I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers today with the Dracula Hitchhiker. That's what Wollmeise called the collection of mini skeins so that's how I continue to think of them. I've finished with the first color, Petit Poison dark, fiddled around with several ways to start the second color, Fliederbusch (lilac bush), and finally hit on one that seemed to work okay. (It's just yo, k2tog, nothing complicated.)
Except . . . I don't really like these two colors next to each other. I have had to remind myself that this is not really a gradient series, just colorways that Wollmeise grouped together, and I do like the later colors better. I think I'll just keep knitting and see what I think when I start the third and subsequent colors. It's nice yarn to work with and I have to knit something.
I started and gave up on four or five books last week before I finally settled on Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol Oates. It's kind of a long-winded tale (800 pages!) about a family of five siblings whose father dies and how they and their mother react. I've never read anything by this author, but she does seem to use four or five words when one would suffice. So far, I'm sticking with it because the writing is good enough that I want to find out what happens.
What are you making and reading this week?
Oh I like the new color addition! (and I think your idea of K2tog, YO is perfect for the change row!) I gave up on a book this week as well and finally settled in with something that I am, likewise, waiting to see where it goes! As for the making... I have managed to pick up my mitered squares "blanket" and knit a few rows each day to add a new "square" to the mix!
ReplyDeleteholy smokes did you make a lot of progress! I love the colors together :)
ReplyDeleteI'm another who likes the new color addition. And I like the idea of a K2tog, YO for the change. I'm still fiddling with dishcloths - easiest thing to take to Colin & Mailing's. Just the other night I read a short story in The New Yorker by Joyce Carol Oates. I found it to be ok. I think Oates is an author who some really like and others do not. And some are just in the middle. I've tried some of her novels, but if I finished one I don't remember it!
ReplyDeleteOh! I like the new color as an accent against the darker shade.
ReplyDeleteJoyce Carol Oates: I'm surprised that this is the first of hers that you've read. I started reading her books in the early '70's (but I haven't read all 59 of her books). Thanks for tipping me off on this one, I hadn't heard of it before. It does sound a bit like her earlier book We Were the Mulvaney's.
Like you, I'm not entirely convinced about the color change, but I also think once you've got subsequent stripes in it will look better. I suspect that abrupt color change is more dramatic when it's just the two colors, and I do like how you worked the transition row.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the time, abrupt color changes can feel "clunky," but remember: when you wear a Hitchhiker, it wont' be spread out like that at all. Rather, it will be wound around your neck in a most pleasing way -- and those contrasting (but coordinating) colors will looks so different wrapped around than they do all laid out straight for a knitting "beauty shot." Keep going! XO
ReplyDeletePS - I have a love/hate relationship with JCO, so I'll be eager to hear what you think. I have read many of her books, and eventually decided I needed a break from her. That break has lasted a long, long time. . .
ReplyDeleteLooking at your hitchhiker I am reminded of Kym saying that sometimes we need more "real estate" with our knitting before deciding if it's working or not and I kind of feel like you're at that stage. Joyce Carol Oates is pretty popular, I hope it's worth the 800 pages!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you joined the two colors... and I don't hate that combo! It'll look so different with ALL the colors, and when it's wrapped around your neck.
ReplyDeleteThat's one dramatic Hitchhiker you've got going on there. I really like both of those colors. I can't wait to see what comes up next. I'm reading My Cousin Rachel. Another book I found in the coffee shop's little library hut.
ReplyDeleteI think you got spoiled by the first color, Bonny, it is so rich and deep. But like everyone else, I think you'll have to wait and see how you like it. How many colors do you have? You may want to think about the order you like them in side by side. I have read a few books by JCO, but it's been a long time, so I must not have been crazy about them. I am reading The Correspondent, but it's too early to see if I am going to like it. I admit, I am not crazy about the way the book is written.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any JCO either! a writer who can tell a good story WITH good words (even if there are a lot of them) isn't all that common - curious to see what you think of the book when you finish! I had to look up her list of works to check what I (hadn't) read and We Are the Mulvaneys has definitely been on my TBR more than once.
ReplyDeleteI like the color combination and the way you joined the new color! I have not read anything by Oates and look forward to see what you think of it.
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely to hear from so many people that like the color combination so far! I'm going to keep going and see how I feel. I'm not sure this should have been my first Joyce Carol Oates book. I probably should have started with some of her short stories, Gravedigger's Daughter, or maybe We Were the Mulvaneys. I'm invested in the book now, and want to see what happens, but it's not easy reading.
DeleteI think the join of colors with a YO, k 2 tog is perfect. The colors are so striking that changing the color in that way looks rather elegant while letting the colors shine. I wonder how you will feel about the colors as you add more. I once tried to read Joyce Carol Oates but didn't get very far. I look forward to hearing more about your experience with this author.
ReplyDeleteI will be interested to see your hitchhiker with more colors. I have found that I sometimes prefer my multi-color knitting when there's a color I don't "like" so well in there. When it's too harmonious, it isn't always interesting. AS for JCO, I read We were the Mulvaneys, and it was fine, but then I started another book (title forgotten) that I couldn't bear. There was child sexual abuse, and a boxer, so maybe someone else knows which book it is. Anyway, I have wished in a way that I HAD finished it, as the unresolved story has (in parts) stuck in my mind in a most uncomfortable way for many years. In short, I think she's a good writer, but I don't like her work.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm knitting faster because I want to see what the hitchhiker looks like with more colors also! I really liked the colors in the mini-skeins, but for some reason they look different to me when they are actually knit.
DeleteI wonder if the JCO book that you didn't finish could be "You Must Remember This"? I'd like to know how it ends, but I'm not sure it's really the book for me. I'd like to read some more of writing but I might try her short stories next. I think your last sentence says it most succinctly!