The other common theme my reading had this year was how many authors I discovered and then proceeded to try and read as many of their books as I could! John Boyne won the year with 6 novels (many 5-star and one very indelible read: The Heart’s Invisible Furies) Louise Erdrich came in second with 4 of her books on my list, including one indelible: The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. Nineteen authors all had multiple titles in my year of reading – I have learned that a good writer is sometimes a prolific writer!
2019 was the year of social justice or at least my efforts to learn more about how to be a good ally, an educated citizen, and not just a “watcher from the sidelines!” Nineteen of the books I read this year helped to educate me about many things from the Mueller Report, to White Privilege, to the Whistle-Blower Complaint and even a book about Global Warming. Being an informed ally is important to me but all this reading has shown me how much I still must learn, so you can expect to see more of this kind of reading in 2020.
My standby of a good mystery was reinforced with seventeen novels read in 2019 and most of these were parts of ongoing series with characters that I have come to know and love deeply. These books are the best therapy on earth for me! A few pages in and I am off on a journey to figure out who did it and how will it all come together!
And, finally I listened to 88 books this year – a significant number and I am so grateful to my library for having so many audio book choices!
And, in case you think I have done no knitting… I got a Sweater Quantity of yarn for Christmas from Steve and almost immediately cast on a Felix Cardigan – the body is almost done and sleeves are up next – this will be my first finish of 2020! I love the yarn color (Galaxy) it is black, but not quite with a purple-ish, teal-ish hue. I spent an hour after dinner last night learning the sewn tubular bind off – I think Steve has it memorized too from me saying it out loud over and over and over and over. Hahaha!
That is all I have for today! If you wrote a post to share today, please leave your link below and thank you!
Today, you get an update on some top-secret Christmas knitting and my Year in Knitting review!
First up, I knit Steve a pair of Simply Skyp Socks. The yarn I used was a bit heavier than sport weight, but I love how they turned out!
I also made Steve a pair of those Woodland Loafer’s slippers – even with figuring out gauge to knit a men’s size 14 slipper, they went much quicker than that first pair did! If you are interested in the gauge for a much bigger slipper, you can read my notes here.
2019 was a very productive year for knitting! I set a goal to make 18 projects on Ravelry this year, and I blew past that goal with 27 28 completed projects! (somehow one pair of socks for Steve never got entered!)
Deschain
Early Bloomer
One Color Marsa Alam
Tegna
Lovely Regan
Morinne Short and Sweet
ADVENTurer
Rachel's Birthday Mini Maximization
Coast Screen Door
Silk Screen Door
Golden Chardonnay
Half Every which way cowl
Rachel's Velvet-y cowl
Heidi's Velvet-y cowl
Vivi's Velvet-y Cowl
Beneath the Rocks Headbands
Frida headband and matching mittens
Steve's sock head slouch hat
Socks for Steve
Trap a Zoid socks
Montadale hand spun plain vanilla socks
Slippers for Sam
Gnome...thank you!
Brother and Sister Bunny
It was a year for “repeat knitting” though! You know I made 2 pairs of those Woodland Loafers but there were many more multiples of things made! There were two Beneath the Rocks Headbands, two Velvet-y Cowls (and one mini Velvet-y Cowl so Vivi can match her momma!) There were two Screen Doors as well! And there was a pair of Bunnies for Genevieve!
A good pattern is one that you want to knit over and over and over again!
There were six sweaters knit in 2019 – a number I am most happy with! I have some plans for at least one sweater repeat in 2020 – I absolutely love my Regan Sweater and I wear it almost every day! I think a second one would be perfect (especially this mod!) and I have some yarn that I think might work for it. I have not swatched yet – but I will be as soon as I have finished my Evening Dew Cardigan which I think this can be finished easily in January and that leaves lots of winter left to knit another sweater! As you can see, I have roughly 2 inches of the body knit – just 12-ish more inches to go!
No book updates this week – next week I will share my Year of Reading!
If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below!
I am so thankful for all your participation over the year and I hope that your day is full of the joy of Christmas, the love of friends and family, and LOTS of knitting time! XO
Perhaps a little Christmas music to get things rolling?
Because Christmas insanity continues around these parts. I did manage to get mittens finished, and they will be on their way to Michigan later today! And today my making will all be about baking! Bring on the cookies! I have all the ingredients to make some dark chocolate ginger cookies (similar to these that Kym posted last week!)
Nothing beats the smell of baking cookies and it is the perfect reward for finishing those mittens!
Once More We Saw Stars – this was a hard book to listen to, but I think it might have been harder to read. Can sharing a tragedy help with grief? I don’t know but I hope it did for these parents. 3-stars.
Nine Elms – this is Robert Bryndza’s latest book and the first in the Kate Marshall series. It did not disappoint – and although you know ‘who did it’ it does not detract from the story. It is a page turner and I recommend. 4-stars.
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth by Rachel Maddow. This was a deep, heavy listen – although it was read by the author and that made it seem a bit like an extremely extensive open to her show. There is so much to think about in this book, and as you can image – none of it is good. I think it was a bit too long – it could have been edited a bit more, imo. 3-stars.
I also listened to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe! Which I loved as much as I did when I read it ages ago with my kids. 4-stars for this perfect pre-Christmas read!
Finally, John Boyne shared this stack of books by Irish authors! I have read a good number of the books in this stack and I have added those I have not to my list to read!
You might be tired of end-of-decade lists, but if you’re buying books for Christmas, here’s my favourite Irish books of the last decade and I whole-heartedly recommend them all! pic.twitter.com/Am70T4Sdhj
That is all I have for today, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
*** A quick bit of housekeeping for the next two Wednesday’s. I will post as usual on Christmas Day (although it might be later in the day and might include some holiday gift knitting updates) and on New Year’s Day – New Year’s Day will include my 2019 reading update! However, do not feel pressure to join in!
We have sadly arrived at the time of the year when getting good photos is challenging at best! We are in the midst of a dreary week sans any sunshine at all, so I apologize in advance for the poor lighting! However, the third time was absolutely the charm for my slipper making scheme. My son does not read my blog, so I am safe sharing them with you all here today! I made one key change to the pattern directions – I swapped out W&T short rows with German short rows with much better results. (And by much better, I mean results with no holes!)
I have breathed a sigh of relief that I finished these and they will be shortly on their way to Michigan! They are not quite dry, but I am hoping they will be in the morning and I can then wrap them up! As a tiny reward for persevering through this challenging pattern, I cast on Renovare socks on Tuesday night! I am using Tuku Sock yarn… oh my. It is so lovely! I am also trying these socks with the “magic loop” method. This is not how I usually knit socks… but I am giving it a try. As you can see – I am still doing the ribbing, but it felt good to cast on something new!
Reading has been good, but slow going and I have 2 finishes this week:
Ann Cleeve’s Cold Earth was very good. The writing was excellent, and this series just gets better with each book. 4-stars.
Alice Hoffman’s The World That We Knew. I loved this book! Every.single.word. Magic, realism, golems, life, and death are all beautifully woven together! This story touched me deeply and there were so many parts that will stay with me for a very, very long time. 5-stars and I highly recommend! (FYI, I listened to the audio version read by Judith Light of One Life to Live fame – there were times that I struggled with listening to “Karen Wolek” read, however I changed the speed and that helped!)
I am at the point that I am looking at my reading challenge and realizing that it is unlikely that I will hit that goal. I don’t know how close I can get, but I am really not sure if that goal even matters.
If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
I hope this week does not find you frantically knitting objects that you cannot share on your blog. Sadly, for me… that is my life in knitting right now so you get a bit the fluffy goodness that is my languishing Evening Dew Cardigan.
Those pesky socks are finished and have had their soak and are laying carefully to dry.
However, I mentioned on Monday that my dear son mentioned something over the weekend and then Kym was kind enough to save me from spending a couple of hours searching on Ravelry for the perfect item. She wins the award this week of the most helpful link…ever! This morning I am tossing the stash to find something I can use to knit those slippers! I think 2 strands of worsted weight yarn equal bulky…correct? If that is true, then I will be settling in this afternoon to see how far I can get on a pair of those babies!
Now on to reading:
First finish is The Echo Maker by Richard Powers (of The Overstory fame). This book was suggested to me via Overdrive as he is the December speaker for Pittsburgh’s Ten Evenings event. I loved The Overstory and gladly downloaded the audio book. This is a fascinating story in a similar multi-pronged way, yet very different from The Overstory – it is a longer book (20 hours of listening time) but the story keeps you engaged. Without giving anything away, it tells a story about traumatic brain injury from a variety of perspectives. 4-stars and if you liked The Overstory for its depth and details – you will enjoy The Echo Maker. (Also, it happens in Nebraska – so if you live there, you will find it very familiar!)
Second finish was a book I won on a Goodreads give away! In the Shadow of Power, book 7 in the Sandhamn Mystery series. I enjoyed it – yet another murder on Sandhamn. A very fun read! 3-stars.
Now, in case you are looking for some things to fill up your reading queue – the book lists have stared! NPR’s Book Concierge list has so many good things and has some things I have added to my list! I love that it is searchable by category and with 350+ books, it will have something for everyone!
I also stumbled across this gem on NPR’s Facebook page. It is a worthy listen!
Finally – Bonny, Carole, and Kym announced the new Read With Us book yesterday! Think about joining us to discuss in February next year!
As always, if you wrote a post to share with us today, please leave your link below and thank you!
Greetings Unravelers! I hope that for a few minutes at least, you can step out of the kitchen and spend a moment or two sharing your dreams of what you could be knitting or reading this week! Once this is posted, it is Pumpkin Pie City for me! Of course, my Pie City is amateur level compared to Carole! However, this year I did make the crust as well as the filling! Small steps, right?
In the realm of making – I never seem to have stagnant times. (However, don’t look too closely at any flat surfaces in my house, dusting almost never wins over making!) This week I finished my second Tsé biníi doo headband. This one with some mystery yarn and some wonderfully fluffy hand spun. The beige yarn is tightly spun, and I am hoping it will bloom *and soften* some in its bath. However, I carried the yarns in such a way that the inside is mostly my hand spun, which is so soft and light. I am going to try and full the inside a bit. I have taken the red headband out for a test walk on Monday and, Unravelers… we have a winner! It is cozy and warm exactly where it needs to be!
Today (when that pie is in the oven) I am going to work on those socks in hopes that I will have soon have a HO** and can start on its mate!
My Evening Dew Cardigan is calling me though… I have roughly 11 inches of the body to go, which if it sounds like a lot of knitting – it is. But if I can get those darned socks done, I can spend some guilt-free time knitting it!
Also, Made by Rae’s Luna pants have been resized (and while I don’t think elastic ankle joggers would even remotely be attractive on me, this hack would!) Anyways, the pattern is on sale and I have added them to my pattern library!
Also… sock knitters, a heads up for you! Did you see Renovare by Jennifer Burke? I know, I am not a sock knitter, but these are gorgeous! (And knit with sport weight yarn, so even more to love!) I got the pattern and plan on these being my “post-holiday” splurge and I’d love it if you’d join me!
Now for the good and the bad of reading this week:
I finished The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates and I loved it. The story is masterfully told as it weaves around the life of Hiram Walker.
I finished Benediction, the final book in the Plainsong Trilogy and loved it also – for very different reasons. The entire trilogy has just been a joy to read, purely for the joy of reading. The writing is straight forward and honest (as in, how most people talk every day). Yet it makes you think. There is good and bad – just how life is. And, yet despite that – life continues. I highly recommend this series!
Finally, I finished The Downstairs Girl which I found to be a bit of a disappointment. It had potential, but never really took off for me.
In the “I could not finish” category: Celine. I could not get into this story at all and gave up about a third of the way in.
And, that is what I have for today – now it is PIE time! I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
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