Greetings! It’s been a few weeks since you’ve seen any knitting in these here parts, since I went dark before the holidays as I was working on a Christmas present for my mom, who reads this blog. (Hi, Mum!)

As you can see here, I am still working on her Christmas present, despite this being the project (work or otherwise) that I most wanted to finish by year’s end. But the great thing about knitting is that it will be a great shawl when I do hand it over, hopefully the next time I see her — maybe next month? After all, it’s bigger than a babushka now!

I started a new book this evening, another Christmas romance. It’s overdue back at the Virginia library from which I borrowed it, but the 8 inches of snow we started the week with made it impossible to return it on Monday when I’d planned to, and then I had to get on a plane on Tuesday afternoon. So I figured if it was going to sit unread on my coffee table until I got back to town, it might as come with me and get read. Plus, I suppose I can always mail it back if need be.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are reading and crafting this first week of the new year!

I’ve reached the final slip stitch rib section of the shawl! I just wish I were more confident that the shawl is big enough.

I’ve been taking Sonya Lalli’s A Holly Jolly Diwali with me on excursions. I started Allie Brosh’s graphic memoir Solutions and Other Problems in the bedroom. I’m down to the final two chapter of Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which I mostly listen to while washing dishes. But since Rudi is away, I guess I’d better start listening to it at other times, too, in order to wrap it up before it expires in four days.

Someday I’ll be done with this shawl. We’re now into shawl weather, so it makes it more likely, but I’m coming up on another two color rib section and that’s my least favorite part of this knitting project. Which way will the seesaw tilt?

I did finish The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, so I am not in stasis in all aspects of my life, which is good. It was a cute witch-themed romance, which asked absolutely nothing of me except to keep turning the pages. I don’t want all my reads to be like that (and the romances I’ve liked best the past couple years have mixed in weightier issues with the lovey-dovey stuff), but there are some weeks when that’s just what you need.

No, the shawl isn’t done. But, honestly, I’m a little tired of showing you three rows here and three rows there, and so I’m showing you the potential second sock I might make next.

The book is a modernized comic/graphic novel interpretation of Nancy Drew by Kelly Thompson, Jenn St-Onge, Triona Farrell, and Ariana Maher. I enjoyed the first issue/chapter and am looking forward to polishing it off quickly. Oh, and it also features the Hardy boys.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see this week’s reading and crafting roundup.

I’d really hoped to have a finished shawl to show you this week. I’d planned to finish the final mosaic section on the plane and then to get through the dreaded two-color ribbing while I was out here. I even brought a ball of sock yarn so I’d be able to cast on a project for the flight home. But none of that ended up materializing and I am still 12 rows from the end of the mosaic. It’s fine. I’ll get to it. It’s just that I’m really ready to be knitting something else after all these months.

Where I did have success with the shawl this week was in not having to rip back when the needle separated from the cable and a third of my active stitches found themselves flopping around freely. Luckily, Rudi found a needle the right size amongst his mom’s stuff, so I didn’t have to buy one (although we still went to the local yarn shop anyway). I admit that getting the final stitch of the rolled edging back on the needle gave me a couple minutes’ pause, but eventually I figured out what I needed to do. (You can see the needle-less end curled up next to the new needle once all the stitches were back on one cable or the other.)

As for reading, I’ve been making steady progress through Ally Carter’s Heist Society, a #GiftmasInJuly present, and enjoying it quite a bit. It’s about a teen girl who’s walked away from a family legacy of crime, only to be dragged back in when her father’s life is threatened by an evil art collector who’s been robbed. (Mum, remind me to pack it to share with you at Thanksgiving.)

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what others are crafting and reading this week.

We’re into the final mosaic chart of the shawl. There’s still a final ribbing section before the bind-off row, so that could take a month, because apparently I hate two-color ribbing. But I’d like to think that I’m about a week away from wrapping this thing up, which will still give me weeks before it’s actually cool enough to want to wear woolen neckwear. (Bring on the highs in the 60s!)

It’s been a quiet week reading-wise. I read a chapter of Beth & Amy, which was actually the sample chapter they included at the end of Meg & Jo, but that’s okay. And I have listened to more of Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which has now gotten past the 2008 Iowa Caucus. I suspect Rudi won’t mind listening to some of that on our drive north this weekend, but I also have Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens for us to return to now that it’s been a few months since we watched the show. I’ll probably save finishing off Farah Heron’s Accidentally Engaged for my flight to Salt Lake next week, since that’s also come back to me on audio.