My grandson’s brain has been “on fire” this week, so I have a number of fun things to share about him. Also, my needles have been active as usual as I’m working to clear them ahead of the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party (PSP) that starts next week. I’ve been spending much of my knitting time prepping mentally for that. I didn’t touch my e-spinner this week, but I did acquire a bit more stash.

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

One of the rule changes in the PSP is that there are no WIPs allowed. Last year I’d planned to knit a few second socks to make a pair, but then I didn’t get it done. So, I’ve been tackling some of those outstanding projects. And with the Summer Sock Camp hosted by The Crazy Sock Lady, I was able to enter a couple more pairs for the year, bringing my total to six!

First up, I test knit this pattern last year for the designer’s Socktober collection release with the Wicked movie/musical theme. I cast on the second sock in November, but then I lost steam and left it sitting. The design is not as complicated as it may look, and I love how the Strong heel allows for the pattern to carry nicely down to the heel turn. The most intriguing element with this project is my timing. I picked up sock #2 a day before the anniversary of casting on sock #1. And I finished the second sock exactly one year after the first, and yes, I did do that intentionally, once I realized that timing.

Next, I had started one shortie in the 2025 Splash Pad Party as the designer was a sponsor. But again, I got distracted and never got to the mate. I knit up this second sock in three days. After all, it’s a shortie!

The Freedom cowl is on track to be completed before the PSP starts. I’ve finished 28 or the 40 stripes, and if I knit two stripes per day, I can be done this week. Then I can decide what to make next with my red, white & lots of blue yarn.

I started one more second sock this week, mostly because I need to have a vanilla sock for movie going! I didn’t make it to the theater this week, but I’m ready when I do! I’ll have to wait to share more than a sneak peek since this pattern is part of a secret test knit for a book that’s being released in October. Yes, it’s a vanilla sock, but this was for a specific technique in sock knitting that I’ll share once the book is out. You can pre-order now, for anyone looking for a book on sock knitting techniques!

And last, but certainly not least, I finally resumed knitting on my Zig Zag blanket using my Desert Vista Dyeworks leftovers! It’s been languishing in an UFO bin for over a year, and I really wanted to get back to it in the wake of her passing. But life happens. It’s now back in my active WIP rotation. There is a lot of the current colorway to go, so I think I’ll switch up yarns once I complete the current strip. My intent was to make the blanket a hodgepodge, so I’ll break up the larger remnants across multiple sections.

Cast-on Conversations

Since I’m trying to clear my needles before the PSP, I was really grappling with the urge to cast something on. Thankfully, there’s a new series of designs to test for my friend Lisa! Her first two designs for the 2026 Socktober series are now being tested. I can share the cuff that I cast on over the weekend. I’m using the leftovers from my shortie socks since I’m only planning to knit one sock here. I’ll probably make a matching pair, but I’d want it to count for the PSP!

I also received a couple skeins of yarn I’d ordered online. The predominantly green colorway from Suburban Stitcher was originally my idea of a contrast yarn for the Tetris Pullover I plan to knit in November. But upon reflection, I’m going to choose a solid or semi-solid yarn for that. This yarn might hang out until the Suburban Stitcher-sponsored PSP event later in the year.

And lastly, I got yet another skein of Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper in Darkest Hour – I have two shawls planned to knit, and I need three skeins of MC across the two. Stay tuned to see this yarn put to use!

Book Banter

I’m making my way through the Kindle quarterly challenges. Right now, I’m reading and occasionally listening to Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover, the book that was made into a movie I missed at the theater. I’d wanted to see it specifically because Bradley Whitford and Lauren Graham are in it. I’ve also started reading The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, which has been very intriguing in its writing style of letters and emails.

Environment Evolution

Still not much going on inside the house, though I’m planning a few activities to continue the decluttering journey. But I put some time into external decluttering by tackling the overgrown foliage by the driveway. There’s still work to be done here, but it’s significantly better!

Health Highlights

I have a couple news items to share here, both looking very positive! First, I had a follow-up “sleep study” done with Daybreak, the manufacturers of my sleep apnea device. Last week marked a month since I started using the device, and the test results showed what I already knew from Apple Health, that my breathing disturbances have dropped dramatically. And I was still tapering off of steroids following my altercation with the poison ivy, so my sleep wasn’t ideal. Today I took my last dose, and my sleep has been fine for the past few days.

The other news is around another test I had done. When I had my annual check-up with my PCP, she pointed out that my cholesterol numbers now fall into the range where pharmaceutical therapy is recommended. Since I’m not keen to begin relying on medication just yet, she suggested having a CT scan calcium score to see if there’s any evidence of calcified plaque in my arteries. I had the scan completed last week, and the results came back with the lowest score possible. My doctor noted today that this is good news, and I should consider repeating the test in three years. I have a follow-up appointment in January, too, to see how my numbers look after my diet and exercise changes.

Grandson Glimpses

As I said before, this has been an entertaining week with my grandson. For starters, he has discovered a fascination with puzzles. He had come across an old jigsaw puzzle from one of my boxes. Of course, a 1,000-piece Wizard of Oz project is a “little” ambitious, lol. I pulled out my old puzzle board for him so we could keep his efforts contained to a defined space. And I explained to him the “puzzle rules” which he agreed to (as much as we can hold a preschooler to, lol). He asked me to help him, but I quickly realized that we weren’t going to actually build the picture. Still, at one point he sat down with the pieces and started muttering, “I’m going to build a masterpiece.” At one point, too, he looked at a puzzle piece (a white one) and declared that it was lava. “Serious lava all over the place.” (I have been recording some of his monologues just because they’re hilarious and I want to remember the nuances of his phrasing!)

After a few days of this, and not actually making the puzzle, I ordered him a set of child-appropriate puzzles. That has had much better results, and he’s managed to assemble all four pictures at least once, and a couple of them he has completed several times by himself. Thank you, Team Spidey!

Another fun moment happened one morning during the work week. Kiddo likes to pop into my office and see what’s going on. Of course, that also means he wants to play with things on my desk. I have several sets of stitch markers there as I’ve been wrapping up projects, as my scale for weighing leftovers lives here. As a tactic to recover some item he’d grabbed, I handed him a small ball of yarn I had. And he asked, “Is this a yarn potato?” And thus it was named.

We had a small plumbing mishap one evening. Unfortunately, my son didn’t think to take a closer look, as it really was a small issue that I believe he could have fixed. But it provided us with some entertainment for the evening. When the tech arrived, my grandson helped me to answer the door… then he scampered across the room to stand by his dad. “Sir,” he said. “I need your help. To fix something.” He then observed as the tech surveyed the situation under the sink and quickly identified the problem. He pulled things out from under the sink, which I realized in hindsight that I could have done. And the munchkin gave the tech a running commentary, talking about how “there was water everywhere.” (Kiddo can be very dramatic, lol)

During this time, the kitchen was hot because my son had been cooking up his chicken entrees for the week, and then I broiled a filet mignon for dinner. With the heat in the room, my grandson decided that he and the plumbing tech should call the fire department. Oh my! He also inquired what our visitor had in his pockets, and that got him a brief bit of fun with a flashlight.

And my last tidbit to share – I’ve been just floored by some of his phrases, wishing I knew where they came from. While they fit in context of the events transpiring, I sometimes wonder if he really understands what he’s saying! I was reading a book to him at his request, and when he would lose focus and drift his attention to something else, I closed the book and resumed what I’d been doing. “What just happened?” he asked. And with such inflection and emotion – I was rolling! I’ve heard him ask the same question quite a few times over the week, and it always tickles,

Travel Tales

Another day trip to Dayton – the kiddo has been talking about the “Airport Museum” incessantly! His parents have told me it’s “Grandma’s Airport Museum,” so it’s definitely a special experience we share. I worked this into the schedule as soon as I could, and Saturday morning we were on the road fairly early. This time we stopped at one of the visitors’ stations so I could get a map. The guide also gave the kiddo a map of his very own – which he’s been referencing ever since. My goal with this visit was to complete our tour of the areas we didn’t visit at the beginning of the month.

The crowd was significantly lighter than our last visit and proceeding directly to Gallery 4 at the far end of the museum also meant that we were avoiding the traffic of people making their way from front to back. And the big bonus of the day was discovering the temporary exhibit in Gallery 4, highlighting “iconic starfighters” from “the movies.” The naming used here tells me it’s unofficial, but the inspiration is quite blatant.

Our first stop in the last gallery was the Space Shuttle trainer.

Then we visited those “star fighter” displays. The munchkin was more interested in the colored lights, but he heard the droid’s whistles which got his attention.

The last stop in this building was to tour the planes in the Presidential Gallery: Frankin Roosevelt was the first US President to fly in an airplane while in office. This Douglas VC-54C earned the nickname “Sacred Cow” because of its high security. President Truman used a military version of the Douglas DC-6, called The Independence. Eisenhower had a Lockheed VC-121E, The Columbine III. And lastly, we walked through a Boeing VC-137C, the first airplane specifically built for the President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy designed the paint scheme along with an industrial designer. I didn’t get a photo, but this plane had a copier in one of the back conference rooms. All of these planes are open for visitors to walk through, but their contents are protected behind clear walls – this allows for a very narrow passage, which was no problem for the munchkin, lol.

After we completed our tour here, we made a pitstop…and the entertaining child sang one of his favorite songs as we made our way to the restroom: Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” (I’m not kidding!)

We did pop upstairs for a snack and to check out some of the goodies in that gift shop. Then we made our way out of the museum via the main gift shop – where I bought a calendar so we could take some great airplane photos home with us! Then we walked over to the Air Park to see the planes that live on the tarmac there. As we started making our way back to the parking lot, we spotted a small playground which gave Grandma a chance to sit down for a bit while the child burned up more energy.

We’ll be back, I’m sure. Perhaps this will be a monthly excursion or at least bi-monthly.

In other travel news, I’m continuing to make plans for upcoming trips. I reached out to a grade school friend who lives near where I’ll be in September. I’d already arranged to meet up with a friend from my cruise back in July, so I’ll have new and old connections, in addition to any friendships I might strike up while at the conference I’m attending. And lastly, I booked a cruise that’s a while out there, as a friend is putting together a knitters’ cruise reunion for an event I used to attend in Tennessee.

Knit on. 🧶