Oolong knits

Kinetic by the great Norah Gaughan is a very nice knitting stitch pattern. Be warned, it is a lot more complex than it looks like (a 36st x 48rows repeat), but the results are worth it. It is very nice pattern for a man's scarf and it is free too.

Only started and I am already late with this series! You know me. I will start with some considerations on yarn, needles and gauge. The pinhole cast-on will be explained at the end of the post. Like for any other project, before you start, you need to choose your yarn and needles. Once you have done that, you need to know your gauge in order to decide the total number of stitches you will use for each round. Note that, except for the toe region, this pattern consists of a straight cylinder with no shaping, that is, no increases or decreases. The total number of stitches is the number that corresponds to the circumference of the foot. If you have already knitted socks with this yarn and needles, which is my case, you already know this number. If you have not and are feeling brave, I have got good news for you, because we are working toe-up socks , you do not need to knit a gauge swatch. You can just cast on straight away and work the toe increases until you are happy with the width....

Nothing special, just a pretty triangle scarf: Olio by Laura Aylor.

Stephen Hawking died one week ago. He was undoubtedly a very good physicist who made very important contributions to his field of research . He was also an extraordinary human being with an admirable resilience that allowed him to pursue the entirety of his career after being diagnosed with a disease that was expected to kill him in a few years and, even when it did not (he went on to live more than 50 years after diagnosis), left him almost completely paralysed, unable to speak, walk, move his hands, etc. One of his greatest abilities as a scientist was to understand complex, abstract concepts in a relatively simple way. It was this ability that not only helped him to make ground-breaking discoveries in the mathematically challenging field of gravitation, but also to write one of the best selling popular science books of all time. It was the popularity of A brief history of time that would eventually turn Hawking into a household name. People with a disability, like Stephen Hawkin...

After you have read Conversations with Friends , I can recommend this professional review , but not before, because it retells the whole story in detail. Here is my humble review, with a lot less spoilers. It is hard not to compare this book to Eimear McBride's The Lesser Bohemians . Both were written by young contemporary Irish female writers, both are romance novels in disguise that tell a love story between a young, virgin-to-begin-with, university student and an older man who is a relatively well known actor, both are first-person narratives. The Lesser Bohemians departs from standard romance novel mostly in its use of language and, despite its faults, its literary quality. Conversations with Friends goes a bit further by addressing a few absolutely forbidden subjects in standard romance. The main one being infidelity, the man in question is not only older, he is married. Oh my! There are other very modern and fashionable topics, such as open relationships and female bisexual...

These are cool! Hypnosis mittens by Svetlana Gordon.

I recently had a very negative experience with a pattern . This is being sold on Ravelry for a relatively high amount, but I had got it for free on a promotion (and I can only hope nobody ever spent money on it). So, I took a peek, saw it was a relatively easy lace pattern and, having very little experience with lace, thought it was ideal for practising it. Big mistake! The pattern is riddled with errors and typos. I ended up wasting a lot of time and, in the end, I frogged everything. Even though I could have tried to fix it, I decided to cut my losses and quit. Even for a miser like me, the time wasted was more valuable than any money I could have spent on it. And I actually know this is not an unusual experience . There are plenty of unprofessional "designers" out there thinking they can make a few coins (or more) selling patterns. And Ravelry has made the process very easy for people who do not even bother to check their patterns for errors. So here is a word of advi...

I love everything about this pattern. The texture, the shape and the colour work. And I have got good news for you, this sweater looks good on everyone who has posted photos of it on Ravelry. It has a good fit for fat or thin, young or old, man or woman, which is a rare feat. This is Roz by Josée Paquin.

The other day I quickly prepared this side dish and could not believe my taste buds when I tried it. Unbelievable! Here is an extremely easy and quick recipe that you can leave to cook while you prepare the main dish. The spice mix can be whatever you have in your pantry. A simple curry will do, or even better: garam masala, ras el hanout, or Chinese 5 spice. Ingredients: 1 packet of washed and chopped kale (about 150gr); 1 small onion, peeled and chopped; 5 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped or thinly sliced; 3 tablespoons of yoghurt; 1 teaspoon of spice mix; Olive oil or ghee (I prefer the former); Salt to taste. In a sauce pan, fry the onion and garlic until they are soft and beginning to brown slightly. Add the kale, yoghurt and spice and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat until the kale is soft. Serve warm as an appetizer accompanied by a good bread or as a side dish.

I have been a bit unfaithful to this book club, reading books that I do not include here. Which is not a sin in itself, but it means the club has been unnecessarily quiet as a consequence. Most often than not, if I do not include a book I am reading, it is not done intentionally, but because I forget. This is exactly what this post intends to correct. I am currently reading: Conversations with Friends, by Sally Rooney Please join me! Even if I must confess the reasons I decided to read this one do not make it very commendable. It just happened to be one of the very few reasonable books available at my library. Which mostly caters crime novels and books with rogue, earl or duke in the title. I had heard about it and knew it was one of last year's darlings of the publishing world. Not something I would usually read, but let us read something fashionable and that "everyone" has been talking about for a change.

Gentle Morning by Trin-Annelie is another classic cardigan. I love the little details made with what I think are garter stitch vertical bars.