Old Friends

This Sunday we celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. My brother Kelly, his wife Dawn and their son Robert did much of the work, I just filled in the edges a bit. Kenny and his daughters helped too. Ron would have helped but he is in Alaska with Lori and Maddie but they were well-represented by Liz, Tucker and wee Levi :-}.
Dad had a very good time, I think. Kelly had put together a slideshow dvd with old family photos, many of which mom had forgotten we had since they had been in the box so long.
The party was a special treat for me, because circumstances meant my cousins Lisa and Brent and their families could come (they were up at the lake that weekend). I hadn't seen them for more than a dozen years. Even more special, my Aunt Linda was there! After she and my uncle split, I saw her much less often, especially as my travels took me to Japan and California. She was a very important part of my childhood, and often swept me away to spend time with her and the kids in the summers :-}. I don't know how long it had been since I'd seen her face, but she stayed in touch with Mom all along. It was SO good to see Linda, Lisa and Brent, to meet Brent's kids and see Lisa's Tony again. Talk about some terrific hugging :-} I dearly hope we all see each other again soon.
Yesterday despite the horrible heat (the heat index was up around 110 degrees F) and still feeling a bit tired and worn out from Sunday,  I felt strongly that Oscar and I should go to the Farmer's market near the post office here in Ypsilanti. It was hot but we picked up some lovely herbs and some Dragon Tongue green speckled beans and best of all, ran into another dear friend. We hadn't seen much of the PTD crowd since I got sick several years ago, mostly because my health kept me away from being able to make commitments. I missed them very much. And yesterday, one of my favorite people was there at one of the booths! We were able to stop and chat and hug the stuffings out of Dennis, and I am sure he passed our love on to the rest. We made tentative plans to meet for a grilled backyard supper soon. I can hardly wait :-}.
I am determined to take it easy both physically and mentally today. Oscar has mentored learning, and I plan to sit and read books simply for pleasure, rather than review. I have a used Kindle that came with lots of lovely books. It also contains one of my favorite series, the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters.
I am starting with Crocodile on the Sandbank and going forward from there. Another old friend to keep me company today as I recover from Sunday and yesterday's activities. :-}
I will also be knitting a bit should reading pall. Kelly, Dawn and Robbie picked up a big bag o' yarn for me at a rummage sale (dickering them down to $3!). Much of it is acrylic which is very popular with charity, and in the midst of that was a bag of odds and ends of cotton 'dishcloth' yarn. I love hand knitted washcloths, particularly if they have a smooth stockinette side. Some of my skin is very tender and easily abraded and those type of cloths are safe to use. I will have a lot of fun making a 'motley crew' of wash cloths (photos later after they are done.) I also decided I need a mindless project for when the cotton yarn tires my fingers out, and decided to make a version of the Sencillo Shawlette (perhaps with a more simple border for the mindless criteria). It looks like a capital way to use up scraps of sock yarn while having fun with color choice.
(photo is of the hollyhocks growing in Mom and Dad's backyard. Mom taught me to make hollyhock dolls when I was a kidling, although I used a little stick as arms securing the bud/head to the blossom/skirt instead of the method used in the video linked.)

Two Vastly Different Yet Very Good Books.

I read two books yesterday, very different from one another in setting, main character and story line. Both were mysteries, both were first in new series' and both were very well-written. I will be writing full reviews for fresh fiction later but they were good enough I wanted to share the titles. They both come out in July.

First: A Spark of Death by Bernadette Pajer. You can read the first chapter as well as more about the book from the link provided. I can add that the book was very well-researched. I felt I was walking the streets of 1901 Seattle.

Next, My Life as  White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. Rather than the silly spoof the name suggests, the book was a relatively serious mystery with characters I could care about.  Plus, I love the tattoo on the cover (it says 'I love brains'):-}

Just a little suggested light summer reading :-} And yes, my tastes ARE eclectic, why do you ask? LOL

A Miscellaneous Tuesday

We had lots of snow dumped on us the other day, after some really lovely warm (in the 40's) weather. I didn't take photos of the new snow. I am pretending it isn't really there (one of the benefits of being mostly home bound). Weather is still nice in the house, with two new pots of daffodils Oscar brought home.

I am saddened to learn of the earthquake deaths in New Zealand. It is such a small country that everyone knows people who know everyone else. It's as if 65 residents of Ypsilanti died one day. Heartbreaking.

I received 24 (twenty four) brand new books for review today. It's like Christmas whenever a box arrives from Freshfiction. Today's shipment had two especially intriguing books: The Mystery of Lewis Carroll by Jenny Woolf and I is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See the World by James Geary

Speaking of Freshfiction, I now have a total of 122 reviews published. I have ten more rough drafts almost ready, and a few more books I am in the process of reading, plus, of course, all those waiting in the wings. And just in case the physical books start to run dry, I am a member of netgalley, via the auspices of Freshfiction.
Netgalley is where many publishers send out pre-published books as pdf files that automatically delete themeselves on the day of publication. In the meantime, because I am an established reviewer I can request any book I want to read, as many as I want to read, and the publisher is likely to say yes and send it along. This means a childhood dream has come true. I will never, ever run out of new books to read.
I grew up way out in the country, the closest library was very small and we only were able to visit every few weeks.
 I read through all the books I was interested in very quickly, and I was never, ever able to carry enough books home with me to last the two weeks until the next visit. I always had a secret dread of running out of books to read. Logically I know I wouldn't run out of books even without Netgalley, one only lives so long, of course, but knowing I have this limitless font of thousands and thousands of books from which to choose whenever I get a hankering is SUCH a powerful joy!

In knitting news, I am almost finished with the shawl sample for Lynnie. 4.5 rows to go, then the bind off. I am making the largest size and here near the end, the rows are approximately 485 stitches long. It takes me a bit more than an hour to do two rows, and my hands generally give up about then. It is a beautiful shawl, but I will be happy when I am done! My own knitting patterns are waiting patiently :-}

Sean's Big Boy sweater, and books

First, a photo of Sean's sweater. All the knitting part is done. I still need to weave in ends and block it.
It is made of a combination of Berroco Peruvia (the darker green and orange), Cascade 220 (the gray) and Wool of the Andes (the lighter teal).
It is my own design, which I will tweak into a pattern sometime this year.


Leslie Go. asked which books I got, here is a photo.

from top to bottom:
Color by Kristin, Kristin Nicholas
Knitting Lace, Susanna E. Lewis
Andean Folk Knits, Marcia Lewandoski
Knitted Lace of Estonia, Nancy Bush
and
Crazy Lace, Myra Wood

I also have Modern Lace Knitting Books 1 and 2 on the way.

Yummy!

Adventure and excitement

I have just started reading a book called Designing Knitwear by Deborah Newton.
Now, this book is considered a classic in knitting circles, and I have long wanted to read it.
I am SO glad I invested in a copy. Already her sections on basic design and 'seeing' things with the eye of a designer make sense of how I've been working.
Those flashes of inspiration from my photos of old iron and wood and how they are translating into new projects make a lot of sense to me now. I feel less weird, and more confident of my design choices :-}
And best of all, she is not elitist as so many books on design seem to be. She firmly believes anyone with the interest can learn and grow and design, whether it be an entire outfit for Vogue, or simply taking a yarn, and a stitch pattern and creating a lovely special scarf as a gift. The same system of making choices is integral to both.