Blue Jean Shawl and "Home Again"

     I had one of those days last week, for no good reason I was down.   I couldn't shake it and I was out with my husband for an eye doctor appointment.  So I decided a skein of yarn would perk me up!  I remembered this yarn at Michaels that was new and I knew that was it, I needed it.  Denim colored and just perfect and with a coupon affordable.  So I had left the house with a tiny #10 circular needle, remembering the yarn and a pattern for a comfortably huge shawl that I could imagine on my shoulders in the spring or cool summer night.  Armed with my thoughts I felt better even though I had to get drops to dilate my eyes and I could barely see afterward.  But I was not deterred!  I got my yarn and even though it's another project I have no regrets.  For an acrylic yarn, it's very soft and pliable.  The shawl's called the "Coffee Shop Wrap" and is super simple to memorize and it makes for easy mindless knitting while I read.  It's going to feel wonderful when done and I like acrylic's washability.  The yarn is Lion's brand "Jeans" and so I'm calling my shawl the Blue Jean Shawl.  This weekend I'll pick up more colors and a longer circular needle, but for now, it put a smile on my face.

     I never like to give up a bargain and especially for a favorite author Kristin Hannah.  "Home Again" is an older book of hers but it is just so good (and only $2,99 on Amazon).  She has such descriptive words and her characters pop to life.  Madelaine Hillyard is a top heart transplant surgeon and when she sees her old boyfriend Angel (who walked out on her when she was a teen) as a patient, life comes full circle.  Her former lover, now famous, has used up his heart on heavy living.  Meanwhile, the teen he fathered (who he doesn't know about) is seventeen and at the height of rebellion.  Add Angel's brother who is a priest and Maddy's best friend (but who secretly loves her and regrets not participating in life and he dwells on the what-ifs of life) and the story becomes very tender and poignant.  I'm at a heavy part half-way through the book and even though you want to cry there's a strong bitter-sweet theme running through the story of hope, second chances and love.

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More on my Tempestry Project and Brad Meltzer's "The First Counsel" - Katahdin Tempestry and Brad Meltzer Suspense