Happy Friday, friends! Fridays are typically reserved for reveling in what’s been bringing me joy and today is no exception. This week the focus has been on books and knitting and I have a lot of pictures to share with you!
Books!
I promised you stacks of books on Wednesday and I’m here to deliver. Our homeschooling adventure resumes on Monday; Bronwyn is starting Kindergarten and Bryce is starting the fourth grade! I’ve done so much prep work and yet — I feel like I could use two more weeks to get ready. Yikes! The books on the left are the spine books I purchased for Bronwyn’s Torchlight curriculum. I had to buy a lot!
The middle picture includes the books I’ve been able to get from the library. I’m doing my best to borrow the books that will only be used for a week or two, which requires a ton of interlibrary loans. Not all of the books I need for the first week arrived in this week’s ILL delivery, so I put in another Amazon order to ensure I had what I needed to start the year off well. Those books should arrive on Sunday – whew! My challenge this year will be getting the timing right with my interlibrary loan requests.
The picture on the right is my ‘up next’ stack. I’ve already started the top three — The Luminaries is a slow and steady read for me right now; I have Three on audio as well as this interlibrary loan; and I began The Postcard last night and am already 100+ pages into it. More about those next week, of course. The Rushdie is in anticipation of the Booker longlist – it seems like a likely pick?
My sweater!
The sleeves have been separated from the body of my Junction and it’s finally looking like a sweater. The biggest relief, of course, is that I’m pretty sure it’s going to fit. And now that the sleeves are separated, this is perfect for sitting on the couch and watching TV on Saturday and Sunday nights – which is likely the only time I’ll get to work on this after today!
Socks!
I finished my fourth pair of DRK Everyday socks (here’s my Ravelry page with yarn details)! Last week I mentioned that I was going to try the tubular bind off and it worked like a charm. Perhaps my new favorite bind off? I’m looking forward to wearing these this fall. It’s much too hot to think about these tall things in July! Which is why…
I started Sarah’s Runaway Shorties (Rav link)! She has created a clever piece of engineering with these shorties! I’m totally not used to knitting cuff down socks so I’m following the pattern very carefully. I am anxious to see how these turn out!
I am so pleased that I managed to get so much knitting done in the last two weeks. I’m not expecting that to continue now that we’re about to resume school, but this little break was nice while it lasted. I’m hoping to be able to work on the socks a little throughout the day and bring out the sweater on the weekends – some progress is better than none.
The weekend is forecasted to be muggy and stormy. I am meeting with a few friends this afternoon for an afternoon snack and a quick catch up and I’ve asked for an hour of quiet time in the house on Sunday to get my brain ready for school on Monday morning. Other than that – I have no idea what to expect this weekend! I hope yours is full of exactly what you need. Take good care!
The Cozy Burrow 
Junction looks great, and those socks are fab!
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Thank you! I’m so excited to be making progress on these projects! 😎
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I am so excited to see your shorties! You’re past the tricky parts, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out.
I’m not your kid and yet I’m excited for you to start the school year! Can’t believe your baby is a kindergartener already — where does the time go? I hope the kiddos are excited for the year ahead.
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Thanks, Sarah! I can’t believe she’s starting Kindergarten either. And she’s my most enthusiastic learner in the house so I’m really looking forward to seeing where this year leads. She is so much fun!!
And I’m loving the shorties. I’m feeling nervous because I think the stitches are placed on my needles all wrong. I’m used to toe-up socks and having all of the stitches for the top of the foot on one needle and the stitches for the bottom of the foot on the other — and it hasn’t worked out that way for me. I’m worried I read the instructions wrong? And now I’m trying to visualize where the toe decreases should go and it’s got me sweating, ha! I’m sure it will work out fine and that it’s just because I’m not used to this style of sock knitting — I’m just really nervous! I’ll be putting in a lifeline before I do the toe decrease for sure!
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Lovely, lovely work. All so nice, but I am particularly smitten by the runaway shorties, which have such a delicate look.
Your homeschooling sounds exciting. Such a stack of books, and it sounds as though Bronwyn is way above grade level.
Even for personal reason, interlibrary loan can be tricky. Sometimes they come rushing in a flood; other times it’s a trickle. I can only imagine what it is like for homeschooling.
Have fun with your friends!
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Thanks, Laurie! Bronwyn is wicked fun and catches on to things really quickly. I’m looking forward to starting her school year this week! And these ILL have me in such a tizzy. I don’t want to request too early and then run out of time with the book; I don’t want to request too late and have it not arrive in time. And of course — ILLs are a lot of work for the librarians on both ends and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time! So there’s a lot to plot out!
And the gathering with my friends was just lovely – it had been too long! I hope you have a great weekend 🙂
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Ooo! I love your sock start! (and your sweater is looking amazing!)
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Thanks so much, Kat!
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I’ve probably knit 50 pairs of socks and not one has been toe-up! I also use the same bind off for everything, no matter what it is. Just the normal one, knit 2, pass the previous stitch over. I guess I do it loosely enough because I have never had an issue with it. I love the Mercy Watson books, they are so fun. I also have a Kindergartener and 4th grader this year 🙂
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Hahaha — I LOVE toe-up socks and have such a difficult time visualizing what needs to happen with cuff down socks. And you are so lucky to have had such luck with your bindoff — I used to do that exact one with socks and also had no problem. And then all of a sudden — I had big problems doing them that way!!
We read all the Mercy Watson books a few years ago but Bronwyn was so young and I’m sure she doesn’t remember them. I was excited to see them listed in Torchlight for Kindergarten! And how funny that the ages of our kids line up so perfectly. We just have to get you a second grader to squeeze in the middle of it and we’ll be perfectly matched!! 😉
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Love those socks! And the works in progress are lovely already! I get the whole already-done-tons-of-school-prep-but-still-feeling-like-you-need-more-time feeling. And it seems like there’s always a thing or two to tweak the first couple of weeks of school. You know? LOL Hope you all have a great start to your new school year!
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Thank you for the encouragement, Karen! The good thing is that we’ll just be focusing on the basics with my oldest this summer so that will be a relaxed start to the year for him. It will give me a chance to get my youngest used to this rhythm!
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We do something similar! I hope to send you an email sometime today. 🙂
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I’m with Sarah – how is Bronwyn ready for kindergarten? I love the intention you put into your homeschooling. Do you knit socks using magic loop? All this time sitting has me looking for some new challenges in my knitting life.
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It’s so crazy that she’s starting K — I know!! And yes – I use the magic loop for knitting. I was adamant that I’d always use dpns for sock knitting and then decided to just try the magic loop… and I’ve never looked back!
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Both pairs of socks look terrific, as does the sweater. Such a different construction to how we knit in the UK, fascinating to see. Hope you enjoy all your books.
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Thanks for the encouragement, Cathy! And how funny to know that the construction is so different in the UK! There’s so much to learn in the world!
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Wow, I’m so impressed. I never had the confidence to homeschool my kids even though I’m an engineer. Math and science would be a breeze but I’d rather die than do anything with English. Hmm, I’ll have to look into the tubular bindoff.
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And I’m totally the opposite! The curricula we follow are all literature based and the bulk of our day is focused on literature and history. We do math and science of course, but it’s not where we spend most of our time! Let me know if you try the tubular bind off 😀
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you had me at the heel 🙂 oh my, Katie, what a great incentive for me to start those shortie socks! I ordered a washable wool/silk/nylon blend yarn to knit mine and it arrived this week … soon… and wow I love those bookstacks!
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Mary, the runaway shorties is such a great pattern. You’re going to love it! And your fiber blend sounds dreamy 🥰
My copy of The House of Doors arrived yesterday and you’re right — it is so gorgeous! I want to get through The Postcard and Three before starting it but I cannot wait!
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Well, I just added those shorties to my pattern wishlist. Love the look of the cuff!! What a perfect summer sock!
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It’s such a fun pattern, Katie! I can’t wait to see it on your needles 😁
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The socks look great. I’m anxious to see the finished top down shorties by Sarah. I bought the pattern but have way too many projects going to start something new. I hope you get the quiet time on Sunday. You must do a little schooling year round or are you prepping for the coming year?
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I finished the first shortie yesterday and am looking forward to casting on to the second! Yes — we homeschool year round. We typically take off the first two weeks of July, the week of Thanksgiving, and the last two weeks of December. And then we’ll take a week of every 6-8 weeks throughout, depending on what works with the calendar and curricula we are using. It works out to be a 44 week school year, which is a little more than the traditional school year. It’s been a good way to keep a routine while still ensuring some solid breaks 🙂
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My hat is off to you. I think your schedule is very wise.
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Love your shortie sock and your sweater looks amazing! Hope your weekend was a good one. It was stinking hot and humid here.
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Thanks, Vera! It was also humid here but we were lucky enough to get some rain on Sunday, which helps my mood more than anything!
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