Variations on a Theme

I don't know what it was like in your neck of the woods, but I can only hope that this past weekend was as gorgeous and perfect a fall weekend as it was for me! It was Rhinebeck weekend, but obviously I didn't go and didn't have any plans to go. It looks like it was a stunning weekend for those who were there; honestly, I was quite content to enjoy the weekend here! We had cool temps to start both days but the sun was bright and warmed things up by the afternoon, and we had sparkling blue skies. We've even gotten a bit of fall color in the neighborhood!

One of the "good" trees in the neighborhood

Friday ended up being quite busy at work, but I did manage to get my mother-in-law's socks done that evening, and naturally that meant I was free to cast on the new pair -- effectively I swapped one blue project for another!

The yarn I used for my MIL's socks, the discontinued Regia Bamboo Color in the very descriptive colorway 1061, resulted in a nice-feeling fabric but was rather splitty to work with, especially with my sharp size 0 needles. It has a cabled construction, meaning that the strand of yarn is made of what are essentially much finer yarns that have been plied together. I'm thankful that there was no weird flashing or pooling of the colors, and I'm glad to have the yarn (mostly) used up and out of the stash. I have no idea how they will hold up to wear given the high bamboo content (45%, compared to 40% for the wool!), but the label says they can be machine washed and dried, so I'm not too concerned. More importantly, they are done and just have to be washed and blocked to be ready for gifting.

You can see I haven't gotten too far on the new socks, but I did find some time over the weekend to chart out the pattern and wind the yarn so I'd be able to at least get started. I'm clearly going to need to cast on another pair of socks soon, too, because this pair will be patterned and thus require me to look at it, making it unsuitable for knitting while reading. There's plenty of self-striping to choose from and several more people still in need of socks for the holidays, so that will not be a problem!

In addition to ending the week with a finished project, we learned some exciting things on Friday. First, when I took Molly to the orthodontist on Friday, he confirmed that the next appointment will the be one where she gets her braces off! That's scheduled for November 21, which also happens to be my sister-in-law's due date. Molly will get the braces off in the morning, they'll do some molds, and then I'll take her back after school to get her retainers. She's pretty excited that they'll be off before her birthday and the end of the year!

Second, we had dinner with my brother and his family Friday night (my parents are at their Florida place for a couple of weeks), so we got to enjoy the explosion of words from my nephew.

I highly recommend you click to embiggen so you can see his face!

We learned that he calls a sloth a "slowly" (thanks to this book), that he knows the word "ghost" and that a ghost says "boo," and -- and here's the most exciting part -- he knows the word "gnome!" So perhaps there are more gnome-related gifts in my knitting future!

All Things Blue

I've noticed it recently, so perhaps you have, too? Lately all my projects seem to be in the same color family. I was even about to start a new spinning project but realized the fiber I'd pick out was -- you guessed it! -- blue. I might need an intervention. The good news is that the sky has turned blue again, after several days of clouds and rain and colder temps. We had a frost advisory overnight, but it's supposed to get back up into the 70s this weekend and into early next week. I don't mind the cooler temperatures, but I'm happy to see the sun again!

My handspun sweater has continued to get a little attention every night, and though it grew quickly at the beginning, I'm now getting close to 300 stitches and the rounds are taking a bit more time. I have one more increase round to do before I work to a certain length and then do some raglan increases, and my knitting is officially big enough to comfortably stretch around a 40-inch circular needle.

My mother-in-law's socks are very close to being finished -- in fact, I'm hoping I can finish them up this morning when I take Molly to an orthodontist appointment! And while I'm planning to cast on that design pair soon, I've also been thinking about starting a gnome for my brother for this year's Chanukah gift. I have never managed to do one of Sarah Schira's mystery gnomes while it is a mystery, but I have several times bought the pattern after I've seen FOs, and that was the case with the most recent one (Ravelry link). I found an old 50 g skein of Knit Picks Gloss from a long time ago that I'm planning to use for the body and legs, but I'm debating which self-striping to use for the hat and socks. Thoughts?

The skein on the right has some University of Michigan vibes going for it, but it's also pretty dark and subdued, so I'm leaning toward the skein on the left -- though I also really liked that colorway and kind of wanted it for socks for me (but I think I could make some shortie socks with the leftovers and a mini skein or two). Really I could be convinced either way, though the left skein is certainly less blue!

We are headed into a much calmer weekend than the last one. Molly is off from school today while parent/teacher conferences happen, and after her appointment, I think she's going to try to get all her homework done so she can forget about it for a couple of days. Saturday evening is the homecoming dance at her school, which she's going to with a girlfriend from her class, and the Mister and I are having dinner out while she's there. And the only thing I have on the schedule on Sunday, assuming everyone can still make it, is a get-together with my mah-jongg group before one of our members moves (temporarily) to Sweden with her husband. I'm thinking it'll be a good weekend to bake some fall treats -- perhaps some apple cider donuts, seeing as I will not be getting the real thing at Rhinebeck -- catch up on sleep, do some reading, and perhaps cast on some new projects. Here's hoping your weekend is similarly full of good things!

Unraveled, Week 42/2024

It is Wednesday, and though Kat is on vacation this week and not hosting a formal link-up, I can't let a week go by without an Unraveling post.

My sweater doesn't look all that different from how it did on Monday, though it's been getting attention each evening. Molly and I have finished watching all of Gilmore Girls, so we're taking a little break from series for the time being and watching romcoms in between episodes of The Great British Baking Show. It makes for good knitting time. I've also turned the heel and started the gusset on the second mother-in-law sock:

and I dug out the skein I wanted for the next pair of socks (the design idea I mentioned):

This is LolaBean Yarn Co. String Bean (75/15 superwash merino/nylon) in the colorway Troll-la, which might have been a special/limited edition. In any case, the pattern idea involves lace, so I didn't want self-striping or anything heavily variegated, so I hope this will work. I still need to sketch out a chart before I swatch, and I'm not even winding the yarn until I finish the current socks -- but I am keeping the skein out where I can see it as motivation.

I'm happy to report that the week has, thus far, been fairly calm, though the power went out unexpectedly for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon for no apparent reason, giving me some unexpected crafting time -- no power means no work email! I pulled a book from my Kindle library and plied the skein of mystery wool:

I ended up with approximately 159 yards of chain-plied fingering weight from 55 grams. It looks like it will work quite well for beards and various other gnome-related needs, plus now I have used up another random ball of wool.

There's been some excellent reading happening this week. I have finished two books and am getting close to the end of two more.

First was the next Read With Us selection, Intermezzo. At the last Zoom, the book was announced ahead of its publication, so I went into my Libby app and tagged the book "notify me" so that I'd get an alert when the library had it. I happened to see the notification pop up on my phone and immediately put the book on hold, making me third in line for it, so I didn't have to wait long (and I did think about delaying it, given that the discussion isn't happening until early next year, but thought I could always reread it if I need to). This is the story of two brothers, Peter and Ivan, who are a decade apart in age and in very different places in life, and when we meet them, their father has just died after a long illness. The story is told in shifting perspectives, and through following the thoughts and experiences of both brothers, we learn a lot about their history, how their relationship with one another has evolved, and how they are both dealing (or not) with their grief. This was only my second time reading a book by Sally Rooney, and I wasn't terribly impressed by the first one. I found this new novel to be a bit of a slow burn for me; I was kind of confused at first, particularly by Peter's sections, as his thoughts were more rambling and full of incomplete sentences. But once I got about halfway through, I had a better sense of my bearings in terms of the two brothers and their voices, such as they are. I can understand why some people have trouble with Rooney's writing (she doesn't use quotation marks around speech, for instance), but I think it's something you can adapt to. I really enjoyed this one, and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more after the discussion. I gave it 4 stars.

Next, I went on the hunt for audiobooks on NetGalley because I was caught up on podcasts and had a wait for the next audiobook I wanted to read from the library. I can't remember where I first heard about Quarterlife; I must've seen someone bookmark it and it showed up in my feed. But after spending the summer with A Suitable Boy, this seemed like an excellent pairing. Like "the brick," it's largely a story of young people searching for meaning and purpose in their lives, but instead of dealing with the echoes of Partition and colonialism, they are contending with the impacts of economic meltdowns and rising nationalism -- as well as the same issues associated with caste and religion that have not gone away. The narrative centers three 20-somethings: Naren, who has studied and worked in the United States and returned to India following news of changes in political power; Amanda, a white New Englander feeling a need to escape her life and contribute to the betterment of society; and Rohit, Naren's younger brother, a filmmaker exploring politics and his family history. There's a lot going on in this book, with many other characters and side stories introduced and a lot of discussion of politics, caste, and religion. I'm not sure if my difficulty in following was due to the sheer volume of information, my lack of familiarity with Indian politics, or that I was listening rather than reading with my eyes; it was likely a combination of all three. I'm sure that readers who could appreciate the details and the nuance got a lot more out of the novel than I did. Despite my confusion, however, I could appreciate the skill of the author in tackling so much and in getting inside the heads of such an array of characters. I gave it 3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for providing me with an advanced listener copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I'm nearing the end of another NetGalley ARC, Awake in the Floating City, and Louise Erdrich's newest novel, The Mighty Red. I expect I'll have a review of both by this time next week.

What are you making and reading this week?

Back to Routine

Good morning, friends. It rarely happens, but I woke up this morning happy that it's Monday. It's not that I'm eager to get back to work and all that, but I really am feeling a need for a regular routine after an unusual weekend. More than anything, my body is craving normal meals and my normal amount of water consumption! I can't say that our Yom Kippur observance was good, really, because it's a very solemn holiday, but it was a meaningful one. Molly fasted for the first time and did fine without eating, though she felt faint after services and drank some water when we got home. And we had a lovely birthday brunch for my father yesterday, but it was a large meal in the middle of the day and thus messed up my appetite a bit -- probably not the best after a day of not eating. Today it is back to normal for me, with plenty of water and plenty of fruits and vegetables.

I did not do much knitting over the weekend because frankly there wasn't much time. When we got home from services Saturday afternoon, I was just too tired and took a nap instead! But I've made some progress on my sweater the past two evenings. I've completed the short rows (which I think I made only one tiny mistake on -- but I'm not tinking back to fix it) and have gotten through three increase sections.

I also worked a little on my current socks yesterday while listening to the end of an audiobook and am almost finished with the leg of sock number two:

I'm feeling an urge to finish up this second sock because I actually had an idea for a sock design last week and I'd like to swatch it, but I know if I do that and it works as I hope, I'll completely abandon these socks, so I'm forcing myself to stay focused until they're done. Really that shouldn't take too much time, so perhaps you'll see the swatch later in the week.

Today I'm hoping to get a run in before it rains again -- we had some surprise thunderstorms yesterday -- and to feel more like myself again. Thankfully my to-do list isn't too long and it's a work-from-home day, both of which will help me to recover from my weekend. Here's hoping your new week is similarly off to a calm start.

Starting Small

It's not much, but it's a start!

As I hoped, I was able to cast on for my Goldenfern (Ravelry link) on Wednesday evening. After much deliberation, I've decided to knit the next size up -- finished bust circumference of 40.75 in./101.5 cm -- and hope for the best. That sounds a bit like I just picked it at random, but really I did a number of calculations based on my gauge to verify that it would come more or less the right size. I'll be trying this on as I go to make sure that's the case. I expect this is going to be a long-term knit, and that's okay. Given how much time it took to spin the yarn, I don't mind taking my time and enjoying working with it. But it would be nice to be able to wear it this season, so I'm going to do my best not to let it sit and actually continue to work on it regularly.

The weekend ahead is looking pretty full but, fortunately, not with a lot of running around. Yom Kippur begins this evening at sundown, so we'll be having a big early dinner ahead of services and will be at synagogue this evening. (Side note: The evening service that begins the holiday features one of the most beautiful prayers in the liturgy, at least in my opinion. If you'd like to hear a bit, here is the video of the service from last year; Kol Nidre begins at about 16:00. And if you fast-forward a bit, you might see a familiar face holding the Torah.) Tomorrow we'll be back at services for the morning and will have a quiet afternoon before we break the fast. Then, on Sunday morning, we are having a brunch to celebrate my father's 75th birthday. I think after a solemn and contemplative day, it will be wonderful to have a reason to celebrate.

I hope you have a weekend full of whatever you need. See you back here on Monday!

Unraveled, Week 41/2024

Thank you all for putting up with my whining about my lost weekend in my last post and for your kind words. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling back to normal now -- even my arm, which was sore for several days after my shots, is better. With all of that bellyaching, I totally lost sight of the fact that Monday was October 7 and a very solemn day for Jews around the world. I don't want to bring you all down, but I'll note that I listened to a couple of podcasts on Monday that I felt helped me to understand the situation a bit better. This episode of This American Life tells the stories of some of the released hostages, and this episode of the Ezra Klein Show gave me a much better understanding of the political situation in Israel. If, like me, you get anxious when things seem out of control and feel better when you have more information, you might find them helpful.

Leaving the sadder events of the world behind, let's return to the fact that today is Wednesday, which means that it's time to join up with Kat and the Unravelers. Today I have finished handspun to share, thanks to a quiet work day on Monday.

This skein looked fairly messy until I twisted it up, likely due to the inconsistencies in the fiber. I spun this from roving -- and by that, I don't mean the term that's become a stand-in for "spinning fiber." True roving is a woolen or carded preparation, meaning that the fibers are all jumbled up and pointing every which way. Because of that arrangement, the fibers are not going to lie down neatly aligned when they're spun, so there's a lot of variation in the singles, even though I spun the roving with my usual short forward draw. I do like that this results in a more rustic look, though, that seems fitting to the blend of the fibers and the tweedy look the yarn has. The finished yarn is fingering to sport weight and about 380 yards of two ply. I did try different angles and lighting in an effort to capture the sparkly bits, but alas, they seem to be camera shy.

I have some more fiber from Margene in a very similar colorway that I was going to put on the wheel next, but I am planning to cast on a gnome soon and thought I should probably have some yarn on hand that could be used for a beard, so I pulled out a small bag of mystery white fiber (I suspect some leftovers from the Ross Farm when we were bagging it up several years ago for the the Rhinebeck booth) and spun about half of it yesterday afternoon:

If I had to guess, I'd say this is either Cheviot or Romney, mainly because I know that their offerings of white/cream wool are limited. But it's definitely very sheepy (and has a fair amount of VM) and a medium wool, not terribly soft but pleasant enough to work with. It'll be perfect for gnome beards, particularly as I don't expect to end up with a ton of yardage.

I still haven't started my handspun sweater, mainly because my brain hasn't felt totally up to following a pattern the past several days, so I've stuck to stockinette socks. Perhaps tonight's the night, though!

With the holiday and everything else going on last week, I did not have a ton of time to read, but when I did, I prioritized finishing up one book:

You may remember that I found an old hardback copy of September at that local church book sale in the summer, and Kat proposed a buddy read in the month of September (Carole later joined in the fun, too). This was a pure comfort read, set in a small Scottish town and following the lives of the members of several local families in the months leading up to a big party. The characters are all fully fleshed out and individual, and we learn more about them as the story unfolds -- their past loves, their heartbreaks, their regrets, their hopes and dreams. There's a bit of intrigue that seems a bit over the top and dramatic, but even that couldn't take away from the charm. I particularly liked how an immigrant family was portrayed; they play a very minor role in the story, but they are so lovingly treated by the locals and the author. My only real complaint is the (sometimes excessive) use of the phrase "as well" --  do they never say "also" in Scotland?! I gave it 4 stars.

I am currently reading the next Read With Us selection, Intermezzo, which I lucked out in getting very quickly from the library because I put it on hold within seconds of getting a notification alert that the library had it and ended up third on the wait list as a result. I am also reading Louise Erdrich's latest, The Mighty Red, which I had preordered from her bookstore earlier in the year, and I am listening to Quarterlife. I'm in my happy place now, with one book in each modality (digital, print, audio). I just hope the rest of the week provides me with the time to spend with all three!

What are you making and reading this week?

So Much for Plans

Oh friends, let me tell you about the weekend that was -- it was not the weekend it was supposed to be. Friday started out pretty good with a great run, better than I've had in a long time. I didn't set out to run a 10K without stopping, but as each mile passed and I still felt good, I just kept running.

Shortly after I got home and was cooling off, though, I started to get that telltale glimmer in my eye that tells me I'm about to get a migraine. I had actually had two auras the night before, one at dinner and one just before bed, but both resolved fairly quickly and never developed into a headache (I always get an aura before a migraine, but in a few instances I've had the visual disturbance without the headache). This time around, the pain did come, though it wasn't terrible and, strangely, it was reversed from my typical experience -- usually my vision goes on my right side and the pain is concentrated on the left side of my head, but this time the visual issues were on the left and the pain was on the right. All of that was strange and a bit unpleasant, but it didn't disturb my day too much. In the afternoon, as planned, Molly and I went to get our flu and COVID shots, both in the same arm, so I was anticipating soreness and also some aches and pains from the latter. Well. I slept horribly Friday night but then felt okay after some Tylenol and coffee in the morning. We had to go get some stuff at Costco, and then I went for a walk before lunch. And when I stood up to clear my dishes from lunch, I realized I was having trouble standing upright. I was lightheaded, every inch of me hurt, and I generally felt awful. I ended up in bed for at least an hour while I waited for my next dose of Tylenol to kick in so I could at least take a quick shower. And that was about all I could manage for the rest of the day. I didn't get to meet up with a friend who was in town for a couple of days, and I didn't get to my high school reunion (I feel bad about that because I was really looking forward to it, but I can always go next year). It was just a total crap day. You will appreciate how rotten I felt when I tell you that I couldn't really knit or even read -- I just had no energy.

Fortunately, I had an extra-long night of sleep Saturday night (in the guest/stash room, where I would be uninterrupted by snoring) and woke yesterday feeling human again. I was still a little wobbly yesterday, but I think that's likely due to migraine hangover -- my brain always feels a little sloshy for a day or two afterwards. I was able to go for my usual walk, at my usual pace, plus do laundry and go homecoming dress shopping with Molly and one of her school friends. And I felt well enough to finish up the second bobbin of singles for my next handspun skein:

This was a really fun spin. I got the fiber -- 4 oz. of CVM/alpaca/angora/sparkle roving -- as a hand-me-down from Margene, and though it was a woolen prep with some chunky bits in it here and there, it was much easier to spin a fairly smooth, fine single with it than the batts I spun last month. The colorway is Gandalf, and it is a lovely blue-gray with lots of silver sparkle that really isn't showing up in the photo. I plan to at least start plying it tomorrow; we'll see how busy the day gets and how much I get done.

I also measured my second sweater swatch over the weekend, and though it didn't give me any clear answers, I think I have a plan. Somehow I ended up with more stitches per inch in going up a needle size than I had before. I can only assume that my swatch with US 4's just didn't really capture my tension accurately. My gauge on US 5's ended up being 26 stitches and 34 rounds over 4 inches, whereas the pattern gauge is 23 stitches and 32 rounds. I'm not as concerned about my rounds per inch, but obviously my stitch gauge off enough that it would make a noticeable difference. I did a couple of quick calculations from stitch counts, though, and it looks like if I do the next size up from what I was planning, I should get about an inch of positive ease in the bust, which is pretty much perfect for me. So I'm going to give it a try, and if the worst thing that happens is that I have to rip out a sweater yoke, so be it. I spent enough time spinning the yarn that I'm going to make sure it becomes a sweater, one way or another.

On that note, I think it's time to get the day started. I hope this week is slightly less hectic for me and good for all of us!

Not Slowing Down

On the one hand, taking a Thursday off means that when you go back to work, there's only one day between you and the weekend, but on the other hand, taking a Thursday off leads to a lot of confusion about what day it is. I've checked several places, though, and have confirmed that it's Friday -- not that the coming weekend really means that things will slow down for me.

But let me back up a bit. We had a really nice Rosh Hashanah, though unfortunately my sister-in-law was sick and couldn't join us for dinner on Wednesday evening. When we walked to services yesterday morning, it was chilly and foggy, but the sun had come out by the time we left and warmed things up. I was able to enjoy the sunshine on a walk. We've all eaten too much good food over the past 36 hours, and there are leftovers in the fridge. Technically the holiday continues today, but we're all back to work and school.

I really have not done much crafting the past couple of days because I've been busy with work and holiday stuff. But I did knit a second swatch for my handspun sweater and am ready to block it.

Rather than doing the faux in-the-round method (where you slide the knitting back to the other end of the need and drape the yarn across the back), I decided to just cast on more stitches and knit an actual tube. I'll be dropping 10-12 stitches and letting them unravel so that I end up with the yarn across the back anyway, but I think I get a better representation of my true gauge this way. I'm going to be ripping out the whole thing afterwards anyway, so I don't care if it looks messy. I was worried that going up to a US 5/3.75 mm was going to result in fabric that was too loose, but I've been pleasantly surprised. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I'm close enough on gauge to make it work.

I'm hoping to catch up on some sleep this weekend, but it's going to be a busy one. Molly and I are going to get our flu shots and COVID boosters this afternoon after I pick her up at school, so I'm anticipating feeling crummy tonight and tomorrow. Then, tomorrow evening, the Mister and I are going to a reception for my 25th high school reunion. Finally, on Sunday, Molly and I have plans to meet up with one of her classmates and her mother to go homecoming dress shopping (they're going to the dance together). And of course there will be the usual chores and laundry, and I'm planning to do a Costco run (we need TP and paper towels, so I'm really hoping people in my area haven't bought them out over concerns related to the dock workers strike). If I do feel really crummy and need to curl up under a blanket, then at least I will have good reading material: I got a notification this morning that my (signed) preordered copy of Louise Erdrich's newest novel will be delivered today!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, with at least some time to slow down. See you back here on Monday!

Unraveled, Week 40/2024

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Can you believe it's October? I'm not sure where this year has gone, but the end of it is quickly approaching. Before we get there, it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers for our weekly check-in.

I am very happy to have another FO to share today, though it's not one that's terribly exciting -- just another ribbed hat for the charity pile:

I used a free pattern (Ravelry link) that I knit once before a number of years ago, though the first time I made it in solid gray yarn and it was a much more boring project. This one was made using some of the leftovers from the recent baby blanket (which, by the way, was received over the weekend and was a big hit). It's a cotton/acrylic blend, which isn't as warm as wool, but I hope that deep doubled brim will help. The only modification I made to the pattern was to do one more round of decreases as the top; the pattern tells you do decrease to 16 stitches and then pull the tail through all of them, but I decreased to eight. It looks just fine -- probably better, in fact, because the hole closed up much more easily than if I'd had twice the number of stitches to work with.

Something else I finished this week, but which I can't show you because it's already been frogged, was a swatch for my handspun sweater. I used the US 4/3.5 mm needles recommended in the pattern but was way off in gauge. The pattern calls for 23 stitches over 4 inches, and I got 25.5 stitches. So now I'll be trying again with a US 5/3.75 mm needle and hoping that I not only get closer to gauge but also have a fabric that's not too loose. If it is, I'll have to do some calculations to see if I can go up a size and use the US 4's to get the right fit. Stay tuned.

I finished two quick books in the past week, both quite enjoyable.

I was a psychology major in college, and my favorite things to learn about were the case histories of patients whose unusual symptoms and circumstances revealed fascinating things about the workings of the mind and the brain. So when I was invited to review The Strange Case of Jane O. on NetGalley and read the description, I was immediately hooked. This novel tells the story of a woman with a perfect memory who begins to experience strange symptoms -- hallucinations, blackouts lasting hours to days -- and as a result starts to doubt her memories. It's told in alternating sections in the form of case notes of the psychiatrist treating her and of her own letters to her young son, which she writes for him to read at some point in the future and which reveal her struggle to understand what is real and what is not. But the reader soon realizes that neither narrator is completely reliable, Jane because of her symptoms and her doctor because of his past efforts to research phenomena that can't necessarily be proved through science. The result is a fascinating, propulsive story that will leave anyone questioning their memory and whether someone with a seemingly perfect memory can remember things that never happened. I gave it 4 stars. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. This book will be published February 25, 2025.

The last title I had yet to read from the Booker Prize shortlist was Stone Yard Devotional, which wasn't available to me through my library, but luckily Margene was kind enough to send me her copy as long as I promised to send it back when I was done. This is a quiet novel, with an unnamed middle-aged female narrator who, frustrated and burnt out by her life, returns to her rural Australian hometown and comes to live with a small community of nuns. Though the book clearly takes place during the COVID pandemic (references are made to travel restricts and masks), it's never directly named. Instead, the narrator focuses on the tasks in front of her: cooking for the sisters, dealing with a plague of mice brought on by drought, and addressing her memories of her youth and her grief at losing both her parents. Despite the fact that there are some Big Issues that arise for the narrator, there isn't really a lot of drama, and they're dealt with quite beautifully. I really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars. And I have already sent it back to Margene, just in case you're wondering!

I'm still trying to finish up September -- in October -- and have a little more than 100 pages left, and I'm contemplating which of the two other Booker Prize longlist titles on my Kindle shelf I want to read next.

Better in 2024: September

 

And just like that, we've arrived at the end of September -- and the final Monday in September to boot, which means it's time to check in on my One Little Word and to join in on the link party hosted so graciously every month by Carolyn.

I spent a lot of time this past weekend thinking about Better and how it's appeared in my life over the past month. And then I started thinking back to September of last year and comparing it to September of this month. I think we all hope that each new year will be better in than the last, but just looking at this one month in 2023 versus 2024, I see a lot of ways that things are Better for me. Not that it really would take that much -- you may remember that I finally caught COVID last September and was testing positive for a full two weeks. That meant that I was isolating for half the month. That would be bad enough, but this time overlapped with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, last year, and so I missed out on services and the holiday meal with the extended family. I remember having myself a little pity party and baking challah to go with the individual portions of food my mother packaged up and sent over for me. This year, however, I baked three batches of challah -- six loaves total -- over this past weekend, and I'll get to enjoy it in the company of family and friends on Wednesday night.

I also missed out on the Great Race last year, the first time I'd missed it since I started running (they even did a virtual race in 2020), and I felt sad about it every time I wore last year's shirt. But this year I was back at it, this time with Molly participating as well, and I think I may have gotten my fastest time ever at 27:14.

It was a crummy day, raining the whole time, but I felt strong and relaxed the whole way through. I started out just behind the 9-minute-mile pacers and eventually passed and stayed in front of them. And it was great to have Molly out there with us for the first time. One of her school friends ran with her most of the way, but they got separated at some point and her friend (who plays soccer, so is used to running) finished before her and we all waited for Molly to come to the finish line. She crossed in less than 40 minutes, which is quite impressive given that she has only recently started running. It's a great feeling to do something that makes you feel good and to be able to do it with the people you love most.

Her face looks like mine, but her legs are all her father's!

You know what else has gotten Better this month? My job! As of this week, I am officially an exempt employee again, meaning my job classification has been corrected (and I've essentially gotten a promotion), and, what's more, the union vote results were announced late last week and both professional and nonprofessional employees voted overwhelmingly to join the United Steelworkers! The next step is electing our bargaining committee to negotiate with the university (and no, I will not be seeking to join that committee!).

The timing off all this feels rather appropriate, even though some of the more frustrating things have taken much longer than I wanted them to. After all, in the Jewish calendar, we're wrapping up the books on the current year and getting ready to start the chapter on the new one -- and certainly I have the highest hopes that the new year will be even Better than this one.

Finishing It Up

I am so glad it's Friday -- it's been a long week! We've finally gotten rain this week, which we badly need but which also has been disrupting my typical exercise schedule. I guess we're getting to that time of year when I can't count on being able to get outside every day, and that's okay! Work has been busy and the Mister has had early appointments a couple of days this week, so I've had to do the morning school run and been more rushed in the morning. I am looking forward to a quieter couple of days this weekend.

There has been some knitting this week. I knit another baby hat for a gift, this time for our neighbors, who had a baby this summer, so I made it a little larger.

I think I've now knit this pattern (Ravelry link) about eight times, and I love it every time! It's great when you need a gift in a hurry, too; I knit the second one in two evenings without too much effort.

I also started the socks for my mother-in-law with the deep-stash yarn:

I like how this yarn is knitting up and the fabric it's creating. I don't know how durable this particular fiber blend will be, but the socks should feel nice, and that's really all I are about.

Yesterday I got a hankering to spin again, so I pulled out some of the fiber that Margene sent me a while back when she was clearing out her fiber stash. This is some roving from Wooly Wonka Fibers, a blend of CVM, alpaca, angora, and sparkle. This photo (taken on a gloomy morning) doesn't do it justice:

The weekend ahead should be pretty uneventful, but the highlight is that all three of us are signed up to run in the Great Race 5K on Sunday morning. The Mister and I have been doing it for many years (though I missed it last year because of COVID), but this is Molly's first time. She's been running a bit this summer to get ready for it, and she's going to be doing it with a friend, so I don't have to stay with her and her slow pace. Right now the weather forecast is showing showers off and on over the course of the day, but we might get lucky and get a break for our race time. Other than that, I plan to spend the weekend in the kitchen. My mother has asked me to bake the challah for our family Rosh Hashanah dinner next week, and I'm also planning to make chicken soup and matzah balls (we'll eat some for dinner on Sunday but also freeze some soup for any sickness needs this winter).

I hope those of you in the path of Hurricane Helene stay safe and your power stays on, and I hope everyone has a restorative weekend!

Unraveled, Week 39/2024

Happy Wednesday -- and happy union ballot counting day! Today's the day that the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board will begin counting ballots from the staff union election. I don't know how long it will take them to count them all or how soon we'll hear about the outcome, but I do know that a simple majority of all the returned ballots will determine the outcome (so if 100 ballots are returned and 51 of them are in favor of a union, then we get a union). Please send good, pro-union thoughts this way!

As it is Wednesday, that means it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers, this week with a finished pair of socks!

After starting these way back at the beginning of August, I finally wrapped them up Monday -- well, technically yesterday, as I ran out of time to graft the toe of the second sock before bed, but really the knitting was done Monday night. I guess I've learned my lesson that while they can be more exciting to look at, patterned socks just don't get knit as quickly. I call these my copycat socks because I basically reverse-engineered a pattern that I've seen others make so that I could use a different gauge. The patterning is on the front the leg and top of the foot only, but it uses biased fabric, so the fit is snug. My socks always stretch out as I wear them, though, so I'm hoping that while it might be a bit of a struggle to get them on, they'll be fine once I've worn them a bit. The yarn is my favorite Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (superwash merino/nylon) in the colorway Sugarplummed, which was a holiday colorway a few years ago. I'd been saving this skein for a while and decided to finally make myself some socks with it already!

I've already cast on another pair of socks, this time just stockinette so that I know they won't linger on the needles. I'm making them for my mother-in-law for the holidays, and I'm using some yarn that's probably among the oldest in my stash because it was purchased at a yarn store that closed soon after I started knitting seriously.

According to the editing history on Ravelry, this yarn was discontinued in 2011 -- so I think it has aged quite long enough in my stash! It's a blend of bamboo, wool, and nylon, so it should feel pretty nice in a sock, even if it's perhaps not the best for durability. But my in-laws' condo isn't carpeted, so I have a feeling they'll both be wearing socks all the time in the colder months.

I mentioned in Monday's post that I got some extra reading time in over the weekend. What I didn't say was that I used it finish two books and read a third (it was really short).

The first order of business was finishing up Creation Lake, which I was reading primarily because it's on the Booker Prize shortlist. It's told from the point of view of a woman known as Sadie, though it's not her real name because she's a spy for hire working on infiltrating a group of activists trying to stop the French government from stealing all the groundwater in the region for a "mega-basin." But she's also reflecting on earlier jobs, including when she was an FBI agent who took the fall when a case when south, and sharing the emails from an older man advising the activists (she's hacked into his account) who spends a lot of time philosophizing about Neanderthals. It's a strange book, and while I didn't necessarily get bored with it, I was left wondering what the point was. There's not really a tidy resolution, and the narrator isn't particularly likable. Plus I didn't need to know that much about Neanderthals. I gave it 2.5 stars rounded up to 3; I didn't particularly like it, but I also didn't hate it. I would not recommend it unless you're committed to reading the entire shortlist.

A much, much better read was Sipsworth, which I know has been making the rounds. My library only had it on audio and there was a bit of a wait, but once I did get it, it took me only a couple of days to get through. This is a delightful story about Helen Cartwright, an octogenarian who, when we first meet her, is living alone and pretty much waiting to die. She retrieves an aquarium that a neighbor has thrown out and finds that among its contents is a mouse. After initially trying to get rid of the mouse, she eventually comes to enjoy its company, and its presence in her home leads her to connect with others in her town and to form new friendships that enrich her life. It's a really lovely, heartwarming book that reminds you of the power of connecting with others. I gave it 4 stars.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, after watching Katie's video in which she reviewed it, I read the entirety of Happening. This memoir recounts -- in very specific and graphic detail -- how the author obtained an abortion when she was a university student in France when the procedure was still illegal. Because of the subject matter and the frankness with which it's discussed, this is a difficult book to read, but I felt it was a story I felt I should read, especially given the current political climate in our country. It reminded me a lot of the movie 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which deals with a woman trying to get an abortion in Communist Romania in the late 1980s. Tough book, certainly not for everyone, but a worthwhile read, in my opinion. I gave it 4 stars.

Now I'm trying to make some headway on September, though I doubt I'll finish it before the month is over. But I don't really care if I don't, because it's such a feel-good read, especially before bed!

Fall-ish

It is an overcast, rainy Monday morning here in Pittsburgh. We certainly need the rain, badly, but it makes it that much harder to get up when the alarm goes off -- and that seemed to be the case for both the Mister and Molly, who both got back into bed after their alarms went off this morning. I would have liked to do the same, but someone has to get the household moving!

Yesterday was, of course, the first day of fall, but it still feels very much like summer here. This week we're supposed to get more rain and highs are going to be a little lower than last week (in the upper 70s as opposed to the mid-80s), but it still does not feel like fall. I'm a bit jealous of those who have weather cool enough to wear handknits, and frankly I'm starting to worry we're going to skip directly from summer to winter.

We had a fairly low-key weekend, which was much needed. Work was quiet enough for me on Friday that I was able to get some cleaning and laundry done, freeing up my Saturday, and that meant extra time reading and crafting. I finally finished up the double-ended hat Saturday afternoon:

I used my pattern (Ravelry link) and the skein of Malabrigo Ultimate Sock that came home with me from the retreat in July. I'm still undecided as to whether this is going in the charity pile or if it will go to my middle nephew, but either way it's done and another skein has been used up.

Now my main focus is finishing up my Sugarplummed socks -- my only WIP right now, if you can believe it!

I've got about three inches of foot left before I start the toe, and as this is all I'm actively working on at the moment, I expect these socks will be a finished pair by midweek.

Now that summer is officially over, I want to say a quick thanks to Kym for hosting her Summer Vibes Scavenger Hunt and for encouraging me to embrace the summer months instead of resenting them for making me feel like a warm puddle of goo. I received some lovely gifts from her for my participation:

Kym, I don't know if you just picked out things that appealed to you or if you had me in mind, but you couldn't have selected more perfect items for me -- thank you!

I hope you aren't having too much trouble getting your Monday started! I will see you back here on Wednesday with a crafting and reading update.

FO Friday

It's been a while since I had a finished object to share on a Friday, but I've got a big one today. It shouldn't be a surprise, but with lace, it's always a rather dramatic transformation, even if blocking isn't really extreme. Here's what the baby blanket looked like before (with ruler for scale):

And here it is after it was stretched, pinned, and aggressively steamed:

I could have really stretched the fabric more than I did, but because this is a blanket and not a shawl, I only did it enough to make the lace open up and lie more or less flat.

Here are the details:

For the pattern, I used this free shawl pattern (Ravelry link) but converted it to make it a square. If you have knit enough top-down triangle shawls, this is a pretty straightforward process. You start with a circular cast-on and eight stitches and then knit the pattern twice per round. The main difference is that you omit the border stitches and add a second "spine" stitch after the second and fourth repeats -- in essence, you have one "triangle" that is repeated four times per round.

The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but obviously I wanted something heavier for a blanket. I used Caron Blossom Cakes, a 61% cotton/39% acrylic blend. This is one of those yarns made with a knit tube into which fiber is then blown, though I don't know if one component is cotton and the other acrylic or if both are a blend. I used a full skein and about a third of another, and I did encounter two knots in the first skein (and I have already spotted one in the second). Knots are a pain, but considering that each skein is 8 oz./227 g and 481 yds./440 m, I suppose it's not unexpected.

I used US 8/5.0 mm needles, though I could have used even larger ones; I didn't want the holes in the lace to be too big.

This blanket will now be wrapped up and sent to my college roommate, who had a surprise second daughter this summer (well, I assume it wasn't a surprise to her, but I didn't know about the baby until after she was born).

There appears to be a bit of a baby boom going on in my world right now, so I whipped up another quick gift the past couple of evenings:

This is the Berry Baby Hat (Ravelry link), a pattern I have made many times before, including for Molly when she was a newborn. A woman in my office is expecting her first baby this fall and the office is throwing her a baby shower, so naturally I felt I had to knit a little something. I used two of the semisolid Fibernymph Dye Works DK colors I ordered a couple of weeks ago -- Warm Honey and Light Silver Green -- to make this more of a squash hat. I used a whopping 71 yards of yarn! I will likely make another one, slightly larger, for our neighbors' new baby.

We have a fairly quiet weekend ahead, with our only plans being celebrating the Mister's birthday on Sunday. I'm hoping to get some more reading and crafting done, and I'm hoping for some promised rain! I hope you have a wonderful couple of days, whatever you have planned.

Unraveled, Week 38/2024

Happy mid-week, friends! That big project that I've been waiting for finally showed up yesterday afternoon -- though thankfully it was much smaller than the first iteration, especially because it has to go to print by Friday. That will be my top priority today, but I can't miss out on a week joining in with Kat and the Unravelers!

I did indeed manage to skein and wash that finished handspun on Monday (thanks to a Teams meeting in which no one turns on their camera). I left it outside for about an hour and it was dry much faster than it would have been if it had been hanging in my shower, so I guess there is some benefit to the warm weather continuing! Because I spun this long draw, it's not as consistent as my yarn usually is, and it ranges from laceweight to probably DK or worsted, but I'd say overall it's in the fingering to sport neighborhood. I have approximately 345 yards -- just don't ask me what I'm going to do with it! The goal was just to spin it, so for now, it goes back into the stash.

My main focus the last several days has been the lace baby blanket. I'm officially onto the edging and have joined in my second skein of yarn, but it's getting really unwieldy! It's on a 40-inch circular needle, and I suppose I could use a second needle, but that seems more fiddly to me than just shoving it along the needle.

Once this is done, I'll be pinning it out and steaming the heck out of it in the hopes that I can kill the acrylic content in the yarn and it will hold the block permanently.

Reading has continued to be very good. I finished two more books this past week.

My Friends was on the Booker Prize longlist (I'm sad it didn't make the shortlist!), and I'd been wanting to read it for several months. I gave up on waiting for the library to get it and just bought it on Kindle. This novel reads very much like a memoir, and certainly it is grounded in real events. The narrator tells the story of events that happened when he was much younger and brings us back to the present. First, as a child in Qaddafi's Libya, he hears a short story by a mysterious Libyan author read on the BBC that so moves him that he decides to study literature. Then, as a student in the UK, he is convinced to attend a protest at the Libyan embassy in London by a fellow student at which they are both gravely injured and, as a result of being there, are both forced to become exiles because of the risks they would face in returning home. Years later, he meets the author of that short story completely by chance, and the two become friends. These three men share a common background and a common fear of their native country's oppressive regime, and they all find different ways of navigating their exile and separation from their families. Then comes the Arab Spring and difficult decisions to be made. I thought this book was really well written and that it speaks to many aspects of the human condition that aren't unique to these individuals. I gave it 4 stars. 

When I am caught up on podcasts and am waiting for library holds, I generally scroll through Libby and Hoopla to see what audiobooks are available that I've been interested in reading, and that is how I happened to pick up Weyward over the weekend. I know a number of you have already read and enjoyed this one. I thought it worked really well on audio because there's a different reader for each of the three female characters: Altha in 1619, who is accused of witchcraft; Violet in 1942, who has been kept sheltered at home by a domineering father; and Kate in 2019, who has run away from her abusive partner and sought shelter in an old cottage left to her by a great-aunt she barely knew. All three women are fighting to claim their place in a world dictated and controlled by men, and all have an unusual bond with nature. There's a strong element of magical realism and a bit of a predictable outcome to their storylines, but it's a highly enjoyable and atmospheric journey. This would be a great one if you're looking for something just a little creepy heading into spooky season! I gave it 4 stars as well.

I am still (very slowly) reading September, and on Monday, after the announcement of the Booker Prize shortlist, I started Creation Lake. I was hoping that all the books on the shortlist would be ones I already read or at least ones I already had, but there are two titles I have not yet read. I'm not sure if I'll be able to read Stone Yard Devotional before the winner is announced, as my library apparently has only one (physical) copy that's checked out and isn't at a branch near me. There are two other titles from the longlist that I plan to read in any case -- one I already have in my Kindle library and one I preordered (it doesn't come out until next month). I will say that I'm more enthusiastic about this year's shortlist than I was about last years! Are you following the Booker Prize? If so, I'd love to know what you think about the shortlist and what you think might win!

Okay, friends, I've got to get to my editing work this morning so I can get back to my reading for pleasure ASAP. Have a good one!

Begin Again

It was hard to get up when my alarm went off this morning after waking several times during the night and then having strange dreams (I was back at college, though not a college I recognized, and I was assigned to live in a room shaped like a giant tooth!?), so I am thankful for hot coffee in my favorite mug. We had a fun but busy weekend, and I could have used another day to rest (but isn't that always the case?).

Hamilton was great. I actually liked this cast better than the one we saw five years ago, although our Aaron Burr was having a little trouble during "Wait for It" and seemed a little off key to me. But in general I thought the actors were all extremely talented singers and did an excellent job of enunciating so that the lyrics could be understood. Molly loved the show and said that she was glad she didn't see it until now because she has now studied American history and could understand all the context.

I took my double-ended hat with me to work on during the show because it was the only project I had in progress that I could knit without looking. I totally forgot to put a marker in to see how much I knit, but I can tell that the ball of yarn is getting smaller.

My main fiber focus over the weekend was my spinning project. I did end up finishing the singles late Friday, and yesterday I wound them into a center-pull ball and plied them:

On today's to-do list is winding the yarn off and setting the twist. 

I expect it to be a busy week at work -- that big project that keeps threatening has to get done and off to print -- but at least there are things to look forward to. This afternoon the Booker Prize shortlist will be revealed, and tomorrow evening is the next Read With Us Zoom discussion. And union ballots are due this week! I hope your week is off to a good start, and I'll see you back here on Wednesday for an update.

Are We There Yet?

Happy Friday, friends. It's been a long week, so I'm happy to see it come to an end. The Mister had to do a bunch of work travel this week, and it got complicated by a diversion and landing due to a medical emergency on board yesterday (he's fine, and the passenger with the issue was being cared for by a nurse on board). Last night was also curriculum night at Molly's school, so I spent the evening meeting all her teachers and hearing about her classes for the year. On top of all this, the heat has come back and we haven't had rain in a while, so everything feels completely dried out.

On the plus side, I did get some good news from work this week: My job classification change has officially gone through! The change is effective at the end of the month, so I'll still have to submit weekly time sheets for a few more weeks and it will take about a month for my paychecks to catch up, but at long last this major headache is over. I'll also add that, thanks to the Mister's encouragement to ask for it, I am going to be getting an additional payment to make up for the increased pay I would have received if they'd put in this change months ago. It's not a huge amount, but it was bumped up a bit by my office to a nice even number (I suspect to placate me after all my complaining). It's really nice to be relieved of this extra stress after nearly a year.

I have been focusing mainly on two projects this week. The first is the baby blanket, which I think is in the home stretch. I finished the sixth main pattern repeat (of eight total) last night and slipped half of the stitches onto a spare needle to get a better sense of the size:

My 9.75 in. foot for scale

The body repeats are 10 rounds each, and the border is another 14 rounds, so combined with a good hard block to open up the lace, I think this will be a nice size for a baby blanket. I still have a little more than a third of the first skein of yarn left, and I'm hoping it will be enough (though I've got that second skein in reserve if needed).

I've also been spinning away at those Charollais singles:

I'm hoping to finish them today, if I can. Woolen-spun singles spin up a lot faster than worsted-spun singles, but the difference is that I need to keep an eye on them as I spin, which means it's not feasible for me to read while I spin. I know that I'm very spoiled in being able to spin or knit and read at the same time, but I've gotten so used to doing it that doing just one leisure activity at a time without doing something else has started to feel unproductive to me (yes, I know that's entirely ridiculous). I can, however, listen to something while spinning these singles, so that's mainly what I've been doing. And once I'm ready to ply, I'll be back to spinning and reading again.

We've got a fun weekend coming up -- Molly and I are going to see Hamilton tomorrow! This will be my second time (I saw it the first time in January of 2019, when she was a bit young for it). Sunday we'll both be tuning in to the Makers for Kamala livestream. And I'm hoping to take care of the laundry and cleaning today so that the rest of my weekend can be cleared for the stuff I want to do rather than the stuff I have to do.

Here's hoping your weekend is full of the stuff you want to do!