Greetings dearest Unravelers, Happy Juneteenth, and Happy Hot as Hell Wednesday (at least in most of America… I saw that it snowed in Scotland recently and I am having some heavy contemplation about relocating there…)
I am managing some minutes outside in the morning, but even early yesterday it was warm and so muggy! Sherman and I have embarked on a multiple times a day de-shed-a-thon … now I know Pug’s are super shedders, but he has lost at least 4 Sherman’s in floof this week… yes, we have shedding on steroids… and he is still shedding!
But…in spite of all the deshedding, I have managed to squeeze in some knitting time. I was having the hardest time tracking the “pattern” of my pre-knit sweater… so I made myself a little note to help. Most rows are k2, p2…. but the row before and after the wraps are different. (Yes, wrapped stitches… not cables, but they look very cable-ish and I love how it looks!) Now all I have to do is look at the number (does it have a “p” or is it “wrapped”) and the rows are going faster now! Woot! My gauge is off… so I will need to do at least 5 or 6 repeats of the chart before I divide fronts, sleeves, and back…good thing I am enjoying the process!
I finished sock one and started sock two but, as you can see, it has not gotten much love this week.
Now for the reading… mmm, mmm, mmmmmm! Summer reading is the best reading in the world! The first time I read 4 3 2 1, I read with my eyes. This time I am listening to Paul Auster read it to me (It is ALWAYS available on Hoopla!) and I am loving it even more this time than I did the first, if that is at all possible! It is long though (35+ hours of listening) but I just love how Auster crafted this intricate story! (And I can’t believe how much I have forgotten since my first read!)
Vera reminded me of Summer Solstice: An Essay this week… my library does not have any copies… but Hoopla to the rescue again! So I started reading it last night. I should finish before Thursday, just in time for Solstice!
I had just two finishes this week, Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything, which will be published September 10, 2024 and Percival Everett’s I am Not Sidney Poitier.
I know some of you have read Tell Me Everything already and loved it as much as I did! I laughed, I fell in love with characters all over again, and I cried… a 91 year old Olive makes me so sad. I am in the “Olive must live forever” camp and I am hoping Elizabeth feels the same way! Perhaps the best part of the story… was the stories, the listening… really listening, and the realization that everyone’s story is important. Good reminders for us all… and me especially!
I am Not Sidney Poitier won’t be for everyone, but if you like Percival Everett… you will love this short, spot-on, brilliant little book!
And there you have my goings on… mostly, we are trying to stay cool (and get a handle on the shedding! lol) What about you? What’s keeping you cool this week?
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I do love that sweater pattern and the clever way you’re tracking it. And what a great color! My motivation is at an all time low because of the heat, but I know we’ve got a long way to go. I’m sitting inside, reading Summer Solstice, and trying to knit but keeping it off my lap. Poor Sherman (and poor you)! I hope the shedding ends soon.
What I wouldn’t do for some of your warmth – here it’s down to 0c freezing tonight and maybe up to 12c/ about 53f tomorrow. Winter doesn’t appeal to me at all so we’re off to Qld next week…..hopefully it’ll moved on when we come back home in September.
What does appeal though is the pattern stitch you are working on. The garment will look fabulous when finished. The colour is warming as well. Oh sorry warm is not the word of the day where you are😎
Your sweater is gorgeous Kat! I love the color and the pattern looks like (to moi) little bundles. Love it! Hope you enjoy Summer Solstice as much as I did.
The sweater is looking wonderful! I can imagine it’s not an auto-pilot knitting project, but at least it looks engaging.
Perhaps we should be reading Winter Solstice right now to try to feel cooler! One of the spinners in the SCF Ravelry group lives in Montana and posted a photo of snow there the other day, and truly I would have loved that. I have been trying to limit my time outside to the morning and after dinner (when I go out to water), and it hasn’t been too horrible, but all the same I’ll be happy when this heat wave has passed.
I’m so done with this rotten weather and it’s not even summer yet…ugh. I am trying to decide what to knit for me before I am knee deep in holiday knitting. If I do holiday knitting.
The Olive books were my first Elizabeth Strout reads — so maybe for that reason, and a few others, she’s my favorite of all. I don’t want Elizabeth Strout to stop writing, ever, and I don’t want Olive to die, ever. Ack.
Your wrapped stitches are GORGEOUS! Oh my gosh, the eye candy that is your banner photo today..!
The heat + humidity: keeping window A/C units on with doors and windows closed. I go out morning and evening; afternoons, only if I must! Today, I’m bringing a carload of kids to the movie theater to see Inside Out 2. And tonight I might sit on the shore with my feet in the lake!
Like you we have been dealing with shedding. Thank goodness Giroux loves to be brushed. I have gotten about 4 cats worth of underfur and now we are getting the top coat too. Poor baby is going to be bald if he keeps up like this. I think his theory is, “don’t worry. We’ll make more.”
Knitting? More dishcloths and just the very start of a sock.
Reading? Some magazines that Stephen brought up from Ashburn (his town) and restarting Late Migrations. I just finished The Comfort of Crows.
It snowed at Taylor Swift’s show in Edinburgh! I saw a few gorgeous photos. She wears a coat at some point in the show & hands it off to someone, but in EDI she asked if she could keep it! Brrrrrrr!
Your wraps look great. One of the first cardigans I made (early ’80s) had wrapped stitches — looked like smocking — fun to do!
Beautiful start to that sweater! It’s super hot and humid here, too, but there was a breeze yesterday which helped a bit. I mostly stayed inside until I went out and get in our inflatable pool with a cocktail and Dale around 5pm.
I always assumed that short-haired dogs did not shed. Boy, was I wrong! Ser Percy the Energetic pitbull sheds as much as the others (in terms of individual hairs shed, not by volume of shed fur). Several years ago I decreed that all future pets would be black because I was tired of de-furring my clothes. Two black cats and two black dogs later we inherited Percy from our son. Short white hairs on EVERYTHING! But I love him anyway.