Wednesday, April 29, 2015

road trip knitting


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.

9 comments:

  1. I always love it when you post about your reading material as I think we have similar taste in books. I've added more than a few books from your blog posts to my "must read" pile.

    As for LMM, I've read all the Emily books and loved them with a passion. Until a few years ago, I had no interest in reading Anne (despite loving the TV series). Finally, when on maternity leave (the first time, I think?), I borrowed the audio books from the library and have listened to all but one book. It felt like cheating, but it was the very best kind.

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  2. You're so lucky you can knit in the car - I get not nausious, but discombobulated, and my head just doesn't feel quite right. I'm knitting with Tern now - I love it! Next, I'm going to try Finch.

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  3. Anonymous3:38 PM

    What is that beautiful purple? It's lovely! I secretly like not driving, because it means I can sit in the passenger seat and knit or read the whole time. 8)

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  4. @jsoxford.net I agree! Secretly (or not so secretly) I push for road trips just for the knitting time. And the purple yarn is something I picked up in Washington too - it's Mrs. Crosby's sport weight. Now I just have to figure out the right pattern for it!

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  5. @Steph VW Steph, I think we need a combined reading list! I'd love to know what you're reading. And thanks for the thumbs up for LMM. Hilariously, I'm actually waiting for Sadie to finish Anne of Avonlea (who knew I'd be in competition with my 10 year old?).

    And congrats on your second little guy - time really does fly!

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  6. Those mitts look fabulous! Living in England - I can't comprehend being able to drive for 44hrs and not ending up in the sea! I forget just what a tiny country I live in!

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  7. so which is kind of cool I like that but you got to remember it's just a dye so even if it's a funky color it's gonna wear off in a couple of ways so don't be don't be afraid of you know to add some color to it alright let's continue alright so we getting ready to attach the heel base I used five-eighths threaded nails where there your / threaded nails you want it to basically reach down basically just to the leather sole you don't want to coming through the inside because there's no heel lining on the spare to cover up all the nail nails that pop through with seven of them on there just like what it is in the original which is enough sometimes the he'll be separates here so what I did was I took there's three layers there so I took all of them apart glued it all together first and then glued it to the shoe and then nailed it together so this way it's nice and solid there won't be any cracks there after you finish him okay let's continue all right it's all finished I put some brass nails in the heels so that way it'll prevent it from wearing out fast also we've got the French tips of course the gr soles and that's it thanks for reading the Blog. https://yaahshoes.com/best-casual-shoes-for-men/

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  8. Find-out moe, Curly...
    I know yoo wannna.
    My 'MatteBlk' sez everything.

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