Greetings gentle Unraveler’s and Happy Wednesday to you all.
I have settled in with January nicely but is anyone beside me wondering how we just have one more Wednesday in the month?
Sock knitting is moving right along since I ripped back and restarted a plain vanilla sock. I have reached the “home stretch” of sock one (i.e. finished the heel flap and begun the gusset.) This yarn (The January installment of the Sock Squad) is just gorgeous in stockinette and this will make a most handsome pair of socks.
I am going to join the Bang Out a Sweater crew over at MDK so I need to get swatching for that. I have had a Waffle Pullover on my radar for some time now… it is just such a good “basic” sweater. It reminds me a bit of a sweatshirt, but looks much better. And the camaraderie of participating in a big knit along is a good motivator!
I have begun my 100 day stitch book… and I am so very happy with my “first page”!! I had some inspiration earlier this month about a way to incorporate a sock with holes into the project… and I am eager to see how my ideas play out… but page one’s squiggly yarn is a delightful start. And yes, I might even have a “couching” problem… meaning I want to couch all the things!! Ha!
My reading finishes have been slow in coming but this week I have two spectacular finishes to share with you.
First, I did finish George Saunders Vigil… oh my gosh! To call it brilliant is an understatement… it was a 5-star read for me and will be published January 27. Really, if you loved Lincoln in the Bardo you will LOVE this book. I am hesitant to share details but, as the title indicates, it is about death and dying… but it is also about a life lived, it is about forgiveness, and it is about so much more. I loved the “main” afterlife usher, Jill “Doll” Blaine and I loved the cast of characters that keep “vigil” around one very curious man – K.J. Boone. As usual, Saunders has me thinking about Vigil after I have finished it. It is absolutely a novel that will linger with me. (Oh… and I have plans to listen to it and soon! I think the audio version of this book will be as spectacular as Bardo was!)
I also finished Patrick Ryan’s Buckeye… and it was also so good (and not entirely different from Vigil… but in a very different way) This was also a 5-star book for me. It is a story about life… done brilliantly. And a group of people who all intersect with each other in ways that are ordinary, but seem extraordinary as Ryan writes them. It is a story of life and war, life and infidelity, life and not being wanted, life and finding family. The ending was just stunning… a brilliantly crafted novel that I highly recommend!
What about you? What is getting you through January?
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Isn’t couching fun??? That squiggly yarn looks great on your opening page Kat. And what a pretty sock. I’m still holding off on using my January Sock Squad yarn until I finish the family socks, but I’m anxious to use it (and hopefully before February’s yarn arrives!). I’ve had “Buckeye” on my TBR list for some time but haven’t requested it yet since there are so many in the queue already.
Those lovely blue socks definitely need to be shown off…..it’s a shame they’ll be covered by shoes.
I’m very happy that there’s only one more Wednesday in January — I’m happy to see this month go by quickly! Your socks look wonderful; I’m always a fan of stockinette to show off a beautiful yarn. And I love the stitching!
Well. There could be far worse “issues” than “suffering” a couching issue! 😉 I love All The Things here, Kat . . . the sock yarn, the brilliant start to your stitching journal, the books. And . . . I’ll be “banging out a sweater” with you. Although I probably won’t be “banging it out . . .” because I can’t see myself whipping that thing out in just 4 weeks. Like you, I’ve had the Waffle Pullover on my “must knit” list since it first came out. The timing is working out to do it now, but I’m not going to bust my butt getting it knit up in just one (short) month. Onward!
You have me so excited for Vigil! I think my librarian has preordered it and hopefully she has me at the top of the list when it arrives. I’m planning to drop everything for it!
I love your blue sock and your stitching project. I can’t wait to see it evolve!
What a great week you’ve had in making and reading! I love your sock and wish I could find some of that yarn. It goes with the cold and snowy landscape perfectly. And your stitching book! I’m really looking forward to seeing more as you do it. I’m off to put Vigil on hold. I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it but your review tells me that I will. Thanks!
It’s incredible how fast this month has gone. I love your stitching.
I really like that sweater you are going to knit! I’m working on a hat and that yoke sweater while I continue to try to get healthy.
I love those blue socks. Couching is a fun stitching method/stitch. I like the start of your 100 day stitching project – A thread runs through it – perfect. I am currently listening to “Buckeye” hoping to get through the audio before my library loan ends. I wasn’t so sure in the beginning but decided to stick with it. Perhaps it would be better to read in print. Soup and knitting are getting me through January.
I always feel like January is a slog and this year is no different, LOL. I’m glad we’ll be banging out sweaters together! And I agree wholeheartedly with your reading choices, both Vigil and Buckeye are terrific.
I am not a knitter but admire those of you who wield those magic wands. I always love book recommendations and will gratefully look into both Vigil and Buckeye.
I can enthusiastically recommend Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman.
I’ve never encountered a book quite as imaginatively intelligent. Written by a neuroscientist who offers wildly divergent speculative tales. Each is only a few pages, but Eagleman packs them with such fresh ideas that it’s best to read only one at a time in order to fully savor them.
I am happy to report that my library has a copy of Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives and I am eagerly awaiting its arrival at my local library! And knitting… making really… I don’t know how one would get through these times without something to do with my hands.