Robynettely

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51:   Nothing. Persephone (probably not its real name): Nothing. Vinterlys: Finished Chapter 4.  Critted 4 Got back 1 Submissions 0 Out there 0 Rejects 0 Knitting Aberlady (AS Celtic Collection). Took it on vacation and did two pattern repeats (!) mostly in the car. It's now just over 6" long. I agreed with a comment I saw on Ravelry, that this was a very tedious pattern to knit. And I loved seeing some people had abandoned the key pattern at the armholes, or done the sleeves plain, or the like. I'm optimistic that it will become less hellish when I get to the armholes. Maybe I'll get there sometime around Christmas?  Quattro socks (knitty). Tidied up the danglers on the first sock, finished the second. I did not enjoy this pattern, though I will try it once more in a different size and with a different organization of balls of yarn.  Plain ordinary socks #2 : Last month I had started the cuff on the first sock. Now I'm just pas...

  LHC #327: "Interference" by Sue Burke. Hard copy. Sequel. All the characters seem sort of neuroatypical. I liked this volume better than the first, but it's totally necessary to have read the first one to enjoy this, I think. The 120-page chapter narrated by Stevland the bamboo plant was a challenge, but if it had been told by anyone else it would have been twice as long, so there's that.  "The Candy House" by Jennifer Egan. eBook, for office book club. It's a mosaic novel, and some characters' chapters were easier to read than others.  LHC #328: "How Infrastructure Works" by Deb Chachra. Hard copy. It made me think about the social contract in a much bigger way, really cool and interesting. I found this oddly organized, though I don't really know what I expected. What a smart author though, such interesting connections!  LHC #329: "The Golden Enclaves" by Naomi Novik. eBook. Third book in a trilogy. Alex had told me she...

  Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51: Nothing.   Persephone (probably not its real name): Nothing. Vinterlys: Got bored of working on Chapter 4 and started working through the rest of the setting that starts with Chapter 4. For this project, working through each setting as a block seems like a good strategy (so far).   Critted 4 Got back  2 Submissions 0 Out there 0 Rejects 0 Knitting Aberlady (AS Celtic Collection). Another inch.  Bongo Basketweave (knitty): Started the month with just the finishing to do. Done!  Plain ordinary socks. Started the month halfway through the leg of the second sock.  Done! Quattro socks (knitty). Started the first. I'll probably do 3 pairs of these, finished the first sock except for about 50 danglers, started the second.  Plain ordinary socks #2 : Needed something mindless to work on because the four balls of yarn on the Quattro socks are too fiddly. Did a cuff.  Sashiko project: Nothing.  ...

LHC #324: "The Annual Migration of Clouds" by Premee Mohamed. eBook. Beautifully written, but I wanted it to be more expansive.  LHC #325: "How to Suppress Women's Writing" by Joanna Russ. Hard copy. Very angry! Now I know about Aphra Behn!  "The Crow Trap" by Ann Cleeves. Hard copy, lent to me by a friend. I read it on the train. It was fine.  LHC #326: "On the Ravine" by Vincent Lam. Audiobook. A bit pedantic. I learned a lot, but I had to listen to it at 1.15 speed. Everyone made pretty bad choices. I found Memorex/Iawagaing (forgive my spelling, audio book!) sort of unbelievable but whatever.  "The Library at Mount Char" by Scott Hawkins. eBook. This was awesome. Great voice, so funny. I loved this book. Everyone made such bad choices! 

"Karate Do: My Way of Strife" by Norma Foster. Hard copy. I've saw her in person once, in Edmonton in 2019. My sensei lent this to me. His marginalia was great. because sometimes he was there.  LHC #322:   "A most remarkable creature" by Jonathan Mieberg.  eBook. Loved it.  "The Dream Hotel" by Laila Lalami. Hard copy for office book club. I found part 1 very distressing and was happy to set it aside because that was all Book Club was covering in our first meeting. Then the meeting got postponed and I missed it because I was out of the office, and I read parts 2 and 3 for the next meeting and found it hard to not keep going! The ending left a lot of things hanging for me, but that's okay.  LHC #323: "The Fractured Dark" by Megan E O'Keefe. Hard copy. Sequel! I enjoyed it until the main characters hooked up, and then all they did was touch each other all the time and it was so cloying. Ick. Don't know if I'll read the sequel. ...

Wind/Water/Salt   Chapters 39-51:   Nothing. Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing. Vinterlys:  Worked on giving Chapter 4 a shape.  Critted  4  Got back  1 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). did an inch or so while listening to an audio book.  Ankylosaur  (Knitty). Started the month with one sock done to the gusset and the other done to the toe. These are done.  Bongo Basketweave   (knitty): Started the month with the back done and four inches of front. Finished the front and started the sleeves top down at the same time because I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn. Indeed, I knitted the sleeves until there was none of one of my colors left and stopped. Just the finishing to do now. I hope my half-length sleeves don't look too stupid when I'm done, but that's something to find out next month.  Plain ordinary socks. Started...

  LHC #318: "Lolly Willowes or, the Loving Huntsman" by Sylvia Townsend Warner. eBook. It was published in 1926 so it's stylistically a lot different from modern, but there was such a sense of humor!  "The maid who brought her morning tea and laid the folded towel across the hot-water can had an experienced look; when she drew the curtains she looked out upon the day with no curiosity. She had seen it already."  I loved how it ended. I really had no idea where it was going.  "The Water Outlaws" by SL Huang.  Hard copy that I got for Christmas 2024 I believe. Really fun, but I had a hard time keeping the characters' names straight.  LHC #319: "City of Lies" by Sam Hawke.  Hard copy; 3 copies in the TPL. Not for me perhaps.  LHC #320: "School of Shards" by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko . eBook. Satisfying ending to the trilogy. I definitely liked it better than book 2. Glad I read it.  LHC #321: "Wayward Son" by Rainbow R...

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Nothing.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing. Vinterlys:  Finished Chapter 3 and posted it, started Chapter 4. At this rate I will finish in about seven years!  Critted  4  Got back  1 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). I added markers at each pattern repeat. Hopefully that will make it easier to work on. Ankylosaur  (Knitty). Started the month almost to the heel on the first sock.  Now t hat sock is done to the toe and the second one is on the gusset. I did things out of order because I started worrying about running out of yarn. This pattern uses a lot!  Fluffy Basketweave   (knitty): Started the month with six inches of back. I decided to combine this pattern with Bongo , we'll see how that goes. I hope I don't run out of yarn. Finished the back, or is it the front? and started the o...

  LHC #315: "The Brides of High Hill" by Nghi Vo. eBook. Sequel. Nice and short. This one took a turn I did not expect.  "The Grifters" by Jim Thompson.  Hard copy. Got it for Christmas, my sister said it was amazing, just got better and better. She was absolutely right.  "The Listeners" by Maggie Stiefvater.  Hard copy. I got it for my birthday last year. I never really bonded with the main character, and for vast tracts it felt like nothing happened, and I kept wanting more from the water, but it had a satisfying conclusion.  LHC #316: "History of medicine: A scandalously short introduction" by Jacalyn Duffin. Hard copy. So, funny story. I swear I bought this book like 10 years ago and it disappeared somewhere in my house never to be seen again. I periodically search for it.  Anyway, the main character of the novel I'm working on (Vinterlys) is a young woman in 1888 Providence RI who wants to be a physician. This book was always intended t...

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51 :   Nothing.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing.  Vinterlys:  Working on Chapter 3 still, though this one seems more stable. I did work on it quite a bit during Chapter 2. 1-3 are in the same locale so it made sense to work on them together. Maybe I'll continue in this vein, doing the next locale all together too.  Critted  4  Got back  3 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). I added markers at each pattern repeat. Hopefully that will make it easier to work on.   Summer in Tokyo  (Isager):Started the month with eleven rows left on the second sleeve, the yoke, and the finishing to go. And as I wanted, I finished this and now I can wear it for a little while before sweater weather is over until fall. I could not follow the yoke short row instructions as written so I did my best to make it look like th...

  LHC #312: "The Children of God" by Mary Doria Russell.  eBook. This one is a sequel and is also a book with only 2 copies in the TPL system, kills two birds with one stone! This was a satisfying conclusion.  LHC #313:  "History of the Present" by Timothy Garton Ash. Hard copy; 3 copies at the TPL. It's about central Europe from 1990 to 2000, so pretty dark. I had no idea that being a woodcutter was a viable profession in actual Europe like 26 years ago! I thought they were a fairytale thing. Though they don't tend to have good ends there, or here either. It was interesting, but hard to read because I don't have an intimate familiarity with all the names and acronyms, and because portions were rather horrifying.  "Monstrous nights" by Ginoveva Dimova. Sequel, hard copy. I own it, so it's good for carrying around since if I lose it I don't owe anyone anything. Fun read. Liked the main character.  LHC #314: "The Burning God" b...

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Nothing.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing.  Vinterlys:  Decided it's time to move on from Chapter 2, posted it and now I guess I'll work on Chapter 3 for 6 months.   Critted  4  Got back  3 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). Did a few rows while listening to podcasts.  Summer in Tokyo  (Isager):Started the month maybe 14 rows from the armholes. I finished the body and a sleeve. It would be nice to be able to wear this in March. So, eleven rows of a sleeve, the yoke, and the finishing to go. Ankylosaur  (Knitty). Ed shrank his, so I guess they're mine now? I started another pair for him because he was so sad, and also because socks are portable so it's always good to have one going.  Sashiko project:   Nothing.  Ruffle skirt:  Did the waistband and I'm calling i...

Explanation: I have a very long Holds list at the library, so I'm trying to whittle that down. It's an impossible task, as I keep adding things. However, Two years ago my library was hacked and the website was down for like 4 or 5 months. So, I've got some breathing room because I couldn't place holds between October 2023 and March 2024, and books expire off the holds list after 2 years (by default. So, I don't have any holds that are expiring between now and March, and I'm using this "free" time to read all the things that have very few copies available in the system (having been burned before by there only being one copy, and it going missing). And, when that's done, I'm trying to read the sequels that are on the list, before I've forgotten what I liked about the series.  "The God of the Woods" by Liz Moore.  Hard copy. Office book club selection. I was #455 on the waitlist and yet got the book within a week. And it didn't t...

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Nothing  Persephone  (probably not its real name): NOthing Vinterlys:  Worked on Chapter 2 some more.  Critted  4  Got back  1 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Georgia  (Norah Gaughan). Started the month with one sleeve and half a front to go. Finished. Love this sweater.  Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). Did a few rows while listening to podcasts.  Summer in Tokyo  (Isager): Started. I was looking at the pictures and the charts, and the pattern as written is not what is in the pictures! So odd. I am going to finish up two cones of yarn with this project! Pretty exciting. I hope I don't run out of light blue.  I was working along on it, and if you go and look at the sweater, it's knit bottom-up, and I was at the part where I only had two colors, about 5" maybe. And I was thinking, "wow, this is pretty ugly! Maybe I should stop...

  Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab.  Another book the boy gave me for my birthday. I found it a little hard to believe that a vampire would take 15 years to notice that when she drank the blood of a drunk person that made her drunk also. There was a moment when I was afraid she was going to forget all about finishing Catty's story, but she didn't let me down.  LHC #304:  Mammoths at the Gates by Ngi Vo.  Audiobook. Sequel! It had a 4-week hold and then it was available. Weird. I liked it, and put the next sequel on my list. It had a slow burn, at least in the audio version.  LHC #305: The Manticore by Robertson Davies. eBook. Catching up on sequels! I had no expectations and had to read the wikipedia page for Fifth Business to remember what was going on, but it was no trouble to read.  LHC #306:  Galveston by Sean Stewart.  Hard copy. The last of the "1 copy" books in Toronto Public Library! I had no expectations going in. Gr...

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Actually wrote that funeral scene.  Persephone  (probably not its real name):  Vinterlys:  Worked on Chapter 2 some more, but mostly planned and wrote backstory.  Critted  4  Got back  1 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Hamilton  (Self). Started the month with just a tiny bit of knitting a hem and then the endless finishing. It's done. I'm so sick of this sweater.  Georgia  (Norah Gaughan). Started the month with one sleeve, one flounce, and the back done, and a front started. Finished that front, attached the sleeve, started the other front. The balls of yarn are like basketballs, so this is not a portable project.  Ankylosaur socks  (knitty). Started the month with half of the first one done. Finished.  Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). Started. I took it away for a week to relatives' for Christmas as my only project, and ...