knitting school dropout

i'm on vacation all next week! we have lots of little trips planned (my idea, since i'm freaking out about how much my car repairs are going to cost this week), various beaches, a casino (so bad, i know!), and some other things that we haven't figured out yet.
i'm not much of a beach person, i avoid the cold water (can't swim), and spend my time reading, and usually falling asleep in the sun. this year, i'll be brushing up on my sign language, which i use for work. i'll also start knitting fad-classic, in a dark grey, as my current projects, one because of size, and the other due to fiber content, don't really seem like good beach knits.
i'm also looking for something to read, without knitting content. i'm leaning toward something by murakami, as i have only read wind-up bird chronicle before, and really liked it.
on to the knitting:
i've completed 2 pattern repeats on river:

and found a great vintage celluloid scarf clip to hold it closed later:

i've also made some progress on the brown cardigan, but won't be posting photos until it has 2 sleeves!