So last year

we read Shanghai Girls for book group and Hubband and I both really enjoyed it. Well,as I recall, I am pretty sure most everybody in the group liked it. I was really happy when the story was continued with the publishing of Dreams of Joy, and quite excited to be on a fairly short waiting list for in in eBook form. It was an excellent read, full of history and wonderful research. (Again, much easier to let you read the links rather than me repeating what has already been said.) I would strongly recommend both of these if you enjoy well researched historical fiction.

I recently read

a very popular book (Powell's link). I checked it out in eBook form from the library, since it is/was so popular I would have had a very long wait to get it in paper (currently it has 30 holds for four copies). I am guessing that some of you will have heard of it by now, as it has had a fair amount of press, including the selling of movie rights before it was actually published (pretty good for a first novel). Rather than me going on and on about it, you can read at least the first few chapters yourself, via the publishers website.
You can also see a trailer for the book at the author's website, as well as some other cool/interesting stuff.
(With any luck, in the very near future I will tell you about another excellent book that I finished recently.)

I have just been beside myself

with excitement and glee since I heard the news last night. Seriously, I sat in the car in the grocery store parking lot so I wouldn't miss one bit of the interview. If Hubband had been home this afternoon for this one, he probably would have told me I was wriggling like a puppy. Seriously, this news makes me very, very happy. Obviously he is even more excited!
(If you haven't read any of his stuff, you really should. I suppose I should give DTE her copy back.)

Have I mentioned I am excited about a movie in February?

I read.

I read a lot, according to some people. Yes, I also knit, but if I could only do one, I would pick reading. Fortunately, I have perfected the art of knitting and reading at the same time. Well, if it isn't knitting that requires a lot of paying attention to that would take me away from my book. (I think I just let you know my priorities, right?)
I can knit on a plane if I am not too squished, and I can certainly read on a plane. I tried, briefly, to do both on the second leg of my plane trip recently. It seemed like it should work, especially since I had been doing both in the airport and there were three seats in our row, with only two of us, making for an empty seat in the middle. Well, it didn't work out as well as I had thought it might, so I put away the knitting for the flight and just concentrated on finishing this. It is our October read for WhoDuKnit, and a fair amount of fun. Apparently there is a series on HBO based on the series, but I have no personal experience with said program. I think I know what my knitted (or something crafty) project for it will be, maybe. After I got to my dad's house I realized I had left a book at home I had been planning on reading, but fortunately was able to direct Hubband where to find it so he could bring it with him. It was a good thing I had another book and my dad had a few for me to pick from until Hubband got there.
I also did some knitting while at my dad's house, some of which I can't post here just yet.
I can show you the Elongated Fetchings I made for DTY. She decided this summer that she really liked the the ones I had made for myself last winter, except she really wanted them to be longer. I couldn't find the brown like mine she liked, but she said she trusted my judgment on color choice. So I made these extra long and am mailing them off this week. I have told her that if she doesn't like the color, I will be more than happy to make her some different ones and take these back.
There were a few other things that were made while I was in Idaho, but I am saving those for a different post (or two, or more).

 

Due to the fact that I had started another book by the time Hubband arrived at my dad's, I didn't start the book I had asked him to bring right away.
I think that is a good thing as I started it the night before I came home and by the time I hung out in a couple of airports and gotten off my last plane, I had this finished except for the last chapter. I have obviously come to this book a bit late in the best-sellers cycle, considering the fourth in the series just came out this summer. Well, better late than never, 'cause it was really good. I looked up the next ones in our local library catalogue to reserve, and only to discover that there are only four or five copies and a waiting list of twenty-five people or so for number two, more folks waiting for the same number of copies for number three, and even more waiting for number four. Le Sigh. I was able to find a copy of number two for a price I was willing to pay (I found a used one and was going to order it, but then found one in town for only a $1.50 more.) I guess I had best get my name onto the waiting list for three and four, so far I haven't found many used copies of them. I am not sure if I will knit while reading this one on the couch at home. I'll let you know in a few days. If you don't hear from me until then, I'll be curled up with my book; I promise it won't take me too long.

Book Group

So the previous "Tag" post was done in a bit of a hurry just before Hubband and I left for book group where we discussed Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. We (the whole book group) highly recommend this book. We all mentioned how we haven't run across any one who has read it and not enjoyed it. Now if any one out there falls into that category, I would really be interested in knowing why. There were a couple of folks who said they had talked to people that just didn't want to read it because there is some violence and cruelty. I can understand not wanting to read it for such reasons,and I don't think I would suggest a twelve-year-old read it; or maybe even a fourteen-year-old without a parent read-a-long. I think there is difference between that and not enjoying the writing style, the story, etc. I truly would be interested in hearing the whys and wherefores of it not being enjoyed if there is anyone out there that falls into that category.
There is a brief synopsis at the link above in case any of you are wondering what it is about. Feel free to let me know what you think. Kind of an on-line/comment book discussion.
I love hearing more than one opinion on stuff, especially books.

Everyone is back to regular abodes

Hubband and DTE made it home safe and sound, although a bit latter than scheduled Friday night. DTE spent Saturday doing assorted things needed (packing and some cleaning) to go back to school. Sunday afternoon I drove her back up to Duluth and then drove back home this afternoon. The drive up was fine, despite the sub-zero temperatures (it had warmed up since the day before and was only single digit temperatures below zero, instead of the double-digits we have been having.) The drive back home for me was almost a heat wave, it was up to +9°! However, just before I hit the Twin Cities it turned icy and there were cars off the road in several places, and the overhead warning sign did have something about "Caution! Crash on Highway 52 Southbound." Yep, that would be the road I needed. On top of that the radio kept warning about horrible road conditions south of The Cities with some big snowstorm for SE MN. I saw more folks off the road but I made it home all in one piece just the way I prefer. I am feeling rather tired and "car-lagged," so I plan on joining the jet-lagged Hubband and read my book. Maybe I'll even have it finished in time for book group tomorrow. Probably not, but I doubt I'll be the only one, and it wouldn't be the first time.

Coffee yarn and used books

OK folks, here you go. This is a picture of coffee-dyed yarn, along with a bit of what the color looked like before it was dyed. As a bonus you get to see a bit of my weaving. Not pressed weaving, since it is a scarf and has been (obviously) wrinkled up all summer. Hey, I never promised ironing!

Here is a pile of dyed thrums(the leftover warp that gets cut off when you are done weaving) and the original yarn. This yarn is dyed to be fairly dark, because I thought the color was prettier than the lighter color I experimented with. To answer the question that I am sure some of you are wondering, "No, the darkness of the roast has no bearing on the darkness of the dyed yarn." It is all about the weight ratio of the dye stuff to yarn. Not as much dye stuff (coffee, onion skins, bugs, snails, etc.)to the amount of yarn, you get a lighter colored yarn. The more stuff you use, the darker your yarn. I used only your basic mordant of alum and cream of tarter. You can skew the colors of natural dyed yarns by tossing in other chemicals, safe ones being things such as vinegar. Not safe ones include heavy metals like copper. Yeah, I go for not messing with my septic tank and ground water too much. When I clean the basement this winter I should come across the experiment samples of different colors. When I find them, I'll pass them on.


Have I ever mentioned that I think buying/getting/giving used books is a perfectly acceptable thing to do in life? I mean, if it isn't used before I get it, it will be used right away. (Well, I don't give used books to others if i don't know how they feel about it.) I don't "collect" cookbooks, but I sure do like them. I will admit to owning quite a few of them (don't even ask), but I don't need random ones just for the sake of owning another cookbook. I have been looking at this particular one for a while now, but haven't thought it was worth $30, or even the price it would be at B&N with my mom's member discount. I even looked at it at the store this summer on our day trip in Portland. It was cheaper there, but I still wasn't sure it would be worth the money. I figured I would check it out from the library first and then decide if I wanted to own it. Can I just say how much I love AbeBooks? I figured as long as I was looking for a few other books there, I might as well check prices for it too. I found it for only $4 and it showed up in my mail box yesterday.
I was looking for this book, which I had to get. It had already fallen into my "Should I buy this cookbook?" criteria of, "If I have checked it out of the library three times already, it makes sense to buy it." I love this book (obviously since I have checked it out/renewed it at least four times and had over due fines on it), and we will see how the Bob's one is. It can't be too bad for the price (and no, shipping wasn't very much either!).
That same rule has been known to apply to other types of books as well. Mason-Dixon Knitting is on my Powell's wish list. Why? 'Cause I have renewed/checked it out several times already (I have lost count, so it has to be more than three) and probably will again soon. I want to make their baby sweater for a friend, so need to read it again for that pattern. Besides, you would think that I might own it for all the Ballbands I have made already. (Powell's didn't have what I was looking for at the time, and AbeBooks doesn't have a wish list. I'm not really picky about where used books come from, but it is really cool that Abe is all independent booksellers.)
Now I am off to test the "The house will blow up if you turn on the furnace before October 1st" theory. It isn't even dinner time and is only 63 degrees in the house, plus there is a frost warning for tonight. I figure I can test the theory and maybe blow up, or I can definitely freeze! Plus, I need to make bread and it will take a lot longer at this temp. (Of course it is supposed to be seventy plus by Monday, but hey, I know how to turn it back off.)