Knitting Update, January

 In December, I knit a lot of dish cloths.  Enough that each household of my offspring received two as part of their Christmas present.  Did I remember to take pictures of them in a great big pile when I was done?  Of course not.

After Christmas, I cast on a pair of socks.  I'd been wanting to do so for weeks, but figured that my Mom would, at family Christmas, request that I knit her a pair of socks to be completed in February for her birthday.  This has been the case for the last six (??) or so years.  I don't know if she forgot this time, or if she decided she has enough handknit socks, but she didn't mention it.  So on the 26th, I cast on for my own socks.

I'm using a skein of fingering yarn by Chasing Rabbits Fiber Co. that was part of someone else's destash that came to me by way of either MIL or my Mom in 2022. In other words, free yarn! The pattern I'm making is Textured Lace Socks which is from the Splendid Soles book put out by Knit Picks.

So far, I've gotten the cuff and two of seven repeats of Chart A done. I honestly wasn't sure about doing a textured sock with this variegated yarn, but I really liked the colors of the yarn didn't want to knit a plain stockinette or a ribbed sock. I cast on figuring that if the design was getting too muddled with the short color changes I'd frog it and go with something more basic.

I'm not having any trouble seeing the design element, so I plan to go ahead and knit the whole thing.  And then, sock #2 of course!

Reading-wise, I started and finished one book in December. I could have read more, but I didn't get to the library to pick up a book I'd requested months ago that finally came in the afternoon before they closed for four days for the long Christmas weekend. I ended up getting the book on the afternoon of the 29th instead and then maybe read four whole pages before the end of the year.  I'll talk more about that one next month.

The one I did get read was Sisterhood Everylasting by Ann Brashares. It is the fifth book to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which I had read back when my daughters were in middle and high school.  Until recently, I hadn't known there was a fifth book, which takes place approximately ten years after the fourth book left off.  I don't want to spoil it, so no story-line details, but for most of this book I really didn't like the story.  It wasn't at all what I expected, and I didn't like the plot, didn't like the women the characters had become, really thought about not even finishing it. BUT, then when you're most of the way through the book there's a huge plot twist and things just start plinking into place and it became more of what I had thought it was going to be/should be before I even opened the cover.  Do I recommend this book? YES! If you've read the other four, you should definitely read this one too.  Warning: it's sad, but not entirely.