Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Yarn Along: "Redemption Road" and Earnest Cardigan

Yarn Along is a wonderful weekly feature hosted by Ginny at the Small Things blog about two of the best things in life: books and knitting!

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Reading: After last week spent immersed in the emotionally draining "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara and picking myself back up with "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," I started a crime/psychological thriller set in North Carolina, "Redemption Road" by John Hart. The protagonist is a thirty-something female detective mired in two concurrent (but, at the moment, seemingly unlinked) cases, equally horrific murders that she's more involved in than she should be. I'm intrigued by the plot, but the writing kind of irritates me -- which is strange because I read several blurbs and reviews that lauded Hart's "masterful" writing. Maybe it's the former copy editor in me wanting to cross through all his unnecessary commas?

Knitting: On Monday, the start of the Joji Fall KAL, I cast on for the Earnest cardigan by Joji Locatelli. I've long been admiring Joji's patterns and have queued many, but this fingering-weight cardigan is the first one I've actually purchased. It features two of my favorite knitting elements, cables and texture, and I was powerless to resist! The first thing to be knit is the cable collar, which stretches all down both sides of the front. It's a lot of the same 8-row repeat over and over, but it's been a while since I've knit a cable project and I'm enjoying it so far. And the pattern is easy to memorize, so it's great for working on while I watch the Olympics in the evenings.

I'm using Koigu Premium Merino for the first time, and I'm pleased with it so far. It's not as soft as, say, Malabrigo, but I like that it's smoother and less fuzzy, which I think will be great for a sweater. Normally I would consider it to be out of my price range for a sweater (I just can't justify spending $100+ on yarn for a sweater when I could go to the store and buy a perfectly good one for $20), but my favorite online yarn shop, Mr. Yarn, had a going-out-of-business sale (sob!) and I swiped it at a great discount.

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4 comments:

  1. That cardigan is going to be stunning in the colour you've chosen! Can't wait to see it finished.

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    1. Thanks, Caroline! I would actually have preferred to use a nice gray like Joji does in the pattern, but pink was what I had on hand so pink it is! :)

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  2. Oh, that yarn looks yummy—great color and a nice springy twist! The cable collar looks good, too; you're going to have a smashing sweater when you're done.

    Commas are such a bugaboo, whether there are too many or two few. And so annoying for those of us with a copyediting or English major (or in my case, teacher) background. I'm sorry that it's detracting from your enjoyment of the novel.

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    1. You know, mediocre writing (not to mention bad writing!) ALWAYS detracts from my enjoyment of books and I'm astonished that it doesn't bother more people. Sometimes I wish I could let go of the compunction to mentally copy edit everything I read, but I'm pretty sure that's never going to happen!

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