I had hoped to report completion of the Corset Pullover by now, but it has taken me four hundred and thirty nine tries to successfully "use kitchener stitch to graft live stitches to top edge of twisted rib panel.” I was unfamiliar with the concept of using Kitchener stitch to graft live stitches onto a bound-off edge. (I can Kitchener all day and all night on sock toes.)

Another Corset Pullover setback: the silver D-rings are too big. I bought 1 1/4” instead of 1” accidentally. I went ahead and sewed the straps up with the gold instead. I figure if it becomes too painful, I can take them off and replace them with new silver ones when I get a chance to buy some.

Today is the 21st and, even though my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been released from the Secret Room of Papa’s Bookstore, it’s not what I’m in the mood to read. Instead, I’ve been dipping into Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players. I bought this a while ago because I am intrigued by the “narcotic allure of strategic games” (I quote the book) and I’m just now getting to it. Interesting so far, but a tad overwrought. Example: “It is a hot, humid, windless Sunday afternoon in August 1997 in New York City, an asphalt-and-concrete circle of hell.”