As shocking as it is, I actually have TWO pairs of socks going right now. This has never happened before.

There’s a very particular reason for this, though.

See? Here’s the pair I’ve been working on for the last month or so. They are awfully close to being done. About four more rows of stockinette stitch, then the ribbing and then, well, done.

But, the thing is that I’ve got that haircut appointment on Wednesday. It should take me about 10 minutes to get there after work, and my appointment is 30 minutes after . . . which means that I’ll likely be sitting there for about 20 minutes, and I don’t want to run out of sock.

So. I made an executive decision. I started my next pair–both socks at the same time, knitted from both ends of the same skein of yarn. (You might recognize the skein, despite the funky way the color photographed. It’s really nowhere near that . . . pink.) Anyway, I wanted to be absolutely sure that I wouln’t run out of yarn, so–both socks at once.

I figured I wouldn’t be able to concentrate properly to start the toes of the socks while sitting in the waiting area at a new salon, but straight stockinette . . . no problem. Soothing, even.

And, besides, I really DID want to get started with this yarn. Now, I was GOING to do my next pair of socks in the Jitterbug yarn I got last February, but it was so tempting to use my Shetland handspun, you know?

(Edited–this has been claimed.) Here’s a possibly silly question for you–I’ve got a bag of odd-and-end yarns, leftovers from other projects, single skeins I have no need for or interest in. It’s been taking up space and I want to get rid of it . . . though I have a hard time throwing yarn away, as I’m sure you can understand. Does anybody have any need or interest in this bag of miscellaneous stuff? Leave a comment if you are. (The bag, incidentally, is a normal, plastic shopping bag from a yarn shop.)

(Edited–this one, too!)For that matter, I’ve got a partially completed gray Elfin in Rowan Felted Tweed that I long since lost interest in. The back is done and the two fronts are partly done, but I slid them off the needle to reclaim the needle years ago. I forget how many skeins are in the bag untouched, but there’s enough for that sweater if you reclaim the yarn from the knitted pieces. . . . anybody want it?

Hey, here’s an interesting article encouraging a certain amount of self-restraint and human decency in the press–if the vast majority of media personnel were able to restrain themselves over the Harry Potter ending, why can’t they do that for other things? In the name of human decency?

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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Yum!

Tags: Baking by Deb
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What a beautiful, blue sky today. (Yes, I know–an actual Saturday Sky, I’m surprised, too.)

Again, with apologies for those of you suffering under a heatwave, but today’s weather, here in NJ, could not have been nicer. No humidity to speak of. Temperatures in the upper 70s/low 80s. Perfect blue sky.

I’m really sorry.

Mom, Chappy and I went for a drive this morning and stopped at the farmer’s market in Bernardsville.

We brought home a pie (peach/berry), some farm-fresh eggs in a beautiful array of browns, and this container of mixed, heirloom tomatoes. They looked so beautiful, I couldn’t resist.

Now I just wish we had some fresh mozzarella in the house….

We took the, um, long route coming back because we got detoured the long way around a rt 202 closing for roadwork, and ended up hopping back on 287 in Far Hills. We stopped in the center of town for some coffee and snacks before heading back to the house. (Chappy desperately wanted to get out of the car by that point.) We bumped into a co-worker out walking his dog, Dixie, who was rehomed after a hurricane a couple years ago. (He said that she’s travelled farther than he had.)

After we got home, the three of us–me, Mom, Chappy–sat outside on the deck. I brought my Journey Wheel out and did some spinning, once I got it going. (I swear that wheel wakes up cranky.) Just, a beautiful day.

Incidentally, I thought I’d share this photo with you. This was taken exactly six years ago today, on the day Mom and I drove out to western Pennsylvania to pick out my new puppy. This was the one we picked. I’ve mentioned him before. We made a point of driving 6.5 hours each way just to select a puppy when the litter was 5 weeks old. We selected this adorable little fellow, the breeder gave him a red mark inside his ear to distinguish him from his brothers, and off we went.

Two weeks later, we went back to pick him up, and, well . . . Chappy . . . the real Chappy . . . had other plans. Little Red Ear would have absolutely nothing to do with us, while Chappy exhausted himself being as cute and charming and winning as he possibly could be. We tease him that he spent those two weeks terrorizing Red Ear with horror stories about us, but all he’ll admit to is planning his OTWC* campaign. Because, he sure was ready for us when we walked in that door. Red Ear never stood a chance. But, really. Look at that face. He sure was cute.

Oh, and the Fairy Godknitter is hosting a comment party in honor of her friend Norma. Go on over, leave a comment, and have a drink in her name, huh?

* Overwhelm Them With Cuteness

Tags: Chappy by Deb
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You’ve just got to love a sweater that moves along this quickly. (Especially after my last two marathon-sweaters.) Here’s the back. I just started shaping the armholes, which means the back is almost done. So quickly! I just love that….

I also finished one of my socks, which is also exciting. Well, you know what I mean. Satisfying, anyway.

With apologies to the many people stuck in the middle of a massive heat wave, but it was actually cold here today. Relatively cold, that is. It never even reached 70 degrees F, and it rained. All day. Blah. Really, a good day for knitting. Pity I had to spend it at work.

I wore my hair in a ponytail today to get the hair-dye reek away from my face, using one of my favorite new hair gizmos–a hair bungee. (As seen in this video.) My ponytail stayed perfectly in place all day. No slipping. Ideal. (There’s another video here, which has some pretty harsh-looking pulling-of-hair, but which shows how to make one yourself out of two bobby pins and a hair elastic.)

Tomorrow, Mom and I are planning on going to a farmer’s market, maybe taking Chappy to the park, or out somewhere. He really just deserves an outing, you know? The weather’s been so . . . unwalkable lately.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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The real question, of course is . . . do you think Chappy has enough toys?

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First, an update of my spinning.

These singles are coming along just beautifully, if slowly. At this rate, and at this grist, it’s going to take quite a while to get through all 9.25 ounces, but . . . well, it’s a pleasure to spin, so who really cares?

Is it ridiculous that I’m so proud of how evenly I’m getting the singles to wind onto the bobbin, without the aid of my Woollee Winder? Don’t get me wrong, I love my WW, but there’s something satisfying about seeing each color as it comes along, and it’s not really such a hardship while spinning singles to stop to adjust the yarn guide every now and again. (Though, when plying, I’d really rather not.)

Really, it’s just a little thing to feel quietly pleased about while I watch the yarn winding onto the bobbin.

Now, about that plying. I said the other day that all this yarn isn’t going to fit on a normal-sized bobbin. I sent an email to the nice people at Woolee Winder to ask why they don’t have a plying size available for the Majacraft, but I haven’t heard back.

In the meantime, I decided I’d order a plying head–I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have one, anyway, right? Except, I goofed. I looked at the Woolery’s page and saw that they had both the “Wild Fiber” flyer as well as the Plying Set, but that the Wild Fiber version came with a special brake knob for the Little Gem, because the standard one that comes with the wheel sometimes gets in the way of the larger flyer. However, I didn’t read the fine print–I just assume that the Wild Fiber and the Plying Set both came with a large-size bobbin. They don’t. The Wild Fiber flyer is just that–the flyer. No bobbin. So it’s not going to do me any good–not unless I spring another $39 out of my wallet to buy the bobbin. Which is pretty ridiculous. I sent them an email earlier asking to exchange the Wild Fiber flyer for the Plying Set (which comes with a bobbin), but also asked if I could keep the special brake knob, just in case. Because, I told them, I opted to buy from them in the first place because of that knob, and I could get the Plying Set cheaper from Crown Mountain Farms. It seems a reasonable thing to ask, don’t you think?

Okay, about my hair-dresser woes of yesterday? I took the risk of calling that salon I found on their Salon list–the one nearby that had nine favorable reviews for this one particular stylist. And now, I have an appointment for next Wednesday. Wish me luck! I couldn’t wait any longer for the hair color, though, so I did that tonight. Pah. Now my hair reeks of chemicals, and likely will for at least another day or two. Mom actually colored hers today also, and was complaining about the smell, but–she’s got short hair, I’ve got long hair. I get a fresh whiff every time I move my head. And my lungs don’t appreciate the fumes, either. (One of the two worst asthma attacks I’ve had since I developed asthma 18 months ago was triggered by hair-dye. Sigh.)

Incidentally, the line of hair products Wendy was talking about today? Wen? They sell that over at NaturallyCurly.com’s shop, CurlMart, which I mention because they carry a great line of hair-care even for people without curls–all very moisturizing, hair-friendly stuff–and their customer service is great. It’s run by two friends down in Texas, and, well, we knitters usually try to support the little guy when we can, so . . . Gretchen and Michelle are nice and helpful and good people. I thought I’d just mention that!

Have you voted for Ryan yet?? I have!

Incidentally, I just have to say, this is one of the cutest commercials I’ve ever seen. It makes me smile every, single time.

Tags: General, Hair, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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I don’t have anything fun and fibery to show you tonight. I figured I should tell you that up-front.

In fact, I don’t really have that much to say at all. The biggest news today? I called my hair salon to get an appointment for a haircut and found out that my stylist is no longer there. No idea where she went, so now I’m stuck trying to find another hair-dresser. Preferably one who knows how to handle curly hair. Too many of them don’t, you know, which is why I was so pleased to find Jen a few years ago. Sigh.

The only “lead” I have for a good, local, curly-friendly stylist? The NaturallyCurly.com salon board. There’s one salon in Randolph–just a few miles from here–that has a stylist with nine separate recommendations. I’m thinking I’ll give them a call in the morning.

The worst part is that my hair badly needs coloring–the roots are about an inch long and looking rather . . . silvery. I had figured I’d wait until after I got my haircut because working the dye through long hair is challenging enough–an inch or two can really make a difference–but now? Well, I guess it will depend on how long it takes to get an appointment.

It’s a shame we can’t all look as naturally gorgeous as this fellow, huh?

Although, hair-wise, I guess I can’t really complain, huh?

Hey–any Ravelry users out there who are Scorpios? I was thinking it would be fun to have a Scorpio Group (since there are groups for just about every thing else), but I need three people who are interested before I can set one up.

Tags: Hair by Deb
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I’m tired tonight. It’s been so hot and steamy lately (though not, thankfully, as hot as elsewhere in the country), Chappy hasn’t been getting his regular walks, and I’m missing them, too. I think it’s one of the reasons I’m tired–not enough exercise.

Or, it could be that, on top of a fairly busy afternoon at the office, I played with Chappy in the yard, twice, gave him a bath, cooked a pot of food for him for dinner . . . I basically didn’t get to sit down to relax for more than about 3 minutes until about 7:30–which for me, is late. Usually there’s at least a chance to relax for a little while before supper, but not tonight. (Mom’s making dinner earlier all the time, I think, and anyway, with all those other things to get done before supper, it didn’t leave a whole lot of extra time. Like, those three minutes I mentioned.)

But, here’s the way my book-loving brain works. When I finally DID get a chance to sit down to actually relax, did I sit mindlessly in front of the television? Flip through a magazine? Knit? No. I read. A book. And not some light, fluffy fiction. Oh, no. I, being apparently the bibliophile I am, opted for a history of wine and a California/France taste-testing in 1976 . . . a subject I know nothing about. So, tired though I was, there I sat, reading about the different wine-making regions in France in 1855 . . . For whatever reason, I can read almost anything, even when tired, just so long as I don’t have to DO anything more strenuous than turning pages.

I did read through that new knitting book, too, Annie Modestitt’s “Romantic Hand Knits.” I ordered it ages ago. I admit to not being as impressed as I’d like to be. While some of the patterns are nice, I don’t think there’s a single thing I feel compelled to knit, and there are too many things with novelty yarn like ribbons, which I don’t like the look or feel of. And there are definitely a few color choices that I think were . . . misguided, although I think the patterns “under” the colors were decent enough. But still, that’s the chance you take when you pre-order, right? And I don’t regret it, either–what with the author being at the Mayo Clinic with her very-sick husband . . . I don’t begrudge the purchase and her royalty payment in the least.

You may have noticed some knitting in that photo? While trying to find the right pattern for my Sublime yarn . . . and, um, waiting for this to arrive . . . I’m making a Ribby for myself. I liked the one I made for my niece so much, I wanted one. You’ve seen the yarn before, in the Felted Doctor’s bag I made last fall.The blue–which I absolutely love–is color 4009 “Aporto.” It’s such a bright, clear color, while being a deep, medium shade of blue (a little darker than in that flash-photo above). Love that. I figure Tiffany’s sweater went fairly quickly, so this is a relatively painless project that will give me something simple (i.e., not lace) to work on without being as huge a time committment, as, say, the last two sweaters I’ve made!

Okay . . . tired now!

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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Well, it’s time.

Remember the really expensive roving I bought from the Fold at Rhinebeck? Well, I figured it was time I finally spun it up.

So, the first thing I did was break it into 9 roughly even pieces and spread them out on the floor to decide how to subdivide. . . .

Which is when my helper came over to make sure that the wool was sufficiently soft and of the quality his Mom deserves. His verdict? “Comfy.”

(Gee, thanks, honey, now would you please get off Mommy’s most expensive roving?)

Once it passed the Chappy test, I divided the roving into thirds.

I put two of them aside for now, and then rolled one of them into little fiber “roses.” I split each length of roving into smaller strips–absolutely necessary because the roving had been so compacted–and then rolled each one around my fingers and piled them into my hat.

And, yeah, I don’t know why, exactly, I use an old straw hat for this, but then, why not? It looks nice enough sitting on my stool by my wheel, waiting . . . Sure, a basket with a handle might be more practical . . . or something with a lid, so it would be easier to travel with it, but . . . the hat works!

The colors of this roving . . . which is the Carbon color . . . are just lovely. Subtle. Greys, yellows, purples, taupes, hints of blue . . . And how is it spinning up?

Beautifully. Considering how extremely compacted the roving was (not to mention how difficult it was to tear it into strips), this drafts beautifully. And it is spinning up super fine. I still think it was ridiculously expensive ($46.25 for 9.25 ounces) . . . 19 microns or not, for hand-dyed, superfine merino, I still don’t see any similar roving online for anything like that much money per ounce.

However, I am nothing if not fair, and I will say that the quality of the roving is excellent. I mean–look how evenly that’s spinning! It’s just lovely to work with.

The plan is that this will be spun into a 3-ply yarn, presumably for socks, unless something else more wonderful comes to mind once the yarn is done and I have some idea what the yardage is. There’s no way I’m going to get all of this onto a regular bobbin, though, when it comes time to ply. Which is a shame, because I’d rather ply with a Woolee Winder than not. I actually kind of like spinning multi-color rovings without because I like to see the color progression in “stripes” on the bobbin, but for plying? Oh, it makes life soooooo much easier. I wonder why they don’t make plying-size woolee winders? (Good question–I just sent them an email asking.) I wonder if it would be worth ordering a plying head for my Little Gem?

One last picture of that Celebrations Shetland. It was sitting on my dresser this morning as I was getting dressed, and I just happened to glance in the mirror . . . yep. I took this picture IN the mirror. It was reflecting back the lit-side of the skein, and the rest of the room looked dark . . . I just thought that lighting was fabulous. And the neatest part? I was able (in another picture, but I won’t bore you) (too much) to zoom in to get more of a closeup but without needing to use the Macro feature, because the mirror added extra “distance” for the camera lens. Cool, huh?

Hope everyone’s having as good a Monday as is reasonably possible. I’m still looking for the right pattern for that Sublime yarn of mine (though there are possibilities).

And, Harry Potter fans? Take a look at this fan-art picture from last Christmas. I don’t, as a rule, follow fan-art or fan-fiction, but Marta’s work is just wonderful, and this picture is just delightful. (This other Christmas picture is funny–love the slippers–and Awwww. I’m really looking forward to what she does for Book 7.

Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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I knew in my heart that I was fooling myself yesterday. That yarn was too under-plied. And since it was otherwise so satisfactory . . . I mean, it’s not like I hated spinning it, or was truly disappointed in the colors . . .

. . . So, really, there was no choice.

I owed it to myself and to the wool to run it through the wheel again.

It was just so obviously the right thing to do.

This was my first time spinning with Shetland wool. It’s hanging in the bathroom now, having had it’s hot bath and thwacking. I’m surprised at how fluffy it feels. I wasn’t expecting that! I guess it’s happy now, too.

Edited to add: I just had to add this–I mentioned at supper that I’d run that yarn through the wheel again, and Mom asked what “under-plied” meant. I explained that when I twisted the two plies together, I didn’t add enough twist. Then Dad said, “So then, it’s only implied?”

Which, actually, is a perfect description, don’t you think?

Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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As you know, it was Risa’s birthday a couple weeks ago, so what else is a friend to do? That’s right. Bake a birthday cake. Because what’s a birthday without cake? I mean, sure, her mother provided her with cake for the actual birthday, but since I wasn’t there, it doesn’t count. (For me.) Besides, who doesn’t like an excuse to eat cake? Even if the twins mostly just ate enough frosting to fuel a sugar rush. (Yeah, sorry about that, Risa.)

Although, eating cake wasn’t all we did. We also spun. And played. And watched a movie (Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” one of my favorites that Risa and the twins hadn’t seen before).

I did mention the spinning, right? Because I finished spinning my Spunky Eclectic “Celebrations” Shetland and then plied it while we were watching the movie . . . and it took just about the entire movie to get it done, too.

I have no idea what the yardage is because I completely lost count while wrapping the niddy noddy. (Not least of which because I had to stop midway to go rescue Alex’s blankie which Chappy ran off with in his favorite, “Look what I’ve got!” game.) It’s pretty consistent as to width, though–somewhere around 30-28 wpi. It’s a trifle under-plied, but I can live with that.

We did have fun, though. And really, those twins are getting big. Their arms and legs are getting quite lengthy, and they don’t at all have that baby/toddler roundness to them any more. They’re still small enough to fit on Chappy’s pillow, though.

Meanwhile, Chappy’s kind of wondering when his playmates are coming back. He says he’s all ready for some more running around. Especially since he’s had the (medicated) bath that was delayed from last night, so really, he could use some more blow-drying . . . doggie style. (You know, the kind where you run fast enough that the breeze dries your fur . . . no wonder he’s usually so tired after a bath.)

Tags: Friends, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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I’ve been neglectful showing you my sock progress. So, here you go.

The two socks are tag-teaming each other. I’ve been working them alternately in stages. This way, I know for sure that they’re the same length and all that–always a good thing–but each sock moves along fairly quickly. In other words, I feel like I’m making more progress more quickly than I do when I do both socks at the same time, as I usually do.

I can’t remember the color of the yarn any more, but it’s Koigu KPPPM yarn. It’s been in my stash for well over a year. I had wound it into a ball last year when I wanted to use just a little of it for contrasting toes and heels on another pair of socks, and it was that time that the label sort of disappeared. So, yeah, no idea what the color is. But it IS very pretty–all shades of golden-y brown.

Well, I mean, of course it’s pretty. It’s Koigu. There might be a couple of shades that I like less than others, but are any of theirs actually ugly? Yeah. I didn’t think so.

Tomorrow, Chappy and I are having guests tomorrow–Risa and the twins. For the last couple of years, we’ve bought each other coffee as a little celebration for each others’ birthdays, but this time, she thought it would be nice to see Chappy . . . which, you know, I’m never going to disagree with! . . . So the three of them are coming for lunch and for some birthday cake, which I baked when I got home from work today. Oh yeah, and there should be some spinning and knitting, too. If the weather cooperates (i.e., isn’t too hot and sticky), we might let the kids (which includes Chappy, you understand) play in the yard. Or we might stay inside where it’s cool and where the Disney movies are. Or we might go back and forth . . . the important thing is that there are options and we’ll have fun no matter what, huh?

So, right now, there are some severe thunderstorms booming in the distance, so I’m going to keep this short tonight. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tags: Friends, General, Knitting/Spinning by Deb
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Ah, there’s nothing quite like a tower of reading material. This particular pile has a book on word usage, a book on wine, a couple of children’s books, some memoirs, a thriller, some mysteries . . . a pretty nice combination of genres, I think.

And . . . what? Doesn’t everybody buy books like this? In bulk?

I tend to keep assorted titles in my Amazon shopping cart and then buy in dribs and drabs as the mood strikes, but every now and again, I just get tired of it being so full, and splurge to get the list down to manageable proportions. You know, hence the tower.

Right now, they’re waiting to be logged into my computerized database (aka Excel spreadsheet), and then will be shelved according to genre. There’s nothing quite like personal library acquisition.

Oh yeah, and there’s some knitting reading material, too….

I wouldn’t want you to think I’m not knitting. I’m plugging away at my shawl . . . which is going more and more slowly as the rows get longer, but that’s the way it goes, right? And my socks? I’m past the heel on both of them, and the leg is about halfway done on one of them. I got about three inches done in the car on the way to and from the wake last night.

Otherwise? It’s hot. Hot and sticky. (Ick.) And speaking of sticky, now it’s the “D” key on my laptop that’s causing trouble. The letter that’s sticking has varied over the months, but there’s almost always a letter of some sort sticking. So frustrating. I’ve never had one of these computers before, and while the actual computer works just fine (no complaints, knock wood), the keyboard . . . well, the keyboard stinks.

Did you hear Liz’s good news? They’re getting a new puppy and the pictures look just too cute for words. Chappy and I can’t wait to meet him.

Stay cool, everyone.

And spare a prayer for the people in Minneapolis whose bridge collapsed under them yesterday. Between that and the steam pipe explosion in NY a couple weeks ago, it’s just a little worrying, huh? What happened to our infrastructure? Or is it that all our money is going into the military these days?

Tags: Reading, Uncategorized by Deb
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*
–Come play over at the BTT site!

Have you ever written an author a fan letter?

Did you get an answer?

Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?

(And, sure, I suppose that e-mails DO count . . . but I’d say no to
something like a message board on which the author happens to
participate.)

Technically, yes. During high school . . . you know, back in the early 1980s . . . my best friend and I wrote letters to just about every author we loved. David Eddings. Piers Anthony. Anne McCaffrey. Nancy Springer. Katherine Kurtz. Susan Dexter. Terry Brooks. I think we got responses from every one of them. Although a couple were just postcards, we actually carried on correspondences with a couple. I distinctly remember David Eddings reassuring me that he’d finished at least the rough draft of “Enchanter’s End Game, the fifth Belgariad book, so that, even if he got run over by a steam-roller, we would at least know what happened to Garion and his crew. Then there was the wacky, three-way exchange with Piers Anthony, you know, back when there were only about four Xanth books and they were still funny.

We did outgrow the gushing-fan stage, though, and then I went about 20 years before writing another one.  I’ve toyed with the idea of sending Sharon Shinn a letter, just because I think her books are so wonderful. I’ve left a few comments over at Sharon Lee’s blog, too–although that wasn’t “gushing” so much as, you know, commenting.

Did I ever meet any of the authors I corresponded with? Yes, Katherine Kurtz, when she attended a convention in northern NJ (apparently, it’s still going on, but in the southeast US now). But since I basically just got to meet her for a handshake, it wasn’t exactly all warm and fuzzy.

Of course, there’s also Wendy and Stephanie and Stitchy . . . do fellow bloggers count?

But, anyway, the answer is yes!

* And, okay, I’m cheating just a little, using the BTT question that won’t actually be posted until tomorrow, just so I can be sure to get a post up on Wednesday. (You know, other than the reading list that posted this morning.) I figure, I made up the question, so it’s not like I don’t know it’s coming . . . And it’ll give you all something to read tonight while I’m at Linda’s Mom’s wake.

Tags: Reading by Deb
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Here’s my list of books from July:

1. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J.K. Rowling (734 p.) Book Four, where Harry’s name gets entered in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament . . . it appears that someone is trying to kill him!

2. GATSBY’S GIRL by Caroline Preston (312 p.) The first novel in a long time by an author I like. This one tells the story–very, very loosely based on a real person, but with the deviations clearly explained at the end–of a woman who had briefly had a flirtation with F. Scott Fitzgerald before he became famous. Good. A nice look at life in the flapper era.

3. TWO PRINCESSES OF BAMARRE by Gail Carson Levine (239 p.) YA fantasy book about two princesses–one brave, one cowardly–but when the brave sister becomes ill, it’s the cowardly one who heads out into the world to save her.

4. PRINCE OF ILL LUCK by Susan Dexter (249 p.) First in the Warhorse trilogy by a long-time favorite author. Sired by the wind, Valadan is an incredible horse, and when he finds Leith, shipwrecked, things start getting interesting. Because Leith was born with a curse of ill-luck, and when a chance encounter with Kess, daughter of the Duke of Esdragon gives him an opportunity to find a witch who can break his curse . . . the fact that Kess despises him isn’t going to stop him. Leith is a delightful character–patient, kind, remarkably capable for a man with bad luck . . .

5. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX by J.K. Rowling (870 p.) Book Five, where the Ministry of Magic starts interfering at Hogwarts, nobody believes Harry when he says that Voldemort is back, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is, well, evil…. though in a very, sweet, girlish, pink, kitten-loving kind of way….

6. WIND WITCH by Susan Dexter (335 p.) Second in the Warhorse trilogy–Druyan, youngest daughter of a large family, finds herself newly widowed by sea raiders, and is determined to save her farm, with the aid of Kellis, a man who can sometimes see into the future.

7. TRUE KNIGHT by Susan Dexter (323 p.) Third in the Warhorse trilogy–years later, Titch is the orphaned son of a knight, who longs to own Valadan–the horse supposedly owned by Knight Gerein . . . except Gerein has stolen the horse, and can’t be trusted, and ends up getting Titch sworn to the service of the Red Queen . . . the last person he would have chosen to serve.

8. RING OF ALLAIRE by Susan Dexter (231 p.) First book in the Winter King trilogy–a classic kind of fantasy, with all the usual trappings–a quest, a wizard, a knight, a sleeping princess . . . all very cliche when said straight out, but in reality? A lovely book, beautifully written, an Tristan? Oh, Tristan, the sometimes-inept wizard’s apprentice, is a great character. Unfailingly kind and always trying to help those in need, and determined to make this quest work. He’s a delight. As is Thomas, his cat.

9. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J.K. Rowling (652 p.) Book Six. Now everyone knows that Voldemort is back, and Harry is getting private lessons from Dumbledore about Voldemort’s past, all while doing wonders in his Potions classes, thanks to a used textbook that had belonged to someone who called himself the half-blood prince….

10. CHARMED KNITS by Alison Hansel (162 p.) A book of knitting patterns based on the Harry Potter books–either loosely, or directly based on wardrobe items from the movies.

11. 200 BRAIDS by Jacqui Carey (251 p.) Exactly what it sounds like–a how-to book on making braids.

12. SWORD OF CALANDRA by Susan Dexter (341 p.) Second in the “Winter King” trilogy–here, Tristan goes searching for the sword carried by the king lost in a battle long, long ago, but the quest is more about personal growth than about the sword and, as always, the writing is fabulous.

13. NATURAL KNITTER by Barbara Albright (181 p.) The last book from a talented woman–this is more than just knitting patterns, it talks about pretty much every fiber that’s out there, where it comes from, how it’s processed, what it can be used for . . . great resource.

14. SPELLBOUND by James Essinger (293 p.) Ever wonder how English spelling got so confusing? Well, this is the book for you! The history of English spelling in a nutshell…

15. SELBUVOTTER by Terri Shea (125 p.) The history of Selbuvotter knitting . . . basically what you think of when you think of “Norwegian” knitting. Interestingly, it can all be traced back to a single woman.

17. MOUNTAINS OF CHANNADRAN by Susan Dexter (367 p.) Third in the Winter King trilogy–with the rings and the sword, Tristan, Elisena and Polassar pledge to take their fight to Nimir himself . . . up in the mountains of Channadran . . . but first, they have to get there . . .

18. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by JK Rowling (759 p.) Book 7, which I thoroughly enjoyed (even if the epilogue was a little overly-sentimental), but which I won’t discuss because I don’t want to give anything away. Great end to the series.

19. HOW ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING SAVED MY LIFE by Mameve Medwed (324 p.) A chick-lit book. Abby brings an old chamber pot to Antiques Roadshow and finds out that it once belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and thus sets off a flurry of change in her life. I thought this was a decent enough book–didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. It was “fine.”

20. PRIDE AND PRESCIENCE by Carrie Bebris (287 p.) Okay, good news/bad news. The good news is that this was a reasonably entertaining mystery set in Regency England, with a pretty reasonable plot (if a little on the super-natural side) and decent writing. The bad news is that the people solving the mystery are the newly-wed Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Um, no. That’s not going to happen. After the first chapter, I just told myself that this author’s characters had nothing to do with Austen’s characters except for a funny coincidence about the names, and the rest, then, was okay. An okay mystery, and I enjoyed it well enough, just . . . leave Austen’s characters out of it.

21. KING AND JOKER by Peter Dickinson (238 p.) A slightly alternate-history kind of book that takes place in present-day England, except that the monarchy is rather . . . different. Much more “middle-class” than they really are, the book opens as they try to figure out how they can cut their family budget without sending Princess Louise out for babysitting … The difficult part is that someone is playing practical jokes on the royal family, and little by little, the jokes get nastier… Good book.

22. REST YOU MERRY by Charlotte MacLeod (222 p.) The first of the rather-too-cute Peter Shandy mysteries. He is a professor at Balaclava University, an agricultural college, who decides to get out of town for the annual Christmas Illumination, but when he comes home early, he finds a dead neighbor in his living room . . . was it an accident or foul play?

23. THE LUCK RUNS OUT by Charlotte MacLeod (192 p.) Second Peter Shandy–this time dealing with someone having kidnapped a prize pig and murdering the college’s farrier. And, oh yes, there’s that robbery at the silversmiths….

24. WRACK AND RUNE by Charlotte MacLeod (207 p.) Third Peter Shandy. A Viking-era runestone has been discovered on a local farm, run by 105-year old Hilda and her 85-year old whipper-snapper nephew, and then all hell breaks loose…

25. ARAN SWEATER DESIGN by Janet Szabo (171 p.) An absolutely wonderful, thorough book on all the pieces you need to have to put together your own Aran sweater–how to judge which cables do together, which proportions work best, the different shapes for putting the whole thing together . . . This book has absolutely everything except a cable-stitch dictionary. Those are a dime a dozen, though. This book is chock full of really useful information. It took days to read through all of it, and I still haven’t quite grasped it all (grin).

26. VANE PURSUIT by Charlotte MacLeod (208 p.) Fourth Peter Shandy mystery, involving antique weather vanes which seem to be disappearing from buildings just before they burn down, a group of militants, and an heiress hiding in the woods . . . yes, it sounds insane, but nobody wrote silly, fun, “cozy” mysteries like Charlotte MacLeod. This was in fact the very first of hers I read (however many years ago), and then I went on to buy copies of just about every one of her books, so you know I enjoyed them–light and fluffy though they are.

27. EINSTEIN by Walter Isaacson (551 p.) Biography of Albert Einstein. Well-written, although some of the physics went over my head. Thorough, interesting. Lots of things I didn’t know about a fascinating man.

28. LION IN THE VALLEY by Elizabeth Peters (310 p.) An Amelia Peabody mystery, and one of my favorites–where Amelia, Emerson and their precocious son Ramses cross paths with the Master Criminal Sethos . . . who seems to be acting strangely towar Amelia….

29. FIRST AMONG SEQUELS by Jasper Fforde (362 p.) A brand-new Thursday Next book, ah. And in the same month as the new Harry Potter . . . though not so eagerly-awaited, I was definitely looking forward to this. It takes place 14 years after the end of “Something Rotten.” Her son Friday is now a difficult 16-year old who’s decided he’s not interested in the Chronoguard, her 12 year old daughter Tuesday is a math genius, and her youngest, Jenny, doesn’t seem to be around much. Spec-Ops has mostly been disbande, and so Thursday fills her days working for Acme Carpeting . . . or so her husband thinks. But really, she’s still doing spec-ops on the side, along with Jurisfiction, and lamenting the drop in readership numbers, the country’s Stupidity deficit, and trying to figure out who killed Sherlock Holmes . . . Make no sense to you? Well, you’ll have to read the first four books. But trust me–they’re wacky and crazy and bizarre and totally unique. And having three Thursday Nexts in a scene? Priceless.

Tags: Monthly Reading List, Reading by Deb
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