Yarn Along: March

I'm finally joining Ginny for this month's Yarn Along.  I was without computer access for most of the week while DH and I took a little R&R time.

I got DS2's Wanderlust socks finished in time to give them to him for his birthday. (Photos are unblocked socks; they really are the same length and shape.)

Left sock, right sock.

 

Inner leg, outer leg.

He had mentioned to me last fall that the socks I had made him several years ago for wearing while hiking were getting pretty worn out.  I decided then, that a new pair would make a great and useful birthday present. Especially as he and his outdoor adventure pals are planning a backpacking trip in Glacier National Park this summer.

Once those socks were finished, I began a just-for-me project that I had actually bought the pattern and yarn for about a year ago:  a Hue-shift afghan.  I am absolutely loving working on this project and confess that making those mitered squares has become quite addicting.  I don't like to put this project down if I have an uncompleted square!

Miter magic!

However, it doesn't make a good travel project, and DH and I had a little mini-vacation to go on.  So, I grabbed a skein of speckled yarn my Mom had dropped by (in January) with the request that I make her a pair of socks whenever I have time to spare.  I have to be honest; I'm not a huge fan of speckled yarn.  On it's own, I find it kind of uninteresting.  It doesn't show patterns very well, in my opinion.  I decided to take a little creative license with Mom's yarn and match it with a skein of purple tonal yarn that I've had in my stash for a while. 

I'm making a very plain sock: ribbed cuff, slip-stitch ribbed heel and all stockinette (no pattern, formula in my head); yet the addition of the purple for the cuffs, heels and toes is really making those speckles pop, especially the purple ones.  I don't think Mom will mind that I took a little liberty with her socks.

true color picture

Not true colors, but shows how much was knit in 3 days!

I've read a couple of book since February's Yarn Along post. Treadmill walking and being on vacation have given me lots more reading time than normal.

The Lost Husband by Katherine Coulter was good, yet at times I could have sworn I've read the book before.  Just some deja vu sections, although I can't find any record of it in my library history.

Going Over Home; a Search For Rural Justice in an Unsettled Land by Charles D. Thompson, Jr. was sometimes like memoir, sometimes like an educational text.  Overall I liked it, but I did start to get tired of the style about 2/3 of the way through the book.  The parts where he talked about the history of his family sharecropping and farming in the Appalachian hollers were of particular interest to me, as a good chunk of my lineage comes from the same.

Postscript by Cecelia Ahern, her lastest novel and the sequel to P.S. I Love You.  I love everything I've ever read by this author and this book does not disappoint.

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason, is a murder mystery set in Iceland.  Straight forward, makes you think, no excessive sex or gore = my kind of book!  I've become a little leery in recent years of new to me authors because it seems so often books these days are more graphic in the sex or horror/gore department than I care for (or just poorly written/edited). This book is A-1!  I have definitely found another author to follow and plan to read all of his works.

Currently, I am reading another Linda Castillo novel, The Dead Will Tell, and I am devouring it. It also goes well with stockinette knitting!