Lots of reading and listening to report:

• The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. Three stars, which is my standard rating for a good book. (Four stars requires that it be outstanding imo, and five stars means that it changed my life. My books, my ratings.) Clever and complicated plot, kept me reading. I may need to start at the beginning of the series because there were so many references to past case(s).
• Sourdough by Robin Sloan. A semi-sentient sourdough starter, but not really science fiction. Three stars. Light reading if you don’t mind a fair amount of techie stuff.
• Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy. Two couples and each’s two children go on a Central American cruise, spend a day ashore, and the children are kidnapped. Engrossing plot line, fairly interesting character development (adults only; none of the children never quite came together for me), three stars.
• Still listening to Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, read by the author. It starts slow, with a roll call of the Norse gods and a brief description of each, but once he gets into the actual myths I am enjoying it. But I have to say: what is the deal with the Norse gods naming everything — spear, hammer, pot, bracelet, silken ribbon, etc., etc., etc/? I know that in our world naming the things that scare us gives us power over them in our minds, but this just gets monotonous.

Reading other people’s, particularly Carole‘s, Goodreads reviews of books I have read has made me realize once again that I am not the world’s most discerning reader. I read almost purely for entertainment and escapism and am likely to miss anything except the most glaring  plot holes or unresolved plot lines or characterizations. Oh, well…

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Lots of knitting going on here, too, all small projects. I am the queen of small projects.

I finished the fingerless gloves for QGD2 (finally). They had been waiting for the second thumb while I worked out all my own thumb problems. One Christmas present down, one to go!

Cowl for silent auction in the spring. Loved knitting this. Nearly mindless pattern (Autopilot), luscious yarn — what’s not to like?

I played yarn chicken with that cowl, although truth be told, I had a pretty good idea of how much yarn I would need for the final border. Postal scale FTW!

Leftovers.

I started another cowl for the silent auction, but I’m not sure it is working out as well as it might.

Worsted weight brioche cowl using Cascade 220 and Darned Good Yarn Worsted Weight Silk. The latter is heavier than the former and seems to dominate both sides of the brioche. I ordered three different heavy worsted/aran weight yarns to sub for the Cascade.

Also planning the hat for QGD3. Check this out:

Much thanks to Ann in NJ for the Stitch Fiddle online chart maker recommendation. It worked nicely. (I plan to embroider the black outlines after the knitting is done. It seemed way too complicated, and probably wouldn’t work well, to try to incorporate them into the chart.) A little stash diving has shown me that I don’t need to dye all the colors I need. I have enough of everything except maybe the lightest blue. May have to dye that one.

Elder Son called today and happened to mention that, because both of GF’s daughters would be home for Thanksgiving but not for Christmas, they were all going to celebrate Christmas at Thanksgiving. Gee, thanks, kid. Two days warning is perfect for the mom who is knitting Christmas presents. (I told him Christmas from me would arrive in the mail. Pfft!)

For more unraveling, head on over to Kat’s to see what everyone else is knitting and reading.