Yarn Along with mystery project reveal

Here I am yarning along again with the crew over at Ginny's Small Things. 

I made really good progress on this shrug this week. Actually I am almost done!  I can't believe it.  I really thought that it was never going to be done and although these last few inches are going more slowly than I would like the end is in sight.  I might actually get to wear to the wedding this Saturday! 2 more inches of jersey to go and then the binding off and kitchenering the ends together begins.  I can't wait to see what the lace is going to look like all blocked out.  I may not get much sleep tonight but at least the shrug will be done!

A few weeks ago I showed you a hint of a mystery project.  Well that project made its way to it's new home and now I can share it here. This is a shawl from the Faraway, So Close pattern by Carina Spencer.  I completely love this pattern. Actually I pretty much love all her patterns but this one is so easy to knit and yet it look so complicated and beautiful.  I think I could knit this over and over and never get bored with it.  The yarn is Knit Picks Chroma worsted and it was a perfect choice for this project. It is seriously soft and cozy- perfect for a shawl- and the colorway just worked out awesome! Somehow the variegation just came out in perfect stripes and the colors blended so wonderfully.  If I hadn't had a very special friend that this was intended for I totally would have kept it for myself. I did buy some more chroma to make one for myself though!

I finished Beautiful Unbroken this week and honestly I have to say I didn't really like it. The author is a nurse but also a poet so while I enjoyed her stories I found the book itself to be rather ponderous. The writing is beautiful but she uses a lot of words to say simple things and while that isn't a bad thing I just found it to be too much for my tastes.  She has some interesting things to say about travel nursing, being a hippie, and about working in NYC during the early days of the AIDS epidemic and I guess there would be more story to this than there actually was. I also read a quick and fun book by Julie Garwood this week called The Ideal Man, which was a very quick and fun, lighthearted read. I guess I am in the place right now where I have very limited time to read with work and the kids etc that when I do get a chance to read I want it to be quick and easy and not use up too much brain power.  Time to read some more fluff and then I will be ready for the intellectual reading again. With Christmas coming I have a whole book of stories of the advent to read with the boys so I am looking forward to that.