May The Force be With You

Being a Star Wars fan since the original movie was released in the 1970's I simply had to knit The Force Awakens Hat pattern by Mrs. Luedeke when it popped up on Ravelry.  It's a free pattern, but I would have paid for it.  It's a fair isle stranded knit hat with a band of Empire Tie fighters, a band of wording (which I left off as my husband didn't care for it) and a band of crossed light sabers and Storm Trooper helmets.  There was also some fair isle patterning in between the motif bands which I left out or replaced.   You can see my mods and notes here.  It's a fast knit which I found very enjoyable.  My husband loved it and has seriously been wearing it ever since - even inside the house (hmm, maybe I should turn up the heat?)  He has a Star Wars buddy a work who oddly is not another computer geek like himself, but a woman in the HR department (now, that might seem a bit sexist of me, but really the odds are clearly in the computer geek sector don't you think?)  Anyway, she flipped when she saw the hat, and since it's a fun fast knit I told her I'd make her one too.  She did give my son an R2-D2 kitchen timer after all ;)  So, the gray version is my hubbies and the blue in progress one is for his Star Wars buddy.  Now, my son Sam wants one too to match his dad.  Good thing I like the pattern huh?

As for books, I'm on to reading book two of the Percy Jackson series The Sea of Monsters to my son.  We're really enjoying it thus far.  This time around instead of stopping a World War Percy must save Camp Half Blood, the only spot on earth safe for the half blood children of the gods.  No small task.  This week I'm even squeezing in some time for my own reading and since my interests are turning towards Minimalism that's exactly what I'm reading about.  Minimalism, live a meaningful life by Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus.  I like parts of it and not others.  To risk sounding sexist again it's a little bit single male in tone, but they are guys without wives or kids so what do I expect? Actually, I'm noticing a lot of minimalists seem to be men.  Not sure why, but now I'm on the look out for some Minimalism books by women.  If you know good one leave the title in the comments would ya?  Thanks and I hope you're all having a great week!

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

A Wee Break

I needed a break from my Banded Turtleneck as the sleeves are giving me trouble and thus annoying me to no end.  So, I turned to my bin of WIPs and picked out one I thought I could actually complete in a short time and came up with the above Arika cowl by Jane Richmond.  It's very much like wearing a poncho without all the bulk.  There are two yarn strands used to "create" a bulky weight yarn in my version as I had no bulky yarn that the pattern calls for when beginning this project.  The first strand is Flax Down by Purl Soho which consists of Alpaca, Merino and Linen fibers and is so light and s-o-f-t.  The second strand is Tilli Tomas's Raw Silk 100% silk sport weight yarn. The effect of the two shades of yellow I find very pleasing as it creates more depth of texture.  Tying on all the fringe was fun and it does go all the way around the back in case you were wondering.  A very satisfying knitting project, but oddly too fast as I am not ready to go back to my sweater just yet.  Maybe it's time to go back to the WIP pile or cast on something new?

As for reading my son and I are still enjoying The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan.  It's the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series and it really does hook you in as a first book should.  I'm hoping to finish reading it today to find out who was the instigator behind it all.  As for adult reading, I have been reading mainly on lots of blogs/websites lots about Minimalism.  We are wanting to downsize to a smaller home and as I go along in the process of shedding possessions I need some inspiration to keep me going.  Theses guys are my favorite.  I'm writing about our process to live better with less on my other blog called Small Simple Dreams.

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.