Hand Knit Socks and Other Chit Chat

It has been awhile since my last post and there’s not been a lot of knitting. I have a finished pair of hand knit socks and some other chit chat.

Knitting

I have not started writing the pattern for the vest. I have, however, finished the pair of hand knit socks I was working on.

I have some plans for a few projects but I haven’t cast on for any of them. Knitting hasn’t fit into my days since the socks were off the needles. My fingers are starting getting itchy though, so I may cast on the Classic Merino Bamboo that I wound up last fall. I set it aside to make Muqarnes in the short sleeved, cropped version. I am using Rose for the sample.

Reading

One of the reasons I haven’t been knitting much is probably because I have been reading a lot more instead. I am fine with that. Reading is just as much my happy place as knitting. I have been a reader since as far back as I can remember. Knitting came into my life in my early teens, but books were my first and long time companions.

I am still making my way through my re-read of War and Peace. I like the Pevear & Volokonsky translation the best. I am intentionally taking my time with it this go round. I aim for at least a chapter a day, but sometimes read more. My goal is to immerse myself in the story and live with it, while I also read other things. I am enjoying it this way.

I am also reading The Complete Stories of Eudora Welty. This is a wonderful book to slow read. I dip in a read a story a day or sometimes only a few a week. Her old southern charm is enchanting. I can hear her voice in my head while I read. I am savoring this volume.

In March, along side the above books, I read a lot of shorter mystery books. I follow quite a few book bloggers on YouTube and March was Mystery Madness. I read four John Banville novels ( The Drowned, The Lock-up, April in Spain, and Snow). I also read The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins and We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. While it wasn’t exactly a mystery, I also read Orient Express by Graham Greene. I like his work and have quite a few more on my TBR. This one was good, but maybe not as good as some of his other works. My favorite so far is The End of the Affair.

All the John Banville books were good; the stories were pretty interesting but I like the most is his style. I have read 8 or 10 books by him at this point and he hasn’t disappointed me. I also liked The Blue Hour. I read one of her other books, Girl on a Train. I enjoyed them both for their compelling style that drew me in and kept me reading past my bedtime.

I was not as thrilled by the Chris Whitaker book. I am in the minority here, but I don’t enjoy his writing style. This was the second book I read and I was unimpressed to be honest. Both, We Begin at the End and his newest one, All the Colors of the Dark, were highly recommended. I don’t know how much of my reaction is due to the audiobook, because I did listen to most of these books. I have the Kindle versions for them so some of both were read that way. I mainly disliked his dialogue style. I can’t pinpoint what it was, but something was annoying me. I think His books just aren’t for me. I am not saying they are badly written, but neither one appealed to me.

In April, I listened to the newest Chris Bohjalian release, which is a Civil War historical fiction novel. This was really good as I have found every other book by this author. I listened to this while driving and loved it! I also listened to The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett. She is one of my instant buy authors. I have read all her books, but one. She never disappoints either.

I took a shot with a new to me author, Charlotte McGonaghy’s Wild Dark Shore. I listened to this on Audible. I picked it up purely based on it’s description and reviews. It is described as a mystery/suspense with literary style prose. It was those things, but I don’t know if I’ll read any other of her books. It was a bit heavy handed on the “environmental crisis” for my taste. I rated it 3 stars though. The story itself was interesting and compelling.

I am currently reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. There has been such a lot of buzz about this book lately. I am not interested in Westerns as a genre, and that’s what 90% of the people also say who are raving about this book. It’s praised for it’s character development and the writing. I HAD to see what all the fuss was about. I got on the Libby wait list for the Kindle version and it finally came through on Saturday. I am four chapters in and it’s pretty fun so far. I am really enjoying the dialogue and story telling style. I’ll let you know what I think after I have read more. It’s gonna be a challenge to read a 945 page book in 3 weeks. Wish me luck!

Festivals

I’ll finish off this post with a quick festival update. At the end of March, I was in Ann Arbor for the Spring Fiber Expo. I had a weekend home and then was in Greencastle, IN for Greencastle Wool Show.

I was home last week and for Easter weekend. We had some of the family over for the afternoon on Easter Sunday. It was a fun day of food, visiting, and egg hunting for the little ones. Sorry, no pictures. I don’t know why I forgot to take any.

I will be back out on the road Thursday for the Midwest Fiber Fest in St. Louis, MO. Hopefully it won’t be a whole month before I talk to you again. Thanks for reading!