It’s Friday, not my usual Monday post, and I still have lots to share from my travel adventure from two weeks ago. This is just another example of time racing on whether we take time to reflect or not! I finally have a more detailed account of my Philadelphia excursion, though only a few photos. First, though, there’s knitting!

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

Now that the Socks of the Guardians collection has been revealed on Ravelry, I can share a couple of the designs I test knit previously. I’m keeping the reflections here to where things stood on Monday, so the third and fourth installments will be revealed next week. These are the two socks I knit previously though! These patterns will be released throughout the month (it’s Socktober, y’all!) and for a limited time, you can get a major discount with the code GALAXY (Ravelry link).

Of my WIPs from last week, again it’s the Advent scarf that got the most attention. Mindless stockinette is a beautiful thing, as I can work on it during training sessions and such. This time I even knit a few rounds at church. I don’t often knit during Mass, but I had double duty last weekend (both Saturday and Sunday), so I took advantage of some sitting-down time, plus it’s great at the movies. I made it to color #10 of the 24 in the set by Sunday night.

I didn’t make a lot of progress on the sock test knit I’d started the week earlier, and I also didn’t take a picture of the mosaic color work on the instep, though I could’ve shared that now. Later in the week I finished the sock, so you’ll see that next week.

And I only managed a few zigzags on the blanket, but something is better than nothing!

I’ll also note here that I have revised my schedule for the cabled Aran sweater. The test knits have taken priority, so I fell behind BIG time. Claude helped me sort out how I can make it happen by the end of the calendar year!

Cast-on Conversations

This week I’m actually included a finished object here because I cranked this out in a week! I bought this yarn in Philadelphia specifically for this project. Designer Laura Nelkin has scaled her hooded scarf design Scoodola. Her original release back in February was only sized for an Adult Small/Medium to accommodate the typical knitter. She’ll soon be releasing an update that adds sizing options for toddler, child, youth and adult large/extra-large. I tested the youth size so I can include this treat in my donations to Knit the Rainbow later this fall. And my grandson’s sister graciously modeled it for me.

Financial Finesse

I just have a quick update here. With September ending, I’ll be doing a reflection next week on where things stand for me with my debt freedom journey. This month (September), the grace period ended on the loan for my windows installation. The key detail I was waiting for was the minimum monthly payment. I’ll exceed that to accelerate the payoff, but right now I can’t exceed it by much. Again, I’m assessing the full portfolio to target paying everything off so I can retire in 2028.

Football Frenzy

My Buckeyes didn’t have much trouble defeating Illinois in their first Big Ten matchup of the season. It still wasn’t perfect – holes in offense, defense and special teams. But there are clear signs of the potential. Both Julian Sayin (QB) and Jeremiah Smith (WR) received honors in the Big Ten and the wider group. Jeremiah continues to march toward resetting every wide receiver record in Ohio State history.

And not football but sports related, I watched the last few regular season games of the Cleveland Guardians as they worked toward securing first place in the AL Central division in baseball! This week we’ve had the wild card games as the last few hopefuls competed for the remaining spots toward division, then league championships in the path to the World Series.

Grandson Glimpses

This week my grandson expanded his playlist a bit, thanks to the YouTube algorithm that queues up recommended videos. I’m not even sure how we stumbled on it, but “Uptown Funk” by Mark Bronson featuring Bruno Mars has jumped into his number one spot. We’ll even play it on repeat during short trips. He’s learned a lot more of the lyrics on this song than “Gaga Lala,” and with all the airplay, I’ve learned more of the verses, too.

I do have one photo to share… the kiddo is always interested in tech, and I gave him the opportunity to mark up a photo for fun.

Movie Moments

I got a little behind on my MCU re-watch, but I did get to the theater over the weekend to see Avengers: Endgame Encore. I noticed that Disney+ has published a recommended watch list to prepare for Doomsday. The Encore production included several mid-credit/post-credit scenes to set up more for Doomsday, plus the latest trailer was shared ahead of the movie. I do love immersing myself in this story-telling saga. There’s so much more to watch, too, with VisionQuest starting this month. I haven’t yet watched Agatha All Along, so I should probably do that soon! Yep, I’m a #MarvelGirl

Travel Tales

Alright, here are the highlights. Last week I shared just a tidbit about the All Fifty Club, which was my reason to make the trip across Pennsylvania. The other chief highlight I’d planned was a day trip into Philadelphia. While I usually make these adventures on my own, my new friend Jenny from New Jersey, who I met on the Stars & Stripes cruise in July, asked to join me as her brother lives in metro Philly and she wanted to join in the fun. The only drawback to her presence is that I didn’t take as many photos as I usually would because I was talking with her throughout our journey through history!

I was glad that I could easily grab a train from Malvern where I was staying, so parking wasn’t an issue at all. We met up in Reading Terminal Market (one of the locations seen in National Treasure, btw) and headed over to the Independence Visitor Center to begin our tour. I’d identified twelve different sites to see, and we made it eight of them. My favorites were Liberty Bell Center, Independence Hall and the Museum of the American Revolution.

The museum was by far the most fascinating, though I have no photos to show for it! And as we walked among the displays, I found it particularly interesting that my knowledge of related history in this city, and the revolution as a whole, has been informed by a wide variety of input, including the fictional drama, Outlander, and based-on-true-stories media such as Hamilton and the AMC series TURN: Washington’s Spies. While sharing my varied stories about historical connections with Jenny, I pointed out that I am very aware that dramatized retellings of historical events often alter facts and add fictional characters and plots for dramatic effect. It’s often true, as well, that real historical people can be combined into a single fictional character (or vice versa) to make the story more compelling.

We grabbed lunch at Glory Beer Bar & Kitchen where I paired fried chicken with a Belgian Blonde from Bruges. Yum! And for dinner I got to meet Jenny’s brother at E Mei, one of his favorite restaurants in the city. After our meal, he took us to a gelato place that also has a speakeasy (complete with password for entry), though we didn’t join in THAT adventure, lol. I then took the train from the closest station and bid my local companions good night after a very full day.

I certainly wouldn’t mind returning to the city for further exploration! Due to an error in communicating the dates of my visit, I wasn’t able to connect with my grade school friend who lives nearby. So, another trip would make that connection possible, too.

This month I have another eastward trip scheduled, visiting with Jenny and her husband in New Jersey, plus a whirlwind day in New York City. And while that’s incredibly exciting, I got more outstanding news this week. Following a nerve-wracking search for a traveling companion, I secured a new-to-me friend for Laura Nelkin’s “Ultimate Knitting Cruise 2028: New Zealand and Australia!” Yes, this trip is more than a year away, but that allows me time to fund the trip (Did I mention my debt freedom journey? Yes, I did.) and put my plans together to make it my second epic trip to the opposite “corner” of the globe!

I think that’s plenty for my wrap-up of the week ending September 27^th. Next week I’ll hopefully catch you up in a more timely manner!

Knit on. 🧶