Yarn Along: January

~knitting~

Another Carbeth!  This time a bright daffodil yellow cardigan.  I'm so happy with it.  I wore it unblocked on Friday, like the rebel I am, and then promptly blocked it that evening. 

The stitches loosened up quite a bit, so I tossed it in the dryer for a few minutes to even everything out and tighten it up again.  (I used super wash wool). 

 It is a new yarn to me: Carlton Supreme, which is a 100% merino superwash wool.  I bought navy and a dark purple as well.  

My only complaint is that the yarn isn't spun very tightly, so the individual strands can sometimes be split by not being careful where you put your needle, but it is relatively easy to put the strands back together, so there's that.

 I'll be curious to see how well it wears over time.  It's nice and soft, and comparable to DK Swish, I think. 

I'm planning to start a shawl with some hand-dyed Chickadee that I've had for a while, and I just cast on a navy Carbeth cardigan in the same Carlton Supreme as well. 

After that, I have the Lightweight Pullover in my queue, and a shawlette thing in a deep teal blue.

~reading~

The Intimacy Factor, which examines Myers-Briggs personality types and how they interact in a marriage relationship.  I bought it mostly as research for my novel, but it had a lot of great insights, and I realized a few things about my own personality that I'm noodling along.  I'll write more about that later.

I also finished a book about writing called The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass, which was super helpful at this stage of the game.  I put the second draft of the novel to bed on Old Calendar St. Nicholas Day, and have been letting it sit on ice this month before I hit the ground running after Theophany for the next round of edits.  Maass' book gave me some concrete things to work on in the next round of edits.  I'm starting to be impatient for the book to be "done" enough to start shopping it to agents, but I know I can't rush this part or it will just bite me later.

I'm still working on Madeleine L'Engle's Two-Part Invention, which is the story of her marriage to Hugh Franklin.  It's very very good reading.

I re-read a few writing manuals I read last year and found a few helpful things for this stage of my book as well.  I also plowed through a couple of backgrounder books that were helpful to read right now.  They will help me as I deepen the work during this next revision stage.

I've made absolutely zero progress on Kristen Lavransdatter--I just can't get into it.  Maybe it will just have to wait for the future.

~sewing~

Nothing, really.  I can show you my Christmas dress, which I made in November and have been saving until now.

It's another Frankenwashi, in Washi brushed flannel from Cotton+Steel.  So, a Washi-Washi.  Heh.  

It is made on the same block as my Night Owl dress, and while I think I got the elastic in the back slightly too high, it looks okay.  

I'm mostly happy with it, except that the fabric is pretty thin, and I ended up needing a cardigan over the top of these layers as well.  I also added some red woolen tall socks to warm up my legs.  I don't realize how warm my long skirts really are until I wear something shorter and I'm freezing!

The white cowl was just the thing.

But it was a festive dress for a festive day, and I was glad I had it to wear.

It was festive without being over the top, I think.

Otherwise, I've just been darning my tights and Ponchik's mittens.  I started using sock yarn to darn the tights instead of embroidery floss, and I think I like it better, even though the darning is a bit more difficult.  It seems like the darns hold better and are more robust.

~watching~

The Last Kingdom is my new favorite thing--I can't believe it took me so long to start watching it.  I love Alexander Deymon--he carries the show very well and is so enjoyable to watch.  The writing is great and I love how the religious conflicts are addressed.  It is a super interesting period of time to me (during the Danish invasion of Britain in the 800s) and it followed on well to a Viking exhibit I took the kids too over the winter break.

A quirky indie called Juliet, Naked, which was a mostly light film with Ethan Hawke and Rose Bryne.

Finally, The Death of Stalin is a must-see.  It is so ridiculous and funny and yet thought-provoking about the time.  The whole cast was note-perfect, and I enjoyed every minute.  (I especially enjoyed Jason Isaacs' scene-chewing role as Marshal Zyuganov)

I also watched Pixar's Inside Out on the recommendation of someone or other and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is more under listening, but if you want a sublime concert experience, watch Sting's live concert from Durham Cathedral, where he performs the music from A Winter's Night (one of his best albums in my opinion).  I have been a huge Sting fan since the Ten Summner's Dreams album, and I love how smart and thoughtful his music is.  His music talks to my soul.  (Check out his Songs from the Labyrinth for a truly wonderful album of John Donne readings with some instrumental music).  I am one of those weirdos who loved The Soul Cages and The Last Ship (his two best regular albums, if you ask me) and the live concert of The Last Ship is also very enjoyable.

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!