Books and Yarn Gadgets

I want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and comments, I'm feeling a lot better, almost my old self. 

Wish I could say that I'd finished the cat cocoon while in California but fortunately am very close to the end. Towards the end of my visit it seemed as though I would either be very busy or very tired to knit. But it looks as though I'll have it done shortly and will get it felted, take a picture and mail it off to my daughter.

Now for my new gadgets, I broke down and finally purchased a swift and a ball winder. 

I have been wanting these for ages 

but could not see myself getting one until I started the Loops club. In the past I would get the shop to wind my yarn from a hank  into a ball. But recently it seems like I've been coming home with hanks. I wound one up before I left and it was not a pretty sight. I did it before and use the back of a chair to hold my yarn and it works but not easily. So with my mighty iPad in hand I went online and checked out a swifts and winders. Now there's some really nice umbrella swifts out there that are just gorgeous, made from wood

 but for $20 (and I know, its from oversea) I got this one right here which does a ample job of holding the hank,  spins smoothly, out reaches to any length you need it to be. I think it will serve my purpose. And maybe someday I splurge and get one of the beautiful wood ones.

Now on the ball winder I did go for a medium priced one instead of going the cheaper route. The reviews I saw on the winders that were slightly less in price did not get that good of reviews and I want something that would last me the rest of my life. In this  brand it had very good reviews so I feel pretty confident. So I started winding some yarn up,  and how nice and quick it went. 

I was able to do these balls in 30 minutes. I see I'm going to be having a lot of fun in the future here

Now for books on the way back from my visit to see the grandsons instead of three books I listen to on the way there, I only made it through one and halfway through another. When I tell you the second you'll realize why I only made it halfway through. 

The first book was After You by JoJo Moyes.

This is the sequel to Me Before You.  I would have to agree with some that the first book was more compelling and interesting than this book. But it was still a good read and I enjoyed it. Just not as much as the first one. 

Now for the second book you might or you might not know I am a big Outlander fan. Started reading the books 20 years after they were written. When Starz announced that they were going to produce a series called Outlander. I decided I would read the first book before the series was to aired on Starz to see if it was something I would be interested in watching. Well I fell in love with the book and twice as hard for the TV series. 

For the book I'm reading now is the third book of the series, Voyager by Diana Gabaldon. I have only made it halfway through this book and basically it's because this book is 44 hours long. The longest one so far. The first book was 33 hours and the second book with 39 hours. And as you can see, they are very long books. But I'm loving every minute of it.

And the series sticks pretty close to the books. That is the main reason I like the series on TV.

Till next time 

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