Yarn along: Not nesting

It's been ages since I wrote a Yarn Along post, so hello! How have you all been?

I really haven't had much time to read recently - I've been preparing for our new arrival mostly by doing a lot of laundry, almost always on the days when it's decided to rain unexpectedly, and getting a few things down from the loft - but am really enjoying the current book I'm reading: The Lido by Libby Page. The book is about a local reporter (Kate) who is asked to write about a community lido that is closing in the near future to be replaced by tennis courts for a private development. Kate hasn't come across the lido before, but soon falls in love with the lido and the community that surrounds it, and sets about making it her mission to save the lido. This book came highly recommended to me, and I think I'm the fourth or fifth person to read the copy I'm reading. I'll be passing it on to a friend once I'm done, and would really recommend it too if you're after a light but thought-provoking read.

"What's on the needles at the minute?", I hear you ask. Well, lots of things, sort of. The second blanket for my twin nieces is still a WIP, as it's been too hot to contemplate working with chunky-weight yarn, but now the weather is a little cooler I really ought to get on with it (especially as while I am confident I can knit while feeding a baby, intarsia is a whole other kettle of fish. It is further on than this picture suggests - I have completed the first row of bunnies).

I've just finished a Wonder Woman Wrap (by Carissa Browning), which I sped through and enjoyed immensely. The project was an absolute joy - the perfect combination of mindless garter stitch and beautiful short rows. I loved how intuitive I found the construction, and the beautiful yarn was a bonus. I still need to darn the ends in, which I would have done earlier in the week, but was hampered by having mislaid every single appropriate sewing needle. I have no idea where any of them have gone, so bought two new packets at the weekend. I shall probably mislay those too within a week.

The final commission before maternity leave went in the post yesterday, and I'm pleased that all my deadline knitting is off the needles. There are a couple of self-published designs I would love to have finished before maternity leave, but sometimes I have to admit that I may have over-stretched myself and take a step back.

The other projects I'm enjoying at the minute are socks. I'm knitting a pair for my daughter, and have a pair for the Yarndale sock line on the go too (they're the socks in the photo with the book - it's a very worthy cause if you can knit up a pair by the end of the month; if the end of the month is too soon for you, but you fancy doing some charity knitting you could knit a pair for the Flower Power Fund; those socks are needed in time for Christmas. I plan to knit a pair in last year's colourway as I ran out of time last year). The Marathon sock KAL is still ongoing in my Ravelry group,* and we're nearly there, which is so exciting! I was expecting it to take much longer, so am really pleased that it looks like we'll be done by the end of September at the latest.

But yes, the elephant in the room: why are there no knits for my baby on the WIP list? Well, I haven't really felt like it. I'm not a nester by nature, and we already have all the things I knitted for my older children that this baby can wear. I also have very generous knitterly friends who I know have been knitting things for the new baby (I've already been gifted two beautiful blankets!), so I don't feel a need to knit anything. I do have a skein of yarn that has been earmarked for a baby knit, and some ladybird buttons that are shouting at me to be added to something small and cute, so I might knit a Newborn Vertebrae or Puerperium cardigan in the next few days (baby knits are quick), but it's been warm here recently, so there's a strong possibility that baby knits might get even less use that the usually would. We shall see...

What have you been working on recently? And do you have any easy sleep-deprived-appropriate reading to recommend?

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

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