My banged-up knee is healing nicely a week later, at least as far as the skin is concerned. I have been avoiding stairs as much as possible but have been able to walk on level ground and some mild inclines. I never got a follow-up from Osteo or the physical therapy place as I expected, which I choose to interpret as a vote of confidence in my ability to heal myself. I have been rehabbing on my own and taking it very cautiously.
So far it’s been a pretty good injury for knitting and reading and journaling. And watching my dog pretend (apparently) to be a unicorn.
I have been doing more thinking about my research project as well. As I commented earlier today to my friend Mary, a weekend seems just long enough to figure out how to do something but not long enough to actually do it. This time, what I have figured out how to do is a technique that I actually started doing years ago but did not take quite far enough: starting a commonplace book for each separate element of my project.
I watched a few YouTube videos (thanks, Rachelle In Theory) that kind of overlapped in their content but effectively demonstrated why this would be a particularly good idea for me to try. (Another good reason is that my materials and notes are literally all over the place, and bringing any sort of focus at all to the project would be beneficial.) I went to my home library, Unused Journals section, and removed two new bullet journals from their shrink wrap so I could dedicate them to this purpose. I searched the Internet for artwork to glue to their covers, and found great specimens. Unfortunately, the nice contrasting paper on which I would like to mount these illustrations is… at the top of the stairs.
Maybe I don’t really need to decorate the covers until next week.
In the Impossible Read, I so greatly enjoyed my journey through The Fellowship of the Ring that I immediately picked up the next book, The Two Towers, and read the first chapter.
Part of the fun of the Impossible Read is that when people find out what I am doing, they often suggest something else I should read, or watch, or hear. Last week Eldest suggested that I add The Count of Monte Cristo to my list, which runs about 1,275 pages. As my reading list is already long to the point of absurdity, I found no reason so say no. In fact, I added it and then threw in The Three Musketeers and Ivanhoe for good measure. The more, the merrier. While I’m at it I might as well add Les Miserables. After all, I already have a copy around here somewhere.
Even funnier is that I already own a copy of the last book on the list, which is Ready Player Two. By the time I get to that point, the last book on the list may actually be Ready Player Five.
Another friend suggested that I go on YouTube and find the video of Leonard Nimoy singing “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” I cannot state strongly enough that you should under no circumstances actually do this, which is why I refuse to provide a link. If for some reason you cannot resist, perhaps the top comments on the video will provide some redemption for the experience. But really — do not do this, especially if you are younger than Generation X.
Knitwise, progress on both projects can now be characterized as “steady.” The Cottontail scarf is approximately 70 percent complete, by which I mean that I weighed the remaining yarn and did a tiny amount of mental calculation. There is no new photo of it, because it will look just the same as it did last week except that it is somewhat longer. I have lost count of how many scarves I have made with the Yarn Harlot’s One-Row Handspun Scarf pattern. I’ll take a photo after I bind it off and weave in the ends.
The Palm Frond scarf is a little harder to make steady progress on because after each 10-row repeat the stitch count increases by five. So all of those rows are getting longer and longer. For example, yesterday I thought I could knit a whole repeat while I watched the F1 Sprint race from Brazil. But it was only about 21 laps and I had to finish the repeat while watching the qualifying session for the main race. I am trying to do a whole repeat in a single sitting, but as the rows lengthen I may have to do partial repeats if I want to do just a little knitting every night.
By the math of the remaining yarn, this project is just over 25 percent of the way done.
I do have my next knitting project lined up as soon as I can get my hands on the pattern. It has a Lord of the Rings theme and I already have the exact yarn called for as the striking accent color. The only catch is that it was knitted into a half-finished project. So after I frog the project I may need to do a few things to the yarn to get the physical evidence of the old stitches out before I re-skein it. I haven’t done this in a while, so I will probably document the process for those of you who haven’t seen a niddy noddy in use before. (Yes, I have one. I have one of almost everything, and two each of the good stuff.)
Chocolate Sheep 