The knit-a-longs and SPs sound like such fun. I’ve even joined a few, but I’m just not good at them. I joined the tote-along, I’ve made a few totes, sewn and knit, but I have yet to post. I can’t figure out how. Knit the Classics sounded right up my alley, but every book they’ve chosen has either been one I’ve read in the past year or have no interest in reading at all. Next month is Frankenstein. Maybe. I could read it on line while I knit. The 6 Sox Knitalong was great at first. I knitalong two pair but don’t think I ever posted. I plan to knit more. We’ll see. Then there was the Knitting Olympics. I joined. I knit. I won the gold. But I never bothered to show off my medallion. SPs just leave me with terrible feelings of guilt. I don’t have a LYS so I have to order everything. I think I’m getting what my SP has said (s)he likes, but then I’m sure I got it all wrong so I buy more than the limit trying to get it right. I stopped doing them.
So what do I go and do? Join the R.I.P. 2006 Autumn Challenge. It’s not knitting, I know, but I read almost as much as I knit, and knitters seem to be readers, so there it is. I joined too late for the prize drawing, but I like the button so I joined anyway. The directions are to “pick out any 5 books that you want to read that you think meet the very open, broad criteria of being scary, eerie, moody, dripping with atmosphere, gothic, unsettling, etc. and vow to read them.” Here’s my potential reading list and how I justify them:
1- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (space is dark and scary)
2- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (very eerie)
3- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark (magic, woman raised from the dead, ghost ships- or so I read on the jacket flap; note: this book has 782 pages and should count as two)
4- Good Grief by Lolly Winston (grief- duh)
5- The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian D. McLaren (it’s bound to be unsettling)
6- Among the Missing by Dan Chaon (short stories; someone’s missing, someone dies- ooo)
7- The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson (black- dark and scary and there’s a moat around the castle)
8- Nostromo by Joseph Conrad (corruption, obsession, and a fellow goes insane)
9- Chocolat by Joanne Harris (love the movie; moody, dripping, the fear of running out of chocolat)
10- The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (something about witches in the table of contents)
Yes, this is more than 5, but I need choices. A couple I’ve read, a couple I’m reading (#4 and #7). I think I may actually pull this one off.
On to knitting. My dear friend Kay had a birthday. It's in September and conflicts with my back-to-school frenzy. She really should consider moving it to a less hectic month. I thought about what to knit for her all summer, had luscious yarn picked out but not purchased, then it sneaked up on me and I had to go with stash. Patons Classic Wool in go-with-everything black. The pattern I found on the Internet and now have lost. It was an easy lace pattern because I only had two days to knit it, then didn’t even see her for a week after her birthday. But she liked it so all’s well.
I’ve finished the fronts of my fall cardi and picked out buttons. I love the buttons. (Click on them to get a close up.) They are handmade of clay from South America. There are actually 5, but one is lost somewhere in my knitting basket. I found them at that traitor of a yarn shop that closed with out telling me, but here’s the web address on the back of the card. Cool stuff.
Nights are getting down right cold, so I bought new jammies and cast on more hats for the homeless shelter. I finished this hat and scarf set for a little girl and picked up some Bernat at Wally World in guy colors. Any one have a favorite acrylic? I really need inexpensive acrylic (at least washable) for some charity knitting, but I want good quality. I know Red Heart is cheap, but I won’t give anything to charity that I wouldn’t give to a loved one.
Now, I know you are all wondering how the new eating plan is going since I haven’t mentioned it since I started. We will not call it a diet. It’s an eating for life plan. And it’s going very well, thank you. I’ve lost 11 pounds and, except for the first couple of weeks, haven’t given up dessert. Hubby has lost 35, but he isn’t exposed to the temptations I am. (I did threaten to sock him- and I don’t mean the knit kind- if he brings home any more Little Debbies. My will is only so strong.) This I say as I am working my way through a batch of delicious blueberry oat muffins and a pot of vanilla bean coffee. I feel better. I look better. I have new jeans. I don’t cringe when I ride down the escalator in JC Penny- the one completely walled with mirrors. Life is good. So are these muffins....