Knitting

Hello Readers!

Happy Monday to you all! I hope it's been a good one!

Last weekend, I went to my hometown to celebrate President's Day weekend with my parents. I had a really great time with them, and even picked up a new hobby--knitting!

My mom has been knitting for a couple of years now, and I've been telling her I wanted to learn since she started; however, with grad school, I was at my limit for learning new things. My brain was turning to mush! My mom showed me how to knit within one night. Here is what I have done in the week since:

I have made 2 dishcloths! They will become more square after going through the wash. You can definitely tell which one was my first--it's more of a diamond shape than anything! This took me much longer than anticipated. As a crocheter, I could have had these two dishcloths done in a matter of 30 minutes. With knitting, it took me about 8 hours for the two! I know I am still learning, but this is much more intricate work than what I am used to.

I am looking forward to future knitting projects! I have scoured Ravelry already for some ideas, and even put in a small yarn and needle order at Joann's to really get started. I'm excited to add one more hobby to the list; my husband? not so much...

In the meantime, I am in a reading rut. I have made the mistake of starting to read books that I'm not actually super interested in. Obviously I couldn't have predicted this, but it's caused me to just feel so....bleh towards reading. I am going to Washington DC soon and am planning to bring with me a book I know I'll enjoy--hopefully that will put me back on track!

Hope all is well, readers!

Questions for my readers:

1. Do you knit? If so, what do you recommend as a good beginner project?
2. How do you get out of a reading rut?

January Book Haul

I have a confession to make...

I am blatantly disregarding my New Year's resolution to get my TBR pile down to 140 by the end of the year. In fact, in January, I decided to add 14 books to my shelf, bringing my total TBR pile up to 172. I'm going in the wrong direction!

B&N Haul, January online sales

I blame all of this on 2 factors:

1. Barnes & Noble always has fantastic deals this time of year! I purchased 9 books for just under $30, with taxes!
2. As others purge their bookshelves in honor of the New Year, my wish list on PaperbackSwap gets fulfilled very quickly! In some instances, I made it from being the 100th person to the next person in line almost overnight!

Here are the titles I've swapped/purchased:
The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks (audiobook)
On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger (on wishlist since 2011!)
Trafficked: The Terrifying True Story of a British Girl Forced into the Sex Trade by Sophie Hayes (Kindle book)
Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot
Ashes to Ashes by Tami Hoag
Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie
The Know-It-All by AJ Jacobs
These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen
Criminal by Karin Slaughter
The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes

PaperbackSwap haul, January

In January, I only made it through 3 books, which doesn't bode well. If I keep up this snail's pace, it will take me 5 months to read all these books! Usually in January I read at least 6 books, so accumulating this many isn't as big of a deal. I will have to make February a serious reading month!

In other New Years resolution news (is anyone still doing those?) I have legally changed my name. It's about time! I've also begun wallpaper removal in the master bedroom (clearly not the kitchen, as you can see the hideous fruit wallpaper in the background!). I also completed 5 blog posts, which satisfies my goal of at least 4 per month!

Tonight (and probably the rest of this week!) I plan to do some laundry, drink tea, and hit the books for a relaxing time!






Questions for my readers:

1. What month(s) do you normally accumulate the most books? Do you tend to read more those months, too?
2. Have you read any of the above books? What do you recommend I bump up on the TBR list?