Reading Corner

Anyone who knows me from Facebook will know that I have two book challenges running at the moment. One with Goodreads to read 50 books this year and another to read all 200 books from the 2003 BBC Big Read.
Due to my passion for knitting I am choosing to use audiobooks for my reading as I can totally immerse myself in the stories whilst still following a pattern. I have two sources for my reading pleasure, the One Click Digital service from my local library and my Audible subscription. I currently have a subscription for two books a month and as far as I am concerned it is the best value for money I get from anything I buy, (other than yarn of course).
Anyhoo, back to my challenge progress.
I have so far this year completed

7/50 Books in the Goodreads challenge

and overall

10/200 from the Big Read

As most of the reading I do comes from the library the Goodreads total will increase much quicker and I shall just dip into my Big Read challenge from time to time. I am not reading the Big Read books in any particular order, rather I am using a random number generator to choose my next book for me. 

My reading will slow down drastically in the summer when I am back at work but the winter months are just perfect for curling up with a good book.

My current book is The English Girl by Daniel Silva read by Jim Barclay

This fast moving thriller has really gripped me and I am racing through the story.

I will declare now that I am not a book reviewer, rather I am an avid reader who will share with you what I am currently reading and whether I like it or not.

New Year New Beginnings

May I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2016.

I have been very remiss at keeping this blog and I promise I will try my very best to post more this year.

Knitting

2015 was one of my very best years for churning out knitted projects. I managed to knit my way through 12.6 miles of yarn on various projects including jumpers, socks, shawls and new for me, fingerless mitts. I still have to block and photo some of the projects and when I do I will get the photos up here for you to peruse.

This year I am hopefully, starting as I mean to go on with a loose resolution to curb my "ooh shiny, must cast on" attitude. I say loose as my aim at this time is to stick to 5 projects a month or less. A jumper, socks, a shawl, fingerless mitts and my ongoing sock yarn blanket.

I also truly need to reduce the stash this year. I am beginning the year with 181,658 yards of yarn and whilst I know I simply cannot go all out "cold sheep" I feel that moderation is in order. I will be aiming for at least 2 out to 1 in. I will here and now confess that this will be hard in the months of Jan and Mar as already I have some new yarn for a jumper for my Mum to be added in and in March we have the wonderful Edinburgh Yarn Festival. It just means that in all the other months I will have to knit more and be frugal with purchasing.

Books 

I have set myself up with a Goodreads reading challenge of finishing 50 books this year. I am still plugging my way through the BBC Big Read list but I am also indulging my passion for crime novels with library downloads. I do not do much eye reading any more, preferring to listen to books on my laptop so i can knit at the same time. I find this combination of my hobbies most satisfying and I am sure it has speeded up my needles.

I am currently listening to a library book, Not Dead Enough by Peter James, this is a new author to me and so far I am enjoying both the story and the narrator.

Life

Things are quiet at the minute as it is the winter season at work and the weather is not great for going out gallivanting. I do hope however this year to share things I have been up to and places I have been. Where this will take me, who knows?, but hey, it will be an adventure.

Busted Some Stash

Another week and a bit has gone by, how quickly the days pass! I must be having fun.
Knitting is moving on apace and the basket dash I mentioned last time has begun. I have filled my basket with a few WIP's and some skeins to continue my 24 pair sock challenge. It seems to be working for me as within the first week (the dash began on Wed 15th) I have completed my first project.

The pattern is Ridge and Furrow Rainbow Triangular Shawl which is free on Ravelry. I can see how the pattern may be daunting to some as the original uses 54 different shades of Wollmeise yarn which can be like hen's teeth to find, but I just used one main background colour (Drops Alpaca) from stash and then some of my sock leftovers. Doing it this way made it a great stashbuster project as it used 993 yards and I managed to move 4 yarns into the "all used up" tab. Another thing that was mentioned to me was the huge cast on, the shawl is knitted bottom up, with 655 stitches. To me this is not really an issue as once you get past the patterned border as the rows make easy TV knitting and of course they reduce as you go on.

Of course I don't just watch TV as I knit. My other challenge is continuing also. I finished listening to The Fellowship of the Ring from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although I enjoyed the book I felt I needed a break from Tolkein for a while so used a random number generator to choose the next book from the list. It's stuff done the book chosen was The Once and Future King by TH White. I must admit that this is a book I have never heard of before. The story, an Arthurian fantasy, explores the childhood of King Arthur. This I am enjoying immensely. A bonus is that 33 hours long the book is a real bargain with my Audible subscription.

Also in the past week we have had an interloper. This gorgeous tint puss came into out house and our hearts.

We have named her Abby and she is settling in well having made particularly good friends with Gibbs our big boy.

Other than that life just passes day by day.

Stay safe and happy crating
Mary

It Has Been a While

Gosh, how time flies.I am having difficulty believing that I last posted in January.
However I am still here knitting away and dreaming up new challenges for myself to keep life interesting.
One of the things I have challenged myself to I have been thinking about for a number of years and now I have finally figured out how to take it forward and continue with my main passion. Way back in 2003 the BBC commissioned a year long survey to find the nation's favourite books, full list of the top 200 can be found here, I have often thought about trying to read as many as I can but was foiled by the fact you cannot turn pages or read words and read patterns and knit at the same time. The bingo! a solution came to me. I have an Audible subscription, why not have the books read to me whilst I relax with my sticks and string thus combining two of my favourite things.
I took the plunge and started at No 1. The Lord of the Rings. I have now finished the first of the 6 books and am a way through the second. You may find it hard to believe, especially with all the hype there has been in the last few years, but this is a book I have never read nor have I seen any of the films. I will admit that at times I am struggling to stay focused with the story but I will persevere and I am sure I shall enjoy it.
Another challenge to myself is to knit 24 pairs of socks this year. To many folk that will sound a lot but in my mind it is 2 pairs a month, not so bad. So far I have 7 pairs completed so am bang on schedule.

To keep things interesting I am trying to use a different pattern for every pair. My Ravelry queue has expanded madly as I have added nearly 500 of the free sock patterns available. In my mind this equates to roughly 20 years of socks. Hey, we can but dream.
I am not just knitting socks though, I have a few other projects on the go and one of my Ravelry groups has a basket challenge about to begin. This involves filling a basket, real or imaginary with yarn, or wip's and trying to do as much as you can from that basket within a set period of time. It is a great way to stay focused and work your way through the stash.
Speaking of stash, mine has taken a bit of a giant leap in the wrong direction twice already this year. Firstly when a dear friend was de-stashing and I got some gorgeous yarn and a very good discount and secondly when I took myself along to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. What a wonderful day out that was. Over a hundred stalls packed with yarnie goodies of all descriptions. It was heavenly. However being me I was like a deer caught in the headlights and there was simply way too much to choose from. I ended up just buying yarn from my favourite hand dyer and a beautiful basket for my basket challenges.

The dates for next year's festival have just been announced and I have already made a promise to myself that I will branch out and try some new yarn.
Other than that I have no major planned yarn purchases this year so it is time to climb back on the sheep and work my stash down. I will however have one skein of yarn arriving each month as my wonderful hubby gave me the most amazing gift this past Christmas. He has signed me up for the Yarn Notes from Assynt yarn club which includes a skein of hand dyed sock yarn, a beautiful picture card and some very well researched and written information about the area around the picture. The first 4 months of this club have been a joy to receive and I look forward to each and every parcel arriving.
That is all I can think of for now.

Stay safe and happy crafting
Mary