Where it was.
Where it is.
I also managed to straighten up the top of this little table topper and cut out a back, but I did not have enough batting to finish the job.
Must go shopping.
I've knit another strip for Phoebe's blanket. Must sew it on to existing blanket.
I've started knitting Steve a sweater. I love working with this yarn. Berroco Ultra Alpaca. It is 50% alpaca and 50% peruvian wool. Normally, I do not like working with Alpaca or Merino wool. I find they lose their shape and droop. However, this blend keeps it shape better and is very soft.
It better not pill up on me, or I will be stamping my feet at the next alpaca I meet.
Finally, I have begun work on the fabric that will be the back sides of my pocket project. This whole piece needs attention of some sort.
This should go quickly, I want only a small amount of embroidery on it.
In the fall I like a firelog in the fireplace. It isn't really cold enough for a long lasting fire. The house overheats and I end up sitting with a book in the kitchen, cooling off. A firelog is just the ticket. Little bitty flames and nice glow setting ambience while I read or knit. I have just finished two books I think worth recommending. I never buy from Amazon. I always go to one of two local book stores or buy through Abe books. There is no affiliated link but I don't know how else to get images of the book's cover.
(here)
A Catalog of Birds by Laura Harrington is simply lovely. Set in Finger Lakes (USA), a brother and sister are very close. They spend time in the woods. Billy teaches Nell about the birds that fascinate him, their calls and habits. Billy learns to decipher all the nuances of their calls and to draw their flight. It is the time of the Vietnam War and DDT. A few chapters in, Billy is deployed to Vietnam and we meet him at a M.A.S.H. unit and is on his way home. Billy is a ruined man, (can't give it all away) while Nell is a burgeoning adult. We watch the two as they struggle to support each other, learn to navigate Billy's wounds and grief and Nell's urgency to leave home. This book is so beautifully written about sorrow, tribulations, family tension, individual ways of dealing with tension, loss and forgiveness. I couldn't put this book down. I walked the wood paths with the siblings, felt the cold water, cried towards the end, felt the parent's anguish and guilt. Really, really good.
(here)
The second book I strongly recommend for those who love a good fantasy/sci-fi is The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. She has won the Hugo Award twice already and I believe this book either won her a third Hugo, or has been nominated for a Hugo. It is rather hard to describe because the writing structure is very surprising. I can't figure out a way to describe it without giving it away. But what I can say is that there are people who have the ability to deeply sense the movements of tectonic plates and earthquakes and tsunamis. The land is one of many volcanoes, fault lines and (there is a technical name for this) holes in the ground that hold water or oil. Father Earth is angry with people according to the stone lore. The people who can sense the shifting of the land have become enslaved to the general population to sense these shifts and prevent actual earthquakes etc. We follow what seems like several people's lives in this culture and attempts at freedom from the enslavement. Because of the cool structure of the novel, we see various points of view, settings, communities and growing anomalies. I was fully convinced by the world created by the author, the characters are interesting, the love/not-love struggles are surprising, love/hate/revenge/forgiveness are explored in a satisfying way and there are even being who live in stones.I read this book in three days. I even bought books two and three on speculation based on some trusted people's recommendations. A perfect winter read.
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