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!
Well, I successfully met the deadline last night! I finished all of my increases and separated the back from the sleeves. Now it's just straight stockinette for about a million miles (~4.5 inches) and doing some waist-shaping. I'm so madly in love with the color I chose, still, and this yarn is truly delicious. Still.
I'm also still working on my pumpkins! Seriously, y'all, these little things are so fun and easy and addictive to make! I loves them. And they're squishy and cute. I'm building an army of cute to take over mantles and fall table-scapes everywhere.
Reading: I'm plowing right through The Secret History after buzzing through 3 hours of it over the weekend. I even listened to it in the car on my way to work in L.A. on Saturday. It was quite engrossing, actually, and it was interesting to do something different from my usual solo concerts in the car.
Of course, I also started reading a book I ordered online and received last Wednesday, True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen, a Victorian etiquette guide edited by a modern day woman. It's really interesting and I'm consistently amused by how useful and timeless so many of these suggestions and admonitions are. It's odd that a girl in her mid-20s living in the 21st century would read a Victorian book of etiquette, but I find it quite charming all the same.
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.*
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 know I should really be working on my Pont Neuf sweater because I said I would be done with the increases by the end of this past weekend. I promise I'll spend almost all of this coming weekend on it (I have to - my "deadline" is on Tuesday. Yikes!)
Instead of working on my Pont Neuf, I made... PUMPKINS! Yes, I have been making a small army of adorable little crochet pumpkins for the last week and they are so much fun to make! I'm making them in a variety of colors and I've been playing with sizes by changing hook size and the number of pattern repeats. I have discovered, though, that using too large a hook means the fabric isn't dense enough and some of the poly-fill stuffing shows in the larger ones. I plan to try making a couple of really big ones with more stitches and by changing the pattern a bit. Basically I'm going to be gifting these away to just about everyone.
Not all of them have stems yet. Some of them don't even have stuffing...
Also, the bones of the pattern (which I've been toying with a great deal in the last week) offer up a lot of possibilities. For instance... Imagine stacking 3 of these on top of each other, and working them up in white. Do you see snowmen? Cuz I see snowmen!
Reading: I spent most of my weekend cat sitting for dear Karen, which meant sitting on her couch with a cat on either side of me, crocheting pumpkins and listening to The Secret History. And oh my, how the plot has thickened!!! Murder, intrigue, ancient Greek rituals and secret plans of escape and that's not even the half of it! There were a few moments when I woke up Snow and Popeye (the cats) because I actually yelled a few "OH MY GOSH"'s at certain parts involving extreme revelation. I'm glad to be getting back into it, too, because it's a nice way to occupy my mind while I'm making pumpkins. Did I mention I'm making an army of pumpkins?
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.*
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!
This week has totally thrown me off. I completely forgot yesterday was Wednesday so here we are on Thursday yet again with the Yarn Along-ing. Oh well. My Pont Neuf sweater is coming along beautifully and I'm almost done with the yoke increases. About 8 more rows to go and then I get to divide the body and sleeves. My goal is to get there by the end of the weekend so I can work more on Lila's Tallulahand get to work on a few other crafty projects I have going on right now...(more on that later - maybe next week if you're lucky ;) )
Crappy picture is crappy. Sorry not sorry. ;)
Reading: I'm about 30% through Donna Tart's engrossing novel, The Secret History, but I've hit a bit of a wall. I seem to have start-itis with the books lately! It's incredibly frustrating especially since I want to knit all the things so I have to stick to the audio books. Well... I don't have to, since I'm self-limiting, but still. Frustration. I may have to return to trusty Elizabeth Klett reading Jane Austen while I knit since that's pleasant background noise for stories I already know really well. We'll see what the weekend brings.
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.*
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!
Y'all, I've lost track of how long I've been working on Lila's Tallulah cardi. But I'm still trucking! I seriously struggle with pattern fatigue and I always always forget that. Make two hats in the same pattern for my sisters for Christmas! Omg is it over yet I hate this pattern so much now. Make fingerless gloves! Omg do I really have to make two of them??? I'm slowly beginning to feel that with the Tallulah cardigan. I adore the pattern because it's simple, logical, and lovely. But it's a bit boring after a while. Miles of stockinette it feels like. Yeesh. I need to plug back into my audiobooks...
The color isn't very true in this picture - it's really quite pink.
We started our Pont Neuf sweaters last week at Jaimie's house. We initially picked a different pullover-type sweater but since none of us were wild about it we decided to find one that we all actually really liked. I'd never done a provisional cast-on before and I wound up ripping mine out and starting over because my initial crochet chain cast on was waaay too tight. I'm almost 40 rows in and just over halfway through the initial yoke increases. I really like the pattern so far - it's interesting without being impossibly difficult, which I think is an important balance. Also, I just love this color. It's not a color I usually wear so I think it'll be really really pretty when it's done.
Reading: I had to put Sense & Sensibility down. I just wasn't enjoying it and life's too short! I know I'll come back to it someday but until then... I downloaded the Audible version of The Secret History read by the author herself, Donna Tart! I'd heard amazing things about it on the internet from people whose tastes I resonate with and oh, they were right! It's one of those stories where you know what happens from the beginning, but the how it all happens is the really interesting bit. Also, the prose is blisteringly beautiful. A little self-indulgent perhaps, but I love it anyway. I also really like that I can't tell what year it's set in. I'm thinking the late-70s or 80s because no one has a computer or a cell phone but there are references to things that happened in the late-60s and college financial aid is a thing. It's set a bit outside of time, which is kind of nice. I'm not quite halfway through (the audiobook is 22 hours long!!!) but it's really great to listen to while I'm doing all these increase rows since the increases are easy to memorize and otherwise it's straight stockinette.
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.*
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 started working on the second Tallulah about a week after I finished the first one. Then I let it sit on row 2 for a week and a half. Now I've picked it up in earnest and I'm chipping away at it. I'm not marathon-knitting but my goal is to be done with it before Halloween. Shouldn't be overly strenuous. I still adore working with this yarn and the pattern is still very friendly and interesting without being too hard. I like having a small project to work on when it's this hot.
Reading:
I finally finished reading To the Field of Stars by Fr. Kevin Codd last week. Basically I just sat on the couch one evening while my roommate was out and just finished the last 1/3 of it. It was lovely and I'm almost done with my review of it. Hopefully I'll have that up either this weekend or early next week.
I began reading Sense & Sensibility by the inimitable Jane Austen last week while on "vacation" (it was not what one hopes or imagines a vacation might be like, believe me) and while I like it, at this point I almost prefer the movie. I feel like most of this is because in the first dozen pages of this particular novel there's a great deal of talk about money and inheritance and it's all a lot of waffle. If I can't get to enjoying it in the next 20 pages or so (I'm on page 84) I may put it away and try it again in December. Jane Austen is so well suited to long, dark nights - not so much endless summer afternoons.
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.*
Summer is here and Kendra over at Catholic All Year
has done the entire internet a huge favor by bringing back probably my
favorite link-up in the history of ever: Answer Me This! This is the last time for the foreseeable future we will answer 6 questions as asked by Kendra and
link-up to share our answers. It's the internet's favorite cocktail
party and I'm so happy it's back and so so sad that it's leaving.
1. What's your favorite grocery store splurge? Hmmm... I don't really "splurge" at the grocery store but my most common impulse buys are donuts or ice cream - two things I'm generally not allowed to eat anymore because I have zero self-control. Seriously, Little Debbie's donettes are like kryptonite.
2. How's your penmanship?
Superb, thankyouverymuch. I spent 2 years of high school Spanish perfecting my cursive because I hated my printing and admired my mom's handwriting. Since my Spanish teacher never actually "read" our homework - just checked to see that there was something written down - I filled my notebook with stories and artfully spaced my sentences to look like I was answering homework questions. My cursive has adapted a bit since then but I think it's very pretty to look at. The downside is that so many people can't read cursive anymore.
Blurry picture is blurry. Sorry.
3. Do you have a "Summer Bucket List?" Meh, not really. I thought I would do a bunch of stuff this summer, like go to the beach and read 10 books and go on more dates but instead this summer has been a lot of late nights and crying and having no money and dealing with vehicular drama and daydreaming about Spain and not getting to go on vacation. The short version is: I started out in June with plans which were wrecked by the start of July. July has been rather unkind to me since.
4. What's the best thing on the radio right now? The "off" button. I hate the radio. Too much talking, too many commercials, too much playing the same 5 songs over and over again. I'd much rather listen to a CD.
If I must choose, it's this: Walk the Moon's"Shut Up and Dance With Me." It's a song I actually get excited to hear and it is so fun! I love how 80s it is and if you watch the video it's clear they had a ton of fun making it. I love it.
Also, "House Party" by Sam Hunt. He's had a bunch of hits on country radio and this is the latest. I think it's really sweet of a guy to throw a party for 2 in your living room when you want to have fun but don't want to go out. That's how I feel anyway. The music video isn't great but I dig the song.
5. Ice cream or frozen yogurt? They are very, very different and cannot possibly be compared. I like ice cream when I want something really sweet and reliable and in a cone. I like froyo when I want something a little tart and in a bowl with tons of toppings and in exotic flavors. If I had to choose right this second, I'd say give me a Hawaiian shaved ice.
A Hawaiian shave ice place opened up the street from my house and oh sweet Saint James is it gooooood. You can have it the traditional Hawaiian way, with sweetened condensed milk and ice cream (YUCK!) or heathen-American style: ice and sugar syrup - YUM. My fave flavors (so far) are definitely the watermelon, strawberry, Passion Orange Guava (POG) trio.
Photo credit: Jeff Barnhouse
My friend Karen has a husband named Jeff. We like Jeff. Jeff likes Hawaiian shaved ice. A lot.
Jeff got mango, melon, and passion fruit but couldn't figure out which was which until, "I can feel the passion of the passion fruit." He may have said something after that but Karen and I were too busy laughing hysterically and trying to breathe to hear it. If you don't think it's quite that funny, clearly you weren't there.
That's it for this round of Answer Me This! If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because the whole
thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the
comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from
you! love, Willow
*Note:
The Answer Me This logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at
Catholic All Year and is used as part of a link-up only.
All other
images in this post are property of Whitney Miller.*
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!
So, so close to finished! I have to finish weaving in all these pesky ends and then decide on buttons. I think I might also hand stitch around the buttonholes to reinforce them a bit for little fingers. Does anybody out there have any suggestions on that? Also, I tried the sweater on Talia on Saturday and it fit her perfectly. Just enough room for her to grow into it which is exactly what I intended. She was very excited which gives me hope that she'll insist on wearing it a lot.
Terrible picture is terrible. Sorry.
I've been really, really edgy this week so I haven't done a lot of reading or sitting still of any kind. Thankfully I've been doing a lot of walking even though hiking this past weekend didn't work out. Southern California does not get freak summer rain and thunderstorms! Yet we did. It was crazy. In any case I'm no further in my book and these pesky ends are not high up on my list of things I want to work on. I've been working on gauge squares for our next big project (link is to the pattern on Ravelry) which is a good thing. I'll either have a finished Tallulah to show you or more details on that project next week. We'll see how the weekend goes.
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.*
