more yarn… June 22, 2008

Friday was the Summer Solstice Sale at The Fold. I went with a couple of friends from my knitting group. I really didn’t need to buy anything, but a few things jumped into my bag. Dumb jumping yarn. I got two skeins of sock yarn – both solid yarns. The knitting group is going to attempt another knitalong (hopefully with better results than the disastrous pathways socks). The pattern that we’ve chosen is the Baudelaire socks from Knitty. The pattern is a bit lacy, so solid yarn is definitely the way to go. I also got a skein of worsted weight teal yarn that I thought would make a beautiful hat. And lastly, I got 5 skeins of blue worsted weight yarn to make a baby sweater for my coworker who is having a baby in September. I think that I’m going to knit Child’s Placket Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Friend Carolin knit one for her nephew and it’s great.

I went to the 320 Market yesterday for produce acquisition. I was thirsty, so I bought some bottled water while I was there. I got some orange-mint flavored water. Tasty. So tasty that I decided to make some of my own. I sliced up an orange and a lime and I raided my neighbor’s mint patch and threw it all in a pitcher with some tap water. Oh, it’s very nice and refreshing.

I’ve been working on my Fawkes socks. I’m about 1/3 through the 2nd sock. These knit up very quickly.

I’ve been playing the guitar a lot recently. I have proper callouses and all. Apologies to the neighbors. Although I do play quietly, it’s been so nice out that I’ve been playing out on the patio. Oh well. I’ve had to put up with the bagpipers and marching bands, they can handle a little more, right?

books, books June 2, 2008

I’ve been reading as of late. As usual, I went through a spell when I was reading a ton, then a time with little reading, and now I’m back to reading. I wish I was a more dedicated reader, but… oh well.

First up we have Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It’s a graphic novel about a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. I thought this was a great book – it’s an autobiographical tale from the perspective of the author when she was 6-14 years old. I really enjoyed this book. The author appeared to captured the time period through the eyes of a young child (I guess that’s not surprising since she was a small child when the events were going on, but I thought it was illustrated masterfully). It was interesting to see the struggles of Eastern vs. Western culture play out in everyday life. I’ve since checked out the second book (Persepolis 2) from the library and begun that book.

Next, we have Allah is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma. This book is about a ten year old boy who, after his crippled mother dies, travels from the Ivory Coast to Liberia to find his aunt, becoming a boy soldier along the long journey. This was a very hard book to read. The image of small boys and girls shooting people for sport and survival was hard to stomach. There was much about this book that was good, but there were some awkward bits. So, it’s basically presented in a reflective diary of sorts (at the end of the journey, the boy is given 4 references books and begins to write about his adventures – not a diary that’s written as he goes along). I like how the author integrates phrases into the narratives that the diarist interprets parenthetically – almost as if he is educating himself as he’s writing the events. Sometimes the interpretations were a bit snippy (“I’ve already explained what that means”) and I thought that those remarks would have been better left off at that point. Also, there was a lot of historical information about the region that was thrown in, but it didn’t go with a young boy’s writing at all – it might have worked better to provide a prologue or introduction to the book that contained historical information. A sad, but good book. I think it’s important to read about places that aren’t covered in the news often enough.

And here we have some images from my patio. I spent Saturday finishing up everything out there – planting, re-potting houseplants, and reorganizing the patio. I received an early birthday present from the parental units and I’ve enjoyed sitting out there quite a bit. Thanks, Mom and Pop.

Here are the projects that I’ve been working on lately: a basic sock and another

little turtle. I’m almost done with the second sock. I decided to knit the socks with an afterthought heel because I didn’t want to risk wonky pooling. The turtle’s name is Uzilla.

A request: Does anyone have a pattern to recommended for a black scarf for my father? I bought 350 yards of worsted weight yarn this past weekend and I’d like to find a good pattern. I want something pretty basic, but not plain garter or stockinette.

I think I’m in for some great sleep. It feels like it’s going to rain.