wip

I wish all weeks could've been like last week, just three days of work and four to do whatever I wanted (which was mostly reading and knitting)

I did finish "World without end" on Friday, I lay down on the couch for hours and didn't leave until I was done. Which means the book is good. Not amazingly good, I still think Pillars was better, but good enough to make me forget anything else for several hours. Sometimes the plot, or the characters, would remind me strongly of Pillars but both stories are quite independent. One thing I like about Follett's historical novels is that he makes them seem so real. He describes the day to day life quite vividly, the good parts and especially the bad ones (why would I be surprised that in that age and time a man could legally trade his daughter for a cow ?). There's war, the plague, the usual politics and intrigues, and so many twists and turns that kept me entertained until the end.

I also read a young adult fantasy novel by Sharon Shinn, "The truth teller's tale". Cute, reminded me a bit of Summers at Castle Auburn (a favorite) in a fairy tale kind of way.

The knitting also progressed immensely (it helped that I had so many series and movies recorded to watch on dvd).

I started the lace portion of Juliet, and so far it's looking quite good



I finished the foliage hat, but forgot to take a picture so I'll show you that later

I've turned the heel on the sock, and am now knitting the instep (a first one for me, so I'm entitled to some gloating). Sock knitting may become my most recent obsession from now on.



And started yet another project, just because I couldn't resist this beautiful yarn (notice how the yarn itself is already 'knitted'). It's the my so called scarf pattern. Teresa is also making a beautiful one here.





I discovered last Friday that one of my favorite yarn stores is closing down by the end of the year (nº 5C na Rua Acácio Paiva, em Alvalade). It makes me sad, because it's one of those traditional shops that unfortunately tend to exist less and less here in Lisbon. The ladies there were always a bit grumpy but once they started knowing me better they would give me good advice, and I usually buy my Katia yarn there (love their merino wool). Business is bad, is what they told me. Anyway, it seems I might have to start buying my yarn online as well - does anyone have good suggestions of online yarn stores ? KnitPicks doesn't ship to Portugal, but handpainteyarn is very tempting, and I recently discovered that etsy also has some interesting offers.