Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Unraveled Wednesday - December 29, 2021

 Good Morning All!

Here we are at the last Unraveled Wednesday of 2021.  First though, some unsettling news.

Anna, Mailing's sister with whom we celebrated on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day has tested positive for Covid.  It was touch and go whether she would join us or not as her boyfriend had tested positive.  But, she took 4-5 tests and they ALL came back Negative, so all assumed she was fine.  She tested again on Monday (she is a pharmacist and had to test before going back to work), and bingo - positive.

My little brother in CO has had the same experience.  He was with someone who tested positive.  He and his wife tested numerous time and all were negative.  After telling him about Anna, he tested again and, in his words, he is "hot."

Colin & Mailing are getting tested today.  Fletch and I have decided to hold off.  There have been so many negative tests (obviously) and then later positive tests.  We will probably test in a week to 10 days.  Or earlier if we develop symptoms.  Luckily we all feel fine (including Colin & Mailing).  I plan to text Bonnie this a.m. to be sure she and Zhongren are ok and also find out how Anna is doing.  She felt fine each time we saw her.  This new Omnicron variant seems to be a sneaky one, so please, everyone, be safe and be careful!

On a more positive note I did get out for a walk again yesterday.  Once again I chose the Canal Path (Schuylkill River Trail - canal on one side, river on the other).  I forgot to mention yesterday when I posted that the skeleton that was always sitting on a bench across the canal from the trail is missing!  It was disappointing not to see him.  


The bench to the right of the white boat is where Skelly always sat.  I wonder what happened to him...

I did see some interesting shelf fungi though.


That is the river in the background.  The day (obvious from the pictures) was grey and overcast.  But it was about 10 degrees warmer than the day before.  I saw several groups of people on bikes, several folks jogging, some walkers and one girl walking two dogs.  But the trail still felt pretty empty which I prefer.  I am hoping/planning to get out for another walk this morning (haven't decided where yet).

Now for the meat of this post!  LOL  As usual, I am linking up with Kat and her Merry Unravelers to talk making and reading.  Wait till you see Kat's final finish for 2021 - it is fabulous and too cute for words!!

Once again my knitting seems to have slowed down, but I am fine with that.  My first "Holiday Sock" is at the point where I will start the heel flap.


My plan was to do the flap and turn the heel last night, but I didn't.  Instead I worked on my stitching and read some.  These socks will get done, just not quickly.  Again, I am fine with that.  No deadlines, no pressure and (for me, the key) I am enjoying the making.  

I do have some ideas of things I would like to make in 2022.  I may join Vicki in making some stars - I think they would be cute gift toppers added to packages next Christmas.  But...I want to make mine using left over sock yarn.  I tried a 9" circular yesterday and couldn't get that to work for me, so I will try DPNs and see how that goes.  I'd like to finish my French Market Bag and also the Guernsey Wrap that I started last year.  And, of all things, I discovered a shawl that I finished over a year ago (Odyssey Shawl by Joji Locatelli) and never bound off!  The yarn was from a huge cake and I think I was debating about continuing to knit and make it larger, but that is not really necessary...so I need/want to get that bound off and blocked!  There are other projects too, but I'll figure it all out later.

My reading this last week was not enjoyable!  Sarah had mentioned "The Guide" by Peter Heller and I thought it sounded good, so requested it from my library.  Sarah suggested that I read "The River" first as some characters were the same and there was a spoiler in "The Guide," so I took that out.  OMG I could only think Deliverance and that banjo music kept playing in my head.  I did finish the book but I did not enjoy it at all.  So, I returned both Heller books to the library yesterday as well as another I had taken out but not yet read.  

While at the library (fully masked - actually everyone is - our library requires masks), there were two books for me to pick up that I had been waiting months for:  The Madness of Crowds and Matrix - how exciting to get them both!  Meanwhile I started No Time to Spare by Ursula LeGuin and am really enjoying it.  Fletch picked that up for me for Christmas.  LeGuin is not an author I would normally choose to read - I think she wrote mostly sci-fi and fantasy type books, but this is a series of essays or posts from her blog which she started when she was in her mid-eighties.  From the blurb on Amazon:

The collected best of Ursula’s blog, No Time to Spare presents perfectly crystallized dispatches on what mattered to her late in life, her concerns with the world, and her wonder at it: “How rich we are in knowledge, and in all that lies around us yet to learn. Billionaires, all of us.”

I've only read the first few chapters, but it is very engaging.  She has a certain sarcastic and cauastic tone which I love.

So it appears that I am poised with excellent reads, interesting knitting and stitching projects as we move gracefully into 2022.  A lot of folks are doing reviews of the year - reading, making, etc.  I will get to that, just not this week - LOL

It is another grey and overcast day here.  Mabel is perched on her shelf at the window to my right and is mercifully quiet at the moment.  Last night, BTW, she played "fetch!"  I was stitching at the table and she grabbed a catnip toy in her mouth, jumped up onto the table and dropped it.  I picked the toy up and threw it.  She jumped down, got the toy, jumped back up onto the table and dropped it again.  This went on for about 8 turns!  I was laughing so hard.

OK, time to get a second cup of coffee and decide what to wear to go walking.  Be sure to head over to Kat's to see what everyone is making and reading!

16 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry to hear your Covid woes. I have a feeling that's going to be a story we'll all be hearing over the next few weeks. Your Christmas socks are so cheery and festive -- and your project plans for the coming year sound great, Vera.

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  2. I am sorry to hear you were all exposed. More and more I am hearing this kind of story; omicron seems to be very sneaky and very contagious, so I think we are likely to hear more. I hope you all continue to feel okay and test negative (and I think you're wise to hold off on testing at this point -- if you don't feel ill and are staying home regardless, it won't really tell you much).

    Even though you didn't like it, I'm glad you decided to read The River first, because I found The Guide to be even creepier. I've never seen Deliverance but know the basic storyline, and I'd say your comparison is spot on. I hope the new books are more to your liking.

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  3. I'm sorry Anna is sick. It sounds like our family. I'm taking Mom for a test at noon just as a precaution. She says she's so tired and has had a headache for a couple of days. Who knows where she got it, she hasn't been many places. We have an eye appointment for her tomorrow though so we definitely need to know if she's sick before we expose anyone else.
    I'll be praying for all of you.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  4. I'm sorry to hear about the Covid tests. I hope that everyone involved continues to feel okay, even if they test positive. I know several people that have undergone this same testing scenario, and I even wondered for several days if I might have it. I finally gave up looking for tests after I called and checked five places. But your sock looks beautiful, you are well-stocked with books and taking some nice walks outside. Enjoy and stay well!

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  5. That Mabel .... she's a SMART one.

    Sorry to hear skelly is gone. He always made the trail walk a bit more interesting. The shelf fungi is really interesting. Always fun to find those.

    Keeping my fingers crossed that everyone exposed doesn't get sick and that Anna feels better soon.

    Steve went out and got K95 masks for all of us. Seems like Omicron is a sneaky one and can get right through those cloth masks. :-(

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  6. Rick and I are about to test ourselves in a moment. Our youngest son tested positive, and so did my mother. Naturally, we were together at the holiday. All of us are fully vaxxed and boosted, but omicron does not care. It's incredibly contagious.

    My female cat Marlowe loved to play catch until she became more senior and no longer wanted to engage in such falderal. She was also the mouser.

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  7. Sending lots of good juju for negative tests and mild cases if positive.

    Burton is a fetch cat too! He started doing it all on his own when he was a kitten. He normally does it with his little fluffy sparkle balls, but lately it's been with his big rat stuffie (Ratty Boom Batty as we call it - he's about 1/3 of Burton's size, so it looks pretty funny). His favourite time to play fetch is when I'm in the bathtub. Since it's just Dave and I, I don't close the bathroom door, and Burton will just saunter in and drop his toy at the edge of the tub, and then yell for me to throw it.

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  8. I’ve recently returned three books after reading only a few chapters and finding the book didn’t interest me. I hope Anna has a mild case and recovers quickly and that the rest of you were not infected.

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  9. I love the sock yarn. Sorry to hear about the exposure to Covid. I hope everyone stays well and at least has mild symptoms.

    Our cat, Miss Kitty loves plastic springs, but hates when people watch her play. We think it must offend her dignity! She will scoop up the springs that litter the floor and toss them around and pounce on them with a death drip. If you notice or say anything regarding the playing it stops immediately and you get the LOOK (cat owners know exactly the look I am describing:). She will then put her tail high up in the air and walk away.

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  10. My sister & her family were supposed to come up from Madison yesterday, but one of the boys (who wasn't feeling well) & her husband tested positive... the other four in the house have all tested negative (so far). Ugh.

    I just used up all the super bulky yarn that I had, so my star knitting is finished... for now. They were so much fun to make and so quick!! I think I made 13 or 14!!

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  11. The positive testing seems to definitely be a theme. I hope you aren't but if you are, I hope it is symptomless!

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  12. Oh, dear. Everyone is testing positive. I am so worried for Daughter in her 8th month now that I can barely stand it. I can't convince her to stay home for these last few weeks to protect herself and her little one to be. We've had words. I can't just bite my tongue. There is too much at risk. They've closed the ice rinks in the neighboring county but not her county. Her husband's office work is deemed too risky so his boss sent them all home until Jan. 18th but she's out there everyday with the public. I could just scream.

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  13. Same everywhere Vera. I am so tired of the contradictions and uncertainly. You can be spreading 1-3 days before symptoms appear, or with no symptoms, test negative for 5 - 7 days, but some test positive much sooner. A local man was hospitalized before his second shot for nine months. Terrible terrible condition, still not recovered. Negative negative time after time until a lung biopsy showed covid. Imagine! I hope your family is fine and filled with antibodies!

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  14. Oh ugh, Vera! I am so sorry about this covid stuff! I am hoping that no one else gets it!

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  15. Oh man, this Covid thing is getting really old. I hope everyone in your circle stays healthy. The socks look like fun. I am with you, I don't like to knit with deadlines. I did not read LeGuin's fiction but I have read three books of essays including the one you mentioned and enjoyed every one. She was an interesting woman.

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  16. We've had several friends with the same predicament--testing too early, thinking they are ok and then several days later, they test positive! Frustrating. Enjoy your new read...always nice to start fresh for the new year!

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