Yarn Along is a wonderful weekly link-up hosted by Ginny at the Small Things blog about two of the best things in life: books and knitting.
I'm working on the Gilmore Girls mystery knit-along pattern by Marinade Knits! The four clues were released Thanksgiving through Sunday; it's meant to be knitted while watching "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life," but I really wanted to finish my re-watch of the last couple seasons before diving into the new episodes, so I'm working on my cowl while watching season 7. (And this way I can really focus and savor when I'm watching "A Year in the Life.")
I really like how it's coming along! I tried to conceal the meat of the pattern in the photo in case anyone happens upon this post who's not done the first three clues yet, but you can see it'll be a long cowl with some colorwork segments (and it does have a unique construction for a cowl).
I'm so glad I splurged and bought the accompanying yarn kit from Knitted Wit on Etsy... it was way more than I would normally spend for yarn (especially for just a cowl! -- and especially for a cowl that I won't be able to wear for the next 2 1/2 years!) but it was my birthday present to myself.
Being from Colorado (and missing it!) I was totally drawn to the main color yarn, which is called aspen forest. The kit also came with four mini skeins of yarn in purple/fuscia, lime green, deep red and bright orange. I'm not really an orange person, and though I hate to stray from the kit and its gorgeous, soft, yummy yarn, I may substitute a teal for the orange. Teal is my favorite color, and it'll fit in great with the other jewel tones. (The yarn colors are so much richer than the photo shows, but we're having an uncharacteristic stretch of gray, rainy weather here in Hawaii and that was the best lighting I could muster.)
I really like how it's coming along! I tried to conceal the meat of the pattern in the photo in case anyone happens upon this post who's not done the first three clues yet, but you can see it'll be a long cowl with some colorwork segments (and it does have a unique construction for a cowl).
I'm so glad I splurged and bought the accompanying yarn kit from Knitted Wit on Etsy... it was way more than I would normally spend for yarn (especially for just a cowl! -- and especially for a cowl that I won't be able to wear for the next 2 1/2 years!) but it was my birthday present to myself.
Being from Colorado (and missing it!) I was totally drawn to the main color yarn, which is called aspen forest. The kit also came with four mini skeins of yarn in purple/fuscia, lime green, deep red and bright orange. I'm not really an orange person, and though I hate to stray from the kit and its gorgeous, soft, yummy yarn, I may substitute a teal for the orange. Teal is my favorite color, and it'll fit in great with the other jewel tones. (The yarn colors are so much richer than the photo shows, but we're having an uncharacteristic stretch of gray, rainy weather here in Hawaii and that was the best lighting I could muster.)
There's no book in my photo today -- gasp! I've definitely been reading up a storm (last week I read "Turbo Twenty-Three" by Janet Evanovich, "The Fifth Season" by N.K. Jemisin and "The Christmas Town" by Donna VanLiere) but I'm not too sure if I'm going to continue my current book, a YA fantasy novel called "Nevernight" by Jay Kristoff. (You can see my bookstagram photo here.)
I'm only about 25 pages in -- and I am intrigued by the plot -- but reading Kristoff's writing is like hiking up a mountain over boulders and through sucking mud -- so hard to plod through. It's ostentatious to begin with, there are about 100% too many similes and metaphors, and there are even verbose footnotes! It took me somewhere around 45 minutes just to read those 25 pages, and I'm typically a pretty speedy reader.
I'm not a big fan of YA books because the writing is often too simplistic and the stories lack depth, so I can hardly believe this is a young adult book. I've read my fair share of pretentious literary fiction and yet this YA fantasy novel might be too much for me!
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P.S. For the most part, I utterly despise my weekly trips to the military commissary (grocery store) but something I do like is that they stock a handful of products from other countries, especially during the holidays. They had a huge selection of German cookies and confections, and I couldn't resist a box of those butter cookies. They're like animal crackers for adults -- and taste so good dunked in a cup of coffee.
