The sun was up at the horizon when my alarm went off this morning which means that the days are really getting longer. Not far back, it was still dark at 6:30am. It took me a bit to get going this morning because I was knitting into the wee hours (and by wee hours I mean until almost 11pm) last night and I didn’t want to get up this morning. BUT I had a repeat blood test to get to at 8:30am so up I got.

I have to say, though, I love having an early appointment or meeting because then I can get a good start on the day. I was out of the office at 8:40am, had a phone meeting and then headed to Oakland to the post office and the bank for work-related stuff. By the time I got home, it wasn’t even 9:30 yet and I decided to start a loaf of challah bread. While I’m writing this and doing some desk work, the sponge is getting ready to become bread. I’ve not made challah for decades but it’s one of my favorite breads. I hope it’ll be delicious. I’ll report later.

Meanwhile, what I AM supposed to be chronicling is that I have completely finished my Winter’s Finery shawl by Rosemary Hill. This is a one-skein-wonder that I knitted up with a special skein of hand-dyed yarn that I bought at Knit City Montreal two (or almost three) years ago. The yarn is dyed by Mailles a Part, based in Quebec. It’s a 75% superwash Bluefaced Leicester, 25% nylon yarn in the colorway “Maree”.It’s a dusty blue with specks of gray. I loved it from my first glance. The pattern is another wonderful Romi pattern with clear directions and simple to follow. I keep remembering, though, that I have to LOOK at my knitting and read my stitches because I am apt to make mistakes when I don’t read my knitting. Can you imagine that?! Once the shawl is finished you knit on the ornaments and I chose to do rainbow-colored ornaments to reflect my stance that all people should be accepted as they are. I am so disappointed in my country right now and with the hatred that is being spread based on lack of understanding and familiarity. Without getting political, although knitting is historically political, I know that change is difficult. Sometimes change can be baffling. It can be a struggle to accept change at face value. BUT I firmly believe that if we trust that every person is God’s creation then none of them is wrong or bad, they’re just different and there must be a reason that they’re here in front of us. And if you make an effort to learn about their truth, you’ll grow as a person.

I love my shawl and am wearing it today and will probably wear it to work on Thursday.

Today I’ll continue work on my Cardoon because last night I separated the sleeves and that means lots of stockinette stitching in the round which is great knitting for after work or when I’m teaching classes. I am also going to give my Bolin Cardigan some love today. I’ve gotten to the short rows on the first (left) side of the cardigan and I need to pay attention to these when I’m doing them so that I get it right the first time. I’ll pop in a lifeline before I start just in case. Frogging when mohair is involved is a royal pain in the patoot. This sweater is cropped and knitted on large-ish needles and it’s knitting up pretty quickly. I’m looking forward to the sleeves where there is a nice big cable down the side. It’s not often that I look forward to “sleeve island”!

Got to run down and see if my sponge is ready to have the rest of the ingredients added and the laundry is ready for the dryer. I love being home today in the house with one sleepy dog.

Gone knitting.