What the heck, who am I? I always thought I didn’t want to knit fingering weight, now I love it. I didn’t want to knit socks, now I’m addicted. I knew I’d hate cables — they’re fiddly and slow — and yet I chose to knit another hat with cables. And it didn’t even seem that fiddly!

It probably helped that this is worsted weight yarn and wool, so it’s sticky enough that the stitches don’t slip out easily when you’re doing the cables. And I’d say it helped that I’ve done this pattern before except I got to the cable bit and had no memory of how exactly to work it and had to look up the comments on the Ravelry pattern page. It’s Winter Walk, by the way, and knits up quickly. And next, I think I’m going to do some cabled mittens for my nephew. Clearly the shelter-in-place stuff has addled my brain.

Or maybe it’s paint fumes? After my bedroom, I tackled our upstairs hallway. It was a dirty tan with woodwork that had been painted a flat reddish-brown. I’m sure they did it to make it look like “wood” but I hated it, so the hall got the same gray/white paint as my bedroom.

It’s so bright and clean! I love it. There are SIX doorways in this area, though, so I got to paint a lot more trim than I would have preferred. The good news is that I’m now quite good at painting edges cleanly, but still, I’m so glad the next room to be done has beautiful natural wood trim! I’m taking a couple of days to rest before starting the next project; my hands and shoulder and elbow are feeling a bit of strain. Plus I was starting to miss knitting a little bit. I’ll get to the dining room soon though. It occurred to me that before I was furloughed, our plan had always been to hire someone to paint all these rooms, so I’m saving us a ton of money, probably a couple thousand by the time I’m done, as big as the bedroom and dining room are. That’s a pretty good feeling, and once you add on getting to enjoy the new paint, so far it’s worth the sore muscles!

Oh, and Mother’s Day was lovely too! We had a family breakfast, and went by to say hello to the mother (keeping a safe distance, of course) and I got plenty of knitting time before our delicious steak dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake for dessert. The boy picked out a great t-shirt for me, and the husband ordered the most gorgeous blue Franklin Christoph fountain pen.

The girl’s gift was running late, so I’ll get a bonus Mother’s Day once it arrives. Hope all my fellow American moms had a good Mother’s Day too!