Time flies, doesn't it?
We recently went on a road trip to Florida which meant we had roughly 44 hours of driving time. That meant lots and lots of knitting for me (when I wasn't stressing about my navigation duties, that is). It was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most because otherwise my knitting happens in tiny pockets of time. Hours of uninterrupted knitting was simply amazing. The bulk of what I worked on was a test knit for byAnnieClaire, which I'll share as soon as the pattern is released (pssst: it's lovely and perfect for the summer!). But I also knit up these wristlets, which have become my go-to gift pattern. They are based on Sarah Compton's foliage lace mitts, just without the shaping and thumb gussets. I love the simple lace pattern! We actually stopped in Washington during our drive and I got 20 minutes in a great wool shop called Looped Yarn Works where I happily picked up more of Quince & Co's Tern in this soft gray/blue colourway called Mist. Tern is perfect for these wristlets and it was fun to contain the whole project to the drive, from buying and winding the yarn to weaving in the very last end. It will be my road trip knitting memory, which gets folded into all the other memories of the vacation. All combined, it was a wonderful trip.
I've been dragging my heels a bit on my reading challenge this year. At least in this batch I have two Canadian selections: How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti and Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Heti's novel was compelling but for an unusual reason - I actually went to school with one of the fairly-real characters, and although I didn't know her very well, it was strange to read the story without constantly imagining her. I've never had that extra level to deal with and it made the reading experience quite bizarre, though since the storytelling is likely considered experimental autobiography, bizarre is probably bang on. As for the classic Anne of Green Gables, which I had never read, Sadie highly recommended it to me and I'm so glad she did. Anne is charming, the cast of characters playful and endearing and the small town east coast setting was a pure joy. Sadie has the whole Anne set, so I just might move on to Anne of Avonlea next. My one non-Canadian read, Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman, also had a great setting. Following the separate storylines of a grandmother and granddaughter as they live on a sheep farm in rural Tasmania, the sweeping story had great struggles, great loves and a great side story about the wool fashion business the grandmother built from scratch. As a sewer and knitter, what else could I ask for?
For more musings on reading and knitting, visit Ginny's Yarnalong.