I finally picked out my colors and started knitting my Stephen West Mystery MusiKal 2025. I have a couple of other updates too, but this will be brief.
Knitting
The first clue for the 2025 Stephen West MKAL was released on October 4th. I looked at the spoiler because I wanted to use that as a guide in my final color decision. I was at first leaning towards the teal set. After seeing the complexity of the first clue, I went with the more muted and monochromatic gradient colorway.
As you can see in my picture of the beginning of clue 1, I am using the Heather, Orchid, Quartzite and Slate in Classic Merino Superwash Sock. There will be six scallops when I complete clue 1. This clue requires some attention, but I was working on it in my booth this past weekend. Clue 2 is very different and should be even easier for working on at SAFF this weekend if I get that far.
Festivals
Since my last post, I have been to two other festivals. I was at the Fall Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor the second weekend, and the Southern Indiana Fiber Arts Festival in Corydon, IN this past weekend. I am leaving tomorrow for SAFF in Asheville, NC. I am looking forward to a weekend home after I return. There is only one more festival remaining on our 2025 calendar after that, the NWA Fiber Festival in Fayatteville, AR. Whew!
This has been the season of meeting several blog friends. I got an unexpected visit from another one at Ann Arbor. I was happy to meet Beth from A Year of Kayaking . We had a nice chat. She made special stop in Ann Arbor to come to the festival on her way to somewhere out west, California maybe? Sorry, if that isn’t quite right. Safe travels Beth! It was great meeting you.
Reading
Since my last post I have read a few books and started a few more.
Recent Reads:
The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling **** I devoured this while I was in Virginia. It was very good, but that ending! AAAAHHHH! Cliffhanger endings are both good and bad, right? I hope we don’t have to wait too long for the next book.
Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney*** This was pretty good if you like psychological thrillers. I like them every now and then and this one had good reviews so I picked up a copy in Virginia. Fun read!
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller **** I added this book to my TBR after seeing a few favorable reviews on BookTube. After it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, I sought out a copy. I thought the ending was a bit unsatisfying, but still a good read.
Current Reads:
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai – This was another work that made the Booker Prize short list. It’s the only other one that I was interested in reading. I just started this a couple days ago, but I am all in. Very lovely writing.
The Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates – this is one of my October spooky season reads. I am mostly listening to this one while I am on the road. It’s not really “spooky” though. It’s more of a thriller I guess. Good so far.
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill – This is definitely “spooky”. I am about 30% of the way in on this one. This is the second novel I have read by this author. The first one was The Ritual, which was more “folk horror”. I like Apartment 16 better so far. It is more supernatural horror, at least I think so. I don’t yet know from the story what the source of the creepiness is in the apartment building. It’s pretty creepy though.
Okay, that’s it for this post. Thanks for reading!