Hodgepodge

This is a detail of a striped thing has been one of the two beasts that I have been working on. Don't let the bulky weight yarn with US13 needles fool you. This blanket (Cast On 75 stitches) has not been a quick knit for me.

Life in the way of hobbies ... again.

It's okay, it's a good life. Perplexing and trying at times, but good.

The other beast still in progress is 340 stitches of Twinleaf shawl. I can't photo her right now, she's a big bulky mess. I have some concerns (based on late night stripe stitch counts) but I'm captain of this knit ship and I say, "Full Steam Ahead!" Give me a week. I'm hoping to finish. Hoping, not promising.

I'm knitting both of these as focused finishes for My Sister's Knitter Fall Knit along. I hope to knit a few more things, but eye on the beasts first!

Anyhow, here are a few other food/baking things I've been enjoying:

Thanks to this fun article, Food in Books in the Guardian, I've been enjoying the author's blog. I'm particularly fascinated by this post. It sends me back to reading about this very delicious sounding treat.

I'm thinking I need to do this almond butter flourless cookie recipe.

But I'm distracted by the idea of a Nutella Brownie Tart. Why hello there!

And I'm not sure why I've been looking at more than one gluten-free product at a time, since my household doesn't have a particular issue. But who cares about gluten if they chocolate cookie is chewy? I might project these this weekend.

Lastly, it was really interesting reading everyone's comments on audiobooks. Katherine's comment in particular was cracking me up:

I have a very simple problem with audiobooks--they put me to sleep. Yes, I can fall asleep standing up, cooking, and definitely knitting (sort of a dream state). I don't know what it is that does it, because I never fell asleep in school during lectures, but it is a sure thing that 10 minutes into an exciting book--zzzzzzzz. I have been trying to listen to 13 Hours In Benghazi but I am failing miserably.

Yes, Katherine, I've had a book or two that I had to let go, because it was giving me the sleepies. As if we don't have enough in life that makes us tired!

Some of you mentioned you prefer Podcasts. I admit, I struggle with these more. The only ones I seem to truly enjoy are about soccer. Funny, right?

I've been checking the audiobooks out with an app called Axis 360. It's not the best, but it gets the job done and seems to work well on Wi-fi. I can't really figure out "where" I am in an overall book, just a chapter, which seems to be more of a grouping not necessarily an actual book chapter and though some users have complained about the bookmarking tool, I have good success rate if I pause first then immediately bookmark. I have not yet used the other app my local library uses, but not having to go into a library to do this is magical I can checkout books using my online account on the computer or on my iPhone. But I do love my new library branch. :) Swoon.

Lastly, despite my love of the holiday spirit. I've decided I'm boycotting Halloween this year. No particular motivation, literally. I just don't feel like dressing up and I don't feel social like that, so ha! But this does not mean I don't think others shouldn't enjoy themselves nor am I looking down upon those that are going to be up to their pumpkin guts in candy and costumes. Enjoy the sweet and enjoy the scary!

Pumpkin spice and everything nice to you and yours :)

Audiobooking

Okay, I finally did it. I finally got on the audiobook bus. Everyone was talking about how they can knit and cook and do all these fabulous things while listening.

Well, now I am really into the audiobook. Unlike some multi-taskers I can't read and knit at the same time. So by listening to audiobooks, when I have a chance for downtime I am hoping to knit more. I can even audiobook while I work depending on the task -- though I often have to rewind and listen to huge sections at a time, but that's okay.

Wanna know what I've been listening to? Here we go:

This was my gateway book:

I think this falls into the Thriller genre but personally I like to call this sub-genre, "Trainwreck". Pardon the pun, but it was sort of painfully intriguing to see what bad decisions were being made by many of the characters. Unlike Gone Girl, I had a horse in the race and after discussing with my sister and The Manfriend, we all were cheering for that person who really had the potential to better themselves. We really wanted them to find a way back from the depths of their self sabotage and despair. I also found that when I really disliked the way characters would self excuse and righteously explain their behaviors it was an indicator the author had worked some magic on me. The pace of the story was fast and addictive. The audio narration is really fantastic. It's told by 3 different women. Not just one woman representing 3 different characters. The Girl on the Train may not be for everyone, but not only was it for me, it convinced me I am now an audiobooker.

Next up The Mapping of Love and Death, a Maisie Dobbs novel. I was really sucked into Jacqueline Winspear's novels in the beginning of the series. Since then my adoration has waned a bit. I find the books are hit or miss for me. I enjoyed this one, and I enjoyed revisiting the characters and listening to her develop further aspects of their actual character. Also, I felt that towards the end of this book we might get a chance to see Maisie's character develop a little too beyond this, private detective fiercely independent dog with a bone kind of personality. Not my favorite in the series, but definitely has me queuing up for more. :)

 

I guess I really wanted a mystery, but I barely remember this one honestly. An Old Betrayal  is another in a series I've been trying to keep up with. I'm not sure what it was about this story that lost me. I think the subplot and the promises of what's to come for some main characters was more interesting to me than the actual investigation. So meh. I'll try the next one.

Now this story, Whistling Past the Graveyard I really enjoyed. I feel bad I cannot remember which knitters, but I know at least two of you had said how much you enjoyed it and well, if I will knit big @ss never ending garter stitch shawls under your influence, surely I am suseptible to your book influence as well. Hey at least it doesn't take as L O N G to get through. "Sweet baby Jesus!" as our main character repeatedly says. In fact, I find myself interjecting that into conversation ... unnecessarily ... too much, now. There were times when I found the pace ... a little drawn, but it works. There was a thickness in the tension of the story told from a child's perspective that works. In fact even some of the repetitiveness which would normally make me twitchy really works with a child narrator. There were a lot of themes in this book that worked for me. Warning another book where you will want to shake some characters, but it's a satisfying story and not the shock writing as I've heard described of GG or GotT. 

And here we are something that is not a thriller or a mystery,  Armada by Ernest Cline, author of "Ready Player One", which I still haven't gotten around to reading yet. I like the Sci-fi even though there is always the reminder that humanity is arrogant and we will probably be the cause of our own destruction in every great Sci fi book. Think Dune series or even Ender's Game. Anyways, this is for the video game friendly (even if just in concept) reader as well. I loved the beginning of this book, even when it rabbit holes into some serious geek theory territory. I love the allusions that even the main character's mother makes to things such as Lord of the Rings (movie and book versions) and Star Wars and Star Trek. The ending left me feeling I wanted something else, but what? I do not know. This is often the case for me when it comes to SciFi so you know, let's just blame it on my own issues. For the record the boys at home say Ready Player One is a better read...

In a desire to have something else to discuss with The Kid I just finished listening to The Lost Hero. I need to note that I really enjoyed most of the books int he Percy Jackson series and even The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. However this book so far is my least liked.  Why, Ellen Why? Maybe the whole self involved conflicted poor communicating teenager thing is a little too close to home. Maybe I just found the whole pace too slow for things so ... obvious. Maybe it was just too long. However I now have a baseline for this new series and I also have a talking point with my opinionated son. He along with a few of his friends promise me the books get better and agree it is the weakest in the series. 

I have tried a few more audiobooks, but the reading itself was either so horrible or the quality of the production was too poor that I couldn't invest myself in it. I have been checking these  audiobooks out of the library and it is just one more reason to love the library, non? But we'll talk about my renewed love of the library another day (get it? renewed?!? ha!)

I have a few more things in the works, but we can discuss that later. But please tell me if you have an audiobook you are particularly fond of, or a recent read! 

I will catch up with all of you soon. Wishing you a good story and a happy knit!

Weekend Baking

Cool enough to bake but I still barely needed a light-weight cardigan during the day.

First up are pumpkin acorn cakes adapted from King Arthur's Flour. So pretty and moist but I think I want to try them again substituting the oil with butter. You toss them in a cinnamon sugar while warm for a lovely coat of fall taste.

Next up are cinnamon roll sugar cookies. No icing. I ran out of time. Also I did not use baking spray on this but just floured my rolling surfaces accordingly and used parchment on my cookie sheets. These were surprisingly popular and not too sweet. I used dark brown sugar and just a shake of granulated, because we read the recipe wrong and that's all we had in the pantry 😉

I didn't do the floss cut so they are oval shaped, but tasty.

After some more knitting I think we will continue focusing on cake. Maybe a return to something chocolate ... To be determined.

Undines in Top Cat

It is very important to me that I mention these socks were made in Top Cat from Wandering Cat Yarns, because they are really just so so lovely. So soft, but tough. 

Pink dreams.

I did a stockinette foot and I'm happy with it. 

I'd like to return to this pattern some day and try a purless version and make some lovely gift socks. Maybe even some shorties. I loved the KAL and seeing how it knit up in so many wonderful color ways even stripes!

Take and Replace Swap Treasures & A Quick Follow-up.

"I'm here! I'm here!", says the rather eager, if not irritating girl in the front row to the right. Thankfully, for both our sake she doesn't like the attention enough to feel the need to sit smack-dab, front row middle ...

That's me.

I have been trying to wave at you and get your attention, but I've also been on the go and haven't been able to commit to a full post.

Yes. I have been on the go, but I suppose that's just how I am.

I was so excited the other night when I went to bed and found a flat rate box on my side of the bed! My Take and Replace Swap box arrived from Paula The Quilter. Don't let her name fool you, she knits too and seems to be another very crafty blogger. The swap was set up by the lovely Nancy of Wyoming Breezes. Nancy does a Foreign Friday that is very transporting and informative, she's seen a lot of cool places and things. She's also a master charity knitter and quilter. Swoon!

Well, seeing how it was so late and I hadn't even been in my room until I had to go to bed ... I waited a day till I pulled my hot potato treasures.

This greatness called me, and I well who am I to abandon them?

My love for all things socks is still strong. I'm finishing up Undine, I really am! this weekend. I love that damn yarn. I cast on another pair of stockinette socks that I'm just grateful to have on the needles.

Remember that baby blanket that was going to be too small? Yeah, it's way too small. Remember the extra yarn I was going to order? I did, but I ordered the wrong colorway and the right colorway doesn't exist anymore. Oh well.

Now I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to just go back to baby sweaters and hats or try a blanket one more time... Maybe if I cast on 80 with US10s instead of 138 with US8? I'm crap for baby blanket dimensions, I really am.

I considered the color blocking and the dimensions are still wrong. It's okay team. I like to knit.

On to known things that will happen this winter? I'm going to finish that damn Twinleaf and I'm going to knit a vest. For sure.

The rest? Well let's see how the socks things unfold.