Unraveled Wednesday 1/31/24

 Good Morning!

Happy end of January!!  It's above freezing today, but not by much.  I had let Mabel out at 6 a.m. and just let her back in and she is a little wet.  I looked out the window at the cars, and they are a bit wet too, so we might have had a little rain recently.  I can't tell if the sun is not up yet or it's just grey outside...the sky is pretty dark, I think we have some cloud cover.  Oh well.

Inside I have some brightness...some pretty:

My Christmas cactus that started as a cutting from the GIANT one my Grandmother had in Vermont.  Her plant was huge - easily a couple of feet across.  Anyway, I've had this for years and for years it didn't bloom.  Dee suggested it wasn't in the right location, so I moved it to my office where it gets some sun but it is also cooler (I rarely put the heat on in the office room).  Last year it had two flowers.  And now this year it has many more and a bunch of buds.  If you click to enlarge, you will see that the blooms are doubles!  (To take a picture of it, I moved it onto Mabel's "ledge" where she will try to pounce on birds at the window...it is back on a bookcase out of Mabel's way now.)

Well, here we are the last Wednesday of January for Unraveled Wednesday.  Let's link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk Making and Reading.  Fortunately there has been no unraveling this week.  I've made slow, but steady progress on my crescent moon sock (the first):

The heel has been turned and I am moving down the foot.  I've fairly large feet, so still a way to go but the journey is pleasant.  The Farmer's Daughter yarns are very, very nice.  Of course, this is the January yarn and...my February yarn arrived Monday (along with my Sock Squad Journal which was missing from my January package).

The colors are so pretty (and I love the journal).  But, I need to let them marinate a bit on my desk and in my head to figure out what to make with them.  The blue skein is the mini.  The other two are what I call half skeins - 50 grams each - roughly 230 yards each.  I don't think I want to use this yarn for socks, but I may do a cowl or maybe a shawlette.  Again, I will let the yarn marinate in my head...any suggestions from you?

Reading is still a bit slow for me.  I did read an excellent book Winter Solstice by Nina MacLaughlin.  What beautiful writing!  Very soothing to read.  I'm looking forward to "Summer Solstice" by her, but am saving that for a bit.

Carolyn had mentioned reading "Rooted" by Lyanda Lynn Haupt.  My library did not have that, but it had another book by the author:  "Mozart's Starling."  After close to 100 pages read, I am giving up on it.  I don't need another book about someone walking around with a bird on their shoulder pooping down their back!  The title of this book should be Lyanda's Starling as there was almost nothing about Mozart in those first 100 pages.  I'm dropping off the book at the library when I go out to get my hair cut this morning.

Fletch and I, thankfully, are still thoroughly enjoying The Ride of Her Life - we're almost 100 pages in.  Most chapters are just 7-10 pages long - the perfect length to read after dinner.

That's it from me this Wednesday!  Be sure to head over to Kat's to see what others are making and reading.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!