Category: Reading

New toys and yarn sale

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Here’s my new toy! My Motorola Atrix. This thing leaves my Backflip in the dust.  You know my favorite thing about it besides how fast it is? I can run Firefox on it which syncs with my laptop. Can you stand it? Think of the possibilities! Open-mouthed smile 

Another thing that I had pre-ordered from Amazon that you see up there is my 30th Anniversary disc of Reo Speedwagon  Hi-Infidelity. This was one of my first albums, yes on vinyl, that I bought as a young teenager back in 1981 when it came out. I wore that record out and know every lyric for every song. It’s now on my iPod and I will be enjoying it shortly. I’m watching the Foo Fighters at the iTunes Festival on iTunes right now. Talk about awesome! This is a full 2 and a half hour set list. Go check it out in the iTunes store.

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Here’s a not too great picture of my sock in progress. The heel has been turned. Nyah-Nyah

Oh, I started reading The Help and I am about 70 or so pages into it and it’s very good. It’s definitely a character and issue driven story, but I like those just fine.

I am still into exploring a lot of the 90’s bands I missed and am currently on a Soundgarden and Pearl Jam binge. I am working my way through all 9 of PJ’s studio albums and some of it is an acquired taste, but then so is beer and coffee, and I love both of them too. Just sayin’. Winking smile 

One last thing I want to mention is that we are having a YARN SALE on the website until July 27th. All the yarn in the Specials section, which is already marked down from the regular price, is an additional 30% off with the coupon code julymadness .  Feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested. Smile

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Books and movies

Let’s start with the knitting, shall we? It’s not much different from last time, but I am ready to start the heel gusset. Can you stand it? Eye rolling smile

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So, we saw Harry Potter yesterday, of course. My opinion is that it was pretty good. Okay, there are some deviations from the text as usual. Don’t we pretty much expect this though with book adaptations? The book is ALWAYS better and more detailed, in a good way. We get to know and love/hate the characters ten times better in the books than the movies. Film makers have a different medium to express their impressions of a work and there are always outside agendas in movies too. They are marketing certain aspects of the screenplay to fit their perceived target audience. That’s one of the reasons that I never watch a movie before reading a book if it is one I might have wanted to read anyway.

Take for example The Road. I hadn’t heard of it before the movie came out, but since Viggo Mortensen is one of my favorite actors I was interested in seeing it. I held off seeing it until after I had read the book though. I didn’t think I liked it for the first 20 pages or so, but after a bit more it grew on me and I finished it in a few days. It’s only something like 110 pages if I remember correctly, so it’s very concise and the dialogue is limited. I was surprised at how well the author was able to pull me into the lives of the characters in such a stark writing style, but he did. I highly recommend it. But, I digress.

Back to Harry Potter; I think these last two were probably my favorite. Not sure why. Maybe because I was moved by the emotion in them. The theme of the book came through, love triumphs over evil, despite the deviations from some of the actual events in the book. This theme is what makes the books so good. I think the movies are a fun addition to the books, but will never be a replacement for the real “story”.

 

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Thoughts on The Hunger Games

I finished this series on Tuesday but since I had to pack for our trip to the Chicago area for Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, I didn’t get a chance to post my thoughts until tonight.

First of all, as I pointed out previously, I had mixed feelings about the books and more particularly about the characters, all along. It was a fun series and very quick to read, so I do recommend it..but..you knew there was a but coming right?…I was not as wowed as I expected to be. There was so much hype and raves about them that I really expected to like them more than I did.

So what was my problems? Well for starters Katniss’s continual clueless behavior and her fickleness drove me nuts. Okay she is 17 and maybe the author was purposely trying to make her be like many 17 year old girls would be. Makes sense and it’s not really a bad thing in that respect. However, I guess that I may have related to some aspects of her character in a way that reminded me of things about myself at that age that I would rather leave behind and say good riddance to?

Second thing that bugged me was that the whole ending seemed too blah. Okay so they lived happily ever after. Yay.  Really? That’s it? Meh. Do I have a better suggestion? Well no I don’t, but for some reason it just left me flat. Sorry.

Okay, so what did I LIKE about the books? I did want to keep reading them to see what would happen. I liked that they touched on issues of freedom and tyranny. I guess it was meant to be for young people, so I should except it for what it is. I am glad I read them and wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading them.

I’ll leave you with a sweet picture from our travels today and will post more show pictures later.  I have no idea why he is wearing headphones. Laughing out loud

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Two down; one more to go

I finished reading Catching Fire on Sunday afternoon and immediately started on Mockingjay.  Here are my thoughts so far. I go back and forth on how I feel about the main characters, especially Katniss. Just when I start to like her she acts in such a way as to make me regret my affections and think she’s a nit wit again. LOL! However, that plot has thickened finally and at the end of the second book I was eager to see what was going to happen next. So there’s one thing it has going for it.

The main conflict of this book in comparison with the games in the first book, is that if it’s possible to be more tragic, it is. Mainly this is because they all are supposed to have gained their “freedom” and are friends. Note “freedom” is really unknown in the realm, but they had it as good as it gets. Even the citizens of The Capitol aren’t really free, since they are in slavery to their own decadence and debauchery. For the Victors to have to go back in the arena and kill each other is beyond despicable. One thing that confused me is this concept and practice of alliances. I mean, in the end everyone has to die except one, so are these alliances remotely realistic? I can’t see getting chummy and trusting in these people who you have to kill or be killed by them. Is it just me?

Anyway, I am assuming that the Capitol stands for a totalitarian regime which, in order to maintain control, is using fear to keep it’s citizens under control. At the close of Catching Fire, all hell apparently breaks loose when Katniss’s rebellious act in the arena prompts an all out assault on the helpless citizens of district Twelve. This leads into the opening of book three, which I have only read a few chapters of, by my first and obvious thoughts are that District 13, where the seat of the Rebellion lies,  is just another form of totalitarianism. The regime plans out every minute of every day for it’s inhabitants. I haven’t read enough yet to know why they go along with it, but I am assuming they don’t feel they have any other options and their survival depends on what the “state” gives them. Hmm…sound familiar? There is certainly no freedom here either. I guess it’s still to be revealed if anyone has any ideas for whether there even is such a thing as freedom and if it’s worth the price. Stay tuned.

Okay on the knitting front, I am slowly plodding along on my Sprossling and when I have enough worthy of a picture you’ll be the first to see it here. I am also almost finished with a wool soaker for Elijah. Also, I will be starting my Mystic Midsummer Wreath on the 15th when the first clue is released.

I do have a few pictures for you today. As promised, I got the buttons on my el Air and had Joanie snap a few quick shots outside, and  do mean quick. It’s in the 90’s here and a wool sweater is not something you want to have on outside right now. Winking smile

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We have some moving going on in the house this week. Some of the girls are changing room-mates. I took a few pictures of the before/disaster for posterity. Will post hopefully greatly improved living quarters updates as they develop.

BEFORE

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This one I took on a whim today. It’s our wedding picture on my nightstand. We will be celebrating our 23 anniversary this September. I still see us that way in my mind, but at the same time I know we have grown up in so many ways that I barely remember those two in the picture. In love

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Mystic Midsummer Wreath KAL

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A few months ago I was contacted by the talented Anna Dalvi of Knit & Knag Designs about featuring one my yarns in a coming design. I was thrilled by the request and accepted her gracious offer.  In early May she sent along the announcement that the KAL for the  Mystic Midsummer Wreath would be beginning on June 15 and the shawl pattern will be published in 4 weekly clues on Wednesdays. The Mystic Midsummer Wreath Shawl is a crescent shaped shawl, inspired by the midsummer wreaths worn by young and old on this magical day. It will be published in a mystery knit-along format, hosted in the Knit & Knag Designs group on Ravelry.

It is designed with Knitting Notions Classic Merino Lace in a gorgeous Dark Rose color. The shawl uses 2 skeins (with a little bit left over as a safety buffer).

To sign up, please purchase the pattern here and the clues will be distributed directly to your Ravelry library. It looks like you can also buy the pattern directly from Anna at the above link to her website if you aren’t a member of Ravelry. Smile

 

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Yesterday I received my updated pattern clue which contained the “swatch” chart, so I figured I had better get my knit before the 15th when the first clue is released. Anna suggested a size 6 US needle so that’s where I started. After a soak and light blocking my swatch came out to the right dimensions, so I will be sticking with the 6 needles.

I am using the Aubergine color since I already had one skein in my stash and I haven’t knit with this color yet.  I haven’t done one of these mystery KAL’s since the Swan Lake Stole in 2007, so I think this will be fun!  There is still time to get yours started and even do the swatch, so why not join us?

Oh, Nook Simple Touch real life battery usage update so far is looking pretty good. I fully charged it on 06/05 for at least 3 hours and with Wi-Fi on all the time and an hour or two of reading and shopping each day, it is still at 82%.  That works out to an average of 4.5% a day which calculates to about 22 days between charges, although I won’t let it totally discharge. Still it’s not bad consumption with Wi-Fi on. I would lose 10-15% a day on the original with airplane mode off. I kept it connected to 3G network all the time so it could sync with BN.com if I read anything. I have three devices that I occasionally use and like to know that whatever I am reading will be current across them all. 

As for what I am reading, I am halfway through Catching Fire, which btw I love the fun feature on the Nook for posting reading status updates to Facebook and Twitter. In love Anyway, at this point in the story Katniss and Peeta have returned to the Capitol for the Quarter Quell, which I hope will be not just be a BTDT type repeat of the first games. What else could it be though? Eh, they are okay so far, but I may be missing something, but I am still not seeing what is so over the top fantastic about these books. Again, let me stress, I like them and all, but I guess I was expecting more, you know? I guess it depends on what you want in a book.

Take for instance Moby Dick. I just finished listening to the audiobook and I feel like there is so much more to digest than one reading can offer. I have attempted to read it four times and this was the first time I got all the way through it. I finally happened across a version through Overdrive at my public library that had an engaging reader, which I think finally made the difference for me.  There are many points in the book that move very slow, but there is also such depth of thought and emotions that it bears more than one reading. I am sure I will visit it again.

Now it’s probably not fair to compare a modern young adult novel with the likes of Moby Dick, I know, but my point is that just because I find the Hunger Games rather light in comparison, it is not because they are not good. I think I am maybe having a hard time liking Katniss because she can be such a ditz when it comes to guys. Eye rolling smile I mean really. Who is that clueless?

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Hoosier Hills, new sweater and Nook

Sorry for the lack of a promised update but we were pretty busy and by the time we got to the hotel at night, too tired to do much. We had a lovely time seeing everyone and we heartily thank all who came in to our booth! This is such a nice facility and we are hoping this show continues to grow and be more and more successful for all involved. Anyway, without further ado I will share a few booth shots, including a picture of my finished Bel Air sans buttons. I completed the second sleeve and seamed it up in the hotel on Friday morning. Yay!  Modeled shots to come later when I get some buttons.

Bel Air in booth

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We got home from Indiana on Sunday afternoon and what did I find waiting for me? Why, my new Nook Simple Touch Reader! I had no problems with my original 3G Nook, but was attracted to many of the new capabilities of the new version. I don’t miss any of the things they left off since they didn’t happen to be things I used my Nook for anyway. I am not much for games, have a laptop and a smartphone for email and internet, and an iPod for music and audiobooks. I want my reader to do one thing and do it well. Read books. This new Nook is exactly what I wanted with even more of what I wanted and nothing I didn’t care about. So far my only minor annoyance is that it doesn’t access my current wish list created on BN.com. My original Nook did this and I used that feature a lot. You do have the ability to create a wish list from the device, but I will have to start over to do that. I really love the Facebook and Twitter connections and the much improved highlighting, note taking, and look up features. I don’t use them all that much but it’s good to know they are there and easy to use. Also love the interface for fine tuning text, fonts, etc. It’s similar to the Nook for Android which I have on my phone with some additional functionality. Battery usage does seem much better. I left my Wi-Fi on and will just to see how far it goes that way, then I will try it off after a re-charge and compare. Anyway after fully charging, I played around with it a lot last night and read for an hour or two. This morning the battery was still at 94%, with Wi-Fi on, so not too shabby.  Here she is!

New Nook Simple Touch Reader

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Almost a sweater!

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I am almost at the finish line for my Bel Air sweater! I got quite a bit of the second sleeve knit this weekend during down time at the festival and I am up to the cap shaping on it. Woo hoo! Since all I have to do as far as seaming is set in this sleeve and pick out buttons, dare I think I will have it finished for Hoosier Hills this weekend? We can hope, but unfortunately that’s probably a bit unrealistic since my knitting time will likely be non-existent this week. We only have today and tomorrow at home before hitting the road again and there won’t be as much down time for this one. I’ll have it in my knitting bag at the very least so if you are coming and want to take a peek, don’t be shy. Just ask! Winking smile

On the reading front, I finished The Hunger Games and am a few chapters into Catching Fire. I am enjoying it, and did like the first book for what it is. It’s definitely a light read and that can be good, so I am not being critical. I tend to read a lot of larger more complex works and classics so it’s nice to take a break from those occasionally and read something light and easy. My only constructive criticism of it so far is that the characters don’t have much depth, at least I don’t feel it. I can see the attraction of the series for the pure entertainment value and the plot, but that’s about all I am getting from them. There are many books with so much depth that you can and want to re-read them, but I don’t see that happening for me with these. It’s a good story and all, but I can’t see needing to read them again, so I am glad I only paid $5-$7 each for them. Winking smile Looks like they have gone up in price some since I bought them. Sad smile

I don’t know if any of my readers are even remotely interested in the same music as I am but I’ll share what I have been enjoying lately. I am still finding myself turning on my Foo fighters collection quite a lot. I have all of their albums and would have a hard time picking a favorite. I love them all. Also The new Journey album, Eclipse, is awesome! No, really. I haven’t loved a Journey album this much since Evolution, which is my favorite. I have never felt like Escape was their best, although I do like it. I have also started listening to Finger Eleven more lately. This is a new to me band. They have been around since their first album, Tip, in 1998, and I have all 5 of their albums now. It’s a bit more Alternative than I used to like, but their style is a unique mix of Alternative and Melodic Metal. I think I like the last two albums Them vs. You vs. Me and Life Turns Electric the best, but the older albums are definitely growing on me. 

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Better Late than Never

Sorry for the blog silence. I always think I will have more down time when I am at shows than I ever actually end up having. You would think that I would have learned that after doing this for, what, five years now? I started attending festivals in late 2006, so yeah, it will be 5 years in October. But I digress. I did want to share a few more pictures of our trip.

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Elijah was having the best time with the luggage carts. It was so hilarious!

We got home on Tuesday afternoon and I spent the next two days getting caught up on things. I’ll spare you the details on that because trust me it’s not very interesting. It may surprise you to know that the life of a business owner/professional dyer is not ALL fun and glamour. Eye rolling smile 

On the knitting front, I have got the stitches picked on the collar of the Bel Air and knit a couple of inches of it over the past week, but that’s the totality of my knitting since my last post about it. No updated picture on that either. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh, I never did let you know what I thought of that movie I was watching last week, All Things Good. I liked the first two thirds of it but the last part left me kind of meh. I am watching through the first 6 seasons of Criminal Minds right now when I knit. I am really enjoying that. I have always had an affinity for crime dramas, especially ones like this where there is a lot of psychological drama. I think it is well cast with interesting characters. I am like that with shows and books too. I have to like and believe in the characters to really get into a series or a book.

While we are on the topic of books I will share what I am reading right now. I have a Nook, which it the best thing EVER, and was introduced to the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series because the first book, The Outlander was offered as a “Free Friday” download. I then bought the whole series and am up to the second book at this point. I am almost finished with it. It’s not like anything I have ever read before and I might have totally missed out on a good read if it weren’t for the enticement to try the first one for free. So, kudos to Barnes & Noble for the incentives which worked pretty good on me. They gave me one book, but I then bought 6 more. Some of the dialogue can be a tiny bit cheesy, but overall I recommend them.

I do plan to take a short break between book 2 and book 3 to read The Hunger Games series. I resisted this for quite awhile because EVERYONE was reading them. That will turn me off in a heartbeat. But the reviews from everyone was so positive and when people I knew were saying the same thing, people whose opinions I respect, I caved and bought them. I started the first chapter or two of the first book, but held off since I had just started Dragonfly in Amber and didn’t want to drop that one in the middle. So anyway, I am excited about starting The Hunger Games very soon since I am 60 pages away from finishing Dragonfly in Amber.

Okay, that’s about all I have for now. It has taken me all afternoon to write this post as it is because I have too many people parked in the room with me, and it is making it difficult for me to concentrate. Story of my life. Eye rolling smile

 

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