All The Self Care….Literally

I decided to give myself a mini vacation this past weekend. With the rising cases of COVID I had to cancel some pretty fun plans. And then our hot water heater broke last Thursday so we didn’t have hot water for four days. So I rounded up all my favorite self care items, kissed my kids and hubby and retreated to the basement last Saturday night.

I had wine, my pedicure tools, face masks, my latest book, animal crossing and more knitting than I could possibly handle in one evening. It was glorious! I watched a rom com TV show and just zoned out from all responsibility.

10 out 10 and would definitely do again!

Expanding My Library

I’ve thus far been able to play with my wheel long enough to find out that I needed to re-do the break band and oil the treadle connections. And as of last weekend I have accomplished both of those things I am also getting better at consistently treadling in the same direction when I treadle on an empty wheel. (Note: I was gifted a Hitchhiker Wheel by Merlin Tree in case anyone was interested.)

Next up, is actually trying to make some yarn. My day job has been CRAZY stressful lately as I just became a supervisor in January and one of the longest track employees in my department gave her 30 day retirement notice. So I haven’t been making much progress on finding the time to YouTube learning to spin.

My next thought was to go analog and get some books. Thank you used book exchange! I got two used spinning books. The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook is one I have seen on many of a spinning podcast so I know it’s good but maybe past my skill level at this point. But the “How To Spin” was an amazon suggestion I took a risk on. I am trying to reserve my judgement until I start reading.

Happy (Almost) Spinning!!

Guilty Pleasures

I have been on the local library waiting list for like two months. But my book finally came in! I have followed this series since book one. I know they aren’t for everyone and it’s pretty easy to solve the crime. But you guys….it’s my guilty pleasure. I love a nice easy read with characters I have bonded with. With all the hurt and drama in the world I like to escape in easy to digest murder mystery novels with quirky female detectives. It’s my happy place.

I’m about halfway through the book and paired it last night with a glass of Rose after putting the kids to bed. I may or may not have stayed WAAAY to late reading and regret it this morning.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Dueling Focus

I’m in the season on my job where I’m running large batch data runs at work that can take….well let’s just say awhile. And my aging PC really can’t multitask. So I’m left watching a lot of progress bars tick slowly along. Knitting isn’t really mainstream among my coworkers so I’ve switched to E-books to kill the downtime. And I’ve gotten back into a few old favorite series but mostly I’m addicted to a new series…


It’s kind of spy chick lit with a magic twist. The main character is relatable and while the books are fairly predictable I CAN’T PUT THEM DOWN. I’m already on 5 of 7 and not slowing down. I even find myself wanting to read instead of knitting. Oh the humanity!!

Back In The Saddle

Taking care of Jellybean has put a serious dent in my reading. What little spare time I do get I usually spend knitting. But I keep seeing yummy books pop up on my friends Goodreads accounts and on  my favorite blogs. I decided to just get over myself and get back on the horse!

First up, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

  
I’ve finished this one already. It took me awhile to get into the story but I enjoyed it. I’m waiting for the e-book copy of book two in the series to become available at my local library. 

In the mean time I’ve picked up Yarn Over Murder by Maggie Sefton.

  

I’ve been devoted to this series and this is book 12? They are light, fluffy, and I can predict the killer from a mile away. But I still love them. It’s just about the right amount of brain power and attention I can spare at the moment.

What are you reading?

A Little Post Winter Pick Me Up

I managed to get my mitts on a new book. And I’m beyond in love with it!

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Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog!! I’ve only had time to read the first few pages and flip through the designs. I did manage to snag my seamstress/genius mother to take my measurements and plug them into the measurements page.

I’ve already fallen in love with some of the projects. How amazing is this Flutter Pullover? I’m not ready to dive into a sweater project just yet. So I’m content to just drool for now.

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Has anyone else out there knit a project from this book? I’d love to hear your experiences!

Recent Reading Obession

I LOVE having a library card!! But just like my queue on Ravelry, my reading queue is daunting and I don’t know where to start. A girlfriend found me standing helplessly staring at the mystery stacks in the library and gently helped me away from the edge of the abyss. She a put a Janet Evanovich novel in my hands and pointed me to towards the checkout desk.

I had heard of Stephanie Plum series before so I wasn’t unfamiliar. But I’m glad I picked up the series. The books are seriously addicting to a murder mystery buff like myself. So far I have read:

  • One for the Money
  • Two for the Dough
  • Three to Get Deadly

The author has a great sense of humor. The characters are reasonably well developed and I find that I like that they are all a bit flawed. Most of all the books let me loose myself in them. That’s all I ask of a book, take me away to an imaginary world for a few minutes and forget my real world stress and problems. I like my books with a little mystery, lots of humor, nothing gross, nothing scary, and not so easy that I can pick the killer out on page 40. I’m a fluffy chic murder mystery kind of girl, lol.

For me this series is a winner and I can’t wait to keep reading. Novels four and five are waiting for me to pick up at the library as we speak.

What kind of books do you like to read? Anything I should read?

Author/Book Review: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

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Using some of my wonderful Amazon gift cards from Christmas I picked up a few volumes written by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka the Yarn Harlot! I had been interested in reading her books as she is the reigning queen of knitting books.

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At Knits End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much is AMAZING!! I finished this text in less than a day. It’s full of snippets of wisdom, humor, knitting lessons. This is destined to be read over and over again. Not to mention it’s earned a permanent place in my collection. I highly recommend this book to knitters of all ages and skill levels!

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Yarn Harlot: the secret life of a knitter
This volume explores the different facets of knitting life. I connected a great deal to this book as my knitting habit has reached a level that one (not me) could call obsessive. Each chapter is a delightful, poignant, or instructive story about knitting that intertwined into a volume on the highs and lows of knitting. Another great read that didn’t take me very long to read!

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Things I Learned from Knitting… whether I wanted to or not
A list of 44 things every knitter is bound to learn through their knitting adventures. Each chapter is prefaced with pearls of wisdom like, “beginning is hard, continuing is hard”. This book is more than just knitting, it’s a commentary on how knitting is like life. Stuff happens and how you deal with it is all that matters. This is a great coffee table book, sure to start great conversation especially among knitters!

All three books were excellent and I can’t wait to track down her other books!! Now I need to do some knitting so I have a few FO posts later this week!

Happy Sunday and Happy Knitting!

Review: The Friday Night Knitting Club Series

I finished Kate Jacob’s series of books on The Friday Night Knitting Club! I read them all in a matter of four to five days actually. I don’t so much read books as I devour them. Especially when it’s a topic I love! When I was a little and learning to read, I struggled tremendously. I vividly remember the special classes and hours of flash cards with my mother. I HATED it at the time, but age has shown me the wisdom of those lessons. I can now speed read….and for comprehension. This skill greatly enhanced my test taking skills as a student and continues to aid me in my professional life.

Having said all that, I would also like to point out that I am not literary stickler. I don’t read for grammar, punctuation, or structure. I read for fun, to be pulled into the story and create it in my head. After years of stage acting and script reading, I read books to get lost in the story and put myself in the footsteps of the characters. (I will note as a disclaimer that several other readers in their review of this series HATED the way Jacobs writes in fractured and incomplete sentences. Ha, I didn’t even notice!)

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I personally loved this series, especially the first book The Friday Night Knitting Club. The book follows a series if characters in a knitting shop and in their lives in New York City. The main focus is the shop owner, Georgia Walker and her daughter. I found all the characters to be well developed and unique from one another. The knitting references were accurate and sounded super adorable. No spoilers, but the end of the book really threw me for a loop.

The second book, Knit Two, picks up five years later with the same characters dealing with the ramifications of book one. I enjoyed this book (not as much as the first) and still found I was invested in the character stories. Both books are full of love, angst, family drama, knitting, and friendship. I blasted through the second book in less than a day.

I got a little lost in book three, Knit The Season. This book tried to wrap every characters story up with a nice neat bow. Life doesn’t always work out like that but it’s nice to pretend once in awhile. This book did stir up some feelings/memories about the holidays and family. That was both nice and bittersweet for me.

As a whole, I recommend this series to knitters of all ages and skill. All three books include recipes and knitting patterns for items referenced in the story. Nothing I just had to make right away, but lovely all the same! I plan on keeping these novels on my shelves and I bet I reread them in the future!

Happy Knitting!

Next Up On The Reading List

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I am starting a new series by Kate Jacobs! There are three books so far:
The Friday Night Knitting Club
Knit Two
Knit The Season

I have started the first novel but will refrain from reviewing the individual books and review the series instead. I hope to have the first two novels read in time to start Knit The Season in November to get me in the holiday spirit!! I can’t believe it’s that time already…and I can’t believe I signed up for two holiday craft fairs…oh we’ll what’s done is done!

Stay tuned this week for homemade bread (via my bread machine and machine cookbook) and FO Friday where I will debut my first ever knit garment!

Happy Knitting!