Recent knits.

When I started this post, these were recent knits! Now they're well over a month old...

I have been doing a lot of knitting lately, but it's all Christmas gifts that I can't share here quite yet. But back in October I knitted myself some Halloween/fall socks! They're just plain socks, with the heel from Hermione's Everyday Socks. I love this yarn so much! It's from Murray & Co. Wool Goods, and her yarns are just so beautiful. I bought one of her Halloween sock sets, so the main yarn is called Smell My Feet and the contrasting is The Haunted Mansion. (The name of Smell My Feet made me smile because it reminded me of a home video of me and my brother as kids reciting that rhyme after getting home from trick-or-treating, ha.) 

Ravelry project page. 

I also knitted this adorable little bunny for my niece's birthday gift! It was so fun and satisfying, if fiddly at times, but it was also way more time consuming than I expected. As in, I was finishing it up the day before her birthday party. I made multiple little outfits to go with it but am having trouble with photo collages here, so be sure to click the link below to see the other clothes. I'm really happy with how it all turned out. And I used leftover yarn for the entire project! So it only cost the price of the pattern plus a couple dollars for stuffing and a tiny bit of tulle and ribbon.

Ravelry project page.

Random little note: I really miss my blog! I use Instagram quite a bit now, but the inconvenience of typing on my phone irritates me, so I feel like I can never say much. Plus I no longer have unlimited internet, so reading blogs and writing posts myself has become more difficult. I'm brainstorming ideas though...I kind of want a fresh blog start, since I lost all of my Photobucket photos last year. Is anyone here even still reading this, ha?

Edit: Apparently the Photobucket pictures are back, just with a big watermark now? I've been a gone a while, I guess! Just noticing. 

What I Read: October

October was a decent reading month. I'm still keeping up with the audiobooks...this month I actually finished more audiobooks than physical books! And four of the six books I read were rereads. As always, click on the titles for my Goodreads reviews. 

Palace of Stone, by Shannon Hale. (Audiobook, not pictured.) This was a reread, in order to finally read the third book in the series. I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as I did the first time I read it, but it's still really good! I just prefer the first book. I spend a lot of time feeling frustrated with Miri here for being so wishy-washy! 

Heartless, by Marissa Meyer. (Audiobook, not pictured.) Not really sure how I feel about this one. It's no Lunar Chronicles, that's for sure! All of the baking and food made me hungry, and I liked Catherine well enough. It was just so much longer than it needed to be! Not much happened for the longest time, then everything happened at once. The book wasn't bad, just disappointing. The audiobook was excellent though! Great narrator and I loved her voice for the king. 

Lark Rise to Candleford, by Flora Thompson. This was really good! Not much like the show (major characters from the show only have a mention or two, Laura doesn't even go to the post office until 2/3 of the way through the book, etc.). I was worried it would be slow or dry, but it's not, even though not much actually happens, ha! The writing is just really engaging, and I happen to enjoy reading about rural England. :) I'm glad I finally read this, and now I want to rewatch the show!

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson. (Audiobook, pictured.) This was a perfect October book. I was wondering if I'd love this as much as I did when I first read it a couple of years ago, and thankfully I did. It's so creepy and disturbing, but good! It sucks me in every time. 

The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I really do love the Lord of the Rings, but honestly the books are just hard for me to get through! I love the whole feel of it and the characters and humor, but the descriptions are so long. The books are just a little overwhelming, but I still am enjoying rereading them!

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater. Another audiobook and reread! This was another good October read. It's basically the opposite of anything I can imagine myself enjoying. Even though it does make make me roll my eyes at times, I still enjoy it! Maybe even more the second time around. 

I also had one DNF this month. I've owned this book for years and it seemed like something I would like. But halfway through, I just didn't care about the characters or story so I decided to give up on it.