May was a very busy month. Also a very wet month, so on days that were just too waterlogged to be doing anything with the garden or flower beds, I was able to get some knitting time in.
I finished (but still have yet to block) my Nurmilintu shawl in the pickle green yarn. I really, really should just take the fifteen--or thirty (picot edge and all those pins that requires!)--minutes it will take me to wet it down and pin it to my blocking boards. It's such a nice shawl, and the weather is still fair enough that I could wear it once or twice before summer gets to the 'no extra layers, I'd run around naked if I could' kind of temperatures.
Once the pickle shawl was off my needles, I've restrained myself to monogamous knitting on the Riff socks for Honorary Son. I had the foot and heel done on the first sock, when I started to get a little paranoid about the amount of yarn left (the yarn I'm using is only about 360 yards to the skein, which for smaller socks has been plenty). Wanting to make these socks as symmetrical as possible, and having the increasingly sure feeling that I would have to add a partial skein of yarn in order to make them man sized, right after finishing the heel portion of the first sock I put the stitches on stitch holders, cut the yarn and began sock #2.
As you can see from the picture above, after doing the heel of sock #2 and the first 10 rows of the lower leg chart, I decided to switch yarns, adding in some red for a while. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the rest of the leg in red, and then the cuff in the striping blue & white, or if I'm going to do a block of red, then some blue/white stripes, and finish off the top with more red. Whatever I decide, they will definitely be unique, patriotic, and loud socks.
I really like the stitch pattern that begins at the toe, criss crosses up the foot and will wrap around the leg. I'm getting antsy to finish these socks. Partly so I can see them in all their glory, and partly so I can cast on for one or two of the next projects I have on my list for this year. But, summer typically is a season of less knitting, so I've got to absolutely get these socks done before September (when Honorary Son's birthday is). No casting on anything until these babies come off the needles for good!
Currently I'm reading Home to Big Stone Gap, which I picked up at the annual used book sale my local library holds on Memorial Day (as part of the village's huge Memorial Day doings). It's set twenty years after the novel Big Stone Gap, which I read a year or two ago, and I didn't realize the author had written more books. So I'll have to do some searching to see if I can get ahold of the couple that come in between the first book and this one.
Other books that I read in May were:
- Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult, which was a mostly interesting read. This is the second novel I've read by Jodi Picoult, and while I like her writing style, I'm not sure I feel the same about the subject matter. I guess so far both books have turned out to be not as light/entertaining of reading as I was hoping for at the time I read them.
- The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate. This is an author I find myself seeking more of her books. They are thought provoking, somewhat educational in a historical context, and yet entertaining and easy to read.
- The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center. A nice quick read.
- Pray For Silence by Linda Castillo, another thriller with an Amish setting by this author. I have to confess that while these are gritty and sometimes make me squirm, I'm hooked and will be looking to read more of this series.
- Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta. By far, my favorite read of the month. Just somewhat silly, but really entertaining, especially if you've ever spent time in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A very easy reading book, and I hope the author will write some more in this style.
