a crafting update - and a writing one!

I finished my novel last week! It's now in the hands of alpha readers, and then it'll be time to edit. But for now I'm basking in plesant post-novel lassitude (which probably explains why I didn't post much last week).

This book was so much fun to write. It's full of action and romance, it's humorous and fun, and it's set in my beloved Sierra Nevadas. I loved writing it. So much. I kind of miss being in the middle of it.

But I'm already plotting the next two!

Meanwhile, I'm knitting . . .
This update contains Ravelry links. So, you'll need a Rav account if you click through, but it's free to register for one, so click away!


I'm finally using a precious Christmas skein of MadelineTosh lace to make Hannah Fettig's breezy little Whisper Cardigan. This cardigan will be perfect for SoCal weather: it's just a bit of warmth for your arms and shoulders. The MadTosh yarn is delicately dyed. The color is called "Rosewood" and even though it looks like brown from a distance, as I knit it, I see it shift from gold to rose to green to pink . . . so pretty.

I've cast on for my second Jaywalker, and stuck the project back in my purse, so that'll probably be done . . . oh, in a month or two, because I'll only pull it out when I'm away from home and have opportunity.

I've also started the River Walk Shawl pattern, but I'm not enjoying it that much. It's making a gorgeous wrap, but the actual crocheting isn't that much fun. I think it's because there's lots of stitching in between stitches of the previous row instead of into them, and that just takes a lot more concentration and fiddling around. But I'm reluctant to frog this one, because I think the FO will be so pretty.

I don't know though . . . this is my hobby. I'm reluctant to spend hours on a project I'm not enjoying, when the whole point of fiber arts, for me, is to enjoy myself. It's not like it's a character issue . . . hmm. Might frog it after all.  What do you think?

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell