Something New

This pattern  calls for an eye of partridge heel, a technique I've never tried before. That heel flap doesn't look as long as I think it should be, but I'm following the pattern as written.

When I need some mindless knitting, I'm working on the socks I took to the pumpkin patch. Until I took that picture of them in the rain, these stripes weren't nearly as obvious. After seeing them in the picture (which doesn't look much like the socks do in real life)  I can't un-see them. It's driving me batty.

And of course I've been reading...

In From Skedaddle to Selfie: Words of the Generations, Allan Metcalf has gone through our language and picked out the key words of each generation. The first chapter or two reads like an American History quiz (when's the last time you heard "Nature's God" or "Gerrymander?"), but things quickly get more interesting when we move on to "fans" and "hot dogs" and the origins of "O. K."  By the time I finished  this short little book, I had a whole list of intriguing things I wanted to look up and read more about.

The cover of Slasher Girls & Monster Boys makes some big promises, but not all of the stories deliver. According to the publisher, "After you've teased out each tale's references, satisfy your curiosity at the end, where the inspiration is revealed." I was expecting author's notes, but they reveal it by printing the name of the inspiration upside down at the end of each story.

This post is linked to Yarn Along and Patchwork Times.  The publisher of From Skedaddle to Selfie provided me with an ARC. Slasher Girls and Monster Boys came from the library,