Yes, I know this would be better with photos, but it’s late, I want to go to bed, and I haven’t charged the iPhone that doubles as my camera these days.

I’ve been reading up a storm and finished books both yesterday and today. Which means I need to start something new and I’m feeling ambivalent about what that should be. What would make the most sense is to read some more of Sloane Crosby’s Cult Classic and decide whether I should keep it past its due date (tomorrow) and finish it this weekend or give it back as it continues to annoy me. Also, to download whichever audiobook is due back first (I may have five currently checked out) and get listening. But none of that appeals. Maybe tomorrow I’ll pick up one of the books I own that I started last year and give that a whirl. Or read the first ten pages of every book within reach of where I’m sitting and see if that solves the problem.

On the knitting front, I’m working on a Rilke hat, which is knit in garter stitch, and I’m not sure if I’m liking it with this yarn. I’ll probably keep going until after the brim, at which point it will switch over to a larger circular needle and I’ll be able to try it on. I have one sock of a pair done and just stumbled across a gorgeous pair of socks that’s several years old and just needs me to knit a toe. That would make the most sense to pick up, particularly because I also stumbled across a hat I’d knit a friend twelve years ago that I hadn’t ever given her, and I appropriated it, so it’s not like I need another one right this second.

I hope you’re having a more certain week than I am.

I did manage one final finished object in 2022:

This is Mum’s Campfire Cozy, an Espace Tricot pattern. It took over a year to make and may have been gifted for both last Christmas and this year’s. The pattern is great and it makes a ginormous, blanket-sized shawl.

I didn’t take measurements, but it’s huge. Probably 9.5-10 feet long and 3.5-4 feet deep. I had to block it folded down the center seam at my parents’ house because I didn’t have enough space anywhere else.

The yarn is Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd’s Wool Worsted, a favorite of mine. It took 8.5 skeins, so a little more than 2000 yards. I used a U.S. 10 (6 mm) circular needle.

We’re both very happy it’s done!

My camera on the phone is still on the fritz, which means I’m using Rudi’s mom’s old phone and then sharing the photo with my phone and then putting the photo someplace I can use it. Which is a lot and mostly means I’m not taking a lot of photos just to take them right now.

But I thought I’d tell you that I’ve gotten to the heel of the first of a pair of Christmas socks, knit out of West Yorkshire Spinners’ Signature 4 ply in Candy Cane, a red, white, and green stripey yarn. It makes me happy to see it, and I’m excited to see what an industrial Blue-Faced Leicester yarn will be like to wear.

On the reading front, I have several books that are suddenly overdue at the library, so I’m trying to quickly plow through them. First up is Sarah Maas’ oft-banned A Court of Roses and Thorns, which one of my teammates recommended. In the ears, I’m back to Jane Pek’s The Verifiers.

Check out what others are crafting and reading at As Kat Knits.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Mondays, I coach in a kids’ afterschool volleyball program. Usually, I end up with the littlest kids, but this week, there were only two adults. The other woman doesn’t have much volleyball experience, so she asked if I’d take the preteens. I thought we ended up having a pretty good practice, and while I got a little attitude at the beginning, I thought I dissipated it pretty quickly.

2. I knit a bulky-weight hat this week, so I could wear it while playing tonight if it felt cold enough to need it. (It didn’t.) I didn’t check stitch gauge and it’s a little bigger than I’d like, so I’m going to reknit it on slightly smaller needles. But it felt so good to actually finish something enough that it could be worn.

3. I had a meeting this week with the president of the company that organized the scavenger hunt my friends and I did earlier this month. He was looking for feedback on how our experience with the game and I was happy to tell him how much we’d enjoyed it. But he also offered to make any connections he could with local nonprofits in his network as I’m continuing my job search, which was such a surprising kindness.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

My shawl remains closer to start than to finish. In fact, I haven’t touched it other than to move it from place to place in a week, which probably means it’s time to put it aside and look at finishing some other pieces.

Also closer to start than finish is Linda Holmes’ Flying Solo, but only because I’ve only had it a few days. I’m enjoying it quite a bit so far, and appreciated that it’s the same town where part of her earlier novel is set.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are reading and crafting.

Today was the midpoint of the Tour de France, which means I should be at the midpoint of my shawl.

…

Clearly we aren’t there. But I am happy with how pretty it looks, so when this shawl takes me a while longer, I will be happy to continue on with it. And I’ll definitely have brioche down.