If you missed my introduction post to this series, you can read it HERE. To recap real quick, each week I am sharing my pandemic experiences in an effort to help others feel less alone. Escapism matters too, so we are also running a book club and knit-along. To go straight to the book club portion, which will contain spoilers for this week’s book (Storm Front by Jim Butcher), scroll down to the next big header. If you’d like to skip straight to the KAL, scroll down to that section at the bottom. They are both clearly labeled so that you can easily find or avoid certain sections as needed. 

Every parent reading this knows the special hell that is social media pressure to be a Pinterest perfect pandemic parent. My social media feeds are flooded with images and stories of people I know having structured sensory play time and gorgeously crafted, color-coded poster board schedules of their children’s daily schedules. When Mabel’s daycare closed indefinitely (right now Pennsylvania schools are closed for the remainder of the academic year, and next year is TBD), I downloaded the Leapfrog Academy app to her tablet and patted myself on the back for being such a proactive parent. Each day when I see her playing her tablet, I ask her if she’s playing something educational. She says yes. There’s an unspoken agreement that I won’t look too closely, and she won’t tell me she’s clocking her third hour of playing Minnie’s Bowtique. It’s win-win. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t want to enrich her, but right now peace balances on a razor’s edge around here. The other day I walked in on Mabel wiping her butt on a hand towel because, “the toilet paper had a rip in it.” So, it took her less than a month to descend into full, feral anarchy. And honestly, I don’t really blame her. At this point, I have to write it in my planner and hype myself up with the promise of a reward just to get myself to floss every day. I’m wearing actual clothing right now, and I feel like I ought to be thrown some sort of parade. A statue should be erected in honor of my pants. So I can’t exactly expect more from a four-year-old. Still, Kevin and I feel obligated to make an effort, or at least to have her see us pretend to make an effort. We work on an overly complicated Frozen themed paint by numbers together, and I think we can count that as both math and artistic expression. 

We tell her to count things, and we turn on closed captioning on Paw Patrol for reading practice. We video call her best friend and participate in Zoom Dance Classes. And for her sake, I pretend that this is fun for me. I don’t want this to be her 9-11. To this day, when I hear an airplane, I have to stop and look up at it. I want her to remember us having fun as a family instead. However, not to use an over-used trope, but I need to put on my oxygen mask first. So I’ve been carving out time each day where I’m just off the damn clock. Our studio/my office is in my basement so luckily I can still use them. We aren’t dying right now, and I miss it, but I can go sit at my computer and listen to an audio book or scroll mindlessly through Reddit and disconnect from being needed. 

To all my fellow Pandemic Parents, please cut yourselves some slack.

Give them a plate of microwaved frozen chicken nuggets, hand them a screen, and take some you-time. Because honestly, does anyone actually enjoy trying not to be heard on the dance class Zoom call while you hiss at your kid to pay attention to a teacher that they can only sort of see, all while they dance to music that is either WAY too loud or basically inaudible? I think this would all be a little easier if at least amongst ourselves we could just admit that wishing our kids could be literally anywhere else for a little while doesn’t mean we love them any less. 

I’d love to hear your Pandemic Parenting stories! Feel free to email me on our contact page or, if you are comfortable with sharing them with the group, sound off in the comments. 

BOOK CLUB

contains spoilers from ‘Storm Front’ by Jim Butcher

I want to start off this Dresden Files binge by saying that I’ve read all of the currently published books, including the short stories. One of the compilations of short stories, Working For Bigfoot, is actually my favorite of the Dresden material. Anyhow, if you are coming at this post fresh off of reading the first book for the first time, I swear to you it gets better. The first book is rough. It takes a few books for Jim Butcher to find his stride. My first pattern was kinda crappy too. So I tend to cut these things some slack. I’ve joked around with Jac before that I’m in a toxic relationship with Harry Dresden. It’s the kind of series that when I’m actually actively reading it, it’s everything I want in the world. But a few weeks after finishing a re-read, I can only see the flaws. 

I have read this series in its general entirety five or six times. I often reread a series when a new book is coming out if it’s been a while. I often reread in general. I just finished a year-long tryst with the Wheel of Time, and I’ve been reading those books since High School. The thing about The Dresden Files that I very recently (like, last week) realized about myself is that I tend to turn to them when I’m depressed. They are the literary equivalent of cutting my own bangs or stress eating. Harry Dresden is a shitty person. He grows, but it takes a really long time for him to get there, and even as of the end of the last published book, Skin Game, he is at very best a mediocre person. So I took a step back and asked myself why I wanted to read them yet again, particularly at a time that I’m not feeling especially “together.” And I realized something:

Jim Butcher is actually a really good writer, he just gets crushed under the weight of his tropes sometimes.

The thing about Harry is that he is a garbage-human, and he knows he’s garbage. He has deeply rooted depression and a sense of personal inadequacy that holds him back at just about every turn. He’s authentically dealing with mental illness and childhood trauma in a world full of inescapable monsters and unexplainable events. For me at least, that resonates right now. So when I feel depressed, I give myself permission to binge on these like cheap chocolate. I might feel bloated in the morning, but right now they are exactly what I need. On that note, let’s talk about Storm Front. 

Harry Dresden is Chicago’s only professional Wizard. A down-on-his-luck Private Investigator who is desperately trying to eak out a living can’t be picky when it comes to cases. So when Karen Murphy, Chicago PD’s head detective in charge of unexplainable, strange, and possibly supernatural crimes calls with a request for a consult on a double murder, Harry is on that like germs in a public pool. In a fortuitous turn of events, at the exact same time he lands another client who is looking for her lost husband. I think most readers can tell by the end of the second chapter that these two crimes are connected, but it takes Harry the entire book to figure that out. On a quick side tangent, one of the best things in these books are Harry’s description of the lesser cases he works on before or between books. There’s a great one in chapter one. 

Anyway, back to the plot. A dark wizard is using magic to rip out the hearts of their presumed enemies. This hits Harry where it hurts. Faith becomes a running theme in the series, and this is your introduction to Harry’s relationship with his faith in the inherent goodness of magic. Using it in this way is a perversion, and also a major breach of the White Council’s Laws. Capital “L” on that since breaking one is an automatic capital punishment. Harry has to balance investigating the case while keeping the White Council off his back. He is on magical probation because as a teen he used magic to kill his mentor in self-defense. We don’t learn much about that in Storm Front, but readers can assume that’s coming later. It all convalesces at the end when everyone in Harry’s life at that point in time is involved in some way or another with these crimes. 

The plot of the first book is very much the product of an inexperienced author, but the setting is interesting enough that the first time I read it I wanted more. Harry is the worst in a lot of ways, but I can’t help but root for him. There’s a lot of world building in Storm Front, and that makes it hard to summarize concisely. One thing that’s handled really well is the use of the setting. I’ve read other reviews that disagree, but I’m a fan of the setting being an unofficial cast member. Storm Front get’s 3 out of 5 stars from me overall, but with the promise that it’s worth reading the next book. Things get really good around book four, and they start picking up in book two. I’ll be back this same time next week with a review of book two of The Dresden Files: Fool Moon. 

YARN STUFF

I’ve got WIPs for days.

Blue Beetle Hand Warmers

Instructions given inside [brackets] are pattern repeats. The bracketed instructions should be repeated the number of times indicated immediately after the bracket. Ex: [K1P1] x4. Means you should work “K1, P1” four times, and [K1P1] to marker means to repeat “K1, P1” until you reach the next marker.

The letter at the start of each round indicates which color the round should be worked with. All rounds are worked with just one color. When a color is not in use simply drop it and leave it at the start of the round to be picked up again after completing a round in the other color. 

Note that beads are optional. If you choose not to add them, on the sts that call for a bead to be added, simply slip the stitch without adding the bead. 

For additional information on recommended yarn, needles, and gauge, please scroll the the bottom of THIS POST to find it.

Abbreviations

BO – Bind Off

CO – Cast On

K – Knit

P – Purl

K2tog – Knit 2 together. Decreases 1.

SSK – Slip 2 stitches as if to knit. Insert the left needle through the back loop of these 2 slipped sts, and knit them together through the back loops. Decreases 1. 

Sl1Bd – Slip 1 and add a bead. Use a crochet hook or piece of dental floss to hook the st being slipped. Use the hook or floss to slide a bead over the st, then slip it to the right hand needle. 

Sl1 – With your yarn held behind your work, slip 1 stitch knitwise. 

M1 – Make 1 by using the tip of your left needle to lift the bar between the stitch just worked and the next stitch and knitting through the back loop of this bar. Increases 1. 

Instructions:

Section 1 – cuff

With Color A: CO 72. K1P1 around for 11 rnds. 

Set Up 1: [K1P1]x9, M1. [K1P1]x18, M1. [K1P1] to end. 74 sts.

Join color B; Do not break color A. 

Set Up 2 (B): [K1P1]x6, Place Marker. K2, Sl1, K1, Sl2, K1, Sl2, K1, Sl1, K2. Place Marker. [K1P1]x12, Place Marker. K2, Sl1, K1, Sl2, K1, Sl2, K1, Sl1, K2. Place Marker. [K1P1]x6. 

1 (A) [K1P1] to marker. Sl2, K1, Sl1, K2, Sl1, K2, Sl1, K1, Sl2. [K1P1] to marker.Sl2, K1, Sl1, K2, Sl1, K2, Sl1, K1, Sl2. [K1P1] to end. 

2 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K4, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K4. [K1P1] to marker.K4, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K4. [K1P1] to end. 

3 (A) [K1P1] to marker. Sl1, K1, Sl1, K2, Sl3, K2, Sl1, K1, Sl1. [K1P1] to marker. Sl1, K1, Sl1, K2, Sl3, K2, Sl1, K1, Sl1. [K1P1] to end. 

4 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K3, Sl1, K5, Sl1, K3. [K1P1] to marker.K3, Sl1, K5, Sl1, K3. [K1P1] to end. 

5 (A) [K1P1] to marker. K1, Sl1, K2, Sl2, K1, Sl2, K2, Sl1, K1. [K1P1] to marker.K1, Sl1, K2, Sl2, K1, Sl2, K2, Sl1, K1. [K1P1] to end. 

6 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K2, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K2. [K1P1] to marker. K2, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K2. [K1P1] to end. 

7 (A) [K1P1] to marker. Sl1, K2, Sl2, K3, Sl2, K2, Sl1. [K1P1] to marker.Sl1, K2, Sl2, K3, Sl2, K2, Sl1. [K1P1] to end. 

8 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1. [K1P1] to marker.K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1. [K1P1] to end. 

9 (A) [K1P1] to marker. K2, Sl1, K3, Sl1Bd, K3, Sl1, K2. [K1P1] to marker.K2, Sl1, K3, Sl1Bd, K3, Sl1, K2. [K1P1] to end. 

10 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1. [K1P1] to marker.K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K1. [K1P1] to end. 

11 (A) [K1P1] to marker. Sl1, K2, Sl2, k3, Sl2, k2, Sl1. [K1P1] to marker. Sl1, K2, Sl2, k3, Sl2, k2, Sl1. [K1P1] to end. 

12 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K2, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K2. [K1P1] to marker.K2, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K2. [K1P1] to end. 

13 (A) [K1P1] to marker. Sl2, K2, Sl2, K1, Sl2, K2, Sl2. [K1P1] to marker. Sl2, K2, Sl2, K1, Sl2, K2, Sl2. [K1P1] to end. 

14 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K3, Sl1, K5, Sl1, K3. [K1P1] to marker.K3, Sl1, K5, Sl1, K3. [K1P1] to end. 

15 (A) [K1P1] to marker. K1, Sl2, K2, Sl3, K2, Sl2, K1. [K1P1] to marker. K1, Sl2, K2, Sl3, K2, Sl2, K1. [K1P1] to end. 

16 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K4, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K4. [K1P1] to marker.K4, Sl1, K3, Sl1, K4. [K1P1] to end. 

17 (A) [K1P1] to marker. Sl2, K1, Sl1, K5, Sl1, K1, Sl2. [K1P1] to marker. Sl2, K1, Sl1, K5, Sl1, K1, Sl2. [K1P1] to end. 

18 (B) [K1P1] to marker. K6, Sl1, K6. [K1P1] to marker. K6, Sl1, K6. [K1P1] to end. 

As I mentioned in the introduction post, I will likely put the Blue Beetle Hand Warmers on Ravelry as a full paid pattern in the future. So, if you want it all in one convenient PDF, you’ll have to wait until the KAL is over and/or when I get around to it. In the meanwhile, enjoy knitting the first clue and reading Fool Moon. I’ll be sharing pics of this clue next week. Happy knitting!

~Megan-Anne

Not bovered.

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