Hats and Books

I'm in the midst of two hats. The one of the left is a Toboggan Run by Jaala Spiro, knit in her gorgeous Knit Circus Yarn, Ringmaster worsted in the colorway Birds of a Feather.

On the right is a Pussyhat I'm making for a friend who is going to the Million Woman March in Washington, D.C., on inauguration weekend. I didn't realize this hat was supposed to be in pink until I was partway through it. Both colors are leftover Encore.

Knitting from the North is a library book that I am in love with. The patterns, mostly accessories, have a peaceful simplicity to them.

I'm not sure I'm going to finish My Life in Middlemarch. I can't say exactly why, but it's just not compelling to me. And I haven't started American Housewife, a collection of short stories. It looks like the stories are rather unusual.

Joining with Ginny to Yarn Along.

Channeling Elizabeth

The best way I could think of to extend the magic of Knitting Camp was to knit an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, so I chose The Katmandu Hat.

While I was at camp, I bought a skein of the Rangeley yarn that the pattern is written for. (You can buy it from Schoolhouse Press if you follow the link.) I should have chosen a lighter color because this is my second attempt. The charcoal color made it hard for me to see I was skipping a step in my first try.

The pattern is from this book, which was published post-humously and features garter-stitch patterns:

You start knitting at the bottom center of the back. If you look very closely at my photo, you can see that V beginning to emerge in my knitting.

Happily, I feel a bit of the magic of camp with every knit and purl. EZ was a knitting architect, and this pattern displays that talent. One of the great things about camp is that it builds your confidence. This pattern incorporates a slew of different i-cord methods, all of which are new to me. I don't think I'd be willing to try them if I had not been to camp.

I finished Peggy Guggenheim by Francine Prose, largely because it was short. As much as I love modern art, it was hard to stick with Peggy. She was a self-centered rich woman who neglected her children while she chased men and artists (who were sometimes one and the same). I will give her credit for having good taste in art at least.

Tonight I'll dive into The Forgotten Girls. It's an impulse buy from Target so I hope I didn't waste my money. I'm just in the mood for some suspense, and this novel is by Sarah Blaedel, who is one of Denmark's top mystery writers. I'll let you know if it's good or not.

I'm joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Happy Sock Knitting

Sometimes a sock pattern just makes your heart sing. That's how I feel about this one:

It's the Rosa Rubiginosa Sock from The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet. I picked up this book a couple years ago, but this is the first pattern I've knit from it. So far the pattern is easy. I'm using Cascade Heritage in a turquoisey blue. Heritage is a bit splitty, but I've used it before and love the colors and the way it holds up.

The socks are Bat Mitzvah gift. I asked the young lady what color she wanted, and she said, "Blue." That seemed simple until I went yarn shopping. Somehow I had forgotten that there are at least a million shades of blue. I hope she likes this one.!

I'm almost done with Ghettoside and still finding it fascinating. I'm about halfway through My Brilliant Friend and the jury is still out on this one. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and there doesn't seem to be a plot in the traditional sense. But I will finish this book because I want to figure out why it is a worldwide publishing sensation.

Lot of choices for what to read next. It's going to be a tough decision.

I'm joining up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

It's All About Knitting Today

Monogamous knitting does not make for interesting blogging, so I thought I'd show you a picture of project that you haven't seen for a while, my Pelerine Shawl. I keep it by the couch and use it as my TV knitting.

We don't watch much TV, so this is going to take a while. But it has to be done by July 1 because I'm going to Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp! I was only going to go for one year, but my friend Marsha really wants to go together -- and so we are.  Show and Tell is a big event at camp, and it's always fun when people model their EZ patterns.

I finished reading Malice, and I recommend it for anyone who likes puzzle-like mysteries. I haven't settled into a new book yet, but I did stumble on a beautiful knitting book on the New Books shelf at the library: Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads by Cirilia Rose. First, let me say that Jared Flood did the photography, so you know it's gorgeous.

It's not a book for novices, which is nice. Instead of lots of knitting 101 text, there are interesting essays like "I Am, As I Suspect Many of You Are, Addicted to Yarn." The patterns, in my opinion, run the gamut from drop-dead gorgeous to would anyone really wear this? For example, the Tisane Tank is, well, odd.

My favorite pattern is the L'Arbre Hat and Mitts. It is beautiful and practical. And I'm trying to knit things that I'll wear -- not just things that are fun to make. And I love the Isla Cardigan, which is featured on the cover.

I'll be checking in with Ginny's Yarn Along. Hope to see you there.

Dreaming of Casting On

I have a problem with casting on. It's kind of like chocolate for me. I just can't get enough!

Except, I can. I have an insane number of FOs lounging around the house. I really should ban all casting on until I get caught, but that's not going to happen!

I bought this book a while ago, and I've been drooling over the sock patterns lately.  Finally I decided I could plan which pattern I'm going to knit first and which yarn I'm going to use:

I'm hoping this will satisfy some of my cast-on cravings for a while.

If you haven't seen this book -- or it's siblings -- I highly recommend them as eye candy. Eventually I'll be able to tell you whether the patterns are easy to follow -- but not yet!

I'll be linking up today with Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm Cast On.

To Buy Or Not To Buy?

This is always the question for me when a new knitting book comes out. I pretty much fall in love with all of them at first sight, so I find myself puzzling over this question far too often. But this one didn't require too much thinking:

I saw it at last month's Knit-In and I knew I was going to cave for a few reasons: The patterns are gorgeous; they are all worsted weight, which I am loving these days for its quick-to-knit-up quality; and the patterns look very well-written.  Besides, I like to buy from the sellers who come to events and sit at their booths for a couple days!

I even picked out the first pattern that I want to knit and bought the yarn (again from a booth!):

However, first I am determined to finish the pink shawl that I've already started. Yes, I do have an insatiable love of pink, especially deep, magenta-ish pinks. Really, a girl can't have too many pink shawls. (Although, I suppose I could gift one of them. Maybe.)

I'm in a mood to indulge myself, though, as I got some very, very good news yesterday. A year ago, a scan revealed a nodule on one of my lungs that could have been cancerous -- but was too small to be diagnosed. A scan this week shows that the nodule is gone!

At the same time, it's also been a sobering week. My husband was diagnosed with hypertension. One of my brothers diagnosed with a heart condition that isn't really treatable and can cause heart attacks; and the husband of one of my childhood friends died unexpectly in his mid-50s.

This is where I wonder if I shouldn't work less and spend more time with people. Given the declining funding for for education, that's easier said than done as we are being told to do more with less. Still, I know I need to achieve a better balance in my life.

Spring Has Sprung + A Book Review

Finally, spring has arrived:

We've gone for three days with no rain: Glorious! I even rode my bike to work on Thursday and Friday. The cats have pretty much taken up residence on the screen porch.

I'm waiting for Seth's graduation cake to bake, so I have a few moments.

I just finished reading this:

It's unusual for me to read anything that has a whiff of chick-lit to it, and I can't explain what prompted me to pick up The Knitting Circle. But, pick it up I did.  And I didn't dislike it. From me, that is high praise for chick-lit. Frankly, the fact that I read the entire book is a big endorsement. It's somewhat over-dramatic -- maudlin, even -- but it hooked me from the start and kept my interest. The characters are very well drawn and Hood is a very good writer.

It is certainly the best of the knitting novels out there that I have read. It would make for great beach reading.

Worth Reading

This is a real gem of a book:

Author Ann Hood (you might remember her as the author of The Knitting Circle) has pulled together a batch of charming yarns from 27 knitting writers, (Who knew so many writers had time to knit?) including some of my favorites: Lan Samantha Chang, Andre Dubus II and Elissa Schappell. She snagged some of the best-known authors, like Barbara Kingsolver, Su Grafton, and Ann Patchett.

I have to say that there isn't a weak link in this lovely chain (think crochet!) of stories. Lan Samantha Chang has a thoughtful essay on whether we knit gifts for ourselves or to satisfy the recipient. Martha Frankel's piece has a surprisingly dark side to it. Jennifer Lauck is touchingly honest in her retelling of a one-year marriage. And, yes, knitting is featured in all the stories.

There are some patterns sprinkled throughout the book. None tempted me -- but then there are no color photos (or any photos at all) like the ones we are all used to on Ravelry! That's OK, my Ravelry queue is already ridiculously long.