Yarn Along: 3x3

School is back in session after Jonas put us all on hold for four long days.  The temps have warmed into the 40s, so things are starting to melt and thaw.  The roads are mostly just wet, although the shoulders and corners are still full of snow.  Parking is still a bit dodgy, so I'm getting everyone to and from school on foot.  But things are slowly returning to normal.  We had a bit of a trek to get the boys to school this morning on foot, but we made it!

During all the snow, I got a lot of knitting done.  I made two more pilot caps for the girls for church, using up two random skeins of yarn in the process.  I'll try to get photos of the girls wearing them soon.  Birdie has been wearing hers to school.

I was trying to get some of my projects further along before casting on new stuff, so naturally I cast on a new sweater yesterday:

Sometimes I just can't help myself.  I'm to the point on my Saucy Librarian sweater (below) that it is just boring knit rounds for a few more inches, and it is hard to stick with it for more than a bit at a time.  The sport weight makes for a nice-looking finished product, but it isn't particularly speedy on the pins.  The green is a wonderful, slightly variegated rich hunter green.  The color isn't showing up well in the photo, but I'm really eager to finish this sweater and wear it!  At least the raglan increases on the blue pullover (above) are keeping my attention.  I will say this is my first time working with the Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks.  I couldn't resist the price, although I was concerned about the itch factor.  The yarn is strange--it feels rough in my hands while I'm knitting it, but when I rub the fabric or the skein against my skin, it feels perfectly soft and itch-free.  I guess that is a good thing!  I got a KnitPicks gift card for Christmas and I'm considering a gray Ramona in the bulky superwash version of this yarn.

I also cast on a sweater for one of the girls.  I bought this pink yarn last fall, but I realized it doesn't really suit me and I don't need a pink sweater of this weight in my closet.  So I'm going to turn it into two sweaters for the girls, plus caps and leg warmers.  It is superwash wool, so I think it will work great.  I'm planning to modify the pattern for long sleeves.  I love the short sleeve option, as well as the fact that it keeps the sleeves out of their dinner plates, but Ponchik especially gets cold easily, so I think long sleeves would be better for her at least.  Birdie seems to like the shorter sleeves, so maybe I'll do one of each.

I'm no further on my Stockbridge Rosemont cardigan.  I'm also considering casting on a cowl, just to have a small project to work on.

I finished watching Nikita this weekend as well.  I was reluctant to get into that show at first, because I thought they couldn't possibly improve on the two movies and television show from the late 1990s.  I was a big fan of the USA show starring Peta Wilson and Roy Dupuis.

I was wrong.  This version of Nikita was an excellent reboot, and the casting superb.  The storytelling was wonderful, and I liked that they didn't simply retell the Nikita legend, but rather picked up where the others left off, in a way.  I really loved the Nikita/Michael love story in this version.  The dynamic between Maggie Q and Shane West was really fun to watch.  I've been a fan of Shane West since A Walk to Remember, and find him even more interesting to watch now that he's grown up (he is almost exactly the same age as me, so like Claire Danes, I'm weirdly interested.  I guess it is a peer group thing?)

I know some people complained about the ending of the series, but I actually found it quite satisfying.   My only complaint is that I think the last season could have been fleshed out better over thirteen episodes, but if the network only gives you six, you get it done in six!  It wasn't a pat ending, it left a little bit open to interpretation, but also tied up almost all the loose ends in a clever and truthful way.  The storyline from season three about Michael (no spoilers!) gave me an idea for a story of my own, and also made me think a bit.  

I really loved the nods to the original movies and show.  The set design for Division was clearly influenced by Section One, and I loved that they worked in a recurring guest spot for Alberta Watson, who was a scary mainstay of the original show.  (Bonus that they even called her character on Nikita Madeline!) In Section One there was no paper--everything was on tablets, which was unheard of at the time.  This is also true in Division, and there is a humorous sequence in season three about Fletcher's overflowing desk.

I also enjoyed the way that the group dynamic was built over several seasons.  It started out as Nikita by herself, and then grew to a ensemble cast that I really loved and cared about.  I especially liked Noah Bean's character of Fletcher, and the arc he takes.

I tried watching Salem, Shane West's historical drama about the Salem witch trials, but I had to shut it off.  It was too scary for me!   Which is too bad, because it is quite well done, and has a pretty stellar cast (including Xander Berkeley from Nikita!).  I have a pretty low threshold for scary stuff.  I only got into the X-Files in the later seasons, and even then I was covering my eyes half the time!

As for reading, I'm working on Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and 10 Prayers God Always Says Yes To.  I think my Lenten reading this year is going to include Flannery O'Connor's Prayer Journal.  I also have Matthew B. Crawford's World Inside Your Head on my stack, but mostly I'm looking for some engaging fiction.  I still have an Arkady Renko novel to read, plus a few Lazarus/Decker mysteries from Faye Kellerman, but I'm just not that enthused about them.  I've been so sick lately that I can't stay awake to read for very long.  I really want something like the Outlander series, that will be well written and researched, big, and absorbing, while at the same time giving me things to think about.  Every historical novel I've read in the last six months has annoyed me for one reason or another--mostly because of poor research.  I don't want to be taken out of a story because there is some glaring historical error, however small.  I think a lot of stuff gets published and put into amazon's kindle library that isn't well-written.  It's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.  Perhaps I should get back to C.S. Lewis.  He never disappoints.

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!