Update on End of Year Book Tag

I thought I would take a moment to update the End of Year book tag post that I uploaded on November 11. After that, I'll talk (later this week) about the reading goals I'm setting for 2025.

Is there a book you have started that you would like to finish by the end of the year?

I finished Hounded - a book I started on January 25.  I also finished Go Tell the Bees that I'm Gone by Diana Gabaldon - a book I started sometime in 2021.  I discovered (she says facetiously) that if you read a little bit of a book each day, you can get to the end.  I found as I read these books, that I wanted to read a little bit more than a little bit each day.  Two books down that I have wanted to finish. 

Do you have an autumnal book to transition to the end of the year with?

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, my sort of autumnal book. 

Is there a new release you are still waiting for?

The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2) by Nora Roberts was released on November 19.  I read it (listened to it). 

What are three books you want to read by the end of the year?

As of November 19, this was my TBR so far for the rest of the year:

• Inheritance (The Lost Bride Trilogy #1) by Nora Roberts - Finished.
• Artificial Conditions (Murderbot #2) by Martha Wells - Finshed today.
• Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood - Finished.
• All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas - Finished - maybe before Advent or very close to the beginning of it.
• The Mirror by Nora Roberts - Finshed.
• Hounded by David Rosenfelt - Finished.

Is there a book that you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

The Mirror was a five star read for me - a new favorite. That's not shocking. 

Stitching on Paper

 This is a terrible picture - sorry.  I was in a rush.  

In the image are stitched paper light bulbs and the gold sockets.  This is my first attempt at stitching on paper.  The bulbs were cut using Stitched String Lights Etched Dies from Spellbinders.  I cut them from foiled paper so they would be shiny, and then I stitched them using DMC gold thread.  I did this on a trip to and from Pittsburgh - they were a car craft. 

Soon, I'll assemble them on what I imagine will be two Christmas cards using the cord die that comes with the set. 

Do I like stitching on paper? Well, it was a little fiddley.  The sockets are very small. The thread was slick - it had no gripping power on the paper, and the road was rough. I'm not sure this project was a good test of whether I like this kind of crafting or not.

Looking forward to creating the cards, though.

End-of-Year Book Tag

I was watching a video from Katie is Reading on YouTube. She talked through questions from an End-of-Year tag. I enjoyed thinking about the questions, so here they are with my answers.

Is there a book you have started that you would like to finish by the end of the year?

On January 25, I started Hounded by David Rosenfelt. It is the 12th Andy Carpenter book in this series. I habitually read these books on my Kindle (instead of listening to them). The problem is that I don't find much time to read books (with my eyes) unless I am reading them for a specific purpose (like a class). I would like to finish this one by the end of the year. I'm 50% done with it.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition to the end of the year with?

I think you could call this an autumnal book, although I don't reserve reading this series to any particular season. I started a reread of the Harry Potter series in December of 2023. I'm currently reading #7 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'll finish it either this week or next.

Is there a new release you are still waiting for?

Yes - I'm looking forward to the release of The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2) by Nora Roberts on November 19.

What are three books you want to read by the end of the year?

I have more than three. Here is my TBR so far for the rest of the year:

• Inheritance (The Lost Bride Trilogy #1) by Nora Roberts - a reread to be ready for the second in the series.
• Artificial Conditions (Murderbot #2) by Martha Wells - I read #1 this month and really enjoyed it.
• Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood - I read the first two in this series, and only have this one left.
• All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas - a book to read during Advent
• The Mirror by Nora Roberts
• Hounded by David Rosenfelt

There will be more - I just haven't picked them out yet. I would like to find something fun for the Christmas season.

Is there a book that you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

I really enjoy books by Nora Roberts, so The Mirror could become a new favorite. It wouldn't be shocking, though.

Have you already started making reading plans for 2025?

No, not really. I am working my way through the Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters, so I imagine I will read some of those. If I finish that series, I might start another series of hers as a reread. I'll probably throw in some more Murderbot books. There will probably be two JD Robb In Death books released - I'll read those. And I'll pick up at least one new Andy Carpenter book (by David Rosenfelt).

I'll probably set a goal of at least four books for spiritual development - that was one of my goals this year. That will probably include The Gospel of John by Amy Jill-Levine.

Pumpkins

Navy and Green

Orange and Yellow 

Late last month I posted that I had purchased yarn from Fibre Space to knit using free patterns from Blue Sky Fibers.

Last week I knit two pumpkins with the Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok yarn.  They were mini-hanks, so there wasn't enough of one color to knit a solid pumpkin, unfortunately.  I like them, though.

• Yarn: 2+ mini-hanks of two different colors of Woolstok Yarn
• Needles: Size 7 double-pointed needles

 

Card Basket

When I finish a card, I take its picture, initial the back, match it with an envelope, and put the envelope and card in a plastic sleeve.

The cards are then categorized into my card basket - birthday, anniversary, etc. 

I love it when my basket is full!

 
 

Work Planning Routine

Monthly Plan

I've talked about bullet journaling on this blog, but I thought I would take a moment to talk about how I plan for work. It's very different than my life planning. 

First, our staff gathers each year for a planning retreat. We set goals, review strategic planning, and set dates for the next year. This provides much of the basis of my planning for the year. That said, items come up during the year that are added to the plan. Plus, there are things you just can't plan for that have to be incorporated.  

Each month, I take all of those components and combine them into a plan for the month. What has to be done this month? What would it be helpful to complete this month?  This is divided into topics - each one centered around a different strategy.

From that, I create my weekly plan.  I do this planning on Monday morning.  I consider what events I have on the calendar for the week and what "to do" items should (or can) be done each day.

Weekly Plan

I use that to plan each day in my Franklin Planner.  I use the Leadership two-page per day planner.  On one side, I create a to do list. I prioritize the list with A (must be done), B (should be done), and C (could be done).  I then number each A, each B, and each C.  The right hand column of the left hand side of the two pages I use to list meetings, etc.  I also add tasks (and I do this at the beginning of the month for the whole month) that are done every month on a certain day (for example, on every Monday, I add a task to check our computer back-ups and make sure they are working.

 I use the right hand side to right down notes from the day - phone calls, etc.  

This is how I plan when everything is going as it should be. That's not only the case, but I do reach more goals when I follow this routine.

Franklin Planner 2 pages per day

Seasonal Yarn and Patterns

One of my favorite yarn stores is Fibre Space in Alexandria, Virginia.  I've only been there twice, but it's a great yarn store.  A week or two ago, I received one of their regular emails. They were featuring a bundle of mini-hanks of yarn from Blue Sky Fibers. I purchased the Fright and Delight set.

What attracted me to this set were the free patterns from Blue Sky Fibers.  I downloaded the pumpkins, acorns, and leaf patterns (from this page). 

Travel Craft Planning

I like to take crafting with me when we travel, and I have found, through trial and error, that what I pack makes a difference in what I accomplish.

I am most successful if I pack a planned craft project.  For example, in the photo above are eight cards I made on a trip to Columbus.  This is what I packed:

• Stamped map background, trimmed to fit on the card bases
• Card bases, cut and folded
• Focal image, stamped
• Sentiments, stamped and trimmed, ready for use.
• Limited markers to color the focal images
• Adhesives 
• Scissors

When I have a plan and the materials to complete it, I can spend some time - usually in the evenings, when we are back in the room, watching TV, putting it all together.  Packing supplies in this kit-like fashion not only gives me a plan, but it eliminates the "what will I do" feeling.  

Alternatively, when I have taken a large bag of supplies with no plan, I don't do anything. I don't even break open the bag.

Reading Goals

I've been thinking about goals - reading goals, specifically - and the real effects they have on reading.  

My reading goals this year are:

• Read at least 30% new to me books.  I like to re-read books, but I want to make sure I am always reading some new material.  In truth, I have no trouble meeting this 30% goal.  Last year, I had this goal, and I read 69% new books (books I had never read before).  I think this goal achieves a good balance between indulging in my reading joy of re-reading great books (or books I read a long time ago) and making sure I am reading new things, too.
• Read at least four books that will help my spiritual growth. So far this year, I've read three, and I have a fourth one almost complete.  Last year, because of a class I took, I far exceeded this goal.  I think this one is a good goal that makes sure I am reading books for spiritual growth, and am still leaving room for books for fun.

Reading, for me, is mainly for the joy and pleasure of it. I like storytelling and stories - books are great stories to read for fun.  I also read for intellectual and spiritual growth - and I like doing that. I want goals that will help me to balance the fun of reading with my reading purposes.  These two goals are doing that.

I don't have a written goal for how many books to read in a year. Last year, I read 52 books.  I just looked that up as I was writing this post, and I was surprised to find it wasn't 48. In my mind, I have have had the goal of reading 50 books for the year - what I thought was two more than last year.  Does it really matter how many books I read? No. But I can see the unintended consequence of this unwritten goal.  I find myself choosing books that are shorter than others so that I can read more of them. That isn't a goal of mine; I don't mind long books. I don't want to avoid them. I makes me wonder if I should switch to a page number goal, or just forget it. In 2022, I read 35 books, and it was fine.  I don't really need a goal to encourage reading - I read.  

But still - 50 books sounds great to me. 

Reading Journal

 Let's talk about my reading journal.  

I started using a reading journal because I most often either read a book on my kindle (to prevent the continual accumulation of books in my home) or listen to audible books.  I find that I miss book covers.  Isn't that strange?  One of the main reasons I use a reading journal is that I include a picture of the cover so that I can flip through the book and remember what I have read - nostalgically. I also like it because it tracks information about my reading for me.

I use an A6 (Pocket) navy Leuchtturm 1917 notebook.  For each book, I include the following:

• picture of the cover
• star rating
• title
• author
• type of book (kindle, printed, audio)
• date completed

That's not a lot of information for a reading journal. It doesn't include any thoughts about the book itself (other than star rating), but that's all I want to record.  This meets my needs.  You should meet your own needs!

For each year, I also include a few pages of reading stats.  (If you want to see my reading stats, they are here.)  I track method of reading, copyright date, first time or repeat read, genre, and star ratings.  

Journals

 This is my stack of notebooks.  Here is what I use them for, from the bottom to the top:

1. The brown leather loose-leaf notebook on the bottom of the stack (that looks like it needs some care) is a Franklin Planner notebook that holds my Franklin planner pages.  In the world of digital planning and bullet journaling, I still find that the Franklin Covey two pages per day set up is the best format for my day to day planning for work.  I use the Leadership Classic refill in my Logan Open binder (the link is to the zipper version - they don't have the open one anymore apparently).
2. All of the other notebooks are Leuchtturm1917 dotted A5 (medium) notebooks (except the top one).  The navy blue one is my bullet journal.  In our house, we call them blue books, and we say that the blue books know all.  This is where I record our daily life (other than work). Each month has a theme - each book holds six months.
3. The Port Red one is my Lay Ministry notebook.  I am the Associate Lay Leader and Director of Lay Ministry in our Annual Conference.  This is the notebook that I use to plan and track it all.
4. The next one - the stone blue one - is my General Conference / Juridictional Conference notebook.  I was a reserve delegate to General Conference and a delegate to Juridictional Conference - this is the notebook where I tracked the planning and the voting.
5. The Forest Green notebook holds the notes from training / educational events.  
6. The Pacific Green notebook is the book I use to record notes from work meetings.
7. The notebook on the top of the stack is a navy A6 (pocket) notebook.  This is my reading journal.  In a future post, I'll explore this book with you. It's very simple - not at all like the more decorated and extensive reading journals that I see on the internet. Those are great, but not what I wanted to do.

Poema Tweed

 We were recently in Las Vegas / Henderson, and I stopped on Sin City Knit Shop (Henderson) again.  Great shop, helpful staff.  This time I met the person who dyed this yarn.  That was fun.

I, of course, purchased yarn.  

The yarn is Laines du Nord, Poema Tweed.  It's a blue green yarn (of course) with lots of yardage.  While I was in the store, I saw a scarf knitted with light weight yarn on larger needles, and I liked it.  She didn't have the exact yarn, but this is the same brand.  It is color 506.

Knitting Mural

This is a mural painted on the outside wall of Fiber Space, a yarn store in Alexandria, Virginia.  I've mentioned them before - whenever we go to Alexandria, I make a stop here.  I highly recommend - friendly, great stock, just a fun place to visit.  

And isn't that a cool mural?

Watercolor on the road

Sometimes when I travel, I take art supplies with me, and sometimes when I do, I find time to use them.  Last week I was in Philadelphia for a meeting, and I took watercolor supplies with me. 

Lots of greens and blues.  The bottom row of trees and mountains are for Father's Day cards.

Cats and yarn

A week or two ago, I ate an a French Bakery and Diner called Amelie's.  It was across the street from my hotel in Charlotte.  There were a row of tables against a wall - the back seats for benches below lots of these needlepointed images.  They were padded and hung - and I assume they were  meant to be cushions for the people sitting on the benches to lean against.  

I was sitting in a chair facing this one.  She's a woman who is knitting - or winding yarn - I'm not sure which, but look at her expression. Doesn't she look like she wants to send the kitten into the next state - or at least room?

Kittens / cats and yarn.  It's why I don't knit very often near our cat.  They just can't resist playing with yarn.  And how fun that a needlepoint artist captured that feeling in a piece.

On the Needles: Dupont Circle Scarf

I've started on a new project. using the yarn to the right.  This is yarn from Fibrespace in Alexandria, VA - a great yarn store.  The yarn is from Neighborhood Fiber Company - it is Studio Worsted in the colorway Dupont Circle.   A nice black and pink.

I'm knitting a scarf (what else is new?).  It is 42 stitches across, and I'm knitting it in Farrow Rib - a simple K-K-P pattern.  I'm using size 7 Knitpicks wood circular (exchangeable) needles.

I've mentioned before that I like knitting scarves because I often knit in movies - I can knit scarves easily in the dark.

This week (and last week) I've been attending the United Methodist General Conference as a reserve delegate.  This is a lot of sitting and listening, and some of that time, mindless knitting is great. 

I enjoy watching yarn like this pool and pattern as I knit.  Three pictures below:

Scarf beginnings in the car on the way to the Conference

Scarf draped over the handle of my wheelie bag at Conference.

Scarf as it is today.
See the pattern developing?

Finished Object: Roll the Dice Cowl

A new finished project!

This is the cowl I talked about here.  It uses Roll the Dice yarn from Sin City Yarns.  I bought it at Sin City Knit Shop in Las Vegas.  The yarn is 100% merino, and has a little bit of a sheen.  It is dyed so that one end of the skein has whites and blues, and just a little purple while the other end is all purple; in between it graduates from the blue end to the purple end.  

The pattern is for a cowl, and it was free from the yarn shop.  It is designed to use with this yarn.  As you knit the cowl, the color changes from one end to the other.  Also, even though it is a 4 knit / 4 purl pattern, the base rowl is set up so that the knit ridges travel around the cowl in a spiral.  Very cool.

I used one complete skein of yarn with a size 7 needle.  The picture is of the project prior to washing and blocking.

Retreat List

 Back in November, I participated in an Altenew Cozy Comfort Retreat.  It was an all day zoom retreat - one of the retreats where you craft cards along with the teachers of the classes.  It was more expensive (by a lot) than any card retreat I've done.  I decidd to do it because I follow and appreciate all of the teachers - Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Warner, Therese  Calvird, Carisa Wiley, and Kelly Taylor.  

Registration for the class included a shipment of supplies, which was great.

I enjoyed the retreat, although at the end, I was worn out.  A few days later, I created a list in my bullet journal of Five Thoughts about the Retreat:

• There was lots of homework - in fact, that is my biggest advice for you if you ever decide to do one of these.  Do the homework and be very organized in your set up.  I put the supplies for each class in a separate zip storage bag (the ones from Simon Says Stamp)
• The teachers were great - the best part of the retreat
• The Altenew rules were not my favorite - I really appreciate Hero Arts in this area.
• I needed more breaks - I was worn out by the end of the day.  An hour for dinner would have been great as well as an hour for lunch.
• I was lonely even though it was a zoom retreat with lots of people.  I missed my time with Steve for the day.

All that said, the cards were great!

Easter Cards

 Spellbinders has some great monthly kits.  Each month, I look at the kits avilable and choose one or two.  One of the ones I purchased in February was the Large Die of the Month called Floral Bunny Basket.

I had a great time working with it - I made six Easter cards.  Here are the die cuts for five of them:

Many Easter Card Parts

See the bunnies? Here are the bunny pieces:

Bunny cuts

All in all, each card had 52 different die cuts (not counting the sentiment which wasn't die cut).  That's 312 die cuts for six cards.  Whew!

I did a little bit of shading for the tulips, bunnies, and carrots.  The blue background is embossed with the one of the Altenew Sweater Pattern Builder stencils, just to give it some texture.

Happy Easter!

Postage Valentine's Day Cards

 I am really enjoying the Waffle Flower postage dies, stencils, and stamps.  They seem to be releasing different versions seasonally.

I used the Rose Stencil set and the Love stamps for several Valentines Day cards.

Currently

Current View

Current Bullet Journal Palette

Current knitting
Notice how the color is changing? Cool

Reflecting Pool Scarf

 

Another finished scarf.  This one was knit with Malabrigo Rios Yarn in the color Reflecting Pool.  I'm not sure where I bought it. It's very nice! I used about 1.5 skeins.

The needle size was US 7, and it is knit in the Yarn Harlot's one row pattern (cast on a multiple of four +2, knit two, knit one through back loop, purl and repeat until there are two stitches left - knit those.

I finished in January of 2024.  It was mainly knit in movies because it's an easy pattern to knit in the dark. I'm not sure when I started it, but it was after the Quince scarf, which was after the stacking, not stacking cowl.  

Here's the weird thing.  I have two more skeins of this yarn.  Did I buy it twice? I think I must have.  What will I do with the other two skeins?  I don't need another scarf made out of this yarn, as much as I like it.

Another post about this scarf

On my needles

 In this post, I talked about yarn I have that is "in the wings," waiting to be knitted.  This was one of them:

It's Roll the Dice yarn from Sin City  Yarns.  I'm knitting a cowl that the yarn store suggested (free pattern). You cast on 103 stitches on a 24 inch needle (size 7 for me), and then knit 4 and purl 4, repeatedly.  

I'm not sure if you can see it in the image, but the stitch pattern creates diagonal ridges of yarn that swirl around the cowl - cool.  Also, can you see in the first image that the yarn is lighter toward the middle and gets darker on the outside?  The cowl is following that color pattern.

It takes more concentration that I anticipated, but I do like it, and am enjoying the knitting.  I'm anxious to see it when it is finished.

Quince Scarf

How about another finished object.  This one was in a drawer, completely knitted, without the end woven in.  I mean, who does that?  Me, apparently.

This scarf is knit with this yarn.   It's Quince & Company's Osprey yarn.  It's a heavy (aran) weight wool, and the color is Aleutian.  I bought it at Kanawha City Yarn Company.

I knit the scarf with either US size 8 or 9 needles.  My notes say it is knit with the Yarn Harlot's one row "pattern," but it looks like farrow rib to me, so I'm not sure.  

How long did it take me to knit it?  Well, at the end of 2021, the yarn was still wound, and I hadn't started.  Even though I'm counting it as a finished object in 2024 since that is when I wove in the ends, I don't know when I finished the body of the knitting.

Really, I need to keep better notes.

It is soft and squishy, and I like it. 

Blue Striped Socks

I seem to be a finishing mood, picking up projects and completing them. At least one of them, so far. But I have more plans.

I finished a pair of socks this weekend. The yarn is Berroco Sox, color 1477. (Kingston). The color doesn't seem to be on the Berroco web page, and it's no wonder.  These have been on needles forever. Today I found a note about these socks that I made on February 1, 2014, so I've been knitting them since before then.

The socks are knit with the Yarn Harlot's vanilla sock yarn pattern from Knitting Rules.  I knit them with a pair of Signature Needle Arts double pointed needles, sized 1.  A side note - I'm not sure I've ever mentioned this, but I have two pairs of double pointed needled from this company (which is now closing).  They were very expensive, and feel wonderfully luxurious, but I don't like to knit with them.  I prefer my wooden needles.  

The yarn is self striping, and I find that very fun and amusing, as the stripes appear as I knit regular stockinette.  

I have no idea when I started these socks (other than it was before 2014).  I know I did a lot of work on the second sock in early 2020, because I posted pictures in my Instagram account.  Apparently, I can't knit socks during a pandemic, because I think they languished on the needles until I picked them up this weekend with on the toe (and a little of the foot) to knit. 

The problem is that I didn't make any notes about the numbers I used when knitting.  I ended up with not only fraternal socks (the stripes do not match up), but also socks of two different sizes.  I used two different numbers of stitches to start the socks.  By a lot. 

See the difference in width?  Oh, well.  They still work as socks, and are warm.  The toes are kind of pointy, though.  Poor things.

Sock Christmas Ornaments

 When we were in Las Vegas last fall, we made a stop at Sin City Knit Shop.  It's a great shop - I recommend it.   I bought this yarn:

It's from Socker Mom Fibers (I had already wound two of the tiny skeins).  Each one was about 5 grams of yarn or 27 yards, I think (or close to that).  The pattern is also from Socker Mom, and it is for tiny Christmas tree ornaments shaped like socks.  They had a little tree decorated with them.  They also had a kit for a garland made of tiny socks.  Adorable. 

I loved the yarn.  It was slightly overdyed, so there was a variation in color.  In the image, you can see it best in the green.  I knit the socks with size 0 needles.  Tiny.  The hanger is created with a crochet chain stitch - hook size D.  

I ran out of the house on the way to leave for the weekend with the yarn, pattern, and needles, but no other notions.  I had to go to a craft store and pick up darning needles and a crochet hook to finish the socks as they flew off the knitting needles.  Not at all prepared. 

As you can tell, I knit them on the road - we took a weekend trip right before New Year's Eve.  They knit up SO FAST.  Well, compared to a normal sized sock, anyway.

The pattern was clear. It used what it called a shadow heel (which I've never heard of). The shadow heel used stitches called TWK (twin knit stitch) and TWP (twin pearl stitches).  I did have an issue with these stitches - maybe it was the yarn or the needles, but there was some splitting of the yarn.  Also, it was sometimes difficult to figure out (for me) how to create the stitch in the leg of the stitch directly below.  Lots of transferring of stitches from one needle to the other.  It did result in socks, though.

The kit was designed to knit three socks, I think, but after I finished one of each color, it seemed like there was enough yarn to go again, so I did.  Six stock ornaments altogether. 

And the leftover blue yarn?

I had more yarn leftover of the other colors, but not much of the red and green. Still - good use of yarn! And fun knitting.