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Well, it only took me two years but I have finished recording Anne of Green Gables!  It’s a bit embarrassing that it took me so long but I’ve had a busy two years with meeting Stephen, finishing my master’s degree, battling Meniere’s Disease, getting engaged and married, and buying a house.  I feel somehow like I became an adult in the last two years if that makes sense.

Anyhow, I’ve podcasted chapters 36 and 37 and 38 will be up tomorrow.  I thought about spacing them out a bit more but figured I’ve made folks wait long enough!  Cataloging at LibriVox is in the works and a complete Zip file of all chapters will be available soon.

So as for what is next with the podcast, I’d like to get a good chunk more recording done before I start releasing more chapters.  Once I’m confident I can release on a regular basis, the podcast will start up again.  I’ll continue with the next Anne book by L. M. Montgomery - Anne of Avonlea.  I’ve also begun recording a duet with Kara of Emma by Jane Austen.  We will trade off chapters and I will likely podcast that at some point as well.

Life in general has settled in which is really nice.  My health is the best it has been in years.  I found out that I had a bad Vitamin D deficiency which was likely causing a lot of my fatigue and weak immune system and once I had supplements for that I started to bounce back.  Our new house is beautiful and I’m really enjoying the yard and learning how to do some gardening.  One of my favorite things about the house is this beauty who came with it:

Her name is Tasha and she is a Keeshond - a lovely arctic breed that I hadn’t heard of before.  We bought the house from a nice gentleman named Bill and it turned out he can’t have dogs in his new apartment.  We had been planning on getting a dog as soon as we had a house and fell in love with Tasha when we first saw the house.  We wrote in the contract that if Bill couldn’t keep Tasha that we’d love to take care of her.  We were half joking but when it turned out that he couldn’t keep her, everything fell into place.  She is the sweetest, most loving dog I’ve ever known and I think we are good for each other.  We get out and walk every morning and she is constant company and entertainment.

I haven’t been knitting a whole lot lately with the wedding, move, and summer heat but I think I’ll have more time now to devote to knitting and knit-blogging both.  So stay tuned and thanks for your patience to my podcast listeners!

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It often surprises me to realize who visits my blog and how they know me through what I write (and knit!). Last night at our rehearsal dinner, Stephen’s uncle Eddie mentioned in a toast that even though he’d only met be briefly last summer, he felt like he’d gotten to know me by reading my blog!

Yup, that’s right, today’s the day! I decided that I’m taking it easy this morning and early afternoon. It’s a matter of pacing myself for all the events this afternoon and evening. So in light of the blog being sadly negelected lately and the realization that more people than I knew have been following it, I figured it is time for an update.

I finished my Queen Coriolis socks:

The yarn is Opal Rainforest in the “Schmetterling” or butterfly colorway. The pattern is the Coriolis sock from Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I love how this pattern looks but it was difficult to get the fit just right. The nature of the band traveling across the ankle tends to reduce the elasticity of the sock right at the spot where it needs to be plenty elastic. But, I got it figured out and I’m excited to try some different “sockitechtures” she has suggested!

Oh, by the way, there were at least two other knitters present at the rehearsal dinner last night! My Aunt Beth from Arkansas finished a pair of socks on the drive up here. And Kurt, a longtime family friends who is now a judge and will be performing the ceremony, was most recently knitting on a sweater for his youngest daughter. Yea knitters!

I finished Julia’s Bobbley Scarf a while back! Remember the Bobbley Hat?

Well, this scarf is the hat’s companion. It is very looooong.

It’s bit less cabley but still very bobbley. This was one of those zen projects that once I memorized the pattern, I could just go and go and go. The yarn for the hat and scarf was Knit Picks Wool of the Andes - a great sturdy worsted wool yarn.

I also made the Frock Camisole by Katie Himmelberg from the Spring Interweave Knits for Julia for her birthday:

This yarn is Berocco Comfort which is good for gift knitting since its safe to go through the wash but I probably wouldn’t pick it for myself, I’ve gotten so used to natural fibers now that knitting with a nylon/acrylic blend felt weird on my hands. I don’t know if that makes sense but I suspect other knitters will understand! But the blue is lovely and the style is very flattering on Julia.

I made some cute cotton coasters a couple months back for my Aunts Lorie and Libby who threw my wedding shower:

As usual, Peaches and Creme worsted weight cotton. I’m told they are very absorbent! There have also been yet more Ballband Dishcloths for my fauncy aunt Becky and cousin Amy, also in Peaches and Creme:

It’s amazing what a hit these simple dishrags are, they are perfect gift knitting in my mind. I’ve also done plenty of knitting for myself. For instance, my Pretty Pink Picot Pullover:

The yarn is Dream in Color’s Classy and the colorway is Petal Shower. I used my Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd and did the set in sleeve with V neck template. I knit this up in no time at all. I loooove it.

Of course I was only able to wear it a few times before it got too warm but I’m already looking forward to wearing it next fall and winter. Click and zoom in to see the neckline better, it’s a twisted rib collar.

Okay, time to get moving here but it feels good to get a bit caught up in blogland! I know I’ve neglected Anne of Green Gables lately but once I’m back from the honeymoon (few days at a B&B) it should be done soon.

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Many thanks to all of my podcast and audiobook listeners who send me such encouraging emails and comments - I can’t tell you how much it means to me. And thanks especially to the Anne listeners who’ve been nudging me to get on with it already! I am truly sorry to leave you all hanging for so long. Life has been busy and my motivation seemed to wane for a while. But I miss recording and LibriVox and plan on making it part of my routine again. So, without further ado, Chapter 29: An Epoch in Anne’s Life is now available. I have already recorded Chapters 30-33 for an earlier group version of AoGG so those are ready and waiting in the wings. I plan on releasing a chapter a week and by the time Ch. 33 is released, I should have the rest of the book recorded and ready to continue on that schedule.

One of the things keeping me busy these days is wedding planning! Stephen and I got engaged the night before Thanksgiving and will be married May 10th.

Yes that is a pudding pop in my hand. I didn’t know we were about to be photographed or I would have held off on dessert! Anyway, it will be a good sized wedding, probably between 75 and 100 people; but we’re keeping it as low key and stress free as possible. We want our families to be there and this will be as small and laid back as is possible while still including everyone (I have around 35 first cousins alone hence the large number for a family only wedding!). No loud band or DJ, just nice background music of our choosing (we’ll pre-program an iPod and they have a system to pipe it through their speakers). We’ll have a short civil ceremony followed immediately by dinner, all at Orlando Gardens. Orlando Gardens is a very nice banquet hall and weddings are their thing so they’ve been very accomodating with everything.  I ordered my dress online from Nordstrom’s and I think it is perfect:

I don’t think I’ll even need to have it altered. I’ll probably knit up a little pink shrug to wear over it. Here’s a close up look at the overlay, it’s a sort of netting with sequined diamonds in gold and silver:

My sister Julia will be my maid of honor and she has picked out a darling J. Crew dress in a gorgeous deep purple/blue. Invitations are ordered and here. I’m sort of just dealing with one thing at a time and that is working well for me. Next up is flowers, we’ll do pink and white flowers I think. And though I’m generally not big on gifts or jewelry, I am truly in love with my ring:

It’s a classic round solitaire in white gold and I think it’s perfect.

So far the planning has been lots of fun and only a little bit stressful.  I have an aunt who works in a bridal shop and is great help with planning.  And Julia is my perfect maid of honor, she knows what is in style and what needs to be done.  I can’t believe it’s only three months away but I’m glad we didn’t drag the whole process out for a year or longer.  So, that’s my fun news.  I don’t know why I didn’t post it sooner, I tend to have mixed feelings about posting more personal stuff on the blog but I guess the time felt right.  (Now I just hope Stephen doesn’t die when he sees his picture on the website - he was appalled when I posted a picture of his birthday socks on his feet without his permission!)

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Chapter 28 of Anne of Green Gables is ready for all my anxious podcast listeners! An Unfortunate Lily Maid is an awfully fun one - Anne ends up in a catastrophic situation, she and Gilbert have a testy exchange, Marilla despairs of Anne ever acquiring some sense, and Matthew, a man of few but wise words urges Anne not to give up on romance completely.

Here is a photo of The Secret of the Stole with Clue 2 finished:

That’s a pretty accurate picture of the color in the natural light. And here is the Kauni Lady Eleanor Stole in the natural light:

Aren’t the colors lovely? Here, look closer:

Very soft and rich, not at all neon like the camera flash tends to make them look.

And lest anyone remind me of my pledge, I have not actually knit anything new on these projects in the last two days. (Notice what a good blogger I am being, by the way?) Dad’s sweater is getting very close to its finishing stages! I can’t wait to give it to Dad and then show it to you guys!

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I finished my Sockina Cotton socks:

I knit these from the toe-up with Judy’s Magic Cast On. Worked in Stockinette on 56 stitches, reverse heel flap with Eye of Partridge stitch under the heel and 3×1 ribbing on the leg. Very soft and pretty colors but, no matter how much nylon and acrylic you mix with cotton, it’s never got that nice stretch that wool has!

I started a new pair of socks, the pattern is Cabletini by Wendy Johnson and can be downloaded for free from The Loopy Ewe’s website. The yarn is Dream in Color’s Smooshy in Giant Peach. Now I understand the Smooshy obsession. Yes the yarn is nice and smooshy but it’s the slightly variegated color that I’m in love with. This picture is from a week ago-ish, I’m past the heel now:

The Kauni Eleanor Stole continues to be my favorite thing to grab for TV knitting. These colors are overly bright but you get the idea:

I’ll get a picture outside when the sun is out someday. I’m further than this, well into the purple, heading back towards red now.

The Secret of the Stole began on 10/5 but I started about a week late since I put off ordering beads till the last second and they arrived on 10/12. I love these beads, I bought them from EarthFaire:

I believe the color is called “Metallic Gold Iris.” So lovely with the KnitPicks Shadow yarn in Lost Lake:

I’m getting caught up slowly. Here is Clue 1 finished:

I finished Clue 2 last night and it is blocking right now. Clue 3 came out this past Friday so I may actually be caught up when Clue 4 is out. I’m absolutely loving knitting lace. I mean, real lace with laceweight yarn. It is definitely not TV knitting but working on it requires such concentration and focus that it is almost meditative.

And because I seem to have a real case of Startitis lately, I cast on for the Doctor’s Bag from Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark:

I’m going to call it my Mary Poppins Bag because it looks like one of those nice big bags that you can stuff all kinds of things into and constantly surprise people with what you pull out of it! Here’s a close up on the lovely Herringbone stitch pattern:

The yarn I’m using is Cascade 220 Heathers in a lovely peach/pink color. The bag is knit with two strands held together on size 11 needles so I can only do a bit at a time before my hands start to ache and I switch to something else.

I’m still not finished with my Dad’s Birthday Sweater if you were wondering about that. I ran out of yarn on the second sleeve and even though my extra balls have arrived, I seem to have stalled out somehow. I knit so much on it so fast and so exclusively that I think I burnt out a bit. I suspect this is what is fueling my startitis as well but I suppose the only way to know is to finish the thing! And I want to, I’m really thrilled with how it is turning out. I just have so many other lovely projects in the works… but then it’s hard to enjoy other knitting when there is a voice in the back of my head reminding me that I really should be finishing the sweater. So I pledge right here and right now that I will not knit on the Secret of the Stole, the Kauni Eleanor Stole, or the Mary Poppins Bag until Dad’s Birthday Sweater is complete. The socks are fair game. Socks are always fair game and are actually absolutely necessary for travel knitting and TV knitting when the other option is a large object with cables and charts.

So there’s the knitting news. I have a new chapter of Anne of Green Gables recorded and plan on editing it in the next day or so. I wish I could get them out more often, it is just very difficult for me to read or spend long periods of time on the computer with my dizziness issues. But I promise I will finish out this book, hopefully by the end of the year.

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