Took some time at lunch to start another dishcloth, this one in the opposite colors of the brick/honeycomb pattern, so the white is the structure and the blue variegated is in the 'windows'. Needed the break from catching up from being out for a week.

Overall not too bad playing catch up. We're losing two more attorneys, though, and possibly a third. One's last day was today, the other is going in a couple weeks. The third has been attending every retirement seminar the agency offers, so we think she's close to making a decision.

Thunderstorms are currently rolling through. I do love that about spring in the south (and yes, DC is still 'the South', geographically).

Had to pick up some dress shirts, and a new suit for the proceedings this upcoming week. Got neighbors to check in on the cats. Then we ran off to see the anniversary re-showing-in-theaters of Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. How anyone can watch that, listen to the dialog, and think it is anything other than a children's movie is beyond me. I had forgotten how cheesy the dialog was, and how badly they made the actors perform it. Oof.

Some more progress on the shawl. Almost done with the second set (of 3.5) of repeat rows in the last bit. Not a had pattern, just longer and longer as it grows toward the end. And almost done with skein #1, probably of 2 total, but I have more just in case. And just in time for the next Maryland Sheep & Wool festival, which is next weekend (3rd & 4th). Will have to see what in the queue I'm dying to get wool for.

Had it thoroughly in my head that I had a doctor's appointment at 9:30 this morning. Got there around 10 minutes early, was all good. They took me back, I'm in the middle of talking to the doctor when my phone gives me the one-hour-before-your-appointment alert for the appointment which was apparently scheduled for 10:30. D'oh! It worked out, because their 9:30 was running late, so hopefully I allowed them to adjust the schedule. I did apologize to the receptionist and thanked her for handling it so smoothly.

Passport appointment went as scheduled. The woman at the post office was great, pulled it all together, took the requisite unflattering photo, and I'm all set. New one should arrive in 4-6 weeks. Whee. Also managed to snag some of the Betty White and Keith Haring stamps.

The husband was at home today as well, so we picked up comics and Wendy's for lunch in between appointments. Did a little knitting - I'm halfway through repeat 2 of 3 in the last section of the Hoek shawl I'm working on now. Leftover pizza tonight, and the cats are enjoying the windows being fully open for the first time in ages. Not a bad middle of the week.

Slept for shit last night, between eating too much Chinese food and the knee still setting down. So today was lots of video game grinding, then I watched a couple movies while finishing a dish cloth I was working on to try out some color work before I tackle a blanket in a similar pattern. But first I need to finish a shawl I've been working on.

Was sorely tempted to take advantage of Brooklyn Tweed's going out of the yarn business sale, but I don't need to spend the money right now, and I definitely don't need any more yarn guilt.

Stomach's calmer, so here's hoping sleep will be easier. The husband is out of town with his sister to commemorate their Mom's passing during the beginning of the COVID pandemic, which leaves me plenty of knitting time.

Figuratively and literally. Finally managed to pin down management to provide a final agency position on some things which we need for next week, balancing between court orders and administration priorities. After work I finished a hat I was making for the husband and wove in all the ends (Xmas themed, but he'll be able to use it next year). Learned to use a new pom-pom maker (so much easier than by hand). Then after dinner I picked up the shawl I started last year and made some progress on that. Overall a nicely productive day, without quite as much insanity as the rest of the week.

Been knitting a Santa hat the last couple of days. Chunky yarn and an easy pattern (1x1 ribbing for the brim, and all knit stitch for the body), so it's been knitting up quickly. Unfortunately the pattern underestimated how much yarn I'd need, so I'll have to run down to Dupont to get another skein of the red for the body so I can finish it. Might get three more (2 red, 1 off-white) and then I'd have the option to knit a second one if I got the bug.

We got our photos done for the Xmas cards this morning. Then home for a brief rest and off to see Wicked, Part 1. It was really, really good. They went back to the book to flesh out some more of the stories, and it felt like a movie, and not like a stage show that was badly adapted to moving pictures (like so many movie musicals do).

I think I've broken my yarn pull-ball winder. I suspect it's fallen out of the closet one too many times and knocked something out of whack because last night the second ball of yarn in a row just thoroughly fucked up and did not wind correctly. Thankfully this time I managed to 'wind' it completely so I was able to then convert it to a regular round yarn ball without any tangles, but I'm definitely not a fan of those.

Finished the husband's fingerless gloves last night, wound up fresh yarn, and cast on my first shawl. The shawl had an interesting garter tab cast on that had you knit up several rows, then turn the work to pick up stitches on the edge, then turn again to pick up along the cast-on edge (so it stretches out/bends the original few rows). I'm at the point in my knitting where I like to switch back and forth between "let's learn something new" (the brioche hat, this new shawl) and "let's do something easy" (the fingerless gloves).

Oh, and I finished the latest Wooble amigurumi this week, JoJo the Bunny. He's so fat. LOL Next up is a fox, and hopefully I'll get better at more consistent stitches with the practice.

In the meantime I turned 52 last week. I was thinking about that and about my work anniversary and realized that come December 1st this year I will have worked for half my life as a Federal employee. And don't think for a moment that I won't pull that out in meetings. LOL

Finished the endless scarf yesterday, but not without some screaming. With 2-3 rows left to go I dropped a stitch and it quickly dropped down 6-7 rows as I was trying to stop it (I needed to turn the work to grab it properly). No one else was home, so I let myself scream in frustration. Managed to finally grab it and crochet-hook it back into place, along with much swearing. Bound it off, weaved in the remaining ends, and done.

Today I'm starting a short scarf, but one with a new-to-me i-cord cast on, and with a more detailed pattern that will involve more counting of rows. And bigger needles (US6/4mm, versus the US4/3.5mm on the endless scarf).

The last two weeks or so I've been on a 'straightening up' kick. Not consistently, and not every day, but I've gone into a couple of 'okay, it's time to fix this area' moods. I'm pleased with the results, for the most part, but there's always more to do. The problem with having hobbies and enjoying collecting things is finding ways to store and display said things without driving yourself crazy. Today I put some things I needed more readily accessible in better places, moved a table out of my office, found a set of crochet hooks I'd forgotten I'd bought and put them with the other needles, hooks, and notions, and made a mess of my work desk.

I finished another hat, the "ziggity slouch" pattern from Stephen West in Hazel Knits Ruby Love yarn. Like the last hat of his I did the yarn count for my gauge was off, so I had to cut the last repeat in half in order to have enough yarn to finish it. Nevertheless I like how it came out, and I'm looking forward to wearing it this winter. I was going to queue up another hat of his with a green yarn, but then he announced a new e-book of 'small shawls', and the first one was the same Dustland pattern that I was going to use for the hat, so instead I'm going to do a small scarf/shawl instead. It's going to use the same start for the blanket kit I have from him (an i-cord cast on) in miniature (3 versus 303) which I'm looking forward to trying.

Despite getting that set up, once I ran some errands I got sucked back into re-playing the Darksiders series of video games, because the studio teased a new game this week. I finished the first two games, but not the last two, so I thought I'd play through them all. I just finished Assassins Creed Mirage, making it a good time to plough into something familiar and fun.

Installed an AquaPurr water fountain for the cats in the little bathroom off my office. It's the faucet they would beg me to turn on at various times, so now they can do it themselves. It took some wrangling to find the right size adaptor, but the owner of the company was very helpful via text and email and I got it all sorted. They like it, but I'm not sure they quite get that they can do in and use it any time without me needing to be there; I usually have to encourage them to get up on the counter and approach so the sensor turns the water on for them.

We did, in fact, settle on "silent migraines" as the cause of the incidents I had from early December of last year through mid-February of this year. None of the blinding pain, but some of the side effects that mimicked stroke symptoms (dizziness, numbness). The two ocular migraines clinched it, since there was no damage present on any of the imaging we did of my brain. Bodies are such fun.

Did not make it through to interviews for the Deputy slot this go round, and after they failed the search for other reasons I chose not to re-apply when they re-issued the announcement. I think they're at the interview stage, but I'm also not participating in that process (staff frequently helps out with resume review and/or interviewing candidates, and other attorneys are doing so). At this point I'm going to hunker down in my nice little mostly apolitical agency and see what November-January brings. Depending on which way that goes I may decide to look elsewhere or I may just settle down and decide that they pay me well enough and I can focus on other things rather than worry about supervising again.

The knee is better, but still not to running stability. I'm slowly increasing walking speed, but it still has stability issues at times when I turn corners or the like. I've used a set of ropeless jump ropes a few times to test the boundaries of how much I can bounce on my feet. That, in conjunction with biking and walking, is my exercise these days.

Took a knitting class on basic two-color brioche knitting and finished a hat this past week, in record time for me (a week!). Pictures over on Flickr, as well as some of the long fingering weight single-color (at-a-time) brioche scarf I've been working on since (checks Ravelry) February of last year. I'm on the last color block of four for the scarf, so almost done. I have another scarf on the needles for Metro knitting, and a hat and a blanket in the immediate next queue. I took a crochet class back in March to get some hands-on help and learn some of the basic steps there, but I haven't done anything past the first project yet. Will probably try and whip out some dishcloths first.