We took a few days last week and went quasi-camping* on the North Shore. I took along my Fairfield sweater but did not work on it much. It is daunting to me, and I don’t exactly know why. I love the yarn and the pattern; I think it is because I got off a row or two in  the narrow cable panels so they no longer line up with the wider central cable panel. It’s such a little thing and something even I have trouble seeing, but the fact that I don’t get that satisfied feeling when the numbers just work is bothersome. Grow up, Kat™, and get going; that sweater ain’t gonna knit itself.

I finished a pair of double-thick socks while we were gone and cast on another pair. The second pair, below, will coordinate nicely with my olive green Carbeth.

I have had a potential sweater project in mind for a few months: a subtly striped Boxy by Joji Locatelli, using all my merino fingering skeins in various permutations of red. It would be a monumental task, akin to knitting an afghan, but I kept thinking of it and yearning to cast on. Yarns of simple, relaxing stockinette — a perfect alternative to the challenge of Fairfield (which really is not much of a challenge; I am just being a wimp about it.)

Then, last week Joji announced her fall KAL: pick one of her patterns, cast it on on September 1, then put the project on Ravelry and Instagram with the hashtag #jojifallkal2019. It was like the universe (via Joji) told me it was okay to attempt this sweater! So I did! There are 58 pages of #jojifallkal2019 projects on Ravelry; dozens of hats and shawls and scarves and cowls and darned few fingering weight Boxys besides mine.

Here I go! Check back with me in 2023…

Those socks up there are posing on my new computer that arrived yesterday, a mid-2019 MacBook Air to replace my early-2014 MacBook Air. I knew I was going to get a new one with some of the Jeopardy money but hadn’t pulled the trigger yet. Then tRump went crazy with his on-again-off-again tariffs and December-1-no-September-1-no-maybe-the-second-Tuesday-next-week, and I decided that I didn’t want to take a chance that the tariffs would affect the price. The new one compared to the old one: 8GB of RAM vs 4GM; 512GB hard drive vs. 120GB, plus other stuff I don’t really understand. According to the sold auctions I looked at on eBay, my old Air is worth $275 – $300, so that took a little sting out of the price of the new one. And if it lasts five years like the 2014 model did before being outdated, it will prove to be a good buy.

What I have been reading.

Lonely Hearts by John Harvey. I was excited to find a mystery author whose books I had not read. Sadly, this may not be my new favorite author. Several times I didn’t know what was going on, plus the eventually-revealed killer appeared out of nowhere three-quarters of the way through the book. I have the next two books in the series from the library. 2★

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Rough Treatment by John Harvey. I gave the above author a second chance, and it seems to be working out. Haven’t finished yet so I don’t know if this one will end in a more satisfactory manner, but the writing seems to be better — I haven’t found myself wondering what just happened. A tentative 3★

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On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder. Fascinating and important lessons for all of us on how to resist the creeping fascism imposed on our country by the current president and his party. 5★

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The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues by Ellen Raskin. This may be a young adult book, but is not condescending to its readers. I found it entirely enjoyable. 4★

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The Snakes by Sadie Jones. Decent writing, but I was shocked and disappointed by the ending. 2-1/2★

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* Quasi-camping = done in the mini-mini-motorhome. No tents, no sleeping bags; cuddled up in a queen-size bed under a down comforter with Smokey and at least two dogs. Latte in the morning, go out for dinner in the evening. No roughing it for The Kat™.