Yarn Along: Saucy Saucy

~knitting~

So this happened yesterday:

Apologies for the flash photos--it was the only way I could get the green color to show up somewhat accurately.

I finished the Saucy Librarian sweater and am blocking it now!  The body of this sweater seemed to take forever to finish, but the sleeves went surprisingly fast.  I'm blocking it rather aggressively, in the hopes of salvaging the length issue, and possibly improving the fit, so we'll see how it comes off the pins.  I cannot believe I'm writing this on May 18, but I think I may be able to model it for photos this week!  (I'll share them for next week's Yarn Along)  It is still chilly and damp, especially in the mornings, and I'm still wearing tall boots and heavy tights most days.  I'm mostly wearing light weight sweaters, though, so that is something.

I've made a little more progress on my dad's vest, but not enough that is worth photographing.  Just a few more inches on the body.  I think I have another 2" to go before I start shaping the arm holes.  I bought a bunch of yarn lately in some sales, so I have pretty much planned out the rest of my knitting year (and then some!)  Maybe I'll do a yarn and knitting plans round up post soon.

~reading~

I bought a couple of knitting books lately, as I want to figure out how to fit my figure, and be happy with the results of my knitting.  I bought both Amy Herzog's books (Knit to Flatter and Knit Wear Love) and Top Down: Reimagining Set-In Sleeve Design by Elizabeth Doherty.  I read Knit to Flatter and Top Down earlier this week, and I think Knit to Flatter is going to be a very useful book, as it looks at knitting garments by body type.  I basically understand my shape, but didn't really understand some of the best ways to fit it in knitting.  The Top Down book I wanted to have because I wanted another option for fitting my narrow shoulders besides the imperfect fit of a raglan sleeve.  I've not received the Knit Wear Love book yet, so can't speak to that one.  I'm also intrigued by You Can Knit That, also by Amy Herzog.  I really like her approach, and her patterns seem mostly doable to me.

I am about half way through The World Beyond Your Head, and it is very very good.  I'll probably write it up here when I'm finished--there is just so much to mine there.  Crawford's writing style is funny and deprecating, and I've found myself laughing out loud at a few points.  Not exactly what you'd expect from a mostly philosophical treatise.  He makes it interesting and points out a lot of connections that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

I've temporarily set War and Peace aside in favor of Crawford, so no new progress on that this week. I'll get back to it.  At the good advice of a friend who reads Good Books, I've taken the plunge and ordered Sigret Undset's Kristen Lavransdatter.  I've heard other bloggers rave about it, and my friend really loves it, so I'm curious to read it.  It will probably go to the middle of my stack, as I have several other books I want to read first.

Speaking of reading lists, I just ordered Putin Country, and I think that one may have to jump the queue.  It is a clear-eyed look at contemporary Russia, particularly outside the metropolis of Moscow, and examines why people in Russia continue to support Putin, even if they don't particularly love him.  I've got a rather nuanced view of Putin myself, and am eager to read what Anne Garrels has to say.

~watching~

I'm watching Person of Interest's final season on cbs.com, and while I understand why the first two episodes of the season had to go the way they did, I felt like they didn't really settle into things until episode 3.  I wouldn't be bothered except the season only has 13 episodes, so I hope they make the most of the rest of the season!

I think I mentioned that I started back at the beginning of The Americans, whilst I wait for season 4 to hit prime on amazon.  I'm a couple of episodes into season 2 at the moment.  I remain fascinated by Philip and Elizabeth's strange relationship.  Since Blindspot is wrapping up for the summer, I'm probably going to start Outlander S2 soon.

In addition to my knitting, I've been doing a lot of puttering around the house this week--I finished (hopefully!) the last sewing project for my summer rotation and cleaned out the bathroom cabinets in both bathrooms, and reorganized and cleaned out the linen cabinet as well. (Our linen cabinet is this weird pentagonal shaped closet that is fitted into the ridiculously tiny landing just outside the 2nd floor bathroom.  It is difficult to store things in neatly because of the odd shape, and it just isn't very big.  We can't even get a proper door on it because the corner is so tight in relation to the bathroom door, so it has a curtain instead.  I mostly store towels that are not in use, cleaning supplies, and travel toiletries, but somehow it gets messy throughout the year.

I've also been trying to plan our summer; the kids are going to be home a lot more of it than we had originally planned, and so I'm scouting out craft supplies, looking into outings and day trips, making a daily schedule, trying to set up various therapies for the kids since we have so much more flexibility in the summer, etc.  I feel sort of overwhelmed already.  I mean, I know it will probably be fine once we get into it, but having the burden of all of it fall on me just feels like a lot.  Yes, I'll take some cheese with my whine.

I'm hoping to get back to running this summer, and want to pick up my Russian again.  I have a rather impressive stack of books to work through, and I want to do some more writing, both here and on some fiction projects I've had percolating for a while.  All in good time, I suppose.

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along!