Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Yarn Along: August; socks & socks & a shawl

Happy Yarn Along Day!  I'm excited to join Ginny for this month's Yarn Along.  For some reason, it just seems like it was forever since the July edition.

There's been several car trips for me in the past month, which means lots and lots of sock knitting.  Because socks are such an easy, portable project that fit (mostly) right in my lap, I can while away those hours as a passenger quite productively.

I finished the On The Fence socks I talked about last month.



And I so loved doing colorwork socks that I immediately found a new pattern and yarn combo for another pair.  Might be selfish, but I'm keeping both the On The Fence socks and my current project, Christmas Eve socks, for myself.  Kind of handy that the other female members of the family (K3 and my mother withstanding) have larger feet than me. So, if I want to keep a particular pair, I just don't knit any longer of a foot than I need my personal socks to be.  :0)  I do have another color combo of yarn in the wings for a second pair of Christmas Eve socks for someone else, if I have time to get them knit yet this year.

But for the ones that are mine, all mine, I am using two colorways of Knit Picks Stroll Tweed: dove heather and forest heather.  The colors are gorgeous together, better than what the photo makes them look.



I am nearly finished with the blue and grey Beachcomber Shawl that I mentioned in last month's yarn along post. I had started it, only to find I was using a size 6 needle rather than a size 8 (darn tiny numbers on those interchangeable tips!), so I ripped it out and started again with the correct size.  It's a very fast knit and I only have two rows of the final lace chart to complete, then it's on to the picot bind off!  



Once that is off the needles, I have in mind some grandchildren-sized sweaters to knit before Christmas.  I think I can get three little sweaters done. . . the biggest one will be a girl's size 8, and the smallest a 6-9 months. . . There's plenty of time to get them made, right? Plus finish my Christmas Eve socks, of course.  I find it's nice to have a "big needle" project and a pair of socks going at the same time.  You never know when you're going to need a portable project. ;0)

I read quite a bit this past month (also a by product of increased time in the passenger seat).  I finished the Fall of Giants that I was reading in July, then read Death on Tap as well as Meet Your Baker, both of which are fun mysteries by Ellie Alexander.  After that I read Wildflower Heart by Grace Greene, which was a good book but after the others it kind of fell flat with me.  Not on the same par.  So, I ordered up another Ken Follett book, Winter of the World, from the library, and read the vast majority of it over a (not very enjoyable) weekend camping/canoeing & kayaking trip with a group of people who, it turned out, like to sit around and do a whole lot of nothing while yapping about a whole lot of nothing.  Since I'm awful at sitting for any length of time without something the engage my hands and/or brain, and I have a low tolerance for mindless chatter, I read. Ended up finishing the giant Follett book in less than a week.  Rude of me?  Maybe.  But to me, not sticking to the plans and therefore missing out on 1/2 the time we'd planned to be on the water was rather rude.  Kayaking was the whole reason I had decided to go on the three day trip with this particular group.  Anyway. . .

How's your knitting and reading been?

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