And some knitting

 Today was better. 

During a grading break, I looked at Knitty and spotted their "Surprises" (these are patterns that come a little later, after first publication of an issue online.)

And I really like two of them, and they made me think of the mid-aughts knitting boom, when knitting blogs were big (ah, how I miss there being a lot of knitting blogs, and the blogring)

A very popular knit in those days was Clapotis, a dropped-stitch shawl. I made either two or three of these during the time the pattern was popular (Three, I think - a blue one, a bright-pink one, and one that was of a slippery ribbon yarn). 

Well, the original author re-upped the pattern, this time calling it Nouvelle Vague. (Both of the names of these being puns on waves - a clapotis is sort of like a rogue wave, and of course Nouvelle Vague is a French filmmaking school meaning "new wave"

And yeah, I want to make one of these. Not sure I have the appropriate amount of dk on hand (Double knitting weight is a rarer weight in the US....worsted is the most common that you see in "typical" craft stores like Michael's, and you do see some sockweight here and there, but dk you usually must special order from a catalog source). But you can also use worsted or light-worsted, and I'm pretty sure I have some "uncommitted" yarn that I would like for this.

The other one is really interesting to me; it's learning a new technique, which I haven't done in a while - creating a double-color garter stitch fabric. The pattern is called Myr and makes sort of a small shawl/collar. (The name means "peace" in Ukrainian, I admit I'm tempted to find colorways incorporating blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. I know I have blue Wool-ease on hand....). It's also a dk weight but can be made with worsted or with fingering weight. (I might try sockweight yarn, I don't know if I'd need more yardage or not - generally a hank of sockweight yarn is 400 to 450 yards though I think I have a few where I bought two skeins of the same color)

But I decided maybe I should finish at least one existing project first. Tonight I worked on the simple socks and made some progress - by last night I had just picked up the gusset stitches and now I'm nearly done with the decreases

This was also the first night this fall I had to break out a fleece blanket while sitting and knitting. We're supposed to get a hard, hard freeze (for us, for this time of year) tonight - I've got the kitchen tap on a drip (that's the more poorly insulated of the two water lines; the one running to the bathroom runs right next to the heating ductwork so it's pretty safe).

I also realized I needed to do something about the outdoor tap. I looked for my styrofoam thing to cover it and found it had cracked, so (not wanting to drive out to Lowe's), I MacGuyvered something up with scraps of quilt batting ans a stray sock and painter's tape:

It's not pretty but hopefully it keeps the tap from freezing.

I also retrieved a few more boxes - some random yarn (I have to go through and rebox it in the flip top boxes, which will stack with the other boxes I have) and one box of books I had labeled "Important Books - Bedroom" and I was hoping a couple of the Folio Society books I have were in there but I suspect they're actually in another plastic tote (where I thought "well if the unit gets damp at least they will be dry) that I'll have to get another day

I did, however, wind up retrieving my copy of How Green Was My Valley (the bottom book, it's very worn) and some of the old Modern Library editions I picked up from library book sales down through the years:

Yes, they're dusty. They were even before I boxed them up. I need to wipe them down gently with a barely-damp cloth before reshelving. (I *still* want to buy a couple larger taller bookshelves to put on either side of my bedroom windows, to put some of these books where I will be able to easily get access to them)