by Kat | Nov 8, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings, Unravelers! I find myself immersed in “Deep Sweater Season” and happily so!
I am about two and a half inches from joining the second sleeve with the body to continue with the yoke of Rusty and visions of my next sweater are dancing in my head! These are the days of happy knitting! I hope to have a finished sweater next week, and will begin swatching for my next sweater this week.
I also cast on a super simple Knit Night project! IT is the PERFECT Knit Night project! Thank you, Gale, for inspiring this!
Now, on to my November Reading! I finished a number of very good books:
- What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton. (5-Stars, you can read my review here)
- Tonight You’re Dead by Viveca Sten (5-Stars, you can read my review here)
- The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen (5-Stars, you can read my review here)
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (2-stars, you can read my review here)
I am listening to Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow and I am enjoying it tremendously. I also just began another Net Galley book; Christopher Greyson’s The Girl Who Lived.
PLUS, I picked up several “real” books from the library last night, but more on them next week!
What are you making and reading?
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by Kat | Nov 1, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
You all have no idea how hard it is to turn the calendar page this month. I am really not ready for this year to be over, but despite my best efforts it is speeding by at what feels like warp speed.
But, here we go, and this morning kicks off NaBloPoMo and I am ready and excited for it! I think I figured out my Saturday conundrum and I am even excited about it! My morning meditations in which I savor my coffee and write a bit in my journal have become the best thinking time of the day.
But, really – are you wondering where the books are? What am I knitting? Me too! LOL
It was a very good reading month, but I had hoped to finish up a couple more books than I did. My own self-imposed goal, but still, I had lots of good reads in October!
I finished listening to Little Fires Everywhere and wow! Great title and a great story. I gave it 5-stars and you can read my review on Goodreads here.
I am currently spending my time listening to HRC read What Happened to me. I am about halfway through and I love it.
I am almost done with Viveca Sten’s Tonight You’re Dead, which I think is her best book yet in the series! (The entire series of these books are free on Kindle Unlimited!)
I also got a real book from the library – one that I had been on the waitlist for some time! I am about halfway through and the Department Q team led by Carl Mørck is excellent! This is book 7 in the series and if you have not read any of the Department Q books, I highly recommend!
On the knitting front, I am back working on the shawl that just won’t end, but I have “made the turn” and now the rows are getting shorter, not longer. This is a very good thing and I am really ready to have this done! It is not at all portable, but makes an awesome lap blanket for “TV knitting time”.
I also started a sleeve for my Rusty and it is HUGE although my gauge has not changed at all. So, it went to time out for a bit while I mulled over a solution or a work around. There is no “frogging” of this yarn, so I considered starting the second sleeve on a MUCH smaller needle to see what that does. Or maybe bracelet length sleeves, or perhaps even better – three-quarter length sleeves. I compiled my options and emailed Mary which led to a bit of FaceTime in which a solution was found! Thank you Mary for your most timely help! Three-quarter sleeves it is!
There you have my reading and knitting for the week. But, what about you? What are you making or reading this week?
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by Kat | Oct 25, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
No unraveling here, but there has been lots of knitting. I am somehow speed-knitting along on Rusty – there is something so meditative about knitting in the round. It is doubly pleasurable when paired with an excellent audiobook! This is not travel knitting though despite its ease of knitting. The yarn is fragile and I don’t want it “mussed up” in a knitting bag. But, I did haul my huge Summer Sand Ripples along with me to knit night last night! I love how my knitting is so autumnal looking! (Sadly, our leaves are sorely lacking in autumnal color so this helps a bit!)
I have also begun plotting out some more sweater knitting to take me through the next few months. I am eager to get some better fitting sweaters completed.
And, Life After Life is an excellent audiobook! The narrator is brilliant, and the story is fascinating! How many lives will it take to get it right? It is very thought-provoking and the story details are wonderful! I will be done with it shortly (perhaps later today!) which is a very good thing because last week it “rained” at the library and I have waiting in the wings What Happened and Little Fires Everywhere.
I finished a Net Galley read, Millard Salter’s Last Day by Jacob M. Appel. I gave this book 5-stars and I really loved it. You can read my full review here (beware there are some spoilers). This will be available on November 7!
I also finished listening to Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan. I gave it 3-stars. I liked it, but I did not love it. I might have enjoyed it more had I read it myself rather than listening to it. The narrator was rather tedious, and I found some holes in the story that never quite got tied up for me.
And, I finished reading The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning which is an inspiring, get off your butt and get things done book! This was also a Net Galley read and if you liked Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, you will find this book a more direct and practical approach to the tidying, de-cluttering task! If you did not like Marie Kondo at all, I think you will find Margareta’s advice and instruction a refreshing and easy to do. How easy you ask? Well, her inspiration started even before I finished her book! In one short weekend we had reorganized, sorted, and cleaned out 2 closets! I gave this book 4-stars, and if you, like me, struggle with stuff – this book is for you! It is available now for pre-order and will be available January 2nd.
I have one more Net Galley book in my queue – Viveca Sten’s 4th book Tonight You’re Dead which will be released in the US on November 14th.
Are you planning any knitting?
P.S. Did you know Kindle is 10?? There are so many incredible deals!
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by Kat | Oct 18, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Hello Unravelers!
In the “finish up project’s” queue, I am finally on the last clue of Laura Aylor’s Sand Ripples shawl. Oh, the love! I am really happy with this! Our weather turned this week, which is great incentive to get this done because it will be awesome to keep the chill away on those early morning walks with Sherman! I am trying to get it done this week, however there is still an awful lot of knitting to do…But!! I am hoping!
I have begun to plan some sweater knitting as well. I have the yarn to knit another Stopover but this time just a regular pullover! I also want to make Ysolda’s Strokkur, which has been on my wish list for a long time. AND, I have the yarn to make Steinunn Birna Gudjonsdottir’s Ryðrauð, which is a free pattern on Ravelry, but the directions (and the yarn) seemed daunting. Okay, maybe they still do, but I am going to give it a go anyways! That’s so many sweaters, but hopefully the knitting goes as quickly as my first Stopover!
As for the reading, back to regularly scheduled life has slowed down the listening a bit, but I have finished a couple of things this week!
- I Will Send Rain was an audiobook I borrowed from the library. This book was okay – I liked it but, I did not love it. I am giving it 3 stars. I found parts of it interesting, but I did not like any of the characters. And, the story line was very depressing.
- And, History of Wolves which I gave 4 stars. This book was an “out of my comfort zone read” for me. That is not always a bad thing, but this book covers some very uncomfortable topics and it at times it was very disturbing. However, all that being said, it is beautifully written. I would have given this book 5 stars however, the ending really fell flat for me.
Up next:
That is all I have for this week, but what about you? How’s your making and reading this week?
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by Kat | Oct 11, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Our trip last week included a stop at Wool & Honey – the most amazing yarn shop in the middle of nowhere! This shop is really spectacular and their array of yarns is really wonderful. Oh, and they have the Sleeping Bear Yarn Club! I did do a little stash enhancement and I also picked up the latest issue of Laine (which is an incredibly purchase-worthy magazine!) There are at least 3 things I want to knit from it…asap. Great incentive to get my in process things done so that I can cast on! (Wool & Honey also has a Knit-a-Sweater-in-a-month-along starting October 31st with discounts on yarn through the 13th!!) I am so happy to be back to my regular routine – which will see a return to my regularly scheduled knitting time. So, if there are some “knitting bandwagoner’s” thinking it might be fun to knit a sweater together in November, let me know. I have not pulled the trigger yet on a SQ of Quince Owl, but with a joiner or two, I could be convinced to participate!
Even though there was little to no knitting on vacation, there was so much reading!! I finished Paul Auster’s 4321. Oh.my.gosh. This is an incredible book and it is one that I have been mulling over in my head since finishing it. Especially since the ending is one that makes you replay the book in your mind. I gave it 5 stars and I highly recommend this book! Really… look beyond the number of pages and settle in for an amazing journey! And, I am really pulling for this to win the Man Booker Prize!
I also finished John le Carre’s latest book; A Legacy of Spies. I kind of chuckled to myself that this book is less than 300 pages and my brain said – oh wow, this will be a breeze to read! Ha! A 4-star read!
AND, I finished Moshin Hamid’s Exit West, another 4-star read. Man Booker short-lister’s FTW, although – I am still hoping that 4321 will win!
I am also listening to Rae Meadow’s I Will Send Rain (The library has been very good to me lately and it looks like this will continue as I am suddenly very close on several holds!)
And, I started reading Emily Fridlund’s History of Wolves…
I did have one “epic fail” book this week; The Widow by Fiona Barton. Bad. So, so bad. I gave it more than a fair turn as I listened through chapter 19…it did not engage at all. Life it too short to read bad books.
That is all I have this week. What about you? Is your knitting and reading engaging?
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