Yarns: Scrappy Shawl and Finishing 1776

    I'm still working on my Scrappy Bias Shawl out of  Hawthorne Fingering Yarns.  Loving the colors.  (But I ran late today and without daylight, I can't get a good shot, so recycled pics, except Jenny kitty who decided my knitting a perfect place to rest her head.)

   

      I'm three pages from finishing 1776 and I'm upset.  It's such a great book I want one for every year of the American Revolution!  I'm reading other revolutionary books but I feel like I've been left at a cliff hanger and in the other books I'm still plowing through the causes of the war in detail.  One new book (2016) gives a fresh new perspective "American : A Continental History, 1750-1804 " by Alan Taylor.  Instead of a neat war isolated to battlefields, he explains the entire social upheavals and changes and violence in the Colonies.  Also, he interweaves how the desire for Westward expansion plays into this and also other more far-reaching consequences of the war, a more global perspective.

      I have found I really like "Almost A Miracle", I got the book second hand used through Amazon.  But since it's a 704-page tome I decided to get it also with my Audible.  Sometimes listening to an audio I more easily digest lots of material in a short time (and knit!).  I'm just up to Lexington and Concord with that and I'm actually looking forward to going over the battles of 1776 again.  I know sounds boring but I love the details and the subtle nuances of the authors perspective (it also gives me a chance to really know the material). Goodreads Review of "Almost A Miracle"  

     One outstanding overall impression I have of "1776" as a year in the American Revolution is how much we were actually losing the war.  The smallest details lead to a victory or a save for the day and everyone is evacuated.  We were outnumbered by a trained army of career soldiers.  But the heart and purpose seem to be a large factor in our winning.  I never knew it was that bad a situation only having vague ideas that some battles were lost.  I grew up in Princeton, NJ where a victorious battle took place and spent almost 20 years in the Saratoga, NY area, also an area of a notable victory.  The reality was grim and indeed it was almost a miracle we actually won.  I need so much to find a book on the Battle of Princeton because "1776" has left me right in the middle of my home state and we're just starting to win!

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