Yarn and Audio Books a Plenty

 

Chipping away on A Blanket of Many Colors.  The squares closest to you are now joined together.  I tried stitching them initially, but decided I didn't like the look and so returned crocheting them together...which is what I do 99% of the time.  I like the ridge that's created on the front side.  

Row 2 is laid out needing one more square each for the left block (teal green center) and blue on the right side, while melon will be the primary color in the middle block.

The baby blanket is growing nicely too.  In my last picture there 71 stitches on the needles, now there are 100.  It measured 20 inches previously and is now 31 inches, and you can start to see the blue fading, getting lighter and some white is now showing up.  Stay tuned.

Yet another WWII book, this book, "The Things we Cannot Say is by Kelly Rimmer.  I've read others she's written and have enjoyed them all todate.  Warsaw 1942 15 year old Alina with plans to marry her best friend, Tomasz doesn't understand what war does to people, to family, to friends, to neighbors.  The cruelty of war is hard lesson to learn.  Secrets abound.  I highly recommend this book in either it's written format or audio.  Personally, I enjoy audio far more than reading.  I like to do multiple things at the same time, knitting, cleaning, walking and listening for example.  PLUS...I like the drama that you hear and feel with audio books, for me missing when you read.  To hear the accents and how words and names are pronounced is more to my liking.

I've continued my quest to walk or ride bikes almost daily and to do planks 2 days running with the 3rd day being an off day.  I can't say this has been 100% of the time in these past 2 weeks but, pleased to say I'm hitting 95%.  Good luck to all trying to exercise.  Let's encourage each other.

Knitting Corner to Corner, Planks Work the Core, and We Must Be Brave

 

Digging through my stash for yarn suitable to make a baby blanket I came across this blue mix, JoAnn Sensations which is a mix of acrylic, polyester, and nylon.  Currently there are 71 stitches on the needles.  The pattern is the always popular Grandma's Favorite corner to corner.  Increases happen at the beginning of each row until you get the width you want, and then you start decreasing at the beginning of each row.  It looks pretty much like solid blue so far, but as you can see from the large ball, it is a blend of shades of blue and white.  I've only just started this and no doubt it will take a time to complete; but I only just found out a baby would be in need.  It currently measures 20 x 8 inches.

Am continue to work on the blanket of many colors.  I now have 4 full squares complete and the colors chosen for the next 2 squares.  I've made a few changes in colors from the previous post/pictures.  Am currently trying to determine if I want to stitch them together or crochet them together...or perhaps knitting them together.  I am leaning towards stitching them together, which is not what I typically do with squares/pieces, but these squares have a bit of an edge since they are made corner to corner, vs knitting back and forth straight rows.

No, this is not me, but this is the style of plank I've been doing.  I have done a variety of routines, altering time and repeats; but ....then I completed fell off the wagon.  A few days ago I restarted doing 40 second planks with 4 repeats and 12 seconds of rest in between.  My question is, are you ahead to do fewer repeats but longer planks or the reverse?  I've read articles supporting both methods.  I will not be doing these daily, you do need to rest.  I've done 2 days in a row with a day of rest thus far.

I recently enjoyed this audio book, "We Must Be Brave", by Frances Liardet.  When bombs fell on Southhampton, England people crowded onto buses and left the city.  Pamela, a little girl asleep on the bus wakes and wonders how she got where she is, and what became of her mother.  This Novel is entertaining, and very emotional.  And while it's not a "true" story, events like this did indeed happen during the difficult war years for many families.

Knitting Projects, Cocktail Napkins

Hard to see the squares behind the yarn, but making progress.  Was laying out next possible color combinations for my current project.  An afghan of many colors.  

Using the corner to corner method and changing color half way through.  This group with have the yellowish orange as the dominate color in this square.

Fun cocktail napkins.  I'm always in search of new ones.  Anytime I serve cocktails they are a source of conversation.  Sometimes it's just hubby and I, but sometimes it includes friends.  I have one friend that we typically see when we vacation at the various Marriott Time Shares who always takes pictures of my napkins and often takes hers with her.  

**edited title which included audio books.  Had this scheduled to post with the intention of adding to the post and never got that done...so next post will include updated projects with some info regarding an audio book I've listened to.