woolythyme

Yarnalong....(not Monday)...and a passalong giveaway

I tried to tell him it was Yarnalong day....the day knitting and books are featured, not the furry boy.  He was having none of it.  The camera comes out and he hurls himself on the chair...and immediately poses himself so nonchalantly .... like, ho-hum.  I've been here all morning.  Trust me.  Thirty seconds ago he was napping on the vent.

So, ignore Fred.  It's far easier to take his picture than it is to get him out of the picture.

On to 'yarnalong'....

I finished reading Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay and liked it a lot.  I 'won' this in a give-away and decided I would pass it along, with the only condition being that when the recipient finishes it, it will again be passed along.  If you are interested please let me know in the comments.  We'll make this a rather quick giveaway....I'll let the winner know next Wednesday.

I just started A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, the author of Rules of Civility.  The year is 1922--the place, Moscow-- and Count Rostov has found himself under house arrest in the Hotel Metropol where he has lived for the past 4 years--banished from his suite of rooms to an attic chamber---for the sin of publishing a poem that the powers-that-be think might be interpreted as a call to action again the reining Bolsheviks.  The story of how he copes, the characters with whom he mingles, and the little girl he finds he must protect has quickly drawn me in!  So far so good!

Knitting....something I can knit on while reading, so it must be simple.   Garter stitch matinee jacket by Debbie Bliss is a repeat knit for me, which happens rarely, but this one is so cute!  The blue version is nearly finished, so I'm thinking a pink version might be next up to get me through the novel. Lot's of babies due soon....maybe a white one, too?!? 

 

Joining Yarnalong with Ginny today!

yarnalong...

A couple things finished.  

First .... Lily and the Octopus, a debut novel by Steven Rowley.  Two chapters in, and I knew I couldn't read this book.  I knew the ending couldn't be a 'happily ever after' and I wasn't sure I wanted to go there.  And yet....just one more chapter.  Just one more.  And the next thing I knew, I was done, amid a bucket-load of 'eye rain' (from the book). This is a story of love, forgiveness, dedication, and loyalty. Some parts reminded me a bit of Life of Pi. I truly loved this little book. I didn't want it to end.  I read right through the Acknowledgments (who ever does that?!?)....and you must.  The last paragraph of the acknowledgements.  WOW.  Summed up the whole book.  I really can't recommend this one enough.

 YOU!REALLY!MUST!READ!THIS!  (read the book and you'll 'get' the type.) Believe me, I tried not to, and I'm so glad I failed.

 

In keeping with the 'nautical' theme of the octopus (boo-hiss on the octopus!), I decided to finish the little sea turtle I started about a month ago.  Why do I leave projects undone when they are so close to being completed?  All the pieces were knit.  The finishing took maybe 45 minutes, which included running to get a glass of tea, checking my emails, bringing in the snail- mail, f-i-n-d-i-n-g stuffing...in other words----it was done in a snap.  The grands are coming to visit in about a month.  On their beach vacation, a sea turtle nest next to their cottage hatched while they were there.  (Since they all know this is on MY bucket list, the oldest started texting me and gave me a blow-by-blow account of the babies walk to the ocean! --too dark for pics--  Hubby had to hold me back...I was ready to jump in the car and make the 12 hour drive to see for myself.  Surely some slagger would still be slugging her way to the surf by the time I got there.)

She still hasn't made it to the water.  She's on the bed waiting for little ones to visit and love her.

yarnalong...listen, read, knit, repeat....

In order to break up the endless yet careful Plotulopi knitting, I pulled out the small flower mitts I started a couple months ago.  When they went to time-out, I was real unhappy with my colour choices.  Oh, the grey was fine. (of course it was!!!) I just felt the flowers weren't pretty at all.  I guess they bloomed a bit in their hideaway bag because I'm not finding them as despicable as I remembered.  I was four rows from finishing the fair isle section of the second mitt.  They are maybe two hours (??)from being finished.  What was I thinking, deserting them at this stage?  

All I can think of is---I wasn't listening to a good audible book at the time.  (That really can make a huge difference!) I've got a good one now.  The Readers of Broken Wheel by Katarina Bivald reminds me just a bit of Britt Marie Was Here.  A quiet, underdog arrives in a community needing some spark...and she provides it. This time 'she' is Sara, a Swede, who has traveled to Broken Wheel, Iowa, to holiday with her bibliophile pen-pal...only to discover upon her arrival that her friend has just died.  

My real book (the one I read, not the one I listen to) is Lily and the Octopus and I really like this one as well.  I want to be sad.  I know what's coming.  But the writing is snappy and engaging and so far I'm turning the pages!!  Another goodie.

 

What are you reading? Listening to? Knitting?  Join yarnalong!! Lots of inspiration there.

yarnalong + a giveaway....

OFF THE NEEDLES:

Hot, humid 'stay-inside-if-you-don't-want-heat-stroke' temperatures +  miles and miles of knitting-in-the-round when you have some good books lined up =

this---

quickly turning into...this

 

which turned into... 

this!!

Bressay dress by Gudrun Johnston from the book, Fair Isle Style. This was another one of those books that I bought for this ONE pattern, although I might (just might) someday knit the SpillyJane mitts. 

The dress is shown with half-circle pockets on either side; I'm pretty sure I'd run out of yarn before both pockets are knit, but I can try to add them if/when I feel like a lively game of yarn-chicken.  For now, I'm calling it finished and I couldn't be more pleased.

There is no way I'm donning leggings, boots, and a long-sleeved turtleneck to show you how stinkin' cute it is. I did try it on...and declared it a winner even without the 'styling' layers. 

 

READING 

And now....to the books.

I can't recommend the YA book Counting by 7s (Holly Goldberg Sloan) enough.  A story of loss, of friendship, of survival, of kindness, of hope....and it's funny.  Loved it. Read it.  You'll be glad you did.

Mud Season (Ellen Stimson).  Why did I even bother finishing this one?  It's a memoir of the Stimsons' adventure in relocating to rural Vermont from their very midwestern life in St. Louis.  There is some exaggerated, self-deprecating humor, but overall I was just irritated with the author who keeps coming up with all kinds of crazy, ill-thought-through schemes and then leaves her poor family to sort out the mess she creates.  

They eventually lose the country store she impulsively buys; she brings contractors from Missouri to do her house renovations---a crew that is clueless on how to deal with Vermont winters which creates not only a mess, but ill-will with local repair people. She decides to homeschool one of her children, yet almost immediately leaves the town, the country store, the house issues, all the animals she adopts (much to her husband's dismay) and her kids as she starts three new businesses (simultaneously??) in NYC to help bail out the financial mess at home. I kept hoping it would get better.  It didn't.  There were some recipes at the end of the book...not a one that isn't a heart attack waiting to happen (and may account for the 'big-butt' she keeps referring to).  This one wasn't for me.

Which brings us to the last book in the stack:  This is Where I Leave You (Jonathan Tropper).  From the cover, I'd never pick this up in a million years, but both members of the 'Cape Cod Book Club' insisted that I would love it.  So here goes.  I'll let you know!

 

 

I'm taking a short break from knitting from a book ...

(although, in honor of my vow to always --who am I kidding?-- have something on the needles from a book, I do have some socks from Sock Innovation in progress....I'm just not knitting on them at the moment; they are the ones on the left.  FYI...I'm not working on the ones on the right, either.) 

 

and have picked up Meridian again.  A lovely shawl pattern by JumperCables.  Simple.  Lots of garter stitching. Another perfect pairing with a book.  

 

Is anyone else knitting something from a book?  

(REMEMBER:  There is a giveaway for this book going on; I seriously doubt anyone would want my copy of Fair Isle Style since Freddy has pretty much chewed the cover off---and munched several critical pages.)

 

annual meeting of the Cape Cod bookclub....

It's time again for the annual meeting of the 'Cape Cod book club'.  We're three members strong.  Membership is closed. (I know this because our spouses have tried to contribute and have been shut out.) Sorry.

We informally met last night and I now have close to 50 new titles to think about.  These women know me so well that when we 'review' our books of the past year...I'll get comments, such as: 'sorry, Steph--you'll hate this one'; or 'this one is right down your alley....you have to download it immediately'. (And of course, I do.)  

This afternoon was our annual bookshop crawl, which only could have been made better by combining it with a yarn crawl, but neither of my friends knit.  Believe me, I've tried.  My one failure as a knitting instructor.  Sigh.   I still hang out with them and they don't even knit. See what good friends they are?

The 'crawl' was a success...because, of course, it was aided and abetted by two of the best enablers I know.  (hee hee....you should see the other two piles that came home!!!)

But, before I dive into the impulse buying (not a single one of these titles was on 'the list')---and before I start stockpiling new titles from the 2016 'list', I'll continue reading Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country.  His travelogue about Australia, done with the humor only Bryson can do, is entertaining, although if he doesn't stop referring to all the venomous, dangerous, deadly critters, a trip DownUnder is moving further 'down under' on my wish list.

As to my travel knitting dilemma....  I ended up bringing along the Scandinavian Hat using some mystery alpaca and a ball of Plymouth Select DK Merino Superwash.  The hat was nearly finished before our plane landed.  Plan A was to use the leftovers for mitts, possibly another hat in reverse colours. The hat took more yarn than I thought. There's enough left for a fat braided tassel. Good thing there is a Plan B for the rest of the week.

Plan B:  The baby blanket.  It should keep me busy.

 

* * * * * * * 

A special thank you to everyone who shared their travel knitting favorites.  I've madly made lists and 'faved' things on Ravelry; I'm going to be ready for my next knitting travel adventure.

Counting the days to Rhinebeck!

yarnalong...

Hot, hot, hot!!!  Like... heat index exceeding 105 hot.

I'm knitting a dress and a blanket.

I'm fighting for a/c vent space.

 

I lost.

 

(I did buy a cute little bluetooth speaker...that fits in my knitting bag, and I'm listening to Bill Bryson's One Summer--America 1927. I'm so hot I feel as if I'm living in pre-a/c NYC in the 20s.)

knitting...lessons learned

I had a teeny-tiny knitting setback yesterday.  

It all started when I tried to get myself and all my paraphernalia from the baseball complex parking lot to the field.  (Watching Grandson #1...aka the CandyMan...in his 12U World Series).  

Purse--check.  Camera (extra-long lens)--check.  Knitting, knitting, and more knitting--check (it was an all day baseball thing). Small soft cooler with lunch---check.  Yeti water tumbler.  Pooh.  I'm out of hands.  But.....I just bought this handy-dandy new fangled lid that slides closed for just such an occasion, so I c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y placed it in my knitting bag (on the side opposite the camera...I was being careful!) and off I went.  Oh, yeah.  I also had a folding chair strapped across my chest.

I looked like a sherpa.  

What I don't understand....and I sincerely hope someone out there can help me....is how all these cute, young moms manage to carry everything they need for a whole weekend for their family of 5 in a designer tote, with a hand free to help their friends (who are mom to a family of 6 or 7) with a stray child?

My first twenty minutes in the stands was spent sorting out all the soaked knitting stuff...including the accessory bag that I hardly ever carry with me. (Camera was damp, not ruined, thank goodness!)  Yep.  The ENTIRE 20 oz OF ICE WATER--which doesn't sound like a lot, but let me assure you it IS-- somehow leaked out of the 'secure' lid--only thing left in it was the ice, lid still 'secured'. 

I had some Christmas (fingerless mitts) knitting in a plastic bag (yech, I hardly ever carry knitting in a plastic bag since I own three thousand cute project bags). 

They were dry, but I finished the last of them en route to the game and just jammed the finished mitts in what was now the only dry thing in the whole bag.  

My knitting of choice for the afternoon was going to be this...

the 'baseball' socks I started the other night at the college wooden bat game.  They were so wet I could wring them out.  The second skein of yarn was equally wet.  They were put out in the sun to dry, along with the accessory bag. 

As was a book and two unwound skeins of BT Loft.  Those soaked skeins must have protected the Bressay dress, though, because it was only damp.  Had it also been wet...that would have been three strikes on me and I really would NOT have been a happy spectator. 

 

As it was...I got to spend the rest of the 90+ degree day with a wooly wool dress on my lap. Progress was made.

So...what did I learn?

• Plastic bags have their place.
• Never, ever, ever leave home without at least a month's worth of knitting...even if you are only gone 8 hours.

and, most importantly...

• Tote only water.  (kool-aid? lemonade? coffee? red wine?? eep!!! Just the thought brings tears to my eyes.)
• Never trust a secure lid.

 

linking with Ginny for Yarnalong.

Still reading the same book as last week!  Still enjoying it.  

yarnalong...

Bread Wine Chocolate: the slow loss of foods we love by Simran Sethi

A treatise on the loss of biodiversity in our food and the inspiring people and places around the world that are attempting to bring back the foods we love.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations...95% of the world's calories come from a mere 30 species.  Of 30,000 edible plants...we cultivate about 150.  Three-fourths of the world's food comes from just 12 plants and five animal species.  We overeat energy-dense foods while eating fewer foods rich in micronutrients, increasing our chances of becoming "stuffed and starved".  All this in the name of progress and modernization.  The industrialization of food production and food distribution---concentrating on those food that can be grown abundantly and can sustain long journeys to market and retain a long shelf life once there--have resulted in lower quality, nutrient-poor monocultures of fast food, and processed foods full of salt, sweeteners and fats.

An example she gives:  McDonald's fries, medium serving, contains 19 grams of fat, 270 milligrams of salt and 19 ingredients.  A "real" potato contains less than one gram of fat, 13 milligrams of salt and one ingredient.  Our industrialized food system is designed for efficiency and yield and profit..not nutrition, taste, or diversity.

A fascinating book so far.

 

Sea turtle....assembly required.

yarnalong...

This really is a book review.

I'm in a fun, new book club....and we decided that every few months we would read a cooking/memoir book, each chose a recipe to make, and gather for dinner to discuss the book.  (In between cooking months, we're just an ordinary book club.)

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl was our first dinner book.  Last month we chose what we would make so we didn't end up with all desserts...you know that would happen, right?  We had a nice variety, and I would make every single recipe again.  Yes.  Everything was that good!

My contribution was the No Knead Bread....and while you absolutely had no kneading, you did need a whole lot of prep time---more than I allowed.  The first rising took 18 hours, punch down the dough, let rise, punch down, let rise, punch down, let rise....I stopped here, but Ruth suggested doing this two or three more times (I simply ran out of time).  The bread was still good---real good.

The menu:  broccoli rabe bruschetta, gazpacho, london broil with sauted onions, corn pudding, my bread, chocolate cake, and apple crisp...all from the book.  The book was based on a journal Ruth kept following the year after she found herself without a job when Gourmet Magazine abruptly shut down.  A nice read.  A good cookbook.  

We have to wait until December for the next book club dinner when we do Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table.  I read this one years ago and remember loving it, but never making anything in it.

Current reading?  Well, I'm listening to Britt-Marie was Here by the same author who wrote A Man Called Ove. Both little gems.

and queued up....

the sequel to Waiting for Snow in Havana that I read last week.

 

Knitting?

I started a birthday sock for a friend.

 

 

 

+ two more already started = 6 socks!!!!

 

Would you refill that wine glass, please?

3-color yarnalong....

 I just closed the cover on Carlos Eire's memoir of his early years in Cuba before Castro, Waiting for Snow in Havana---and couldn't boogey fast enough to the computer* to order Learning to Die in Miami (the sequel).  It's not here yet.  I needed a 'tweener' book.

I seem to be smitten lately with memoirs, (Rachel Reichl---My Kitchen Year, Paul Kalanithi---When Breath Becomes Air, Carlos Eire's book mentioned above). 

Hold Still by Sally Mann was recommended last summer by a member of our now rather 'famous' Cape Cod book club (the annual meeting is coming up in less than a month!!); the library had it; it's another memoir; so, it seemed a logical choice!    So far, I'm loving it.  (The 'book club' has never let me down!!!)

And the cover happens to match my knitting.

 

 

 

*our town has no independent bookstore, which is always my #1 choice for any book purchase, and I hope yours, too.  Gotta keep those indie's in business.   A one cent bargain used book online every once in awhile though, does make me smile!