Hello everyone and happy Wednesday. I hope everyone in the Northeast US is doing ok after Isaias. We had a lot of very large branches come down across the street from me, but miraculously none hit the power lines next to them! I never lost power for more than a few seconds, and while my internet was down last night it was back up this morning, so I’m feeling very lucky and grateful. On Wednesdays I link up with the folks over at As Kat Knits to talk about what I’m reading and knitting.
On the knitting front, no big surprises. I’ve continued to make a dent in my Ranch Coat, I’m now about 30% done with the knitting according to my Excel tracking. But now that’s taking a backseat to my new test knit. I got the yarn Monday and cast on yesterday. The yarn is beautiful- it’s the Merino Linen blend from Moondrake yarn. So far I like working with the yarn, it’s the first time I’ve worked with any linen content. It is a little bit splitty, it’s a single ply yarn and there are some strands of linen which come undone. I chose the colors “olive” and “rose quartz” which will make a nice low contrast top. The olive color on the website is distinctly green tinted, and in person this one isn’t, but I actually like this a lot better.
On the reading side, I’ve done a lot! I finished Good Omens Saturday, mostly because I wanted to watch the Amazon Prime series. I’ve watched the first couple episodes and I’m really liking it. Since then, I’ve also read a whole other book, called A Song Below Water, which I LOVED. It blended fantasy and the real life Black experience so perfectly. I feel like it would be easy when writing a modern day fantasy to just have it focused on the fantasy aspects, but these were real life teenagers with real life problems that were exacerbated by their fantasy-based ones. 5 stars! I found this book on Nicole’s blog – she has a ton of book lists and reviews! Next up for me is The Shadow of the Wind – I got this book probably 6 years ago when a friend moved away, and I am finally getting around to reading it!
What are you all knitting and working on this week?
Love Moondrake and Good Omens! Glad your storm damage wasn’t too bad and your internet was restored quickly!
That Ranch Coat pattern is amazing! I’m a slow knitter so I don’t think test knitting will be in my future.
Yes it does make it a bit tough seeing the progress some of my fellow testers have made! I consider myself a slow knitter too. But because I put all the stitches in Excel, I know If I can do about 1500 st a day it will get done by the deadline, and so far I’ve exceed that mark both days.
oh dear, glad to hear you are safe and well!
Your yarn looks utterly delicious, and you’ve already made a good start on your test knit, good luck with it!
I just looked up The Shadow of the Wind on Goodreads and found that I already had it marked as Want to Read, ha!! It looks so good!
I can’t wait to see your test knit grow. I’ve never knit with linen either but it’s definitely tempting during this heat! Your color combination looks lovely!
Hah! That’s great 😃 it definitely seems to be a book lovers book so far
Your new yarn is very pretty – looking forward to seeing your tee 🙂 I love Good Omens!
I love the colors you chose for your test knit! That’s going to be a really pretty top.
I’m glad you enjoyed A Song Below Water! I was really surprised by how much I loved it. I don’t normally read contemporary books (except for urban fantasy ones), but this one was such a good blend of the real and the fantastic that it was a perfect fit for me.
Yay for making a dent in a WIP and those are wonderful colors you’re working with. I’ve been trying to knit two rows of my shawl each day. I’m doing good and making a good dent in the last skein of yarn. I also work on my new sock WIP which is easy knitting. I have a historical romance to finish.