two days, two good things

Yes, I've been quite absent lately, and for that, I apologize. Getting back into the swing of working outside the home has been a challenge. Everything there is still good, and I'm headed off on my first business trip with them tomorrow afternoon.

Onto the good things: knitting isn't the only thing that's been suffering lately; I've been having the durndest time getting engrossed in a book. I hadn't finished a book in weeks, and even Sarah Vowell's new book couldn't hold my attention (I know, right? If not Sarah, then who?). So imagine my extreme joy when I grabbed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from my stack of library books, started reading at the bus stop, and then didn't want to get off the bus because I was hooked. I devoured it quickly, and can't recommend it highly enough. It's a post-WWII novel, but I won't say another word because everyone should read it right away.

And today, I found the waterproof boots I'd been searching for. And cute brown shoes as well.

I hope to start reading blogs again soon (I'm so very behind...) and also doing that knitting thing. Yay for a six hour (round trip) car ride and a long Thanksgiving weekend ahead!

pity party

This is the weekend when Hubby hops on a plane and goes back to the old alma mater for a series of meetings and gadding about with old friends and professors. In previous years, I've taken advantage of the weekend alone to catch up on TV series that I'd missed (e.g., House, Alias), eat microwaved food from Trader Joe's (trying to fool myself that it's healthy), and knit to my heart's content.

Unfortunately, those plans were slightly derailed by some bad news on Friday afternoon (I and all loved ones are fine, it's just some really annoying/depressing info). So instead of watching good TV series, I watched Lipstick Jungle on hulu and threw myself a pity party. With an entire bag of hickory bbq potato chips from Trader Joe's. (Note to self: while eating all those chips seems like the right thing to do at a pity party, the hangover is really not worth it.)

Come Saturday morning, I forced myself out of bed, and went to Twisted to see the Louet Fall Fashion Show, which was quite a bit of fun. There were 25 people there, or so, and I was a little surprised that I was one of only two people knitting through the event. It was a show of knitted garments in front of knitters, so I assumed that more people would have pulled out their needles...

After more work on the Icarus Shawl (sooooo close to done!), I got a message that my copy of Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Domesticity was ready to be picked up. Thinking that it would be good for me to get out of the house a bit more, off I went.

I passed a new wine bar - EVOE, I think, on Hawthorne - on my way back to the car, and sat down to look at the stunning pictures and browse the book with a glass of hard cider from Basque country, and a few deviled eggs (with chips of ham). I will certainly be back there as autumn approaches and we look for places to be out of the house but also out of the rain. I'm still digesting the book, and am sure to discuss more of it soon.

friday, finally

Instead of knitting, I've been spending a lot of time reading. This stack represents what I've been working through lately. We've eaten through all the bread in the house, so I'm going to start my first loaf of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day over the weekend. I was very excited to finally get The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao from the library (Pulitzer Prize winner!), but it isn't exactly what I'd hoped. I'm only 30 pages in, and will keep going, but... :(

The second to the bottom book, The Woman at the Washington Zoo, represents my latest read about fabulous women that you'd like to know who die really young of dreadful cancer. I've learned that I really need to STOP reading these books (e.g., About Alice) because their husbands are too skilled at the writing thing. I end up bawling and feeling generally rotten. So: more books about cookies, less about cancer. An excellent recipe.

While we were off at the coast last weekend, I gave myself a little birthday present: two skeins of Socks That Rock, and I just cast on a new sock with one of them. I think this might be exactly what I want to knit at this second, and hopefully will get me going again!

knitting celebrity sighting

Yesterday, my local yarn shop hosted one of the biggest celebrities in the knitting world: Clara Parkes, the force behind Knitters' Review, and the author of the recently released Knitter's Book of Yarn (which was a Christmas gift, and is now autographed!).

Clara was lovely in person, which was no surprise, because her weekly emails are filled with warmth and devotion to the craft of knitting. She complimented my Clapotis immediately, and then played around with it and the way it bounces (and made accompanying "boing-boing" noises - love her). I showed her my Herringbone Mittens, and she gave some advice about a little flaw in the thumbs.

We discussed what is my sort-of resolution for the new year: knit (and live, I suppose) fearlessly.* Sure, I'd never tried knitting with two colors before, but why not try it a week before the present needs to be gifted? What's the worst that could happen? If something goes wrong, just start over again. (Both Herringbone Mittens are done now, and drying from their bath.)

*Those who are familiar with the way I jaywalk in NYC may say that I already live rather fearlessly.

Inspired by our talk, I wanted to start one of the projects from Clara's book, and cast on the very first: the Maine Morning Mittens. The pattern is quite clever, and has some nice details that are absent from some of the other fingerless glove patterns out there. I've already picked out my next project from the book, too. It's another pair of handwarmers, which will be my third mitten-type project for 2008. Is it cold here, or is it just me?

potter revealed

I had Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in my hot little hands (embellished by a HP7 tattoo! (which is still on my hand and amusing my co-workers)) by 12:10 am on Saturday. Rudely, I read while we had a glass of wine and Hubby chatted with some friends after we got our books. They didn't seem to care, thankfully.

I did sleep, and upon waking on Saturday, I read through until the finish at about 4pm. And I didn't peek at the end ONE BIT. Lots of tears, but I was really satisfied. I still have questions about some of the plot twists, so if anyone wants to discuss, please let me know!

This weekend we head to Portland, OR for a friend's wedding. Not only is this a vacation (thus allowing yarn purchasing!), I'm taking an intarsia class at the Yarn Garden on Saturday. Our hotel is also just down the street from Knit/Purl. Wee! It also means that when we get back next Tuesday my Knit From Your Stash pledge is over! However, I've still got so much yarn that I'm going to really try to not go crazy for the rest of the year. Ideally, I'd like to keep my yarn only in the bins under the bed. I've got a lot of stash reduction to go to meet that goal.

countdown to potter

One of the most excellent gifts I received upon graduation in May was Tom Hodgkinson's How To Be Idle, which I carried around with me for weeks. It was comforting, and brilliant, and just something that I wanted more of in life. While certainly not for the Type As out there, it provided marvelous perspective on life as I embarked on this new phase. If you are looking for something to entertain for that lazy vacation, or just need a new out-of-the-rat-race view on life, this is it. (And on sale at Amazon!)

But it's really just a waiting game for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows right now. Yes, I'm going to wait in line for it at midnight. How often can one say that about a book in today's world?

fiction time

Since I became a free woman about a month ago, I've been starting to work on my fiction reading list. The first two items fell squarely into the "chick-lit" genre. It wasn't really intentional, and unfortunately, I wasn't that into either book.

The first was The Easy Hour by Leslie Stella. Mimi Smartypants gave the book a rave review, and said that everyone should read it immediately. Therefore, this has been at the top of the list for quite a while. But I just couldn't get into it. There was a bit too much fashion talk, I think, and it felt kind of alien for me.

The next book was listed on last summer's Summer Reading list from the Times. It would be very good for beach reading. It's Literacy and Longing in L.A., and while I liked it more than Easy Hour... it still didn't quite do it for me. At the end, I saw that there was a nine page Book List with all of the pieces referenced in the novel. Oy. Nine pages? OK, you authors are well-read. I got it.

Next up is the Friday Night Knitting Club, because it arrived from the library earlier than I expected. If I didn't have two weeks to read it (no renewals since there's a waiting list), I would jump to Edith Wharton's House of Mirth. Slate.com just did a book club discussion on it, and it was a gift from my last birthday. After all of this chick-lit, I think that Wharton's commentary will be very refreshing.