Three WIPs, Three Books

It's Thursday (right? it's hard enough to keep track these days without a long holiday weekend thrown in), so I'm joining up with Carole and friends for Three on Thursday.

First up, let's look at my three current yarny projects (you know I'm still spinning a lot, but I'll wait until Sunday to talk about that):

1. Rainbow's crochet blanket

I'm continuing to work on this a little every day for the 100 Day Project, and I'm making slow but steady progress. I'm currently on my sixth ball of Felici, with two more from the original amount to go plus the additional four we discovered in my stash that I'll likely add on. At the moment, it's the size of a lap blanket on Rainbow, and I'm pretty sure she wants it to be much bigger (especially because the log cabin sock yarn blanket she's been using is starting to get pretty felted in some spots despite being knit out of superwash yarn -- proof that not all superwash is created equal). It would be nice to finish it this summer so I could count all the yarn for Stash Dash, but we'll see.

2. My Breathe and Hope shawl

This project has come to feel like a bit of a slog. I feel like I've worked on it a ton and yet it's not getting much bigger. I've also made a number of mistakes (which I haven't felt compelled to fix), and I've started to worry I'll run out of yarn. I'm not eliminating the possibility that I will rip this all out and use the yarn for something else, because it really is fabulous yarn, but for now I'll continue to slog on. Feel free to encourage me to continue or rip.

3. Socks for my sister-in-law

I still have quite a stash of sock yarn, despite reaching Sock Drawer Saturation Point, so I figured I'd get a head start on holiday knitting now. This yarn was the full skein that came with the Fibernymph Dye Works holiday mini set last year (the full skein was an optional add-on). The colors weren't really me, but I think they'll work perfectly for my sister-in-law, and she was so excited about the socks I made her last year that of course I knew I'd make her another pair. I'm using my basic top-down stockinette sock recipe for these, with the added embellishment of slipping every other stitch on the first round where the color changes. That requires a bit more attention than a plain sock, but I think it will be worth it. I cast on the first sock on Sunday and worked on it a bit that day and Monday while we were spending time with family, so you can see how quickly it's working up.

Those are all my current WIPs, though the number is likely to increase soon as I still have to cast on my Tegna and the Through the Loops MKAL starts next week.

Next, let's talk about what I'm reading. I used to be a reader who would only ever read one book at a time, and suddenly I find I'm reading three!

1. Practical Magic

It seemed logical after reading "book 0" in the series to read the original. I'm listening to the audiobook, and it's my "listen while running/walking" book. I've got about 3 1/2 hours left, which won't take me that long because I'm listening at 1.25 time. When I finish, it will be filling the Magical Realism box on my bingo card.

2. The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

I started this the other night; it was one of two books that my mother dropped off late last week along with some homemade pumpkin bread. She told me that it was a page turner, and I'm finding that to be the case. I'm not terribly impressed, but it's going quickly and will fill the Recommended by a Family Member square on my card.

3. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Though I've read works by Charlotte and Emily Bronte numerous times, I've never read anything by Anne, so it seemed like kismet when I learned that the next book on the Craftlit podcast (which I've been listening to since 2007) was going to be Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I had several episodes to catch up on because my podcast listening has been way down (I usually listen to them on my commute to and from work and during my lunch break at work), so I binged a bit this week while spinning and am really enjoying it. This will be more of a long-term read as I'll have to wait for each episode to come out, but the added bonus of listening to it this way is that it comes with the added commentary from Heather, the host, who is a former high school English teacher, so it's a bit like being in a class, and using my brain like that is really appealing right now. I'm putting this in the Written Under a Pseudonym square on my card, because of course all the Brontes originally published under pen names -- as Acton (Anne), Currer (Charlotte), and Ellis (Emily) Bell.

I'm hoping to finish up the first two of these soon because I have two library holds that will be available "soon," according to my app. It never rains but it pours!

I'd love to hear what you're making and reading right now. Please share in the comments!