Unraveled Wednesday 3/2/22

 Good Morning!

I am feeling lazy this morning.  I was up at 4 a.m. to let Mabel out and fell promptly back to sleep until I heard crows calling at 6:30.  I do enjoy crows, so that was a welcome sound and when I looked out the window there were half a dozen in a dead tree in the neighbor's yard.

Yesterday was a mixed bag.  Many frustrations on the work side of life (people not responding...or responding with ridiculous answers that obviously don't make sense).  But, making up for that was the arrival of Mailing and Bonnie (her Mom) for dinner!  Zhongren was traveling and could not join us.  Mailing is here for a week - working in her old office, attending a retirement party for a colleague on Friday afternoon and picking up a few things from their house that they forgot to take to Austin.  It was so good to see her again (and Bonnie!).  My back was pretty tired by the time they left.  Between grocery shopping in the morning and then cooking a lot in the afternoon, I think I was on my feet for too much of the day.  I plan to take it easy today and (hopefully) book a pedicure appointment for later this morning or afternoon.

Well, let's talk knitting on this Unraveled Wednesday.  As usual, I am linking up with Kat and the others who make up the Band of Merry Unravelers.  As I mentioned in my post the other day, quite a bit of backwards knitting (i.e., unraveling...but somehow backwards knitting sounds more productive!) took place here over the weekend.  After I finished Fletcher's Terrarium Socks I decided to pick up a neglected project or two.  Last year I started Guernsey Wrap by Jared Flood at the beginning of May.  I got perhaps 40-50 rows into it before putting it aside when I was distracted by other projects.  Saturday I started knitting on it again and had completed another 10 rows or so when I realized the borders were completely different.  I don't know what I did almost a year ago or what I did on Saturday, but after staring at it and the pattern for 45 minutes I gave up and ripped everything out!

Next up, I picked up Wintertide Shawl by Beatrice Perron Dahlen, another project that I started last May and then abandoned (yes, I am a Magpie - easily distracted by the next shiny or yarny object!!).  That piece didn't have as many rows and I read through the pattern again and started knitting and discovered that I had the wrong number of stitches on the needles.  Oy!  I ripped that all back to the beginning.

Then Mary posted and mentioned This Pattern which immediately slipped into my cart and which prompted me to go through my stash.  Whew!  I found things I had forgotten I had, but I'm pretty sure I have the yarn for this new shawl.  The question is do I start that?  Or do I go back to Wintertide?  Or Guernsey Wrap?  My inquiring mind wants to know - LOL.

Of course, one needs socks on the needles at all times.  I have not started a pair yet, but believe the next ones will be in this yarn:

This yarn was purchased at the NJ Sheep & Wool Festival last year.  It is by Kim Dyes Yarn and the colorway is Hiking Trail.  Perfect for Colin!  It is an 80/20 blend and I have been looking at this book

In the hopes of creating something different.  See all the sticky notes in the book?  Lots of gorgeous and fun patterns.  I'm leaning towards the one called "Lizard" simply because before moving to Texas, Colin told Fletch he was looking forward to his "lizard-self" making an appearance (i.e., basking in the sun).  I did practice the stitch a bit - the right twist is easy, the left one is a little more difficult for me, but I will persist.  Hoping to cast these on today.

If you are still with me, let me briefly talk about reading.  Fletch and I finished reading Shady Hollow after dinner.  This is the book with one of the characters named Vera Vixen!  Certainly not great literature, but a fun read and we found ourselves laughing out loud at times (despite it being a murder mystery).  I had to pass on "The Guncle" - I just could not finish it and it was past due at the library.  In the beginning of the book I was enjoying the writing and found it pretty funny, but it seemed to get more repetitive and trite, so I quit.  I am reading Circling the Sun and am enjoying it quite a bit.  At times it feels as though I've already read this book (I'm pretty sure I have not), but I think that is because I have read so much about Beryl Markham, Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton.  I'm in queue for several books that show they "are on the way" to my library for me, so I'd best get reading!

This has certainly turned into a long winded post.  Time for me to pour another cup of coffee and strap myself in to do a bit of work.  May this Wednesday be a good one for you all.