Ravelry.com – Daily Fiber

Joining As Kat Knits and others to share updates on my reading and knitting efforts for the week.

The project I cast on last week is quite a bit further along.

This interesting vest in a mosaic stitch is knit on big needles with bulky/chunky yarn. You see here the front and, peeking through the front opening, a bit of the back. I am within a few inches of finishing the back. The next step will be I-cord edgings around arms and outer edges. My big decision will be which of the three colors to use for the edgings – light gray, dark gray or gold. Do any of you have a favorite?

I’ve gone through most of the balls of yarns (no yarn chicken game is expected, as I have another ball of each color still in reserve.)

On to reading. For those who are Michael Pollan fans, I can suggest his latest book: A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness. Ever since I read In Defense of Food, I have been a big fan and consume everything he puts out. This topic was a bit unexpected, until I read the preface, in which he explains how he came to write about it. I was dubious from the start. After all, scholars and scientists often can’t even agree on how to describe the state of being conscious, let alone how to study it. Most often, that effort is compared to a fish trying to describe water. There’s no way to get outside of it. It’s impossible to be objective or to apply the scientific method. Anyway, I got through the first two chapters as a sample on my virtual library. As soon as a copy is available, I’ll carry on where I left off.

This post is linked to As Kat Knits Unraveled Wednesday 3-11-26.

Making good on my promise to Bill at Christmas, this week I finished knitting this pair of socks for him. The lovely, self-striping yarn is Regia by Schachenmayr, made in Italy for a German company. Once I popped open the yarn strap, I was surprised to learn that the manufacturer offers a 10 Year Guarantee! That includes a free replacement if the yarn does not meet my high standard after washing and wearing!

So far, the pair meets Bill’s high standard for fit and comfort.

I can’t speak quite as highly of the pattern I used, to the point that I’m not going to link you to it. Unfortunately, the Vanilla Socks on 2 Circs pattern that I used for this knit was a bit vague and contained at least one error. Instead, I would direct the would-be sock knitter to a terrific pattern called Hermione’s Everyday Sock, available via Ravelry.com

More than 44,000 knitters have made socks using this pattern, so it must be good. The pair I knit a few years back using this pattern by Erica Lueder, came out very well indeed, if a touch big for my skinny feet. And if you haven’t yet signed up to be a member of Ravelry.com, this free pattern should be a good incentive to do so. Membership is also free.

So that’s what was on my needles most recently. Under my eyeballs during the same time was Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown. This biography of the 1936 Olympic eight-man crew gold medalists is not a typical fit for my reading tastes. It was recommended to me by a friend. By a strange coincidence, I saw the book on a prominent shelf at my local library within a few days of getting the recommendation. I was clearly meant to read it. The author does a masterful job, telling the story about young men growing up in hardship during the Depression, and how they triumphed by learning to trust each other while pursuing their shared goal of Olympic Gold in Hitler’s Berlin.

This post is linked to As Kat Knit’s Unravelers post of Feb 25, 2026.