I finally finished the Peace Cowl! It needs to be blocked and then photographed but it’s done! And also, I don’t really love it . . . which might be why it hasn’t been blocked and photographed yet.

But we’re moving on.

I have two projects I am currently working on:

On the left is the Chevron Love Slouch Hat from Knitterly Things. I bought the Toasty Warm kit from Julia last winter and finally cast on last week. On the right is Geek Socks from Knitty, also with yarn from Knitterly Things. This is sock number two, I finished the first sock at the conference last week. Well, I sort of finished it. The pattern calls for an afterthought heel, which I’ve never done before, and I haven’t attempted it yet. Both the hat and socks are gifts.

I’m currently reading Just Mercy for Read With Us, our online book group, and I’m really enjoying it. I hope to be finished later today. At the same time I’m listening to  The Dutch House, Ann Patchett’s newest book. The story is wonderful and the narration is by Tom Hanks which is making it even more wonderful!

What are you knitting and reading this week? Be sure and visit Kat and let us all know!

Before I get into today’s post I just want to say thank you for all of your kind words of support and encouragement on yesterday’s post. It’s not an easy thing for me to share the powerlessness and shame I have dealt with in my life and it means so much to me that I can be vulnerable with all of you and feel safe and protected in this space.

Okay, let’s talk about knitting and reading because today I am joining with Kat and friends to do just that. More specifically, let’s talk about vacation knitting and reading.

There was knitting.

Not a lot, as you can see, but a bit every day on these Geek Socks from Knitty. It’s a really fun and easy pattern and perfect for self-striping yarn like this Vesper Sock Yarn in the color Falling Water from Knitterly Things. It’s a great pattern for social knitting and I know you all know just what I mean by that.

There was reading.

I finished four books while we were on vacation (updates and reviews on the specific titles when I do my next reading post) and I am currently reading The Strangers on Montagu Street by Karen White. It’s the 3rd in the Tradd Street mystery series and they are light and fun and perfect for summer. I enjoy that they are set in Charleston and the supernatural addition to what is otherwise a cozy mystery is definitely interesting to me. Is it great literary fiction? Nope. But sometimes that’s okay.

And that’s my vacation knitting and reading update. What are you knitting and reading this week?

Today I’m joining Kat and friends with an unraveling post. I don’t actually have any un-raveling to share but I do have a knitting and reading update and that’s what this weekly group is truly all about so here you go.

My current knitting:

The Peace Cowl that I started, oh, about 8 months ago. Yep. I set it aside in the spring and it’s just been waiting for me to get back to it. Once I finished those Disco Socks it seemed like the time was right. I need to check and see how many repeats I’m supposed to do because I think I’m in the home stretch. Well. Except for that i-cord bind off, gawd help me.

My current reading:

I like to call this  photo And Then There Was One. That’s right, I just have one Bingo square left to complete my card. I didn’t plan for it to also be the bottom right corner but I kind of love that it is. I’m reading Days Without End for that last square (Historical Fiction) and I should be done within a day or two as it’s not very long.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

No unraveling here this week but no real knitting progress either. This is (still) sock number 1 of my Disco Superfly socks. It’s all good but I find it interesting that I brought another skein of sock yarn with me to New York City to start a new pair in anticipation of finishing these on our trip. The reality? I didn’t knit a single stitch. In fact, I never even took them out of my bag! I spent my time on the train reading and really didn’t have any down time while in the city. Sure, it would have been cool to knit in Central Park or on the subway, but I was only carrying a very small cross body bag while we traipsed around and there wasn’t room for my knitting in that bag. If I was being honest about my habits I could have predicted this but a knitter is nothing if not hopeful and we always want to have a back up project.

The same goes for reading, honestly, which is why I love my kindle. I thought I’d finish The Great Believers on our trip and if I was carrying real books I’d have brought a back up. Or two. With my kindle that’s never a concern since I’ve generally got my maximum allowed number of check outs from Overdrive at all times. I did finish The Great Believers right after we got back and I’m now reading When They Call You a Terrorist, which is as heartbreaking and powerful as you might expect.

And that’s it for me this week. I’ll be sharing this post over at Kat’s to join with my fellow unravelers but I still want to know . . .  what are you knitting and reading right now?