Thankfuls.

Unlike the last couple-three years, I didn't do the Thankful Thing, where every day you list something for which you are thankful.  I was traveling at the beginning of the month, and after the election things were a bit fraught, and work kept me busy, and my parents, and so on.

I was thankful on Thursday that the family got together, and the food was well-liked and met most of the dietary requirements (probably a little too carbs-heavy), and we were able to visit.

Yesterday my dad and I did what I think is the penultimate day of garage boxes, although there are a few along the sink wall in the back, but they are out of the way and don't count for this part of the exercise.  Besides, many of them hold records, not books, and that's a different adventure of sorting.  I was able to get the car packed in time for Mom to make one delivery to the Friends of the Library, and four more boxes await delivery on Tuesday.

I'm almost to the end of the fourth foot of the second red scarf, and need to add the extra length to my hat, especially now that it is cold, but instead I have started a new project:

Some people on one of my lists were talking about advent projects, usually designed for a package of miniskeins of yarn and doing something every day.  Others are, for example, a stocking where you do part of the pattern every day.  One pattern that several people liked is a scarf where you pick a skein every day, knit a tube with a circular needle (so it goes fast, and I supposed you could use a loom or machine also), and when it's done you have a double-thick scarf.  I debated doing that, for simplicity.

Then I decided to have a bit of fun and make a stole-type shawl for myself.  This is just a long rectangle.  Some of the advent patterns do this with a solid between the miniskeins, and I debated trying to figure out some yarn in my stash that would be enough to carry along with the random colours.  I couldn't find anything that I liked well enough, in a thin enough yarn, with sufficient yardage.

So the current plan is to work with the yarn doubled, and every day do a half-skein, and when one runs out add the new colour.  It may or may not work - and I can always frog and try something else.

So I gathered together 33 miniskeins and balls, marking the 25 days before Christmas and the eight days of Channukah that follow this year.  Instead of working them singly, which would require a pattern (or be too boring) and not give enough interest for me, plus possibly very abrupt colour changes, I decided to work the yarns together:

Crochet cast-on, so the ends will look more similar.

Since I have two of the goldish-tannish colour, which as the top photo shows isn't solid like the others, I decided to divide the brown that was also wound into a ball in halves, and use this for the starting and ending.  Other than this, whatever colour comes next will be randomly selected.

If it doesn't look good, I will frog and may crochet instead, for speed.  We shall see!