Knitting Update, March

 Happy March!  So far, we're 3 for 3 on sunny days this month.  Almost all the snow melted last weekend, and things look a whole lot browner than they did in the pictures from my Feb. 25th blog post.

There's been a decent amount of knitting going on. Last month, I started taking care of Faline in the afternoons, sharing time with her other grandma now that both of her parents have exhausted their family leave time.  That has cut into my knitting time somewhat, although I do take my Vertex socks to work on while I'm with Faline. Sometimes I get a chance to knit a few rows while she's napping, sometimes I don't.

This is the current state of those:

One sock is completely done, the other is nearing the halfway point on the leg.

I have been spending alot of my at-home knitting time in the evenings on a new project.  Last Fall, I was asked to knit matching Christmas stockings for DD1, Honorary Son and Faline in time to be used for Christmas 2021.  After showing them a variety of patterns, DD1 chose one and I ordered yarn. Once the yarn came in, in early February, I got started on the first one.

Christmas stockings, some assembly required.

As of today, I am probably within a couple inches of dividing off for the heel. I am really liking the challenge of both all the Fair Isle knitting, and the having to draft my own charts for several sections of the pattern.   The general direction and provided charts come from the Trees and Candles pattern found on Ravelry.

I read three fiction books in the past month, and about half of the Dressage Riding book I talked about last month (which I'm still reading when I have thinking time).  The fiction books were

• Happiness For Beginners by Katherine Center, which I enjoyed much more than the previous novel I'd read by her.
• Betty by Tiffany McDaniel. This is a very gritty book, with tough life situations, yet I found it nearly impossible to put down.  I highly recommend it.
• Prairie Evers by Ellen Airgood, is a children's novel that I read to see if K3 might enjoy the subject matter. While I think she would like the story, I don't think her reading level is quite up to chapter books without pictures.  Maybe in another six months or so.

Currently I am reading Down a Dark Road, another Kate Burkholder mystery by Linda Castillo.  Captivating!