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Today’s segments include: drafting, fully drafted, lit review, five favorite things, and noteworthy.
Drafting:
Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks in Into the Whirled Pakkoku sock colorway Bigger on the Inside on size 1/2.25mm Hiya Hiya sharps.
Pamuya shawl by Alexandra Wiedmeyer in Wollmeise pure colorway Verzaubert we’re different on size 4/3.5mm signature circular.
Gabby the Garden Monster by Rebecca Danger in Unplanned Peacock Superwash Merino Bulky on size 7/4.5mm signature circular and dpns.
Knitty in color falkland colorway Fabrjous day
Fully Drafted:
Time Traveler Socks by Liz Sedmak in Marigoldjen sock colorway Galaxy on size 1/2.25mm Hiya Hiya sharps.
Turbulence socks by Cookie A in Sokkusu sock colorway River Styx on a size 2.25mm Addi lace turbo. In a Slipped Stitch Studio bag!
Loop Batt colorway Earth Goddess, navajo plied gradient.
Lit Review
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
This was an absolutely wonderful book–I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads and rated it a 5 in book club as well. Not everyone loved this book as much as I did, but in general it got high ratings amongst book club members.
The story is about Ursula Todd, who lives her life over and over again, and gets to make different choices. Her life takes place around the time of World War II. In the book’s first storylines, Ursula is very passive, allowing many things to happen to her, but later on in the book, she begins to assert herself and make choices that protect herself and those in her life that she loves.
The writing in this book is fantastic. I really enjoyed the way the way Atkinson used language and repetition to tell the story of Ursula’s lives. It never felt repetitive, and Atkinson returns to pivotal scenes with ease–showing the importance of the little choices we make in our lives. In true book club fashion, this book also has several references to knitting. Many of the characters knit for the soldiers during WWI. During WWII, Livinia goes upstairs in several of the different lives that Ursula leads to get her knitting.
On the subject of books having references to knitting, here are a few more that I’ve read in the last few weeks.
Grimm Fairytales, the 3 spinsters. I’m taking a coursera course in Fantasy & Science Fiction, which I am really enjoying. The tale of the 3 spinsters is about a girl whose mother says she is the best spinner in the world, and the queen locks her in a room overnight to spin flax and prove it. Instead, she gets the 3 spinsters to spin it for her. The spinsters are ugly because they spin: one has a finger, one has a foot, and one has a lip problem. In the end, the moral of the story is you will be a much more beautiful princess if you pawn your spinning work off on someone else. Not very moral really–very fun story.
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, which I’m not quite finished with, has references to a kitten playing with and unwinding the ball of yarn that Alice spent the morning winding. Rereading this and Alice and Wonderland was delightful. I love the language play and the fun story in these books.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Review from Goodreads where I gave it 4 stars. Twice Don Tillman refers to the jumper his mom knitted for him.
Five Favorite Things:
1. Willow Ware kit from Tsarina of Socks
2. Russian Railroads
3. Kemet
4. Firefly the Board Game
5. Hearthstone
Noteworthy:
May’s yarn: Painted Skeins colorway Microbrew, #13 Cindy, Puffygriffinclaw on ravelry
June’s yarn: Numma Numma Toasty Boysenberry Preserves
June podiversary giveaway: Dragonfly Djinni colorway Blackberry Bramble. I’ve been reading a lot this month, so for this month’s podiversary, recommend your favorite book to me and tell me why you loved it so much.
Events: Huntingdon FiberArts Fest, Knitter’s Day Out, Rhinebeck.