Less in 2025: June

Is anyone else in absolute shock that today is the last day of June? Despite the longer days, this month always seem to pass much faster than I'd like, but this year it seemed especially quick, I suppose because I lost some days due to illness (mine and Ruthie's).

So how has Less made itself apparent in my life this month? Several ways.

To start with, there's certainly Less in my wallet after trips to the vet, urgent care, the pharmacy, and the vet twice more (to pick up meds). I'm sure in the long run, my health care is a lot more expensive, but the bills were certainly bigger for Ruthie this month!

There is also these days Less of me. Those of you who have been reading for a long time might remember that several years ago, when my cholesterol was starting to get a little high, I made some major changes to lose weight and get it down, and I've been maintaining my weight ever since. But this month, in spite of more than a few days of not exercising at all (first because I was ill, then because of the extreme heat), I've lost more weight. I know part of it is due to anxiety about the aforementioned illnesses; when I'm really worried about something, I lose my appetite. But I think another part of it has been because it's rare these days to find me sitting down, especially at a mealtime. Keeping an eye on a puppy who is always getting into mischief can be a full-time job, and it can be even more challenging at breakfast and lunch when I'm the only one here with her. It is ironic that I'm losing weight without trying or wanting to for probably the first time ever in my life! I am keeping an eye on it, just in case it's not my increased level of physical activity and something that merits seeking medical attention, but for now I'm just trying to make sure I'm eating enough.

On a more positive side, this month there's also been Less to-do about puppy bedtime. Hearkening back to when Molly was little and demanded I stay with her until she fell asleep, I had been sitting with Ruthie in the evening after her final walk, letting her curl up and fall asleep in her bed, and then trying to transfer her to her crate and leave before she woke up. Kym told me that I was pretty much nuts to do that (well, she said it using much nicer words) because I was letter Ruthie have all the control. Instead, she advised, say goodnight, put her in her crate, and leave her. And naturally she was right. We have a bedtime routine now -- I sing a little to her (I changed the words of "Goodnight, Ladies" from The Music Man to "Goodnight, Ruthie), put her in her crate and pet her for a minute, then close the door and leave. For the first week and a half or so, she cried and barked for up to an hour. Lately, though, she has been great. I hold her when I start to sing and then put her down in front of her crate, and she goes right in and curls up. If we hear anything from her, it's either a noise she's making in her sleep or there's something outside she's barking out, and it's usually very brief. I'm hoping one day we'll get to the point where she puts herself to bed, but I have a feeling we've got a while until that happens. In the meantime, I'm enjoying our little snuggles and then having my evening back.

Thank you to Kat for hosting our monthly One Little Word link-ups! Be sure to visit her post for today to read her reflection and get links to others'.

Embrace in 2023: December

 

It's time for one last check-in with my One Little Word for the year. Many thanks to Carolyn for hosting our monthly link-ups and also giving us prompts to think about each month! I probably don't do as much with my word as I could, but I always appreciate the thought exercises.

I've been thinking about how Embrace has shown up not only this month but also over the course of the whole year, and in the past couple of days it's occurred to me that what it's meant generally has had a lot to do with self-acceptance -- specifically, with embracing what my body tells me it needs and accepting what it can or can't do in any given moment. Even as I've pushed myself to do more, I've gotten better at not berating myself if I can't. I know that those of you who are mothers know what I mean with regard to feeling like I should be able to do everything, but I know for a fact that I've gotten better at listening when my body tells me I need to rest or eat more or drink more water. And I've discovered that when I leave things undone, the world does not, in fact, fall apart. Either someone else does those things (if they're essential) or they wait to get done.

A lot of this self-acceptance has been related to my body and my physical activity. Perhaps it's a sign of maturity that I am finding it easier to accept that my body will never look quite like I want it to and that I may never be able to do some physical things. And that's okay! I have really embraced running this year and have pushed myself to do more of it because I know how good it is for me, physically and in terms of reducing stress. But I've embraced the occasional setbacks when they come: when I've just donated blood and need to take it easy, when I was coming back from COVID and had to build up my strength again, and when I go out for a run and just feel like I need to take it easy. I have definitely noticed a shift in my thinking related to exercise this year, and while I still feel like I need to move my body every day, the focus is my long-term health, and any movement is better than no movement at all. And sometimes my body surprises me by being capable of more than I expected, like it was on Friday, when I achieved this:

This was the start of my run, when I usually manage to run my longest stretch, and this was by far the greatest distance I've achieved this year without having to stop and catch my breath. I don't know when or if I'll match it, but it felt like a great cap on the end of the year!

I've been thinking about possibilities for next year's OLW, but none has made itself obvious as my word just yet, so that will be a task for the rest of the week. Thanks for coming along on my Embrace journey with me this year!

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Happy new year, friends! We are back home and slowly easing back into things in our last day of vacation (though Rainbow and I got up more or less at the usual time this morning so that tomorrow won't be such a shock).

I'm happy to tell you that we had no major travel issues yesterday. Our flight was slightly delayed, but it wasn't full and we got in just a little late. My brother-in-law and nephew were waiting for us in baggage claim and took us home. I'd cleaned the bathrooms and changed the sheets on the beds before we left, so all we had to do when we got home was unpack. The Mister made a quick trip to the supermarket to get us some things for breakfast, and he'll do a full shop later this morning for the week ahead. We're back to work and school tomorrow, and today will be for catching up.

Speaking of catching up, today is all about looking back at last year's crafting. I don't really keep detailed records of how much making I do from year to year, but I'd say it was a good year for me. I've certainly had more productive years in terms of total number of projects completed, but I'm very satisfied with some pretty epic projects that were done this year. Here are some highlights:

Knitting

• 9 sweaters (six adult, three baby)
• 13 hats/head things (including seven charity hats)
• 7 pairs of socks
• 3 projects made from handspun (including one epic sweater project)
• Nearly 15.5K yards used

Spinning

• 16 skeins spun, totaling more than 7,100 yards
  
• 7 bags of Southern Cross Fibre used up

Here's my last spin of 2022, which was plied but not skeined and washed before we left (so I took care of that yesterday):

These are the two skeins I spun from my Fibernymph Dye Works Holiday Countdown fiber minis. Originally I set out to separate the fiber minis into warm and cool colors and opened them only a few at a time. Then I realized that I probably should have opened all 24 and sorted them before I started spinning, so I changed my plan a bit and it still didn't entirely work out. The skein on the left is a bit more muted and the skein on the right more saturated, though you can see there are a couple colors in each that look like they should be in the opposite skein. But that's okay! I have a total of approximately 707 yards of sport to DK yarn, and I plan to use them for an Inspira Cowl (Ravelry link), a pattern I've had my eye on for more than a decade.

So what are my plans for 2023? I do have some, though I'm keeping them flexible because I know I'm often distracted by the new and shiny. First, I want to finish up my Recalibrate, and that should happen today as I have less than 10 rounds to go on the body. I have a handful of sweaters I'd like to knit, and I've set a goal of knitting at least six charity hats. I also want to spin up at least 12 bags/shipments of Southern Cross club fibre, and I'm going to pull out my entire stash of it to take another big picture to track it. I'm also hoping to do more crochet this year, starting with getting back to the blanket I started for Rainbow.

How was your 2022 crafting year? Do you have plans for 2023?

A Year of Reading

It's been another great year of reading for me, and it's one that isn't over yet, so I'm hesitant to say that this post is an official wrap-up, but it'll have to do.

So far, I've finished 121 books this year (and that includes two books that were read twice) -- not my highest total of recent years, but I think I read a lot more good books this year, so it was a matter of quality over quantity. Here is a general overview of my distribution:

I know it's nearly impossible to see the titles, but you can see that all but five books were rated three stars or higher. For me, three stars is a good book, four stars is a book I loved, and five is something I would read more than once and encourage others to read.

Bearing in mind that there might still be another addition (I'm rereading The Sentence, which was a five-star read for me the first time), here are the books that earned the top rating from me this year, in the order in which I finished them:

• Still Life by Sarah Winman
• Taste by Stanley Tucci
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller
• Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
• The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
• These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
• Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
• Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
• Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
• Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Appropriately, both the first and last books I finished (or will have finished) this year were read in Florida while on vacation!

Here are some other interesting statistics:

• The longest book I read this year (The Books of Jacob) was 992 pages and the shortest (The Bookstore Sisters) was just 36.
• The overwhelming majority of what I read this year (78 books) was borrowed from the library.
• It was very much the year of the audiobook for me. I read a record 47 books with my ears this year.
• I read all the books on the 2022 short lists of three literary prizes: the Aspen Words Literary Prize, the Women's Prize for Fiction, and the Booker Prize (I actually read 10 of the long list nominees for the Booker in the end).
• I read a total of more than 38,000 pages this year, according to Goodreads.

For 2023, my goal is to continue to read widely and deeply. I have some general goals, but I'm also planning to be flexible because I know how easily I can get distracted by talk of a good book.

• Read more Erdrich. The Erdrich-along is continuing with two additional books beyond those we'd originally planned to cover, but I'd like to eventually read all her adult fiction. I have hard copies of most of her books and plan to acquire the rest.
• Read some big Russian books. Katie and I talked a few months ago about doing a very casual buddy read of three big Russian classics: War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Doctor Zhivago. I've purchased Kindle copies of all three (to save my eyes and my wrists from a big, heavy paper copy!) and plan to work my way through them slowly.
• Read books already on my shelves. Though most of the books I read come from the library, I've also acquired quite a few through purchases and picking them up from the Free Little Libraries in my neighborhood, so I have a number of physical books I want to read sitting on my shelves. I'd like to try to get through more of them next year.

All in all, I think it's been an excellent year of reading, and I really have few complaints. How was 2022 for you as a reader? Do you have any big plans for reading in 2023? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

 

We are scheduled to fly home Sunday morning (keeping all my fingers crossed that Southwest resolves its issues by then!), so this is likely my last post of 2022(!). I will probably do a wrap-up post on my year of crafting on Monday, but until then, I want to say thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing this past year. I wish you all a calm end to this year and a happy, healthy 2023.

A Final Look Back

 

Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from last week

Here we are, friends: New Year's Eve, the final day of another chaotic year. There were many highs and many lows, on both a personal scale and a global scale. This was the year of vaccination, and we thought it would lead to the end of the pandemic (and we all know how well that worked out). For a period of time, though, things were definitely better. We were able to gather safely with family again, to travel a bit, and to celebrate some major holidays together. I really hoped, though, that the world in general would be in a better place than we are now.

I don't want to dwell on the negative, though. It's been, generally speaking, a pretty good year for me. I've accomplished a lot this year, in no small part because I've continued to work from home full time (a situation that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future). Here are some numbers, seeing as it's a stats-heavy time of year:

• I read 141 books this year (see yesterday's post for details). I'm unlikely to read the 300+ pages I have left in my current library book by the end of the day, so that's most likely the final number.
• I knit or crocheted 48 projects this year, using up close to 19,000 yards of yarn. These included three sweaters for me, one for Rainbow, two baby sweaters (gifts), three blankets, 22 hats (of which 13 were for charity), two shawls, and eight pairs of socks.
• I spun more than 7,700 yards of yarn, including the oldest fiber I had in my stash and yarn for two sweaters.
• I walked 1,714.58 miles on my workouts -- and those were just the miles I was tracking with an app. Google tells me that's about the distance between New York and Fort Lauderdale!
• I have written in my journal almost every day this year, keeping up with a practice that started on January 1, 2020, at the very table at which I'm typing this post and that became a constant during the most troubling early days of the pandemic.
  
  

I've gotten out of the habit of making new year's resolutions because they never get kept, but I certainly think about some general intentions, and they're often similar year after year: make healthy choices, focus on what matters, learn more, spend time with family.

For all of you, dear blog friends, I wish you what I hope to have for myself: good health, happiness, satisfaction in work and crafting, good books to read, the company of family and friends, and many moments of joy and beauty. Let's hope by the time we get to this day next year, things are better for all of us.

A Fiber-filled Reflection

The last day of 2020 has finally arrived, and I am more than ready to see the year go. But before it does, it's time for my annual look back on my year in making.

According to my Ravelry projects page, I completed 39 knit and crochet projects this year, using up more than 15,000 yards of yarn. I think I've actually used more than that, because according to my KnitMeter counter, I've actually used more than 19,000 yards. (The discrepancy is likely due to my own inconsistent tagging in Ravelry). Those projects included two crocheted blankets, four sweaters for me, 12 pairs of socks, 10 hats, three shawls, and various other projects.

I've also done quite a lot of spinning this year, prioritizing spinning my "back catalog" of fiber club shipments. According to my rough calculations, I converted almost 160 oz. -- that's almost 10 pounds! -- of fiber into yarn. That includes a fleece as well.

I have some plans for the year ahead, but because it's Thursday and Carole is hosting her final Three on Thursday link-up for the year, here are three things I want to finish before the year is out:

1. My mittens
In order to finish off my patterns 20 in 2020 list for the year, I need to finish this two pairs of mittens. I knit up the first pair earlier in the week, and now I've got just a thumb on the first mitten and the second mitten to knit. That might seem like a lot of knitting for one day, but the hands on these mittens (which are later felted) are knit at a very loose gauge and knit up very quickly. Pretty much the whole hand above the thumb on this first mitten was knit in about an hour last night.

2. My Base 12 singles
I really tried to get this done yesterday, but I accidentally nodded off in the middle. Oops. I have a bit of what's currently being spun and the last little bit of fiber left to do. I realized that it was unrealistic to expect to finish the skein before the end of the year, so instead this will be my first finished skein of 2021.

3. My book
I'm nearly finished with a silly Amazon First Reads book that I started earlier in the week. It's not very good, so I really don't want it to be my first finished book of the new year. I have like an hour and 20 minutes left to read, so I figure I can handle that while I'm knitting or spinning -- multitasking for the win!

I hope that in spite of everything the year has thrown at us, you've accomplished something you're proud of, and I'd love to hear what you're planning to cast on first for the new year! For me, it will likely be a Bousta Beanie in my handspun.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, VACCINATED new year and a year full of wool!

One Little Word: October 2020

Is anyone else scratching their head this morning and wondering how it already got to be the end of October? It seems like I was just writing Septemer's OLW post, and yet here we are again. Many thanks to Honoré of Morning Glory Studio for hosting these monthly link-ups. You can find my previous OLW posts here.

I started thinking about this post yesterday and reflecting on what I've been savoring the past month, and it occurred to me that there's been something very obvious in my life for quite some time now. One thing that I've really come to savor during these "quarantimes" has been working from home.

Before working from home became the norm, there were times when I did bring work home with me -- mainly because there were tight deadlines to be met and not enough hours in the day when I was in the office to meet them -- and I really resented it. Part of the reason I've stayed in my current job rather than going back to teaching is because I was able to keep work at work and not have to bring it home with me. But things are different now. Although technically the schedule is the same, there is so much more flexibility now. As long as I get my work done in time and show up for the regular team meetings, no one really cares if I'm doing work from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. I can take my "lunch" break whenever it's convenient for me, which has given me the opportunity to get in the exercise that is so critical to my physical and mental health (trying to cram it in around a more rigid work schedule has always gotten in the way in the past). Because I'm able to pick up Rainbow at the end of the school day now, she no longer has to stay for the after-school program, which means we're no longer spending extra money on that and I get more time with her, especially as she now likes to join me in the bedroom (my work-from-home "office") to do her homework in the afternoon. And I'm even getting more sleep, because I no longer have a commute and am not worrying about doing my hair or makeup every morning -- heck, I even start my day in my pajamas sometimes!

I've often fantasized in the past about quitting my day job to be a stay-at-home mom and devote more time to designing, especially considering that my salary at my job isn't contributing that much to our household income (I do work for a nonprofit, after all). But aside from the practical considerations, like the fact that we get our health insurance through my job and we wouldn't have the option to have the same carrier through the Mister's company, I also like the intellectual stimulation of my job and the example I'm setting for Rainbow as a working mother. Working from home full time is the best of both worlds because I'm able to have my career and also be available as a parent. And it also feels like it's enabling me to be more productive and less stressed, because I can do things like throw in a load of laundry or whip up a batch of banana bread in between projects (or when I need a break), and when I'm in the middle of a slow period at work, I no longer have to just sit at my desk looking productive -- I can actually do things like read or knit or spin! Yes, I'm technically still tied to my computer, but I feel like I have a lot more control over how I spend my day and how I get my work done.

It seems that I'll be savoring my current work situation for the foreseeable future, at least through the end of the year but likely into the spring. And I have no complaints about that. I do miss some aspects of getting up and going to the office every day, but I would also be perfectly happy if I never did that again.

I'm looking forward to hearing how your One Little Word has shown up in your life this month!

One Little Word: March 2020

Well friends, we've made it to the end of March. I'm fairly confident in saying that this has been the longest month I can ever remember living through. The end of the month doesn't necessarily mean an end to these uncertain times, but at least we've adapted somewhat to the new normal.

It's also the final Tuesday of the month, which means it's time to join with Honoré and friends for a reflection on my One Little Word for the year. I think I must have been somewhat prescient to choose savor as my word this year, because these strange times of social distancing have caused me to really appreciate so many things I previously took for granted. For example, here are some things I've been especially savoring the past couple of weeks as we've been at home:

• An extra half hour of sleep (I don't have to commute to work anymore, and my morning routine is faster, so I can use that time to sleep in a little!)
• Time to drink my two cups of morning coffee at a leisurely pace
• Three meals a day with my family
• When the weather cooperates, long walks through my neighborhood
• Sunshine, when it appears
• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Snuggles with Rainbow
• Working on a jigsaw puzzle
• Extra time at my spinning wheel
• Writing in my journal and focusing on daily accomplishments and joys
• Toilet paper (especially now that we have plenty and I don't feel like I have to ration it!)

My increased focus on the good things in my life right now has really made me extra aware of how lucky we are to have what we have. Yesterday the local news showed a really long line of cars with people waiting to get food from our local food bank. For all that I might complain on what I'm missing right now, there are so many basic things that I've been taking for granted that so many people are struggling with right now. The Mister and I are able to work from home so we're still getting a paycheck. We have a roof over our heads and don't have to worry about not being able to afford our mortgage or utilities payments. We have enough food to eat and can easily get more. We'll definitely be increasing our donations to food banks and other relief organizations during this pandemic, and if you're able to, I encourage you to do the same.

One project I've been particularly savoring during this time is my granny square blanket. Here's a size check-in for you (with apologies for the odd perspective, gloomy lighting, and clutter in the background):

That's a queen-size bed, for reference. I've just joined in the second of six 20 g mini skeins I'd set aside for this, and I've used up nearly all the leftovers I had. I think it's getting close to being done. I know I'm going to miss working on it when I've decided it's finally Big Enough, so I likely will be starting another one for Rainbow. I've floated the idea of using a number of skeins of Knit Picks Felici I have in my stash, and she's considering it.

I'll end this by sharing some photos from my walks the past few days. First is a response that I found taped up to the "thank you for being such good neighbors" sign I shared previously:

 

 

It says: "Thank you for making my walk so cheerful! It will be okay!"

And here's a painted rock I spotted in someone's front yard on Sunday and made a point of photographing on yesterday's walk:

Stay calm, friends, and savor the good in your life right now.

A Look Back and a Look Ahead

Sometimes celebrating New Year's Eve and New Year's Day seems so arbitrary, especially given how much importance people seem to place on it. I mean, really, the switch from December 31 to January 1 is the same as the switch from any other day to the next. I suppose part of it is due to the big industry that's grown out of people making new year's resolutions, something I used to do many years ago and have long ago given up because I know I'll never keep them.

But the part of me that enjoys looking back and reflecting on my life does like the artificial division of one year to another because it forces me to pause and take a look back at the year that was and ponder what I'd like to do and see in the year that is yet to be.

2019 was a busy year. For much of it, I was solo parenting, as my husband was traveling a lot for work. This year it felt like things got a little easier. Keeping up with the daily schedule was still busy, but Rainbow is now old enough that she can do some things on her own, can help with some things, and can understand that sometimes Mommy needs some Mommy time. I did a lot of reading, made some wonderful new Internet friends, and did a fair amount of knitting and spinning (as well as some crochet, for the first time in a long time). I met some pretty serious design goals, publishing 13 new patterns -- including my second sweater -- and hitting 100 total designs in my portfolio.

It seems fitting that my final projects for 2019 (which technically aren't finished, but at least individual components are) are two socks, both my own designs. While I enjoy making so many things, the things that I come back to all the time are socks.

Looking ahead to 2020, I am looking forward to joining those of you who have a word that sets your intentions and your focus for the year. I've actually had my word in mind for a while now, but I was sitting with it until now to make sure it's the right one. I'll have to see how it goes next year, of course, but for now, it feels very apt.

My word for 2020 is SAVOR.

One thing this past year has shown me is that life is uncertain and unpredictable. I don't want to miss the beautiful things in my life because I'm so busy rushing from one thing to another -- rushing to finish that book, this project, that meal, and so on. I want to remind myself regularly to stop and enjoy the moment and to appreciate it to its fullest. Life isn't a race, and in fact we should actually all try to take as much time as we can to get to the end. It's about the journey, the experiences, and the people we meet along the way.

Wherever the new year takes you, I hope it's full of things and people you love, good health, and things that bring you joy.

A Year in Pages

It's not one of my normal days for blogging, but vacation and an utter lack of anything resembling a schedule have made it hard to keep track of what day it is -- and of course I haven't any spinning to share to merit a Sunday post in any case -- so this week I'm free-styling it. Today, I thought I'd look back on what I've read this year, because it's been quite a productive year of reading for me.

Based upon my Goodreads records, I have finished 74 books this year (and if I can squeeze in one more before going to bed tomorrow, I'll hit 75). My initial goal was 50, so I pretty much blew that out of the water. A lot of that is thanks to Summer Book Bingo, when I achieved a cover-all. But I think I also got more reading done this year thanks to my full embrace of the digital format. Of the 74 books, only eight were actual, physical books -- the rest were ebooks or audiobooks. That's quite a change for me, someone who considers herself a book collector, but it's also very freeing in a way. I think it's also notable that a very high percentage of the books I read were borrowed, either from the library or via Amazon Prime Reading. And 10 of those 74 were audiobooks, which is another departure for me, as typically I've had trouble focusing. I think discovering that listening to audiobooks while running works to both get me to pay attention to the book and keep running has been great for both my reading list and my physical fitness!

I've read so many good books this year that it's hard to pick the top ones, but I'll try. Here are the reads I'll remember the most from 2019, in no particular order except the order in which I read them this year:

The Overstory by Richard Powers is one that many people recommended to me, and for good reason. It's masterfully written and incredibly powerful in its environmentalist message. I will never look at trees the same way again.

You can read my 5-star review here.

Becoming by Michelle Obama was a hit for good reason -- she is a phenomenal writer! I thought I had hit my limit of admiration for her before I read her entire life story, but it turns out I was wrong.

You can read my 5-star review here.

One of my goals for my reading this year was to spend some of my reading time working on educating myself on recognizing and challenging my white privilege and working toward antiracist causes. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo is a must read for any white person who is committed to fighting racism, because you can't fight it without recognizing and accepting that you are part of the problem.

You can read my 5-star review here.

The waiting list at the library for Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb was long but worth it. I think this book resonated with me so much because at one point in my life I wanted to be a psychologist and therapist. I've been through a lot of therapy myself and recognize its value, so reading this memoir felt familiar and even comforting to me.

You can read my 5-star review here.

If you've ever asked me to name my favorite book, chances are that I've said that one of them is Jane Eyre, so when I heard there was a book that told the story from Mr. Rochester's point of view, I was intrigued. But Sarah Shoemaker's Mr. Rochester goes far beyond that part of the story and gives us Edward Fairfax Rochester's entire life up to the point where Jane becomes part of it, and she does a stunning job of it.

You can read my 5-star review here.

I know reactions to Margaret Atwood's The Testaments were varied, but I loved it and found it to be a hopeful antidote to the despair created by The Handmaid's Tale. I gave it 5 stars (and I'm not linking my review here because I didn't say much more in it than I've already said here).

The virtual book club did a superb job in its first selection. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, which has recently been released in movie form, is at times a difficult and heartbreaking read. But it's something that should be read, and read widely, if only to open eyes and minds about the injustice of our criminal justice system.

You can read my 5-star review here.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is a gem of a book, and while I have no doubt I would have enjoyed reading it on my own, the performance of it by Tom Hanks made it pure pleasure from start to finish. I honestly lost count of the number of people I recommended it to.

You can read my 5-star review here.

When your first book is a hit, it's not easy to do the same thing with your sophomore effort, but Erin Morgenstern has done it, in my opinion, with The Starless Sea. I'll add the caveat that this will not be a book for everyone, and to enjoy it you will need to let go of preconceived notions of how a story should be told and even what is possible. You need to be okay with magic and fantasy. But if you can do these things, you'll be rewarded with positively gorgeous writing.

You can read my 5-star review here.

My final 5-star read of the year (at least as of this moment) was Alice Hoffman's The World That We Knew. If you know me and my reading, then you'll know that I've done quite extensive reading the Holocaust fiction genre. Quite a lot has been bad, but this book is exceptionally good. Hoffman is know for her magical realism, and it's at play in this book in the form of a bit of Jewish mysticism. I found the writing to be good, the plot to be believable, and the denouement to be satisfying. What more could a reader ask for?




I hope your virtual bookshelves have been similarly blessed this past year. Here's to many more good books and lots of good reading time in 2020!

Familiarity

This weekend has been a normal weekend, inasmuch as any weekend can be normal. Both the Mister and I were at home. We had the usual chores and errands to do. We had no special plans. I was especially grateful to be able to sleep in and then fully savor my coffee yesterday morning.

In other ways, though, things felt different. Today marks one year since tragedy struck our community. Though in many ways it was just another day, it was also a day for remembrance, for reflection, and for service. Many have spoken of the extraordinary way the greater Pittsburgh community came together to support the Jewish community after the events of October 27, 2018. Our rabbi was among them, noting in his sermon this past Yom Kippur that the response was notable precisely because it was so opposite to the reactions of non-Jews to previous attacks. But that is Pittsburgh for you -- we are a city of neighbors. So it seemed fitting that today our community sponsored a day of service across the greater Pittsburgh area. There were blood drives and community clean-ups. There were people delivered homemade baked goods to first responders. There were meals cooked and served at soup kitchens. Shelves were stocked at food pantries. Cemeteries were tidied. Neighbors everywhere were welcomed, consoled, told that they were welcome. It was something beautiful to see.

After we all completed our projects (we packed backpacks with snacks and toys and notes of encouragement for unaccompanied minors in immigration court and helped to make fleece blankets for refugees resettled in the area), we returned home for our typical Sunday afternoon. I was craving some quiet time, so I listened to an audiobook and spent some time at my wheel, spinning the yarn that I spin when I don't have to think about it.

This is BFL/silk from Southern Cross Fibre from my most recent club shipment, a colorway called Scarlet Woods. It was dyed to match an inspiration photo posted in the SCF Ravelry group and is so reminiscent of the beautiful autumn colors we're seeing now. I'm enjoying it immensely, not just because of the color and the wonderfully prepped fiber but also because I'm spinning with no purpose in mind, and that is greatly freeing.

I hope you've had a weekend that has given you time to relax, to reflect, and to be grateful. I know I have.

Knitting, Reading, and Thinking

It's Thursday, and while I don't typically join in on the Three on Thursday thing, my post today seems to have three parts and I'm going with it.

I. Knitting

I have finished a thing! A small thing, true, but it is finished and blocked and pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.

Pattern: Flax Light by Tin Can Knits, size 6-12 months
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Baker Street, 1.46 skeins
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 2 (2.75 mm)
Started/Completed: May 27/June 4

This pattern has been knit thousands of times, and with good reason -- it's a classic style that's good for anyone and it's very well written, as you'd expect from a Tin Can Knits pattern. I have a feeling I'll knit it again in the future, perhaps for me and Rainbow and maybe even for the Mister, should he decide he wants another sweater (though perhaps for him I'll opt for the heavier version). I didn't make any modifications to the pattern and only messed with the yarn when I did the sleeves, starting each one with the same color as the last row worked in the yoke. I'll admit I'm a bit annoyed with the breaks in the patterning in the yarn. One happened toward the end of the yoke (that thin line of the dark blue that doesn't quite go all the way around) and I was hoping it was a fluke, but then it happened again on the sleeve you see in on the right. It doesn't seem to be an interruption of the pattern, just a random length of the dark blue where it doesn't belong. There were also a couple of blips of white/undyed yarn that ended up being only about two stitches wide; I think one got blended into the garter stitch on the sleeve, but the other is more obvious on one of the sleeves and I made sure to make that fall on the back of the sweater. I hardly doubt anyone but me (and, well, now you) will notice these issues, so I'm not sweating them too much.

The remaining WIPs on the needles at the moment are Rainbow's Little Boxy, which is still a big tube, and a new pair of shortie socks I started for her.

If the yarn looks familiar, that's because it's leftover from the brioche slouchy hat I knit last month. I have 40-ish grams of the skein left, which I'm hoping is enough for a pair of socks for her. My recent pair weighed 55 g, and her feet are shorter and smaller than mine, so I'm hoping I'll have enough. If I run out, I'll just add in some scraps -- she won't care.

II. Reading

I've been reading quite a bit lately and finished three books since I last posted about it:

• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed: This was an incredibly absorbing and enjoyable book. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on the blog, but when I was in college, I majored in psychology and intended to go to grad school to get a PhD and become a therapist. That plan got a little derailed by the statistics courses I had to take, but I'm still quite interested in the profession (and have benefited from therapy myself several times). It was one of those rare books that I could not put down and also didn't want to end. I gave it five stars.
• We Should All Be Feminists: I got this as an audiobook from the library, and it feels a little like cheating to count it as a book that I've read because it's a very short book; the whole audiobook, read by the author, is a brief 45 minutes. I listened while spinning on Sunday and enjoyed it a great deal, and not just because of the content. It was a real treat to listen to the author, with her rich voice and beautiful Nigerian accent, read her own words. I gave it four stars.
• The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out: One of the squares on my summer book bingo card is "protagonist with a different gender/sexual orientation from your own," so I decided to think outside the box a bit when I was looking over June's choices for the Amazon First Reads program and go with this memoir. I found it to be an interesting and at times heartbreaking read. Though I feel like I stretched my horizons a bit by reading it, I had trouble following it at times -- it jumps around in time a lot. I gave it two stars, not because it wasn't good, but because of that difficulty.

III. Thinking

There's been a lot of discussion in the online knitting community lately about sizing and inclusivity. Given that the fashion industry has long focused on body types that aren't very realistic, it's no surprise that the knitwear design industry has struggled with its sizing range, and recently a lot of designers have begun the process of making their garment size ranges much larger. Kat posted today about an Instagram post from Romi Hill, and reading Romi's words got me thinking. I've mainly kept this blog as a record of knitting, spinning, and reading, but from time to time over the past year, I may have mentioned that I have been making an effort to lose some weight over the past year. I know that weight and body image are things that nearly all women struggle with (many men do, too, but society is particularly tough on women); it's something I've been dealing with since my early teenage days. For most of my adult life, I've been overweight -- not terribly so, but enough that I've been self-conscious of my body and my size for pretty much most of my life. I've tried numerous diets over the years, but nothing ever worked. And as I've been reflecting on it, I think that the reason nothing ever worked was because I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I was trying to be thin so that I'd meet society's idea of what I "should" look like.

What changed in the last year or so is that I made changes to my diet and my lifestyle in order to be healthier. I had stopped eating meat for a while because my cholesterol was a little high, but when that did nothing to change it (my cholesterol levels actually went up), I realized that losing weight was probably going to be the most effective way to get those numbers down. So I started paying closer attention to what I ate. I'm eating less, yes, but I'm also making better choices about what I put into my body -- eating more fruits and vegetables and whole grains and fewer processed carbs and sweets. And I'm moving more and doing some exercises daily to strengthen my body. For as good as it has felt to see the numbers on the scale go down and to wear clothes that I hadn't been able to wear comfortably in years, what really feels good is that I've made a lifestyle change that I feel like I can keep up in the long term. And I feel more comfortable in my own skin, which is really a better measure of the effectiveness than any number on the scale. (Oh, and my cholesterol has gone down, too, which is one less thing to stress about.)

I'm telling you all this not so you can pat me on the back about what a good job I've done or to make you feel guilty if you're not happy with how you look but to show you that any change can be made if you do it for the right reasons -- most especially if you do it for yourself. There are plenty of things in this world and in my life that I can't control, but I can look out for my health in terms of how I care for my body, and that's very empowering.

Tangible Progress

In my knitting life, I've been focusing mainly on two projects for the past couple of weeks, and all that attention has been paying off. My striped socks are more than halfway done, with two completed feet and one mostly completed leg (I've finished the heel and started the leg of the second sock since this photo was taken).

Even more significant progress has been made on my Floozy cardigan, which is getting quite close to being a finished sweater. The body is done -- with ends even woven in already! -- and I'm hoping to finish up the first sleeve tonight.

Knitting aside, it occurred to me late last week that it's been about a year since I started my weight loss/wellness journey, and I can see the progress there as well. I've lost about 20 pounds (it may be more than that, but I've also put on some muscle) and I've successfully lowered my cholesterol quite a bit. I know that my eating habits have improved. What's most notable is that I feel a lot better. I have more energy (most of the time!) and have noticed fewer aches and pains, particularly in my joints. I can see the changes, too. My clothes, at least the ones that were tight before, fit a lot better; many things have gotten too big for me to wear. And I feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin in situations where I was very self-conscious in the past. I think the reason I've succeeded this time, after failing so many times in the past, is that I set out not to just be thinner but to be healthier. The number on the scale is really not what's important; what's important is how I feel, how well I can get through my day, and how well I can make healthy choices that will benefit me in the future. It feels really good to have taken this on, stuck with it for as long as I have, and seen the outcomes it has gotten me. Now I just have to keep doing it!

2018: A Retrospective

It's not the last day of the year, but it's my last post for 2018, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to look back on my crafting over the past 12 months.

It has been a very busy year, so I don't think it's been my most prolific, but I'm still pleased with what I accomplished. According to my Ravelry notebook, I've completed 33 projects this year and knit up nearly 14,000 yards of yarn in those projects. Those projects included:

• four adult sweaters (three for me, one for the Mister),
• four small person sweaters (one for Rainbow, one for her doll, and two baby knits),
• fifteen pairs of socks,
• seven hats (plus one more I'm hoping to finish by tomorrow),
• two shawls,
• three cowls,
• and two gnomes (plus various other small projects).

I also spun about 6,500 yards of yarn and published 13 new designs. There's certainly more I wish I could have accomplished and have on my list for next year, but I'm feeling pretty good about my output.

My final two projects completed this year will be two hats for charity, which I think is apt considering that one of my intentions (I don't dare call them resolutions) for the new year ahead is to make more things for charity. I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but we have a family member through marriage (don't ask me to explain the relationship, please!) has been teaching Head Start in a tiny village on an Alaskan island for the past couple of years. When we saw him this past summer, he was able to tell us a lot about what life was like there, and it was very clear to me that the natives who live there are in great need. What with it being Alaska, I of course thought about what I could knit to send, so I am trying to use up bits and bobs of leftovers to send warm accessories for the kids. I knit one hat earlier in the year and just finished a second yesterday:

This is the Megaliths Hat by Kino Knits, which was just released earlier this month, and it's the perfect pattern for partial skeins and leftovers. I used some of the Cascade 220 Superwash and Berroco Vintage leftover from the gnomes, roughly 170 yards. I cast this one on two days ago and finished yesterday, so it was a very fast knit. I started a second this morning and hope to have it wrapped up before tomorrow is over.

As we prepare to turn the page on 2018 and see what 2019 has in store for us, I want to thank you for reading my posts over the past year, and I especially want to thank those of you who have left comments so that I can continue the discussion in a dialogue. For a while there it seemed like the knitting blog was dying, but it seems like it is coming back, and that makes me glad because I feel like knitting blogs are what got me into this wonderful fibery world. I wish you and your loved ones a healthy, happy, prosperous new year!

A Time of Reflection

If you follow me on social media or Ravelry or pretty much anywhere else online, then you likely noticed that I was very quiet yesterday. That's because yesterday was Yom Kippur, an annual holiday that encourages us to reflect on how we live our lives and the impact we have on others and on the world around us. It's also a day for fasting, meaning from the conclusion of dinner on Tuesday until dinner last night, I didn't eat or drink anything. That makes for a necessarily calm day, as I typically have very little energy to do much once we get home from services, and yesterday I had a pounding headache from dehydration all day. I did spend a little time at my wheel yesterday afternoon (because I couldn't really think clearly enough to knit and follow a pattern), and as usual that time was very meditative more me -- and also very relaxing, as I found myself nodding off more than once.

Now that I am more or less back to normal and can think more clearly, I'm reflecting a bit on my crafting and reading life this year and how those aspects can have an impact beyond just being pleasurable ways to spend my time.

I am about 75% done with my final secret obligation project, with the hope that it will be all done by the end of the week, and I've realized that as much as I enjoy the creative aspect of designing, I really do not enjoy having to do it on a deadline. Putting aside the fact that these secret projects for third-party publishers make it really difficult to keep up with the blob, I've found that the pressure I've felt to get these things done has meant that in my free time, when I should be doing things with my family, I've instead been focused on knitting. While I can knit while I do other things, I've been so focused on the deadlines that I've largely been isolating myself to get the work done. So once these deadlines have passed, I will be making a better effort to spend that free time in the company of my daughter and husband (even if I'm knitting while we're together).

My reading has seen a major uptick in activity this past year, thanks in large part to my embrace of the e-book. While the increase in volume/number of books read is a good thing for me, what's more notable is that I've been making a real effort over the past year or so to read books by or about people who come from a very different background. Specifically, I've been trying to read more books written by or about people of color in an effort to broaden my perspective and, in a way, experience different points of view of what it is like to live one's life. While the books I've read have been predominantly fiction (because that's my preferred genre), I've also read a fair amount of nonfiction books, many of them featuring women as a primary focus. Since I last posted about my reading, here are some of the books that I've finished:

• A Tangled Mercy by Joy Jordan-Lake: This is fiction, but it features some real-life characters and addresses serious real-life issues like the legacy of slavery and the shooting in Charleston, S.C., several years ago. I gave it 4 stars.
• A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline: I think this came across my radar because I'd read and enjoyed another book by the author. This one is another fiction story based loosely upon the life of a real person, the woman who inspired Andrew Wyeth's famous painting "Christina's World." It was beautifully written if somewhat depressing, and I gave it 4 stars.
• The Rule of One by Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders: This was a Kindle freebie and I have to say that I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It seemed like an intriguing concept, and the story certainly moved along at a good clip, but in the end I wasn't very impressed and felt like it was just a pastiche of other post-apocalyptic YA fiction works. I gave it 3 stars.
• The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman: This one had been on my want-to-read list for a while after a friend recommended it to me, and I really enjoyed it. Though I anticipated the plot twist virtually from the beginning, that did not lessen my enjoyment of the story. I think the book's real strength is in the excellent character development; each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character, and I think altogether there are maybe eight or 10 different characters whose voice is heard. I gave it 4 stars (probably closer to 4.5).
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple: This was one of those books that I was seeing everywhere when it first came out but never got around to reading, and luckily it was available from the library without a wait. I didn't really know what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was quirky and funny and certainly original in the way the story is told. I gave it 4 stars.
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain: This was a book I'd been meaning to read for a long time, long before Bourdain died, but I only got around to it recently when I found the paperback at Costco. It was my before-bed reading, so it took me a while to get through it. I mostly enjoyed it. It was an entertaining and enlightening read, but there are some things I kind of wish I hadn't read because I think now I'll be overthinking things when I go out to eat. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm currently reading only one book, The Night Circus, another one I missed when everyone else was reading it, and I expect that I'll finish it today. That's good, because I just got notice from the library that The Woman Who Smashed Codes is now ready for me!

2014: A Look Back

Hard to believe it, but the last hours of 2014 are upon us (or me, anyway -- it might already be 2015 where you are). I'm typically not one to do a whole lot of end-of-year navel-gazing, but it's a day to blog, so that seems the most natural thing to do.

It's been a busy year. In terms of my design work, I blew away my original goal of publishing 10-12 patterns for the year and published 15, including one in a magazine. For next year, I've set a somewhat lofty goal of publishing 17, which would get me to 50 designs total. That might seem like a lot, but I already have nine or 10 that are in varying stages of readiness. I think that if I can keep on top of designs in progress and take advantage of my free time, it's doable.

My theme for the past year was meant to be "Love the One You're With" -- in other words, I was supposed to have been appreciating my stash. I won't lie to you: I didn't avoid buying new yarn. I will say, though, that very little was bought just for the sake of buying it. For the most part, I bought yarn with specific projects or designs in mind, and most of the yarn I bought was used up fairly quickly. From the spinning side of things, most of the fiber that came into the house was spun up in short order (though I did get a little behind with my Fat Cat Knits club shipments toward the end of the year as I was working on finishing up gifts). I am planning on continuing to subscribe to that club, but I'm also going to make a concerted effort to catch up with the backlog once we're back home.

If there was one significant accomplishment, it was that I did use a good amount of my handspun. All three of my completed Gift-a-long projects were done in handspun. That is a trend I hope to continue next year, and I'm also hoping to finally spin up some deep stash fiber.

To get back to more recent events, I've been very productive while we've been on vacation. I finished three pattern samples (all of which I predict you'll see in the next two or three months), and that meant that I could finally cast on for my long-planned Color Affection. I'm not going to finish it tonight -- not by any stretch of the imagination! -- but I should at least get to the two-color section.

I'm using a kit from Miss Babs with three colors of her Yummy sock yarn (Peony, Impatiens, and Lilac) that I purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool several years ago. I have eight rows left of this first section, and I'll be working on it this evening while we celebrate.

As this year draws to a close, I want to thank all of you for continuing to read the blog. I know that blogging has fallen somewhat out of vogue in the past couple of years, but it's still a valuable practice to me and one that I'm not likely to stop anytime soon. I hope it has been a good year for you, and I hope that 2015 is even better. I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous new year.

2011: Day 365

Amazingly, it's the last day of the year again. I swear that the older I get, the faster time passes. It's been quite a year, both in my fiber-y life and my personal life. I have a bit of a tradition of doing a reflective blog post at the end of the year, so even though I am sitting next to the pool in almost 80 degree heat many miles away from my stash, I don't think it's time to break with tradition.

I completed several large projects this year, namely three sweaters for me.

The first of these was a major accomplishment because I spun the yarn for the sweater myself (a feat I hope to be repeating in the new year when I spin up the fleece I bought at MDSW).

It was also a year of knitting for others, though, as I finished a gorgeous sweater for Rainbow, a number of baby gifts (with more to be knit in the coming months), and several items for charitable causes.

In many ways this year, knitting took a back seat to spinning. With the acquisition of my Hansen miniSpinner earlier this year, my spinning time increased and my productivity dramatically increased. I burned through a good portion of my stash (though I'll readily admit I added to it as well) and won my LYS's first summer spinning contest.

My longest skein of the summer -- 1,000+ yards of laceweight!

The really big leap this year, though, was taking the next step toward designing knitwear. I released three patterns this year (they're over there in the sidebar; click away!) and have several more in the pipeline. I don't think I'll ever get to the point where designing is my full-time job (nor do I necessarily want it to be), but I've found it to be a great way to express my creativity and artistic urges, much as I used to do with pencil and paintbrush in the art studio back in high school. I have yet to have anything accepted by a major publication (fingers still crossed!), but I am enjoying the freedom of self-publishing and hope to continue with it in the new year. Several new projects are nearly ready and should be up in the first quarter of next year.

Dear readers, thanks for sticking with me for another year and sharing with me the highs (and some lows) of my love affair with all things fiber related. I wish you all a happy, healthy, and fiber-filled new year!

Resolved.

This time of year, it's very common to hear about resolutions and big goals for the year ahead, even as they pertain to knitting. Now, I'm not usually one to make resolutions, particularly as I can only remember ever keeping one (and that was to floss my teeth every night -- not exactly a life-changing thing).

Still, when the new year rolls around, I like to think about my knitting, my stash, and my plans for the 12 months ahead. I like to think about all the projects I intended to knit in the year before and all the intentions I had for my yarn. So, rather than making specific resolutions for my knitting in 2009, let's say that I have some very specific aspirations.

First, and I know this will shock some of you, is that I don't think I'll be knitting my usual number of socks this year. I have no doubt that I'll still have a sock on the needles much of the time, but they just don't give me the thrill they used to. I think that some of that has to do with the fact that my sock drawer is extremely full right now, as is The Mister's. Certainly those socks will wear out and need to be replaced one day, and I do intend to continue to work my way through New Pathways, but for the forseeable future, I think it will be mostly handspuns socks.

So what will I be knitting in 2009? I predict this will be the year of the sweater. I fully intend to seriously try to knit from my stash this year, particularly as I have sweater amounts of yarn for about six or seven adult sweaters. I may have to knit a few baby sweaters this year, but I'm going to embrace the idea of selfish knitting and seek to replace the old, store-bought sweaters in my dresser drawers with handknits. The Mister's Big Thaw Pullover is likely the next sweater on the needles.

I also predict you'll see a fair amount of lace on the blog this year, with the first order of business being finally finishing the Icarus Shawl that I cast on in August 2007. After that, I plan to work through my laceweight stash, especially some of my handspun.

Though you haven't seen it on the blog, I've been working on a design for about a month now and hope to finish it in the next few weeks. Then I will need to decide what to do with it (offer it for free here? make it a free Ravelry download? try to sell it?) and may ask your opinion in the future.

Finally, in continuing my efforts to "go green," I'm going to keep up a pretty steady supply of knit dishcloths and other household cleaning items. I've gotten one cloth done already this year (knit during the Steelers game on Sunday), and I hope to knit at least two a month.

At the very top of my knitting goals for 2009, however, is finishing my Ivy League Vest. Only a handful of rows on the neck and dealing with some ends stand in my way.

What are your knitting aspirations for 2009?

2007: A Year in Review

Today is the last day of the year, which means it's time for my annual knitting self-reflection post. It's certainly been quite a year. By far, this was the most productive year I've had as a knitter. It was also an extremely busy year at work and in my personal life, which really makes me think I might thrive on stress and pressure. This year, I completed:

• 39 pairs of socks,
• five adult sweaters,
• four baby sweaters,
• two scarves,
• one lace shawl (for the wedding!),
• one baby blanket,
• one lace garter (also for the wedding),
• one baby hat,
• one pair of baby booties,
• one felted bag,
• and a heck of a lot of miniatures/ornaments.

You can see the year's photo album here.

I have a number of knitting goals for the year ahead. The first is to finish all the baby sweaters I have planned. I also want to continue to work to reduce my stash, because I know there's a lot of great yarn I have that I've forgotten about because it's been in the stash so long. I won't exclude the occasional yarn purchase every now and then, but I have several sweaters' worth of yarn already and plenty of sock yarn to keep me busy for a while, so there really isn't a need. Although I know I will likely have to have a pair of socks going at all times as usual, I'd like to focus more on larger garments in the year ahead, specifically sweaters and lace. It's gotten to the point where I could probably go about three weeks wearing a pair of hand-knit socks every day without having to wash any, so my feet certainly aren't cold.

My final goal is to finish the WIPs that have been on the needles this year and will be on the needles going into next year: Shedir (the oldest WIP, on the needles since February), Icarus (cast on in August), and the mate to the first Bird in Hand mitten (cast on 12/14/07). Here's a peek at what's destined to be the first finished object of 2008:

I wish all of you a very happy, healthy, and productive 2008!