Book Club: Catching Up

I decided it was high time we bring back the Lattes & Llamas Book Club! I had a blast with it over the summer, but then life got in the way for awhile and I haven’t done a book club post since before Christmas. But with the Nessie Expedition shipping off in just a week and a half, I have been dying to bring it back. There is just something about a knit along that begs for a read along too!

For this first week, let’s all catch up on what we’ve been reading and knitting during the hiatus. I’ve had SO many exciting knits the last few months, and I’ve been plowing through some great series. Let’s start with a pic-spam montage of what I’ve been knitting. Chances are, if you’re here, you know about the Geek-A-Long. Just in case you don’t, check out the link. This year, instead of releasing a square every week, every fourth Sunday we are releasing a premium pattern inspired by one of our favorite squares from the past four years. Getting twelve patterns planned, outside of our usual stuff, has been a major undertaking, but I’m really enjoying it. So far we’ve released the Caffeinated Shawl and the Anders Hat and Mitts.

We’ve got another one coming out this Sunday, and it’s based on Jessica Jones. You heard it here first!

I just recently released the Jackalope Jane Cowl, which was the second pattern in our Cryptid Knits Series (the first was Hunting Sasquatch).

Plus, we all had our Christmas knitting. I finished Stornoway Throw that I had started over a year ago, and finally got that under the tree.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcY5dA1HdoR/?taken-by=doctor_llama

I fell short on most of my other Christmas knits though. I tried to make some gloves for Jac, but only finished one. I was planning on finishing the other one to give her for her birthday, but that was last week. I still only have the cuff done on the second glove, soooooo….I guess those are going to be for next Christmas. ;)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdJT-rmnMSF/?taken-by=doctor_llama

Oh! I also made a Coffee At The Grand Stole, which was a really fun knit. It looks better on Jac than it does on me though. She can really rock a stole.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd2pQRdnpkV/?taken-by=doctor_llama

And last, but definitely not least, I am working on a passion project. I’ve wanted to do a Dungeons and Dragons Knitwear collection for a long time. But sometimes something you’re that excited about has to marinate a long time. This was one of those long-simmering ideas. When the final version of the idea for the Quest Collection hit me, Jac and I both knew it was exactly right. It’s a collection of five knits, all inspired by a D&D class. I plan on releasing them all at once around October. I’ve been working on the first pattern, Bard, on and off for a while, but will be committing more time to them in a month or so. Sometimes, Mabel the Merciless takes over as my sample knitter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BewTcbzHq7U/?taken-by=doctor_llama

So that catches us up to current I think! Today, we’re hunkering down with another major winter storm, so I cast on a baby hat. Sometimes the only cure for bad weather is a project you can make in a day. I’m making the Traveling Cables Baby Hat by Purl SoHo for a friend’s soon to be born baby. This one will be traveling all the way to Hong Kong to its tiny owner!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmUZIdnYsA/?taken-by=doctor_llama

I haven’t had as much time for reading as I would have liked this winter, but I did burn through The Kingfountain Series by Jeff Wheeler. I really enjoyed it up to the last book. The last one got preachy and weird. But the first five were really good. After that I started re-reading the Dresden Files. Peace Talks doesn’t have a release date yet, but my Dresden senses are tingling, and I think that it will come out soon. I’m finishing up Proven Guilty now, and I’m going to take a break from them for a few weeks to read some other things.

This year, I want to expand my horizons. I’m a predictable reader, so do me a favor and sound off in the comments on my reinstated weekly book club posts or on the book club thread on the Lattes & Llamas group on Ravelry, and tell me what you’ve been reading. Based on suggestions so far, I’ve got A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny and The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs on hold at the library. In the meanwhile, I borrowed At Knit’s End by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and Scaling Up by Verne Harnish to read this week on the suggestion of friends. I can’t pretend I’m excited about Scaling Up, the whole self-improvement genre isn’t really my bag of yarn. But, I meant what I said about expanding my horizons, so check back in next week and I’ll be able to tell you about really important business things.

~Megan-Anne

books and yarn and books and yarn