I’ve never been one for making dramatic announcements about New Year’s resolutions, but I do make them, and one of my resolutions this year is to participate in Yarn Along every Wednesday. Yarn Along (which is hosted by Ginny on her blog Small Things) is one of those low-effort, high-reward activities. I like everything about it: setting aside time on Tuesday afternoon to take a photo, pairing a knitting project with a book (because invariably I have more than one of each in progress), waking up early on Wednesday morning to post it right away (therefore feeling productive even before I’ve had my coffee in the morning), browsing the blogs of the other talented knitters and readers who participate, and getting comments and feedback from others, knowing that maybe – just maybe – Postcards from Purgatory has gained a new loyal reader or two. So onward: 52 weeks of Yarn Along in 2013 it is!

I haven’t been knitting all that much lately because my arms have been bothering me. I started the felted (or soon-to-be felted) slippers in the photo before Christmas in hopes that they could be a gift, but no such luck. They don’t look much like slippers yet – the two pieces that you see in the photo are actually the soles of the two slippers. The uppers are knit separately in a contrasting color (I’m using kind of a sea green), and then the pieces are stitched together before they’re felted. I’m very excited to see how they come out and am actually almost finished with the second upper. The needles are size 13 and feel like broom handles in my hands, but I’ll adjust to them just in time to go back to knitting baby sweaters on size fives.

The book in the photo is Christopher Benfey’s A Summer of Hummingbirds. I’ve only just started it (and am actually still finishing up another book), but I already know I’m going to enjoy it. It’s about the literary and artistic worlds of the American northeast in the years after the Civil War, with a focus on Emily Dickinson and her brother Austin, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe and her family, and the painter Martin Johnson Heade. I’ll be able to tell you more once I’ve read more.

Oh, and one more thing: When I wrote my review of A Doll House, I forgot to tell you that I’ve found one more reason to hate Torvald: he insults knitting! Near the end of the play, he tells Nora that while embroidery at least has a chance of coming out beautiful, knitted projects are always “ugly.” Hmph. Being eaten by a bear is too good for him.

Have a good week, everyone!