moonfrog

I think you’ve all noticed that I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman’s books, right?  Well, while I was in San Fran (once again) with the huz-band –does that make me his groupy? — anyway, we made it a little fun this time and went to the Cartoon Art Museum, which was having a display from the Coraline movie (based on Gaiman’s book.)  Surprise!  A crew was there for a video/photo shoot, and Henry Selick, the director was with them. It was fun to watch as they got ready, but we had to leave before the actual shooting. As we got ready to leave, I asked for a photo and Mr. Selick was quite gracious and posed with some Coraline models that were brought out just for the video.

The movie comes out on Friday. Can’t wait!  I even got a special keepsake. As part of their super big promotion of the movie, button keys were left where people could find them, kind of like graffiti give-aways. I didn’t find one, but I found someone who did and was giving them away. I hope this arrives before the movie so I can wear it. Geek alert!

Back to some knitting news:  I finished the Eva’s Shawl.  I’m pleased with how it looks on my rather ugly chair. The colors really brighten it up.  After using all of the finer (although very thick-and-thin) yarn I had spun, I decided it needed to be just one row longer in the pretty red. So I got out the yarn I actually made during the spinning competition. I use the word yarn here very loosely! It’s really a super-overtwisted/big-slub wooly mess. But it was fast!

I salvaged what I could and added that extra row. Now it is just right!  Another keepsake. It seems that making knitted keepsakes is satisfying to me. My newest weaving project will be another keepsake using the yarn from my stay in Oaxaca — but that is for another post.

  I still haven’t shared my holiday knitting obsession, wherein I became a fingerless glove factory. It started out with a lovely, intricate cable design that I worked on while we traveled to San Jose to visit my mother-in-law. These are Evenstar Gloves in white Debbie Bliss Cashmerino dk, which are shown in their current unfinished state.  I enjoy the pattern, even though I knit them intensely, very tightly. They are coming out a women’s small, which is fine.  I have my place marked but have to get back in the groove with them. Later.

Next was the replacement for the Evenstar gloves. The dear huz-band stopped at a new yarn store in San Jose and I bought this luscious Mulberry Merino, the mulberry being silk, color number 687.  It was quite splitty, but very silky soft. The pattern is Warm Braid Cable Wristwarmers. I made a Quickie Cowl to go with these for my son’s girlfriend.

Then I decided that a couple friends needed mitts, too, so I made some 2×2 ribbed ones using the Maine Morning Mitts pattern. Those weren’t as pleasing to me, too plain,  so I used the rest of the Lorna’s Laces worsted  (could it be I just wanted to keep using that lovely yarn?) and made some Mom’s Cabled Mitts (ravelry download.) Much better!  Well, except for that little problem with the cable being on the side of one glove. Yikes!  And Rip!  Still fun to knit, though, and I only had to rip to the thumb gusset and start over from there. These are in the Tahoe colorway.

Next up was the lovely rust tones alpaca for Extra Warm Kureyon Wristers (ravelry download,) some small simple gloves. These last three pairs were a pleasure to knit, but I had to hurry to finish them on time. My reward?  I made some for myself!  Returning to Mom’s Cabled Mitts, I used some Malabrigo in Red Mahogany. I wouldn’t use this as a gift usually since it pills so easily, but they are perfect for me.

With each new pattern, I learned a new thumb technique. I also practiced some new cables. It was fun to immerse myself in these, but now it is time to make other things. I could easily knit fingerless gloves for the next year and be happy about it. For now, I’ve returned to hats and hope to do some sock-knitting soon, too.

After the drastic sock-frogging mentioned in my previous post, a new saying was born around my house. We don’t say ‘I’m going to clean your clock’ or ‘knock you block off.’ The words that strike fear in the hearts of mere mortals are ‘Watch out or I will frog your socks!”

But I am moving on to a new project. I will cast the socks on again, but there is no hurry. So, what is the logical thing to start after some worsted-weight socks? Why, a sweater in fingering weight sock yarn, of course! And that is just what I’ve been working on lately. It’s the Drops Design Jacket that I mentioned last month. I’m going to dub this the Nordic Sock Sweater. I love the colors, and watching them change as I knit is entertaining. The construction of the sweater will be interesting, too, since it switches directions a couple times.

The one thing I worry about it that this will take a long, long time. Will I lose interest? Get burned out? I guess I will just have to chance it. I decided that instead of looking at the rows or inches, I’d count balls of yarn completed. The estimated total is 10 balls of yarn. I’ve used one. Hmmm, that does not impress me much. I figure this will be my slow-but-steady project and am not forcing myself to knit it exclusively, so maybe I will make it to the end. Right now, I’m enjoying it thoroughly.

I’ve also been playing with yarn in other ways. I bought a yardage counter and have been measuring and re-skeining some yarn that doesn’t have labels. I’ve also been spinning a little and looking forward to filling a bobbin or two so I can run that through the yardage counter. Nothing like new toys for a good bit of entertainment!

AudioBook Blurb

I’ve neglected reviewing quite a few books in the past few months, then haven’t listened to much for a month, but I want to tell you about my latest reading that really impressed me. It’s a three book series called The Bartimaeus Trilogy, written by Jonathan Stroud. The series centers around a young magician, a rebellious girl, and a sarcastic djinni (genie.)

The tale is set in London, and the timeframe is a mix of historical and modern. (It’s a little disconcerting to have automobiles and ‘the American colonial problem’ existing at the same time.) The world that Stroud creates is magical and political and socially intriguing.

While some aspects of the story follow traditional lines, there are some deviations that make this narrative different from others I’ve read. Conflicts do not always have happy endings, although there are plenty of those. The characters do not always meet expectations, but are well-developed and complex. The telling of the story is concise and held my attention well.

I would recommend this series to young people and adults who like fantasy. It was a great break in my day. I wish it could have gone on longer.

While I was teaching poetry to high school students, I came across the poems of Gregory Orr, who I count among my favorite poets. I used his poem Gathering the Bones Together to invite students to write a poem with several parts. Although the poem was born of tragedy and the need to deal with strong emotions, the imagery transports the reader from the mundane to the ethereal and back again.

The poem speaks to me personally as one who has lost a sibling to an early death. In fact, I lost both of mine, just over a year apart — but that was many years ago. I understand many of the emotions behind the imagery of Orr’s poem intimately, which makes it feel like my own. I dealt with my own grief by writing biographical essays in college. (I actually came to appreciate poetry later, when I found more off-beat (and Beat) poetry.)

Another of Orr’s poems is featured on a wonderful site called Poets Against War.   (Please notice the poem by my favorite poet — Lawrence Ferlinghetti — on the same site. It contains the essense of Ferlinghetti that makes me love his work. )  There’s also an NPR interview with Orr called The Making of Poems. This poem is included in the book of the same name.

Here’s an excerpt from Orr’s seven-part poem, which I’ll let him introcuce in his own words. “This poem was written as a way of coming to terms with personal pain. It comes out of an incident in my life, a hunting accident which killed my brother and for which I was responsible. I was 12 years old.”

Gathering the Bones Together (an excerpt)
by Gregory Orr

When all the rooms of the house
fill with smoke, it’s not enough
to say an angel is sleeping on the chimney

4. Smoke

Something has covered the chimney
and the whole house fills with smoke.
I go outside and look up at the roof,
but I can’t see anything.
I go back inside. Everyone weeps,
walking from room to room.
Their eyes ache. This smoke
turns people into shadows.
Even after it is gone,
and the tears are gone,
we will smell it in pillows
when we lie down to sleep.

As I try to moderate my caffeine and sugar habits, my head feels like the world is swirling around in it. Fuzzy headed — that’s it. So this post will be a reflection of the random topics cluttering my mind. Scary, huh?!

Have you ever read Too Much Coffee Man? The Bearded One introduced this comic to me at ComicCon a few years ago. A recent comic strip (follow the link) reflects my relationship with my cat lately. She has been locked out of our bedroom lately so sleep can happen. She still insists on sleeping right on top of me. I feel guilty, since this is the only time she feels comfortable with real closeness. I’ll probably let her in tonight, silly cat.

Yesterday, the TV news was muted while the political opinionaires spouted off about Edwards and Giuliani dropping out of the presidential race. As I read my Bloglines, some heightened action flashed in my peripheral vision. There was a monkey, yes, a monkey in a cowboy suit, riding a dog who was herding sheep. Here’s the You Tube video of it.

My son jokingly asked me if this was a metaphor for the political races. I think it fits. There are certainly some crazy, unseemly things going on, but underneath it all are some real workhorses, in this metaphor a workdog. While I don’t really agree with much of what goes on in our government, it would be a lot worse if we didn’t have one at all.

I hope the politicians will adopt this icon for the year:

The Third Annual Bloggers’ Silent Poetry Reading for the Feast of St. Brigid (Groundhog Day in the US.) will take place on February 2. If you would like to participate, the details can be found on Roots Up, Branches Down Branches Up, Roots Down. (Boy! Is that a clear picture of my head right now!) If you don’t post poetry yourself, be sure to roam around the blogs and read some fine poetry on others’ blogs. I’ll even post a 2nd time this week for this one!

On the knitting front: The Midnight Express Vest is coming along nicely with one side and the back done. With several projects going, though, I sometimes can’t decide which one to work on at the moment. I ocassionally skip knitting over this dilemma. I think I need to be strict about limiting my projects, which means I need to finish some up. I’m going to make a list of WIPs/UFOs and work on cleaning it up.

AudioBook Blurb

Earlier this year, I was hanging out with my (grown) kids as they were watching the movie of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. It certainly has an interestingly twisted plot, although it is quite disturbing. A few weeks ago, one son loaned me his audiobook of Choke, by the same author. I admire the creativity in Palahniuk’s stories. He writes like no one I’ve ever read, although Tom Robbins appeals to me in a similar way with his bizarre imagination and interesting word play. Even though it bordered on offending my sensibilities, Choke really held my attention. It was a trip into a twisted world that I had never visited before. If you can get past the shock, the twisted humor and weird situations provide a truly unique experience.

As a follow-up to Choke, I picked up Stranger Than Fiction. This one has short stories that Palahniuk has published here and there. The first story is raunchy to the max, border-line pornographic even. I persevered through that one and finished the book. Some of the stories were interesting and others were not-so-much. Overall, my trip into Chuck Palahniuk’s worlds was entertaining and eye-opening, although not recommended for general consumption. As Palahniuk would put it . . . “freakish ” isn’t the right word, but it’s the first one that comes to mind.

I guess that’s a fitting way to end this head-spinning post — with a head-twisting author!

Like many knitters, I subscribe to several yahoo lists as well as blogs. Reading these often cuts into my knitting time. Imagine my amusement — and total understanding — when I came across these lovely techniques for multi-tasking on Knitlist. The discussion went from listening to audiobooks and holding books open with one’s feet . . . to surfing the web by setting the mouse to self-scroll . . . to the this most amusing product, a foot controlled mouse. One woman even admitted that her husband caught her using her regular mouse with her foot. All this in order to knit and read at the same time. Now that is creativity! While I don’t plan to start that kind of multi-tasking, I certainly can appreciate wanting to do it all.

In between reading about other people’s knitting (which I really do enjoy) I’ve managed to replace the neckline of the Malabrigo Top Down sweater and even passed the point I had reached previously. The end of one skein of yarn was approaching, so it was time for a try-on.

Rather than put all those stitches on waste yarn, then move them back on the needles, I got out my Denise needle set and joined a ton of lengths together. I just knit along that row and it was ready for a look-see. Now I can just knit it back onto my Knitpicks needles and not waste a single row. I feel so clever!

I’m also quite pleased with the new neckline. I made it only half an inch deep and used a 2×2 ribbing. It works great. I have a few more inches until I join the armholes, which has me a bit anxious since I’ve never done that before.

Another great thing is that I found someone who was destashing five skeins of the red mahogany Malabrigo. Woohoo! Now I can make long sleeves and make the sweater longer, too. I’ll probably have some left over for a hat to match, too. Is that a bit weird? A hat to match a sweater? No matter. I’m happy to have the extra yardage for whatever I need.  (Oh, and the color on this photo is true on my monitor. The last one was way off.  It’s nice to have a sunny day for a change.)

My attention is about to stray from this lovely project, even though I really am enjoying it. I bought some inexpensive yarn on ebay in a red and black tweed. I knew immediately what I wanted to make with it and cast on for a swatch — a real, full-sized swatch. This is unusual for me, but was absolutely necessary for this project. Not only did the yarn come without a ballband, it had scant information on the website. The seller listed it as washable, but I had my doubts since it is a 70% wool, 30% acrylic blend. Sure enough, it felted quite nicely. So, I guess it is washable, but not in the machine. I also wanted to check the shrinkage. It lost a bit in one direction and not the other. This helps with the planning for this project. I hope I’ll have a nice progress photo of it within the next week.

AudioBook Blurb

Back in October, I joined a read-along of the Anne of Green Gables books. I’ve owned the first book for ages, but couldn’t remember having read it, so I considered this a perfect opportunity. I enjoyed the first three books, gathering them from different sources — one from audible.com, one from Librivox.org, and one from my local library. I think my favorite one was Anne of the Island. It was suspenseful and engaging. My only complaint was that it got quite preachy in some parts.

Then it was time for the fourth book, Anne of Windy Poplars. Unable to find an audiobook version, I borrowed the book from my library and promised myself that I would read it. It took a while, but I managed to start it, keeping it next to my bed to read a few lines each night. Unfortunately, it was in letter format. I’m not real fond of reading other people’s letters. I wanted more personal interaction, not just a re-telling. There were some interesting parts, but not enough to hold my attention as I sank under my cozy comforter. The audiobooks have spoiled me for reading.

The read-along/knit-along has ended, and I have decided to stop with the third book. The Windy Poplars went back to the library. I do have Anne’s House of Dreams downloaded from Librivox.org, so I might try it out later. Otherwise, I recommend the first three books for a light read full of healthy morality. It was fun to watch Anne grow up and change over time. Some day I’d like to finish the series to see how it ends.

There’s a new feature in my sidebar that I’d like to mention. It’s under the heading “Thanks for Commenting.” After seeing it on Natalie’s blog Keeping Me in Stitches , I installed a plug-in that lists the top ten commentors in a given period. Mine is set for half a year, so if you are in the top ten in the past six months, there’s a link to your blog as a thank you for your participation. I do appreciate the time you take to comment. I appreciate my lurkers, too, so feel free to read without commenting if that is what makes you happy! : )

I’ve actually stolen some time for knitting in the past two weeks. As usual, there have been some false starts, but a couple projects are off and running.

The yarn in the picture has been waiting in my stash since I dyed it a year and a half ago. I’ve been wanting to see how it knit up ever since, but needed to make time and also work up the nerve to try toe-up socks again. I want to use every tiny bit of this yarn and I’m not sure just how much is here. It has fairly long stripe repeats, just like I wanted. I love the intensity of the colors, too. No matter how I laid it out, the yarn is not going to stripe equally, so these will be fraternal twins. The stripes are not consistent and I like that quality, too.

I’m following Queen Kahuna’s recipe for these and using two size 1 circulars, doing two at once. I’m already dreading the heel, but I have quite a bit of foot to enjoy before I deal with that.

My other project is a top-down raglan with the Malabrigo I bought at Stitches West a year ago. I’ve been searching for just the right pattern to use 3 skeins of the purpurs colorway and 2 skeins of red mahagony. I finally chose the Faux Fair Isle Sweater from Spin to Knit, which I bought recently and also received for Christmas. Ha! (A friend graciously took the extra book off my hands. )

I love the colors and the yarn is so soft to knit, but this one is not going so well, although I am certainly enjoying the knitting. I followed the pattern . . . except . . . I used size 6 (instead of 8 ) needles to do the seed stitch neckline, hoping it would not be too big and loose. It turned out floppy and stands up instead of laying down. Now I need to decide whether to knit it again with larger needles and maybe doing some increases in the neckline or do a ribbed neckline. The ribbing sounds easier, but I did like the seed stitch. I’m just not sure if I can figure it out without giving up on it.

Leaving it as is was also an option. My goal for this yarn are to make something I can use often that can be worn next to the skin. I want to feel this yarn! It does not have to be something I can wear in public, although that would definitely be a bonus. Since I’m making a sweater, not a lap blanket, it would be best if it looked nice enough to wear out of the house. I see a bit of frogging in my future, which hurts a little since knitting time is still limited. Ah well . . . .

A scarf was on the needles briefly, until I found out that the group I was making it for needs machine-washable only. That will be started again soon. Right now I have enough projects going. I think three is my limit, otherwise I feel overwhelmed and never finish anything. I will have to squeeze in some hats and scarves, though, before the month is over. Yikes!

Audiobook Blurb

Talk about overwhelming — I have listened to so many books that I can’t keep up with the reviews! I can knock out a few at once by just talking about Neil Gaiman. (The link will take you to his journal/blog; the photo will link to a Wikipedia entry about him.) After reading Good Omens several years ago, it became one of my favorite books and one of the choices offered on my high school reading list.

I started my Gaiman read-a-thon by re-reading Good Omens, which is an extreme rarity in my world. Then I moved on to American Gods, which was every bit as good. I love the way the author mixes the divine with the worldly — like the song by Joan Osbourne,  If God Was One of Us. (Click the first link for a You Tube video of the song or the song name for the lyrics.) The gods his books are the stuff of legend and myth, although the characters in Gaiman’s novels are often passive creatures; life just happens to them.

Next, I gave a listen to Anansi Boys, which elaborates on the sons of one of the characters from American Gods, but can stand alone. It is a story of two brothers — with a twist. The tale opens by setting an ethereal mood with a simple and profound view of creation, then segues into karaoke at amazing speed. Way to mix it up, Gaiman!

Stardust went in another direction, being a shorter novel in the realm of fairy tales. I found the story unique and creative and quite romantic. This one is a young adult book, not a children’s book, but has only one short sexual scene. The movie came out in August of this year. Check out the cool interactive site. I hope to see it soon. In fact, I think I’ll order the DVD now. : )

Lastly, I used my audible.com credit for the month to download M is for Magic, a collection of short stories which contained a variety of stories, from adult to children’s. Some of these were barely stories, some were enchanting. I would guess that one of them is the precursor to his book-in-progress about a boy who is raised in a graveyard — by the usual residents. I would recommend this book to those who find they like Gaiman’s books and want to discover more about him through his writing. I recently downloaded a children’s book called Coraline and look forward to listening to it soon. There are more that I haven’t read, so I don’t even have to wait for him to finish new ones to get my Gaiman fix.

If you do not like mixing religion and myth, many of these might prove to be offensive, much like The Golden Compass , but I’d recommend any of these books if you like modern, fantastical-yet-rational stories that are firmly rooted in mythology and magic.  Can you tell I am a total Neil Gaiman fan-girl?!

Yes, I believe it is time to put a little something on my blog. Have I ever gone this long without posting? I don’t think so. Such is life and on we go toward a new year.

It is such a strange year for us that the only holiday decoration gracing our abode is this lovely wreath The Bearded One brought home for Thanksgiving and the little pine cone ornament in the center of it. For two years this little snowman has been left on the door after the decorations are all packed away in the garage, so he hangs in the laundry room waiting for the next season. He may well be the only decoration this year besides a wreath or two and some scented candles. I love the fresh tree smell so much that I will either buy another wreath or beg some tree trimmings from the local lot to spread about the house. Otherwise, we will enjoy family decorations at my mother’s house this year.

I think I’ll turn this into a little holiday contest, too, since I totally missed my blogiversary in September. Show me one of your holiday decorations that has special memories. You can post it on your blog and send me a link or just send me a picture to post here. I will post the prizes later with a deadline for entering.

I have managed some knitting lately, but just a bare amount and it’s not my fault. For Mom’s birthday we took a class at the local yarn shop to make the Fiber Trends felted clogs. We didn’t really need the class to figure out the pattern, but it made our time together easy and fun. It was a sweet escape with some knitting and some yummy cake.

I chose some Cascade 220 that was in my stash and added a ball of Knit Picks wool to the top. My goal was to make them a bit dowdy looking and I think it just might have worked. It is a strange thing with me that I have always taken a weird pleasure in having a few articles of clothing that I consider unstylish, old-fashioned, even frumpy. Many people would call them stereo-typically school marmish. They make me smile to myself when I wear them, as if I have a secret joke that only I understand. I always had something in my school teacher wardrobe that fit just this description. These slippers make me think that, and even though I have tried to break this rather odd habit, I still have a couple things that fit rather well into this description. I’m looking forward to seeing this slipper felted to see if it maintains its dowdy appeal. Am I just odd or does anyone understand this at all? I suppose you can tell it wouldn’t really bother me if someone thought me a bit odd!

That’s enough of this “little something” but I promise to follow up shortly with an update on what I will call  “A Little Something Special” contest. Until then . . . .

Audio Book Blurb

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson surprised me at first. It was waiting for quite some time in my Audible.com library, and I had forgotten that it was not fiction. Nonfiction was my mainstay for years, but recently I have returned to a steady diet of fictional escapes and am enjoying it immensely. However, I read on, setting aside any misgivings about the topic and ended up thoroughly enjoying this book. It reads like fiction and gave some great insights into the people of Pakistan at the time leading up to September 11th.

The book tells how one man (Mortenson) made a tremendous difference in the lives of the people of the region, but also includes his shortcomings — he made a difference in spite of himself. I found the story more interesting than inspiring, more heart-warming in regard to human relations on a personal level than a humanitarian effort. To me this is a story of adventure rather than self-sacrifice, but others may disagree with my view and be equally right in their assessment. I recommend this book as a special view into another world.

Kat, a member of the Caps for a Cure group, sent me this cool bookmark with some hats she knit. It’s so simple and useful, but still a work of art. I always admire creativity like this. It tempts me to add a new craft to my already neglected list. Instead, I will use it to mark my place in The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann.

Since I haven’t had time for knitting, I’ve been adding to my knitting and spinning library. This has been going on for some time, so much so that I didn’t even know I had The Opinionated Knitter until I was sorting through my stack of new books looking for a pattern. I thought I had one of EZ’s books and it turns out I have three!

Yarn and fiber for spinning also continue to find their way into the jumble that needs to be put neatly away — someday. I’ve slowed down a bit since the knitting is not progressing, but heaven forbid I should stop replenishing the stash! Along with supplies, the gathering of patterns and ideas continues to accumulate. It’s all I can do to keep from casting on yet another neglected project. Here’s one that I would cast on today if I had any chance of finishing it in the next month.

It’s the Mod Cables Hat by Jeanne, who graciously allowed me to use her photo here. I love the big cables and it just so happens that I have some Malabrigo in a color very similar to this one in my stash. Very tempting! The Yarn Harlot also has a bulky cable hat on her blog called the Unoriginal Hat. It must be the latest fashion, which means I am not destined to knit this for a couple years. Ha!

So much for my not-knitting . . . . It will improve soon, I’m sure. Now, reading, that is something I have been doing since I can sometimes listen to books while I work.

Audio Book Blurb:

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett was an entertaining read. The writing was smooth and enjoyable. The plot was a bit implausible, with a mix of topics that didn’t really seem to fit, but the writing carried the story through anyway. The characters were fairly well-developed, but the ending did not do them justice, so it was a bit of a let-down. I’d recommend the book for a fun read.

Another book I picked up through Audible.com is There’s Nothing in This Book I Meant to Say by Paula Poundstone. I’ve been a big fan of Paula since she started working comedy clubs in the Bay Area. I love her delivery, manner and voice. She narrated her own book, but as is often the case, it was not the same as seeing her in person or on video. The book interested me because I like her as a performer, but I think she should have heeded the title and not said many of the things she did. There was just too much about her children and accusations against her of child abuse. Not a funny subject even if the charges were false. I can’t really recommend this book.

Finally!  We are home. It is so nice to sleep in my own bed.  The one thing I haven’t missed is the TV.  I could live quite well without one (and have in the past for many, many years) but I’ve found that the time I spend with the man watching TV is actually my best knitting time.  I have missed that.  It’s been three weeks since I’ve knit anything. I’m looking forward to starting again.

 I did manage to collect hats from the good ladies at Caps for a Cure in September (as well as make two hats myself) and send them off  to Knitting for Noggins.  The 37 hats in the picture are from just one woman, Marsha, aka Hobobird. Awesome!  She made such a wide variety and did some very cute things with them. Check out the cute frog in the left-hand corner!  A couple of the ideas, like the balloons and the whirly-gig topper, were listed on the Knitting for Noggins website. The campaign netted over 21,000 hats for the hospital, 65 of which came from our small group.

Audiobook Blurb:

What I’ve really had time for recently is listening to my audiobooks. I have several to talk about, but I’ll take them one at a time. I’ve added a bookshelf to my sidebar, courtesy of Shelfari, that will help me remember what I’ve read, although they won’t all fit on it.  Shelfari is a great book organizer with forums for discussion.

One of my Audible credits went to the purchase of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. The story was a fun, romantic tale with a bit of a mystery that poked fun at the trend of reading gothic novels that prevailed at the time. As usual, the characters were of the wealthy classes with all their concerns for marrying advantageously where finances are concerned. I enjoyed the book and the reader was very good.

Comparing this novel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, I have to say that Northanger Abbey was more enjoyable for me.  There were too many disturbing undertones to Jane Eyre that I found contradictory, such as marrying a man who was not really kind.  Austen’s book was a simpler, more light-hearted read.

Now I’m off to decide which knitting project to pick up and complete. : )

Life is a little unsettled at my house lately. Actually, it’s not really at my house, since I’ve taken a house-sitting job that has me gone most of the week for the next two months. My internet availability is limited to a dial-up connection most of the time. Now I know how truly spoiled I am with my dsl service. Ah, well. Posting will be unreliable during this phase.

I managed to start a new project for my commute. Since the Socks That Rock club yarn is piling up with no socks in sight, I grabbed a skein and started the Montego Bay Scarf in the Interweave Knits summer issue. The pattern calls for Handmaiden Sea Silk, so I am using the STR Silkie, which has 19% silk content, the rest being merino wool. The color is called Walking on the Wild Tide.
The pattern is a simple fishnet lace, but my counting skills are once again called into question. Lace is not an easy road for me! I have knit at least twice this far, but frogged half of it. I am alternating rows with the two ends of the skein to prevent some pooling I didn’t care for that started in the first few rows. I’ve never tried alternating rows this way before, but I think it is working pretty well. I’m hoping to make a nice crocheted beanie to go with this scarf. A perfect, light-weight set for our milder California winters.

I’ve also spent some time working on Rose (Soleil w/sleeves.) The body is totally done — ends woven in, crochet edging around the neckline — all done! Now it’s just the sleeves, little short sleeves.

I have one sleeve made from a year ago, when I started this top. It has a pretty obvious ladder, though, from using two circulars. I think I will frog it and make two fresh sleeves. It’s funny how all the parts of this sweater have been restarted this year, even though the humble beginnings commenced over a year ago in July.

I’m really looking forward to finishing this project. It is so close! It fits great, which is a miracle since I am not exactly the same size myself. I’m anxious to see if wet blocking will ease the wavering tension of my stitches. This just needs a bit of a push to bring it to a close.

In KAL news, Knitters Tea Swap 4 is coming back at the end of this month. Suzie, our hostess, may be opening it up for more participants, so check it out.

I’ve also signed up for the Anne of Green Gables Read & Knit Along.
We will be reading six of the series from October through December. Keeping up will not be easy, but I’m looking forward to it.

While Dish Rag Tag is still racing along, the first teams have completed the coarse. Rapid Rag Relayers came in fifth. I think our progress bar gave us false hope that we were in the lead until the very end, which actually made it very exciting. It was tons of fun, but I’m glad the stress is behind me.

AudioBook Blurb

My recent audiobook read was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I don’t remember ever reading this, although I may have way back in high school. I started listening to a free recording from Librivox.org. Volunteers read for these free recordings, and even though they do a wonderful job, the change in readers every couple chapters distracted me from the story. I found a copy on CDs at my local library.

Jane was an interesting character, a radical mix of opposing traits. Sometimes it seemed that the opposites in her behavior were too drastic. Just when I thought she was a strong, independent women, she proved to be a true romantic.

I’m glad I finally took the time to read this classic. My recent read, The Thirteen Tale, alluded to Jane Eyre thoughtout, so I figured it was about time I read it.