Any Given Saturday

 Last Saturday, I was (again) home alone for the majority of the weekend.  While there were some 'must dos' on my list for the day, I decided to, for the most part, tackle whatever I felt like doing around those have to do items.  For funsies, I kept a list of everything I did that day.  (Well, not everything, as I obviously didn't record bathroom breaks or brushing my teeth and hair, getting dressed, etc).

Anyway, if you're bored interested, here's what my Saturday looked like on that given day:

I fed horses their breakfast.

I fed myself my breakfast: a couple pieces of ham (I'd put small baggies of 2-4 slices of ham into a gallon sized freezer bag and put them in the freezer last year for such purposes as this) and two chocolate chip pancakes (also from the freezer, leftover from last time the grandkids spent the night).

Then I boiled six eggs and when they were done in the hot water and ready for their cold soak, I 

-went out and turned out horses

-cleaned stalls

-replaced the grossly-full-after-less-than-a-month fly ribbons hanging above the horse stalls

Also before noon, I was able to 

-clean past-their-edible-phase fruits and veggies and non-meat leftovers from the fridge and put them in the compost bucket, which I dumped in the compost bin out by the garden

-clean out the still sorta edible (like not moldy or slimy or gross) but I wasn't going to eat it things like shriveled blueberries, leftover peas (I'd already had some of the peas twice that week), and overripe watermelon from the fridge and give it to the chickens, which I let out of their coop at that time.

-wash and hang two loads of laundry on the clothesline 

-ran down the road to look at some hay I'd been offered to buy off the wagon after it was baled later that day (same family that does my hay was cutting and baling a neighbor's field about two miles away)

-rinsed my cucumbers that had been doing a limewater soak the three times rinsing and resoak in clean water 1 hour each time called for by my go-to customized dill pickle recipe

-set up the canner to heat the water to a boil and also set up another pot with the vinegar, water, canning salt and turmeric brine to simmer.

Then I fed myself lunch, which was two more pieces of ham from that breakfast baggie and some thin-sliced smoked gouda cheese made into a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on homemade bread with about a dozen sweet cherries on the side.

Wow!  I was kind of amazed when I looked at my documented activities from the morning.  Not bad.  I actually had done a lot and wasn't feeling tired/overworked yet.  So I continued after lunch.

I made deviled eggs with three of those hard boiled eggs I'd cooked that morning; the other three eggs I left for eating on salad in the coming days.

I peeled and sliced some short but fat cukes from the garden and made them into refrigerator pickles for DH to enjoy after he returned home on Sunday.

I canned dill pickles made from those cucumbers I'd limed the night before and rinsed that morning.  Three quarts and one pint worth.

While waiting on the canner, I emptied the dishwasher of clean dishes, swept the mudroom and kitchen, and vacuumed the living and dining rooms plus DH's home office.

After that I tallied up how much it had cost to raise the broiler chickens this year.  DS2 and DD1 each had wanted me to raise a few for them with promises that they'd reimburse me the costs of each bird they took.  I was unhappy to find that it cost me $18 per bird--although each bird weighed between 5 & 6 pounds after processing--because my original guesstimate based on last year's costs was only $13-14 per bird.  That extra $3 per bird processing fee having to not use my planned on processor really was a hit.  All the other price increases--like on feed and the purchase price of the chicks themselves--were tiny compared to that.

Plus, I also

-moved a dresser we don't need/use from the upstairs down to the garage so I can get rid of it (will list on local free pages)

-emptied the water in the dehumidifier

-weeded the four rows of peppers in the garden and 4 of the 6 rows of cucumbers

-walked to the mailbox and got the mail

-fed myself dinner of a salad and a protein bar (too hot to feel hungry)

By then it was time to bring in the horses and feed them their dinner.  Once that was done, I

-picked beans, cucumbers and zucchini

-made a chocolate zucchini cake

-loaded the dishwasher

-shut in chickens and gathered eggs

-sat on the porch swing and read Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts while listening to cicadas singing in the nearby trees

--ate a big hunk of zucchini cake still warm from the oven (YUM!)

 And that was what I did with my Saturday.

Lucky Days

 In March, Surprise called and asked if I might be able to babysit Lucky for her one or two days a week this Spring and maybe Summer so that she could resume taking  college classes (she had gone back to school to finish her bachelor's just prior to finding out she and DS2 were expecting Lucky).  Knowing how busy that time of year is with working horses and with gardening among all the normal day to day home stuff, I told her we could try one afternoon a week if Lucky came to me rather than me driving to their home.

We settled on Tuesdays from 1-5 p.m., and started on the third week of March, when Surprise was going to register for Summer classes.  With the exception of two Tuesdays that I all ready had other things on my calendar (a farrier appointment and Spring Break trip with K3 and Toad), Lucky and I have been hanging out together for over two months now.

What was originally supposed to give Surprise time to either do school work or catch up on housework while I watched Lucky never really happened that way.  Turned out that Surprise only signed up for one class for Summer semester, and that it was a expedited course (only 6 weeks? if I remember right) and that it didn't have a rigid schedule on when she had to be online working on it.  Plus, she decided that rather than drop Lucky off to me and leave, she would just hop on our wifi at this little place here and work from my dining room table.  Which actually ended up about 30-60 minutes of working and the rest wanting to talk to me. For four hours every Tuesday during a time that just gets busier and busier for me.

Now, I'm really glad for these days of spending time with Lucky as he went from newborn into a little human who tries to initiate contact with people and interact with them.  But, I have a ton of work to do in this season, mostly outdoor and therefore dependent on weather (use all the good weather days we get!) and not things I can do in the house or with a still very small person in tow/in my arms.  So, this week was the last Tuesday for a while that Lucky and I hung out together.  I had to make the decision to tell Surprise that now that her class has finished, I need to not babysit for at least the next month, possibly the rest of the summer.

Lucky is now four months old, over 27" long, 13 pounds heavy, rolls, drools everywhere, cutting teeth all ready, has great head control and core strength, and loves looking at things, including books.

He also appears to have the widow's peak hairline that is prevalent on my side of the family.

His newest book I found just last weekend at a garage sale.  For only 50 cents, I couldn't resist!  This book is part of a series of science based board books.  Being that our whole family are kind of science geeks, and both DH and DS2 are engineers, and therefore everybody kind of expects Lucky to have scientific leanings, how could I not buy this book for him?

Gotta Love Free Books!

 Two years ago, a friend of mine organized a community book swap.  It was held in the resource room at her local library.  The premise was that people brought books to swap--minimum of one book required for admission, attendees could take home as many books as they wanted, and at the end of the swap all 'homeless' books were donated to the library for their annual used book sale.

I ended up being unable to make it to the swap, because K2's funeral ended up being scheduled for the same day.  My dear, dear friend, when she heard of this conflict, told me that she'd had numerous people give her boxes of books they no longer wanted and wished to donate to the swap without attending, and invited me to her house to check out the donations.  I found about a dozen books in those pre-swap boxes and being able to take them home even though I wouldn't be able to be at the swap itself helped brighten up a really dark time.

Her book swap was such an overwhelming success, and she had so many requests for another book swap in the not too distant future, that she did!  It needed a larger venue, so that had to be obtained before setting a firm event date.  Ended up being in the Fall of that year.

That one I did attend.  It was another, even larger, impressive turnout of people and books.  Such a big turnout that there wasn't enough table space for all the books brought to be swapped.  And thus was born a semi annual event: the community book swap.

Last year, there was a Spring swap (which I attended and stood in line for almost an hour to get into as there was so many people wanting to swap that the room was at maximum human capacity and people had to be let in only as other people left) and a Fall swap.  The Fall swap had some changes made, such as you could buy an early admittance for $5 and get in an hour early for 'private shopping' before the masses were let in.  That helped a bit with shortening the line, but the turnout was still bigger than the event venue.

This year, the Spring swap was at another new, even larger, location.  The 'early bird special $5 admission' was again offered.  Frugal me, I went for the (free) general admission time and had no trouble getting right in.  I went with only six books to donate (apparently I didn't read much at all between October and March), but came home with sixteen.

Some are for the grandkids to read, some are in brand new condition that I will probably give as gifts, but mostly they are for me!  I was especially excited to spot this book:

Back in 2013 & 2014, when I was learning to knit, I learn to how to knit socks on double pointed needles, and also the Magic Loop method using a circular needle.  At that time, I found that I prefer double points.  2015 or so,  I first heard about the Two at a Time (TAAT) method, and it intrigued me but not enough to seek out more information and give it a try.  I even heard of this exact book, but there was so much stuff going on in my life at that point that I was far from trying anything new that I suspected might require my complete attention to learn.

But now, it's 2025 and I'd actually recently been thinking about maybe adding this book to my list of things I wanted to request from the library. To see it sitting there, in front of me, on the "Crafting" table at the book swap surely was a sign from above!  So I grabbed it and stuffed it into my bag.

Imagine my complete and utter delight when I got it home, was showing off my prizes (new books) to DH, opened the book and there, tucked inside by the previous (now unknown) owner were two sizes of needles needed for some of the patterns in the book!  Woo hoo!  A book teaching the method, 17 patterns and two sets of needles for knitting with!  WINNER WINNER!!

Gotta love free books!

Knitting Update, October 24

 

I worked on Sixlet's Christmas stocking until I was about halfway to the heel portion, then I put it on hold. I needed something much more portable (that didn't require seven skeins of yarn for all the colorwork) to take on vacation with me in September.

Since Faline had recently found that her beloved purple sweater I knit for her when she turned two (finished product can be seen in this post) has gotten rather short in the arms and body now that she's about to turn four, I decided to raid my stash of yarn and see what yardages I might have that would be enough to knit a sweater for a much taller girl and use that as my take-on-vacation knitting project.

What I found was some lovely light blue/turquoise yarn that I'd purchased about five years ago intending to make a sweater for K3 but never ending up having the chance to actually use.  Now that K3 is way way too big for that to be enough yarn for a sweater for her, I decided to use it for a new sweater for Faline. And only I --and now you-- know that K3 was supposed to get a sweater and hasn't.  So it's all good.

I am using the Sunday Sweater pattern again (same pattern as the purple one), only making it in the size 4/5 using the longer body and arm lengths included in the pattern.  I have roughly 3" of body left to knit, at which point I will probably set it aside for a week or so and go back to working on Sixlet's stocking.

As far as reading goes, I finished two books in September:

• My Gun Has Bullets by Lee Goldberg is, I think, his first novel.  It's quite satirical and comedic.  I'd say it's sort of a murder mystery, but not nearly the same as his Eve Ronin series.  I could definitely see the progression in his writing from his early works to his novels of the 2020s.
• The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follett.  It's been over four years since I read anything from this author and now I can't imagine why it took me so long to pick up another book of his.  I love, love, love his writing.  History, intrigue, well developed characters. . . need I say more?

Currently, I have just started reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.  I've heard this book mentioned a few times around internet-land in the past six to eight years, so I decided finally to give it a try. I'll say that the foreword is rather long and didn't keep my attention very well; if I had skipped that part I'd probably be further than Chapter One by now (five days after getting the book from the library).

Knitting Update, September

 I finished my Churfirsten socks!  They were finished before the end of August, and I remembered to take photos for posterity!  The first photo shows the pattern really well, but isn't very true to color.  The second photo has the color pretty much spot on.

Right after grafting the toe on the second sock, I went to my yarn stash and dug out the tote with the instructions and yarn for making Sixlet's Christmas stocking.  It's so nice that I've made this pattern four times all ready; all I need to do is to chart out the stitches for Sixlet's name and just follow my notes from making his parents' and siblings' matching stockings and it will come together easily.

Hoping that I can get this all knit up before Thanksgiving.  Barring any unforeseen time-consuming things happening between now and then, it shouldn't take more than two months of evenings to make.  I've all ready cast on and worked through the cuff portion and the first six rows of colorwork.  I forgot how much I like doing colorwork (although I'm out of practice keeping all the yarns from twisting together just in the course of knitting one row).  Perhaps next year I'll finally knit the sock pattern with tons of colorwork that I've been meaning to knit for about 10 years now. . . 

I don't feel like I've done much reading since the last yarn along, but I guess I've done enough to get through three books:

You Only Die Once by Jodi Wellman, is kind of an inspirational read, I guess.  It's meant to get you thinking about the things you want to do/see/be in the however many years of life you have left no matter what your age.  Judging from the number of notebook pages I filled while doing the exercises in this book, I definitely did some thinking as I read (mostly confirming thoughts I'd all ready had swirling in my mind for years).

The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason is another great Inspector Erlendur mystery.  I found it completely engrossing and had a hard time putting it down.  In addition to the great story-telling and keep-you-guessing mystery portion, there's a quite interesting bit of Cold War era socialist/communist theory and practice in the storyline that I think Americans could take heed (warning) of today.

The Museum of Lost Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini is the latest installment of her Elm Creek Quilts series.  Long time readers of her quilt series books will recognize several parts of the story.  While they are woven together in an interesting way, I did find reading some of it a little redundant.  If you can't remember storylines of books you read years ago, this probably won't be an issue for you.  I just tend to have the kind of mind that hangs on to stuff and dredges it up from the far recesses if I try to read the same book, or watch the same tv show or movie more than once. (That tends to drive my husband up the wall as he'll be channel surfing on tv and land on a show for about a minute and a half before I'll say "seen it" and request a change of station.)

Knitting Update, August

 Churfirsten Sock 1: DONE!  YAY!

Sock 2: cuff complete, and about 1/3 of the way through the (very short) leg.  I honestly have done very little knitting in the last several weeks.  Apparently I've spent all my couch time reading, as evidenced by the list below.

Books read:

• Bake, Borrow and Steal by Ellie Alexander.  Another Bakeshop Mystery, a good light read.
• Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. Saw this one on Ginny's blog (Ginny the originator of the Yarn Along idea) and requested it from the library.  If you only like a more modern writing style involving female characters, this book most likely isn't for you. I did enjoy it, the style of writing reminded me of a lot of books read in my youth.
• The Riding Instructor's Manual by Gordon Wright & Samuel Kelley.  I've had this in my personal library for a long, long time and got it out when I first had K3 start working the Little Black Mare with me. This book is mostly themed for the English/jumping rider, and was written many decades ago.  Some info was still relevant to my project with K3.  (Side note: went on Amazon to find a link to add for this book and WHOA!! Check out the price!! I knew it had been out of print for while but didn't know my copy was worth so much!)
• 500 Miles From You by Jenny Colgan.  She has become one of my favorite writers when I want a feel-good read that isn't fluffy.  Another story based in Kirrinfief Scotland and there are cameos of familiar characters from her previous two books that I read.  Pretty sure I literally read this book in two days.
• The Burning by Linda Castillo.  This is her latest Kate Burkholder novel and is as gripping as all the others.  
• The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center. Her latest novel, was engaging, funny and hard to put down.  Another that I devoured in 2-3 days.

Currently reading You Only Die Once by Jodi Wellman. I've barely started it, but so far I like her writing style.  Not sure if the perkiness and the in-your-face will wear on me after a while.  Will have to report on that next month. 

Knitting Update, July

(Apparently I didn't have this scheduled to post on Wednesday like I thought I had.  Better late than never!)

Well, I didn't get sock #1 of my Churfirsten socks finished.  Lots of things happened in June, including a death in the extended family that required lots of changes for DH and I for about two weeks, both helping Mother-in-Law while her long time friend was in the hospital/hospice care and traveling up north to attend the funeral.  

I did, afterwards, get the foot knit on the sock, though, so only have to do the toe decreases.  Need to pick up the pace so I can (maybe) get the second sock knit before the middle of August.  That's the timeline I have set in place for beginning Sixlet's Christmas stocking so that it's finished by Thanksgiving.  

So far, Sixlet has auburn hair that wants to curl in the humidity.

There wasn't a whole lot of reading going on in June, although I did finish The 8:55 to Baghdad by Andrew Eames.  It was interesting in a history of the Middle East kind of way, although it wasn't quite so much about Agatha Christie as I had originally thought it would be.

I also read Begin Again by Helly Acton.  I really liked this book and found it hard to put down.  In a way, it reminded me of Cecilia Ahern's fantastical novels.  

This week I began reading Bake, Borrow and Steal by Ellie Alexander.

Knitting Update, June

 As expected for this time of year, there has not been much knitting happening.

I am, however, through the heel portion of my first Churfirsten sock.  Perhaps I'll actually finish it this month.

Currently I am reading The 8:55 to Baghdad by Andrew Eames.  As a long time Agatha Christie fan (I started reading her in middle school), I thought this book sounded interesting.  So far, about 60 pages into it, I am not disappointed.  The author accompanies history and biography with modern day descriptions of the locations traveled.

Since last month's knitting update, I read two other books:

The Island, by Elin Hilderbrand, which was typical of the author's subject and style, yet still enjoyable. 

 Second Chances by Jane Savoie, which I found disappointingly trite.  Having long been a fan of this author's horse training and sports psychology related books, I had expected way more of this book than it turned out to be.  That said, however, the riding-related sections of the book were great. The characters and plot were just rather shallow and undeveloped (and sometimes a little unbelievable too).

Knitting Update, May

 

I haven't done much knitting lately in the past month.  The reality is that I have done some lately, as in the past week.  I've gotten the leg part of my Churfirsten sock done, all couple inches of it since this is destined to be an ankle sock, and am about 10 of 30 rows into the heel portion.  

This is the season of long daylight and much to do outside, so it will probably take me until Fall to get two short socks knit.  And that's okay.  No deadline.  If they're not ready to wear with shorts during the hot weather part of the year, they are great to wear to bed on a chilly winter's night.

I have managed to read several books since April's knitting/reading update.  I finished The Tattered Quilt, which was okay (not spectacular but finish-able).  Then I cruised right through Julia Monroe Begins Again by Rebekah Millet (chic lit, and pretty good) as well as An Evil Heart  by Linda Castillo (another Kate Burkholder mystery, can't possibly go wrong with this one).  After that I read Growing Season by Melanie Lagerschulte which I was so-so on; it had potential but was kind of trite and never quite got to what I felt it could be.  Most recently read was The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman which was a good book.  

One I've been trying to read and am not really getting into--I started it 10 days ago, spent 5 days trying to get through about 50 pages but it was so just not capturing me, then I put it down and read a different book start to finish and just picked it up again for another try is The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell.  I'm not sure if it's the characters or the author's writing style, but I just can't quite fall into it and I'm kind of thinking it's one I'm just going to decide not to finish.

For the month of May, I'm going to try to just read books that I have at this little place here (rather than books borrowed from the library).  I want to get through some of my stack and have several books read so I can take them to the local book swap this Fall.

Knitting Update, April

 Remember last month, when I said I'd started a new pair of socks and was planning to adjust a toe-up crew sock height pattern into a pair of cuff-down ankle socks?  Yeah, I had too much other stuff going on (like having a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old for two days and nights while their baby brother was born) plus came down with a cold (a gift from the grandkids), and was basically mentally fried and ended up ripping out the entire 30ish rows I had knit on the sock because somewhere, somehow, the pattern was off and the desired design wasn't appearing the further I knit.  It was just a garbled, unrecognizable mess.  Which, since I was using solid color yarn, tells you how badly it was going.  I mean, with wildly dyed yarn that has lots of short color changes it's not hard to have the pattern get lost.  But yarn that is all one color, without even tonal changes?  Yeah, it was turning out that awful.

So, start again.  But this time, because I knew I was brain-dead and just wiped out, yet I still wanted to add a new pair of short socks to my wardrobe, I picked a pattern that was SIMPLE and written cuff-down.

This time around, I am making the Churfirsten socks from the book Operation Sock Drawer, although I am altering them to be only ankle socks.   I have an entire 19 rows done at this point, woo hoo!  17 of those rows are the cuff, so pretty easy and repetitive stuff. So far, so good.

I finished reading Beer and Loathing by Ellie Alexander (good, good, good, as usual from her) and managed to read two more books, one of which was very short:

Neurodiversity: The Birth of an Idea by Judy Singer.  This is basically her doctoral thesis that apparently helped to spawn the phrase 'neurodiversity' but, I felt, it didn't really go into the detail I had hoped it would.  It was pretty short, so I did plug away and read the whole thing, but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be when I requested it from the  inter-library loan system.

Canary Girls, by Jennifer Chiaverini.  This one was interesting, partly because I like history, and partly because my own grandmother had worked in a munitions factory in WWII (the book takes place in WWI in England, so not exactly the same time or locations as my Grandma's southern US war experience) for a while until she turned yellow too.  Overall it was a good read, although I do have to say that in parts it felt like reading a high school history report--you know the kind, when you'd look up facts, try to put them in your own words and fit them into the outline your teacher assigned--more than a novel.

Right now I'm about 100 pages into The Tattered Quilt by Wanda Brunstetter.  It's okay.  Not great (although I tend to be a bit pedantic when it comes to assessing writing), but I will read it all the way to the end.  Mostly because I've all ready predicted what the ties between characters will develop into and I want to find out if I'm right.  LOL.

Knitting Update, March

 Well, last month I set myself a goal to finish sock #2 of my Textured Lace Socks.  Did I do it?

Yes, yes I did!

Natural light showing the colors a little truer.

And then I promptly cast on for another pair of socks, also for me, but this pair will be ankle height.  I am attempting to adapt a crew sized, toe-up sock pattern to a cuff-down anklet knit.  So far, so good.

Actual yarn color;

Knit Picks Stroll in Buoy

The pattern I'm adapting (ie, using the chart, backwards since I'm doing cuff-down not toe-up) is Love Needs A Heart from the book Operation Sock Drawer.  I did my own cuff, a simple K2 P2 for twelve rows, then started the Toe and Instep Chart (from the book) at row 51 and am working backwards.  In the above picture I have completed just three rows of the chart. My plan is to do about 20 rows then begin the heel.  I'm sure I'll be able to be that far and take photos for next month's knitting update.

In the past month, I read three books:

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan, which was a light read with some deeper tones.  It is sort of a sequel to The Bookshop on the Corner, but the characters in the first one have much smaller parts in this second book. (note: link is to audiobook, but I read the hardcover from the library.  Amazon's pic of hardcover did not match the edition the library had but the audiobook pic did, so that's the link I used so you could 'see' the book.)

Ape House by Sara Gruen.  Interesting on many levels, I liked this book.  I found this author years ago, when she had just one (horse-related) novel, and have read and thoroughly enjoyed all but her third book (she has written five).  I tried reading the third many years ago, but set it aside after just a few chapters.  Perhaps it was just the wrong time for me for that particular book; I may have to borrow it from the library and try again.

It Could Always Be Worse by Margot Zemach is a children's book, and I got it from the library to read to the grandkids.  It's a really cute read, and they loved it when I read it to them with inflection and different voices for the different characters.

Currently I am reading Beer and Loathing by Ellie Alexander.  It is the latest (print) novel of the Sloan Krause series.  I'm not a e-reader type, so I'm a little frustrated that there seem to be some in-between novellas that are only available on Kindle.  Anyway, I just finally got my hands on a print copy of this one (via inter-library loan after waiting about six months for one to be available--my local library system only 'owns' e-versions) and I'm only through chapter two, so will have to wait until next month to give an opinion on it.

Knitting Update, February

This month, I finished sock #1 of my Textured Lace socks, and have five repeats (of 7) of the leg chart done on sock #2!  Does that mean in March I'll be showing you a totally finished sock #2?  That would be nice.  Maybe I'll make it my goal to complete sock #2 in February.

I read five books (!!!):

1. Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher.  I think I liked this book.  Although for most of it I was just kind of half-interested reading along.  I did read it all the way through, and it did get better (as in, start to look like a cohesive plot line rather than random stuff involving random characters).  Overall, I didn't think it was as good as it had been hyped to be--I mean, I requested it through my library and then waited more than three months for it, it was supposedly that popular.  But it wasn't bad.

2. Voices by Arnaldur Indridason. Another in the Detective Erlendur series.  Another great read, as the previous two in the series were.  Not a cozy mystery, yet not overly gory or graphic (in murder or in romantic scenes) either.  Will be putting the next one in this series on my To Read List for later in 2024.

3. The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club by Wanda Brunstetter.  Some of this author's books I like and some I really find not as well written.  This one was fairly decently done with just a few spots I thought not so great.  I will probably be seeking out the next one in this trilogy and seeing if it's good too.

4. Dream Town by Lee Goldberg.  This is the latest in the Eve Ronin series, and it did not disappoint.  I absolutely devoured this book in three days (no knitting got done those evenings!)

5. Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. This is her newest novel, and, like her others, it sucks you in and is hard to put down.

Currently I'm reading The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan.  I just started it, so will talk about it next month rather than today.

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.

Knitting Update, December

 In the past month, my knitting has consisted of dish cloths.  Lots and lots of dish cloths.  All using patterns that I've made before, although it's been at least a handful of years.  I'm undecided how many I'll keep for myself and how many I'll gift at Christmas.

I read The Winemaker's Wife by Kristin Harmel and was surprised to find exactly how the World War II era characters were tied to the modern day characters. All in all, I'm not sure I liked most of the characters.

I also read The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary and didn't really like it as well as the other two novels I've read by this author. It was a decently written book; but I just couldn't quite relate.

I finally finished reading New Track, New Life by Kimberly Godwin Clark.  I had started reading it over the summer, hoping to find some insights into retaining an OTTB like The Poetess.  It wasn't as informative as I'd hoped, and so I picked it up and put it down several times before finally reading to the end of the book.

Currently I'm reading Where There's Muck by Catherine Robinson.  It is a sequel to Forging On, which I read earlier this year, and I'm enjoying the further adventures of the characters I'd met in the first book.  As in real life with horses, there's always something you didn't quite expect waiting at the turn of a page.

Knitting Update, November

My Traveling Woman shawl is finished!  (Except for the blocking). Boy, am I glad I did stripes, otherwise I would have been sweating it playing yarn chicken for sure. Plus, I like the effect they make.

I really like this shawl (and so does Rascal, who wanted me to wrap him up in it when he saw that it was off my needles.)  I think I'm going to like it even more after it's blocked and the lace opens up a bit and is more pronounced.

Truer to actual colors.

After working on that through the whole summer, I am a little at a loss for what to knit next.  Being November is here all ready, I feel like I should cast on for Christmas knits.  To be honest, though, I don't have any knit gifts planned.  A few quickie sewing things for the grandkids, but no knits.

I have been wanting an ear warmer for myself, for when it's not so cold that I want a hat, but I do want to keep my ears from freezing. So I downloaded the pattern for the cozy cable knitted warmer and made one for myself out of some bulky yarn that's been in my stash a few years.  Only once I was done with it, I realized that, being purple, DD1 would probably love to have it.  Luckily, there was plenty of yarn left on the skein, so I knit a second one for her.  And there was still a bit of yarn left, so I knit one for Faline (who is really into being like Mommy or like  Daddy, depending on the day).  I ended up with three completed ear warmers and only about 9" of yarn to spare!

warm ears for Faline, DD1 and myself

It didn't take long at all to make the ear warmers; maybe three short evenings of TV watching.  And now I'm again wondering what's the best thing to cast on next??  

--An afghan that's been on my list for a while (and could be a present to someone in 2024)?  

--A pair of socks (although I know my mom is going to be requesting socks for herself, made with yarn she has chosen, for February)?

--Some extra hats to have on hand for grandkids this winter?  

--Some dishcloths to replenish my dwindling stock?

Changing the subject from knitting to reading, I've apparently not read much recently.  I didn't finish the Rick Rubin book I listed last month, although I did read Meet the Frugalwoods all the way through. 

Right now I'm about halfway through Mocha, She Wrote by Ellie Alexander.  Overall, I'm enjoying the storyline.  There are some typographical/editorial errors that I've noticed though, and that's something that detracts from my opinion of the book.  Nothing huge, just a pet peeve of mine.

October Knitting Update

After not knitting much, last month I set myself a knitting goal for my Traveling Woman shawl: one row per night.  That has really made a huge difference!  Three repeats of Chart A done and I'm about half way through the fourth and final repeat of Chart A.  I also decided, since I'm making the largest size and am not sure exactly how much yarn I have, to add in a second color for every other repeat of Chart A.  So I'm using not just one of the yarns DD2 bought me during her study abroad in Peru, but two of them!  And they are looking lovely together. 

After Chart A is repeated for the fourth time, there is Chart B, which has a total of just 19 rows, then the bind off. I am really getting excited about finishing this shawl.  It seems doable now.  Amazing what just one row a day can accomplish.

Reading, I finished two books in the past month:

Forging On by Catherine Robinson.  Loved it so much I ordered the next one immediately after I finished it.  Non-horse people might not find it so interesting, although the relationships between the main characters are pretty universal so could appeal to more than just the horse crazy.

The Heirloom by Beverly Lewis.  Latest novel, pretty good.  Interesting weaving of known characters from other books into this one; ties them to each other plus gives a little more insight into some.  Makes Ella Mae Zook a main character this time rather than being a cameo or side character in many other Beverly Lewis books.

I'm currently alternating between two other books:

The Creative Art: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin.  Short bits of thought, sometimes reading it takes much less time than mulling over what was written. There are things that are pretty thought-provoking.  At risk of sounding like the 1970's child I am, some of it is "pretty deep, man."

Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence through Simple Living by Elizabeth Willard Thames.  I've only just started this, so far it reads like a story rather than a non-fiction tome.  Which is good as I'm in the mood for something easy reading.

September Knitting Update

 I knit exactly six rows on my Traveling Woman shawl in the past month.  Six.  That's it.  It's high tomato season here, so there's been lots of all day canning sessions and no energy at the end of those to even pick up my knitting needles.

In the pictures below, you can see just the beginnings of the lace on the shawl. That's those six rows I've done.  Maybe half of the lace chart, which is supposed to get repeated in its entirety four times before doing another, longer, lace chart before binding off.  At this rate, maybe I'll have myself a light weight lacy shawl to wear for Christmas, LOL.

Actually, gardening season is drawing to an end, maybe one more intense month (grapes, pears, apples) and then I'll be done processing food and will have more time for crafts.

 There are two books in the top picture.  One I literally just finished, and the other that's next in line for me to read.

Just finished is The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie.  It was okay.  I almost put it aside, but then decided to see it through.  It got a bit better close to the end, all the disjointed pieces clicked together and made sense, but overall it wasn't anything that really kept my attention.

About to be started is Forging On by Catherine Robinson.  It sounds like it could be good.  I hope so.

Also read (apparently I was too hot and tired to knit, but not to pick up a book) were:

• The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell, which I found quite interesting (probably mostly because I am familiar with the area and some of the historical events in this book).
• The Bodyguard by Katherine Center.  Another light, quick read by a favorite author.

August Knitting Update

 July was not a very knitty time for me this year.  I didn't even take a knitting project on vacation for working on in the car; mainly because we were taking the three eldest grandchildren and keeping them busy in the backseat with a minimum of bickering takes a lot of my attention.  Nothing left for keeping track of where in a pattern I am or even if I am dropping stitches when I turn around to see what's going on back there.

I did manage to get through the first 69 rows of the Traveling Woman shawl I had cast on in June, and am now ready to start the lace chart.

I read two books. Or, rather, finished one I had been reading all ready (Beyond the Track: Retraining the Thoroughbred from Racehorse to Riding Horse by Anna Morgan Ford) and then started and finished The Sweetheart Deal by Polly Dugan (which is a pretty quick and easy read although the story-line--death of a husband/father/friend--wasn't all that light.  I did enjoy it though.)

Newly picked up from the library, where I had it on hold, and barely started is my next read: Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason.  It is the second of a series he wrote; I had read and very much enjoyed the first one back in 2020 just as Covid was sweeping the US.  It's been my intent, since then, to find and read the rest of the series.

Knitting Update; July

 My Quadrille socks are finished!  The yarn is a much more RED red than shows in the pictures, and is also slightly tonal.

Of course now it's consistently near or over ninety degrees outside (and in Michigan, that means it's also humid), so I haven't worn them yet.  Barefoot the majority of the day as well as the night this time of year.

Despite the hot weather, I cast on for a shawl, LOL.  This one I'm making with some of the yarn DD2 brought me back from Peru in 2017.  Given where it came from, it's kind of right that the pattern I am using is called Travelling Woman.  The yarn is either a lace weight, or a light fingering, I'm not exactly sure. It came in a very large cake I barely stuffed into my yarn bowl, but without a tag or any sort of identification.  It's luscious soft wool yarn, and I can't wait to see how this shawl turns out.  I'm using the instructions for the fingering weight version and making the large shawl.  If I run short on yarn (I think there's plenty here), I have a coordinating color I will use on the lower portion.  That is also yarn from DD2's trip to Peru.

Reading wise, I finished Breakfast with Buddha.  There are more in the series, but for now anyway, I think I'll skip them.  Parts of the story were really interesting, and others not so much.

I didn't finish Dressage Training Customized before it was due back to the library, but I did find it useful enough that I hunted down a copy on eBay and purchased it for my own personal library.  I will consult it in future months.

Currently I have two more library books I'm trying to read simultaneously before they are due back (one next week, one the week after):

• Beyond the Track: Retraining the Thoroughbred from Racehorse to Riding Horse by Anna Morgan Ford.  So far, a lot of it is stuff I all ready knew, and training techniques I have used with many, many non-racehorses.  In other words, my usual MO when working with a new to me horse or starting a horse under saddle. I have picked up a few new kernels of knowledge though,  and am liking the book overall. I have an ulterior motive for reading it, but you'll have to wait for a future post to find out more.
• The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald.  Can't really say much about this book so far, I picked it up as a not-much-attention-required read to take with me on a short trip DH and I took the eldest three grandkids on at the beginning of this month.  I think I might be on chapter two, or maybe three.  It sounds interesting, so hoping to read it before it needs to go back to the library.