Speaking of reviews, I think I might have mentioned that I have a horrendously tall stack of TBRs. Actually, I now have 4 reasonably short (approximately 2 feet) stacks. That is a lot of books, right? One of my goals for this year is to eliminate that stack of books, either by reading them or deciding not to read them, and/or giving them away/selling them. But another of my goals for the year is to work on my crafty life, including getting my craft books organized and actually making stuff. Yesterday, I pulled all my knitting books together, except for the ones in those stacks, and this morning, I pulled those out. So, in order to accomplish three goals at once over the course of the month, you get some knitting book reviews. Yay!!!!!

Up first, we have Men’s Knits by Erika Knight. Apparently, I have had this book for about 3 years, since I have been SINGLE for almost that long. Yep, I’m a little behind. We’ll get over it. Of course, it helps that the boyfriend sweater is always in style, and this way I can have the sweater without the boyfriend, right? And also, except for the boobs, both men and women are fairly rectangular in the torso, and while women’s clothes are occasionally over-fussy, things for men tend to be functional. I like functional.

So which patterns do I like best? The “favorite sweatshirt” on page 68 looks fairly unisex. It’s reminiscent of the wonderful wallaby, but without a hood or pocket. I love the wallaby, along with most of America, so this may be a knittable option. I also really, really like the “collegiate cardigan” on page 80. It’s thick and lush and has some great textures. Unfortunately, it’s knit in bulky weight yarn, so I may or may not work it up for myself. I tend to think I am bulky enough with adding fat yarn to the mix. Same goes for the “funnel-neck sweater” on page 110. I like it, but not in fat yarn.

But here’s a little trick I know. It is totally possible, if you know your gauge in a preferred yarn, and a little basic math, to knit a pattern written for a different weight yarn without re-writing the pattern. Just figure out how many stitches it takes to go around the person you are knitting for in the yarn you want to use, and (provided you can find a close enough match), follow the pattern as written for that number of cast-on stitches. This is super simple to do when using a pattern written for men (for instance) in bulky weight yarn (for instance) and making something to fit a five foot nothing shrimp of a girl in a lighter weight yarn (for real). Most of the time, patterns don’t call for a given number of rows, but just “knit until the piece is x inches long.” Just keep knitting until you hit the desired dimension, which may be shorter than called for, so don’t forget to measure yourself!

I got up at 5:30 this morning, which was a new thing for me. It gave me an hour of quiet in the house to knock out a good chunk of my morning routine, which is, at this point complete! In fact, I have nothing left on my schedule at all except blogging and studying, which I plan to alternate through today.

And I am posting this so I can be accountable to some back later and say “Yeah, I did that.” Whatever it takes, right?

I clearly will not be needing to price shop Lightweight Backpacking Tents until at least mid-May, because I am going to be pretty much chained to my desk, which is not the right height and therefore gives me a backache. Whine, whine, whine.

I did, however, buy a new backpack, because my old one was full and I don’t even have all my books yet. It has not given me a backache. So far, anyway.

Today, I am blogging and filling in my calendar for the next few months. You?

But let me tell you about what I am reading! First, I am continuing The Artist’s Way with a short segment each morning, and I am also following a yearly Bible reading plan, which I begin every January and sometimes finish and mostly do not. I’m human, yk? But I am also reading Writiing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. When I first found this in my house, and no, I do not remember buying it, I have no idea where it came from, so I am accounting it as a gift from the muse since I found it in the middle of November and the NaNo, I thought it was a manual of style. Umm, no. No, it’s not. It is a book of small snippets (2-3 pages) of encouragement for the writer. Try this, sample that, yes you can, etc. All good stuff, so far. I’m nibbling this one slowly, so as to gain as much as possible from it.

I’m also reading The Fiery Cross, which is the 5th book of the Outlander series, and the first one that I have not previously read. I’m looking forward to finding out what has happened to my friends since I last visited with them, LOL.

Okay, time to stop for now. I have a file to create and some knitting to do. And laundry to fold. And supper to cook. By the time lights out comes tonight, I really think I’ll be more than ready for it!

I’m also planning some house stuff. I need new floors in the kitchen and living room, and a couple of windows. While I am doing all that, I plan to go ahead and do new counter tops and cabinets for the kitchen. And a new, deeper sink. I don’t know whether I will end up with danze faucets or some other brand, but I do know I will have two separate handles for the hot and cold water. My one handle faucet has gotten itself all twisted up somehow and getting hot or cold is a guessing game each time I use it, and the shut off is also at a different point each time. I am tired of fighting with it.

What else? Typing. I am doing a lot of typing, because I wrote most of the book longhand. I am estimating it will come in around 60K for the first edit and I have a little over 20K in the computer. It took about 90 hours to write the thing, I think, and I calculated 63 to type it. And then there are additional revisions, etc, etc, etc. But I feel really accomplished, because HEY! Write a book was on my list, and i have done it.

Speaking of list(s), I need to update all of mine. But not today. Today, I need to finish blogging, deal with this week’s paperwork and then type some on the book. So exciting a life, right?

Since my work schedule has picked up again, and I already had so much free time to begin with, I expect this exercise to be just as effective as any Brazilian diet pill. Well, combined with the extra coffee I’ll be drinking. Reckon I better stock up on the Folgers Black Silk the next time I’m at the store.

Speaking of which, I went grocery shopping yesterday. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was actually FUN to walk up and down the aisles and make choices. Of course, I came home and got sick right after that: fever, sore throat, cough. But other than that, it was great!

By the way, I am still looking for a platform to do my writing. I’d prefer a dated journal type page if you know of one. If not, Open Office will have to suffice. Not sure I want to do a whole new blog thing for that, although, Lord knows, WP and I are like bestest buddies and such.

Let’s see what else? Oh yes, the living room. Whittling that down a box at a time. I did mention that I unloaded 1/4 of the shed into my living room, right? Umm, yeah, to make my studio. I’m still thoroughly enjoying that, btw, my little official work and play area. And it’s nice to not have the computer in my room.

Boy, I think the hardest part about now having time to blog regularly must be the forgetting what I’ve talked about and what I haven’t. I’ve built daily blogging time into my routine, but I don’t always get through the whole routine, and it’s near the end, so….yeah.

P.S. The high school transcript will be going out this afternoon. Why, yes, I am a multi-tasking queen!

In other news, I have ordered a copy of The Artist’s Way. I met with my friend last night and we plan to work through it and help hold each other accountable. I’m a little intimidated and a lot excited. And a little perplexed about how in the world I am going to write three pen and paper pages of stuff per day and still write here, too. I’ll figure it out when the book gets here, I guess.

In yet other news, I ordered Fluffer Phone yesterday. I’m expecting it to be delivered tomorrow. I’ll be playing with it this weekend. My inner geek is very happy about that. I’m expecting a list of must-have apps for it from The DJ sometime today, too!

Let’s see….what else? I am sure there was more, but with my brain simmering like this it’s hard to think. Really hard to think.

Now, if I were smart and had plenty of money to invest in this site, I could hire someone like Search Engine People to do a Organic Search Engine Optimization for me. Since I don’t, I’ll likely end up doing what I have been doing: concentrating on content, and hoping the search engines are able to decipher what I am actually talking about. It’s probably not the best strategy, but it’s what I can afford for now.

Of course, there’s another method of attracting readers, too, and that’s where you guys come in. If you like what you find here, how about recommending me to a friend?

June 15 The List On the 15th, I wrote my list. I hope I properly conveyed my excitement about it when I posted it, because I am truly, very excited about my life list.

June 16 Hot, Tired, Pissed It has been very hot here, folks. It has been excruciatingly hot. And on days I work in the garden shop, I am out in that heat for most of the day. I find it interesting that many of the other people who work in that area manage to stay inside. In fact, I had someone say to me the other day that I was lucky because it was so nice and cool back there. Umm, yeah, yeah it is, inside. But I’m not inside, because the plants are outside. It takes me 3-4 hours to water them all properly, and since I work 6.5 hours and get a half hour lunch, that will tell you how much of the airconditioning I get to enjoy.

But that’s not the part that bothers me most. What really aggravates me is that I have to argue every.daggone.day for my lunch break. And one day last week, peeing suddenly became optional. WTH? I am 42 years old, I have given birth eight freaking times, and I don’t even sneeze without crossing my legs, ever!! And you think I can wait 45 minutes to go to the bathroom? Umm, no. It’s gotten to the point that I love my work, and hate my job. The plants and I get along just fine, but……….the rest, not so much.

June 17 Hydrangea On this day, I did the first thing on my life list, with the exception of the publication. I planted this hydrangea that I’ve had here for a couple or three weeks now. I actually have two of them, but the other one is burned even worse than this one and I am just not sure it’s gonna make it. But people, HYDRANGEA! And it’s time to edit the life list.

Now, then, I want to talk about something else. Do any of you buy gold bullion? I’m thinking about small investments these days, not because I have any money right now, but because I hope to have some eventually. I know it’s pretty, and I know that it’s practically been an object of worship since it was first discovered, but I am actually more interested in it’s staying power and growth potential than it’s beauty.

If I do decide to invest, should I go with coins, which have a currency value, or ingots which do not? The initial investment is higher for coinage, I think, but does that mean I can sell it for more later, or will the ingots be just as valuable down the road? Is it a matter of aesthetics or is the actual weight the bottom line?

Any tips? Experiences you want to share? Cautions? Talk to me, people, I’m listening.