So, to the books.

These two books together make an excellent sock knitting course. Clara Parkes goes in to all the things that make a great sock: the yarn (fiber, twist, plies, spins), the stitches, the fit. And she has some great patterns as well, by some very famous designers (Ann Budd, Cat Bordhi, and so on). I love the details on picking yarns, and what to look for in a blend. Of course, I pick yarn because I fall in love with the colorway, and that’s okay, because the information in this book also works in the other direction: you can figure out exactly what the yarn you have in your hand is capable of, even if it needs to be a shawl instead of socks.

The Workshop book is complementary to this. It goes into detail on the different parts of the sock: toes, heels, cuffs, gussets. It also has some neat patterns, but the beauty of it is that you can mix and match features to design your own socks.

Now, I mentioned I love socks. And after my rant the other day about FAT yarn, it should not come as any surprise that I have a substantial stash of sock yarn. Sub. Stan. Tial. But I absolutely refuse to let myself cast on another project at this point, because I am trying to force myself to finish Carrick. However, I am planning other projects, dreaming of other projects, and so forth. And when I start something new, it will most likely be socks. I have six or seven sock books now, and most of the patterns are untried. So here’s what I decided. Any two socks made of the same yarn will constitute a pair. This way, I get to try more patterns, I avoid “second sock syndrome”, and I get to use up complete balls of yarn, because making a third or fourth sock makes perfect sense. In fact, one of the reasons I like sock knitting so much is that I can do it without paying a great deal of attention. It’s pretty much a toe, a tube, a heel, and another tube. Unless I am doing fancy work. So my “pairs” of socks will most likely consist of one fancy sock and one one plain. I can work on both of them at the same time that way, depending on whether or not I am able to concentrate on a pattern. Perfect, right?

Now, here’s the slow progress part. I have continued to work on my office area and organize my craft books and supplies. At this point, all my scrapping stuff is accessible. And I am sitting here looking at it, afraid to touch it. What the heck? It could be the fact that I haven’t scrapped a thing since Batman was a baby. He’s, ah….10. Regardless, I need to jump in. Which I will do right after I eliminate my 48 excuses!

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!

This book was a short read for me, being intended for the youth market, but it was….fun is not the right word. It’s a good book, and I will end up reading it to my kids, I am sure, but…if you, like me, are in your forties and vaguely remember being ten-ish with no great desire to re-capture those days, then you may understand what I mean by “fun” not being quite the right word.

Here’s the premise: Debbie gets a journal for her birthday. She uses it to write letters to God, with whom she has a pretty casual relationship. Not casual as in don’t care, but casual as in intimate enough to really talk to Him about what is going on in her life. She talks about her family and her brother and school and the lady down the street and whatever happens in her life. She expects that He listens and cares, and that alone makes the book worth reading. I was reminded of the need for a child-like faith as I read. There are no big theological discussions in the book, but that underlying message of faith s there all through it.

And, no it’s not all child’s play, either. I don’t know what your ten year old life was like, but some pretty stressful things happen to this girl. Not the kinds of horror stories that end up on the news, but some coming to terms with life. She has to learn some lessons the hard way. The author deals with this very realistically and draws a very believable character for us.

Lord help me! I sound like I am writing an essay here! It’s a good book. Get it, read it. If you don’t have kids, buy it for your niece or nephew. Make one up if you have to, because I think you will enjoy the story, and it’s a nice break from “grown-up” books and particle physics.

The Look

by Sara Teasdale

Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.

And when I found it, I cried, partly from the joy of finally finding it, and partly because it still echoes my heart. And partly because I had been talking to Colin just this morning. So very powerful, poems, little darts bound up in innocent looking books.

You know, I just deleted a whole lot of writing here. You don’t need to know everything. Some secrets I’ll just keep to myself awhile yet.

The book is written by Diane Setterfield, and my cousin was right: I enjoyed it thoroughly! To say this book is a story within a story is like saying an onion has layers. It is a marvelously complex piece of work, and the slide on it begins about halfway through. We’ve talked about the slide before, haven’t we? That point in a book where you can hardly bear to put it down, not even for such mundane things as eating and going to the bathroom?

I have a love/hate relationship with writing book reviews, you know. I never know how much to say. I don’t want to know about the plot of a book before I pick it up. A simple and direct “read it” from a trusted source is a much more effective draw for me that all sorts of details and character analysis. So, uh, “read it”.

It’s way more interesting than shopping for xerox phaser 8560 supplies. Or your dinner. Just go get something you can put in the microwave, or maybe even some trail mix, and pick the book up.

Here’s what Ayelet Waldman had to say:

I believe that mothers should tell the truth, even-no, especially-when the truth is difficult. It’s always easier, and in the short term can even feel right, to pretend everything is okay, and to encourage your children to do the same. But concealment leads to shame, and of all hurts shame is the most painful. Only if you name a problem, confront it head-on, drag it into the light, does it become surmountable. I always tell my kids that as soon as you have a secret, something about you that you are ashamed to have others find out, you have given other people the power to hurt you by exposing you.

I read that little tidbit not long after the massive blowout that happened in my extended family. The truth is, life isn’t always pretty, and here was a major author who acknowledged that and said to tell the truth anyway. It was a pivotal moment for me. And I hope I let that principle guide me for the rest of my life. Even when I choke on the words. Because sometimes I still do, but at least I am no longer ashamed of stuff that wasn’t my fault.

Ok, that’s it. maybe next time we’ll discuss hypomania. And maybe we won’t. You’ll find out right after I do.

Speaking of technology that doesn’t work, this post has come to a screeching halt while I wait for the blackberry to reset itself after working on DriveCarefully. Well, if deleting with intent to re-install counts as “working on it”. Tap, tap, tap. Guess I’ll make a grilled cheese or something.

Sandwich cooked and eaten and now the blog is down. What the heck???
And now my computer doesn’t see the pics in my phone?
And now, there they are. Apparently you have to wait for the blackberry to go into mass storage mode. I forget that every time. Sigh.

March 28 This book is called Call Me By Your Name, and I finished it on the 28th. I’d been looking for something to read and Micheal had just brought this home, and said it was a good book, so I decided to give it a try. It is a good book. The first half of the book details a young person’s infatuation with a man named Oliver. They do the dance of liking but not admitting to liking one another, and the accompanying agonies of over-analyzing every conversation and action, looking for clues to Oliver’s state of mind. It isn’t until a third of the way through the book that the narrator, the younger person, is named Elio, and he is a boy.

I’m telling you, as a firm hetero-sexual, every word describing the initial infatuation and eventual love rang so true that I re-read the section revealing Elio’s identity three times, sure I had misunderstood. Nope, two guys. The book is tastefully done, and I enjoyed it. Right up until I cried at the ending.

March 29 I’ve developed a new habit. I send That One a picture of a flower almost every day that he is out on the road. It started with just one, but he enjoyed it, so I kept it up. I think we’ll manage to figure out exactly how busy and depressed I’ve been this past month as we see how many days there were where I only managed to snap a flower.

March 30 My oldest son, playing baseball. He really enjoys the game and says he’d rather do “fall ball” instead of football this year. We’ll see.

March 31 Another flower. Can you see where we’re headed here?

So, the kids play ball now. And that means practices. And that means extra reading time. This is how I spent the freezing evening of the 16th: in my car, prepping a Schwan’s order and reading girlie magazines. Fun times!

I finished Shooter on the 11th. I have no idea where this book came from, or how it ended up in my house. But That One saw it and asked to borrow it, and I told him he could have it after I read it, so it moved from “somewhere” in the TBR pile to top position.

This is an interesting book. It opens with some personal life stuff of Gunnery SGT Jack Coughlin and it ends with more personal stuff. A little getcha in the gut for the girlies. And in between all that, we get to see how a marine sniper really works, and also some awesome battle descriptions. Plenty of war for the boys.

I learned quite a few things about men and warriors from this book, because even a war story is a personal story. Soldiers generally aren’t emotionless automatons, they just learn to put that all on hold and get the job done. It’s a trait I greatly admire in men, that ability to shift emotion aside for a bit and deal only with the logic of a situation. I try it sometimes, but I generally come back to the decision my emotions have already made. I’ve noticed that this is not so for men. They will stick with that logical decision, even if it tears them up inside. And usually, you won’t know it even bothered them until later. Such insight is one of the side benefits to having a boy bff. And a….a….umm, other friend.

Those 5 S’s up above are the sniper mantra. One of the things That One says to me is “slow is fast”. We were having a series of discussions on life and complications and overwhelmed-ness. The man is wise, but I couldn’t quite figure out how he got that. I mean, I understood the explanation, but I still didn’t quite “get it” in my gut. Now I do. You prep, you plan, you get the information you need, and then you very methodically set about doing what needs to be done. The same principles that assure accuracy in a sniper also assure accuracy in dealing with life’s more daunting issues. Like dirty houses. And needy children. And stalkers. Make up your mind what you are going to do and then “Slow, Smooth, Straight, Steady, Squeeze”. A well placed round is a well placed round. Some are bullets that kill those who need killing, and some are actions that improve a life or lives. The principle is the same. But you can’t necessarily expect me to remember all that when I am emotional. I’m still a girl after all.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a realistic account of what really happened in Iraq, instead of that left-wing media crap we were all fed. On the other hand, if the idea that people actually bleed as they die bothers you…read it anyway, because you need to understand the realities of life.

Or my opinion on Nicholas Sparks

Recently, I have been exploring Nicholas Sparks, on the recommendation of Goober. (Don’t shoot me, he picked he name himself.) I’ve read A Walk to Remember and A Bend in the Road and I have watched The Notebook and Message in a Bottle. They’ve been interesting reads/movies and I do like this author. So far, all the stories are set in North Carolina, which is fun for me, because he is describing places I know: Outer Banks vacation homes, the smell of salt water, slow and east small town life. Of course, he lives here, so that makes sense.

Now, I have never read an author before who was so very successful in making Love a main character in his novels. Seriously. An actual character, above and beyond the actual people of the story. As I read, it was an almost separate thing, the love. And that’s the rub for me of Nicholas Sparks: Love always triumphs, and yet…..there is no happily ever after ending. The people characters always end up with little holes in their hearts, unless they die. Which is, I guess, the way Love works in real life, too. Sigh.

Ok, I’ll pass out bonus points for settings and character development. I’ll give a passing mark to plot. And I’ll take away a couple of points for making the stories too realistic, because, after all, sometimes a girl still wants to believe she could be Cinderella. And I’ll read a few more of his books when I can find them in the library.