat normally. I imagine I'll have some pain and sensitivity in the front teeth for a while, but I'll take it given how much worse things could have ended up. I may even attempt a run today -- don't worry, I'll take it slow and be extra careful!

I am very happy that it's finally Friday -- needless to say, it's been a long week! Mo is home with me today and Monday, as her second trimester ended yesterday and the teachers have in-service days. Even though I'm still working, it feels a bit like a break to me, too, because I get a couple of days off from getting her out of bed and out the door in the morning.

I have been slowly and steadily working on my STRIPES! this week, and at least according to the pattern, I'm now more than halfway through the stockinette portion of the body.

The pattern says to work for 12 inches below the underarm, and the math works out really well for me because each of my stripes is an inch wide, so with a four-color stripe sequence, that works out to three repeats. I'm currently on the seventh stripe (which you can't really see because the bottom is curling up). What is also pleasing me is that, assuming I don't want to add any additional length to the body, I'll be doing the ribbing at the bottom in the light blue, which will match the collar.

I'm also still working on my color-coordinated spinning, and I'm nearly finished with my second bobbin of singles.

My next club shipment arrived earlier this week, so I'm trying to hurry up a little on this so I can fit one more spin in this month.

In a happy note, my parents came home from Florida earlier this week in order to get their taxes organized and spend some time with the family, so tonight we will have our usual Friday night dinner. Mo and I plan to bake challah later to take with us. We're supposed to get some snow tonight (I know!), so I predict it will be a cozy weekend spent mostly indoors.

Whatever you have planned this weekend, I hope it's a good one!

Unraveled, Week 7/2024

Oh friends, it seems I was a bit too enthusiastic about how my Monday was shaping up when last I posted and karma felt the need to bite me.

After I hit post and sat through my daily morning meeting, I went out for a run. It was cold again, but the sun was out and I was feeling good. Just as I was nearing the 3-mile mark, I took my eyes off the sidewalk to look at one of the cute neighborhood dogs -- and promptly tripped on the sidewalk and went flying into it face first. I will spare you all a photo of my poor mangled face; suffice it to say it's not pretty. I've scraped up much of one side of it, required a couple of stitches in my upper lip for a gash, have a black eye, and broke off a pretty sizable piece of one of my top incisors. I also keep discovering new sort places and bruises on various other parts of my body. But I am very thankful it was not worse. I didn't lose consciousness or break any bones (aside from my poor tooth). The woman walking the dog immediately came to help me. The Mister was able to leave work right away to take me to urgent care and, while I was getting stitched up, called my dentist to get me in for an emergency appointment this morning. The scrapes are starting to heal and the swelling is going down, but I'm going to look like I just came out of a boxing match for a while. I'm posting all this not to gain sympathy (really, I'm okay, more annoyed at myself than anything) but because some of you may see me on a Zoom in the next several weeks and I wanted you to be prepared!

But now back to the usual business -- it's Wednesday, which means it's time to check in with Kat and the Unravelers!

Aside from the loss of time spent sitting and waiting at urgent care (for which I was very thankful for the Kindle app on my phone!), this injury has not affected my crafting. I have mainly been spinning the past couple of days and have a finished bobbin of singles to show for it.

I've added a bit to my sweater as well, though it doesn't look all that different from the last time you saw it. Reading, though, has been quite good in the past week.

I can't remember exactly when I heard about In Memoriam, but I'd had it on hold at the library and read it in two days after I got it. This a story about two young men who meet and fall in love at a British boarding school and whose lives are torn apart by World War I. But it's about much more than that. It's about the unbelievable horrors of war and about the effects of being a soldier on the psyche. It's about the bonds of friendship formed among young people. It's about a search for identity -- nationality, sexuality, purpose in life -- in the midst of one of the greatest tragedies the world has ever seen. I'll admit I wasn't blown away by the writing, but it's a good story decently told, and I enjoyed it, despite the difficult subject matter. I gave it 4 stars.

I had requested The Berlin Letters via NetGalley after reading the synopsis and read it quite quickly after I received approval. This is a story that takes place in two timelines. In the prologue, we see the beginning of what will become the Berlin Wall, as a toddler Luisa is quickly passed over the barbed wire to her grandparents on the western side by her mother. We meet Luisa again in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s. Having flunked out of CIA operative school, she is now working for the agency as a codebreaker because of her natural talent for the subject -- a talent that was encouraged by her recently deceased grandfather. When a coworker comes to her for help with the letters referred to by the title, Luisa notices a small mark on a letter that she knows she has seen before, and she goes looking through her grandparents' house in search of some clue her grandfather left her. She had been told her parents had died when she was young and that was why her grandparents had raised her, but suddenly she's not so sure they had always told her the truth. She soon finds evidence to suggest that not only was her grandfather known to the CIA, but her father is still alive -- and she may be the only one who can save him from an infamous Stasi prison. This is an entertaining and tense ride through the repressive years of the DDR, with the constant threat of surveillance, betrayal, and "accidental" deaths. I have no idea if the codebreaking details were accurate, but they felt well researched. The writing isn't great, but it's entertaining enough and certainly kept me reading. I gave it 4 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Harper Muse. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This book will be published March 5, 2024.

Finally, I listened to Erasure, the 2001 novel on which the recent movie American Fiction is based. Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a novelist whose novels are critically acclaimed but commercially failures. When his most recent manuscript is rejected by more than a dozen publishers and yet a book that he sees as a sell-out stereotype called We's Lives in Da Ghetto becomes a huge success, he decides he can do better and writes his own satirical novel of what white America thinks life is like for a Black man. Naturally, it becomes the next big thing, bringing Monk fame and fortune even as he as ashamed of selling out. At the same time, he is dealing with challenges and tragedies in his personal life. The book is brilliantly written, but I think I missed out on a lot because I listened rather than read with my eyes. There are some seemingly unrelated interludes that I didn't really understand, and the entirety of the book Monk writes (which is included as part of the book) made me really uncomfortable, though I realized that was the point. I gave it 3 stars.

I'm nearly finished with another ARC, Real Americans, and I've also just started Larry's Party as part of next in-depth book study that Mary is hosting -- this next year, we're focusing on backlist Women's Prize winners.

What are you making and reading this week?

Monday Again

Unlike last weekend, I felt like this weekend needed another day. I think this is probably because I didn't get as much sleep as I probably needed, but such is life. It was still a good weekend overall, in large part due to time spent with friends and family. Mo and I played mahjongg with a couple of friends on Saturday afternoon -- her first time playing without me looking over her shoulder and advising her, and she even won a hand! -- and we had some other friends over for dinner Saturday night. Then we were up early yesterday morning to meet my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew for breakfast, now that he is eating real food. Mo got in some cuddle time:

Then we had snacks for dinner last night for the Super Bowl -- cheese and crackers, Buffalo chicken dip, raw veggies, and homemade soft pretzels:

Mo's been wanting to make these for a while, and they were actually much easier than I expected. We'll definitely be making them again, though we have some adjustments in mind. We watched most of the game but turned it off after regulation ended; I was just not that invested in it to see who won! But Mo was very happy with the result this morning, and anything that gets her up and out of bed on time on a Monday morning is a win for me!

I got a fair amount of knitting done on my sweater over the weekend, and I did confirm that it fits! I'm now in the easy part, the body, where I just have to knit straight until it's time to do the ribbing at the hem.

Each of my stripes is an inch wide, and the pattern calls for working until the body is 12 inches long, so that means three repeats of my four-color sequence. Knowing that is nice because I won't constantly be measuring my knitting -- I can just count stripes! I've also been weaving in my ends as I go, which does slow me down a little but is something I know I'll really appreciate when I get to the end.

In another instance of all my projects matching each other, unintentionally, I'm going to be starting my next spinning project today with this fiber:

This is the other Tour de Fleece prize colorway from last year. It's called Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, and it's the same Silky Merino base as my last spin. I'll be spinning another three-ply fingering with it.

Today I am hoping for a calm day. I've got a few loads of laundry to do and a load of socks to hand wash, and I'm sure I will need a cat nap later this afternoon. I hope your Monday is off to an okay start and treats you gently!

I Can Buy Myself Flowers

Yes, if you're wondering, I have had that Miley Cyrus song in my head quite a bit this past week after watching the Grammys on Sunday. But I used it for the title of this post because the skein of handspun I finished yesterday makes me think of my favorite early spring flowers, daffodils. I haven't seen any blooming yet, but there are lots of them coming up in my neighborhood, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time. And they immediately came to mind as I was plying this yarn and seeing the green of the stems, the yellow of the blooms, and the brown of the earth.

This was spun from one of the Southern Cross Fibre Tour de Fleece prize colorways from last year called Bordeaux. It's a delightful 85% Merino/15% silk blend -- it really drafts so easily. I've got about 432 yards of three-ply fingering, and I didn't even use all the singles. One bobbin ran out, and when I tried to bracelet-ply from one of the remaining bobbins, it got all tangled up and I decided to just cut my losses.

Now that this is done, my focus for the moment is my sweater, which is getting very close to the body/arms divide. I did my final increase round last night, which is why it's looking so bunched up on the needles.

At some point I'll get out another long circular needle and transfer half the stitches over so I can try it on, but I'm not terribly concerned about it not fitting. I've worked with this yarn before and am confident in my gauge, so all should be well.

This weekend I'm having my mahj group over to play and we're planning to make snacks for dinner on Sunday while we watch the Super Bowl (I'm not terribly invested in the game itself, but Mo naturally is because of the whole Taylor Swift thing). I am trying to enjoy the unseasonably mild weather we're having this week -- I won't need a coat for my run today! -- before the snow is due to come back next week. Here's hoping you have a relaxing weekend planned!

Unraveled, Week 6/2024

Good morning and happy Wednesday, friends! I am drinking all the coffee this morning after not sleeping very well last night (someone was snoring and kept me awake). But I'm awake enough to check in with Kat and the Unravelers.

So far this week I've mainly been focused on spinning (and reading!), and I'm hoping to finish my third and final bobbin of singles for this spin today. I actually did all of the second bobbin on Monday, in large part because I was so focused on finishing up a book that I spent most of the day and evening at my wheel. Assuming I finish up this bobbin today, I'll be plying tomorrow.

My STRIPES! doesn't look very different from the last time you saw it, and that's because it isn't. I added a few rounds last night but otherwise haven't given it much attention. I'll give it more love once the spinning project is done.

Reading has been quite good this week. I've finished three books.

After everyone seemed to be reading and talking about it, I gave in to the buzz and borrowed Fourth Wing from the library. I know some of you have read it, and I'm guessing that even if you have no interest, you've seen it in book circles. This is a fantasy romance involving magic and dragons and quite a lot of death. It seemed like a mashup of Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, the Divergent series, and books by Anne McCaffery. Is it fine literature? No, not in the least. Is it entertaining? Very. It's a pretty big book (600+ pages), but it moves fast -- and it ends with a cliffhanger, so yes, I've got the sequel on hold already. If you're thinking of reading it, I'll note that the romance is very open door, so if that's not your thing, you'll probably want to skip this one. I gave it 4 stars.

After finishing The Poisonwood Bible, I decided I wanted to reread a book on my shelf from high school that seemed like it would be a good pairing. July's People was backlist even when I read it 25+ years ago. This short but powerful novel is set in apartheid-era South Africa and imagines an alternate history in which Black South Africans rise up to take control. The white Smales family is forced to flee their home and taken by their servant, July, to safety in his home village. The sudden uprooting and complete reversal of roles causes the Smaleses to examine their supposedly liberal views on race and class. In rereading this book, I was both amazed that I'd read such a difficult book in high school and thankful that I still had my notes from class in my copy. I gave this one 4 stars as well.

The third book I finished this week was The Three Musketeers, which I'd been listening to on CraftLit since last May. I was unexcited by it and gave it 2 stars.

I'm currently reading In Memoriam and am about a quarter of the way through after starting yesterday. I'm sure I'll be starting something else soon, too, because having only one book going at a time has become rare for me.

I hope your Wednesday is off to a good start. What are you making and reading this week?

A Weekend of Progress

Did anyone else wake up this morning thinking it was Sunday? Just me? All I can say is thank goodness for coffee! I slept pretty well last night, but when my alarm went off this morning, I think I was still in the middle of a dream because I was very confused.

The good news is that it was a good weekend that enabled me to get a lot done, so I don't feel like I needed another day. Saturday morning I took an online class with Roy Clemes of Clemes & Clemes through the Maryland Sheep & Wool Winterfest. It was all about using a drum carder to prep fiber for spinning, something I've long wanted to do better. I bought a drum carder used several years ago and have used it several times but never really figured out how to use it to its full advantage. It was a really useful class and I've got several pages of notes to help me the next time I get my carder out. I also got the cuff of the new sock knit while I was in the class so I was ready to cruise down the leg while we were at My Fair Lady in the afternoon.

The show was quite enjoyable and also productive:

I'm not sure you can really tell in this photo, but the yarn is sparkly, which just takes these neon colors to another level. These are going to be some extremely cheerful socks!

My main focus this weekend was my STRIPES! sweater. I clearly was not paying enough attention to the pattern and had made several mistakes, so after I finished up the sock cuff, I pulled it off the needles and ripped back to the collar to start over. I'm back on track now and have just one more set of increases to do, but for now I'm in the point where I just knit straight until I reach a particular measurement. I'm trying to be good about weaving in ends as I go so that I don't have a million to do at the end.

I also finished up the first bobbin of singles for my current spin, and I'll be working on the next two this week.

I'm hoping it'll be a calm week as far as work is concerned. I've got some reading I really want to do and of course lots of crafting! It's also supposed to be milder and dry most of the week (no rain in the forecast until Friday), so I plan to get some good outdoor workouts in.

A Finish and Several Starts

Happy Friday, friends! Our friend Phil predicted an early spring this morning, but it's still quite gloomy outside (though the weather report this morning said there would be sunshine coming this weekend). All that is to say please excuse the photos in this post, as natural light is scarce.

I'm happy to tell you that I finished my Mas Vida shawl on Wednesday, though not without some drama.

Though I though I'd followed the pattern exactly, I found that I had to fudge things a bit at the end, so clearly I miscounted somewhere. I don't think it's obvious unless you go looking for it closely, but if you do compare the ends, you'll see they don't quite match up:

I ended up using just a bit more than 400 yards of the skein, and the finished shawl (after gentle blocking) is about 66 inches wide along the top edge. I will definitely be knitting this pattern again, but the next time I do, I'll make sure I count correctly!

Now that my lingering WIPs from 2023 are taken care of, I've cast on All The Things! Well, a couple things, anyway.

On the left is the collar and a teeny bit of the yoke on my Stripes! sweater, and on the right is a pair of socks I've just cast on for Mo so that I can have some knitting for the show tomorrow afternoon. It's not easy to tell from the photo, but that yarn is sparkly in addition to being in neon colors!

I have also started a new spinning project:

This is one of the Tour de Fleece prize colorways from last year from Southern Cross. It's called Bordeaux, and it's shades of greens, yellows, and browns on a lovely 85% Merino/15% silk base. I'm spinning a traditional three ply with this, my comfort zone.

Okay, friends, I've got a work meeting to get to, so that's all from me today. Have a great end to your week and a relaxing weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday with some updates!