Unraveled, Week 29/2024

This week is flying by -- I can't believe it's already Wednesday! That means it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and to talk about making and reading. And today I have a finished object to share with you.

I actually finished my Little Plinth Tee preview knit last week before we left, but I didn't have a chance to block it until we got back. I'm so happy with how this turned out! I knit the 6 month size, with the intention of putting it away for my niece (due in November) for next spring. I used Lolabean Yarn Co. Bean Sprout (fingering weight superwash merino/nylon) in the colorway African Violets that I had bought at Indie Untangled before Rhinebeck in 2019 -- not the oldest yarn in my stash, but certainly one that was well marinated! I had some issues with the pattern that were purely user error, namely my apparent inability to count accurately, but no problems with the pattern itself. I believe Kerri is planning to release the pattern next week. It's sized from 3 months up to 12 years -- and there's an adult version (Ravelry link), too!

I'm still working on my Rift tee, but it doesn't look all that different from the photo I shared on Monday, so I'll wait to update you until you can actually see the progress that has been made. Instead, here's how my sweater spinning project is going:

This is the third bit of fiber for the first ply of my body skein (got that?). The body skein is the biggest of the three I have left to spin for this project, but compared to the blue skeins, this is taking a lot less time to complete. This first ply is three parts silver, one part orange; the second will be two of each and the third one part silver and three parts orange. The finished yarn, once plied, will gradually transition from all silver to all orange. The sleeve skeins will do the same but be smaller.

For the first time in a long time, I have finished no books in the past week! That's largely because I spent most of my reading time last week on A Suitable Boy to ensure that I got my weekly pages done before we left on our trip (because I was not taking that brick of a book with me!). I am, however, close to finishing Songs for the Brokenhearted, which I started while we were away, and I'm really enjoying it.

What are you making and reading this week?

And We're Back!

Hello, friends, and happy Monday! I fully intended to post on Friday, but I decided it was more important to be present and enjoy the retreat than to sit at my laptop in my room. I will recount the retreat in more detail later this week when I have a little more time to do the experience justice, but for now suffice it to say that we had a wonderful time and arrived home happy but exhausted.

A real highlight of the trip (and totally independent from the retreat) was getting to meet up with Bonny, Dee, and Vera on Saturday morning:

We met up at an adorable coffeeshop in Easton, PA, in a former mansion that's been beautifully restored. I tried to look around and appreciate all the gorgeous details, but the company and conversation were too good. We spent a couple of hours knitting (Mo crocheted) and chatting, and I can tell you that these three women are just as lovely, if not more so, than they are on their blogs. It was too short of a visit, but I'm so glad that we were all able to meet up and hope we can do it again!

I worked on a sock WIP that morning, but for the rest of the weekend, I was pretty much monogamous with a project that I cast on Thursday evening and, as a result, have a lot of progress to show for it:

This is my second (new and improved!) Rift tee. In the swatch I shared last week, I'd used both size 8 (5 mm) and size 9 (5.5 mm) needles. I was closer to gauge with the larger needles, but I didn't really like the fabric I was getting; this is supposed to be a loose(ish) and relaxed garment, but on the 9's it just looked sloppy. So I'm going with the 8's again. My gauge is off (I'm getting 18 sts/4 in. rather than the called-for 16), but I did some math to figure out that I could knit the next size up and still get several inches of positive ease. Though I haven't tried on what I've knit so far, I can see from holding it up that it's going to be significantly bigger than my first attempt (which, incidentally, I am wearing in the photo above!) I also have more than 100 yards than the pattern specifies for the size I'm knitting, I'm adding length to the body so that this version isn't quite as cropped as my first one. I'm on my third of six balls of yarn, and last night when I put it away, the body was measuring 10.5 inches. I'd like to add at least a few more inches of length, but as I don't know exactly how much I'll need to complete the upper body, it's going to be a guessing game of how much yarn I can use. Fortunately it's a quick knit, so if I have to rip back and redo, it won't take too long.

It was a long weekend of many firsts. Obviously it was the first time I'd attended this retreat, and it was the first time Mo had attended any kind of retreat. It was also the first time I'd driven such a long distance, which was a big deal for me -- I don't particularly like driving, mainly because other drivers make me nervous. But thanks to Mo's company and GPS, I did it. I'm not in any rush to do it again, mind you, but I have a lot more confidence in my ability to do it should I need or want to. And it seems kind of appropriate that my odometer hit a nice even number upon our arrival at home:

This might seem like a low number for many of you, but keep in mind that I don't drive every day and when I do drive, it's often only a few miles at a time. In fact, it's a running joke in my family how low my car's mileage is -- so low that I can't remember the last time my car wasn't exempt from the state emissions test because I drive so little!

I have a pile of work waiting for me, so I'd better get to it. I will see you back here on Wednesday and will share a full wrap-up of the retreat on Friday. Have a good week and stay cool out there!

Unraveled, Week 28/2024

Wednesday again? Time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and talk about what I'm making and reading (and rather quickly, because it's a very busy week at work in spite of the fact that it's only a three-day week for me).

My main focus continues to be the Little Plinth Tee, which is *almost* done!

The pooling isn't as dramatic in real life.

Although the stockinette roll isn't helping any here, you may be able to see that the fronts are done and the shoulder stitches are on waste yarn. I'm maybe halfway through the back at this point; once I've finished the back, the only things left to do are join the shoulder seams and do a quick edging on the neckline. There is a long-sleeved option for this sweater, but as I've sized it for springtime wearing, I went with the easy short sleeves.

I have also swatched for my next Rift tee, which I am planning to take with me to the retreat.

I made this swatch extra large to get a really good sense of gauge and used both US 8 (on the top) and US 9 (on the bottom) needles. It should say something about how often I use needles on the larger end of the spectrum that I had no fixed circulars in a US 9 and had to get out my old Knit Picks interchangeable set for that size. I don't use them very often anymore because the cables have a rather annoying tendency to pop out of the needle tips, but they were my only option. Fortunately, it looks like I'll be closer to gauge on a US 8, at least before blocking, and I don't expect the yarn (a cotton/linen blend) to change very much, but I'll know for sure as soon as the swatch is dry.

I got more reading done this past week, in large part thanks to audiobooks and the extra days off from work. I finished three books.

The first of the three was an ARC that I was invited to review (or maybe NetGalley sends those invitations to all its members?). Like Mother, Like Mother is a multigenerational story that appealed to me initially because I'm a daughter and the mother of a daughter and the family at the center of the story is, like mine, Jewish with roots in Detroit. I'll leave you to click over to the Goodreads synopsis rather than repeating it all here, and I'll add that it was intriguing and drew me in. But there were some strange things about the writing that detracted a bit from my enjoyment. The characters, though it's clear the author had very detailed ideas of them, feel rather one-dimensional and not particularly believable as actual people. There's a lot of dialogue, which makes the book feel more like a screenplay than a novel. There are also some oddities like questions ending in period rather than question marks (naturally, that sort of thing jumps out at me) and characters quoting something -- books? movies? -- that the other characters seem to get the reference to but that were lost on me as reader. It's definitely a book that made me think about big things like identity, parenting, and the stories we tell ourselves and whether or not they're truth, but as an editor, I felt it could have been better. I gave it 3 stars.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and Random House in return for an honest review. This book will be published October 29, 2024.

I was ready for a new audiobook a week ago, and I wanted something I knew I would like. I was delighted to find A Place to Hang the Moon available after both Mary and Katie had recommended it. This is middle-grades historical fiction set in WWII Britain. Siblings Anna, Edmund, and William, whose parents died when they were younger, have just lost their only living relative, their grandmother, who never seemed to care for them much and who made no arrangements for their guardianship following her death. Her solicitor decides to take advantage of the evacuation of children out of London to see if the children can find someone willing to take them in. There's a rather predictable plot from that point, but it doesn't detract from a lovely story of siblings looking out for one another above all in a fraught time. It reminded me a lot of The War That Saved My Life and its sequel, and it was a quick listen (especially because the reader was so slow, I had to increase the speed to 1.75x!). I will just point out that the cover of the audio shown here has an error -- Anna is the youngest sibling, though it appears she's the middle child in this illustration. Whoever did it missed out by not actually reading the book! I gave it 4 stars.

That one went so quickly that I needed another audiobook to get me through the weekend, and I decided to try something a little outside my comfort zone. A Darker Shade of Magic is fantasy, set in a world in which there are four different Londons -- White, Grey, Red, and (previously) Black -- all with different levels of magic in them. Only a few can travel between these worlds, and doing so can be dangerous -- as Kell, the main character, soon discovers when the rulers of one London try to take over another. I enjoyed the book, though I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it with my eyes; it was tricky to keep a lot of the fantasy elements straight simply by hearing them, and I think that might have been easier for me if they'd been seen. This is the first book in a trilogy, so if I decide to read the others, I'll be sure to read with my eyes. I gave it 4 stars.

I am still steadily working my way through A Suitable Boy, and after Bonny reviewed it recently, I requested and was approved for an ARC of Songs for the Brokenhearted, which I plan to start soon and take with me to read this weekend.

What are you making and reading this week?

Here Comes Another Short Week

It is hard to go back to the usual routine after an extra-long weekend, but thankfully I'd already planned for a three-day work week this week, as Mo and I will be retreat-ing Thursday through Sunday. I'm sure it'll be a busy three days, but there's a lot to look forward to at the end of it.

The weekend was mostly relaxing. I'm happy to report that my blood donation was successful (my arms weren't scrutinized at all this time around) and took only about five minutes once I was hooked up. But I ran in the heat that morning and then was on my feet in heels for at while at the wedding that evening, so on Saturday I was wiped out. I cleaned the bathrooms and managed to walk -- slowly -- about four miles and I was done. I am very glad we had nothing planned and could lay low. I took the downtime to separate my fiber for the rest of my sweater spin:

What you see here is the fiber split and arranged for the body (left) and two sleeves (center and right). I've split up the two colorways so that I will end up with three skeins of three-ply yarn that gradually shift from all silver to all burnt orange. The papers underneath are my cheat sheets so that I can cross off each section of each ply as I complete it. You may recall that I did this sort of fade effect with this skein, though as both of those colors were so light and similar, the effect is much more subtle. I didn't get too into the weeds with measuring out the fiber, but I looked at the pattern numbers for the body and the sleeves and calculated how many stitches were in each for the colorwork to see what my proportions were like. Those numbers told me I'd need a little more than half for the body and the rest for the sleeves (which I obviously split in two). I've already started in on the first ply of the body skein, though I haven't gotten very far.

Mainly what I tried to work on over the weekend is my Little Plinth Tee, as ideally I'd like to get that done before we leave for the retreat. The body did move very quickly once I had the right number of stitches, and by yesterday morning, I was ready to start working the neck shaping. Unfortunately, I had just bound off stitches for the center of the neck opening when I realized that somehow or other one of my side markers was misplaced and my stitch count was all off, so I had to frog/tink all the way back to the start of the sleeve increases. So now it looks like this:

It is lucky that this is a small garment (I'm previewing the 6 month size) and I can quickly get back to where I was, but that likely means less time spinning and more time knitting this week. And really that's fine; it's just a matter of focusing my energies. In addition to wanting to finish this up, I want to swatch for my next Rift tee so I can take it with me on the trip.

Another task that got taken care of this weekend was labeling and inventorying all the handspun I am taking to the retreat -- approximately 90 skeins! I do hope that folks will take some home with them because it would be nice to come home with a lot less. There is still quite a lot that I didn't even get out, not to mention the stuff I wanted to keep, and much more fiber still to be spun, so it's clear that I need to make using handspun more of a priority.

In addition to whatever work throws at me this week, I'll be focused on packing, deciding what projects to take, and trying not to think about the fact that I will have to drive the whole way there (the Mister is typically the driver on road trips, but on this one, it has to be me!). I picked up an EZ Pass for my car after seeing that it would save me about half on tolls, and I'll fill up the gas tank before we leave. I am really looking forward to the weekend away with my kid, though -- and as an extra bonus, we are going to be meeting up with Bonny, Vera, and Dee at a coffee shop on Saturday morning, so soon there will be three more people in the fiber blogging world who can confirm I am a real person! While I always maintain that online friends are real friends, it's nice to meet people IRL, too, sometimes.

I hope your week gets off to a good start. Stay hydrated, friends!

It's Friday -- I Think

As much as I love an extra-long weekend, they do make it difficult to keep track of what day it is. Yesterday I kept thinking it was Saturday, so it was nice to wake up this morning (even if my regular weekday alarm woke me up) and remember it's only Friday. I'd already planned to take a vacation day today, but then the university decided to give us a bonus day off as a holiday and we had a 2 p.m. closure on Wednesday in my office, so my weekend is ending up longer than my workweek!

We had a very low-key Independence Day here. The weather wasn't great -- overcast, hot, and very humid -- so I went for a walk in the morning but then spent the rest of the day indoors. One project for the day was going through my handspun stash (well, part of it, anyway) and pulling out and labeling skeins to take to sell next week at the Twin Set Summer Retreat. Mo helped by attaching the tags after I wrote them out.

I still need to go through all of them to create an inventory, so I don't know exactly how many skeins there are, but let's just say I am feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of handspun I have and really need to focus on using it up, selling it, and/or giving it away!

I also spent some time yesterday working on my Little Plinth Tee preview knit. I was having an issue with it, and it turns out that it's all due to my apparent inability to count, so I had to do a little frogging back. But everything is back on track now, and I have a feeling I will finish it up very quickly now.

It's a bit off center here (the two white markers you can see are the center front), but you get the idea. Right now I'm in the "work even until body measures X inches" part, and everything you see above the ruffle was knit in less than an hour last night.

The most exciting thing to happen yesterday is that after finishing my plying on Wednesday, spending about an hour skeining, and then waiting a good 24 hours for the yarn to dry after its wash, I finally measured the yarn and confirmed that I have enough for the main color of the intended sweater!

It really is as shiny as it looks here! I wish I could show you how much drape this yarn has; you'll just have to take my word for it. I've got approximately 1,168 yards total, which is about 200 yards more than the pattern says I'll need. I've looked at the pattern and done a little math to figure out roughly the proportion of the contrast color I'll need for sleeves versus body, so now I am ready to split up the remaining fiber. I'll share how I'm doing that in a future post.

We don't have a lot planned for the rest of the holiday weekend, although today I'm attempting (this is attempt number four, if you're keeping count) to donate blood this afternoon, and this evening the Mister and I are going to a wedding (the son of one of his coworkers is getting married, so we won't know many people and likely won't stay too late). I'm hosting my mahj group on Sunday afternoon, and that's it! I hope to get some more spinning and knitting and reading it as well as to catch up on sleep (the Mister has been snoring a lot this week). I wish you a weekend full of whatever brings you joy and offer you the greetings of this tiny visitor to my zucchini:

Unraveled, Week 27/2024

Good morning! It's Wednesday, which usually means linking up with Kat and the Unravelers, but as Kat is taking a little break from being online right now, there's no official link-up. I like a routine, though, so I'm doing my usual post.

I am, still, plying my three blue singles. I had hoped to finish up the second bobbin yesterday, but I had some actual work to do (boo). I'm hoping it'll get finished today so I can skein and get an estimate of my yardage; I don't want to start splitting up fiber for the contrast until I know if I have enough main color for the sweater I have in mind (Ravelry link), though I do have a plan, which I will share if the blues end up being enough.

I've been continuing to work on my test knit in the evenings while we continue our watch of Gilmore Girls (we are almost halfway through the second season). I'm just about finished with the bottom ruffle and should be able to wrap that up this evening.

I also cast on a new project about a week ago that I never shared with you. I like to have something plain to knit while I'm reading something for work (I concentrate better if I have something to do with my hands, but it has to be something I can knit without looking), so I decided to start a pair of socks for my father-in-law for the holidays. It's been a while since I last knit him socks -- years, in fact -- so he was due to get a pair. He's a pretty plain guy, so I pulled some pretty plain yarn out of deep stash.

Want to know how old this yarn is? This is Knit Picks Essential Tweed, a yarn that was discontinued/rebranded as Stroll back in 2009. I wasn't too into rainbow-y tweed back then, which means that I probably bought this on clearance to get to free shipping and that was probably when the yarn line was on its way out. Even if I bought it in 2009, that means this yarn is still likely older than Mo. I know some of you might have stash that's a lot older, but considering that I only started seriously knitting around 2004/2005, that's still pretty old for me.

I haven't done as much reading this past week -- well, at least I haven't done as much finishing this week -- and only finished one book.

I was in the mood for a fun audiobook over the weekend and borrowed Sex and Vanity from the library. This is a modern retelling of A Room with a View, with the added complexity of issues of race and money. I'd enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians, and this book is very much in the same vein: lots of people who are too rich trying to outdo each other. It got a little tiresome in this book, though I think that was kind of the point (at least for one character), and I got a little annoyed with the narrator, who didn't entirely succeed in all the accents she was trying to do. That said, it was good entertainment while I was out exercising and cleaning. I gave it 3 stars.

I'm still chipping away at A Suitable Boy, and earlier in the week I started an ARC that I was invited to read and review from NetGalley called Like Mother, Like Mother. I'm halfway through and should finish it up soon.

I'll leave you today with a little life hack. I'm a big fan of iced coffee in the summer -- it's a special treat on those days when I run in the heat and find myself very sleepy after lunch. But I don't drink it quickly and get annoyed when it gets watered down, so a couple of years ago, I started making ice cubes from coffee. We tend to have a little left in the pot most days (not enough for another cup), so I've been pouring that into a silicone tray that I bought for freezing homemade baby food back when Mo was a little one:

When all the spots are full and frozen, I'll pop them out and store them in a Ziplock. Easy peasy!

If you're celebrating the holiday tomorrow, I hope it's a good one!

Hello, Monday; Hello, July

I was not very excited for my alarm to go off this morning after a not-so-great night of sleep, but at least it's a short week. And while the heat and humidity are coming back midweek, right now it's 56ºF with a 50º dew point, which means I'm going to have a very comfortable run this morning!

We had a fairly low-key weekend, with the usual chores and errands but also a lot of relaxation time. I started out by finishing up both of the projects that were close to the end, starting with the second Bousta Beanie:

Somehow I used less yarn (about nine yards) on the second hat, despite knitting them exactly the same way. No matter -- I'm very happy with them both! Now they're ready for a bath and a block before they're added to the donation pile.

I also finished up the Benny singles Friday evening, so I was ready to start plying on Saturday:

After several plying sessions over both days, I had one bobbin finished yesterday:

I was concerned about having enough of this yarn for the main color of the sweater pattern I have in mind, but based upon how long it took to fill this first bobbin, I'm feeling more confident. I'll have to wait until I skein up the yarn to know for sure, of course, but there seems to be quite a lot of yardage there. I will continue to ply the rest today, as work allows.

I also started my test knit of the Little Plinth Tee over the weekend:

This is the peplum/ruffle along the bottom of the tee, and I actually think this part is going to be the slowest of the whole project because I have to count rows and work a set of short rows every 12 rows. But I've gotten into a groove now and no longer have to check the pattern as closely, so I don't think it will take me too long to get the rest of it done. Once I pick up for the body and start working in the round, I think it will be even faster. It would be great if I could get the whole thing done before Mo and I leave for our retreat next week, but we'll see. I'm focusing on this week first and will think about retreat knitting next week.

As I mentioned, it's a short week. Obviously we're off on Thursday for the holiday (I'm hoping for an early dismissal from work on Wednesday to kick it off), but I decided to take a vacation day on Friday as well, both because I needed to use up some time and because the Mister and I have a wedding to go to in the evening. I'm also going to try to donate blood again (this is attempt number 4 in the last month) on Friday afternoon; I'll share that saga if anyone is interested, but I'm hoping this is the end of it. In the meantime, I'm hoping it's a quiet week at work given the holiday. I hope it's a good week for you!

Time for Finishing

It's the last Friday in June -- and I have today off! I get two personal days each year in addition to my vacation time, and if I don't use them before the end of the fiscal year (June 30), I lose them, so inevitably I end up taking off two random days in June. It's nice to take a day off just because, and I plan to make the most of having the day to myself (though not really to myself, because I've got Mo to hang out with).

My primary goal today is to finish up two projects. First, there's the second Bousta Beanie. I started the crown decreases last night, so I don't have much work left to do on it.

I also want to finish up my Benny singles today. This is all the fiber I have left to spin!

Tour de Fleece, that annual celebration of spinning that happens alongside some sort of bike race, starts tomorrow, and I'd like to kick it off by plying my three bobbins of blue singles. I have a sweater pattern (Ravelry link) picked out for the yarn, but it all depends on whether or not I get enough yardage from these three blues plied together for the main color.

In addition to working on these projects and going for my regular run, my only other planned activities for the day are making some dessert with Mo for our family dinner this evening  and joining my in-laws for a final walk-through of the condo they're going to be moving into next month. I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but they decided they wanted to move into the city from the suburbs to be closer to their grandkids, and they found a condo less than a mile from us. Their house went on the market late last week and they had an open house last weekend. They had multiple offers that day and are already under contract. It's a wild real estate market right now!

We've got a quiet weekend planned, which is just fine with me. I have some reading to get caught up on and would love to get all that plying done. And next week is a short week! I hope you have something fun and/or relaxing planned. See you here again in July (gulp)!

Unraveled, Week 26/2024

Hooray, it's Wednesday! It's been a long week already, so I'm happy to have arrived at its midpoint -- especially because I will be off on Friday, so I'm officially halfway done with the workweek. As per usual, today I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers to talk about making and reading.

My second Bousta Beanie has grown quite a bit since you last saw it, and now those of you who couldn't quite imagine how the colors would look reversed no longer have to try:

I'm getting stained-glass vibes from this one, and the benefit of using the colored yarn as the contrast is that I'm getting mixed up less frequently and thus having to tink back less (I think I've only done it once so far). I've put the hat knitting aside for the moment, however, to do some swatching.

I got selected to test knit Kerri Blumer's adorable new tee for babies and kids (see it on IG here), so I'm going to be making a 6 month size for my niece. I pulled out some LolaBean Yarn Co. Bean Sprout that I bought at Indie Untangled at my second Rhinebeck, I think -- it was the last one before the pandemic, I believe. I'm doing a faux in-the-round swatch, though I'm pretty confident I'll get gauge with the suggested needle size because it's what I usually get with this size. As soon as I'm sure of my gauge, I'll be casting on to get my version done ASAP.

Last week I did something I hadn't done in almost a year: I bought yarn. I wanted to knit another Rift tee and didn't have any appropriate (read: non-wool) yarn in my stash already, plus I knew that Knit Picks' summer sale was starting last Wednesday, so I ordered some CotLin. And I'm sure you all know the siren call of free shipping, so I added some sale goodies to my cart to get it:

Ironically, the only thing that wasn't on sale was the CotLin, the whole purpose for the purchase! But everything else here was -- two skeins of hand-painted Stroll, a skein of Wonderfluff, and five skeins of Chroma Twist. The Chroma, at least, I'm planning to use for charity hats; perhaps the Stroll will become some hats as well. I haven't figured out just what to do with the Wonderfluff, but I already had two skeins of it in a lavender shade and figured I could use this hot pink together with those.

I've had another good week of reading, in spite of being busy at work, and finished two books.

The Comfort of Ghosts, the final installment in the Maisie Dobbs series (sob!) came out earlier this month, and though I thought I'd have a long wait from the library -- it said several months when I put it on hold -- somehow I ended up only waiting a day! Though there is a bit of a mystery in this book, it was resolved about two-thirds of the way through, and it really felt like Winspear was more focused on wrapping things up for Maisie in a satisfying way. WWII is over, and things are changing for everyone in its wake. In uncovering some secrets in her extended family, Maisie takes a good look back at her life and how far she's come from being a teenaged housemaid. I am sad there will be no more, but I also feel completely satisfied with where Maisie has ended up. I listened to this book and, in fact, the whole series. It's been a wonderful companion on many workouts and through many household chores. I gave this final installment 4 stars.

Speaking of long library holds, I'd been waiting quite a long time for Enter Ghost and finally got it a week ago. This finalist for the Women's Prize for Fiction and winner of this year's Aspen Words Literary Prize feels like a timely read for the moment, as it takes place in Israel and Palestine and follows a British Palestinian actress who becomes involved in a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. There were parts of this book that made me uncomfortable because of how Israel and its policies are portrayed, but I welcomed that discomfort because I want a broader view of the ongoing conflict. And I also really enjoyed the writing and structure of the book. This is one that I am going to be thinking about for a while and will likely seek out analysis and discussion on. I gave it 4 stars.

What are you making and reading this week?

Better in 2024: June

I can't believe this is the last week of June already; it seems like the longer the days are, the faster they go by! The last Monday of the month means that it's time to check in with my One Little Word and to link up with Carolyn.

The biggest change in my daily life this past month has been going into the office for work two mornings a week. I still don't see the point in being there, especially because until last week, I could actually do less there than I could at home (I couldn't connect to the printers there), but that's kind of beside the point, at least as far as my OLW goes. I was thinking about how much things have changed since I was last in the office regularly, and I'm not even talking about COVID and how that changed things. I've noticed that since this change, I've gotten Better about not caring so much about what other people think about my appearance. There was a time when I would not go into the office without my hair and makeup done. But these days, I really can't be bothered. I've gone in with dirty hair pulled back in a ponytail and not a speck of makeup on. I'll occasionally pluck my eyebrows (if they really need it), and of course I'm dressing professionally, but I've gotten to a place where I feel like my work should speak for itself and how I look is irrelevant. I know part of this comes with getting older and part of it is that I've gotten used to being more comfortable from working at home, but part of me also feels like this is a bit of an act of rebellion: If you're going to force me to come into the office, when I'm perfectly capable of getting my work done (and done well) from home, then you'll take me as I am. No one has said anything -- not that I expected them to -- but really the only person who thought I needed to come to work fully made up in the "before times" was me. And the me of 2024 is a lot Better at not hiding my imperfections (or at least at not feeling like I need to hide them)!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I'm so glad that it's finally Friday; even with the day off in the middle, it's been a long, busy, HOT week. The heat wave hasn't let up just yet, but yesterday afternoon, after we'd had several days with clouds and thunder but no rain, we finally got a quick storm and a much-needed downpour. The garden has really needed the water, and I was thankful I didn't have to go out and water in the heat, especially because yesterday was the hottest day yet in this stretch. As long as I was thinking about it, I thought I'd share a little update on the garden. If you recall, here's how the big side of the front yard looked right after I'd planted my Mother's Day purchases:

And here's how it looks now (you can tell that we're running a rain deficit from the color of the grass):

The tomato, eggplant, and zucchini plants have absolutely exploded in the planter, and the hydrangeas, salvia, and lavender are doing well. I've been dutifully watering the impatiens and polka dot plants along the border, but I'm also fighting a battle with the bunnies who like to eat the flowers, so they aren't looking as robust as I'd hope. The other side of the yarn isn't looking as good, but we do have a couple of "snacking peppers" growing! In the back, I've got one sunflower in a pot that I'm about ready to transplant up front (last year the bunnies ate all of them, so I thought I'd wait until I had one that was bigger), and though the hostas have mostly been eaten, the pachysandra is looking pretty good. Unfortunately we've had some vermin in the composter again, so I am taking a break from throwing our kitchen scraps in there. I might just take a pause, spread out what compost we have, and put down some mesh underneath it to keep the critters from digging up under it.

Though the weather has been entirely inappropriate for knitting, I have been getting some in every evening (thank goodness for air conditioning!). I finished up the Bousta Beanie and found I had enough yarn leftover for another, which I started last night (and it took two attempts because black yarn + aging eyes = the wrong number of stitches the first time).

The heat is supposed to continue through this weekend, so outside activities will be at a minimum. On Sunday evening we're headed to our synagogue's big fundraising event that's held every two years, and it feels a bit like the culminating event of my board service. I don't have anything to do other than attend, however, and it's one less meal I'll have to worry about for the week.

I hope your weekend is enjoyable, relaxing, and as physically comfortable as possible. Stay cool and stay hydrated, friends!

Unraveled, Week 25/2024

It's Wednesday, and it's still beastly hot, so let's get on with linking up with Kat and the Unravelers!

I'm actually off today for Juneteenth, though my routine isn't going to be much different from the usual other than staying off my work computer. I still got up at the normal time, and day off from work means I can go for my run a little earlier, before it gets dangerously hot. And I will have some extra crafting time today! I am almost to the crown decreases on my Bousta Beanie:

I'm really enjoying the rainbow, and though I'll have to weigh my leftovers when I'm done, it's possible I might have enough yarn to knit another with the colors reversed.

I've also been giving some attention to Benny on my wheel:

I had to sit through an hourlong presentation on Zoom for work on Monday afternoon that was interesting but ultimately useless for me, but it at least gave me some dedicated spinning time. I think I'm almost halfway done with these singles, and I'm starting to get really excited about plying. Ideally I'd like to have the yarn done by the end of the month, but we'll see what happens.

I've done a lot of reading in the past week, though most of it has been in my Big Book, so I've only finished one book.

Piglet is a relatively new release (it came out in February), and I'd heard a fair amount of buzz about it, so when it was a Kindle deal a couple weeks ago, I decided to give it a try. The titular character seems to have the perfect life -- a job she loves, a fiancé who adores her, a new house -- but there seems to be something missing. And then her fiancé reveals something that threatens to undo everything. This book has a lot to say about food and women's bodies and our expectations about them. It also addresses Piglet's struggle with what she believes she should want and what she actually wants out of her life. I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the descriptions of food and cooking (don't read it when hungry!). I think this is a novel that would be great to discuss in a group, too. I gave it 4 stars.

I am nearly finished listening to Anne of Avonlea, which I started over the weekend when I wanted something easy and enjoyable. Today I hope to start Enter Ghost, which I'd been waiting for from the library for a long time and finally got yesterday.

What are you making and reading this week?

Just in Time for the Heat Wave

Greetings from the Excessive Heat Watch! I know it's summer, but mid-June is a bit early for mid- to upper 90s F in my neck of the woods, which is what we're expecting all this week and through next weekend. With the heat index, it's not out of the question that it'll feel upwards of 100º F. In case you're wondering, I am not a fan. I run cold generally, but I also don't like heat and humidity, so I will be spending as much time as possible in the air conditioning this week.

And because my timing is always impeccable, I've chosen this week to launch my latest knitting pattern! (I guess at least it's not a heavy sweater.)

You all saw this while it was being worked on, but now it's officially been blocked, photographed, written up, and edited. I'm calling it I'm Still Stranding -- I just love a good pun. It's up in my Ravelry and Payhip shops now, if you're interested, and an email is going out with a discount code to newsletter subscribers later this morning.

We had a really nice weekend before the heat set in. On Friday, in addition to doing my running and baking, Mo and I did a little shopping, first at Michaels for craft items (she's been into making stitch markers/progress keepers out of polymer clay lately) and then at Old Navy for some new summer duds. I found a couple of great summer dresses that I kind of want to live in this summer; she got new jeans, a cute tennis-style dress, and a two-piece bathing suit -- all in women's sizes (yikes!). She wore the suit and the dress yesterday when she went to the pool with my parents and my nephew, and then she came home completely wiped out from all the sun. Yesterday we had brunch with our parents, siblings, and nephews for Father's Day. My youngest nephew just started walking in the past week, so it was so cute to see him and the middle nephew toddling around!

Mo and I officially wrapped up all our Downton Abbey watching early last week, and now we've started in on Gilmore Girls. I've been working on my rainbow Bousta Beanie the past several evenings while we watched. It's moving right along, despite having to tink back a couple of times because I've forgotten that the rainbow yarn is the MC and the black is the CC.

I have a feeling this is going to be a very busy week -- I received all the content for a magazine late Thursday -- but I also have Wednesday off for Juneteeth, and I think that break midweek should keep me from getting too stressed.

Stay cool and well hydrated, friends!

No Such Thing as a Day Off

TGIF! I am technically off today but was up at the normal time because there are many things I am planning to do today. For one thing, I want to get my run in before it becomes beastly hot! But it's also going to be a girl's day -- Mo and I are planning to go shopping this afternoon. I will be baking challah for dinner tonight. And there will be laundry (there's always laundry). But! I am finishing the week with an FO:

These have been in progress for a while, so I'm glad I could finally give them enough attention to finish them. They're for my sister-in-law (the one with the small feet) for her birthday in September, so I'll block them and then put them away until then. I used my plain vanilla recipe over 68 stitches for these. The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in the colorway White Russian. The name makes sense for the white and brown stripes, but I'm not sure what the pink, blue, and yellow have to do with it. They didn't ask for my opinion when they were naming it!

I thought about starting another sweater this week but thought I should knit some charity hats first. I don't remember if I've mentioned it on the blog, but Mo and I are headed to a knitting retreat -- TwinSet Summer Camp -- out in eastern PA next month, and they will be collecting hats for Knit the Rainbow. I think I only have one charity hat in my stack at the moment, so this seemed like a good time to build that up. And because it's Pride month, why not get out the rainbow yarn?

This is the start of a Bousta Beanie using some leftover West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply (if it looks familiar, it's because I used it for these socks. I'm only using two colors rather than the three called for in the pattern, but it'll look like more because of the self-striping.

We've got a relaxing weekend planned, with only a Father's Day brunch on the schedule (I am in charge of making cinnamon rolls). I'm bracing for the hot temperatures that are predicted and planning for lots of cool beverages and maybe some naps indoors. Hope it's a good one for you!

Unraveled, Week 24/2024

Good morning and happy Wednesday! This week I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers with a real, actual finished object!

Please ignore the crazy hair; I'd just blown it dry.

Pattern: Rift by Jacqueline Cieslak, size 40 in./102 cm bust
Yarn: Uru. Yarn Asher (36% linen/flax, 34% cotton, 19% Lyocell/tencel, 11% nylon) in Cucumber, 1.5 skeins
Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm)
Started/Completed: May 22/June 9

I've had this pattern in my library for a while, and when I won the yarn from Pam and Greg of the Unraveling podcast, I knew it would be perfect for a summery tee. In fact, I've been planning to knit this pattern in this yarn since the beginning of the year, and for once I actually managed to knit a project for a particular season before the season was over!

There are more than 2,300 projects listed on Ravelry for this pattern, and having knit it, I can see why. It's very straightforward and suits many different bodies quite well. It has some really nice features, like the split high-low twisted ribbing hem (ribbing that continues up the side), short row shaping for the shoulders, a three-needle bind off for the shoulder hem that provides just enough structure, and a minimalist finish on the neckline. There are also options for whether you want the v-neck in front, back, or not at all and for short or long sleeves.

My only modification to the pattern, if you can even call it that, is that I kind of threw caution to the wind and didn't make any adjustments when I didn't quite get gauge. The needles already felt so big and the fabric so loose that I could not fathom going up a size, so I ended up with closer to zero ease than the called-for 6-12 inches. That is after some horizontal stretching when I blocked the tee, which is also why it's rather cropped despite having added two additional inches to the body. Had I known that I would have plenty of yarn, I would have added a further two or three inches, but it's too late for that. I plan to wear this version over tanks and dresses, so it'll be fine, but for my next one, I'll either go up a size or actually swatch to get the correct needle size. I will also make it longer so that it's not so cropped and I don't have to wear it over something else (at my age, I'm just not comfortable letting my once-housed-a-child belly hang out).

I'll just note that I'm not sure this yarn is available any more, but it was an interesting blend. It has chainette construction, which means there were some slubs here and there, but I do like the feel of it in fabric form and didn't have any issues with hand fatigue as I often do with 100% cotton. I don't think I have anything in my stash currently that doesn't contain wool that would be appropriate for another Rift, so I will have to do some thinking about what I'd like to use for my next one.

I'm also down to just one WIP now -- the current socks, which are nearly done -- so I fully expect to cast on All The Things in short order.

I have finished two more books this week, as I continue to slowly make my way through the brick.

I had never heard of Small Island until Mary selected it as one of the titles for our group's exploration of past Women's Prize for Fiction winners, but I am so glad I read it! This story is told from four perspectives -- an English couple and a Jamaican couple -- in 1948 and in flashbacks to WWII and before. It deals with some big issues, like colonialism and racism, but there is so much that is relatable about these characters. I'll admit that for the Jamaican couple, Hortense and Gilbert, I immediately had the characters of Lucille and Cyril from Call the Midwife in my head, as if they were reading the dialogue in accent to me. I found the book easy to get into and hard to put down once I had time and attention to devote to it. I gave it 5 stars.

Next, a reread: I'm fairly certain that the first time I read Howards End (which I know had to be after the Merchant Ivory film version came out, because I remember reading a tie-in paperback copy) most of the nuance of the story went clear over my head. But this time around I've lived quite a bit more, read quite a bit more, and have a much clearer understanding of the British class system. I was struck, though, by how much of the story has to do with men ordering women's lives around and assuming that they know better. I listened for my reread, and the audiobook was the rare one for which I had to slow my playback speed down to 1.25x because the reader was such a fast talker. I gave it 4 stars.

In addition to the tome, I've been reading Piglet, which just came out a few months ago and which I scored when it was a Kindle deal last week. I read half of it in one sitting on Monday afternoon and imagine I'll finish it up before the week is out.

What are you making and reading this week? Got any recommendations for a great plant fiber-based yarn (sport or DK) for my next Rift?

Highs and Lows

I was a bit disappointed to realize it was Monday when I woke up this morning, but I suppose a new week is easier to face when you know it's only going to be a four-day work week (I'm taking Friday off). We had a pretty good weekend, although it had some unexpected moments. We did have some amazing weather all weekend, with blue skies, sunshine, and low humidity, which I always enjoy.

As I mentioned, we had tickets to the baseball game Saturday afternoon. It'd been about a year since we'd last been to one, so we were all looking forward to it. And as it was also Worldwide Knit in Public Day, I took my sock in progress to the game (though let's be honest -- I would have taken my knitting regardless). We had great seats along the first base line, with the sun behind us so we didn't have to worry about getting burned.

Shortly after I took this photo, something dramatic happened: A foul ball was hit in our direction, bounced off some seats, hit our friends' younger daughter in the face, and ended up in my seat. I'm happy to tell you that she's fine, though she has a pretty impressive black eye now, but they took her to Children's Hospital to get checked out just in case. And she got to keep the ball, of course! Because of this excitement, I didn't do much knitting because I thought it would be better to keep an eye out for foul balls. And it ended up being a really exciting game that the Pirates won!

There was plenty of time for knitting at home, and thanks to a good amount of time spent finishing Downtown Abbey (the series) and watching all of the first movie and part of the second, I finished my Rift tee!

I still have to block it to try to get some more room, but it does fit -- just not with any real positive ease. I'm hoping that once it gets wet and I stretch it, it'll be a little more comfortable. I can definitely see myself knitting another of these, though I might knit the next size up (or at least actually bother to get gauge). Once I get this blocked, I'll take some photos and do a proper write-up.

Finally, yesterday was our synagogue annual meeting, which officially marked the end of my second term on the board and my second year as board secretary. I still have to submit the minutes, but for all intents and purposes, I'm done. This moment is a little bittersweet; though the board has been a huge commitment in recent years and I've grumbled about the time it's taken up, I will miss being involved. What I neglected to mention in my last post, though, is that our congregation is currently involved in a process with another one (one that actually was formed years ago when a group split off from our congregation) of looking at a possible unification and the creation of an entirely new entity. So while I have to take a year off from board service, in reality, my synagogue may no longer exist in another year, and if we do move forward with this process, there will be plenty of opportunities to get involved in figuring out all the details. It's an exciting time, and we'll see what happens.

And now I need to get moving -- Mo has an orthodontist appointment at 11, so I need to try to squeeze in my run and a shower before then. Have a great start to your week!

Week's End

TGIF! It's been a long, sweaty week here, and I'm happy to see Friday arrive (along with cooler, less humid weather). It's been nice to have Mo home with me this week, though her presence hasn't changed my routine all that much. We did bake some cookies together the other afternoon, but generally she does her own thing while I work.

Thank you for all the commiseration on my work gripes. I still don't understand what purpose my being in the office is supposed to serve, and my time there has been decidedly unproductive. Other than sitting through team meetings (which mostly don't involve me), I've only once had something to do while I'm there, so it really does feel like a waste. We'll see if anyone cares and changes things going forward.

My Rift tee has grown quite a bit since Wednesday -- I'm nearly done with the back!

If you click to embiggen the photo, you'll see that the left shoulder short rows are complete, so now I just have to do the right shoulder to match. The front will have a v-neck (the pattern gives you options for the neckline). I played around with my photo editing app to try to get the color a bit more accurate, but it's still not quite right. Oh well! This project has been an excellent accompaniment to our evenings watching Downton Abbey. We reached the final episode last night, which is bittersweet. We still have the two movies to watch after that, and apparently there's a third movie coming? In any case, it would be nice to finish up this tee by the time we've finished with all the Downton stuff to watch.

I'm also working on finishing up my current blue singles (so I can get on to the next bobbin of blue singles):

We've got a few things on the calendar this weekend, aside from the usual chores and errands. We're going to the baseball game tomorrow with some friends and my brother-in-law/sister-in-law/nephews, and then Sunday morning is our synagogue's annual meeting -- my very last meeting on the board! It's a bit bittersweet rotating off the board; it's going to be a bit sad not to be as involved, but I'm also looking forward to having fewer meetings. The bylaws mandate that after two consecutive terms, any board member has to rotate off for a year before they're eligible for another term; we'll see if they come calling again this time next year.

I hope you have an easy end to your week and a relaxing weekend!