Finishes and Starts

Why is it that sometimes the shorter weeks feel longer than the regular ones? I can only think it's been the heat here this week -- we officially had a heat wave, with three days hitting 90º F or higher. (I even ran on one of those days, and it was very much Not Fun.) But it's Friday, and we had some rain move through yesterday (including when I thought I was in the clear and went out for a walk, only have to run home in a downpour), so things are looking up.

I know this will likely come as a surprise to none of you, but I did finish the socks for my sister-in-law on Wednesday evening, thanks in part to a rabbi search Zoom meeting. I blocked them yesterday, so today they're all ready to be wrapped up and presented to her at dinner.

After I was so successful in focusing on that project on Wednesday, I decided to do the same with my current spinning project yesterday and finished all my singles, so today I am ready to ply.

While I'm wrapping up my WIPs, I'm also starting some new projects. Yesterday was kickoff day for the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party (and the NFL season), and that meant casting on some new projects because WIPs aren't allowed for this make-along. Obviously I had to cast on some new socks, so I dove into my SSK stash and pulled out the skein I brought home from Woolens and Nosh and cast on.

The other project I started is a crocheted corner-to-corner blanket using five of the six skeins from the Fibernymph Dye Works sweater kit that I wound up last week. I made a swatch a couple of days ago, weighed and measured it, and did some math to figure out how big a blanket I could make with the yarn I have and the measurements for it. I'll admit I had to do a bit of Googling to help with the last step, but I'm pretty sure I got it right, and I have a bit of extra yarn should I need it (I did my calculations based on 100 g skeins, but all of mine are a few grams more than that).

Today should be a quiet day at work -- my boss's mother-in-law passed away earlier this week, so she is off for the funeral today -- so I am hoping I can take care of plying that bobbin of singles and make some progress on one or both of the new projects. We have a bat mitzvah to attend tomorrow and thankfully nothing planned on Sunday, so I'm hoping the weekend will be a good reset. Here's hoping it's a good one for you, too!

Three Things This Thursday

I had a dentist appointment first thing this morning, so I dropped off my work bag and lunch at the office (it's on the way to the dentist's office) and then walked the rest of the way because I didn't see any buses headed that way. It was really the perfect morning for it: The sun was out, the sky was clear, and it felt decidedly like fall -- I actually needed a light sweater! And as it's Thursday, I've got three more things to share that are making me happy.

1. New knitting projects in waiting
Today also marks the official start of the NFL season, and while I don't care about that too much (I'm just a casual football fan), I do care that it means the start of the annual Down Cellar Studio Podcast Pigskin Party, which is a months-long KCAL that runs concurrently with the football season. Jen's KCALs are always a lot of fun, and I enjoy the camaraderie of making things and chatting with the other participants. I've been wanting to cast on a couple of new projects, but I held back for a few days so I could count them for this. Last night Rainbow helped me to wind four skeins of yarn that will shortly be put to good use.

All four skeins are from Fibernymph Dye Works. The skein on the bottom left is on Bounce (fingering superwash merino/nylon) and will be cast on during my lunch break today for a new hat design. The other three skeins are all DK and came in a mystery grab bag that I bought from her a while back (I knew how many skeins and what weight they'd be but not what colors or bases). The two skeins on the right are going to become a Little Worsted Sock Arms for my nephew, with the tweedy green for the body and the self-striping for the arms (obviously). The skein in the top left of the photo is a one-of-a-kind colorway that was immediately claimed by Rainbow, and she's still deciding if she wants me to use it for a hat or a cowl for her.

2. Granny square all the things
While I was waiting for today to come, I didn't want to start on anything new for my lunchtime crafting, so I've brought in my granny square blanket to work on this week. This is being crocheted from several years' worth of leftover sock yarn scraps, and as I get to the end of one scrap, I just join it to the next with a Russian join. It's highly addictive and kind of all I want to work on at times.

I haven't measured it officially, but I'd say that the square is more than a foot wide at this point, and I still have quite a lot of scraps. My plan for this is just to keep going until I run out of yarn or I determine that it's big enough, whichever comes first. I have a few mini skeins that will likely be added in, and I'll be getting a mini skein Advent calendar thingy later this fall that I expect will also go into it.

3. Reading good books
After finishing up my last book for bingo, I went back to my library app to see which of the books I had tagged "to read" were available without a wait. The first one I found was When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. I believe I heard about it because several people I know have read it, and as I've been really trying this year to read books that will help me to confront my white privilege and help me to be a better antiracist, I'd added it to my list to be read. It was really a powerful book and a fast but not an easy read. If you're in any doubt of the reality of the United States being a very different place for people of color compared to whites, you need to read it. I gave it four stars

My current read is completely different. On another recommendation, I borrowed Mr. Rochester. I was fully sucked into this book almost from the first page. Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorite books, and thus it should come as no surprise that Edward Fairfax Rochester has long been one of my favorite brooding male love interests. I'm a bit more than halfway through the book and simultaneously want to devour the rest of it and not want it to end. It is superb. I'll reserve my official review until after I'm done, but at this point I think it will very likely be a five-star book for me.

I hope your Thursday is making you happy! I'm off to see what Carole and friends are up to today.