Headband & The Other Boleyn Girl

I had some of the Claudia Handpainted yarn leftover from Mitt Envy and it was so beautiful I had to do something with it. I looked for a headband pattern that I liked and couldn’t find one so I gave up and did a simple garter stitch. It probably shows off the colors the best anyway. I love it! My hair is growing out and not quite long enough to pull it all back without some escaping so it will get used a lot. I’m sure I’ll be making more as it’s a great use of a left over yarn. Expect to see lace ones!

I owe you guys a couple of book reviews. I listened to The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory while traveling in Europe. I really liked the book and I definitely recommend it. I haven’t seen the movie, but I don’t know how they fit everything in to it, there is so much going on in the book.  If you haven’t seen the movie previews, it’s about Henry the VIII, Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary. Despite knowing how it would it for Anne, I was very engaged by the story. I’m definitely gong to be be reading The Boleyn Inheritance

What’s the 411?

Wow really I’m so far behind in my blog reading, apologies to everyone, I hope to catch up soon. I have some time so I thought I’d pop in and let give you guys an update. I’m a bit of a mad women right now so I hope it all makes sense! If you’re just hear for the knittin’ its at the end

The house – the inspection was Friday they are asking for one thing to be fixed, depending on the cost I may or may not do it. I have one more apartment to check out Monday evening. Then that decision will be made.

Wine Charms - if you’ve bought charms I’ll be sending them this week. If you haven’t pop over to the link on the right. It’s a smoking deal on some fabulous charms in amazing themes and it’s for a good cause!

Books – I have had these reviews written for over a week and I don’t see any point in saving them any longer.

The Myth of You and Me – loved it! I didn’t major in literature so I can’t get all fancy with why I liked it. But I enjoyed the story, the twists, the surprises, the idea the even when you know, or think you know everything about someone, they can still surprise you, there are things you might not know. I’d say it’s a story of hope, redemption and regret.

The Book of Air and Shadows – Liked it. I listened to this while I was knitting. It’s the type of book I enjoy listening to while knitting, action, adventure, intrigue, mystery. If you liked the Da Vinci Code you’ll like this one.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – Love it. I finished it in only a couple of days. I was waiting for this one to come out, I must have read a review somewhere before it was published because I was almost tempted to buy it. I don’t normally buy fiction novels, that’s why I have a library card, but I came close. It would have been worth it.

I haven’t found as much time to read as I’d like to lately. There is so much going on, plus I’m planning a trip to Italy so I’ve been reading a LOT of travel books.

If you like keeping track of the books you own, books you’ve read, etc and you haven’t checked out Goodreads, you should! I know there are other sites out there for organizing your books and I’ve used some of them in the past. But I’m hooked on Goodreads now. They’ll let you import your books from other sites like LibraryThing and you can add unlimited books for free!

Knitting – Right now I have two goals – 1. Finish the Central Park Non Hoodie before I leave for Europe because if it looks as fab as I hope I’ll take it with me. 2. Finish my sisters Clapotis before I leave for Europe because it will be too warm to wear when we get back. You may notice it looks different than the last time you saw it. I switched yarns, I wasn’t happy with the other. So yes, I’m knitting two items in Grey right now.

Gifts! – Emily sent me a package this week! It was a wonderful surprise in the middle of all the madness. Her kindness is unbelievable and so appreciate right now. It’s a ball of Panache, my favorite discontinued KnitPicks yarn and a mini sock key chain (I think this is all part of her evil plan to get me to knit socks! LOL) Isn’t she wonderful? Really, Emily, this made my week!

Stitchionary

A couple of weekends ago I was in B&N picking up a book for my secret pal when I noticed they had rearranged the knitting book section and now there was a table with sale items on it. I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I managed to restrain myself to just 2 books. Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume One: Knit & Purl and The Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume Two: Cables, I love them. Oh I have other stitch dictionaries and one of those pattern a day calenders. I’ve been wanting these since I realized the samples were knit in similar colors because sometimes I wonder if I like a pattern in my stitch dictionary because of the pattern it’s self or because of the color. Yes I really do have this problem and I constantly wish they were all the same color. (someone else admit they have this problem too, so I don’t feel like such a weirdo). The patterns are all charted and written and the books are just really well written. Plus the best part, I got them fro 50% off plus my B&N discount. Yeah it’s not yarn but it’s not bad

Romantic Handknits

I ordered this book sight unseen and I was not disappointed! It’s always risky to order a book you haven’t seen, in fact I got another one with this book that I’ll be sending back. Romantic Hand Knits: 26 Flirtatious Designs That Flatter Your Figure is divided into 3 sections, About the Waist, Below the Waist and Accessories. I really love the patterns and although I haven’t started knitting anything the instructions look well written. Here are a few of the ones I really like.

Saratoga

The Heiress

A Street Car Named Desire

Notorious

Casablanca (I think this will be my first project)

Dark Victory

The skirts in the book are beautiful, unfortunately I know with my body type I wont be happy with any skirt. So on to the accessories

Gone with the Wind

Some Like It Hot

don’t you just love the names? Robin is hosting a KAL for this book, and it doesn’t start until November so you’ve got plenty of time to get your yarn!

Year of Magical Thinking

I loved this book. I hadn’t read anything by Joan Didion until sometime last year when Nate gave me Slouching Towards Bethlehem and I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve read. So Nate here is your public thank you, don’t let your head explode

I think one of the most important themes of The Year of Magical Thinking is that our culture does not really deal well with grief. There are these set rituals (funeral, wake, etc.) with set expectations of attitude and action, but after that, there is nothing. The ritual of dying ones clothing black for a year afterwards may seem antiquated but there may be something to be said for that, it serves as a public notice – Look out, I may not be myself. Because while we accept that one might be sad following loss we don’t necessarily consider the mental disruption that occurs.

While Didion’s account deals with the loss of a spouse that she spent almost all of her working and recreational hours with, this books provides a look at grief and loss with honesty that we don’t often get to see. Because of the honesty it was often hard to read, it made me consider some parts of my life in a different light. When she mentions how she took to wearing only tennis shoes because she was worried she would fall and hurt herself and no one would be there, I couldn’t help but think what if I fall? I live alone, how long would it take for someone to notice I had not shown up when and where I was supposed to? I couldn’t get through more that a chapter at a time without stopping to digest what I had read, but I think that was a good thing and I definitely recommend it.