Knitting: more Hermione socks.

These socks took so much longer than they should have! They're basically all I've been knitting for the past couple of months...obviously I haven't been knitting much. I also got second sock syndrome with these. I'm so excited about knitting the new sock yarn that I bought at the fiber festival that I had to push through the second one.

They are Hermione's Everyday Socks, which is one of my favorite sock patterns. I think this is my fourth pair? The pattern is so simple, just a bit of texture, but my favorite part is the heel. I love how the garter edge makes the picked up stitches look so neat. I was finished with the first sock before I realized how the colors in this yarn are very similar to these socks, except much more muted and subtle.

This yarn is from the Unwind Yarn Company, in the Abalone colorway. It was a nice, twisty sock yarn that I'm sure will hold up well. (Monica was kind enough to send it to me!)

Project page.

Otherwise engaged.

If the blog is quieter than normal over the next few months, know that it's because I have a really good excuse...Kenny and I are engaged! :) As of two weeks ago, when he asked me to marry him on a completely normal night. (We were just hanging out, watching Sherlock, so it obviously took me by surprise and I suspected nothing.)

To say that I'm happy, excited, and thrilled seems like the biggest understatement ever. We're getting married at the end of October, so the next six months are going to be very busy with planning our wedding and fixing up the little house where we're going to live.

I can't even wrap my mind around the fact that I get to spend the rest of my life with Kenny. I'm not sure how I got so blessed, but I won't question it, I'll just be incredibly thankful that God sent him to me!

Yarny goodness.

My knitting has slowed to a snail's pace, so I haven't had much of that to post lately. (Though I still have a finished cardigan to get pictures of!) I'm working on a pair of socks that are stuck in some kind of time warp, as I can't seem to get past the heel on the second sock. But I do have some pretty yarny things to share!

Two weekends ago, I went with a couple of my knitting group friends to a fiber festival. Every April, I usually go to the Olde Liberty Fibre Faire {see 2014, 2015, and 2016}. But this year I decided to try out Carolina Fiber Fest. I was curious about seeing a different fiber festival, and I also realized that it would be better to go with other knitters rather than drag my family along with me (more fun for me and them!). Overall I really enjoyed it. I do prefer outdoors festivals, just because it's less crowded and stuffy, but there were more vendors at CFF.

Basically I just wanted to buy all of the sock yarn ever, but I made myself buy some spinning fiber too, so I can have more handspun yarn to sell this fall. The first two yarns above were from Twist Fiber Studio, which was my favorite booth at the festival. It's not often that I love all of the yarns from a dyer, but honestly every single yarn in her booth was beautiful. The one on the left is basic sock yarn in the Gypsy Heart colorway. On the right is sparkly fingering weight in the Harvest Season colorway. I also bought another skein from her that I can't share because it's for a Mother's Day gift. :)

I bought two other sock yarns in colorways that I had stalked on Etsy and planned to purchase. On the left is a tweedy yarn from Iria Yarn Company in the Sweater Weather colorway. And the last yarn is Bright Copper Kettles (love that name!) from Haute Knit Yarn. Then I bought four fibers to spin...the first three will be to sell, the fourth is all mine. :) There's BFL, Polwarth, Finnsheep, and Columbia/Rambouillet.

Speaking of spinning, I've probably been doing more of that than knitting lately! That lovely yarn on the bobbin is some BFL that Monica was kind enough to send me. Since taking that photo, I've finished spinning and plying it, so expect photos of that soon. The white handspun above is from local Gulf Coast Native fleece that I cleaned, carded, and spun. It seems very nice and surprisingly soft, which I'm glad about because that's the same breed as my sheep! (Which are in need of shearing right now, as soon as I can find a shearer...)

A few more yarnish acquisitions: several vendors were selling fair trade African woven baskets at the fiber festival. I'd thought about ordering one before, and I came so close to buying one there but instead decided to stick with fiber. But after I got home, I ended up ordering one. It's so pretty and it's already full of yarn, patterns, and knitting needles! And then there are more GnomeAcres mini skeins for my scrap blanket. Because apparently mini skeins are irresistible.

On a completely random note, I finally saw Moana the other day. It didn't blow me away, but it was cute and very pretty, and I've had the chorus of You're Welcome stuck in my head ever since. (You're welcome, now you do, too.)

{I know this post was all over the place, I'm sorry! More cohesive updates and projects coming soon, I promise.}

What I Read: March

Look at that sad little stack of books! I'm afraid that March was rather a slumpy reading month for me. (Mostly because of that first book, which I struggled through for almost the first half of the month.) As always, click on the titles for my Goodreads reviews.

Dangerous, by Shannon Hale. I love Shannon Hale. She's written some of my favorite books and I'd consider her one of my favorite authors, but wow. I don't really know what this was, and I don't know what to even say about it. It was like a crazy, bizarre, action-y, sci-fi teen romance that was originally going to be a trilogy but instead got crammed into one book. Hmph. I should have put it aside, but I wanted to see how much weirder it could get.

Life Among the Savages, by Shirley Jackson. I really enjoyed this! So far, Shirley Jackson has not let me down. This was so different from her usual books, but it was very funny. I love her writing style and I can't wait to read more by her.

Last in a Long Line of Rebels, by Lisa Lewis Tyre. I expected more from this middle grade novel, especially with such an adorable cover. (I know, I know, but I can't help it.) It handled racism in a graceful way and I love the little realistic bits that pop up in books like these, set in the south. But it wasn't as special and amazing as I'd hoped.