Joining Kat and friends. Go see what the others are up to.

Knitting.

My knitting for the past week was one hit (left, below), one miss (center), one left on base (right).

Let’s start with the center blue one, m’kay? That is the fingering weight hat I have been working on for far too long. When I put it in the water to soak pre-blocking, it grew exponentially. Rats! It is even too big for my very large noggin, so it would be silly on my brother, whose head is a couple inches smaller than mine. I am feeling very annoyed at this hat. I used the Sockhead pattern, having made 3 hats from the pattern, but I never blocked any of those because they didn’t seem to need it. Now I am thinking I should NEVER block them lest they grow in the same manner. When I finish the one on the right I shall make another almost exactly like it for bro. Miss!

I made the red hat while waiting for yarn from Knit Picks*. Worsted superwash, 96 st, using the Seaman’s Cap pattern, my go-to hat pattern that I have made roughly a gazillion times. Raveled here. Hit!

The one on the right is the beginning of the hat for SIL, using the Seaman’s Cap pattern. It will most certainly be a hit, but for now it is left on base. Raveled here.

* Box of yarn: the fingering weight is what stretched so far. The two boxed skeins to the right are what I use instead. Or maybe I will knit 1″ stripes using all the shades of blue; the hat I knit for the Blue Hat project with those stripes was my favorite of all the blue hats. All of these are Swish Worsted from Knit Picks.

Reading.

The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade. When I started this book, I had low expectations, mainly because of the cheesy cover illustration. But when I laid the book down that night to go to sleep, I was surprised to realize that it had grabbed my interest. Not sure what the five wounds are — I count four — but that is irrelevant. The story starts with Angel, a pregnant 25-yo, who leaves her mother’s house to live with her alcoholic, unemployed, never-employed father, Amadeo. Said father, age 34, still lives with his mother and depends on her for everything. Then there is Yolanda, Amadeo’s mother and Angel’s grandmother, who is the one holding the family together; Valerie, Amadeo’s sister, who holds a steady job and appears professional; Marissa, Angel’s mother, who has little good to say about anyone; Brianna, the teacher at the school for adolescent mothers and mothers-to-be; and finally Ryan, the father of Angel’s baby. The book was fine reading, as in “she’s so fine“. 4✭

Listening, Watching.

Nothing new here. We just started season 2 of Cold Case, and I will start season 3 of Bosch the next time I am watching alone.