Fiber Fool

Last year we used to gather at the home of several of our friends every Wednesday for a game night. We break into appropriately sized groups and play various board or card games. Often our games chosen were lesser known such as Chez Geek, Fluxx, Apples to Apples (gaining popularity now), or various Cheap Ass Games. Well, the group grew to crazy proportions and often included people who wished only to sit and play on their laptops and argue for their friends in games they weren’t actually playing so it went on hiatus.

This week, DH and I kind of brought it back. Mim had posted about playing this DIY card came, 1000 Blank White Cards, a few weeks ago and I sent the link around and it seemed many were interested. So, this Wednesday we had a 1KBWC night. Scimon, G, and T joined us for the inaugural game.

If you can’t tell from the sampling of the cards to the left there, we had a blast! Indeed, the game is much more about the playing and drawing than the actually winning. Surprisingly three of the six ended up with final point totals very near each other! While the drawing is a big part of it, you need no fancy drawing skills. You are often under a bit of time pressure to get a card made before your turn comes back around so no one is judging your drawing skills. We were also amazed by the number of ideas for cards that game to us by the time the game was over. We all enjoyed it so much we’ve set up another evening of play for next Wednesday.

Basically, you start with a deck of cards that are roughly 1/3 blank (unless it is your first round, in which case it is 2/3 blank and 1/3 cards that everyone made before the game begins). Each turn you pick a card from the deck and then play a card. If you can’t play a card you draw an extra and the game proceeds to the next player. You play until the draw pile is gone and someone can no longer play. Then you total up points of the cards played in front of you. Cards can be played on yourself, other playes, or on the table. You of course get to draw new cards if you have blanks in your hand and drawing good new cards to counteract cards already laid on the table is a good thing. At the end of the game you lay all the cards out and all the players chose a certain number of cards that they like and you keep those to use in the next game.

I’m looking forward to playing with a variety of people and developing a varied deck that contains cards from everyone we’ve played with!

Besides playing games I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading. I’ve been visiting the local library almost weekly. I think the heat has really dragged me down. I’m roasting and lethargic and sometime rather headachey so there has been a lot of reading going on. I’ve sort of abandoned the idea of reading books from my childhood. I’ve been much more drawn to the whodunits recently. Especially since I’ve found new and interesting mystery authors to read. There is just something about summer that means mystery reading to me.

I finished the second William Kent Krueger novel from the Cork O’Conner series, Boundary Waters. That was just as good as the first. As usual it was set near a native american reservation and casino in northeastern Minnesota near the Boundary Waters. There was a lot of outdoorsmanship to this book which I enjoyed since I have spent some time in that area of Minnesota. And, for anyone who has read his books, you know how he acknowledges the St. Claire Broiler all the time (and I believe set Devil’s Bed there)? My cousin has worked there for several years and I ate there once and there was a guy sitting there writing. I wonder if it was him?!?!?!?

I now have his third in the series up next, Purgatory Ridge, that I’ll be starting today.

I then read a more recent John Sandford (another Minnesota author), Broken Prey. This book has a detective for the state crime office working out of Minneapolis, but the majority of the action took place about an hour south of the metro area near Austin, Minnesota. It was kind of fun because we drove through that area on our trip a few weeks ago. I have been reading this series completely out of order though. My mom recommended a specific one from this series for me to see if I liked him. I don’t recall which Prey book it was, but it had something to do with art. Then when I went to the library to check this one out they were pretty sketchy on which ones were on the shelf and I didn’t find the first few of the series so I just drew this one at random.

As is usual for this series, this book dealt with a serial killer. I enjoyed it, though there were times where it seemed like it was a bit of a commercial as he was always naming things by their brand name - his Lexus Pick Up and his navigation system this and that. It seemed as though Sandford was getting kick backs from some companies. I do not know if it was true, but I could care less what make and model vehicle he is driving and whether or not he uses a navigation system or what type of cell phone he has. That said, I will certainly continue to read him. I would like to go back and start the series from the beginning though I think. I’ll probably put the first few on hold here in a few days time.

After Sandford I decided it was time to switch to a Colorado author. I had heard many good things about Diane Mott Davidson’s culinary mysteries but I had never heard that she was a Colorado author until a few ladies in my water aerobics and I started swapping authors and mystery series to read. So, I checked out her first two novels from the library last weekend and plowed through both this week. Catering to Nobody was obviously a first novel. Some of the elements of Goldy’s life were heavy handed and a bit overdone by the end of the book. But, I liked the touch of romance thrown in and the food of course is a fun element. I do dislike how they put the recipes in though. I wish they would insert them at the end of a chapter or even just put them in the back of the book like they do with Joanne Fluke. Here they often interrupt a sentence or a paragraph and I find that distracting. But, then I’m a reader who much prefers to put a book down between chapters.

Dying for Chocolate, the second Davidson novel featuring Goldy Bear the caterer was much improved. There are definitely strong elements of being a single divorced mother raising a tween boy alone and dealing with an abusive ex, but it wasn’t nearly as heavy handed as in the first book. I really liked the twists at the end of the book even though I saw them coming. Oh, and some of her descriptions of chocolate were amazing! I’ll definitely be continuing this series!

I am going to try to keep mixing all these series up. Partly because most of these more recent series are still in progress and I hate having read all the books in a series and awaiting the next installment. Plus, it is nice to mix up the series so you don’t get annoyed by an author’s idiosyncrasies or that.

I will likely be heading over to the library again tomorrow so if you have any other mystery series you recommend (they need not be Minnesota or Colorado authors) please leave me a comment as my mother and I both love finding new authors to read.

In reading, I finished Anne of Windy Poplars and checked out two mysteries from the library, the next William Kent Krueger, Boundary Waters, and a John Sandford. I’ve been exhasted and busy with DH’s five days off from work so the WKK hasn’t been going as fast as I would like it to, but I got to catch a bit last night while I was baking our lasagna and raspberry peach cobbler.

There has been an occassional movie viewing recently too, the most exciting of which was a trip to a matinee viewing of The Devil Wears Prada on Wednesday afternoon. It was a good movie with funny parts, some painful parts and a nice life lesson in the end. If you haven’t seen the previews, a top of the class journalist student from Northwestern interviews for an assistant position at a top fashion rag in New York City, but she is your home town midwestern girl and not into fashion and she manages to get the position. She works under the long-time editor of this rag who has the entire office under her thumbnail. Andy comes into her own in the nine months she spends at the rag and learns some valuable life lessons. Stanley Tucci was great and I enjoyed watching Simon Baker on the big screen. Meryl Streep did an amazing job playing an over demanding boss and Anne Hathaway was very believable as a naive midwestern girl new to the big city. This movie certainly doesn’t demand a big screen, but the fashions which play a huge role in this film certainly looked great on it. I would definitely recommend it as a fun fluff movie and I think most guys would tolerate it, DH liked it. There was even a group of four guys (sans women) at our showing on Wednesday.

Last week we also took in two films from the 1940’s. The first was Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House that I recorded off of TCM. It stars Carey Grant and Myrna Loy. It is a comedy about the frustrations of buying and building a home. It was almost a bit depressing to me given that we have several projects in progress on our own home that are now on hold until the financial situation improves. But it kind of made me of think of The Money Pit, but done better and not quite as over the top with the campy factor. Then late in the week we had SIL3 over before she headed to Italy for a couple of weeks of a master’s class in opera and we watched The Maltese Falcon. We own that one and I wasn’t so much in the mood for an old film that evening so I did a lot of knitting on that first Trekking sock and wandering in and out of the room. But it is a fun mystery movie.

In music, I wanted to point you to the Sources Collective’s blog. It is DH’s and he has started a podcast there as well and plans to post a new original song each week. He has started with two songs he did as part of an electronic music class he took in the late 1990’s and I’ve been consulted on the next song he’ll be releasing soon. So, go check it out, please and spread the word if you like what you hear. Oh, and all the stuff will not be electronica, the next piece he’s mixing right now is guitar. (EDIT: He is having some trouble with the RSS and some of the file access and may be doing some troubleshooting on that today, but it is my understanding that there is no trouble in listening to the files with the streaming player there on the site or to download by clicking on the MP3 graphic.)

For a more on-topic podcast that is new on the scene, check out the new Lime n Violet, a fun conversational knitting podcast from Lime and Violet of course!

Being laid up with the various maladies I’ve had recently has had me reading like a fiend! As some of you may recall I had decided that this summer was going to be dedicated to reading some of my old favorites from my childhood. I started out with the Anne of Green Gables series because they were on a bookshelf rather than in a box somewhere so it made it a logical place to start. The first two went really, really slow for me. I’m not sure why. I just wasn’t making time to read and I think since I knew the story so well there wasn’t the suspense of what might happen next to keep me reading. But, once I got through Anne of Avonlea I’ve been plowing through. I read Anne of the Island in two days. I should be finishing Anne of Windy Poplars today I believe. I wish I was as witty and optimistic as Anne!

I did take a break and read a mystery by an author who is new to me, William Kent Krueger. I read about this author on Renee’s blog, A Good Yarn. He is a Minnesota author (what is it about Minnesota mystery authors?) and I read the first book in the Cork O’Connor Series, Iron Lake. It is set in northeastern Minnesota between Duluth and the Boundry Waters Canoe Area. Cork O’Conner is a half Ojibwe former sheriff who is estranged from his wife following the incident that cost him his job as sheriff. The book was sprinkled with Anishanabe lore and practice and the mystery itself was quite compelling.

This was Krueger’s first book but it garnered him several awards, including the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Barry Award for Best First Novel, Minnesota Book Award, and the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award. I think I may deviate from my plan following the conclusion of Anne of Windy Poplars to give the second book in the series, Boundry Waters, a read. I found it great to read Iron Lake because I checked the hardback version out from the library and it had been read enough that the book would sit open and I could knit while I read without pages moving of their own accord (at least when I wasn’t sitting in front of the fan).

I do have a particular soft spot for Minnesota authors. I love that I can pick up a book set in Minnesota and *really* be where it is set. Even these books that aren’t set in the metro area or near where I grew up feel like home because I’ve traveled to nearly every area of Minnesota. If you know of a Minnesota author you think I maybe am unfamiliar with please feel free to give me some recommendations. Colorado-set books/authors would be highly welcome as well (though I know about the knitting ones by Maggie Sefton and I have no interest in those for a personal reason) but I do love Kent Haruf!

Just a few things I’ve run across recently in blogland that have piqued my interest etc…

There of course has been a huge surge in using freezer paper for stencils to apply designs on t-shirts, bags, pants, etc. In fact, it has been so big there is a Flickr group dedicated solely to sharing projects that have used freezer paper stencils. There is some really cool stuff in there, but I have to say my favorite is from M&C - a Barrel of Monkey Tee! Yes, I do know this craft diva in real life so you could probably accuse me of being biased, but there is just something about me and my monkies and the whole red and green color combo makes it even better!

Of course, you don’t have to have read this new blog for very long to know that I’m getting in touch with my Scandanavian roots, so when I was greeted this morning with a notice that the 200SOX blog was updated and I came across these gorgeous socks that Helene made I couldn’t help but be in awe (and inspired) and now lusting after the book she spoke of.

Have you seen Theresa and Julie using Weavettes? I love what Theresa did with her square! Don’t know what a Weavette is? Check out their web site! For other sizes and shapes check out Hazel Rose Looms (thank you for the tip Amanda)!

There is also from a while ago the great flip-flop socks that Alison recieved. I think they are adorable. I recall seeing some last year. I really don’t wear flip-flops much but I love those socks. And, thanks to Whip-Up for the link there is a PDF pattern in English available! Plus, it is probably a great way to use of yarn after making shorty socks!
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I just finished reading The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg (translated by Gustav Lannestock). I actually read an old hardback library copy I got about a year ago. Along my recent theme of Swedish cooking this is the story of a family’s emigration from Sweden to American in the middle nineteenth century.

I am unsure why, but I was expecting the book to be more about their settling in America. Instead, over half of the book was dedicated to the time leading up to their departure. Ultimately, I think that was done quite well. It gave me a sense of why they made the decision they did and also gave me a better feel for the political situation in Sweden at the time. It also gave me a real sense of what the crossing of the Atlantic was like. There are three more books to this series (which was originally planned as a trilogy) so there is plenty of time to devote to their settling and adjusting to this country.

I did find the names in the book quite interesting as you got to see the evolution of the Swedish and other Scandanavian names which are so prevalent in Minnesota - Nielson, Johnson etc. It was just a nice reminder of the roots of those names.

When I first bought the book I had started to read it and then set it aside. It is not a real page turner, so I suspect I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read it last year. It isn’t one I would universally recommend. I suspect one needs an interest in Swedish culture and the emigrant story to enjoy this and the other books in the series.

Now I’m on to Anne of Green Gables. Last year I had thought the summer would be one of revisiting all my children and young adult classic reads - Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, if time permitted The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, but somehow the summer flew by and I didn’t read any of them. So, I’m going to give at least some of them a try this summer. I might also throw in some newer books aimed towards that age group as well such as the His Dark Materials series. We’ll see how far I get though…

I’m also taking part in a religious text reading group. We’re a group of mixed religious backgrounds and current beliefs and we are starting with the Old Testament, then The Book of Mormon, followed by the New Testament and depending on how much steam we have left after 26 or so weeks we might delve into other religious texts as well (perhaps after a bit of a break). But, I think that heavy reading will be broken up quite nicely with some easy child and young adult reading. Especially since they have set a pace of roughly 100 pages per week.

For those who are wondering, the numbers in the subject are (fiction books read, non-fiction books read, total books read so far this year). I’ve been terribly slow with reading this year, I’m not sure why.

Pattern: Ballband Warshrags from Mason-Dixing Knitting
Yarn: Lily Sugar and Creme Butter Cream Ombre and Jute
Needles: US 7 Addi Tubo 16″
Project Dates: May 5 - 7, 2006
Recipient: Grandma Bakke for Mother’s Day

Notes: I love these warshrags. In fact, I have a 5th one in progress right now. I made two others - a red and black and a red and jute. Those are for my mom. But I send the red and black one out with my grandma’s rags already.

I haven’t yet wet one, but I’m hoping those slipped stitches will give these rags some more stability. DH isn’t a fan of the garter stitch ones that you work from the corner, and I have to agree somewhat. They stretch out kind of funny when in the water and often you can put a finger through the stitches. But, to combat that problem just a tad the 5th rag I’m knitting for us to try and I went down to a US 6. It looks like it’ll be about 8 inches square which seems plenty large, though I suppose it would be just as easy to cast on 51 sts and do an extra twelve row repeat in there if one wished.

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This brings me to a book review of Mason-Dixon Knitting. When I first got to look through it I passed it up. It seemed most of the projects that caught my eye were ones involving cotton or linen (a couple different washrags, a linen hand towel, a linen nightgown and bathrobe etc.) - very inelastic sorts of yarns that can be hard on your hands if you don’t pace yourself and take time to stretch and exercise your hands. I wasn’t quite ready to pay cover price for a book that I found looked beautiful and appeared to have entertaining writing whose projects I wouldn’t be able to knit.

Jump forward about a week after that. I was in our local B&N browsing the knitting section to see if they had any of the other recent releases that I could look through. On my way to the section there were two copies of the book with 50% off stickers, plus as a member I’d get an additional 10% off. Well, that sealed it. I could buy a $13 book that I may not knit anything out of. So, it came home with me. I read it almost immediately from cover to cover. The writing style was fun and humorous and I enjoyed the little sidebars of extra stuff such as television to knit by and the timeline.

There are many projects in here that have caught my eye. I’ll definitely be giving the pentagon washrag a try once I tire of the color combinations to play with for the ballband ones above. I may do a couple log cabin washrags as well just to see what I think of log cabin knitting. I also may pull out some cotton from my stash and knit a baby Kimono. For whom, I have no idea, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have on hand.

I really like the balance Ann and Kay have achieved in this book between giving you a pattern and giving you a jumping off point to make these things your own. My only complaint would be the lack of technical diagrams for the clothing patterns. Yes, there are schematics for some, but they don’t contain dimensions. And, yes, we are given a gauge and the number of stitches to cast-on and increases/decreases to make etc. so one can fill in that information, I would prefer if it was already done for me because there is already enough math required if one needs to adjust the pattern’s fit. But that is rather knit-picky.

I know there were some in my SnB group who were not impressed with the book. I really liked it. I’d perhaps suggest if you are unsure that you watch the MDK Knit-a-long for a bit and see how the projects strike you. Or, browse a copy at your LYS or LBS before making the decision. But, I have to say I am very glad I did pick it up!

I have one hank of linen to try a hand towel with, I think I’ll be doing a Baby Kimono soon, there will be several more ballband washrags in prepartion for the holidays, and at some point in the future I’m pretty sure there will be a Moderne Log Cabin blanket, though there is no budget for yarn for that just yet and I don’t have appropriate yarn in the stash. My only problem is finding a good selection of Sugar and Cream or Peaches and Cream. It seems the selection is pretty spotty at most of the local places, though I haven’t tried the larger Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann’s in Loveland yet. If you have a favorite on-line place to order those from, please let me know!

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Lastly, because it is Friday and because we did establish yesterday that I am a follower, please take my quiz!