Update

Progress has been slow on the Shanghai tee because I just haven't been knitting all that much. 

I didn't go to knitting group Thursday night because I was just a little frazzled and felt like there were too many things at home I would rather be working on.  None of these things involved knitting.

Friday night we went into NYC for a concert at Avery Fisher Hall.  Usually I would get a lot of knitting done on the train but not this time.  G wanted to try listening to a book on tape so I lent him my Ipod on the trip down and while I did knit a little bit, I spent more time reading the papers (NY Times and Wall Street Journal) and Eat, Pray, Love.  I got a Kindle from Amazon for G for his birthday, thinking that the ability to use a larger typeface would make it easier for him to read, since he so often complains about how tired and painful his eyes are after about an hour of reading.  The Opthamologist says there are no changes in his vision and not much they can do so I thought the large type would help, but he has trouble managing the device.  Oh well.  I however found that it was great when we were traveling, or at waiting rooms and the like because it is small enough to easily drop in my purse and I can have several books or newspapers on it.  As G watches me use it, he is thinking that he might give it another chance.

G really liked the book on tape though and ended up using the Ipod on the way home as well.  I read for a while, but at midnight to 1 AM on an uncomfortable train, my concentration was a little lacking for knitting without the aide of a book or music.

Despite the knitting progress, I did want to show you some of the knew books that have been piling up.  Several relatively new books arrived while I was away earlier in the month, and I am just getting around to looking at them now.

  I ordered Tweed by Nancy Thomas because I am increasingly drawn to tweedy yarns.  I have, as I have gotten older developed more of an appreciation for traditional patterns and tweedy yarns and I just love my Rogue that was knit in Tahki Donegal Tweed.  I enjoyed reading the information at the beginning of the book about tweed yarns and there doesn't seem to be a pattern in the book that I can't imagine knitting for either myself or someone in my family.  The sweaters are all comfy country sweaters that I could wear almost anywhere around my home area all fall and winter as well as through the wet muddy cool days of early spring (which lasted a little longer than usual this year).


The sweaters in Lisa Lloyd's A Fine Fleece fit the same need for stylish, comfortable, "country" sweaters which can work for raking leaves, walking in the woods, browsing the shops in Rhinebeck or even going out to dinner in the local restaurants which are becoming increasingly sophisticated culinarily, but still maintain a country "casual" atmosphere.  I had admired a few of Ms. Lloyd's patterns before buying the book, and I love the idea that it has information about handspun yarns, types of wool, and spinning one's own yarn.  I also find it very interesting and instructive that the patterns are shown in a handspun version and in a version using commercially available wool, convenient for those of us who aren't yet spinning, while also reminding me that I do really want to pick up that spindle again and perhaps learn to spin.

Comments

[Susan]

I've been tempted to get a Kindle, and your comments encourage me. However, I have almost stopped reading. I have been spoiled by listening to books on my ipod with K (he stopped reading years ago) and knitting at the same time. Of course, this only works in the car, not on the train. I wonder if they make dual headphones for ipods?