Tag Archives: books

WIP Wednesday: It’s Hip To Be Square

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Come on. I know you’re singing it.  😉

I had technical difficulties trying to post on Wednesday last week. Did anyone else? My posting template page would not load at all. I think, perhaps, it was God’s way of telling me to get to bed. Anyway… It seems to be working fine this week, so onto the post and the link-up at Small Things.

 

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The Hook

I’m still hooking away at my afghan. In fact, I’ve got a square mostly done in the tote at my feet as I type this. The good thing is that I’m not bored of them yet. I still get a little thrill as they grow and as I see the colors work together. This is a good thing since I still have such a long way to go.

The Book

I sort of picked up Divergent again. By that I mean that I’m carrying it with me to work. It’s long overdue at the library, and with Advent beginning soon, I may just return it and pick the series up after the new year.

For Advent, I signed up for an online Advent retreat with my friend, Tara, a Spiritual Director. I’ve been meaning to highlight her ministry, Anam Cara, for a while. Please do check out her website. I think she may have spots left if you are interested in journeying with her through the upcoming Advent season.

In addition to the retreat, I’m considering a couple books to read on my own. My parents gave me Ann Voskamp’s book, The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas, for my birthday. I kinda had forgotten that I had it when I ordered two books off my Amazon wish list on Monday. God With Us was recommended by Tara a couple of years ago, but has been out of stock every time I try to order it for Advent (usually because I’ve waited until the last moment). Silence And Other Surprising Invitations of Advent was another book recomended by Tara and the one she was reading for Advent last year. It looks good, but the subject is a very tender subject for me. It felt too raw last year. So, it will be one of those three, I think. God With Us won’t be here until next Tuesday, though.

The Needles

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but I have a baby hat on the needles. It’s a copy of the finished one next to it. I used this pattern for a rolled brim hat for the hat, another for the leaf, and just did a short i-cord for the stem.

I’ve also made some progress on my Hogwarts Express shawl. I just finished the garter section and worked the row of increases. Now it’s on to the cables and beads. Eep!

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WIP Wednesday: A Pinwheel and A Confession

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Alas! ‘Tis Wednesday! The day set aside for Works In Progress to be revealed to the masses. The day designated for linking up with fellow crafters at yonder site known as “Small Things.” The day for reckoning just what I have and have not accomplished over the past seven days.

The Hook

Umm…

Not much progress on the Magnum Opus this week. I’ve been focused elsewhere. Loving Threads (my church knitting/crocheting/quilting group) is this Saturday, so I’m planning on bringing my afghan to work on. I’ll try to get some pictures this meeting and tell you a bit about our little group.

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The Book

Ha!

Book? Book? I know not this word.

In all seriousness, any reading I’ve done this week has really been in blogs. I’ve been catching up on the blogs in my blog roll, which I just remembered I need to actually create here.

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I’ve pretty much given up on reading Bonhoeffer. I’m just finding that I’m not all that interested right now. I think I liked the idea of reading it along with the book club, but, in reality, it started feeling more like an assignment than a choice. Weird, I know. I was like that in school, too. If it was my idea, I was all over it. But, if it was an assignment, it was drudgery. I’m sure this book will tickle my fancy at some point. Right now, I’m trying not to let these little feelings of guilt settle in for not reading it. I’ve been talking about not reading it for a month!

The Needles

Now here is where my focus has been!

I’ve been working on the Pinwheel Blanket that I mentioned last week, and I’m very nearly done. I worked the blanket until there were 30 stitches in each wedge section, and now I’m knitting a seed stitch ruffle as the edging. The ruffle is created by knitting into the front and back of every stitch, thus doubling the number of stitches. So, what was once a 300 stitch edge is now a 600 stitch edge! I had to switch to my 60 inch cable to accommodate all those stitches, and it feels like it takes an eon to knit a round.  I know the end result will be great, though, so it’s certainly worth it! I should be done by the weekend. I’m trying to beat Little One’s arrival.

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To give myself a bit of a break, and my thumb a rest from purling, I knitted up a quick little hat for Little One and started another. I don’t think I mentioned it in the last post, but Little One’s gender isn’t known, thus the “neutral” colors. I think the little red hat is rather Christmas-y, don’t you?

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I also got a few more rounds done on the sock in my purse while visiting my parents this past weekend.

I think that concludes my progress report for this week. What are you reading or working on? Join the Yarn Along, or tell me in the comments. I’d love to know!

Have a great Wednesday!

~Janet

WIP Wednesday: On My Hook, On My Needles, and In My Lap

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It’s time for my weekly link-up with Ginny over at Small Things.  I think this is my sixth Yarn Along post. I do really enjoy it. Each week it seems I discover a new blog or a new pattern I want to try. It seems my weeks just fly by! One would think that, as a single working woman, I would have more free time. I worked six nights last week, though, and “free time” wasn’t always “free.” That affected my crafting and reading time, of course.

Anyway, on with the post!

The Hook

This is starting to sound a little redundant, but I’m still working along on my afghan, or my “Magnum Opus” as I like to call it. I missed my challenge deadline of having 23 squares totally completed. No matter, I plan on working on it in earnest in the coming weeks. I would like to be able to use it this Winter, at least for a little while. I don’t have a new photo, but here’s a peek into that tote I mentioned a couple weeks ago.

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The Book

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I’m not sure why I keep taking pictures of Bonhoeffer when I haven’t touched all week. Maybe to remind myself to get on it! The next book club meeting is the 14th.

The “book” I did read this week was that voters’ pamphlet. Did you vote yesterday? To be perfectly honest, I didn’t care much about who was running in my area, but that didn’t stop me from doing my civic duty and voting. I won’t tell you how or for whom I voted. My political views are my own business. I’m actually not sure how the election went. There were a couple of initiatives I was particularly interested in, so I should at least check those out. The point is that I voted, and I hope you did, too, regardless of how.

The Needles

In case you missed it, I finished the monster I was knitting for Louise. Now I’ve moved on to knitting a baby blanket for a friend of a friend.

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Doesn’t look much like a blanket, does it? It’s a Pinwheel Baby Blanket. It is started with six stitches and is worked completely in the round, increasing every other row. You can see the radial yarn-over lines in the photo. It’s my favorite baby blanket to knit because it’s so easy and is different than a “normal” blanket. Because it is knit in the round, there is no purling until the edging and no flipping your work over to knit back and forth. Any yarn will work, and you just knit until it’s a size you like. The pattern is actually rather easy. Once you get beyond the beginning and use stitch markers, you don’t even have to think. Great TV or church knitting! (Yes, I knit in church. 😉 )

There are 10 radii forming 10 sections. Currently, I have 24 stitches per sectionsection for a total of 240 stitches. It’s about 24 inches across at this point. I only have one skein of this yarn (discontinued), but I think I can get it to 30 inches.

The Lap

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When I started this post, this was the view of my lap. Jasper in his favorite spot. He moved after I got a little too excited while watching the soccer (futbol/football) game that was on.

Now the game is over (Liverpool lost 😦 ), this post is done 😉 , and it’s bedtime for this night nurse. Well, as soon as I link up to the Yarn Along, that is.

Have a great rest of your day!

~Janet