Faraway, So Close

I really thought I'd have a picture of finished Tempting II up today, but not quite. I'm halfway through the yoke. The length to the underarm soon-to-be seam is 16". Then the yoke is 6" before doing the collar band. It's about as long as I usually go for short sleeved tops. Something I noticed about this sweater, with the Child's Placket-Neck Pullover fresh in mind, is that there's more yarn breaking in the row where you're joining the sleeves. In the CPNP, you work seam# of stitches past the seam, place the seam# of stitches you already worked on a stitch holder, then keep going. For Tempting II, you work up to the seam# of stitches, break the yarn, and put seam# on a holder, rejoin the yarn and keep going. Does anyone know what the point of this is? I can't imagine it would matter, but I decided to just go with the pattern as written. It's just more ends to weave in, and maybe other people don't avoid weaving in ends like the plague the way I do.

Other knitting: The friend I just taught to knit has finished a baby hat already! I'm going to help her seam it, and she still has i-cord ties to do. She's already started on booties, as well.

Reading: Halfway through The Year of Magical Thinking. You know, when you think "memoir of grief", you don't think "quick read", but this book is going fast. Part of it might be that I started out skimming because her writing style bugged me, so I'm reading fast, but it's very compelling at the same time. I really love the phrases she echoes throughout the book.

Writing: Just about 15,500 words, a couple pages into chapter 4.

Cooking: I finally picked a menu for my book club tomorrow, so it's off to the grocery store today. I'm making Roasted Chile-Corn Tamales with Tomatillo Sauce, Spicy Pinto Beans, and Espresso Cream Cake with Chile-Chocolate Sauce. And guacamole. I sort of guard my guacamole recipe, and the pinto beans are ridiculously easy, but I'll post the tamale recipe after I make them. The dessert is from Cooking Light.