Sweater Progress and Weekend Plans

My Chaverim sample is coming along nicely- I've got ten more stockinette body rows, then I'll pick up stitches all around to do the bottom hem and neckbands in the round. Then it's on to sleevesville. I'm getting a little nervous about finishing before my arbitrary self-imposed deadline- I'm leaving to see my friends in just under two weeks, and I'm still on the body- but whatever I manage to finish before I go won't be waiting for me when I get back, so it's not like there's much at stake here.

This weekend's going to be a nice relaxing one- the next month gets kind of crazy, so I'm looking forward to doing some tidying and some baking and lots of knitting. I also started a new book this week that I'd like to finish- Pandemic, by Sonia Shah. I'd been trying to read a novel for the past few weeks and finally made it a third of the way through before realizing that I wasn't ever going to get invested or interested in it enough to make it through the next 400 pages. It's been a while since I've had to quit a book like that, but I'm zooming through this one- it's equal parts interesting and terrifying, and right up my alley.

If I'm really clever and responsible, I'll take the time to pound out a first draft of this pattern this weekend. If I don't get a draft out before I leave this to go visit my friends for a few days, it'll be so much harder to get the pattern writing gears cranking when I get back. Also, like I said, the next month's worth of weekends gets pretty busy, so if I don't do it now, I don't know when I'll get the chance to sit down and get this part done.