Yarn Along - Portland Winter Hat, Weeks 1-4

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

So... I started knitting this a few weeks ago, and then I had to rip it out and start over because the yarn I bought was awful. Don't you hate when that happens? You buy a yarn and you think, "Well, it's not perfect, but I'm sure it'll soften up when I wash it, and how bad can it be to work up?" and then it's so, so bad. I've had really positive experiences with Berroco Comfort DK in both of the Tallulah Cardigans and on my Pont Neuf sweater. But the Berroco Vintage DK is not pleasant to work with. Seriously. Given the choice, go with the Comfort DK. It's delicious. The Vintage DK dried out my already bone-dry hands and was itchy, scratchy, and unpleasant. No way was I letting my bff put it on her head.

So dear Karen let me use some of her Kraemer Perfection in Garnet (which I used for my Hermione Half-Blood Hat).  It's much softer and nicer to work with than the Berroco Vintage and I know for a fact that it washes well. But I still wasn't happy with it. Then Karen and I decided that it wasn't just the yarn but it was also the pattern that I didn't like. SO I went stash diving and Karen let me have some pretty, lightly variegated blue DK yarn. I like it a lot better and I'm also working the Cable & Eyelets pattern instead of the Dragonflies. I'm making good progress and I made a few mistakes (shhh! Don't tell her!) in the pattern but overall I'm way happier to be working with such nice yarn and on a pattern I'm so familiar with.



Reading:
I finished reading Julia Child's memoir My Life In France and posted the review a couple weeks ago. You can read it HERE (and please do!). I also finished reading the last 3 books in The Ranger's Apprentice series over Christmas. Wow, am I emotionally wrung out from that experience. My heart hurts a little. I still totally want to live in that world, though.  Then over New Year I read the first book in the prequel series so I'm thinking about doing an in-depth review of the entire Ranger's Apprentice series from start to finish. Now I'm a little more than halfway through The Queen of the Tearling and I honestly have mixed feelings for it which will become apparent when I write up my review. I hope to have that up within the week or so.

I also did a round up of all the books I read in 2015 and all the reviews I wrote. You can find that post HERE. On Friday I will post my reading goals for 2016 and I hope to see what all of you plan on reading as well!

That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow

*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*