The More of Less...

I'm continuing to crochet along on two Spice of Life Blankets.  The blanket below is the more vibrant one I'm making. At the moment it's feeling like quite a chaotic combination of colors, but I'm holding out hope that when the border goes on, the whole thing pulls together.  We'll see.

I do love how fast this crochets up and how interesting it is to change colors and stitch patterns.

And I'm coming back to a book I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.  The More of Less by Joshua Becker.  I was skeptical that I'd find anything really different in a book on minimalism, but I do think I have found something different in this little book.  So much so that I'm planning on buying my own copy so I can re-read it and more carefully contemplate the profound points he is making.

I knew Becker was onto something I need to pay attention to when I read this:.  Ask yourself, Am I buying too much stuff because deep down I think it will insulate me from the harms of a chancy world?  And if so, what is that costing me?  I don't know if that means a lot without the context of his discussion on what motivates us to accumulate too much stuff, but when I read that I knew he had me. This is exactly what's going on when I buy something I don't really need (or sometimes don't even want) to buy.  It's the 'scarcity' mentality that causes the logical part of my brain to just turn off (or get staticky).  So much more from Joshua Becker here at http://www.becomingminimalist.com/

Aside from the personal benefit of having a book I don't have to return the library, I feel better about buying a book on minimalism (an action that is completely antithetical to the whole point of paring down) because Becker is using the proceeds of this book to fund The Hope Effect - nonprofit organization created to meet the needs of orphans.  I'm in no way associated with Becker or The Hope Effect.  I will be doing more personal homework, but today I'm just passing along some information I've dug up as I've become intrigued by Becker's message and how he is living out his passions and life purpose as a result of clearing out that which is just distraction.

Check out what other crocheters and knitters are making and reading at Ginny Sheller's weekly Yarn Along.

Yarn Along...

One of my simple pleasures is browsing crochet books - actually, I enjoy browsing any books that involve creative pursuits, particularly if they involve textiles.  My latest library finds are AUSTENtatious Crochet by Melissa Horozewski and Vintage Crochet by Susan Cropper.   The projects in AUSTENtatious range from items for the home to accessories to actual garments to some small items for a child.  And sprinkled throughout the book are all sorts of tidbits that will, no doubt, interest a Jane Austin fan, or history buff.   Honestly, there aren't many actual projects I'd consider making, but it is an interesting idea for book.  I've browsed the book several times just because there's too much to take in during one browse.  Vintage Crochet is similar in that while there are few objects I'd be interesting in crocheting, it is a nice collection of vintage-y looking crochet projects that I find inspiring - just for the ideas.  Though something worth noting, I think, is that the pillows pictured on the cover are not included in the book.  Odd, but true.  I looked.  Several times.

And this past week I've begun crocheting the Spice of Life Blanket.  Actually, I'm making two - one in as close to the designer's colors as I can manage and the other blanket in more earth tones, sprinkled with bright red, gold and terracotta, along with some peaceful blues.  I'm aiming for something in Tuscan colors.   I can't quite tell yet if I'm going to be successful at the Tuscan color scheme, but I'm finding the color changes and the changes in stitch patterns to be very interesting in this blanket. And besides...  with temps in the 90's this week, combined with stifling-high humidity, two blankets sounded like the perfect things to begin crocheting this week.  

Linking with Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along

Tunisian Shadow Stitch...

Trying my hand at Tunisian Crochet, I started making this Shadow Stitch  Cowl.   The fabric created with this stitch pattern and my hook size was much too stiff for a scarf, but thankfully, before ripping it out, I got the idea to turn this into a pillow cover.  I have a skinny, rectangular pillow that this width should fit.  So that's what I'm making!  Not sure how much I'm actually loving Tunisian, but I'm glad to be trying something new.  It's interesting.

Just this week I got my hands on the book The More of Less with Joshua Becker.  I honestly didn't think there'd be anything new in a book on minimalism, but having listened to an interview on NPR with Joshua Becker about this book - just before its release, I knew I wanted to give it a read.  I've been pleasantly surprised. Becker weaves stories of others, with relevancies between minimalism and his Christian faith, and has an easy, "I'm a work in progress, too" sort of attitude that makes this a very enjoyable and enlightening read.  I'm really glad to be reading it.

Joining with Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along.

Springing into summer...

After a couple of projects that required some serious focus I'm enjoying crocheting this simple Corner to Corner Spring Into Summer Blanket using Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the colorway, "Candied".  While I love doing this in a self-striping yarn I am choosing to cut the yarn in some places to remove some less than pretty colors.  So there's a fair amount of end weaving still.  But far less than if I was creating all those stripes from different skeins of yarn.  :)

And being in the mood again to clear out some excess STUFF, I recently checked out from my local library the book The Joy of Less by Francine Jay. At this stage in life I don't really expect to find anything new in a cleaning/decluttering/organizing book, but  every once in a while I find it motivating to read someone else's thoughts about living with less.  Time will tell how motivating this little book will be.  ;^)

Joining with Ginny's Yarn Along at Small Things

 

Yarn Along...

I'm enjoying crocheting the Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket.  It's made with an easy double crochet stitch throughout and once one gets past the first set of diamonds the pattern becomes almost intuitive.  Almost.  I keep the pattern close because once in a while I loose track and need a little help, but then I'm sailing on my way again.  I love the diamond pattern it produces:

And I'm reading my first Anne Perry book, The Face of a Stranger - the first in the series that features William Monk.  Just a little ways in and I'm pretty hooked.

Visit Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along to see what other yarn lovers are making and reading this week.

Creativity is sometimes an awkward process...

This week I began working on the Mandala Madness CAL and below is as far as I've gotten (I've finished Part 1).  For the record, I'm almost two weeks behind, which means I can see two levels beyond where I presently am in working the design.  This has some advantages.  Or so it would seem.  I can anticipate, a bit, how many colors the next section will use and how they play with each other - so it seems like this would help me pick out colors, both in the part I'm presently crocheting and in thinking about what colors will look good in the next part.  But I'm finding, in some ways, it paralyzes me from making any firm decisions about colors at all. Not only am I second-guessing the section I'm working on, but I spend the time I'm crocheting one section stewing over the next section as well.  This does not seem to me to be a good thing.  Sigh.  All the things I fear about mystery CALs are coming to fruition, and  I'm thinking it was pretty impetuous of me to jump into this one.

I've recognized my color challenged-ness in the past, but something like this presses it to the limits.  I'm going for bright, flowery and fun (thinking I'll just make a small blanket that maybe a little girl will like), but I'm afraid all I'm going to achieve is gaudy, loud and crazy.

As much as I feel intimidated by this CAL, I guess the only thing to do is press on through each next part and hope for the best.  The first best is that I will create a masterpiece (giggling).  The last best is that I will learn some things about how colors play (or fight) with each other. And I'll learn my lesson once and for all that it takes a truly special person to enjoy a mystery CAL.

And I can't help but once again see the irony of the book I'm still (sort of) reading The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women by Gail McMeekin).   Me, a woman who isn't sure she can successfully put more than three colors together, reading a book about unleashing and freely exploring my own creativity.  It's at times like these I wonder if I have even the smallest smidgen of honest creativity to my name...

But I'll keep on - for now - dabbling with colorful yarns in this CAL, and I guess I'll keep plugging through this book - as long as I can continue to renew it (it's a library book) -  and we'll see where it all leads.  Creativity is sometimes an awkward process.  But it is a process...

Joining this post with Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along

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. 

It's not even BEGINNING to look like Christmas...

Not with temps finally dipping into the 50's after nearly a week of temperatures in the mid-high 60's, right here in the middle of December, in the middle of Indiana; and waking to fog so thick that when it finally burns off, the wet sidewalks look like it's been raining...  Or going to sleep to a thunderstorm - like happened last week, and waking to actual rain - like this morning.  Add to that trees starting to bud and birds singing like it's spring, and well, as lovely as all that is... it makes it a little hard to believe Christmas is next week.  But believe I must!  The calendar tells me so. 

So to help get me into the holiday spirit I crocheted a little Christmas doily.

It's made from the simple Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket pattern, only seriously shortened. I stopped after row 9 and finished with a row a sc's (making 3 sc's into the space in each point) then polishing it off with a row of slip stitches.   It's kind of sweet and the colors very traditional.   It seems perfect for accompanying a bowl of silver and red Christmas balls.

And I'm re-reading Christmas Jars by Jason Wright.  I remember loving this short story several years ago when I read it for the first time, but as I turn the first pages I'm realizing I've forgotten a great deal of it - which is a nice surprise.  With my simple Christmas decorating finished, gift lists being checked, I'm thinking this little book will surely put me in the spirit for Christmas finally.

Is it feeling like Christmas where you live?  If you celebrate Christmas or another winter holiday, what are you doing to prepare?

 

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...

This week I'm enjoying the beautiful Indian Summer weather we're having and finding some time to crochet outside.  I'm hoping to soon finish up The Sandy Cowl - crocheted with Knit Picks Brava in the color, Wine. 

And a couple of days ago I began The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron.   It's a Christian Historical Fiction with two stories running concurrently.  Modern day Sera is an art dealer with a New York gallery who's trying to obtain an old piece of artwork featuring a violinist, but she encounters obstacles.  And Adele is a young violinist in Nazi occupied Austria in 1942 who suffered the consequences of attempting to help Jewish friends escape.   I'm just a few chapters in and I'm hooked!

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

Pumpkin Season...

I've been fixated on pumpkins lately.  I've yet to buy a real one this fall, but I'm happily crocheting yarny ones.  And this week I'm enjoying reading a cozy mystery, Basket Case by Nancy Haddock.  Autumn seems like the perfect time to read cozies, for some reason.

The yarn I'm using above is Vanna's Choice in Tangerine Mist.  I found a lone skein of this color on clearance recently and it was so inexpensive I couldn't not buy it.  Didn't know what I was going to use it for, but as pumpkin season rolled around I realized it would be perfect for this project.

Using my favorite, fail-proof small pumpkin pattern, I love making various sizes and colors of these pumpkins.  For giving and decorating.  You can increase the pumpkin size by either (or both) changing up the hook, and/or adding or decreasing the number of increase and decrease rows.  

They can be made taller by adding more (I'll call them static) rows in the middle (these rows are just straight single crochet all the way around with no increase or decrease stitches - they give the pumpkin its height).

While I enjoy seeing how different people finish their crocheted pumpkins off, my favorite way is to make a button stem.   I have  a lot of old buttons that are perfect for this.  After wiring a stem of buttons together I just stick the wire ends through the center of the pumpkin and twist the ends together, tucking any sharp edges up into the fabric to finish it off.   See my button stem tutorial here.

A simple crochet project that's fun and satisfying.  Visit Ginny's Yarn Along to see what other knitters and crocheters are making and reading this week.

Yarn Along...

A week ago I finally decided to pick up the knitting needles and give it go.  Sigh.  It's very humbling to feel competent at one needlecraft and realize you're almost completely inept at another (I posted my first attempt in Sunday's post).

After a week of practicing knitting and purling (and even getting Continental Knitting down pretty well - in fact I prefer it) I'm feeling better about it all.    I still prefer crocheting, but today I felt confident enough to start a simple dishcloth without fear I'd grow utterly discouraged. 

It's a simple pattern alternating a row of K3, P1, K3 with a row of knit stitches.  You can see the pattern beginning to emerge.  I've made some mistakes, but nothing yet that's making me despair.  Yet.  Truth be told, I'm actually a little encouraged that I can tell what my mistakes are.  That's new.  And a sign that I'm progressing.

And tonight I plan to start The Stolen Crown by Susan Higgenbotham.  I'm not sure what the story is, but after reading Higgenbotham's The Traitor's Wife I jumped at the chance to get my hands on a copy of another of her books.  I do know it's about kings, queens, courts, murder and intrique, and the time frame has some close relationship  to The War of the Roses.  And while I suspect Higgenbotham takes very seriously her literary license when it comes to writing historical fiction, I do expect to learn about (and more importantly become curious about) some historical events and persons I'm not very familiar with as I read this new-to-me novel.

To see what other yarnies are making and reading check out Ginny's weekly Yarn Along.

Yarn Along...

Today was DH's second foot surgery in two month's time - and that meant hours for me to just sit.  And crochet.  I decided to take along two different colors of Red Heart Unforgettable yarn and see what might come of combining them in this linen stitch scarf I've come to love.  At first glance these two colorways don't appear to make good companions.  I give you Sunrise (on the left) and Meadow (on the right):

Would you have put these together?  If you're color-cautious like me, probably not.  Except for the small bit of greenish blue that's occasionally spun into the Sunrise color that gave me courage to try.  The blue-ish skein doesn't vary a lot, but it does have some beige spun into it, which helps to work with the small amount of neutrals in the Sunrise.  So I took the plunge.

As I crocheted a couple rows I had my doubts, but after four or five rows I think it's actually working.   In fact...  I kind of like it.  Good thing, too, because this loosely spun yarn is a bear to unravel.

And looky there.  Together, the two yarns kind of match the book I'm reading!   A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner is a captivating read.  Two stories run alongside each other in this novel.  The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 and the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.  Actually, several mysterious stories are woven around a beautiful scarf that appears in the first chapter - and that's all I'm going to tell you.  It's all I can tell you.  I'm only half way through, but I'm pretty confident I can recommend this book as an interesting read if you enjoy women's fiction.  Or, perhaps, even if you simply enjoy a good story.

Join other yarnies at Ginny's weekly Yarn Along to see what's being read and created, literally around the world this week.

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.