Knitting, Crochet, Crafting, Art & More

52 Weeks of Socks | Series Introduction

52 Weeks of Socks book, a stack of 3 yarn balls, a gall jar with pieces of paper in front of a circle pillow leaning against a wall on the floor.

Hello and welcome to a bit of an introduction for a series I am going to be doing over the next year. In 2022 I picked up a knitting booked called 52 Weeks of Socks published by Laine. I flipped through it quite a few times, but never made a pattern out of it. Then a few months ago I watched a video by Eliza Okay where she slowly makes her way though this series. It kind of inspired me to really get into this book and give the patterns a go.

The main reason I was hesitant with working with this book was how I felt I was so inexperienced with the techniques within the book. When I first picked up the book I had never done a toe up sock, I never did cables, I never even looked at a chart before. In addition to all of these, I had never used DPNs in my life. A lot of the patterns, at least the ones I took a look at, needed to use DPNs. Now you can manipulate a pattern to be done on magic loop or 9-inch circulars, but I also had no experience in doing that as well. I honestly felt like I didn’t know enough to do any of the patterns, which made me sad, but I knew that one day I would learn a lot of these things and be able to tackle it.

Now, at the end of 2022 I have done a lot of the things I was hesitant about I have worked on in other projects. Mind you, a lot of the sock patterns had combinations of these new things. I decided the best way to work on these other skills was to learn them mixed in one at a time into things I already “mastered” or at least knew well enough. I did two toe up socks in 2022, I did a shawl covered in cables, I used charts on a few projects and I even used DPNs on a project! Oddly, even though I felt more confident in my abilities and really enjoy making socks, I never really picked up the book again. I think because at that point, it was just a book in on my shelf and I had other sock pattens to make that I also owned. Then I came across Eliza‘s video and subsequent videos working her way though it, I was inspired to take the book out and start working my way though it.

Now, I am not only going to make socks out of this book. I am going to be making a little series out of it to share my initial feelings, how the process went, and my other all thoughts. Now, since the book has so many patterns I needed to figure out how I was going to maneuver working through this challenge/series. There were many way to do this; working through it chronologically, random number generator, or throwing the book like Eliza tried to do in one of her videos. I ended up landing on another option, which you can see in the picture above. I wrote each number on a strip of paper and then place them all in a jar. When I need a new sock pattern, I can just go and pick a number out! Nice and easy, as well as random, which I prefer.

Now, since there are 52 patterns in this book, I don’t really plan on making them all in a year, but over a few years. My goal this year is to make 6 socks out of this book. I figured two months per pair would be manageable, especially since some are more complicated than others. I am hoping to get a mix so I can fly through some and be able to take my time on some more challenging patterns. Either way, no matter how this works out. I am very excited about this new challenge and sharing it with you all.

Sign Off 2020
Sign off, thanks for reading!

Tumblr Twitter | Goodreads

Let's Talk · Reading Challenges

My 2022 Reading

Hello and welcome to a post where I am going to share some books stats from my reading this year! I did not track too much, but I still think it is fun to take a look at. If you want to see the list of books I read this year, you can find that on my Good Reads Challenge Page. Now I will also say I am taking advantage of the data collected by Goodreads to create this post. In the past I tracked my reading a bit more with a google sheet, but this year I just didn’t for one reasons or another.

I read a total of 9,267 pages

I read 32 books

Shortest book read was 18 pages and it was Willie the Weirdo by Stephen King

Longest book read was 607 pages and it was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

Average book length was 289 pages

Most popular book read was One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Least popular book read was Willie the Weirdo by Stephen King

Average rating for a book in 2022 was 3.8 stars

Even though I did not track a lot of other things this year like genre, I am glad to have this data to look at. I am really happy that while I did not read nearly as much as I usually do, I rated books, on average pretty well. On top of that it was kind of fun to see the most and least popular book, based upon how many people have also read the book, not its rating. I am not sure if I am going to track on a goole sheet next year or not yet, but I know for sure I can count on Goodreads at least to give me some fun stats to look at during the end of the year.

Sign Off 2020
Sign off, thanks for reading!

Tumblr Twitter | Goodreads

Let's Talk · Reading Challenges

First Goal Check in for 2022!

Hello and welcome to my first check in with my 2022 goals! I was planning on doing this check in a bit earlier, but time got away from me. I must also admit I have not looked at any of these goals since writing this post back in December, so this should be interesting!

Reading Goals

Read 6 non-fiction books, I have read a total of 4 non-fiction books! I am well on my way to achieve this goal

Read the International Booker Prize Shortlist, I have read 2 of the 6, so I feel like I am doing well with this goal as well.

Get owned TBR under 15 books, I am currently at about 20 books, so I am getting close!

Life Goals

See a new place, I ended up visiting about 4 new yarn shops this year. Not quite what I had in mind for this goal, but technically I did do it.

Teach myself something new, this year I have learned how to do color work, cables, and bobbles! I also took a class relating to researching genealogy and learned a lot in regards to that as well!

Maker Goals

Knit a sweater, achieved! I ended up knitting a Ranunculus which you can see a picture of in my post entitled, Monthly Digest | April 2022. I am really happy with how it came out!

Knit 6 pairs of socks, so far I have created 2 pairs of socks. I am in the middle of my third so I feel like I am making good time with this goal.

Crochet a sweater, I have yet to do this one, but I have plans to crochet one in May 2022. I am crossing my fingers that I actually get the time to do this.

Create 10 things with my hands, as of writing this I have created 6 items. These include; shawls, socks, cowls, and a sweater.

Goal Count

Completed: 3

Not Completed: 6

I have successfully achieved 3 of my 9 goals for this year. This is actually great in my eyes due to the fact we are 1/3 of the way through the year and I completed 1/3 of my goals. As for the goals I have not achieved I seemed to be making good progress to where I don’t feel like I am behind on any of them just yet.

I really hope your 2022 is going well and you are working towards all of your goals!

Sign Off 2020
Sign off, thanks for reading!

Tumblr Twitter | Goodreads

Reading Challenges

Replacing My Screen Time

Hello and welcome to a post where I am going to share my experience attempting to replace my screen time with some reading instead. I have been seeing this concept shared by a few booktubers such as The Book Leo and Spoopyhol. I thought it was a really fun idea and would be a great way to put my energy in enjoying my hobbies and not just looking at a screen mindlessly. This really goes hand in hand with me wanting to take a few ideas from my recent read, Thinking Like a Roman Emperor and implementing them. I did a whole review on this book, you can read that here: Reading Taste Test | @jacksepticeye. Anyway, here is what happened throughout my attempt to replace my screen time!

screen time data

To start off I needed to take a look at my screen time for the previous week and I ended up spending 1h 48min a day on my phone. This is actually better than I thought it would be, but to think of reading that much a day seems like it might be a bit difficult. Also, I am going to be monitoring or tracking my reading using an app called Study Bunny and set it to 110m, which is the equivalent to 1h 50m.

Screen shot of Study Bunny

Monday, August 2nd: Read from 13% to 100% of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar. I ended up reading a total of 2h 15m.

Tuesday, August 3rd: Started reading Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobbs and ended on page 154. I read for 1h 50m.

Wednesday, August 4th: Oops life got in the way. So my time for the day was 0h 0m. I am hoping to make this up before the week is over so I can get the time in.

Thursday, August 5th: Continued reading Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobbs I started on page 154 and ended on page 296. I read for the full 1h 50m.

Friday, August 6th: Continued reading Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobbs I started on page 296 and read until page 398. Following reading my tome for the entire 110m, I ended up reading two short stories, Snow Flakes by Ruth Ware and then Treasure Oyinkan Braithwaite. I read both of these short stories back to back and added another 40m to my reading for a total of 3h 40m.

Saturday, August 7th: The first section of reading was the daily amount of 110 min and I read from pages 398 to 547. Later in the day I decided to read some more. I ended up making it to page 631 and took the days total to 3h 13m.

Sunday, August 8th: The last day of the challenge and I was determined to finish this read to end this challenge with the book, I thought it would be fun. I read from page 631 to page 880. The total time of reading for the day ended up being 3h 19m.

Reading Time Graph

Number of hours of required reading was 12h 50m or 770m. I ended up reading a total of 16 hours and 7 min this past week. I ended up exceeding my goal, even though I missed a day of reading, which I am proud of. I thought I would have a hard time trying to make up the missed day, but it all worked out in the end! I am really glad I ended up taking on this challenge and I hope to try another reading challenge in the future!

Sign Off 2020
Thanks for Reading! Sincerely, Luna

Tumblr Twitter | Goodreads

Let's Talk

Let’s Talk | Using a Commonplace Book

Let's TalkHello and welcome to my post where I am sharing my reading notebook and I would love to hear your thoughts! So, a few months ago I came across the idea of a commonplace book while researching different note taking methods on youtube. I came across Amy Landino’s video, which I will link to below and went from there. As someone who loves note taking, notebooks, and the link I am honestly surprised that I have not heard about this sooner. A commonplace book is defined as…

Commonplace Book  – source: Lexico powered by Oxford

NOUN

  • A book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.


What is a Commonplace Book and What Method I am Using?

Now, there are many ways to organized a commonplace book, some people use notecards and a series of boxes or dividers, digitally create one, or use an old fashioned notebook. I feel like the method you use really comes down to your personality and why you are using it. From the light research I have done, I see a lot of authors using the notecard system, if you want to check that version out, I suggest starting out with Amy Landino video called My Box of Inspiration! How to Create a Commonplace Book. I have not watched any other videos by her or anything, but I felt like she did a wonderful job explaining her version of a commonplace book. Now, as for myself personally, I went for using an actual notebook.

There are a few reasons why I went with an actual notebook. The first being it is the most historically accurate and pays a bit of homage to the history of a commonplace book. This is not to say the other methods are less, I am just a huge history nerd. See, commonplace notebooks have actually be around for a very long time, they were very prominent during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods (source, source) and a lot of them were almost like scrap books of information.  Just like actual scrap books, they really varied from person to person depending on their lives and interests. It is even featured in some literary works ranging by Virginia Woolf and can even apparently be found in A Series of Unfortunate Events.  (source). As someone who like historical stuff, I am used this in historical context of everything including the kitchen sink. A lot of people who use them now organize them based upon theme and honestly me organizing my months and such is more effective for me. I do not want to create sections in a notebook. Although if I ever do I feel like a travelers notebook would work wonders for that.

Now, that I rambled about the first reason, to be fair the biggest reason for me personally, here are the other two. I have a ton of notebooks. I love stationary so I have it laying around, but it brings me true joy when I actually use them. On top of that I feel like I absorb more when I physically write and then put things into my own words. I feel like this is something I personally can only accomplish with the notebook style. While a notecard system would have me writing, I wouldn’t really have room to reflect or put it into my own words. So, that is how I decided what method I was going to use and now onto the notebook itself and my experience.


My  Commonplace Notebook

Dark brown notebook with tan inserts, one is labeled common place book. Notebook is placed open on a color striped blanket.

So above is a picture of the notebook I will be using as my commonplace notebook. It is a A5 side travelers notebook with a beautiful brown fake leather cover. Inside I have a few dot grid inserts so I am free to format as I please. As some of you might know I am someone who loves bullet journaling and I have fallen in love with dot grid paper.


My Thoughts and Outcome

So, I have really enjoyed using a commonplace notebook. It has been great to keep all the random things such as quotes, ideas, and little tidbits. I have been using it on and off for about a month and half and I feel like it is really beneficial to have an outlet. While I have a bullet journal, I am more worried about keeping it neat and tidy. The coommonplace notebook I am free and happy to doodle, write, and more without having to worry.


Bonus: a bit ago another blogger I follow posted on the topic as well WHAT IS A COMMONPLACE BOOK & HOW TO USE IT

Do you have a way to organize your notes?

Do you use a commonplace book, maybe even without knowing it?

Sign Off 2020

Tumblr Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Reviews

2020 Shakespeare Challenge | August

Hello and welcome another check in for my 2020 Shakespeare Challenge. If you would like to learn more you can look at my initial post called,  Blogmas | Goals | 2020 Shakespeare Challenge. This month I read The Comedy of Errors and errors there where!


This book is just a mixture of mess ups and miscommunication. It kinda reminded me of the exaggerated outcome of the telephone game, if you are familiar with that. The main aspect of this play is mistaken identity, which has been present in quite a few of his other plays that I have read this year. In this play in particular it it comes from not one, but two sets of twins and their loved ones having no idea who is who and let the mayhem begin.

I have to admit, that this is one of the better plays when it comes to mistaken identity. There were a few times where I giggled to myself while reading this, which is great because not a lot of his comedies have actually made me laugh or feel humor. Maybe I am finally getting Shakespeare’s sense of humor? Either way, without giving away too much, there is a lot of misunderstandings, surprises, and puns galore!

This review isn’t that long due to the fact that I feel like a lot of the humor would be removed from this play if it is really discussed as much as I normally do. I would rather you read it for yourself and truly get the laugh out of it than being ruined by my review. But, overall I think this is one of the better comedies as I said earlier. I think it is worth checking out if you like his other plays or even has not read any of his comedies before.


Next month I am reading another comedy by William Shakespeare called Much Ado About Nothing, I have heard a great deal about this one so I am excited!

What are your thoughts on this play?

What is your favorite play by Shakespeare?

Sign Off 2020

Tumblr Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Hauls & Unboxings

Read 5, Buy 1 | June 2020

Read 5, Buy 1

Hello and welcome to my Read 5, Buy 1 post, If I am being honest with myself I should be calling this a book haul because wow, did I totally ignore this in June. I am not sure why, but I really had the buying itch in June. I figured since I have done so well and my TBR was under 20 at the time, why not have some fun. So, here is my break down of the books I read since the last check in, but also the books I bought this past month.


The Breakdown

  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
  • The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
  • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  • I’m Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi
  • The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
    • Bought Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
  • Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
  • A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
  • Untamed by Glennon Doyle
  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  • Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz
    • Bought Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz
  • Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Books Added To My TBR

I added, Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, The Incarnations by Susan Barker, Jo & Laurie by Margaret Stohl and Melissa de la Cruz, The Changeling by Victor LaValle, Before the Coffee Gets Coldby Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, The Hungerby Alma Katsu, Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri, and LGBTQ Stats: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People by the Numbers by Bennett Singer and David Deschamps to my TBR.


As you can see, I bought quite a few extra books this month. I am thinking it might have to do with that fact that I was not really in the reading mood in May and maybe it was because I didn’t really want to read any of the books I owned. I am a total mood reader. Regardless of the reason, I added an extra 7 books. Oops! Good thing I have been in a reading mood!
Over all, my TBR is now sitting at a total of 26 books, so my owned TBRhe  stayed about the same, but thankfully it decided to not go up with all the buying I did.

What does your TBR look like?

What books did you recently haul from the library or bookstore?

Sign Off 2020

Tumblr Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

To Be Read

My Owned TBR | June 2020

Owned TBRHello and welcome to my little post about my owned TBR. Last June I shared a post called My Owned TBR | June 2019, I figured it would be fun to look back and see how my list has changed over the last year. I am also going to be doing something a little new, so please let me know if you like it!


2019 Owned TBR

Here is my Owned TBR from last year. At this point in time I only had 44 books on my my shelf that needed to be read. Looking back at this list I can see that I read or unhauled every single one of these books and that kind of blows my mind.


My Current Owned TBR

  • Celtic Mythology by Philip Freeman – A wonderful gift from Ariel!
  • The Night Country by Melissa Albert – Wow, I have quite a few series I want to finish for someone who doesn’t favor series anymore
  • The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black – Wow, I have quite a few series I want to finish for someone who doesn’t favor series anymore
  • House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas – suggested reading
  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon – Wow, I have quite a few series I want to finish for someone who doesn’t favor series anymore

I hope you liked this type of writing and comment on my book stacks. I figured I have Procreate, I might as well use it now and again for my blog. Anyway, that is my owned TBR list. I have a total of 33 books, less than I had this time last year I feel like that is a win for two reasons. The first being my TBR is going down and second I want to get my TBR to around 5 by the end of the year. I decided to give To Be Read Time by Read it Forward to see how long it would actually take me to get my TBR to 0. According to this and if I keep up my reading pace of finishing a book every 3-4 days I will finish my TBR by October of this year. I am tempted to give this a shot so I might be posting more about owned TBR list.

What books are on your TBR?

Are any of these books on your TBR?

Sign Off 2020

Tumblr Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Hauls & Unboxings

Read 5, Buy 1 | May 2020 | Book Haul

Read 5, Buy 1

Hello and welcome to my May Read 5, Buy 1 challenge recap and haul. Earlier this month was my birthday and I did a seprate haul, which you can read here: Haul | Birthday 2020 . I am not counting these books towards by challenge because, well I didn’t buy them. Pretty amazing people were kind enough to buy them for me. But, that does not mean I didn’t buy anything for myself. I can never go a month without adding to my TBR myself! Now, on to the breakdown.


The Breakdown

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

The Magicians Land by Lev Grossman

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

  • The Book of Longing by Sue Monk Kidd

 

 


Extra Books

After I posted my birthday haul I actually got another book as a present and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold thanks to Reg!  I have been interested in this story for as long as it has been out it seems like. Thank you!

So, did break my Read 5, Buy 1, but only by one book. I ended up picking up A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. The reason being is that with this series I always buy the next book in the series when I start reading one. So, I just ordered it without really thinking about it oops.


 Overall, I think I did pretty darn good! I only bought one extra book this month for myself and my owned TBR is down to 26 books, which is a great amount and it heading downwards still.

What does your TBR look like?

What books did you recently haul from the library or bookstore?

Sign Off 2020

Tumblr Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Reading Challenges

Challenge | One Week Reading Before Bed

challenges

So, the first half of may has been a reading mess. I only read 22 pages on May first and it is now May 10th and another page has not been read. Then I came across an old video of Ariel Bissett’s called “i tried reading before every day for a week’ and I was inspired to give it a go and maybe jumpstart my reading again.


The Video


Reading Journal May 10th-May 16th, 2020

5/10: 25 pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

5/11: 344 pages of Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

5/12: 41 pages of Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

5/13: 30 pages of Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

5/14: 20 pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

5/15: 15 pages of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

5/16: 22 pages of mystery book


Reflection

So,  there are a few things I noticed throughout this process. First, I got back into the habit of reading and enjoying it. The main point of this was to help with me get back into reading. Like I said in the intro, this challenge came into being because I went a long time without reading that was not the cause of a slump. Well, I am happy to report I am reading constantly again. Plus, I wasn’t even feeling forced or pushed into reading, which I was a bit worried about if I am honest.

The second thing I noticed is I found I wanted to read at other points of the day as the challenge continued. At the start I didn’t have the urge to read throughout the day. But, since I was getting back into the habit and as I got closer to the end of this challenge, I would want to read in the afternoon and had to hold off. I feel like scheduling time to read or restricting when I can read, doesn’t fully work for me. Apparently my mood reading isn’t just restricted to what I want to read.

I think I am going to continue to make reading part of my nighttime routine. I enjoyed how relaxing and calming it was. Overall, I really had fun giving this a go. I love reading challenges and I would like to do more in the future. But, I think this one will have a bit of a lasting impression on me. I just need to make sure my nighttime reading is away from a screen and not read too late into the night.


Do you have a consistent reading habit?

Do you normally read a particular time of day

Sign Off 2020

Tumblr Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads