Yarn Along Shrug

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~



I'm trying not to miss out on the Yarn Along today, trying to get back into a blogging habit but it means I'll have to go out to my car to get my knitting project!

This week, I'm working, sporadically, on a Simple Shrug that I can keep in the car for those spare minutes during day trips. It's very simple, perfect for the car. And since I'm doing a lot of hand sewing in the house, the car is the best place to keep my current knit!

The yarn is an mohair acrylic blend that I recently acquired for free. (Someone donated a huge amount of old yarn for our AHG troop's Warm Up America project, but can use only acrylic for that. These 2 skeins of what looks like a really old label are actually very nice. I'm enjoying the project and I love the soft green. Winning!

I finished listening to All the Light We Cannot See the other day. I knew absolutely nothing about it, but I requested it since it has been so popular in the past year. Pulitzer Prize winner, eh? I did enjoy the story---WWII has always been a favorite subject---but I have a couple of bones to pick with the author. First, I'm not a fan of verbizing nouns. (I know, I just did it.) Ugh. The whole book is full of nouns-turned-verbs in an effort to make the language more colorful and picturesque. It seemed very elementary to me, and don't editors care about that sort of thing? Or do they just chalk it up to "style"? It was a constant distraction from the story as I would hear it and then start thinking about I would re-write the same sentence to create the same scene without using made-up words. Then I had to rewind....it got old. Second, it felt as if there were a half-dozen or more epilogues at the end. I like a story to be wrapped up, and I love knowing what happened to the main characters, but this seemed excessive. It was as if he wasn't sure where or how to end the book and his editor didn't bother to say..."Here. This is a good spot to wrap it up!"

I don't consider myself a fabulous writer, by any means, but some of the stuff that makes it past editors these days in books or newspapers boggles my mind. Am I the only one who feels this way?

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is reading! I'm sure that I chose that book based on seeing it in many Yarn Alongs. Yarns Along? Editor? ;-)

Lenten Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

Have you seen the Panama Hat video/pattern? It's super-cute! One of my friends begged me for one, so I got to work with some white Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I had on hand. I've never used it before, but it's gorgeous and perfect for a child's knit. Feels wonderful, knits beautifully (or crochets, as the case may be!), and I'm sure it won't be scratchy at all. You know how kids hate scratchy stuff!

I found some free flower patterns at All-free Crochet to add to it in her favorite colors of pink and purple.

Unfortunately, the hat-recipient is a little punkin, even though she's 6 (?), so it was too big and I had to make another, slightly smaller. The extra one is in the shop over at Rosy Knits for someone who needs an Easter Bonnet!

The book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, was a gift from my husband when I suddenly felt the need to give up Facebook at the start of Lent. I haven't gotten far because I have a stack of other books to amuse myself with, but I expect it will be very interesting, and, perhaps, just slightly depressing. It was first published in 1985, with this 20th Anniversary edition released in 2005, and if we were amusing ourselves to death 30 years ago, the problem is infinitely greater now with the advent of home computers, laptops, smartphones, unlimited streaming data plans, and more. Have you read it?

This little punkin belongs to a friend. Teeny-tiny at just a few pounds, I was compelled to whip up a crocheted sweater to help her stay warm! "Mom" hadn't been able to find one small enough. No, that's not it in the photo, that is her leash harness.

Sock Knitting

           

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

My goal was to finish these socks by yesterday, but no such luck. I've tried, but maybe I underestimated how long it takes me to knit a sock. I thought it was a pair in a week, but it seems to be closer to one week per sock! I also expected them to be shorter than they are turning out to be---the ball of yarn doesn't seem to get any smaller no matter how hard I knit!

Well, I have lots of time for knitting today, so if I don't get distracted by Brooklyn or the crochet project I brought, I might be able to start the second sock. I don't think I will get to wear them for the winter weather this weekend, but I tried!

Oh, and Brooklyn? Loved the movie, loving the book as well.

An Epiphany Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

Happy New Year!

Blessed Feast of the Epiphany!

Happy birthday to my 4th child who turns 20 today!

I feel as if I have been in a cave----a Christmassy cave, but a cave, nonetheless---since December 25! Visiting with family, celebrating, unwinding from all the activity and stress before Christmas (and during Christmas) has been great, but I have been avoiding most responsibilities, email, and the outside world, in general. I have this tendency to turn inward and let everything else go in order to focus on family or the holiday.

Annnd, now we are back to the real world! All the decorations are still up and I love it. Saturday afternoon we will probably take down the sad-looking, needle-dropping tree, but everything else will likely wait until I have spare moments here and there. I like to linger over the process, if I can.

Oh, but you stopped in for a Yarn Along, didn't you! I started (and restarted) (and restarted) this Age of Brass and Steam kerchief with a skein that I got for Christmas. It's Madelinetosh tosh dk in the Steam Age colorway---which I thought very appropriate for the Brass and Steam kerchief. What's funny is that I got a skein of sock yarn from Malabrigo in almost the exact same colors! That one is wound up into 2 balls ready to start a pair of socks for moi.

Lately, I've mostly been reading magazines at night since we just got a subscription to InStyle magazine. Over Christmas I listened to The Girl on the Train which was a very good mystery. Rachel, the girl on the train, has a miserable commute to and from London every day and makes up a story about a couple who lives near the tracks at one of the stops. She sees them often enough that when the woman of the house disappears, Rachel has some help to offer the police. I would be interested to see it made into a movie if someone could do justice to the voyeuristic perspective offered and keep the mystery going. I was pretty surprised by the outcome!

Advent Yarn Along

           

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

It's a busy Advent season, but taking time out to recharge with a fun Star Wars hat, The Empire Strikes Back video, and chocolate is important. Especially if the hat is a Christmas present. ;-)

We are reading Caryll Houselander's The Reed of God every night at dinner. I don't know if everyone loves it as much as I do, but it's full of wisdom about emptying ourselves, making room for God within us, and saying 'yes' even to all the little mundane things God asks of us.

The Force Awakens Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

When I saw this pattern, I impulsively ordered enough yarn to make a couple of hats. I went down a couple of needle sizes to make a child's hat, and I'm praying that it will not be too small. While instarsia is fun, it can cause a lot of pain in the hands from switching yarns so frequently, so I hope this work isn't wasted. That is what I accomplished just in one day---which, for me, is pretty good!

I'm back to reading My Badass Book of Saints at night. "Hearing" my friend's voice as I read and learning about new saints combined with modern heroines is a joy. 

It's Really Fall! Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

~~~ The epic, two, solid weeks of rain have ended. The sun is out, and the temps are seasonal---cold overnight and warming to around 60 during the day.  Thanks be to God!

I did finish an awesome book that I'm happy to tell you about, instead of simply the occasional update that I read for 5 minutes every night! Excited?

I finished The Boys in the Boat about the 8-man crew team from the University of Washington that made it to the 1936 Olympic Games which were held in Hitler's sanitized Nazi Germany. They are considered to be the greatest 8-man crew in history.

While the story focuses on one particular rower, Joe Rantz,  his poverty, virtual abandonment by his father, who struggles to not only survive, but also put himself through college, there is plenty of background on the other team members, the coach, and the craftsman who built their shells. All of the boys who were finally selected to be part of this crew---a match made in heaven, you might say---had something in common which forged an incredible bond. That bond made history. The story culminates with the dramatic final race in Berlin. I wish I'd seen it! In fact, there are videos on YouTube of the race, along with re-enactments after the race. If you admire grit and determination, you will like this!

For fun, and as a little change of pace, I crocheted up this infinity cowl. It is chunky and cozy! It's in the shop.

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

My knitting project is getting closer and closer to the end, but these last rows seem interminable! I guess that's not too far from reality when you increase every other row by four stitches. Nevertheless, the yarn is getting smaller---I'm certain that I shall knit my last two rows of blue today (or whenever I get to knit!).

Instead of knitting, while I await the flooring delivery men, I am sitting in my front yard storing up vitamin D for the winter. And attending to my much-neglected blog via the Blogger app on my phone. I finished my painting session for the day (I'm tired and clean-up is too much twice in one day!), so I'm taking a break.

Knitting will resume shortly when I have had enough sun (soon---it's hot out here!), and I will listen to my current read which has kept me quite entertained during marathon painting sessions:  The Maze Runner. We've seen both movies, but I thought reading the books might help fill in some of the gaps in the story.

Did you know that there is a wealth of audiobooks available on YouTube? 

Update: I have good intentions about blogging, but then I get distracted by reality. Darn it. ;-)  I'm going to go ahead and post this anyway, even though I've already updated the flooring situation in my Quick Takes a few minutes ago. Go read that one, too! :-) 

xo,
Sara

Quiet Time Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here. I would love for you to join me over at Ginny's every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! Share your photo on your blog, on Instagram (#yarnalong), or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

I'm sitting in my quiet spot in the middle of Stations of the Cross while Pip is in a meeting. Today I got my blanket out of the car to sit on since the grass here is unbelievably spiky. I hope they're not intentionally discouraging folks from using this space! The quiet was disturbed for a few minutes by a Religious Ed class taking a tour to learn about the Stations. But I don't mind. Since I actually get very little knitting done here, I need to be prepared to hike around the grounds next week as other parents are doing. It will eventually be too chilly to sit still, anyway.

Finished my little blanket that needs a blocking. It's soft and cozy, but smaller than I would like. I may need to turn it into a Book Blankey and put it in the shop.

I started reading The One Thing is Three, by Fr. Michael Gaitley, today. I love his books and find them inspirational, so I'm looking forward to it.

The Boys in the Boat is still on my nightstand and I am enjoying that every night. Every morning I am tempted to bring it downstairs, but then I won't get anything done!

Yarn Along

~Joining Ginny in sharing yarns---books and knits~

It's turning into another Mental Health Day with little energy for anything other than essentials. Right now, I am curled up on my bed listening to one of my favorite books: The Fellowship of the Ring via YouTube. I manicured my nails, and I thought I could muster the energy to put together a blog post for your edification...amusement?

I have acquired a seriously ambitious pile of books for my summer reading. Considering everything else that is happening in my life right now, I may have just made a significant addition to my already out-of-control stack of unfinished books!

In my stack you will find orphan train, which I think I heard about on Ginny's blog. There are two Philippa Gregory books that I have also heard about through the yarn along. But I have no idea what order this series is supposed to be read in. I think they all stand alone, don't they? Then there is The Catholic Drinkie's Guide to Homebrewed Evangelism and The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up which I have forsaken (because my house is such a disaster! Lol) in favor of a light fiction on Kindle called Finding Fraser for Outlander fans.

Any bets on how far I get through the stack?

My knit is the newly restarted Westport shawl that I had to frog last week. I have this new peacock green colorway to make it with that I simply love.  Fingers and knitting needles crossed that this effort will be successful!

How's your summer going? Are you finding time to read?

Yarn Along

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link at Ginny's to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

Not much exciting reading going on! Between daily routines and the added burden of end-of-the-year treasurer responsibilities for our AHG troop, I hardly have the energy or brainpower to read more than a paragraph of a book on my nightstand! Today's "leisure" reading has been perusing booklets of paint colors....because while my house is in complete disarray and we're moving out everything for new floors, I might as well paint the walls. Right?

I love all the colors in this Sweet Georgia yarn, though I wish it were a bit less heavy on the greens. Give me more of those luscious pinks and lilacs! I'm knitting a Westport Shawl. It's a gorgeous shawl, and the little Estonian Buttons you see in the foreground are cute and fun. The lace, however, is a bear.

The lace is a 20 row repeat and I don't have a hope in you-know-where of memorizing it! As you can see, it's so crumply before blocking that I also have no idea if I'm doing it right. The only clue there is if one row doesn't work out because I'm missing a stitch. Somehow, so far, crossing my fingers and toes as I say this, I've been able to find my mistakes without needing to tink back more than one row. Even so, it's pretty slow going, and with only 30 minutes per night to work on it, it may take all summer! :-( Not that I'll be wearing it before fall...on the rare occasions I attempt to wear a summer scarf, I end up ripping it off in a (hot) huff. 

Back to the Regularly Scheduled Knitting

I took a short break from my knitting---just one torturous day---because I discovered Sunday night that the number of stitches on the back and front of my tunic were not the same. They started out the same, but I somehow managed to lose (or decrease) too many on one side. Afraid that this would make it too wonky to wear, I put it down for the day until I had time to carefully recount.

I think the camera preferred the book colors to the yarn. It's prettier than that!

I finally had time to re-count last night and got completely different numbers from the night before! Since there is only a one-stitch difference (instead of 5 or 6!) I'm going to go with it. It will be fine. 

I hope.

So, today I am reading AND knitting. (That doesn't sound at all like a recipe for disaster, does it?) Meg watched Catching Fire last week, and then The Hunger Games. Captured by THG, I had to re-watch CF (because I hadn't seen the whole thing the day before) and then we watched Mockingjay, Pt. 1. Naturally, all that lead to my needing to reread the entire series! I am engrossed. I love this series and how Katniss is such a flawed human being, but she generally has honest instincts and is drawn to helping anyone weaker than herself. Have you read it?

Same Old Yarn Along

Drop by Ginny's, by clicking the badge, to see everyone else's yarns!

I am still working in the same set of towels and the same book as last week. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that Lent is over and I'm allowed to peruse  Facebook all I want??

Partly. Partly because I've been busy getting ready for my MIL to visit this week, and here's the painful truth....I don't like knitting with cotton! I doesn't hurt, unlike my attempts with bamboo yarn, but it also doesn't give the same satisfaction that I look for when I knit.

That must be why I am a. Avoiding the towel, and b. Looking for a new project. I plan to hit up a local yarn store tomorrow. Got any suggestions for a fun summer knit?

Yarn Along

My project this week is making hand towels for my powder room. I'm never able to find towels that satisfy both my taste and my budget, so I'm knitting some rather nice (I think) cotton towels in colors that make me happy. I love my cotton dishcloths, so we will see if I like the hand towels as well. My towels are actually half the width of the original pattern, and one skein of Peaches and Cream is just about the perfect size.

I'm reading Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather. I enjoyed a couple of her other books a long time ago, and dh put this one in my Easter basket. I think it is a total win, even though I'm not too far in yet, but I keep itching to get back to it when I'm not reading it. It's historical fiction based on the lives of the early settlers of Quebec.

It's not shown, but I'm also reading the Betsy-Tacy series of books with Meg. We take turns reading aloud to each other---because I love them and because reading aloud is good for her. I think she's learning to love them, too. ;-) We are currently on Betsy's senior year in high school: Betsy and Joe. I adore these semi-autobiographical books which cover Betsy's life from age 5 through her first year of marriage. They mostly cover the first 2 decades of the 20th century. This one also has me itching to get back to it several times a day, even though I have read the series several times. In fact, when we were a couple of books back, I had to read through the rest of the series because we weren't reading fast enough! And I still think we could read faster. :-)

Speaking of itching....allergy season is in full bloom here. If you look closely at the photo, it's not blurry---there is a green haze covering the area. With the pine and oak trees at peak pollen season, there are patches of green fog everywhere. Driving down the highway you can see a green haze on the horizon, like smog. Even without allergies, it's gross to be out in this. It gets in your eyes and chokes you, even if you're not allergic to it!

PHFR Yarn Along

Linking up with the ladies at: Like Mother Like DaughterSmall Things{pretty}

Pi Day celebration last week involved a very last-minute Chocolate Meringue Pie---as in I made it just before dinner and it requires 6 hours of chilling. Oh well. It was stunning and we enjoyed a rousing game of Scrabble while letting it chill a little. The chocolate was kind of runny when we ate it.

{happy}

This colorful stack of 7x9 rectangles for our AHG troop project. We are teaching the girls to crochet and make the rectangles so that we can turn them into blankets for the homeless. It's part of the Warm Up America project. I made a bunch of these myself, but I've been focusing on outlining all of the squares with black. It's kind of a tedious job that the girls won't like, but it will make the blanket look much better when they crochet them together.{funny}

Maybe this isn't really funny, but it's kind of amusing to see the shapes and sizes of some of the rectangles from our beginning stitchers. The one on the top right was made by an adult and was so misshapen that I had to work some magic to turn it into a rectangle of the appropriate size. I'm pretty sure that was her first one.  She has improved dramatically and has made a baby blanket and cowl in addition to more rectangles.

Here's a better picture:

I'm really proud of all the girls (and moms) who are working hard to learn a new skill to benefit the homeless. Everyone is improving, and even if they have a hard time getting uniform shapes, their efforts are not going to waste!

{real}I got my little stack of completed rectangles and went to the box to see how many more I needed to do. I was really pleased with my accomplishment in the past week...until I pulled out this stack. 27 down. 65 to go.

Yarn Along

I finally finished my gorgeous Settler Shawl today. It's blocking on the floor now, and I hope I can wear it tomorrow (about the same time as this posts).

Annnd....it's done! I wore it this morning ---had to take it off to show you. The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Merino light that I got for Christmas. Perfect present! 

That's closest to the real color!

My book, waaaayyy up there in the top photo, is Alignment Matters. Not much plot, lots of great info. It's the first five years of Katy Bowman's blog posts, and the reason I'm sitting on the floor, stretching my ligaments, and trying to maintain mobility as I age.

Where are you sitting? I mean, what are you knitting? Check out the other yarns at Ginny's; that's what I'll be doing to  find a more .... adventurous... book!