Greetings Unravelers and Happy End of February!!
March brings so many good things, but best of all is Mason Dixon’s March Mayhem! I will be seriously contemplating all the “sock” entries! I know that yesterday I talked about planned making and socks are absolutely on that list! I am here this week with just over 1.5 pairs of newly knit socks!
Things to note… on the completed pair of socks: Yarn is Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn in colorway Happy Accident. There was a bit of time between sock one and sock two. I think I did a change to the stitch count in the heel in sock one, but I did not note that in the pattern, of course… So, one heel has a couple more rows than the other. However, I love this pattern for striping yarns because the heel! I think next time I make this I will use a contrasting color for the bottom of the heel so that the stripes can remain contiguous on the foot.
On the In Process Sock: Oh boy. Where do I begin with knitter errors (as in mine not Sarah’s!) First, I thought I was knitting with a size one needle, nope – I had a zero and my fabric was not at all even close to the gauge. I had to unravel it and reknit on size ones (and there was some serious unraveling because I finished the heel flap!) Once I was using the correct needle the sock does move right along! Then came the start of sock two… when I did not listen to the inner knitter shouting, “Hey… that is not matching up at all with the cuff!” I tried to explain to myself that flowing ribbing did not matter – but once I got the first “twist patterning” done I had to agree with my inner knitter and so I ripped back and adjusted to have the ribbing and the patterning line up correctly. I am positive this was a counting error on my part and as you can see sock two is now farther along than it was on Monday and part of it was reknit!
The reading had highs and lows this week…I know many of you loved Tell Me More, but oh boy. I did not like it at all as you can see below. However, I am suffering from some significant book hang over so perhaps that might be part of my issue.
The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book! What beautiful writing, what beautiful characters, what an incredible story. But Simonopio and his beloved bees stole my heart! The writing paints a vivid picture of life in Mexico with the sights and the sounds and the life described wonderfully! I did not want this book to end and the ending was emotional, including lots of tears. I highly recommend this book!
Tell Me More: Stories about the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say by Kelly Corrigan
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Things you should never write about: kids not flushing the toilet and the dog eating it. This was an absolutely unnecessary bit of information which gave nothing to the book, only detracted! I wanted to like it, but it all seemed so very fake to me. Or perhaps the author telling me that her reality is better than mine was the biggest put off. Read at your own risk.
What is Mine by Anne Holt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Scandinavian Noir at its finest! The first book in the Vik/Stubo series and it was a wild ride. I originally rated the book 3-stars, because I found an incident in the story felt, well… not right towards the books end. While this “thing” (no spoilers here!) did not make sense and still not make sense now in recounting it, it is just a small blip in the book which was excellent! A great plot that had me wondering all along who did it, and how it all came together as the mystery is solved is brilliant.
That is all I have for this week, but what about you? What are you making this week?
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I’m glad you soldiered through all of your sick snafus! I love the striped sock!
I must read the Murmur of Bees!! My library doesn’t have it but I think they’d order it in a heartbeat!
Your socks look great and they are a wonderful part of planned making! It fascinates me how different books can strike different people. I read Tell Me More two years ago, so I don’t remember the things you read, but I wonder why I didn’t pay attention to them the first time around. The next time I’m at the library I’m going to get this for a re-read!
Nice socks, Kat. And it’s always worth ripping back to get things Just Right (especially in that beautiful pattern – which is perfect in your yarn). I really enjoyed The Murmur of Bees AND Tell Me More.
Love your socks! Aren’t they fun? So satisfying (for me) to knit. I downloaded Murmer a while back (when it was free), so thanks for the reminder that I want to read that!
I am 100% on the socks bandwagon. They are a real winner for folks like us who just want to knit because they are the one thing that wears out! (I’m really tempted to get Laine’s 52 Weeks of Socks book … it looks beautiful.) …and all the shared love for Murmur of Bees (and I smiled at your review of Kelly’s book – I totally get where you’re coming from and I still thought it was amazing 😉
I also loved Murmur of Bees! And sock, I just don’t get sock knitting but they sure are lovely.
I am sorry to hear about the sock unraveling, but I’m sure you’re happy you did it just the same! Someone gave me a great tip for the heel for Non-Euclidian that does not involve a mini skein — just use the other end of the skein of yarn! If you’re using a cake and pulling from the outside, pull from the inside for the cake (and vice versa). It works great and doesn’t require digging out any other yarn.
The Murmur of Bees was really lovely. I got it as a Kindle freebie a while back, and usually those freebies are worth what you paid for them, but it was a real treat.
Love the stripes socks and that heel! I wish I had some sick knitting mojo. But the needles want what the needles want….
beautiful pair of socks! again I love the colorway. I am stuck in a book that could be reading faster, if I have time this afternoon I hope to finish it and be done with it. It’s interesting but in the evenings I guess I’m tired and I lose concentration!
That’s a cool sock pattern and not one that’s been on my radar. I have TONS of Vesper Sock Yarn so I’m definitely going to give this a try. Lots of good reading, too!
Lovely socks and I still love that blue yarn! The stripes are nice too – especially at the end of winter. I’m knitting on a baby sweater and am thinking about casting on a hat.
Funny, the difference in reader responses–! So I listened to K.C.’s Tell Me More on a flight home from Iceland. Thankfully, I was sitting next to two gracious German travelers who were busy planning their western-US camping trip…so these ladies occasionally patted my shoulder while I sniffled into a hanky.
I’ll check out Murmur. AND…I LOVE your striped socks.
I love your socks, “mistooks” and all – which reminds me that I have one sock knit and one [still] to knit. Guess I’ll pull it out and add to my knit while watching TV news basket, too.
Your book choices are all so different – each one’s review offers an invitation “to read.” Someday…
Oh, man, that “in process” sock yarn is beautiful!!
I just couldn’t finish Murmur of Bees-not sure what it was about the story-it just seemed to drag, but maybe I wasn’t in the right spot for reading it. I am however LOVING Stephen King’s The Outsider-lots of twists and turns.