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!

2015 Reading Goals in Review

Hey, y'all, remember when I was like, "I'm gonna read 40 books this year!" and we all shook our heads and laughed a little because there was no way in reality that that would actually happen?

Get ready to giggle some more, because WOW did I fail!

Book Review: My Life In France

Stats:
Author: Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
# of pages: 303 + 3 page foreward by Alex Prud'homme
Original Publication Date: 2006
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
My Copy: First Edition Hardcover - from the library

FO and Yarn Along: Tallulah Cardigans

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!

Finished at last! I spent my Thanksgiving weekend doing an awful lot of different things, but one of the things I made sure to do was to wash, dry, and sew on the buttons to Lila and Tali's Hanukkah sweaters!

 

Initially I planned on getting their opinion on what kind of buttons they wanted (flowers? kitties? triangles? space ships?) but I figured that was giving them a little too much power and setting myself up for failure. So instead, I made an executive decision and they both got white flower-shaped buttons which are just slightly different. 

I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, and I'm very excited to see them try them on next weekend for the 7th night of Hanukkah - a first for me since I don't usually get to be part of the candle-lighting part (it's usually dark before I arrive) - and hopefully they'll get to wear them more than once.

 
I've started working on Victoria's Christmas hat. I had to start over because I hated the yarn I picked out. I love Berroco yarns but the Vintage DK was so scratchy and my hands are already so dry to begin with... It was a yucky combination. So I frogged and cast on again with some Kraemer Perfection in Garnet. Karen loaned me some which I'll be replacing with a skein of it I have left in my stash. (We went to dinner and decided to do some knitting and she happened to have it in her stash for me to start - aren't knitting friends fun?) I'm getting through it at a decent clip, though it's hard to say whether or not it will be done in the next week and a half to ship up to Oregon.

Reading:
I finished My Life in France this past weekend. I wanted to finish it over Thanksgiving weekend but I decided to clean my house and decorate for Advent/Christmas instead. But I finished it while babysitting on Sunday night and it was really lovely. I'll try to get a review up soon because I have to return it to the library kind of immediately.

  
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.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Week 11

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!

 

Sooooooo close! I'm posting this late because last night I finished the last 2 rows of ribbing around the button bands/neck band that I had left to officially finish the knitting part of this sweater!!! I still have to weave in all the ends (I'm looking at you, lunch break) and then it has to go for a ride in the washing machine on delicate before I sew on the buttons. This time next week I'll have lovely pictures to show you of two finished Hanukkah sweaters before I wrap them up and tuck them away for the next three weeks. (Can you believe Hanukkah is only three weeks away!? Advent is only 2 weeks away and I'm so excited!!!) 

Reading:
I went to the LIBRARY! Well, I took my sister to the library but I was there, too, and spotted a book I've wanted to read for ages and now I have it (temporarily, of course). My Life in France by Julia Child, based on the letters she and her husband Paul wrote to their friends and siblings while they were in Paris and later in Marseilles. I've been fascinated by Julia Child since watching Julie & Julia way back when. While I didn't care for "Julie" at all, I loved Julia (at least as she was portrayed in the film). I'm liking it so far, despite not being very far into it just yet. I plan on making considerable headway during my two days off over Thanksgiving before I dive into the rest of my Christmas knitting (2 hats, 1 pair of mittens, and 1 pair of fingerless gloves to go! YIKES). 

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.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Week 10

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!

I am so close! I simply forgot that sleeves always take longer than I think they will. And that I couldn't spend all of last weekend knitting - I had to do some cleaning as well. In any case, I finished sleeve #1 and I'm making really good headway on sleeve #2. Depending on how tonight goes I may even finish that sleeve by the time this posts! Then I'll stick in a little update. After this last sleeve then I need to pick up for the collar and button/buttonhole bands around the edges. Considering how long it takes me to pick up stitches, I may not be finished with this sweater this time next week... Oh well.

Reading:
I have been reading... fanfiction. Still. I'm stuck in this Harry Potter funk that I can't shake (okay - don't want to shake). I even picked up and started flipping through the first few pages of Sorcerer's Stone before I remembered that I'm not allowed to read my paperback anymore (Precious is falling apart!). It has admittedly been a while since I read any of the Potter books, and maybe it's the release of the new illustrated edition (CHRISTMAS LIST!) or just a random rush of nostalgia but I've been missing Hogwarts in a big bad way as of late. But I've also been knitting like mad trying to get this sweater finished so I haven't been reading much at all really. My hope is to spend some more time reading in the evenings before I go to bed. I used to be really good about that and I need to get back in the habit. I'm also babysitting every night this week so I really need the winding down effect of reading before bed to settle me since it feels like I've been going nonstop!

 I swear, every picture I take of this sweater makes it look red. It's pink, I tell you!

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.*

Yarn Along - Lila's Tallulah, Week 9

Greetings! 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!

 

I hope you all had a lovely Hallowtide (Halloween, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day)! I got a lot of knitting done and I'm now working on the button/button hole bands for Lila's Tallulah cardigan. It's really amazing what I can accomplish when I set my mind to it and have no real weekend plans. 

My hope is that by the end of the week I can get Lila's sweater washed and blocked and then sew the buttons onto both of the cardigans. Then I can get them wrapped and tuck them away until Hanukkah. If I get them done this weekend you'll get a FO post sometime early next week.

I'm not sure which project I want to start next - a hat and glove set for dear Beth, the hats I'm making for Victoria, or fingerless gloves/wrist warmers for my co-worker? I'm thinking the hats for Victoria because I actually have the patterns picked out and will have money for yarn soon. Realistically I plan to make just one hate initially and then get all my other Christmas knitting done before I try to make her more hats. We'll see. It's an excuse to go buy some new yarn!

Reading:

I've been at loose-ends reading-wise lately. I've actually been reading a lot of fanfiction because I couldn't decide which book to tackle next (is it bad that I'm 25 and still turn to Harry Potter fanfic when I'm bored? I've been in a really nostalgic mood lately...). Of course my roommate wisely suggested that I just pick something from my unfinished/TBR shelf and so I'm back into The Meaning of Night. I started reading it a couple years ago but never finished it for some reason. I'm back at it, though!

Also, I'm participating in the Books & Cupcakes November Book Photo Challenge via Instagram. Here's a collage of my first few entries and the link to my Insta is below. It's been pretty fun so far, even if it's only Day 3, hehe. (You can follow my Instagram HERE.)

 Day 1: Currently Reading; Day 2: Reading Playlist; Day 3: Favorite Novella(s)

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.*