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Linking up with Ginny.
So it's been awhile since I've showed my scarf progress. Here you go!
And I'm reading A Time for Renewal, by Mother Mary Francis, PCC, who is also the author of my favorite Advent devotional.
(Does Lent seem really long to anyone else? I have to keep reminding myself that I can't buy books because it's Lent. I know, it's been a week! But it seems longer. Or is that just me?)
First yarn along of 2016! For those of you who knit/sew/do crafty things, did you start any projects over the holidays? More likely you finished them. But I made some good progress on my scarf!
I'm really, really liking working this. This pattern is my own design, although I hesitate to really call it a "pattern" because, it's not. It's just stockinette stitch with a knit border. But I have the notes up on Ravelry, if you want to join me in doing it. I think it's a perfect bridge from the washcloths (Lord save us from any more of those for awhile!) and the basketweave project that is still mocking me in my knitting book.
As for what I'm reading: The Bethrothed is for Facebook book club, and Lords of Discipline is one of my Christmas books. I love me some Pat Conroy. I read The Great Santini when I was in Charleston, then South of Broad, and I got The Prince of Tides for Christmas, and just finished that. I'm saving Beach Music for the plane ride to LA< because it's big and fat. Perfect for a long plane ride!
OK, so remember the gorgeous yarn I have? That basketweave was JUST NOT LIKING?
I decided that I'm going to use it--but not for basketweave.
I've decided to work up my own stockinette stitch pattern, on size 9 needles, and make a scarf for me. I love this color yarn, and dagnabbit, it's going to get used, even if it's currently 68 degrees here in Columbus and not at all scarf weather.
It's working up beautifully. I think part of the problem with the basketweave and this yarn was hat it called for size 6 needles, and this yarn really did not like that.
The book is for a Facebook book club. It's good but it's dense, so I have to really commit to sitting down and reading it.
OK, try number three on the basketweave scarf! Ha! Well, I'm about to go for try number three. So here's just a nice picture of the needles and the yarn. Again. And my Advent book, which I adore.
The biggest problem for me here is that you can't mess up, because of the pattern. If you drop stitches or something, the entire pattern looks off. So I have to be especially careful here.
And since it's also Jane's birthday, here's some of my favorite Jane knitting things:
So, I can purl! Behold, an almost finished stockinette stitch project!
I have to do five rows of knit stitch and then cast off, and then it's done! Yes, I am crazy proud of this one. There are a few mistakes, but this was 1) practice and 2) for me, so I'll just deal with it.
I can't decide whether or not I want to do another project like this, or try a basketweave washcloth, in prep for the basketweave scarf project. I feel like I want to secure my purling skills before I tackle basketweave projects, but I don't know if I want to do this same thing again. Maybe I'll try a stockinette stitch bookmark or something to shake it up a bit.
I finished North and South yesterday--great read!--and now I'm on to the book of the moment, or one of them--Rising Strong. A lot of my friends are reading it and I'm sort of late to the party, but I'm enjoying it so far.
It's back!
So my Excellent Crafty Friend Sarah is going to help me with my knit/purl troubles. I can do both stitches, but when I have to combine them, it's not good. Bad things happen. So I'm hoping being Sarah's padawan leaner will help me out here.
Here's the first few rows: this yarn is called "fairy tale", and it's one of my favorite colors.
The book I'm reading is one I've been meaning to get to for awhile--Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, which describes the class conflict between Margaret Hale, a minister's daughter who was raised in and around London, and her new surroundings in the working-class North and the people she meets there.
It's been awhile since we've had a Yarn Along here, but now it's back!
So this is another bookmark that's going in my gift stash--don't you love this yarn? The book is the third in the Neapolitan series of novels--there's four, in total, so I'm more than halfway through. These are very different that contemporary American fiction, but that's not stopping me from enjoying it.
I've started another bookmark in the Atlantis yarn. I really love this color way, especially on my Sunstruck needles. Sunstruck needles are actually my first love, in a way, because they're what I first started knitting with, and I've never had any problems with them.
Since I've never been to Boston, I obviously must read up on the city before I get there!
So, are you ready for the awesome progress I've made in a week?
Behold!
I know, I know. You're rolling your eyes at me. But I've been so taken with "kondo"-ing the house that everything else has really been secondary. However, while watching Turandot today, I started working on another bookmark with new yarn. This is called "Atlantis", and it's so pretty and easy to work with.
Reading: Middlemarch and Finding God's Will For You.
So I realized--it's September. That means I need to start thinking about knitted Christmas gifts. I have some beautiful yarn I use for bookmarks, and I want to give out some of those this year. So project purl--and the evil yarn--has been temporarily set aside, while I work with these beauties!
So, here's how far I've gotten on the stockinette stitch washcloth:
I know. Sorry! The knitting time sort of got away from me this week. But I have lots of movies queued up on my DVR and I'm hoping to get in some solid knitting time this week/weekend. I'm also trying to find a solid website for purling demonstrations. Anyone had any ideas/links?
Reading hasn't changed much: still on Middlemarch, and I'm down to the last two books in my Pink Carnation series re-read.
They're good fun, if you've never read them. Really good summer reading (as summer winds down). I'm also hoping to pick up a copy of The Martian at the library today, because the movie looks really intriguing.
So, I haven't actually started knitting anything. But behold the pretty yarn!
This is going to be another washcloth, but in stockinette stitch. Eventually all of this will pay off in being able to knit really awesome things. But I'm not there yet.
As for what I'm reading: Still Middlemarch, and Persuasion for the last installment of the Great Jane Re-Read, which will go up next week.
Ta da! They're finished! The washcloths are off the needles and that project is done!
But now I need a new one?
So, again, there are probably two projects on the horizon. One is another scarf for the VA project we're doing in Lay Dominicans. Another is conquering the purl stitch, which means.....
more washcloths.
I'm sorry, folks. But really they are the easiest way to learn this. I don't want to start a scarf and then have to rip out tons of rows. One day, I promise, my YA entries will be epically awesome, with wonderful projects. I'm hoping by the end of the year to start a basketweave scarf with a wonderful yarn I have in my stash. But first, I gotta get the purl stitch down.
So, a washcloth it is. I'll have the colors and such ip next week, I hope. Or maybe I'll make one super fast and we can move on from there with speed. :)
As for books: Middlemarch and Emma. Emma I will be finishing quickly, because it's tomorrow's Jane Re-Read Entry Also Sky Burial, which is a nonfiction book about a Chinese woman who goes to Tibet in search of her husband, who is reported dead by the Chinese army--but she doesn't believe it. Thus far it's been an interesting look into Tibetan culture and an engrossing read.
(And have you entered my giveaway yet? It runs until Friday!)
So I have finished the scarf!
I really love this color. I'm going to make another scarf for the VA project in the Chipmunk color way (same yarn--City Tweed).
As you can see, the washcloth is still coming. It just doesn't knit up as fast because there are more stitches per row, and they're smaller. But that's OK.
The next thing I want to work on, knitting-wise, is purling. I know how to do it. I've done it. But I can't do it consistently, and that bugs me, and limits what I can knit. So we are going to try some stockinette stitch washcloths. I know. More washcloths. Sorry. But once I get it down, then we can move on to Basket Stitch pattern! Yay!!!! And who knows what else can come after that.
But first--gotta get the purling down.
Reading:
Of course, right? I actually read this the day it came out, but I'm re-reading it. When my dad asked me what it was about, I said, "Realizing your parents aren't perfect," and that feels like a pretty good summation. Have you read it? What do you think?
This is going to be a quick installment. :)
So I'm still working the same two projects, the scarf and the washcloth/dishcloth/dust rag (whatever you want to call it!). I've been knitting while I watch Outlander or Breaking Bad, and I can knit for about a half hour at a time during those. I did find another skein of yarn, called Chipmunk, that I think will be great for the next VA scarf project. It's the same type of yarn as the one I'm currently working with, which you can read about here.
As for reading: I'm saving The Girl on the Train and A God In Ruins for the Charleston trip, which is fast approaching. I want to have new books to read in the car. :) I just finished The Astronaut Wives Club, which was pretty good. There were a lot of wives to keep straight, eventually, but I think the writer did a good job giving us insight into their lives. The book I'm currently reading is Pride and Prejudice, for the Great Jane Re-Read.
Let's talk yarn and book, shall we?
In the last Yarn Along, I was working on a lot: the scarf for the VA, and the last of the housekeeping gift of washcloths. I'm still working on both projects.
So the scarf is on the left and the newly started final washcloth is on the right. This yarn was sort of a bear to knit for the first few rows, and I don't know why this yarn (Comfy worsted from Knit Picks) can be so back and forth when it comes to starting projects. It gets easier as I progress, but sometimes it's really smooth right off the bat, and sometimes it's not. This color is called blackberry, and it's on the harmony rainbow needles.
For my reading, I'm working on Fr. Michael Gaitley's The One Thing is Three, which is about the trinity and a lot of other theological things, namely the Summa Theologica (which I'm studying in a group at church right now, so yay!). I've previously read his Consoling the Heart of Jesus and I'm going to be reading his 33 Days to Morning Glory later this month.