by Kat | Feb 27, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
It has been a very good week for knitting – I have finished my “Shawl of Many Colors” and I simply love it! It was worth every stitch. And, the weather forecast tells me that I will be able to wear it a couple of times this week, so yay!! And, it is substantial – I can wrap it twice around my neck with room to spare!
My next project is one that is involving some very deep stash. I am going to give Tegna another go, and yes, more knitting with mohair silk – this time Colinette Parisienne. I got gauge and have begun the casting on process – 420 stitches are a lot to cast on, but I am being smart and including the markers you add in the first round of knitting. This makes all that counting infinitely easier! The tricky bit will be the lace section and not twisting the cast on…hopefully, I am not jinxing myself even mentioning it – but once that is done it is just round and round stockinette!
The reading is also good this week, I finished Kingdom of the Blind and wow. I won’t give any thing away, but I cried quite a bit. And, the breadcrumbs left for the next novel have me eagerly awaiting the next novel. 5-stars and I highly recommend this series!
I also finished Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy. Another wow! This is a book I will be thinking about for some time to come. I gave it 5-stars and if you loved 4 3 2 1, I think you will enjoy this set of intertwined mysteries.
What about you? Have you started anything new?
As always, if you wrote a post to share – please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 20, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Eight short days and February will be over and the question remains…can I finish my Shawl of Many Colors in that amount of time? I am close – so close!! If I go by the Twenty-Five Days of Knitting, I have 4 colors to go, but then I added in 2 more colors (although one will only be used once) that means I have 6 colors to go and I started another repeat last night… yes, I think this is doable, even if I do one last repeat of the very first color I used – I am not certain about this, but I think it will make for a nicer finished scarf.
Also, can I just say how lovely it has been sitting and knitting with this in my lap? Despite today’s snowy weather, my thoughts are really turning to spring! However, reality tells me that there will likely be a good bit more winter weather and I will get to wear it quite a bit in March.
The reading this week was interesting.
First, I sadly did not finish The Widows of Malabar Hill before it was due back to the library. I am back on the wait list, but it is not too long – so hopefully soon I will be finishing it!
I finished Vox, which was such a disappointment. If you are looking for dystopian fiction, I suggest The Handmaid’s Tale or if you want a novel where the women are in control, The Power was a great read! Two stars, and really don’t waste your time!
I finished My Year of Rest and Relaxation and I have very, very mixed thoughts about this book. I gave it 3 stars, because for some strange reason I could not stop listening to it – I guess sort of like watching a train wreck. It is the story of one extremely messed up young woman who lives in NYC and how she lives the most medicated life ever – and for several months she medicates herself to “sleep” with an “end date” that she will suddenly just be normal and not need to medicate herself anymore. Yeah, I thought the ending was more than a bit lame. I am not certain I would classify drugging yourself into a stupor as “rest and relaxation” but there you have it. Somehow, miraculously, she does not kill herself, and I have no clue how she did not.
I said Monday that I was going to ration dear Armand Gamache, HA! You might have even asked yourself how I remotely thought that might be a possibility!! Yep, I am over half way through and thought I might be able to finish today, but Steve is home because of the snow – so my listening time will be drastically reduced, lol.
And, on my Kindle I am more than half way through Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy… oh, my goodness! LOVE!!
That is all I have for this week! If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link and thank you for joining us today!
by Kat | Feb 13, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Sometimes the “unraveling” happens inside your brain. I had thought that I had figured out how to proceed with my Thea Rachelle Raglan, but then I saw something on Instagram that stopped me in my tracks. Someone sewed the “vision” I had, and it was not at all what I imagined it would be. I won’t share the link, because, sadly, it was not at all what I imagined it would be. And, so I just kind of froze on the project and pondered… but eventually, I got back to the drawing board. Enter the flat, without pleats version of the Thea Rachelle and I am hopeful enough to cut out the pattern and I am reminding myself that it is just a “muslin” and I will go from there. A small investment to determine what works, right? But that feeling of fear – not going forward – unsure of what to do… it is not at all a place where I find comfort.
I don’t like these feelings at all – my inner self just wants to put it all away and do something else! Something that I don’t fear, can move forward because I am exactly sure of what I will do. However, learning sometimes is a challenging process for mind and body!
There is a big lesson in here for me – growth comes with learning and learning is not always comfortable…and it is okay to feel uncomfortable!
All that thinking time allowed me to knit a sock – ahem, in less than 3 days!! And, while I had hoped it would be a sock for the “gift basket” I think it will be too big for my daughter. I have started the mate and have pulled some yarn from the never-ending sock yarn stash and will soon cast on another sock in a smaller size! And, Sarah!! This is the most awesome pattern! There is enough interest to “keep knitting” and it falls into the practically instant gratification category!
I am also about six colors from finishing my Wrap of Many Colors! I cannot tell you all what joy this brings me – I can see the finish line!
The reading this week had some bits of disappointment and that makes me sad.
I finished The Library, which I wanted to like so badly, and perhaps I might have if I had read it versus listening to it. Even with the author reading it, it was a challenge to stay engaged for a number of reasons. First, each chapter begins with her reading the library information for a list of books – title, author, and library numbers… yeah, umm it was so distracting. The story was often rambling and hard to follow. She throws in tidbits of information that are interesting, but I wondered how they pertained to the story – and she never tied up the loose ends before the story ended. It got two stars.
I also finished The Friend – imagine a friend dies and you end up with his dog – a Neapolitan Great Dane – and you live in a very small apartment in NYC, that does not allow you to keep pets! This story unfolds in a most interesting way and it is beautifully told despite it having parts that I felt could have been left out. This book got 3.5 stars.
What about you? Do you have any making challenges this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link and thank you!
by Kat | Feb 6, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
No unraveling yet this month, and I am making some good progress on my shawl of many colors! In my reorganization of the yarn stash, I found 2 more colors of KSH that I did not know I had and added them to the mix. I used one this week and I am now crossing off the colors I have used twice. I think that I can see the beginning of a glimmer of light down this tunnel! And, that glimmer of light is certainly a motivating factor because I have picked this up to knit almost every day!
Fortunately, I have had the most wonderful knitting companions with my reading this week! Yes, I finished Lethal White and this might be my favorite book thus far in the series. No spoilers from me, and while it is long – the characters unfold more in this story in a good way! I highly recommend this series and gave it 5-stars.
What about you? How is your making going this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share today, please leave your link below and thank you for joining us!
P.S. Wasn’t all the Suffragette White impressive last night at the SOTU???
by Kat | Jan 30, 2019 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Welcome to the last Unraveled Wednesday of January and I am so happy that this long-ass month is over! For all the days this month I surely should have accomplished more than I did! I had foolish hopes that my ADVENTurer wrap would be closer to being done and truly, there is no way this will be done for Valentine’s day either.
I am reminding myself here how much I love the fabric and how beautiful it is and, I am ignoring how challenging KSH is to work with. So. Slowly but surely it will be finished. Slowly… and that is okay!
Reading has been varied and most interesting!
I finished Fear: Trump in the Whitehouse by Bob Woodward. Wow, the things people tell this man are astounding! This was my first Woodward book and I had higher hopes regarding his writing. However, writing aside, it was a compelling listen and I gave it 3 stars.
I finished Marilla of Green Gables. I enjoyed this book, but it is very bittersweet – one that did not have the happiest of endings – or at least not the ending I was hoping for! However, the book provides the loveliest slice of life in the mid 1800’s on Prince Edward Island before Anne… I recommend this book and gave it 4-stars.
I also finished Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Wow. So, imagine this… a conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan – one where Marco is describing in great detail the many cities he has visited in his travels. One of my favorite lines: “I speak and speak,” Marco says, “but the listener retains only the words he is expecting.” Truer words were never spoken. This book got 4-stars as well.
Current reads: The Widows of Malabar Hill and Lethal White…
But, what about you? What are you reading this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link! And, thank you for joining us today!
