~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~
I am sort of cheating this week. I have been knitting in every spare moment, and not reading much. The body of Gabe’s sweater will be finished tonight, and I will probably be listening to Willa Cather’s Song of the Lark on this nifty little gadget that I got for my birthday. I live in the dark ages to some extent because we’ve never bought anything that begins with an “i” and don’t even carry cell phones except on trips. I recently went shopping for a new CD player and realized based on what I saw that it is time to move forward a bit. I really wanted a way to listen to audiobooks while knitting, and I also wanted an easy way to play them for my children (I plug it into a little speaker.) I love this tiny little talking thing! It bookmarks the place where I leave off, and it doesn’t have any unnecessary bells and whistles (well, it may, but I am blissfully unaware of them.) My only regret is that I don’t care for the narrator’s voice on this particular Willa Cather novel. Cather is easily my favorite author and I realized as the story began that I have created a voice for her in my mind that just doesn’t match up with the voice on the audiobook. I won’t listen to any more of her books, but will stick to reading them myself.
Wendy says
The sweater is looking great–you’ve made a lot of progress! That’s a nifty little gadget you got, too!
Kylie says
The colours of your sweater are fantastic! It looks like it will be nice and warm!
meghann says
I love the beautiful colours in that sweater! And that little device is pretty neat. I’ll bet I’d get more reading done if someone read to me! xo
swanski says
That is the tiniest contraption ever! I have an ipod touch that I listen to podcasts. Your sweater project is looking fabulous!
Megan B. says
Love the colors of the sweater! And I don’t think audiobooks are cheating — they still count!
Lise says
Gabe’s sweater is looking great!
Marie/Underground Crafter says
The colors on the sweater are lovely. I find it very grating when I’m not fond of the actor’s voice in an audiobook. Cool gadget!
Maria says
Glad to be back for another yarn along. I too enjoy listening to audio books.
Jen says
I love the yarn you are using! When I used to have a 2 hour a day commute I’d listen to many audio books in the car. I haven’t in years though!
Tonya says
Thank you for continuing to host this in the new year Ginny.
Ellen says
Gabe’s sweater looks wonderful. Can’t wait to see him in it. Hope his ‘aloofness’ (as you referred to) to knitting changes once he’s wearing it. 🙂 I have several Cather’s books on my shelf and really should begin reading them instead of just looking at their covers.
Natalie says
I am seriously loving that sweater, more and more with each picture you share. I cannot wait to see the final project.
Thanks for hosting yarn along again. So much fun to see what everyone is making.
Kelli says
Very first yarn along! So happy to be participating! Love the colors of the sweater and can’t wait to see it after completion! And that little device? What it is? It sounds really interesting!
Blessings,
Kelli
Ginny says
It’s a Sansa: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FVNH04/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=smalthin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005FVNH04
so tiny and fun!
Jen says
It is always a disappointment to me, too, when the person reading the audiobook is just not the right person to do so.
Dawn says
Finally got around to joining in the Yarn Along for the New Year.
Looking forward to joining in over the year, will be browsing others blogs throughout the day.
Thank you for hosting, Happy New Year to all x
Dawn x
Claire says
My second yarn along. Happy new year.
Jenn says
I love the colors in your sweater. I have never tried an audio book, but it seems as if you would have to like the reader’s voice to make it work 🙂 That new gadget thing looks cool!
Joy says
I love the sweater! Beautiful colors that will look so nice on Gabe! I hope the gadget helps with the audiobook listening. 🙂 We have a few i things in this house and my favorite is definitely the ability to have many audiobooks in the car at all times. My kids all love them and actually prefer listening to books over music in the car much of the time. I hope you find other books you prefer listening to on your new little toy.
Mary G. says
LOVE the colors of that sweater, Ginny! It’s going to be stunning.
Denise says
Happy New One to you all xx
teresa c says
I never tried audiobooks, mainly because there are no portuguese audiobooks, and though I read in english a lot, I’m not sure I could actually listen to an audiobook and do other things. I actually got to read and knit, when it’s a simple knit, like a sweater with minimal shape in the round, or something similar. Maybe I will try one of these days. 🙂
Lee Ann says
Sweater is looking great! And I totally know what you mean about narration of audio books. I recently had the same experience with one of my favorite authors and it made it difficult to finish listening to the book. I kept thinking, ‘hey, wait, that’s not how it is supposed to sound!!’ LOL 🙂
Lynn says
Happy New Year to you and your family. I love the colours of the stripes on Gabe’s sweater.
Corrabelle says
Willa cather on audio-brilliant! What an excellent idea! And Gabe’s sweater is coming along beautifully;)
Greer~Typically Red says
That is such a great boy sweater. Colours are wonderful. x
Jacq says
My first Yarn Along 😀
Sylvia - artsy ants says
as i did hardly any reading with the knitting project i wanted to finish, this would definitely be something for me, too! but i never really got into it! looking forward to hearing more about how you like it!
i’m sharing some knitting and some special news today ;-))
The Barefoot Crofter says
Beautiful colour combination. I am slowly embracing some tech stuff. I received a very cute speaker thing for my iPhone at Christmas, but I didn’t think of downloading talking books. xx
Grateful Crochet says
I keep meaning to try audio books, this looks like a great way to give it a go
Create With Joy says
Happy New Year to you! I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and have really been loving it… especially this blog hop! I look forward to getting to know you in the upcoming year!
Ramona
http://create-with-joy.com
Cathy says
I love the sweater, great colours.
Svenna says
The colours in the sweater are lovely; looking forward to seeing it finished soon!
Nicola says
That sweater is going to be so sweet! I love stripes. I had to look up Willa Cather in our library catalog. I didn’t realize she was the author of My Antonia. I will check out one of her books!
Abi says
knitting a simple basket weave scarf with seed stitch border as a late Christmas gift for a brother across the country and listening to Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. audiobooks + knitting = best combo ever!
little macaroon says
Happy New Year Ginny! The stripes on that sweater are stunning, bet he can’t wait for you to finish it! x
a little crafty nest says
Ginny…So happy to be joining you today ~ a lovely way to begin the New Year! As for being techno-unsavvy, I am completely with you. I just got my husband a very basic I-Pod for listening in his truck, and it baffles me. So funny that many of us here in blogland are blown away by computer gadgets! As far as listening to books, I have yet to try but I actually savour the quiet at the end of the day. I would also love to know where you get books on tape for your children as I am really open to trying this, too. Have a wonderful week:)
xo Jules
Ginny says
Hi Jules! I have a lot of children’s stuff on CD that I have added to my computer. I also really like Audible.
Cynthia says
This is my first time here and I just want to say thank you Ginny! I can barely manage watching TV when I knit so I know there is no way I could actually knit, listen to a book and remember what is happening in the story. Clearly I need to develop some better multi-tasking type skill to do this!
Stacy @ the World of Wiedz says
The colors in Gabe’s sweater is AWESOME! Love it!
lori says
oh my goodness that sweater is pretty. i hope you get the tiny gadget sorted. i confess i am in love with all i things.
Kristin @ Gypsy Junk says
Haven’t stopped by in awhile – it’s good to catch up on your blog. 🙂 Always enjoy your knitting. ~K
Jill says
Okay, you have to help me with your new little nifty gadget. My husband and I are complete techno-geeks and this little gadget has us baffled. It is playing the chapters for my kids all out of order. So, no, I don’t need you to solve that question for me – I just want to know where you get your audiobooks? Do you download them from Audible or another site? Did you upload from a CD? Did you borrow from an online source? We can’t figure out what the glitch is. Until then, our son is listening to Harry Potter in random chapter snatches all out of order. 🙂
p.s. maybe you can find a narrator you do like? Audible lets you preview the narrator for a few minutes (maybe you already know this and I’m just being annoying). There is a version of Oliver Twist narrated by one person whom I do not know but whose voice had me wondering about my shopping list and dance lesson carpool, but another narrator had me completely enthralled. Good luck!
Ginny says
I upload from CD to my computer or I download from Audible. I realized that I could preview on Audible after I bought that particular book!!! 🙁
I plan to look into what my library has to offer as well as far as free audibook downloads.
Georganne says
Hi Ginny, Gabe’s sweater is looking amazing! I love the color combination — just perfect!
♥
G
Tirza says
Love, love, love the sweater. The colors are beautiful!
Kelly says
I’ve had similar problems with audiobooks when I had a long commute to work. Sometimes the voices matched up with first-person characters by the late British author Dick Francis, but othertimes the voices didn’t match or I just couldn’t tolerate them. And once I felt guilty for listening to a James Herriot book instead of reading it and never did it again!
Ginny says
I have to confess that my absolute favorite audiobooks ever are the James Herriot books narrated by Christopher Timothy! We listen to them over and over!!!
Kristen says
I LOVE those colors of that sweater….I am a warm, so those are so appealing to me. It’s beautiful! Books on tape aren’t cheating, either!
Tracey says
I have been wanting to listen to more audio books as I knit and have never heard of this little Sandisk before so thank you for the recommendation. I also love the colors of your yarn, as usual you pick something just lovely.
Angela says
Seriously enjoying those colors and I happy you are having fun with your new gadget. I am a bit of a luddite myself. 😉
jess says
That looks like a nifty gadget!
Gabe’s sweater looks great!
Rachel says
I can honestly say that I have been known to turn off an audiobook because I hate the reader LOL Not that I listen often, but too many mis-spoken words aggravate me 😉 I guess I am a snob when it comes to audio too! That being said, it tends to make knitting seem to go a lot faster 😉
Heather says
I love my sansadisk. I listen to audiobooks a lot when I am knitting or sewing. My kiddos love audiobooks too. The sweater looks so nice! Not a lot happening here. Getting busy with other aspects of life. Yikes!