by Kat | Jun 21, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Happy Summer Solstice!
It is the best day of the year with more daylight hours to knit and read by! Amirite?!
On the reading front, I am close to finishing 2 books; The Hanging (which I am listening to) and The Other Einstein (which I am reading on my Kindle). Both are excellent and even without finishing them, I can tell you that I highly recommend them both! I will have reviews for both next week!
Last night I picked up Spycatcher from my library. This is for my “banned outside the US” Bingo Square. I can’t wait to crack this book open! And, this book will bring me my first bingo of the summer!! So, my summer reading is going exceedingly well!
Up next in my ears will be Lincoln on the Bardo, which I am also looking forward to!
On the knitting front things are also going very well. I am cruising along on Stillwater #1 and, wait for it… yes, I began swatching for Stillwater #2 which I will cast on June 30th and join in with a little KAL led by the designer. Yes, I have lost my mind!
I am anxiously awaiting Mystery KAL clue #2, which will be out tomorrow. Clue one is done and I like it very much!
What are you making this week? And, how is your reading going?
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by Kat | Jun 12, 2017 | General, In This Moment
Do you ever wish you could just skip something? Or have a do-over? Yeah, me too although I am not sure if I would rather skip the weekend or have a do-over.
It started off nicely with the close out of Negroni Week. But, Saturday morning I had a nasty fall in Mt. Lebanon… downhill, hard. Yeah, so perhaps skipping the weekend is a much better idea for me. With my luck, I’d fall again in the “do-over” version! Maybe I just need to plan some recovery time for a day or two more.
I am hobbling around a bit better today and one good thing about being “laid up” over the weekend is that I spent some guilt free time just sitting and reading! I managed to fill in some squares on my Bingo Card, but more on that on Wednesday!
I also, made some changes to a sweater I was unhappily knitting. And, with a bit of gauge help from Mary I frogged Daelyn and have started knitting Stillwater… I am far enough to know that I like the fabric, especially knowing that it will bloom a bit and soften significantly when I wash it. Sometimes, changing things up is the best idea ever.
Today, my big task will be to do laundry accompanied by Marie Antoinette (who I hope to finish today) and some knitting. (and really, hauling laundry down 2 flights of stairs counts as a big task in my book!)
That was my weekend, I hope yours was much less eventful!
by Kat | Jun 5, 2017 | General, In This Moment
It was a fly by weekend here, and the proof of that is that it is Monday already!
Saturday morning, we scored a flat of strawberries which made for lots of berry cleaning, macerating, cooking and finally roasting to make some jam! Pro-tip – you do not need perfect berries for jam, go for the seconds! The price is much more attractive and these berries are well, the berries for jam!
This made for some excellent listening time and I made some good progress on my “biography of a royal” bingo square. I am listening to Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser and I am finding it fascinating. What I know about Marie Antoinette can be summed up with cake and guillotine’s – but there is so much more to her than that!
During the “macerating” of the berries, I also managed to sit under the pergola and read a bit of The Likeness. I like how Tana French writes and I hope to have this book done today, which is a good thing because I have another book bingo read waiting in the wings. There was a waiting list for some items and I managed to somehow move up on the list! Go figure, right? I might need to dust off my junior high “speed reading” class skills.
I have a couple of links for your Monday – first up a huge thanks to Mary for reminding me that today kicks off Negroni Week! One of the best drinks of the summer, imo! I even made some “pre-Negroni Week” Negroni’s…which were so delicious!
Up next is something that I think will warm your heart. I love the Come Together Blanket! I think this is the perfect idea and will be participating! Thank you, Kat Coyle for continuing to inspire us in positive ways!
There you go, Gentle Readers – a beverage to sip while you plan your “Welcome to the United States” blanket. It just proves that love trumps hate. Every.single.time!
Have a fantastic Monday!
P.S. If you, like me, do not have any bulky yarn in your stash… there are some options here, here, here, here, here, and here.
by Kat | May 31, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Dear Unravelers!
I have good things to share with you today – it seems as if I have found my “sense of urgency” and have this dire need to finish up some lingering projects.
That means I have kitchnered some sock toes and I am cruising down the foot to a toe of a second sock, which will give me a completed pair! I also have begun Steve’s second helical sock which is my “travel sock” so hopefully this will mean it is done sooner than later!
Sometimes, the “feel good” of finishing something gives you some motivation to finish more, amirite?
This has also kicked in with reading…I have my first square completed on my Summer Book Bingo card!
My first finish: Moby Dick, which I gave 5 stars on Goodreads. If you have not read this classic, might I suggest you download the Moby Dick Big Read podcast and settle in for a good listen. Now, some people might be put off by 136 different narrators, but I truly loved it! I am embarrassed to say I should have read this in high school but “faked it” for class. However, I can honestly say my appreciation of this incredible work of art would have been lost on my 17-year-old self. Melville brilliantly builds the cast of characters that are aboard the Pequod and I found each one quite endearing for entirely different reasons. And, while I enjoyed Ismael’s narration, my favorites were Queequeg, Tashtego, and Dagoo. I simply loved them. If you need a classic for Book Bingo, look no further and give this a listen!
I have lots of books in progress currently, and I am giving priority to library books that are due back this month. So, even though I have no square for it (although perhaps my “any book” space?) I am reading Tana French The Likeness. And, I have been reading selectively from Alabama Studios Sewing Patterns – so much to take in!
What are you reading and making this week!
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by Kat | May 24, 2017 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Hello Dear Unravelers!
This is it, the post where I reveal the list of what I hope to accomplish this summer. Get ready, because it is long!
In the finish category… (as in I have started and I need to finish)
- My Air Soft Shawl (AKA Brambling Shawl)
- Montadale Socks
- Daelyn pullover
- Steve’s Socks
- Spring Dream KAL (for Rachel)
- Test Mouse (because I have never knit stuffed animals and practice makes perfect – or at least allows you to work out the problems?)
- TTL MKAL Socks (I have less than a half a sock to go)
- Rock the Lobster (1/2 a sleeve to go and the body of the sweater, so a good bit of knitting)
- February Lady Sweater, perhaps (this is iffy, but maybe)
Yes, there is LOTS of knitting here, I am not sure I even need a second category, but go big or go home, amirite?
In the Start and finish Category:
- I have the yarn to knit a lopapeysa or two. But, having knit 2 of them, I know they are quick knits! So, I am kind of excited about this! But if these bump a little into the fall, that would be fine by me. After all I am not wearing them until then!
- Calliopsis with Sheepspot Yarn
- Kraemer Yarns Cowl
- Bijou Basin Mitts
- Genevieve’s Mouse
- TTL Summer Shawl MKAL
Yes, these are daunting lists. Good thing I have an entire summer to work on all that.
The basket is packed full!
And, speaking of the mouse – I have the head done! The cotton yarn is really lovely. It is not harsh on my hands, and knits up beautifully. I have started the body.
Now, how about a bit of a book review.
The Lake by Lotte and Soren Hammer. This is Book 4 in the Konrad Simonsen series and this book is my second book from NetGalley. If you like Scandinavian Noir, you will love this book! I liked it so much that I added Book 1 The Hanging to my summer reading list. It is well written and very captivating. The story unfolds with a crime and then it is off and running. The writers weave through the story the police working on figuring out the crime and the criminals and their corruption. It is gritty, and at times unsettling, but these things are not unwelcome in the story at all. I found in Konrad Simonsen another detective that I believe I will love as much as Karl Morck and Armand Gamache. Konrad is brilliantly intelligent and wonderfully human. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am giving it 4 stars on Goodreads.
I started a new book from the library last night, Tana French The Likeness. No thoughts yet, as I have just started reading. I hope to get further into this today if time allows! Summer Book Bingo starts this weekend, are you ready? What’s on your list this summer?
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