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Monday, March 18, 2024

Faux Vacationing

I am happy to report that we have made it to Florida. Our flight was a bit bumpy at times, but Mo was well dosed with Dramamine and suffered no sickness, and we even arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule! It made for a late night, however. We landed around 10, and by the time we got our luggage and drove to my parents' house, it was nearly 11. My mother was waiting with fresh waffles (we didn't eat much of a real dinner at the airport), so we ate and unpacked and it was after midnight by the time we went to bed. I honestly can't remember the last time I was up that late willingly! I will say that the benefit of coming late on a Friday night is that I had a whole weekend to enjoy being here before I have to get back to work today. And let me tell, I did take advantage of it! I slept in, I went for long walks, I went for dips in the pool, I read for pleasure. It's been warm and sunny and delightful.

Reading Brideshead Revisited while dipping my feet in the pool

I worked on my Hitchhiker a bit at the gate in Pittsburgh and on the plane, adding a couple of teeth, but I've mainly been working on my Bereket the past two days. I'm well into the textured section on the first side, and while it's a lot slower to work than the stockinette, it's quite engaging -- though the bobble/welt rows do take a long time (especially if you read the directions incorrectly and have to rip out and redo a row, as was the case last night).

Today is likely to be busy at work, but I plan to go for a run this morning and I can certainly take my laptop outside on the lanai and enjoy the weather while I work. Hope the week is off to a good start for you!

Friday, March 15, 2024

No Such Thing as a Day Off

Good morning and happy Friday, friends! Technically I am on vacation today -- it's spring break week at the university, and staff always get the Friday of spring break week off as a holiday. But I have so much to do today that it may as well be a normal workday. I got up at the normal time to get Mo to a 7:30 orthodontist appointment (fast once she was called back, and she doesn't have to go back for eight weeks), and now I have a list of things to do before I go to pick her and her friend up from school and we head for the airport. I really don't want to come home to a pile of laundry and other chores to do, so yesterday I did a couple of loads of laundry and today I'm doing sheets and towels and cleaning bathrooms. The weather is pretty crummy, gray and rainy, so I'm going to postpone my run until tomorrow, but it should clear up later today.

That rain did make it hard to take a decent photo, so please excuse this shot of my Bereket in progress:

I've finished the first sleeve section and started working back and forth on the first textured section. I did the first row of what the designer calls bobbles but what I'd call welts, which take a bit of time to do but are really fun to look at. I'm sure I messed up a few, but I don't think you can really tell with the texture of the yarn. This project is coming with me on the trip, as is my Hitchhiker, the new design (not yet cast on), and yarn for a pair of socks just in case. I'm fairly certain that should be sufficient, especially because next week will be a busy one at work.

And now I'd better get back to my to-do list. I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday with some progress photos from Florida!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Unraveled, Week 11/2024

We are back into spring here in Western Pennsylvania, and this week is moving right along. My appointments went well on Monday (my doctor actually seemed surprised by how many miles I cover every week, so I suppose I'm not the average middle-aged woman in that respect at least?), and I've started to make lists for packing. The trip will be here before I know it! But before then, it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers.

I have continued to work on my sweater -- which doesn't look all that different, though I'm getting closer to starting the fun textured part -- and on my Hitchhiker, which has grown:

I'm still at that point in the shawl where it feels like it'll be done in no time, but I know the rows are soon going to start taking longer. I'm extremely pleased with how the colors are transitioning, and it's also rather exciting that a number of other spinners in the Southern Cross Fibre Ravelry group have started their own SCF handspun Hitchhikers (or other similar shawls). I've never considered myself a trendsetter before, but I suppose there's a first time for everything!

The shawl and the sweater will both be coming to Florida with me, and I also wound yarn yesterday for a new design project that will involve some stranded colorwork:

On the left is a very bright self-striping from Geektastic Fibers in a colorway called Dolly (as it Parton); it was the show colorway at SSK last year. On the right is a tonal from Marianated Yarns in the colorway Indigo Bunting. I don't know if I'll be able to cast on before we leave, but at least by next week you'll get a peek at what these are going to become.

Reading has been a bit of a mixed bag this week. I've finished three books.

When we left Florida after our December vacation, I came home with a paperback of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo courtesy of my mother, and I picked it up recently because I wanted something fluffier to read before bed. I'm sure some of you have read this already, as it's not a new release. It was entertaining, but just kind of meh for me. I wasn't terribly impressed by the writing, and I felt a bit like I'd already read parts of the book (Do Tell has a similar feel and better writing, in my opinion). This is a book that I would have read on the beach or next to a pool a couple of decades ago, and while it was entertaining, it wasn't great. I gave it 3 stars. I will say that my mother didn't want the book back, so I put it in one of the Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood, and it was gone the same day. I hope that helped balance all the good FLL karma I've had a little!

I can't remember where I heard about Unorthodox Love, likely a podcast, but I'd had it bookmarked on Hoopla, and when over the weekend I again wanted something fluffy, I decided to give it a try and borrowed the audiobook. The premise -- a modern Orthodox woman, well past her prime in her community, trying to find her soulmate -- sounded promising, and while I'm not typically a romance reader, I occasionally enjoy the escapism of the genre. Unfortunately, this was a case of a so-so book getting absolutely ruined by a terrible narrator. I may be expecting too much, but I would hope that any audiobook reader worth their salt would make sure they're pronouncing unfamiliar words correctly, but this reader clearly didn't and completely botched a lot of Hebrew and Yiddish terms (like "moe hole" for "mohel" and "nish" for "knish"). What's worse, she also did it with English words (pronouncing "psalm" as "puh-salm," for example) and even with at least one character's name, pronouncing it two different ways over the course of just a couple of sentences! I try not to be a book snob, but this was so distracting that it pretty much destroyed any chance of enjoying this book. I gave it 2 stars.

The reason I needed fluffy reads was because of the last book I finished (just before bed last night), and I know those of you who have read it will understand. A Little Life is a long, emotional book about four college friends and where their lives take them after college. This is a book with all the content warnings, as the story of one of these friends becomes the focus and more and more of his past is revealed. There are sections about abuse and suffering that are incredibly hard to read -- but you are rewarded by many more sections about the incredible love the characters have for each other and how beautifully they take care of each other. This was a book I simultaneously wanted to finish to find out how it would end and never wanted to stop reading; the writing is beautiful and the characters so well developed. It's a book I'm going to be thinking about for a long time. I gave it 5 stars.

I'm once again in that rare situation where I have no books in progress, but that won't last long!

What are you making and reading this week?

Monday, March 11, 2024

Birthday Weekending

Thank you all for the birthday wishes on Friday! I was able to get all my typical weekend chores done on Friday, so I was able to relax on Saturday and spend the day doing fun things rather than scrubbing toilets and folding laundry. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great -- it rained pretty much all day on Saturday, and on Sunday, despite the fact that the sky looked clear and it was sunny when I left for a run, there were sudden snow squalls and I came home looking like this:

I was soaked and got right into a hot shower! And then I put on wool socks and a wool sweater to warm up.

So, other than having cake this weekend, my birthday was spent doing things I enjoy. I drank good coffee. I realized we had some eggs to use up, so I baked challah (which is in the freezer now for future shabbats):

I read parts of three different books (one on paper, one on audio, and one on Kindle). And I cast on a new sweater in handspun:

This morning I'm headed to the orthodontist first thing to pick up my new/replacement retainer, and later this morning I have my annual check-up at my doctor. And today also starts the countdown to our spring break trip. It's actually a four-day work week for me (it's spring break week, so staff get off Friday for "spring holiday), and our flight is Friday evening, so I've got to start packing! We all know clothing isn't the big decision -- it's what knitting and books to take!

Friday, March 08, 2024

Ending the Week with Smiles

Does it feel to anyone else like it's been a very long week? It hasn't even been a particularly busy one, but yet the days have seemed to crawl by and I've been expecting it to be Friday the past couple of mornings when I've woken up. We've finally made it, though, and I thought I'd finish up the week by sharing some happy things.

First, Mo has a new pair of socks (which she just might need this weekend, when there is yet again snow -- albeit of the nonsticking variety -- in the forecast):


I didn't do anything special with these -- I didn't even bother trying to get the stripes to match up! They're my usual sock recipe worked over 64 stitches, with a heel flap and gusset and a wedge toe. They are a bit roomy on her for now, which isn't a problem at all, as she only wears her hand-knit socks around the house, but they do give her some space to grow. You can't see the sparkle at all in the photo, unfortunately, but trust me, it's there and it's delightful.

Another happy thing: playing with handspun. I swatched with my Rambouillet, measured my swatch, gave it a good soak, left it to dry, and measured it again. I was very close on gauge before washing and it changed just a tiny bit (I'm spot on for stitch gauge and off by half a row per inch on row gauge). More importantly, I discovered that this yarn is a delight to work with and creates a lovely fabric, so I'm going to have a very nice sweater out of it. And as the socks were done and I needed another mostly mindless project on the needles, I wound up my most recent skein of handspun and started a Hitchhiker.

Can you tell it was gloomy outside when I took this photo?

I have to admit that I was peer-pressured to start knitting with this handspun by several members of the Southern Cross Fibre Ravelry group, but I don't regret it at all. I've knit a bit more since I took this photo, and I'm getting a lovely subtle rainbow that is making me very happy indeed.

The next happy thing is something I totally forgot to share on Monday. Last weekend we had a big dinner with some family friends -- friends we've known since the summer before I started first grade and my brother was a newborn. These are friends we've gone on vacation and celebrated holidays with over the years, and now that there are three generations involved, it's harder and harder to find a time when everyone is free. But amazingly we all were last Saturday night, and it was great to see everyone. Most of all, it was great to see my brother and nephew arrive in the coordinating old man-style sweaters I made them:

Yes, I did stick his hand in his pocket for this photo.

I hope you appreciate that it took three women making absolute fools of themselves to get my nephew's attention for this photo:

The final happy thing? Tomorrow is my birthday! It's not a big birthday (to be honest, I don't really care so much about turning another year older except that I don't love the next number and am sorry that I will no longer be the answer to everything). I also told my family that I didn't really want a big to-do, but I like being with them and would like to have cake. Tonight the three of us are going out to one of our favorite restaurants; tomorrow we're having the Mister's side of the family over (except for my brother-in-law, who will be out of town -- presumably to celebrate his half-birthday because he is exactly 6 months older than i); and on Sunday, we'll have an early dinner at my parents' with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. I'm hoping to get some of the household chores done today so that I can have Saturday to myself, and I'll plan to cast on for my new sweater then.

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend, whatever you have planned -- be sure to eat a piece of cake in my honor!

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Unraveled, Week 10/2024

We've had a beautiful start to this first full week of March, with decidedly lamb-like weather (sunny and in the low 70s!). I'm worried we'll get another taste of winter this weekend, but for now I'm enjoying seeing things bloom and green up.

It's Wednesday, which means it's time to check in with Kat and the Unravelers. This week, my primary project has been Mo's neon striped socks, which are nearing completion:


It's nearly impossible to work on these and not feel cheered by the bright colors, and I'm almost hoping she outgrows these quickly so I can inherit them!

I also wound some handspun to start swatching for what I hope will be my next sweater (Ravelry link):


This is woolen-spun Rambouillet from half a fleece that I bought at my second, I think, Maryland Sheep and Wool and sent off to a mill to be processed. I hope this photo gives you a sense of how soft and sproingy it is. I have *just enough* yardage for the smallest size of the sweater, so keep your fingers crossed that I can get gauge!

While reading has been good this past week, I've only finished two books that were relatively short -- but it's about quality over quantity, right?

I purchased a Kindle copy of Rough Sleepers recently when it was a daily deal and wanted to read it now because Tracy Kidder is this month's speaker in the series I'm subscribed to. Even though it deals with difficult subject matter, it was an easy read, which I suppose speaks to the skill of the writer. This book is largely about Jim O'Connell, a Boston physician who has dedicated his career to helping the unhoused. But in giving the complete picture, this book also shows how easy it can be to become unhoused and how difficult it can be to get out of it. The so-called "rough sleepers" referred to in the title are those who more often than not are sleeping on the streets in all weather, often for years or decades, and who faced unimaginable obstacles health and housing. While it brings a strong sense of humanity to the individuals who are profiled, it also shines a light on the bureaucracies and systems that stand in the way of housing all people. If you enjoyed Poverty, by America, this would be an excellent next read. I gave it 4 stars.

I can't remember where I heard about Plunder, but I picked it to read next on audio because it was the first book in my Libby "to read" list that was available without a wait. It's very difficult to describe this book. It's a memoir, certainly, about the author's efforts to reclaim property in Poland that belonged to his grandfather's family, nearly all of whom were murdered in the Holocaust, but it's also about treasure hunting, about myth versus memory, and about the occasional absurdity in the process (such as the author's struggles to have his great-grandparents declared dead without any definitive evidence that they were killed, even though they'd be something like 140 years old if they were still living). I was grateful that I listened to this book, both for the pronunciation of Polish and because it's kind of meandering; some reviewers have noted that editing was sorely needed. That said, I saw some distinct parallels between the author's detailed history of those who search for buried Nazi treasure and his own search for information on his grandfather's family and their former home. There's a lot of complicated thought about what we believe and why, whether it's related to the myth of a gold train that the Nazis hid in a mined mountain or the story of how a distant relative escaped from a concentration camp near the end of the war. This is a book that will make you think hard and might leave you feeling things are unresolved, but I found it to be really well done. I gave it 4 stars as well.

I am currently reading A Little Life, which I have been meaning to read for a long time and which I am completely savoring, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is my mostly mindless bedtime reading.

Finally, at Carole's request, here is a selfie with my much-improved smile:


This isn't final -- what I have now is just a temporary, but I'll go back at the beginning of April for the permanent veneer, which should be a better match and look more like the original tooth. I'm obviously feeling much better about things now, though!

Monday, March 04, 2024

Figuring Out What's Next

Good morning, friends! I'll admit I'm a little bleary this morning after a not-great night of sleeping (first there was snoring, then there were loud neighbors outside very early), but I've got a big mug of coffee with my second cup in it and am as ready as I can be to start a new week.

I ended up spending quite a lot of the weekend cleaning and organizing. My closet was the main target. For too many years, I'd been shoving stuff into the back corner -- things that needed to be dry cleaned or hand washed or given away -- and I promptly forgot about them. It was like a black hole. But aside from the fact that I couldn't see what was in there, I also knew that I'd had some issues with m*ths and knew there were some (store-bought) sweaters in there that I didn't want to continue to attract the buggers. I've also been on a ThredUP kick lately and have been trying to clear out clothes I no longer wear or that no longer fits. I did find several sweaters that had been eaten and general yuckiness. But I also pulled everything out off the floor of the closet, vacuumed, and reorganized. Now I can see everything that's in there, I've got a box ready to send off, two bags went to textile recycling, and I have a pile of things to hand wash before I decide if they will stay or go.

That clean-out was badly needed, but because I was so focused on that, I didn't spend as much time as I'd hoped on crafting or on deciding what to cast on next. I did, however, pull out several options for sweaters, so now I just have to make a decision. Here are the options:

Sorry for not taking them out of the bags, but I'm being extra careful given what I found in the closet yesterday. These are all sweater possibilities -- four of the five options are handspun, and I have patterns in mind for all but one of them. I just have to decide how mindless or mindful of a knit I want to do next.

In the meantime, I did find time to ply a skein of handspun this weekend:

This is Island Sunset on grey Merino from Southern Cross Fibre (the grey base is what gives the color that tweedy look). I chain-plied it and ended up with approximately 438 yards of fingering. And I love this! I have no idea what I'll do with it, but this seems to want to become a shawl of some sort -- at some point.

The first order of business for today, however, is going to the dentist to get my tooth fixed! Then I hope to get out for a run because it's sunny and beautiful outside and we might match or even break a record high today! Oh, and of course there's work, which I suppose is important, too.

Have a good one, friends!