1. Over the Thanksgiving break, I had a fun literary experience. I read Rebecca for the first time ever (how did that happen?) followed immediately by Daphne, a novel about Daphne du Maurier by Justine Picardie. The latter had been reviewed and recommended by my talented friend Becky, who blogs at abookaweek. (And she knits, too!)
Anyhoo, I loved Rebecca, with all its gothic decay and the creepy housekeeper and the narrator-without-a-name. Daphne extended the experience, picking up on the themes in Rebecca, filling in blanks, ruminating on a mystery concerning the Brontes, and introducing characters that bring us to present day. I so enjoyed this little journey – it was hard to come back to earth.
2. My Gaelic Mist cardigan - last discussed long ago when I blocked the cable portion of the body to see if it would actually function as a wearable garment, rather than body armor - has been officially revived from hibernation. I completed the body and joined the shoulders – again, to test fit. I’ll be darned - I think it’s gonna work. Now I just need me some sleeves, which I think I’ll knit both at once so I don’t flake out. Here’s the thing: the photo of the two sample sweaters shown in A Fine Fleece depict models who are clearly wearing versions that are WAAAAYYYY too large for their waif-like frames. That’s not immediately apparent, but when you see the actual projects people have completed on Ravelry, at begins to become clear (and I have read this criticism of the modeled shots of other sweaters in this book). So I have had to adjust my mental picture of what this cardigan will really look like when knit in the proper size for me.
3. In other knitting news, I have a Swallowtail on the needles as my “comfort knitting.” I’m working it up in laceweight, so I’ll have to do the version with 19 repeats of the first chart, and even then it won’t be large, but I’m beginning to appreciate the functionality of the shawlette.
4. Still can’t seem to finish those socks I’ve been working on since last spring.
5. A couple of people asked and I forgot to timely report on the Halloween run. As it turned out, we decided not to do the 15K and instead ran the 5K at a nice clip. The decision was based largely on the truly crummy weather forecast for the day of the race (it was raw and windy and rather unpleasant). As it turned out, when we actually saw the 15K course we were highly relieved that we didn’t run it – it was repetitive and involved a run up a yucky long hill. So, we made a choice that worked for us, had fun, and decided we’d definitely do it again next year – the people running in costume were a hoot, and it was low-key and well-organized.
That’s all for today… what’s random with you?
I’ve never heard of the book Daphne – thanks for the recommendation. As for random – I started watching True Blood the other day. I like it and I’m surprised!
I finished Daphne a few weeks ago, and now I’m reading Rebecca (for the first time too).
That was my complaint about “A Fine Fleece” – almost everything was totally the wrong size for the models. What’s with that? The purple Gaelic Mist is practically falling off that model, but has obviously been pinned around the torso to make it look snug. All it does is make it look weird, since those sleeves look HUGE on her.
They’ve also clearly made use of pins to make some of the sweaters appear to have waist shaping, which always ticks me off. And some of the sweaters have such artsy photos that you don’t really know what they look like at all, like October Frost.
Frankly, I didn’t want to make ANY of the sweaters from looking at them in the book. It wasn’t until I saw some of them on Ravelry that I got interested.
Whoever was responsible for the photography should be fired.
The same issue Cheryl has with AFF has kept me from knitting anything. Thanks for the book recommendations! I’ve been reading (via iPod) more than usual. Thanks for the link to A Book a Week, too!
I will try out Daphne. I loved Rebecca but GAWD I wanted to throttle that narrator. She irritated the bejeezus out of me with all that weepy self conscious crap.
Hai!
I’m random enough on my own for a month of Wednesdays.
That’s why I don’t trust the photos for most patterns. Even with lace, a lot of designers try to hide stuff with weirdo pics.
xo
I’m working on de-randomizing my brain right now.
Well, I casually picked up a Lorna’s Laces skein from my yarn basket and cast on for a top down kids raglan last night…. this is in addition to the Traveling Women’s shawl already on needles and coming nicely, a clapotis (my comfort knit), a men’s vest (close to frogging it), and my Nuss that after T-day I wish I had knit a size up! As I knit thoughts go through my head: about how much I love to knit… and how am I going to support this knitting habit…. which project will be finished first… there are so many yummy, different textures of yarn… maybe I should take an armload of baby knits to our local baby store… and so on…
I’m crazy for knitting and wondering if i’m a bit crazy myself!
Well, the snow has me feeling festive, I made a couple of pans of venison-filled pasta shells, I’m catching up on blog reading, and chores are in process. Just regular random, I suppose.
Stay warm, Nora!!