working on mitts

 it's taking a while. But then, it's been a long week and I've had some late days over at work.

I'm almost done with the thumb-gusset part, and that needle's worth of stitches is getting very tight to do. I think I have four more increases to do (about six rounds) and then I can put those on a holder.

Like many "random variegated" yarns the mitts look slightly different but I think the difference in the intensity of colors is a trick of the light there. (Though I will say with some yarns of another brand I had that happen - I had a skein of MadelineTosh where the speckle pattern was much denser on the outside of the ball I wound than when you got deeper in to it. This yarn is a Dream in Color, and I've never noticed that issue with it).

These feel tight to knit because it's a dk weight knit on size 1s, so it's a tight gauge (you usually knit a fingering weight yarn, which is roughly half this thickness, on 1s). But it does make a nice, dense fabric, good for a cold-weather accessory.

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When I ran home at lunch one of the (I presume) last hatches of the year of luna moths was out

 

I get these fairly often; one of the food plants for the caterpillars is pecan leaves, and I have a pecan tree. (I sometimes see the caterpillars that fall out of the tree. I don't think all of them are doomed; I think they often drop down to pupate).

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Went and got my pneumococcal vaccine today (my doctor recommended I do it, probably because of my asthma). So far I'm not having bad after effects other than a slightly sore arm, but in my experience, if I'm going to get chills and fatigue they come the next day, so we'll see. I did take a dose of acetaminophen because I was developing the hint of a headache; hopefully that will also help the sore arm. 

The shot-nurse (I assume the people giving the shots have some nurse training? Or maybe the shot technician) said that he expected they'd have updated covid vaccines in a week or two. What he wasn't sure of was if my insurance would be willing to pay (I do have a couple of the conditions they listed though as "The FDA recommends). I hope he wasn't either being overly hopeful or was misinformed; it seems there's a LOT of chaos about these vaccines because of, ahem, Certain People in government who don't have biological or medical training, but seem to think they know better than the people who are experts. 

I hope I can get an updated covid vaccine; it seems to me this operates on the model of the flu and getting an annual booster to cover the new mutant strains is wise. (especially if you're older or have certain health concerns). 

Also I am around a lot of people (students) who don't always take the best care of their health, and some of whom live in crowded dorms, or have small children in school, or work at a place in close quarters with lots of other people, and I would like to do what I can to reduce my risk.