Unraveled Wednesday 1/1/25

 Hi All,

Greetings and Happy New Year!  We had a wild (and loud) thunderstorm last night.  Crazy.  We had expected rain, but not thunder and lightening.  Today is overcast (like January often is)...on the mild side, but quite windy out.  40 degrees, grey and windy is not appealing to me for a walk, so I will probably stay in.

How were your celebrations (if any)?  The crab cakes I made tasted very good...but they did not stay as cakes.  They fell apart.  Most likely I should have kept the mixture in the frig longer to really firm up, but I was late getting started mixing things together and then didn't really want to wait.  There is a lot of crab left over, that's for sure.

As usual, Fletch and I stayed in.  We watched two episodes of Poirot (neither of which I remembered seeing in the past, so that was fun).  And then we watched a program on the Folk Music Hall of Fame.  Interesting to see Peter and Paul (of Peter, Paul and Mary fame), Livingston Taylor (I remember listening to him in the early 70's, but he never became as popular as his brother), Joan Baez, Judy Collins and so many others.  I went to bed after that...Fletch stayed up to watch the ball drop.

And here we are at Wednesday.  The first day of the New Year and the first Unraveled Wednesday for 2025.  Time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk about all the making and reading.  If you've been reading my recent posts, you know that I finished Colin's second sock on the 21st of December and had not picked up any needles (knitting OR stitching) since then.  That, my friends, was rectified yesterday.

A tiny start!  I had caked up the yarn a few days prior and then yesterday afternoon cast on for a Heart Warmer cowl.  I've knit this pattern in the past and I LOVE the bobbles.  Fun to knit and fun to wear.  I am using fingering weight yarn from The Twisted Owl Fiber Studio (75/25).  The color way is "Honky Tonk Woman."  I often buy yarn for the name of the color way - LOL.  In this case, I love the colors in it as well.  This will be a gift for next Christmas!!  I'm attempting to get a head start this year.  And would like to knit more than just socks!  So far I've completed 3 rows of the 1x1 ribbing...hopefully more to be completed today.

On the reading side of things, I finished a few books since I last posted on an Unraveled Wednesday.  First up was "The Grey Wolf" by Louise Penny.  I'm interested to read how others felt about this book.  Though wonderful to be back in Three Pines with Armand Gamache, this book did not grab me like Louise Penny's other Gamache books have.  It was good, but some of it fell flat for me.  "The Black Wolf" is set to be published in October 2025, and I'm curious to see how I feel about that one.

Next up was "Long Island" (a sequel to Brooklyn) by Colm Tobin which I enjoyed (I think I liked Brooklyn better).

And then Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawagichi.  This is not a book I had heard about until my friend Leslie had mentioned it.  A mutual friend from high school had recommended it on Facebook.  The concept was interesting and it was a very quick read.  The four stories are inter-related and (for me) just ok.  I rated this book at 3 stars.

Fletch and I did finally finish the lecture series book "The Mind of the Raven" by Bernd Heinrich.  Though funny and interesting at times, listening to this book was too much like sitting in a lecture room.  LOL. We started reading The Return of the Light on the 21st, but after several tales, Fletch said he was not enjoying it.  That book has been moved to my nightstand and I need to remember to pick it up and finish it (though by the time I go to bed I am often too tired to read).  We have not yet come up with a new book to read or listen to after dinner.  Hopefully one will speak to us soon!

Once again, wishing everyone a Happy New Year.  Cheers to 2025 - may it bring all of us peace, joy, love and good health!