Knitting Notes

Pattern: Anthology by Tincanknits
Yarn: Sundara High Twist Fingering in the Gilded Midnight colorway
Needles: Size 2.5 and 5 DPNs

I had enough of the yellow mini in this yarn set left that I knew I should be able to pull off a baby hat, and figured if I could find some colorwork, that would be enough to use up the blue as well, which I had mostly used up in the socks I’d bought the set for.   I stumbled onto this pattern (really more of a recipe) in an Instagram post, and I’m really glad I did.    I’ll definitely be keeping this around – it was a super easy way to use up yarn.

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Thistlefoot – GennaRose Nethercott

Isaac and Bellatine Yaga haven’t seen each other in years, after Isaac left the family to go off on his own.     They’re called together when they receive an inheritance – one they have to go pick up at a warehouse.   It’s a house with chicken legs, and if you’ve noticed the last name, you know that these two are decedents of Baba Yaga, and her house has come to them.

This was a hard book for me to get into – it jumps back and forth in time quite a bit.     What it ultimately becomes is a story of deep trauma, and how that trauma lasts through generations.     At the end, when that is finally explored, I thought the book was at its best.

Knitting Notes

Project: Paper Crown Hat by Amy van de Laar
Yarn: Swans Island Ikat Collection Watercolors in the Indigo/Teal colorway
Needles: Size 2 DPNs

This is a cute little pattern – very easy to do.   I will definitely keep this one around for stash busting.

The Wizard’s Butler – Nathan Lowell

This is a nice, cozy book about a young man who gets hired to be the butler for a man who turns out to be a wizard.

There are two interweaving subplots about a cursed amulet, and a scheming niece who’s trying to get the wizard sent to a retirement home so she can turn his estate into condos, but at its core, the story is really about Mulligan finding something new for his life when he’d been struggling to find a place to fit into. I finished this in two nights – it was a delightful interlude against heavier reading.

Holy Sister – Mark Lawrence

I try not to read too much about books ahead of time, because I really hate being swayed by other people’s opinions. I accidently found out that this is many people’s least favorite book in this trilogy, so I was definitely a little nervous going into it. I can definitely see where people would have issues – this story jumps around in time in a way the prior two books did not, and that makes it tonally very different. That said, I did enjoy it.

We always knew the end of the series – the first book begins with the convent under attack, and two of the girls we shortly meet as novices are defending it as full nuns. So the question has always been, how did they get there? And I’m very happy with how that happens – Nona and her friends grow into some amazing, kick ass women.

Knitting Notes

Pattern: Sun Moon Socks by Andrea Rangel
Yarn: Sundara High Twist Fingering in the Gilded Moonlight colorway
Needles: Size 1.5 and 2 DPNs

I adore this yarn – it is just the prettiest blue. Definitely showcased well with this pattern.

The pattern’s great – very well written. It would be a good introduction to colorwork if you haven’t done that before. Heck, it’s clear enough it would probably be a good intro to sock knitting in general.

Dance of a Burning Sea – E. J. Mellow

I enjoyed this book – it’s the second in a series following the lives of three sisters. They’re both the daughter of a baron in the capital city, but also the Mousai, enforcers for the Thief King, who also happens to be their father.

This is Niya’s story, and we get a taste of it in the previous book, where there is a run in with a pirate, who Niya clearly hates. We get the full story of that here – of course it turns out Alos isn’t nearly as bad as he seems, and has good reasons for some of the terrible things he’s done. And Niya really needs to do some growing up – it’s entirely her fault that she ends up bound to Alos’ ship for the next year.

So we get some interesting exploration of the outer reaches of this world, and some good character development for Niya and Alos. The final book in series is out this week, and I’m interested enough to see what happens next that I actually preordered it.

The Last Graduate – Naomi Novik

I am so loving this series. Which is making my resolution to wait until the paperback of the third book comes out very hard to stick to. If I didn’t have a ton of other stuff to read, I’m sure I would have run out and bought the hardcover already.

El’s a senior now, and after the first semester, the rest of the year is devoted to practicing their escape run through the Scholomance’s graduation hall. The first book sets up the Scholomance pretty well – you know why the wizard kids are stuck in what might seem like a hellhole. This book brings things one step further. It’s pretty clear that no one is going to be able to escape without El and Orion’s help, and it’s also pretty clear that the school itself is pushing them towards something.

The motivations of the school are not so surprising in hindsight, but what the seniors decide to do with that knowledge is amazing. And the ending! Gah! Like I said, it’s going to be hard to wait for the paperback.