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

Knitting.

Hats are boring, but they are also potato chip knitting. The two on the left are knit with Knit Picks Swish Worsted, a superwash merino. The two on the right are knit with Plymouth Yarn Company Pima Rino. The blue ones are for the Blue Hat Project, the gray one is for Hats for Sailors*.

Pima Rino is 80% cotton, 20% wool, the same content as Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece. It is labeled as worsted, but to me it seems more like a DK or even a sport weight. The fabric knit on US #7 needles seems… loose. In any case, I am the now the proud owner of eight 50-yard skeins in navy, a burgundy that I would consider brown, and medium gray. Because of the high cotton content, it is not great fun to knit — no stretch. I will use it only now and then for hats.

I am making the hats to fill in time until the yarn for the baby blanket arrives. I ordered the yarn on July 2, and it shipped on July 5. It arrived yesterday, July 19. Looking at the tracking history, it appears that the s-l-o-w delivery can be laid at the foot of the postal service.

This is the neutral to go between the color blocks.

Just in case you do not remember the pattern, it is Super Easy Baby Blanket from Purl Soho. I plan to knit one section of each color, making each section as big as three skeins will make it. Unless that turns out to make the blanket too big. Really, it a make-it-up-as-I-go kind of project.

Reading.

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Lessons by Ian McEwan. First of all, Ian McEwan is one of my favorite authors, ever since I read Atonement. So I was fully prepared to enjoy Lessons. However, I dropped it after 50+ pages (hard to say, I was reading it on my Kindle). It was BORING. Had I been reading it in a physical, analog book, I might have read further, or maybe not. Hard to say. In any case, I cannot in good conscience recommend this book. Sorry. 2★

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I seem to be on a roll. With the exception of Lessons, every other book I read got 4★s.

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The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. There were many bits that made me laugh out loud, but I had a bit of trouble following the plot. Senior moments? A fun book nevertheless. 4★

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Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder. Another light, humorous book, this one about a Congresswoman running for the US Senate. She is a widow who filled her husband’s seat when he died, but found out she liked being able to do some good for her constituents. After ten years in the House, she wants to move up, but her family and staff may not be as supportive as she might want. Never fear, though; the story ends happily. 4★

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.W. Schwab. When I finished this one I said aloud, “What a story!” Not humorous like the above books, but an intriguing plot. The title character made a deal with the devil? a different spirit? trading her soul for everlasting life, but of course there is a tradeoff she was unaware of: no one remembers her and she can make no marks on the world. Imagine making snow angels that disappear as fast as you can make them. Sometimes that comes in handy, say, if she is stealing a loaf of bread; the seller cannot remember why he chased her. But it seriously hinders making friends, not to mention her love life. 4★

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Watching.

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Still watching China Beach. We recently started watching season 3. The episodes gets darker as we progress through the course of the war.

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* Oops. I just noticed that the Hats for Sailors must be knit of wool. Crap. I guess the gray hat will have some other home.