Crafting updates, and summer reading plans...

Hi everybody, and happy end-of-May! Ugh, how did that even happen? :-0 I love May, I really don't want it to be over, but there you have it. This year, more than ever, I'm actually looking forward to the summer. I don't like the hot and humid weather, but this was a LONG winter, and I'm excited about enjoying what the summer has to offer in terms of being outside, dance festivals, gatherings with friends and family, and lots of good grilled food!

Another thing I do every summer is craft, which is counter intuitive, since one would think that the heat would mean I wouldn't want yarn hanging out on my lap, but one would be wrong. :-0 I do tend to shift away from blankets and wool sweaters to socks, mittens, and garments made with cotton, but all the same, I love summertime knitting and crocheting. It's also a tradition that I plan out my Christmas crafting list, but I won't subject you to that just yet. ;-) That tends to be in July, so still some more time to procrastinate and work on finishing up works-in-progress! And I've been working hard on those wip's. In fact, I've been so good this year, I HAVEN'T BOUGHT ANY YARN.

*sharp intake of breath*

I know, right?

I came to the realization that I have a lot of yarn.

*delicate twitching of nose*

Yes, I'm aware that I have had a lot of yarn for approximately 10 years now, but that's neither here nor there. I've been motivated and angelic about the situation for *this year* so we'll take it. Plus, I know that come fall, there are yarn festivals and Thanksgiving sales that mean that the chances of me buying yarn are 100%, so I might as well keep my halo perched while I can!

😇

And in terms of works-in-progress, not buying new yarn makes one more productive with finishing those babies up! I recently finished the Sweet Pea blanket that I was working on all winter:

And now I'm back to a shawl that I'm calling my Wintry Clapotis, which obviously was NOT finished by this winter like I had originally intended. ;-) This is a great free pattern, one of the most prolific on Ravelry, which utilizes a drapey effect caused by purposely dropped stitches. Oh, the naughty feeling of deliberately freeing a stitch from your needles and helping it to pull all the way to the bottom! :-0 It's wonderful, I tell you. I've made one before, with the worsted weight yarn that the pattern calls for, but I've always wanted to make a fingering weight version so that it would drape even more freely, and I chose a gradiating yarn for it:

It has sort of a "Frozen" thing going on, and I really love it. I'm more then halfway finished, and am aiming to have this done by next week! I also made a Tunisian crochet hat and baby jacket for a friend who is due this summer:

So we're getting there! After I finish the Clapotis, I want to make a list for the summer! Cotton will abound, to be sure. And I need to get back to the Great Crafting Obstacles List!

I'm also thinking about summer reading, because summertime seems to have it's own flavor for that, right? Sort of like Christmastime, I have specific types of books that I read in that season. This year, I'm continuing my summer Harry Potter tradition with "The Half-Blood Prince," and also planning to read lots of the light-hearted Love Inspired titles that I enjoy so much, and that I have *ah hem* many of on my Kindle. Seems that buying yarn and buying books are related in a way, yes? ;-)

What is on your reading and crafting list this summer? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!