And the Knit Goes On

For some reason, work just wiped me out last week. The upside was that I saw most of the new PBS documentary on the Vietnam War. This documentary is truly excellent. It gives you a lot of insight into what the various Vietnamese peoples were thinking -- all of which supports the opinion that we should never have been there in the first place!

I finished this sock, made with one of Knit Circus's amazing gradient stripe yarns.

Isn't it cool how the project matches the bag?

I ended up spending most of the Jewish New Year resting, but I found enough energy to block some winter projects while the blocking bed is open:

You can see my Winter Ridge Shawl/Poncho on the right and the Through the Loops Mystery Shawl 2017 on the left. There is a pair of mitts that needed washing in the middle. I am ready for winter!

Not that winter feels like it's coming. We expect a high of 90 today! I'm enjoying this last bit of summer, hoping to have enough energy to bike tomorrow.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend, too!

Knitting, Watching, Reading

There hasn't been a lot of knitting here lately. I've been putting in a lot of time at school, and we've been visiting my dad in rehab. We're hoping he'll be able to move to Assisted Living next Thursday.

I've made some progress on my Winter Ridge Cowl Shawl, which is really a poncho.

It has been perfect for watching Shetland, a BBC series that streams on Netflix. How did I miss this for so long? One plot is set on Fair Isle! The settings are just gorgeous, and I'm half in love with the detective, too.

If you haven't watched this yet, you are in for a treat.

Note: I tried reading the books, where the whole series began, and I didn't like them.

I finished Graham Swift's Mothering Sunday, and it's OK. It is short and sweet and thoughtful, but not so engaging that I loved it.

I finished The Trip from last week, about Andy Warhol, and I liked that, too, but didn't love it.  It really brought home that his image was completely crafted and false. He in interesting, though! Next up is The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf, which is about the early biologist Alexander Von Humboldt, who did pioneering work in South America in the 1800s.

Joining up with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday

Stitch Markers Rock

Many of you commented on the challenge of casting on 472 stitches for my Winter Ridge Cowl Shawl (that is really a poncho). Vicki noted that she uses stitch markers every 20 or 25 stitches. I couldn't cast on a lot of stitches without markers!

For this project, I used stitch markers every 50 stitches. Using them every 25 stitches would have given me too many markers to keep track of.  It was painful, but it worked out. And I'm very happy with the project so far.

I am a true believer in the long-tail cast-on. I was taught by a Norwegian woman when I was 10, and I can do it in my sleep. It is flexible and looks great. But even I don't want to try to figure out the tail for 472 stitches especially with yarn that ain't cheap!

For this project, I used the cable cast-on (which has nothing to do with cables, as far as I can tell). I don't think it's as stable, but it did the trick.

Update: I had my staples out today, and the healing is going well. The nurse warned me that it will take a full year for my incision to heal! But I should be able to drive soon, so I'll settle for small victories.

Have a great weekend!

Black and Gray for Today

As long as I have to spend a lot of time lounging around, I thought I'd start my Winter Ridge Cowl Shawl. It requires casting on 472 stitches. Seriously.

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After you finally finish casting on all those stitches, you get to make the adorable loops that go around the bottom. This part is way more fun than casting on and counting. I especially hate the counting part.

I am reading a really great mystery. I rarely pick up mysteries because I burned out on them a long time ago, but Magpie Murders got such great reviews that I actually purchased it for my Kindle.

And it is every bit as good as the reviews said. I don't want to give away too much, but let me say that it is a cozy English mystery wrapped inside a contemporary mystery. I think the story-within-a-story gig is hard to do well, but Anthony Horowitz has built two solid stories.

I'm not done yet, but I bet the ending won't disappoint.

Join us over at Unraveled to share what you are knitting and reading.