This lump of prickly paleness is my knitting life at the moment. I always knit when I am watching TV (or movies… or MOOC’s), and I have had very little interest in TV lately. Even Downton Abbey, which I usually love, has failed to interest me so far this season. For that reason, I haven’t finished my big oatmeal English rib sweater, and I haven’t made much progress on the two other projects I’ve started. One is a light blue child-sized English rib sweater, since I like that pattern so much, and one is a baby blanket. If you read my blog last week, you may remember that I started the baby blanket in light green. That light green yarn happens to be my “cursed” yarn – I’ve had it for over four years and have ended up ripping out every project I’ve started with it – for no fault of the yarn’s. I ripped out the baby blanket because the yarn was just plain too fine (and the needles were just plan too small) for me to follow the pattern without driving myself nuts. My up-close eyesight is not as good as it used to be (that’s my interpretation of the situation; according to my eye doctor, my up-close vision is just fine), and I was squinting myself into a headache every time I sat down to work. So I ripped the blanket out and cast it on again in a thicker yarn. It’s fisherman’s wool, so in reality it won’t be a baby blanket, but maybe it will work as a throw or lap blanket. Once I’ve done the pattern once, I should know it well enough to re-do it with the finer yarn. Or so I think.

I am reading a few books, including Michel Houellebecq’s Submission, which matches the color scheme of this photo. It’s OK, though a little cerebral for my tastes. When will I learn to stop reading novels about English professors?

I’m turning forty on Saturday, and that fact is very much with me emotionally this week, though not in the stereotypical sort of way. I like birthdays, including this one, but they tend to make me contemplative. Right now I can’t figure out if turning 40 feels more like falling in love or more like getting over a bad breakup – or maybe my range of emotional metaphors is too narrow? Maybe I’m emotional idiot? Maybe everything I’ve ever done in my whole life is all wrong?

You get the idea.

Yarn Along is hosted by Ginny on her blog, Small Things.