Slow Going

Sorry, no new pictures this week. Just side 1:

and side 2: 

from last week. 

The big problem with doing something like this is that the early rounds make it look like it's building quickly, as each round is short. Now, the rounds take a while, so it doesn't look like much is happening each round. Or rather, each oval. 

But I made some important decisions with regards to how I'm going to make this sweater-shaped. I'd explain, but it won't make much sense in writing, and I don't have visuals yet. 

First it needs to be the width I want. Each round adds about an inch. I'm over halfway done, but it still feels like I'm crawling. 

And, at this time of year my palms and the soles of my feet sweat, so that makes for uncomfortable yarn work. (Although, crochet is way easier than knitting.)

I feel a bit lighter with a plan in place. Now, if the weather would just cool off a bit, I might feel like working on it more.

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering
• Summer Crochet

The Color Quizzes: What's Orange?

This year my birthday falls on a Friday. Today. Once I knew I was doing color quizzes this summer, I knew which color I was going to post for my birthday. Orange. 

What's Orange?

Whew. I got an 18 out of 18. Of all the colors, this is the one I should know. Alas, some of these I did get via process of elimination. 

(While I don't have an ultimate favorite color, I am quite partial to orange.)

How did you do? Let me know in the comments. 

13 Shows to Stream

Ah, the joys of mid-summer, when TV is a vast wasteland. Are you struggling to find something interesting to watch? I am. So, I've listed (for Thursday 13) thirteen shows that I enjoyed recently (across varying streaming platforms). 

(I did this last year for Apple TV Plus and Netflix. I won't repeat any of the shows already on those lists.) 

In the comments feel free to suggest anything you think we also might enjoy. (Please. Seriously. I need something to watch.) 

1. The Way Home (Netflix)

I wrote about this show back in 2023 after seeing season 1. I recently saw that Netflix had added it. (It had aired on the Hallmark Channel.) And season 4 (containing the show's finale) just finished a couple months ago. Only the first three seasons are on Netflix at the moment, but I expect that they'll add the fourth and final season soon. 

The concept: they have a time travelling pond. That is, when members of the Landry family jump into this pond, they can surface at any point in history. The show begins with Alice finding herself in 1999 when her mother was her age. But by the end of the series, they've seen the early 1800s, the 1920s, the 1970s, and then they came home. 

Link to trailer.

2. Death by Lightning (Netflix)

I wrote about this show already in December, but it bears repeating (and I needed enough shows to make 13). 

This show is all about the election of (and death of) President James Garfield. The history is way weirder than I ever knew.

Link to trailer.

3. Dept. Q (Netflix)

Crime drama in Scotland. Very well done. (Also violent. Sorry.) I don't want to give too much away as it would spoil the first couple episodes, and you really don't want me to do that. 

Link to trailer.

4. This Is a Gardening Show (Netflix)

My brother turned this on a couple weeks back (while I was visiting). Zach Galifianakis talks about gardening. The episodes are short. Lots of kids are involved. And while it is informative, it is also comedy, so if you aren't into gardening, you might still enjoy the show.

Link to trailer.

5. Lioness (Paramount +)

An elite team recruits a female soldier to insinuate herself next to a target that they need to "take out". Politics and drama ensue. Lots of famous faces. Murky moral ground. And a great show. I saw recently that season 3 is coming, and I can't wait. 

Link to trailer.

6. School Spirits (Paramount +) 

I avoided season 2 for way too long. Silly me. 

One day Maddie wakes up to discover that she's dead. How did she die? She has no idea. The other ghosts at her high school (because she died at school) want to help, kind of. And her best friend Simon can see her, for some weird reason. 

Link to trailer.

7. Sky Med (Paramount +)

I wrote about this show two years ago, but I'm repeating it here as there've been two whole new seasons since then (and I needed enough shows to make 13). 

Canadian show about an airline that transports people to hospitals. Kind of an air ambulance. The various pilots and nurses have romantic dramas in between them saving people from accidents and such. I like rescue shows, so this is right up my alley. 

Link to trailer.

8. Pluribus (Apple +)

One day an alien virus turns the whole world into one hive mind. Except for Carol (and 11 other individuals across the globe). Carol wants to turn them all back, but she doesn't know how. Oh, and the rest of the world? Very nice. Seemingly happy. And all they want is for Carol to be happy (while they figure out why the virus didn't work on her). 

Getting through the first episode or two was hard. But once the plot settles, it gets interesting.

Link to trailer.

9. Shining Girls (Apple +)

Okay, so I lied. I did mention this one last year on that list, but I hadn't seen it yet. (I rounded out the list with shows that were recommended but I hadn't seen yet.) Now I've seen it, and woo-boy... It's a doozy. 

A woman's reality keeps changing, and she has no idea why. She'll come home from work to find she now has a cat instead of a dog. She'll go into work and find her desk has moved. No one around her notices the differences. (Imagine coming home to a husband you did not have when you left for work. Yeah, that happened.) 

At the same time, there's a series of murders that don't make sense. They take place over a time frame that doesn't make sense. But somehow they seem to be connected. 

It all connects. Eventually. And I don't want to give out how, because the reveal is so good if you don't know what you're walking into.

Link to trailer.

10. Reacher (Prime)

Large man helps people. He's a drifter (retired from the military) who shows up in a town and ends up helping someone who needs help. Not by choice, really. He just gets pulled into these things. Based on the books by Lee Child. They're doing the seasons out of book order, so if you've read the books, it'll seem jumbled. But great entertainment. 

Link to trailer.

11. Leverage: Redemption (Prime) 

Back several years ago, there was a broadcast show about a group of thieves who used their skills to take down criminals with power. They rebooted it with kind of the same cast, and it's now streaming. I have not quite finished the current season (which reminds me I do have something to watch), but the previous one (or two? hard to recall) were well worth it. 

Link to trailer.

12. Ride or Die (Prime)

I'm only halfway through this new show about an assassin and her best friend. Best friend did not know the woman was an assassin (for 20-something years), but found out because now people are after her. I'm enjoying it so far, and definitely recommend it.

Link to trailer.

13. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney +)

One of my twin nephews was watching this show while I was visiting. I watched some of the show with him, but our timing didn't sync, so I saw an episode here or there, and then he was on to the second season. 

So, when I got home, I pulled up my rarely watched Disney + (which I bundle with Hulu, so it's not costing me extra) and watched it. And now I see season 3 is due in November. 

This show is based on the series of books. Percy finds out that he's a demigod, son of one of the Greek gods, and monsters are after him. He ends up going on quests that bring out various characters out of Greek mythology (and The Odyssey, for those of you who have seen the movie--like Medusa and Circe and Cerberus and...)

Link to trailer.

Historic Roscoe Village

One more Ohio story...

Priscilla (blog name) wanted to see historical things, so sister-in-law took us to Historic Roscoe Village. It's in Coshocton located on Whitewoman Street. Of course, Priscilla questioned that name ("an interesting choice"), but it turns out that the name is there for a good reason. There was a QR code at the end of the street which led to this website. 

The "white woman" was named Mary Harris, who at ten was taken by the local Mohawk tribe, and she eventually became a tribe member, married, and had two sons. Now, if you recall Priscilla from the castle post, you'll understand that we read into that history a bit and wondered at what sort of life Mary had. 

Anyway, onto the tour... 

The tour started at the visitor center, where we were directed to the path we'd be taking and where we checked out keys for the buildings that were locked. (The tour did cost money, but I can't recall how much.)

Our first stop was to the blacksmith. 

There was a real working blacksmith in the small, hot building. He talked about how the job was back in the day, informing us that the first skilled worker in a village would be the blacksmith, and he would have likely been the only one in town who could read. 

Then we moved on to Hay Activity Center where we learned how they printed stuff and how they made brooms. 

It was a hot and humid day. Everything after the blacksmith was air conditioned. Whew. Not period appropriate, but we really appreciated seeing the sights in nice and cool. 

The activity center also contained a little gift shop. It had been a slow day for the guy behind the counter. We enjoyed the a/c. He thought it was a bit cool. 

For the rest of the tour we needed the key (which was a fob that electronically opened the doors). 

The next building was Dr. Johnson's office. It was set up the way it would have been back in the day. I took no pictures. It was set up with the tools he would have used. We went up the (very steep) stairs to find more 19th Century medical stuff. 

Next to his office was his home. That I did take pictures of.

And upstairs.

Then came the home of Daniel Boyd, a weaver. They call it the craftsman house, and they moved it from its original location. 

And his looms, which were in a back room. There were video monitors in each place which gave background. Apparently the looms could be disassembled and reassembled in barns in various locations, as the weaver would travel around to make cloth for communities that did not have a weaver.

Our tour ended at the schoolhouse. 

There was a woman sitting at the teacher's desk, there to answer any questions we had. There were back rooms with displays of the materials the kiddos would have had. Those desks do not look comfortable.

We finished up right about 4 o'clock, which was technically closing time for the tour, although the other buildings had no people, and we had a key to the locks. But as we were leaving, the guy from the gift shop was at the schoolhouse to pick up the woman at the teacher's desk, and rather than us returning the key to the drop box, he said he'd take it up for us (as he was heading that way anyway). That was helpful. 

It's a cute little tour. We did it in about an hour, but a bigger group could totally take their time. (There were a bunch of cute shops along the way, too, but they were all closed the day we were there.) 

It was interesting to see what life was like on the Erie Canal back in the day. This village was right on the highway, but it was then too, just a different sort of highway. 

After leaving, we headed towards dinner, but I already talked about that in a post last week. 

Only Marmots

Did you know it's illegal to wager on an election you're casting a vote in (in Wisconsin)? 

(I would hope that this wasn't isolated to Wisconsin. Time to call your state reps to get this law on the books. *looks up phone number for my California state rep*)

It turns out that those prediction market betting apps don't like this law, so they're pushing back. (Because those prediction market betting apps are horrible. If you want to gamble--please gamble responsibly--use a bookie like an adult.) 

It turns out the road to fascism is paved by idiots pursuing riches. Deep sigh. 

Speaking of scams, let's talk about all the research funding that was cut to provide tax cuts for billionaires. Or rather, let's talk about Daniel Blumstein, whose funding for studying marmots had been cut, so in an effort to raise money (and awareness), he started an OnlyFans for marmots called OnlyMarms. 

It's a great idea. It's too bad that science funding has had to resort to this sort of thing. 

Summer Crochet

I'm wilting. 

I have not been dealing with the summer heat all that well. Terribly, in fact. The thing is, it's not truly that hot. So, I don't have much sympathy for myself here. 

(We've been in the upper 80s and lower 90s. Fahrenheit, of course. Mostly 80s. I mean, if we were spending a lot of time in the 90s and getting into the 100s, then I could understand. But this is pretty standard summer here, so why it's bothering me so much is also annoying me.) 

Which is to say that I'm not making loads of progress on the crochet front. Although, considering the time of year and what I'm normally getting accomplished right about now, I'm positively industrious. 

I added a couple rounds to the first side: 

and a few more rounds to the second: 

Right now they're practically the same size (which is why the first side got some more rounds). They're both wavy, but I think a couple rounds of no increases will tame that out of them a bit. I've decided that they're not wavy enough for me to rip them out again. 

I've gotten to the point where I'm just adjusting every round. I lay it flat. Look at it. And decide if it's feeling ruffly. Then it gets an "even round" (no increases). If it feels flat and the round I just did is curling up, then it gets an "increase round" (I increase every X number of stitches--X is one more than the last "increase round" I did). 

I've decided that since this is going to be for a woman, and women have curves, the bit of ruffle is just so that it'll conform to her curves. 

So, that's where I'm at now. It's going to be slow going for a bit. But then I'll hit the point where it's as big as it needs to get, and then things will get interesting. I hope.

I hope things aren't blazing hot where you are. Ah, the joys of summer. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases
• Second Sock Syndrome
• The Wavy Second Side
• Which Way Now?
• Vacation Crochet
• Modifications
• Pondering

The Color Quizzes: What's Purple?

I could have done these color quizzes (from Quizly) in rainbow order. I could have done them in the order I took them myself. But no. There's no true logic to the order I'm doing these in. If you haven't seen your favorite color, it's coming. Today, we're going with purple. 

What's Purple?

Apparently I don't know my purples. I only got 13 out of 20 on this one. If I knew it, I knew it. But if I didn't know it, I wasn't able to eliminate as many choices as in the other quizzes. 

Good luck. Let me know how you did in the comments.