Cameo & Reading!

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I am SO glad that it is Friday. Words can't express how glad I am. Seriously. If I could post a video of me dancing a muppet-like happy dance, I would, but you'd be terrified! I dance like Elaine. Yes. It's that bad.

So Tuesday I decided that I needed to start knitting something new. My criteria was:

  • knit only
  • cozy
  • big
  • not hard/mentally challenging
  • super soft
  • comforting
  • from stash

Knitting can totally be therapy for me, I love getting lost in a good pair of socks on car rides or focusing 100% on some tricky lace, so much that the rest of the world sort of falls away. But right now, my brain just can't do socks or lace, I decided the endless rows of garter stitch in the Cameo pattern would be perfect. I fell in love with Andi's and felt like this is the right project for the next few weeks. I'm using two skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere: Torchwood & Cinnamon Girl. Torchwood is the color of a smoldering pile of firewood, Cinnamon Girl is like a rich rust. Both are tricky to photograph. The base yarn is incredibly soft and all the garter stitch is very smooshy. ;) It's already well loved, I've spilled coffee on it, made about a million mistakes while talking on the phone, brought it to a business meeting where I realized my picot wasn't even remotely right, it's not my finest knitting job but I love it. I'm using size 5 hiya sharps and I am in L O V E with them. They are so incredibly light and smooth and slick.

While I'm working on this shawl I've been looking through an issue of CottonTime that Pam very sweetly gave me. I'm absolutely obsessed with CottonTime, it's one of my all time favorite magazines and I savor each issue. It's filled with Japanese crafting goodness. I'm trying to only look at a few pages per day so I can make it last all month. I also got the newest issue of Kinfolk, it's all about weekends and filled with beautiful photos, I'm looking forward to a hot bath and reading this tonight. I wish I had some sort of fancy bath bomb or boozy drink but sadly, I have neither. I'll make do with a few drops of essential oil and a peppermint tea. ;)

I recently finished three books, I started 4 others and gave up reading them because they just can't compare to the first three!

I'm not a book reviewer but just an avid reader who has to tell you how much I loved these books k?

The Raven Boys series. Yes, that's an amazon affiliate link but I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't truly love it. I genuinely feel like the publishers synopsis doesn't do the book justice, it makes it seem like it's a silly YA romance but it's much more than that. It's very hauntingly pretty, it's more supernatural spookiness than romance. I love how the imagery is built. The lead character, Blue, omg FINALLY a female lead who is weird and likes being weird. She's told all her life that if she kisses her true love, he'll die but that's not even a huge part of the story. The story is more about Gansey and his quest for a ley line and Glendower, plus it talks about his friends and their POVs, it's a really layered and rich story. I read the book when it first came out last September and felt like it was the perfect time of year to read this story. So with the sequel finally out, I decided to re-read it before reading The Dream Thieves and I'm really glad I did, I felt like I gleaned more about each character and it made the sequel even more enjoyable, plus I'm the type of person who loves to read books back to back like that. In the sequel it's still about Blue and Gansey but it has a lot of Adam & Ronan. I realllllyyyy loved Ronan in this book, we learn about his family, his abilities (I don't want to spoil it but Chainsaw is one of my favorite characters!) and everything just sort of explodes. I can't believe that I have to wait like, a year for the next one. ugh. But after I finished reading it, I kept thinking about the characters, I have a few other books to read and I can't even get into them because they feel sort of flat after this.

And then!

Cuckoo's Calling. I didn't read this physical book, I listened to it while working last week and WOW.

Ok, first off: Yes. It's J.K. Rowling. No! It's not Harry Potter! There is only one HP and it drives me nuts to see how many people are bashing the book in reviews because it's not HP! No kidding! Of course it's not! Geez.

But it IS an excellent crime novel. Each character is rich in personality, the setting is phenom and I literally was like..WAIT THIS WAS THE KILLER? It should have been obvious but I totally didn't see it coming until the last 1/4th of the book. I loooooove crime and mystery novels but only if they are good. I hate when I can tell right away or the author gives it away in the first few pages. I like to be surprised. The narrator on this book is excellent, his voice was the best and I found myself repeatedly walking around the house saying "Kieran Kolovas-Jones!" because I loved how he said it, hahaha!

If you like crime/mysteries, try this book. But don't go into it thinking OMGZ JKROWLINGGGG and a Harry Potter mindset, think of it just as a superb crime/mystery and you'll love it. There are totally some JK things that make it completely her's, the way she describes locations, details, people's emotions and relationships, that's her writing through and through!

Have you read any good books lately? I have the new Endless Knight but I haven't read it yet, I'd also really like to read Through the Zombie Glass!