Yarn-along

Is it Wednesday?  It's so hard to keep track of the days when you're snowed and iced in!  Schools are closed for the 3rd day in a row.

I think I have sufficient Cabin Fever to actually do some work today, like finally putting away the Jesse tree, nativities, and Santas.  

We've been enjoying these days, spending time together, eating and playing.  Dh & I have had a couple of long, extremely tiring, walks through the snow and ice.

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Last Thursday, in what was evidently a very timely maneuver, I got 4 books from the library.

The Rite, the making of an exorcist.  I've read a couple of chapters.  Bound to be fascinating.

I read most of Crafting a Business, it's full of interesting stories of women who have turned their passion into a business.  I left off at the end when it got into the nitty-gritty business details because I'm no where near that point.

I saw Green Darkness suggested somewhere, but haven't been able to get past the first page, yet.  I'm sure I'll try again, but not yet.

Elizabeth is a coffee-table biography of the late Queen Mother (current Queen Elizabeth's mother).  I stumbled across it at the library and picked it up because Don and I had just seen The King's Speech the weekend before.  When we went to see the movie, I didn't realize who it was about.  Awesome movie, but I'm really enjoying the book, too.  Admittedly, I never gave her much thought as the mother of the Queen, especially since I'm not British, but it seems that she was a rather sparkling personality.  The character in the movie was well portrayed, I think.

You know the best part about this book?  It's a big, hardback that lies flat when you open it---and that means I can read and knit at the same time!

In these pics, you can see the Pretty Thing I've been working on. finished. It's a crumpled mess, and you can see the chart the goes with it.  Following the chart isn't the hard part, though it looks that way.  After starting over 4 times, I finally figured out that I needed: 

~~~stitch markers to separate each 17 stitch repeat (you work the chart 7 times around each row), 

~~~and a sticky note to keep track of the proper row, so I didn't accidentally switch rows midstream.

~~~Counting the 17 stitches before and after each segment would have been a good idea, too, in retrospect.

~~~Absolute silence--this is not a project where I could do anything besides knit and concentrate!  

I finished it.  Finally.  I gave up on anything approaching perfection and figured out which mistakes could stay and which couldn't.  

I blocked it, and it's beautiful.  

I wore it, and it's scratchy and floppy.  

I kind of hate it.  No doubt because of all the trouble and tears it caused me.

So, now I'm working on this nice, peaceful project, Lacy Baktus.  It's such a change from that last nightmare.  Most of the rows are nothing but knitting and I can do that while I read!  I'll probably spend a good chunk of today curled up with Elizabeth and Baktus in my lap!

That, to me, is what this Yarn-Along is all about:  reading and knitting at. the. same. time.  Because frankly, I don't think the two things go together very often.  If I have a fascinating book to read, I'll choose that over knitting.  Conversely, if I have a great project going and no good books, I'll knit every chance I get.

How about you?  Do you read and knit?  Can you have a great book and a great project going at the same time?

Visit Ginny to see what others are knitting and reading, possibly at the same time.