One keeper, one frogger...

Getting a head start on next winter, I decided to start working on a little drawstring bag with a snowflake design.  The design is one of three patterns in the Christmas Gift Bags set.  And to tell you the truth, I'm just about ready to call it quits.

I've honestly never had so much trouble crocheting colorwork before.  I'm realizing (with this project) I'm not a fan of doing colorwork while crocheting on the front and back sides of a piece (as opposed to crocheting only on the front side  - which requires crocheting in the round).  But to make matters worse, I seriously complicated this project by double-stranding my cotton thread.  Which means I'm working from four balls of cotton, which takes a good deal of effort to not tangle up as I work.

Sigh.

I see mistakes in my work above and while the design is small and it would seem a simple thing to just frog it and re-crochet the design, I now know (from experience) just how difficult this yarn is to keep untangled.  As sad as it makes me, I feel like I should just cut my losses, cut the yarn - throw away what I've done so far and start over with some other yarn.  I'm beginning to contemplate starting over and crocheting this little bag in the round, and eliminate most of the headache that I'm struggling with trying to crochet this by turning my work. What pains me most is that below that snowflake design is the other half of the bag.   That's a lot of cotton thread to just throw away.  

Sigh.   I'll think on it some more before I do anything.  (ETA:  I'm back to report that I did manage to unravel the bag and only had to cut the thread once.  It's all usable again, so I count this bag a learning experience and I'm going to try to crochet the pattern in the round.  Hopefully, I'll have an update next week.)

~~~~~

To get back to my happy place, let me show the third mandala I crocheted a few weeks ago:

The Vernal Season Mandala from the book, Modern Crochet Mandalas, was easy and gratifying to make.

BUT, it is the third mandala I've made from this book that had errors in the written pattern.  By the time I got to this pattern, though, I was relying heavily on the diagram so the mistake was a quick find.  But then someone else told me  they had found at least one error in a diagram in this book so there goes my thought that relying on the diagrams will get a person through.

Considering the errors I've encountered, I, personally, would not purchase this book (not at retail price), but I do recommend trying the patterns if you have access to the book through, say, the library or even interlibrary loan.  (That's how I got my hands on this book.   It's one of the few current books on crochet my library has.)   The designs are pretty and after working a couple of these, I have found the hardest stitches become intuitive.

And that's all from me today!  To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

On the hook...

This week ended with no completed projects, but several are on the hook.  I'll give just a peek at what I'm up to at the moment -- yarn-wise, that is.

For a couple of weeks now I've been working on a Leaping Stripes and Blocks Blanket.   I'm loving how the colors are working together.

I'm using Deborah Norville Everyday in White and Orchid, and Red Heart Soft in a variegated called Plummy.

~~~~

And I'm also working on a Twist 'N Shout Slouchy Hat.  I think this is the first time I've crocheted a ribbing.  This ribbing is created by slip stitching into the backs of all the stitches.  Can anyone say tedious?  Crocheting loosely is key -  and keeping count of the stitches is important too.  Those little slip stitches tend to disappear under the first and last stitches of each row and they are easy to miss.

Crocheting a slip-stitch ribbing is sloooooow going. When I finish this hat, I think I'm going to try knitting a ribbing just to see how quickly that goes by comparison.  The body of the hat nearly flies off the hook, by the way.  So attaching a crocheted top to a knitted ribbing maybe the way to go with this hat in the future.

So that's about all I've managed to accomplish with yarn this week, but I've got something fun to show you.  Yesterday I received a beautiful copy of a vintage McCall's Crochet Treasury.  

This copy was published in 1977 (the year I graduated from high school), but some of the patterns are from 1968.  I don't know if I'll make anything from this book, but I'm going to thoroughly enjoy looking through it.  Many times, no doubt.

I just opened it enough to take a few pictures to share with you...

Now, I don't propose  that this would be anything anyone would want to wear today (necessarily), but am I the only one who thinks this is pretty?   I imagine in the 60's this would have been very fashionable.   While I wouldn't make something like this (mostly because I wouldn't want to sew the lining it would need to hold its shape), but I LOVE the fit of the pieces and the look of the crocheted fabric.  And those scallops!   I just love it. I love the whole thing.

And this one, too:

Now, this one...?  I'd change the collar, and the buttons (and maybe that bottom band - or maybe not), but I'd totally wear something like this - well, okay...  if I was skinny I'd totally wear something like this.  ;^)


And there are these pretty curtains.  I can imagine these moderned up with some bright, fun colors.  Or maybe done in some grays...

And who of you over the age of say... 50... doesn't remember these?

During my teen years there was a sunburst pillow on our living room sofa.    And that round granny pillow in the back - that would be "hip" in someone's home decor today!

Ooooh...   I'm going to have fun pouring over this book and imagining making something new out of a vintage pattern.

~~~

Of course, there's some downright silly stuff that I really can't imagine anyone took seriously the first time around:

But the entertainment value is worth something...

I wonder what crochet clothing models got paid in the 60's and 70's...  I doubt it was enough.

Well...  that's all I have for today.   If you enjoy perusing vintage patterns you'll appreciate my pleasure at looking through a book like this.  And if you think I'm a bit loony, that's okay...   That means less competition for finding such treasures.  ;^)

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our group on Ravely.   If you're not a member of Ravelry, it's free and easy to sign up!

Yarn Along...

Back to making my pillow this week.  It's made with a corner to corner crochet stitch pattern and something I'm figuring out as I go (which means there's a fair amount of ripping out and doing rows over).   I do think I've gotten the front square the right proportions now, though, and I just need to finish two triangular halves for the backside.

And speaking of getting back to things...  I had forgotten that I never did finish A Fall of Marigolds.  I don't know why it got laid aside, because this is a very good story.  I'd call it a combination of historical fiction, women's fiction and sweet romance (meaning nothing at all happens - lol).  The author goes back and forth between two time periods in New York City:  The incident of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 and the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 (and the 10-year anniversary of that attack in September of 2011).   It's been a while since I read the first half, but I don't think there's anything in this book I couldn't wholeheartedly recommend to even a (mature) teen.  I added mature only because the dialogues and soul searching might be a bit tedious for someone who isn't old enough to relate to it.   I have found it attention grabbing, somewhat educational, and highly readable.  I'll be looking forward to reading more books by Susan Meissner.

Linking this post with Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along.

Yarn Along...

I mentioned a week or so ago that a friend had asked me to teach her to crochet.  She got along pretty well after our first lesson together and seeing a pillow on my couch she liked, she decided she wanted to try to make a similar one.  It's just something I made up using the Corner to Corner stitch pattern, so not having followed an actual pattern the first time I decided the best way to show her how to make one was for me to make another one right alongside her.   I was crocheting slowly so I didn't get too far ahead of her, but now she tells me she may be more than half way through with her first full panel!  I'd better get a move on.

As for reading...  Last night I picked up Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie.   It's a little book, but there seems to be a lot here.  Told in the voice of a young man who was sent far from home to a mountain village to be "re-educated" in the early 1970's during the Chinese Revolution under Mao Zadong, this story is authored by a man who experienced a similar re-education along with hundreds of thousands of other Chinese youths,   It's astounding what corrupt governments are capable of doing to their own, often innocent, citizens.  Knowing little about the details of this time period in China, I'm finding learning about it both fascinating and terrible at the same time.  These things were happening just before and during the time I was in high school, and knowing now that these things were happening on the other side of the globe, I find it amazing?  ironic?  unbelievable that one of my Social Studies teachers was something of a fan of Communism.  No wonder my father became so angry when I came home spouting ridiculous commie platitudes I was being exposed to. I'm half-way through and, so far, I highly recommend this engaging and fascinating little book.

Linked with Ginny Sheller's weekly Yarn Along.

 

Yarn Along...

Still working on the Kilim Throw...   It seems I've slowed down, as last Wednesday I was nearly half finished and now a week later I'm just a little over the half-way mark.   I did decide to add some rows to make this longer so my half-way mark moved, but still...  I hope to get some more momentum going on this and get it finished soon.  Then again, it's been such a mild winter I'm not sure it will get cold enough to really enjoy this lusciously thick blanket before spring.   No complaints from me on that count!

Last weekend I picked up Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and I can't believe how good this story is.  It is a Christian fiction novel that is meant to parallel (in many ways) the book of Hosea in the Bible.  It's a story about a man who marries a prostitute and remains faithful (in spite of incredible odds) to helping her heal from the damaging things that have been done to her - from childhood on.  It's heartbreaking, insightful, and inspiring.  This story is a beautiful analogy of all that we're told in scripture about God's capacity for forgiveness and His desire to redeem the broken and lost.   I highly recommend this book.

To see what others are making and reading, click on the graphic below to go to Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along.

Yarn Along...

Just a few days into this Kilim Throw and nearly half finished - aahh...the joys of crocheting with a big hook and double-stranded yarn.   Every color change seems a bit baffling to me as I begin, but as it comes together it's always a pleasant surprise to see how the colors play off (and with) one another.  It's such a fun blanket to watch grow.  And it's going to be so squishy soft and cozy warm when it's finished.

And I'm currently reading Over The Hills by David Lamb.  I'm far enough in I decided to write this review:

At the age of 54, David Lamb takes the reader on a journey across America as he traverses highways and back roads from his home in Alexandria, Virginia to Los Angeles, California.

Overweight and out of shape, he questions the wisdom of this trek - but not until he's on the road and committed. Early on, pride keeps him from turning back, but at some point his body begins to respond to the slow on-the-road training that biking 50-some miles a day provides and he renews his purpose and resolve. Along for the ride, the reader is treated to Lamb's funny, sometimes satirical - sometimes just crusty perspectives on life.  Lamb skillfully intersperses short history lessons or facts about the many places he visits, or sometimes just about the things that pop into his head along the way to make for an interesting read.

Where Peter Jenkins, of Walk Across America fame, took us into the homes of strangers and delighted us with stories and insights into how these encounters changed Jenkins' life, David Lamb's journalistic style treats us to more of a commentator's observations on life and culture in the 1990's. While Lamb isn't a storyteller in the same vein as Jenkins, he is a journalist with a wit and a way with words that readers of this type of book will likely enjoy.

And just for fun, let me show you what gets a smile out of me every time I remove the dust jacket to read:

The cutest little embossed picture of an old fashioned bicycle.    Sometimes it really is the little details that count.  :^)

To see what some others are reading and making this week, visit Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along.

Yarny Hearts and Mail-Art

Ever since last week I've been excited and eager to share my newest book acquisition:  A Weird Unfathomable Ordinary Everyday Life by William Bridges and Dianne Jenkins.   I attended an Author Talk at the library last Thursday evening - very spur of the moment, and I'm so glad I spurred myself to go!

William (Bill) Bridges is a retired Writing professor, journalist, book editor, poet...and I'm sure I don't know what all else he's done in his lifetime.  And while I'm not sure what all Dianne Jenkins has done in her lifetime, in the pages of this book she is an artist.  In 2006 Bill and Dianne began a snail mail correspondence with each other.  Their correspondence over the years consisted (still consists, I imagine) of everyday kind of things.  Paragraphs telling what their days are like, interjected with simple everyday kind of observations - out the window, or at the beach earlier in the day...  Bill and Dianne sprinkled their letters with witticisms and wisdom.  The words alone are a delight to read, but Dianne, being an artist, and having enjoyed mail-art for years, turned her letters into works of art.  Which, I believe, was the impetus for Bill getting the great idea of turning their correspondence into a book! 

The book has many examples of the mail art Dianne sent, and many, many excerpts from both of their letters over the years.  It's a book to savor - both the words and pictures.  So I'll be savoring it for a while and delighting in their clever, sometimes weird, totally fathomable, everyday lives, and Dianne's very clever, sometimes weird, almost always funky artwork.

AND I've begun to turn my heart toward Valentine's Day.  I know it's a few weeks off, but, of course if you're crafting for a holiday you've got to begin early, right?  I came across this granny heart pattern on Ravelry and while I don't know what I'm ultimately going to do with any that I make, I'm "all in", "head over heels" in love with making some hearts this week.  Pictured here is my first one made in Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton yarn.  ILTC yarn is a light (almost sport-weight) worsted 100% cotton - that I normally reserve for dishcloth making, but today it seems perfect for this project..  Love!

To see what other yarnies and readers are up to, visit Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along by clicking the graphic below.

Pink Tides

Ginny's weekly Yarn Along causes me to pause and take stock of what I'm reading and crocheting.  I've been a completely monogamous crocheter for over a week now and for my efforts I hope to soon be finished with my Pink Baby Tides of Change.  I don't know, yet, who will be the recipient, but I do hope it brings a cheery smile to someone's face.

And I recently began reading Below Stairs by Margaret Powell.  The original publication date of this book is 1968 and it claims (on the cover) to be the inspiration for both Upstairs, Downstairs, and Downton Abbey.  This memoir tells the story of a young woman raised during and after The Great War in poverty stricken Europe.  She takes us inside the home and street life of the poor and then into the life of a kitchen maid serving the upper class in Hove, England.  It's very readable, and while this type of life is foreign to my late-twentieth-century-bred sensibilities, her style of story telling makes her story very relatable. 

Another Rounded Ripple Baby Blanket

I know, I know...I'm not finished with the baby blanket I started last week, but I decided I wanted to try another color scheme and am thinking this one will be for a gift for an upcoming baby shower.  It's one thing to be a little unsure of something I'm randomly making (as was the case of the blanket I showed on Sunday), but it's quite another thing to be questioning a gift for a specific someone.   So the following blanket is being made with more intention, but my color choice and placement is still a bit of an experiment.  I'll be finishing it with some rounds of white followed by green and teal.  I'm really hoping the finished effect is nice and has a bit of "style". 

Pictured is my non-rainbow version of the Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket

And autumn being my cozy mystery reading season, I'm almost finished with another one.  All Sales Final by Josie Belle is a fun and light read.  Maggie, a consignment shop owner and her fiancé, Sam Collins, find themselves with a haunted house they've just bought.  It's really not spooky, but kind of entertaining as they uncover some interesting secrets the house has been holding for many, many years.

Check out other yarnie goodness at Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along this week!

Yarn Along...

I don't think I've made very much progress on my Sandy Cowl since last week, but I am back at it.  This simple cowl WILL be finished by the weekend.  I hope.  I just really want to be able to call it done - it's pretty, and simple, and there is just no good reason why it's taking me so long.  Well, except that other projects have tempted me more, possibly.  Yeah, that could be the reason.  ;^)

And in spite of it being 75 degrees outside on this near record-setting November day in Indiana I am reading The Christmas Sweater.   Twelve year-old Eddie makes something of a mess of Christmas when he opens a less than desirable gift (a hand-knitted Christmas sweater) and is less than appreciative of it and his actions lead him to serious regrets.  As Beck lets us into the mind of self-tortured 12 year-old boy, I find I am transported back to my own childhood and I can relate to the disappointment Eddie feels and the actions he displays.   Something tells me that Eddie is going to find out the true meaning and cost of the gift of love - and the Christmas sweater is a key to that discovery. 

To see what others are reading while they yarn-along this week, check out Ginny Sheller's Yarn-Along.

Yarn Along...

I was suddenly inspired this week to use some baby yarn I had in my stash, and when I came upon the Octagon Baby Afghan I knew this would be a great project for this yarn.

The yarn is Bernat Baby Coordinates in the colorway, Funny Prints.  It seems a funny name for such a sweet and fairly traditional mixture of baby colors, but there you have it - Funny Prints.  It's a lightweight boucle yarn that I now have some mixed feelings about.  It's not as difficult to crochet with as thick boucles can be, but it does have some drawbacks - namely, bits of the white shimmery thread that's spun onto the sport-weight variegated yarn sometimes stick out a bit - making me wonder if it will be likely to snag.   It really is pretty, though.  For the short time that such a baby blanket might be in service, it will surely stay nice looking.

As for what I'm reading... The Violets of March by Sarah Jio is an interesting story.  From page one, it had me hooked.  As thirty-something year-old Emily and Joel are finalizing their divorce and Joel is headed into a new marriage, Emily leaves her apartment in New York and travels to visit her Aunt Bee in Washington state.  Bee lives on Bainbridge Island, which proves to be both a respite for Emily as well as a place of new beginnings.  Shortly after arriving Emily finds a 50+ year-old diary and is swept up in the story it tells, while, at the same time, a drama is weaving itself in front of her in strange ways.   While I can't say I see what's coming, I'm pretty sure the story in the diary will soon converge with the lives of those Emily is interacting with.  This is my first Sarah Jio book.  I have a feeling it won't be my last.

Visit Ginny at Small Things to see what other yarn lovers are knitting and crocheting and reading this week.

Yarn Along...

Last night I started crocheting this Chunky Color Block Cowl.   It wasn't exactly part of my plans, but I was tempted into buying 6 skeins of Lion's Pride Woolspun last week when it was on sale and Michael's offered $5.00 off any $20.00 purchase of Lionbrand yarn.  Of course, since it was on sale for 4.99 I had to buy that sixth skein to bring my purchase up to (and over) $20.00 so I don't know how much I really came out ahead in the end.  But it seemed a good enough price to give this new-to-me yarn a go.

I picked out colors from the new Prints and Mixes collection.  My colors are Cranberry, Sparks Mix, and Oxford Grey.  I know...really?  I needed another gray??? 

Evidently!

It's the first time I've used such a large crochet hook.  It's a P.  And I only have one hook larger than this one - a Q.  It's not hard to crochet with, but it is a bit awkward and takes some different handling than my smaller hooks.

And last night I finished I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak.  From the very beginning I've had mixed feelings about the book.  As I said last week teenage angst is something I don't care for, and this YA book is full of the male version of it.  But the ultimate message of the book is a profound one (I can't tell you what it is or I'd be giving away too much).  I do think, though, that it could have packed a bigger punch. And I think it could have had a more believable ending.  I don't mean the very end, but the explanation in the last chapter of what has gone on throughout the book had at least one totally unbelievable aspect to it - which, to me makes it feel rough and a bit rushed. 

But even with what I thought were shortcomings it was a thought provoking book and I can't say I regret spending the time on it.   If teenage angst (especially sexual angst) is something you tolerate well you might really like this book.   I really don't so my recommendation is ...I don't know... a cautious one.  If you're the least bit curious, I can at least recommend it enough to say "give it a try".

Check out Ginny's weekly Yarn Along to see what other yarnies are up to.  Just click the button below.

Yarn Along With My Test Crochet Sail Shawl...

Yay!   Only three more rows and I'm blocking this baby!   I hit the wall over the weekend - not wanting to touch this thing, but after much gnashing of teeth and just sitting myself down to finish it I got over my slump.   Weaving in all the ends yesterday helped greatly, too.  There is little that is more demotivating to me than to know I have to weave in all the dangly ends when I'm finally finished crocheting something.  I'd been reluctant to weave them in earlier because of the concern that a problem in the pattern would be revealed.  But trusting I was finally past that likelihood I weaved them in with abandon yesterday!

This is just a peek of the nearly finished Sail Shawl.   I'll be blocking it today and by Sunday I'll plan to post a picture in my weekly Year of Projects post. 

I'm reading I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak.  I was intrigued by the positive reviews, but about 50 pages in I was ready to give up.  This is a YA fiction, so I shouldn't have been surprised that the voice of the book is an angsty 19 year-old male.   I don't do teenage angst anymore.  Certainly not fictional teenage angst.  It's also written in an English voice - as in UK (or actually, I guess, Australian) vernacular.  This kept throwing me when odd sounding expressions were used because I didn't realize it took place in Australia (I've read this online, I haven't come across this in the book - so far).  Maybe if you've read Zusak before you'd have a clue about that.  But I hadn't and I didn't.   When I finally caught on and embraced that the location was somewhere in some UK-like English (now I know Australian-English) speaking place, the voice of the young person it was written in made complete sense and it didn't irritate me anymore.  I'm tempted to go back and read the beginning with this new perspective.  But I'm not going to.  Like my shawl, ultimately I want to be finished and move onto something new.

But I'm happy to say by the time I turned the 100th page I was hooked.  Well, actually, it was something like the 55th page I'd turned, but...well...that doesn't sound as...I don't know...dramatic?  By page 100 of the story, not only am I okay with the voice, I'm even accepting the angst.  And now I'm wanting to finish the book and see how the mystery resolves.  I can't say, yet, how much I'll recommend the book, but it feels so much better to be wanting to pick it up to finish it as opposed to entertaining the thought of flinging it across the room in irritated exasperation.

'Till next week's Yarn Along...check out what other yarn lovers are making and reading by clicking the Yarn Along button below. 

Yarn Along...

I really enjoy Ginny's weekly Yarn Along - where yarn-lovers are invited to share a single picture of what they're creating and reading.  I enjoy the Yarn Along posts almost as much as I enjoy crocheting and reading! 

I'm flying right along on a test crochet project.  It's going to be an asymmetrical wrap-around shawl in the shape of a sail.   I'm doing mine in lace-weight Woolike (in the colors, Denim and Charcoal).  This yarn is so soft and easy to work with, and well...for such an inexpensive yarn it's just amazing.  And you can buy it at Michaels - the only place you can buy it, I believe.

Having finished Orphan Train (which I highly recommend - for its historical account as well as its captivating story), I decided I needed something that will lift my spirits and make me laugh.  The Secret's in the Sauce is the 1st installment of the 2nd series of the Potluck Club books.  Five (or is it 6 or 7? -  I can't remember how many...someone's always being added to the story) Christian ladies gather weekly for a potluck and entertain the reader with their antics, their struggles and their triumphs.  Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson hit upon a great recipe (pun totally intended) for a series of on-going stories with the Potluck Club.  With this second series, the club has decided to try its hand at a catering business. Given their track record, I suspect it's going to be a success.

Please feel free to leave a comment below.  I love knowing who stopped by.  Extra credit awarded to anyone who spots the mistake (the thing that shouldn't be) in the picture above.   And tell me true - did you see it before I mentioned it?  I didn't notice until it was too late.

Yarn Along...

Reading and crocheting...two of my favorite things.  I'm enjoying the simple pattern of this Crescent Shawl. 

Unfortunately, though, I have an uncomfortable feeling I need to frog it and start over. As is, it's going to be too small and I'm not seeing that my attempts at increasing its size are helping significantly.    So...like a good crocheter I decided to make a swatch.  Nevermind that I should have done that before beginning to crochet.  Details, details...  I'm doing it now and that's the important thing.  Live and learn.  Always learning...

This swatch of 16 stitches across and 12 rows high is supposed to be 3 inches square.  Well, it's neither 3 inches wide, nor square, so no wonder my shawl is turning out small.  I'm planning on starting over with a larger hook and making the beginning row longer.  I've never made a crescent shawl before so this is a bit of an experiment, but I've crocheted enough of this one that I have a pretty good feeling that these modifications will work. I have nothing to lose, anyway, and I will post here when I've made progress on my do-over attempt. 


I'm just about finished with Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.  This historical fiction tells the story of one of America's strange social experiments.  From 1853 - into the 1920's children on the east coast who had been orphaned or otherwise abandoned were loaded onto trains to travel hundreds of miles to the Midwest - perhaps further - where they were placed with families whose only qualifications to take these children were that they showed up and filled out the paperwork.  While some children's lives were most assuredly saved through this endeavor, many children were undoubtedly abused and suffered greatly - on top of whatever traumas that had left them homeless to begin with.

picture source:  http://www.thecommunitypaper.com/archive/2010/11_11/index.php

In this book you will see the experience through the eyes of young Niamh, a girl who, within 2 years of landing in America from Ireland, lost her family and everything she held dear, and without ceremony was boarded onto a train headed for Minnesota.  There is good and bad in the pages of this story, and one is reminded how strong the human spirit can be.  It is a captivating read and one I recommend.

Check out Ginny's Small Things Yarn Along to see what other yarnies are making and reading.

Yarning Along With The Starling Bag...

Seriously in need of something simple, but gratifying, I went looking for such a project.  And I found it in The Starling Bag.  The instructions are super clear and the designer has even provided pictured tutorials for any tricky parts (though seriously...her instructions are so clear, the tutorials are hardly needed).  Don't let Future Girl's request for your e-mail turn you away.  She has some seriously good resources there.

I decided to make the base of mine larger than the pattern directs and I'm double-stranding the worsted weight yarn, so this ought to be a sturdy (and large) bag.   I'm living on the wild side and figuring out what sort of pattern of stripes I'm doing as I go.  Whoo hoo!  Gotta cut loose once in a while.

Yes, those are single crochets.  The very thing my aching fingers were screaming over a few days ago. Somehow this isn't so bad, though.  Maybe when the bag gets larger I'll start crying again, but for now I'm managing. 

There are so many nice versions of this bag on Ravelry.  Here's hoping I like mine enough to line it when it's finished.   I have high hopes it will make a nice project bag.

~~~~~~

And last night I started reading A Month of Summer by Lisa Wingate.  

It's an interesting story told from the point of view of two women  - Rebecca, a 40-something year-old who is called upon to help her father, whose health is failing; and Hanna Beth, the woman who took Rebecca's father away when she was a child, leaving Rebecca and her mother to struggle on alone.  I have a feeling as the story unfolds, life will not be as it seems from Rebecca's scarred memories. 

And after weeks and weeks of rain, it's a beautiful day in central Indiana.  Eighty degrees and low humidity - a rare combination for Hoosier summers.  It is glorious.

Two happy little flowers on my Fuchsia plant.  
I love how they look like two ladies dancing.  

Check out what others are knitting and crocheting at Ginny's Yarn Along.

A pillow and a good book...

This week I'm continuing to work on my chevron pillow.   I'm about half way done and am looking forward to seaming it up.

In truth...  I'm sort of loving the colors, sort of not sure.   

What do you do when you're not sure?  I've decided to finish it, and hope I love it when it's finished. If not, ah well...  it's a small accent pillow that will likely be an overlooked footnote in my decorating - certainly, not the focus of anyone passing through the family room.  I will say I am loving the teal color. And am thinking a teal throw across the back of the red family room couch this winter would look awesome.  I don't want to use this yarn, though - just not sure how it would hold up for a blanket - so I may be looking for something else in that vein.  Then again, I really need to not be buying more yarn...

Okay...next up is a book review, but before I get to that, let me explain a few things...

A while back I decided to re-home a bunch of what I'd call young romance novels.  Nothing embarrassing in the lot, just stuff I was pretty sure I wasn't all that interested in reading at this stage in life.  For some reason I hung onto this one and last weekend I picked it up before giving it the old heave-ho, thinking it would be a quick decision.

I don't know how many times I have to learn to not judge a book by its cover, or its genre, or its companions...   The cover alone is unappealing to me.  It evokes thoughts of a lonely Amish girl from some nondescript time gone by. Now, I have nothing against Amish fiction, but I'm not particularly drawn to it either, and thinking it was a love story taking place within an Amish community is largely why I never got around to reading it.  Nevermind that if I had simply looked at a map I could have seen that Liberty, Indiana is nowhere near (or on the path to) the beautiful northern countryside where there are some lovely Amish communities.

While the uninspiring cover alone was enough to stop me from reading this (until this past weekend), you'd think the story line would have gotten a pass.  I had just finished The Last Runaway by Tracy Chivalier (a book about the Quaker community and their involvement with the Underground Railroad).  When I read the first line of this new book, "Quakers in Union County, Indiana, were active participants in the Underground Railroad..." I uttered a low moan.  While I had found it all pretty interesting when I read Chivalier's story, I really wasn't in the mood to read yet another book on the topic - not so soon. And not one with an uninspiring cover.

Well...was I ever in for a surprise.  And a lesson on judging a book too quickly.  Melanie Dobson is a fine story teller (from what I've read so far).  She paints pictures with words that make me feel like I'm sharing the same tight quarters the runaway slaves lived in - sometimes for days or even weeks before their next transportation, or a dark enough night sky to make traveling by foot safe.  Dobson also gives dignity to those same terrified runaway slaves, causing the reader to immediately connect and identity with a character.  Nevermind that I've never gone to bed in dirty clothes I've worn for weeks, or fallen asleep fearing that in the morning I might find myself shackled to a horse walking my way back to the horror I had spent desperate weeks running from.  I can almost imagine my sweat-stunk person laying against cool, clean floorboards; or can almost taste buttery biscuits served in the attic room; and I feel myself breathing a cautious breath of relief when danger passes.

In short, I'm impressed.  In fact, I would say I like this book over Chevalier's. They're each captivating in their own right, but Dobson's book makes me feel like I'm reading a book that has more value as a true historical fiction than as a romance story.  I whole-heartedly recommend it.  And I'll probably be looking for more Melanie Dobson books to read in my future.

Now if someone could just do something about that cover...

Linked to Ginny's Small Things

and

Nicole's Crafting On

Color Choices...

I'm making a chevron pillow as part of an online CAL (Crochet A-Long), and I was at first going for a bright mix of colors - thinking they'd look fun on our red couch.

That picture is small on purpose.  I'm afraid of blinding someone.  As much fun as this combination is to me, it just downright clashes with the couch.  So I'll need to find another purpose for that terrific riot of colors I've begun above.

Now I'm thinking about more subdued choices for my couch pillow.   The base will be dark brown, light brown, wheat, off white (that actually has a slight tint of rose to it - love it), and burgundy.  While the pictures don't quite capture the burgundy-ness of the yarn, the burgundy basically matches the couch.

And what I'm contemplating adding is gold (which gives the combination a decidedly autumn feel):

And then look what happens when I add teal (and yes, that's a different color of gold):

Is it good, or is it bad?  I don't know if I have a problem with not knowing when to stop with color, or fear of being too bold with color.   In case you're inclined to share your opinion (and be my guest), remember...the red is really a burgundy (as opposed to a cherry red like it looks above).  And the teal has a slight bit more green tint (it's really not bright like it appears above).  And the off white has a slight rose tint that compliments the burgundy.   lol    So much for providing pictures.  I really need to figure out how to get true red and blue colors out of this camera.

Newsflash!   I just tried putting in the basket the teal without the gold and THAT'S IT!   I'm ditching the gold.   For now, anyway.  ;^)

Meanwhile, I've got something on the hook I've been meaning to whip up for a while now.  It's going to be a rectangular shawl and the pattern produces a kind of lattice-work design.

And I finally got my hands of a copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo.   Admittedly, I'm only about a third of the way in, but I don't quite understand the attention this book has gotten.  It doesn't seem to me to be anything terribly new, nor Ms. Kondo's strategy very difficult as I've heard lamented across the internet.  But then I'm what some might call old, and probably have at least 2 more decades of decluttering under my belt than Ms. Kondo (nevermind that she started her "tidying" at the tender age of six.  But then again...didn't most of us when our mothers chided us weekly to "Clean your room!")? 

While there's "nothing new under the sun" ...and all that, in this book, I do recommend checking it out if you're needing to get a handle on your stuff.  Because whether or not it holds any magic for you, it certainly can provide another motivation to get rid of that which is bogging you down. 

When it comes right down to it, it's not that most of us really don't know how to "tidy", it's that we lack motivation, and sometimes are overwhelmed by the volume, are busy or even lazy, and well, yeah...just not getting it done.  Ms. Kondo won't likely motivate you to shake off the overwhelmed-ness you may be feeling - for that I recommend Peter Walsh and any of his decluttering books, or to show how old I really am, my first decluttering guru was Don Aslett.  He provides some serious motivation.  But Marie Kondo may just spark some interest in tackling your clutter once more with some resolve and give you the courage to tackle it in bigger chunks than you may think you can.  If clutter is getting the best of you, check out the KonMari method of "tidying".

Linked to Ginny's Small Things

and

Nicole's Crafting On