Back Home and Time for a Knitting Update

I arrived safely back home yesterday and it’s time for a knitting update. I include a bit about my festival travel and books I am reading also. So let’s get started.

Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival

Before I get to my knitting update, I will fill you in a little on the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. I have a long history attending at this festival. My first year here was in 2008 when it was at the Crown Plaza south of Pittsburgh. I only missed one year, due to Covid shutdowns. I have many knitting acquaintances and customers in the area and it’s so nice to see them every year.

The turnout at the festival this year was good. There have been a few rocky years due to venue and date shifts, but I am pleased to see that it has weathered the storms. Laura is doing a fabulous job organizing it and I am happy to still be a part of this festival each year.

Home

I drove home yesterday, after almost two weeks away, and it is good to be home. I will have the upcoming week and weekend here and after three shows in a row, I am looking forward to the break.

At the moment, I am at the Ford dealership getting my truck a slightly overdue oil change and tire rotation. I will need to do some grocery shopping tomorrow. I plan to do my shopping early in the day since it is hot as the hinges of hell this week. After some nice cool weather while I was up north in Michigan and Pittsburgh, the 100 degree days feel especially grueling. I hope this will be the last super hot spell we have this summer.

Knitting

Let’s get to the knitting update, shall we?

It’s not as much progress as thought I would have done on my Organic Cotton Sport Summershine Top. I envisioned possibly finishing this and maybe getting back my shawl or the Linen Summershine Top. That was overly ambitious I guess. To be fair, I spent more of my down time reading, so I am okay with that.

I got the back piece completed but it needs blocking. I also have a good start on the front piece. It is about 3 inches maybe, and it needs to 15.25 inches to the neck and arm hole decreases. I brought it with me to work on while I wait for my truck service.

Reading

I’m enjoying some of my new books that I bought while I was in Pittsburgh. I am also listening/reading (Kindle version) to The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch. This is my first book by her. I don’t like the main character, Charles Arrowby, but I am enjoying her writing style very much. The prose is descriptive and proportionate to the dialogue. I love that there is much reference to the sea. That was what attracted me to pick it up.

The narrative starts out describing his move to this little sea cottage. I was drawn into it easily. As the narrative moves along you start to realize that Charles is a narcissist. It becomes very apparent as soon as other people from his life and past begin to turn up. I am enthralled by the story while simultaneously despising quite a few of the characters.

I am also a few chapters into Wild and Distant Seas, which I told you about in my last post. This is very good so far. The protagonist is the Inn Keeper where Ishmael and Queequeg stay before boarding the Pequod.

I will close for now since my truck is ready. Talk soon!