Combo Platter
I have a mix of things to post about today. I'll start with the knitting, so if you're not interested in the other things, you can move on to the next blog at the end of that. This weekend I made a square for the Lizard Ridge blanket:
This is color 159 and the picture doesn't do it justice. The colors are more saturated and lovely than they look in that picture. I'm not going to start working on this blanket full on right now. I just wanted to try one square and see if I like it. I do, so eventually I'll make the blanket. I may just make one square every now and then when I'm bored with my other projects. I got this yarn at Amazing Threads on the Treasure Hunt last month.
I also finally felted those slippers for the Pine Ridge Reservation:
This is the same slipper pattern from Knit One, Felt Too! that I used for the kids' slippers earlier this month. The yarn is Mango Moon Wooly in Lemon/Lime. I don't think I'll use this yarn again. I bought it at Yarn Garage because I was in love with the very bright colors and because Mango Moon "provides safe shelter, health care and education to woman in Nepal." I'm assuming that is supposed to be women and not just one woman. It's a fairly expensive yarn. It's pretty scratchy and of uneven texture, so I think it is best for felting. It felted down pretty well, but it's still a bit longer than I wanted - but that may be the pattern calling for knitting too long. I would say these will fit a size 9 or 10 woman's foot. They're a little bit hairy, so I may shave them a bit. My biggest problem though is that I found A LOT of knots in both skeins. There were at least 2-3 knots in each skein.
OK, on to other pursuits. I mentioned yesterday that I took a card class at Archiver's. I made some Christmas cards and I was the only one in the class. It was so odd to just be sitting at the table with the teacher and have her guide me through the cards step by step. The 2.5 hour class was over after an hour because it's much quicker to explain to just one person and I'm fairly efficient. I was a bit nervous having her watch me do all the cutting and coloring and such, though. These are the cards I made:
Finally, I finished my last book club selection:
I had mixed feelings about this book. It started out very slowly and was difficult to read. I probably would have set it down if it hadn't been for book club. The book is about a man whose wife has just died, so he returns to a seaside village where he spent a memorable summer in his childhood. The book moves back and forth between the present, the childhood summer and the man's relationship with his wife and her illness. I like that device of not telling a story in a strict chronological order, but the shifts were often very abrupt and often there was no visual cue to know the time had shifted - one paragraph was set in the present and the next was the childhood summer. It was very confusing. The language the author used was also quite difficult. Sentences were very complex, with many phrases, each separated by a comma. Sometimes by the time I got to the end of the sentence, I couldn't remember what it was about. The main character is a professor so he also uses a vocabulary I don't understand. I feel like I have a pretty good vocabulary, but there was a word I didn't know pretty much every other page. It made for very frustrating reading at first. About 1/3 of the way through, the language was less dense and the story picked up pace and it became much easier to continue. The story itself was very lovely and I did like it. There are also times when the author uses phrases that are really beautiful - one that stuck in my head was when the main character decides not to speak to another man who is staying in the same boarding house and he says "the night is long and my temper is short". The book got a very good reception at book club, so if you are a great reader of literature, I think you may enjoy this book. It's quite short, though I don't think it could be longer and so dense.
That's it for today. I'm off to the Vikings game - please, please, please let them win and not be yet another wasted afternoon at the Metrodome.
This is color 159 and the picture doesn't do it justice. The colors are more saturated and lovely than they look in that picture. I'm not going to start working on this blanket full on right now. I just wanted to try one square and see if I like it. I do, so eventually I'll make the blanket. I may just make one square every now and then when I'm bored with my other projects. I got this yarn at Amazing Threads on the Treasure Hunt last month.
I also finally felted those slippers for the Pine Ridge Reservation:
This is the same slipper pattern from Knit One, Felt Too! that I used for the kids' slippers earlier this month. The yarn is Mango Moon Wooly in Lemon/Lime. I don't think I'll use this yarn again. I bought it at Yarn Garage because I was in love with the very bright colors and because Mango Moon "provides safe shelter, health care and education to woman in Nepal." I'm assuming that is supposed to be women and not just one woman. It's a fairly expensive yarn. It's pretty scratchy and of uneven texture, so I think it is best for felting. It felted down pretty well, but it's still a bit longer than I wanted - but that may be the pattern calling for knitting too long. I would say these will fit a size 9 or 10 woman's foot. They're a little bit hairy, so I may shave them a bit. My biggest problem though is that I found A LOT of knots in both skeins. There were at least 2-3 knots in each skein.
OK, on to other pursuits. I mentioned yesterday that I took a card class at Archiver's. I made some Christmas cards and I was the only one in the class. It was so odd to just be sitting at the table with the teacher and have her guide me through the cards step by step. The 2.5 hour class was over after an hour because it's much quicker to explain to just one person and I'm fairly efficient. I was a bit nervous having her watch me do all the cutting and coloring and such, though. These are the cards I made:
Finally, I finished my last book club selection:
I had mixed feelings about this book. It started out very slowly and was difficult to read. I probably would have set it down if it hadn't been for book club. The book is about a man whose wife has just died, so he returns to a seaside village where he spent a memorable summer in his childhood. The book moves back and forth between the present, the childhood summer and the man's relationship with his wife and her illness. I like that device of not telling a story in a strict chronological order, but the shifts were often very abrupt and often there was no visual cue to know the time had shifted - one paragraph was set in the present and the next was the childhood summer. It was very confusing. The language the author used was also quite difficult. Sentences were very complex, with many phrases, each separated by a comma. Sometimes by the time I got to the end of the sentence, I couldn't remember what it was about. The main character is a professor so he also uses a vocabulary I don't understand. I feel like I have a pretty good vocabulary, but there was a word I didn't know pretty much every other page. It made for very frustrating reading at first. About 1/3 of the way through, the language was less dense and the story picked up pace and it became much easier to continue. The story itself was very lovely and I did like it. There are also times when the author uses phrases that are really beautiful - one that stuck in my head was when the main character decides not to speak to another man who is staying in the same boarding house and he says "the night is long and my temper is short". The book got a very good reception at book club, so if you are a great reader of literature, I think you may enjoy this book. It's quite short, though I don't think it could be longer and so dense.
That's it for today. I'm off to the Vikings game - please, please, please let them win and not be yet another wasted afternoon at the Metrodome.
rdladd@arnan.com
