2016 almost

Lets start with a few books I enjoyed in 2015.

1. The 4 books by Elena Ferrante.  It took me a while to get into these.  I took the first book out of the library several times( My Brilliant Friend) before I could get into it.  After that I was hooked.  The parts about Italy and the political happenings did not interest as much as the relationship between the women,the families,and the town.  A Must read.

2. A Little Life by Hanya Yabahihara I read a lot of fiction and often I need a refresher to remember the plot.  Not this book.  While it is disturbing I find myself thinking about it a lot.

3. Brooklyn by Colin Tobin A nice book and movie. If you want a nice escape book and movie read this.

4. Biggest disappointment "Stand Still" by Sally Mann A photographer that took questionable photos of her
 children.  Boring memoir and not well written.
 5.  Among the 10,000 Things by Julia Pierpoint This is supposed to be a modern retelling of "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf . Not even close.I reread "To the Lighthouse" again-Love that book. Read that instead.

All available on Amazon.com.


One knitting project.  I will talk about several things I finished in next post.

Edith Cardigan by Pam Allen in her book "Home"  A beautiful book. I want to knit almost everything in it.Pam Allen is a knitting and design genius.  She also is one of the founders of Quince &Co. yarn. I understand she moved very close to me in Maine.  I have a fantasy I will run into her in town. Somehow we will start talking and become BFF'.  Any way I love the Edith Cardigan.  It is one of the best sweater's have ever made.  It is done in Owl yarn by Quince & Co. in the color Cielo on # 8 needles. I love the design and the patterning in the back it gives such a great fit. When I first saw and felt the Owl yarn about a year ago I was not that impressed but since I made this sweater I want to make everything in Owl.

Now for pictures:

Christmas and Paperwhites

EDITH CARDIGAN- front and back-color is more blue than appears in photo

 

 

New Year

I hope I am going to be able to revitalize this blog in the New Year.Stay tuned.

Spring Books and Knitting

Well, Maine is coming up in about 4 weeks.I can't wait.  I am loading up my kindle and thinking of books I want to bring with me as well as knitting projects.  Every summer it is hard to decide what I want to bring up with me.It needs to be a combination of mindless knitting along with a couple of challenges.  My knitting projects are at heart of my vacation,so are my trips to yarn stores.  Can't wait.  My daughter is also graduating.  So proud of her but then she will be a working girl no longer on a student schedule and I will miss our time together.

Books First
1. We Are Not Ourselves by Mathew Thomas.  Good book Looks at the life of a family over a 50 year span.
2. All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Towes A Canadian writer.It is about 2 sisters,then their mother and her sister.It is about love,family,sisters- a good read.
3&4.  Those Who Leave,and Those Who Stay
           The Story of a New Name both by Elena Ferrante Good books by an Italian writer
            It took me a while to get into these books but once I did I really enjoyed them.Highly
            .recommend
5. All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld Women on a sheep farm off the coast of Scotland hiding a dark past.  Ended in a unsatisfying way.  I love books about Scotland,sheep and yarn but I can't say I recommend this one.
All books available from Amazon.com


Knitting
I just went to take some pictures of my knitting projects and the battery in the camera was dead,so i will write about my knitting and try for pictures later.
1. featherweight cardigan by Hannah Fettig of Knitbot This pattern is a odd favorite .I have knit it several times in different weight yarn. A couple of weeks ago I decided I needed a light weight black sweater.  I had so lace wight black wool in my stash from Morehouse Farm so I started this.  Done in lace weight yarn-even though it is a super simple sweater is really slow going.  I am doing the knitting on #5 needles.

2.Finished 'anneke" by Pam Allen in Quince&Co. tern a fingerling weight yarn of wool and silk
  Love pattern Love yarn

3. "Nauset tee" another Pam Allen pattern done in Quince&Co. Kestral a linen yarn I have made this sweater before.It is done on #8 needles so it went really fast.  I finished it in about 2 weeks.  The only mod I made was I eliminated the scoop neck.The first on I did had the scoop neck and I have to wear something underneath it, with this one I won't have to do that.  I love this yarn.

Till next time
Peace

Inventory Books Only

Going to write about books only today.  It is cloudy her today and I won't get good pictures of my knitting.  I am working on 2 easy knitting projects but they are over sized sweaters with a lot stockinette spo progress is not that dramatic.
1. Fourth of July Creek by Scott Henderson pretty good about a social worker in Montana.  He tries to be good guy but has a lot of personal demons.  Overly long

2. My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante translated from Italian started this book 2 other times but couldn't get into it.. People whose opinion I respected loved this book so I gave it one more try.  After about the fist 75 pages I really liked it.It is part of a trilogy and I have the second book on my kindle.

3.Becoming Jane Eyre Sheila Kohler I had heard good things about this book but I had my doubts.  It is historical fiction.  Made me want to read more of the Bronte's.

4. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill Forget It. Little sayings,sentences put into chapters make up a story about a marriage.  Didn't work for me.

.5. The Slap by Christos Tsilkas The author is Australian.  This book has been made into a10 episode T.V. series on NBC and I wanted to read the book before I watched it. I really like the book.  I have been carrying it around with me reading it when ever I have a minute or two -waiting for pasta water to boil,for my son to come out of school ect. .That kind of compulsive reading dosen't happen to me much anymore so you know I am enjoying it. It is about a 500 page book and I am almost finished.

Because I am so slow with this blog I am going to try to do more frequent and shorter posts. I know I like to read blogs where the blooger posts often.How many times have I said this before? Going to do some laundry.
Peace

Trying to keep New Year Resolutitions

Wee,I am going to try and do another post to keep up with my New Year resolutions.  Tomorrow school starts.  I am going to continue with the second half of Art History (Middle Ages to Contemporary Art). I am looking forward to it but I am going to have to be more organized than I have been the past month.  I have made some progress on all my knitted things-but they are all big projects and if I want to finish 15 objects in 2015 I am going to have to move along.

1. Anneke Gansey pullover by Pam Allen done in Quince&Co. yarn Tern Silk and wool I have started the sleeves

2.Churchmouse Classics Modern Wrapper Fine Done in Alpaca With a /twist Lace  As I said before this is done with stash yarn I bought several years ago so I don't know much about it.  The pattern has miles of stockinette stitch. It doesn't look like I've done much but I have.

3.may have to start another quick pattern just so I have something finished

4. some progress on my hooked rug

BOOKS

1"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins Kinda like "Gone Girl" This book I am almost finished with.Not bad.

2."Lillian on Life" By Allison Jean Lester A woman in her 50's looks back on her life.Jumps around a lot.okay a quick read finished it in less than 24 hours.

I have started many books this month but could not get into them. I went from classics,non-fiction, to contemporary fiction,some books I was more than 100 pages into and I just stopped. It happens from time to time.
any suggestions??
"

Mostly Knitting

Hi
I talked about books in my last blog so today I am going to try to stick to mostly knitting.
First off I am trying for 15 projects in 2015. To get me off to a good start I finished the Cameo Scarf in 2015even though I started it this summer.  This scarf is done in Swans Island yarn which I love.  I am not sure I love the scarf.  It still needs to be washed and blocked.  This happens to me a lot. I finish a project and I 'm not sure I like it then 6 months later I see it in my closet and I think "Why didn't I like that? It came out pretty good" and it is resurrected.

I started the "anneke" sweater designed by Pam Allen and done in Quince&Co. tern.  I really like this sweater.  But with the cables and short rows I have to concentrate and have quiet while I work on it.I need to have a mindless project too.For that I have started the "Modern Wrapper Fine " from Churchmouse.  This is knit with lace weight yarn on larger than normal needles.  I am using size 6 needles so it is making a very light fabric.The yarn is "Alpaca With a Twist".  It has alpaca and silk.  I bought it years ago so it from deep stash.

I finished by first rug hooking which I stared over the summer when I took a class at Camp Wool in Kennebunk,Maine. My sister and daughter took the class with me and it was a fun weekend. I want to make it into a annual event.  Anyway I started another rug hooking that I got in a place in Searsport ,Maine. I can't remember the name of the place. I do remember it was in a yurt.  I will look it up for next time.  I'm sure you can Google it and find it.  It might be Verona,Maine.  I think it has started out pretty cute.

Finally,I recently bought some books with patterns by Carrie Bostick Hoge and others. They are beautiful.www.maddermade.com/  Most of the yarn is Quince&Co.(my favorite) I see Carrie has another book coming out on Monday.  One of the books "Home" is by Pam Allen-an idol of mine.  I am thinking that I want to make everything in these books a kinda "Julie Julia " thing as a direction and focus to my knitting and a challenge.There are so many things to knit and read and not enough time!

With all that is happening in the world-Peace

PS  Would love to hear your comments-

the New Year

I am going to try doing this blog again. I was very discouraged about it this year but my family really liked it and thought it was a nice record of our family life.  Then for a holiday  present this year my husband had all my blog postings bound and made into a book.  This kinda inspired me to try again,so this can be my first resolution.
1. make my blog short and do it more often

2.again try reading more, last year I said I would try and read 100 books, well I read 65, so this year I will go for a more modest 75 books

3. Following the lead of the Knitmoregirls (a podcast I listen to) try for 15 finished knitting projects in 2015

4.Keep taking one course a semester at local college

5.Learn to use my sewing machine

6.dare I say it-lose 10 pounds

It is cold in Arizona today.  Great for knitting.The McDowell Mountains which we see from our back yard have snow on them this morning.

I am going to mention some of the books I read recently.
     "Florence Gordon" by Brian Morton If you haven't read any of his books you should. Its amazing a man wrote these books.  This is about a women of a certain age looking back over her life.
     "Some Luck" Jane Smiley A big book.  I think around 400 pages. Its part of a trilogy with this book as part one.  It was hard to get into but then I didn't want it to end.
     "All the Light We Cannot See"  by Anthony Doer This has been a surprise best seller which doesn't always mean it is good.  But this lives up to its hype.
     "Not that kind of  girl" by Lena Dunham This is the person who writes and stars in the HBO series "Girls". Big disappointment. Even my daughter didn't like it. Skip this one.D

Did My Paperwhites again this year.
Enjoy!!!!
Peace to all.