Joining Kat and friends. Go see what the others are up to.

Knitting.

Lots of knitting while we were on vacation!

I took the Big Red Blob along with hopes of maybe perhaps finishing it. Did.Not.Happen. It was at a point where I would need to think about it before resuming the knitting, so it didn’t seem like good car knitting. (six-hour drive, plus stops for gas/bathroom/snacks)

I chose the Bankhead hat for the car knitting because it looked dead easy and I had the perfect yarn for it in my stash — two partial skeins of a fabulous CVM/alpaca/angora worsted that I was *forced* to buy at Yarnover for a class about five years ago. It is wicked soft. All was well until I got to the decreases. The first half of the pattern is k1p1 ribbing and the second half is k4p1. That means the purl columns in the second half would not line up with the purl column in the first half. Bleah. I decided to change the second half to k3p1, thus lining up the purl columns in a manner to please my anal little heart.

All was fine and good until I got to the decrease section, where the pattern decreases were designed to line up with the k4p1 section. I say again: Bleah. Right now the hat is in time out because the decreases I decided to go with don’t look all that good. But as I added the project to my Ravelry page just now, I decided on a fix. The decrease section will be done in plain stockinette using the decreases from the Seaman’s Cap, my go-to pattern for a plain hat.

While Bankhead was in time out, I started another hat, this time a Sockhead.

I am strongly committed to No More Yarn Purchases (unless needed for a specific project), but I saw this yarn in this colorway online about a year ago and had to own it. Pastels do not generally appeal to me, but this one did. Lovely stuff. Glad I finally figured out what to make of it — a hat for Elder Son’s wife for Christmas and maybe a cowl to match (I bought two skeins.) The Bankhead above is for her, too; she can have either one or both (or neither)(or another one currently in the planning stage).

Reading.

A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog/ Dean Koontz. Oh, my, gosh. If you have ever loved a dog and marveled at their wondrous existence, you must read this book. Koontz is well known for his horror and suspense novels, but this one is totally something else. He and his wife adopt Trixie, a golden retriever who had to retire from her life as a service dog because of an injury. Trixie is happy, intelligent, endearing, and preternaturally intuitive. She lived with them for eight years, was endlessly curious, loving, delighted to be alive, and a pure delight. She also proved to be an excellent judge of character. I cried at the end when she succumbed to multiple malignancies, and I do not cry easily. 5★

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Life is Good: Lessons in Joyful Living / Trixie Koontz, dog; edited by Dean Koontz. After reading A Big Little Life, above, I had to read Trixie’s book. It was as delightful as Trixie herself was.

“I Trixie Koontz (who is dog) am happy 24 hours, 58 minutes, and 30 seconds every day. Am unhappy only for thirty seconds after breakfast, after lunch, and after dinner because food gone, leaving empty dish. Empty dish looks as deep as eternity. Eternity reminds me no one lives forever. Remembering no one lives forever, I am sad. So sad. Tail won’t wag. Try again. Won’t wag. Try again. Nada. Have desire to read French novels about futility of life. Then remember next meal – or snack – comes in four hours. Tail wags. Wags all by itself. Day grows brighter, Realize dish must be empty before it can be filled again. Empty dish is promise of full dish to come. Life is good. Time to pee.” 5★

Life on the Line : Young Doctors Come of Age in a Pandemic / Emma Goldberg. I read every book I come across that deals with medical and physician stuff in an effort to understand Elder Son’s professional life. He was already done with residency when the pandemic hit, but this book sounded so good I had to read it.

“In March 2020, soon-to-graduate medical students in New York City were nervously awaiting ‘match day’ when they would learn where they would begin their residencies. Only a week later, these young physicians learned that they would be sent to the front lines of the desperate battle to save lives as the coronavirus plunged the city into crisis.” Fascinating book. 5★

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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry /Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Still working on this one; I can only read and sorta kinda absorb about 10 pages at a time. Loving it, though. 5★

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Listening.

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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo / Taylor Jenkins Reid. Very nearly done with this one; only 58:28 left. I stand by my review on a previous Unraveled Wednesday. 3.5★

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Watching.

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Suits, season 9. I even got to watch a couple episodes while on vacation. Currently on episode 5 of 10 in this final season. What to watch next? Numerous possibilities…