Suzon Shawl -- Finito

 I finished my "Suzon Shawl" a couple of weeks ago and am quite satisfied with it. I blogged about it here .

 

 I finished the shawl with my favorite edging. Details are here.  This is the first shawl I've made for myself. I look forward to wrapping up in it with a good book when cooler arrives, though I'm not in a hurry to do that!! Lovin' summer and green, green, green.

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I sent 10 wash cloths and 10 bars of soap to the Batesland School on the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation in SD. If you are interested in charity knitting, visit Giving Artfully for a list of charities that may draw your interest. There is a Ravelry Group, as well.

 

 

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

 

 

http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/

http://annemarieshaakblog.blogspot.com/





Chèche à la sauce Shawl

 It looks like a sweet little frilly shawl for someone in a nursing home, so I added ties to help keep the shawl in the right position. It's rather frilly and fussy, but I know someone will be blessed by it.  I made it for the Prayer Shawl Ministry at our church using the "Chèche à la sauce" pattern available here.

 The shawl is crocheted using Aran yarn and a size H crochet hook. While I'm not crazy about this yarn for this project and think the pattern would be prettier in a different yarn, I had to use acrylic for this ministry project. I changed the border, added picot edging, and made the shawl longer than the pattern directions. It is a quickie project that I completed in less than a week.

The Silkworm

"Someone bloody famous," said the hoarse voice on the end of the line, "better've died, Strike."

The large unshaven man tramping through the darkness of predawn, with his telephone clamped to his ear, grinned.

"It's in that ballpark."

"It's six o'clock in the (expletive) morning!"

"It's half past, but if you want what I've got, you'll need to come and get it," said Cormoran Strike. "I'm not far away from your place. There's a —"

"How'd you know where I live?" demanded the voice.

"You told me," said Strike, stifling a yawn. "You're selling your flat."

"Oh," said the other, mollified. "Good memory."

"There's a twenty-four-hour caff—"

"(Expletive) that. Come into the office later—"

"Culpepper, I've got another client this morning, he pays better than you do and I've been up all night. You need this now if you're going to use it."

A groan. Strike could hear the rustling of sheets.

"It had better be (expletive)-hot."

"Smithfield Café on Long Lane," said Strike and rang off.
― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

I haven't read Harry Potter, but I certainly enjoy J. K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in this series, a book that completely absorbed me. The reviews about this second book in the series are even more glowing. Books to enjoy!

 

“Hard to remember these days that there was a time you had to wait for the ink and paper reviews to see your work excoriated. With the invention of the internet, any subliterate cretin can be Michiko Kakutani.”
― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm

 



Color Help!

 

 

 

 

 

 These squares are my "off the grid" knitting project. I knit these when I want a break from another project, when I'm at Coors Field watching the Rockies, when I'm at the lake and relaxing on the boat.  They are for this afghan which I plan to make as a smaller throw.

 

 True to form, I wandered off from the pattern and am using various designs for the squares including, of course, some from the pattern. This color of light brown-gray is truer than in the first picture, although it is still a bit too dark.

 

This is as far as I've gotten with color selections for this neutral palette--cream and beigey-ness. I'm thinking of adding one or two more colors, but can't settle on anything. Tried a couple of shades of gray--nope, nope, nope. Tried a rich burgundy--also, nope. Not sure about green. Muted? Medium? Rich? Uh...help?

 

**What colors would you add for this throw? I really am interested in any suggestions you offer!**

 



 

I am reading This Town by Mark Leibovich, which I blogged about here. I am skimming sections of the extended gossip in some parts. However, it is interesting and disconcerting to read about the many barnacles attached to the ship of state.

The Vacationers

The Vacationers by Emma Straub
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"She’d read all of Jane Austen that year—Austen was good, but when you told people you liked Pride and Prejudice, they expected you to be all sunshine and wedding veils, and Sylvia preferred the rainy moors. The Brontës weren’t afraid to let someone die of consumption, which Sylvia respected."

Despite the topics of adultery, unsettled young adult children, and relationship woes, this book is charming, witty, and engaging. I chuckled. I laughed out loud and think the story is clever and delightful.

Family and friends load up their baggage, in various forms, and fly off to Majorca for a two-week vacation. It's all about people sorting things out in their lives. From the teen heading off to college to the gay couple who are madly, deeply in love--the characters are fully drawn and supply a wealth of angst as well as amusement.

This quick read will bring a smile to your face. The title tells you---perfect summer read! Enjoy!

View all my reviews



This Town by Mark Leibovich

 "Prologue

June 2008

Tim Russert is dead. But the room was alive.

You can't work it too hard at a memorial service, obviously. It's the kind of thing people notice. But the big-ticket Washington departure rite can be such a great networking opportunity. You can almost feel the ardor behind the solemn faces: lucky stampedes of power mourners, about two thousand of them, wearing out the red-carpeted aisles of the Kennedy Center."

::: It's an ugly truth, isn't it? :::

Would you read this book? 

 

 

 

http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com/

http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/

                                   

http://www.rosecityreader.com/

Lydia Prayer Shawl



 My sister, who lives way across the country to the southeast of me, requested a prayer shawl for a lady who is receiving chemo for lung cancer. I feel so honored to be asked to make a shawl to bless and comfort her. The pattern is the "Lydia Shawl", simple and fast yet very pretty.

 To the stash! This is S. Charles Collezione Mosaic in red tweed, a discontinued yarn. It is 83% wool with polymide and acrylic. Note the very thin black threads running through the red. That thread has the colorful bits that make the tweedy part of this yarn which waited in stash since 2002 for just this project of blessing.

 I am using a size H hook to make it open with a gentle drape. It gets very hot and humid where she lives, so nix to anything too bulky.

The teardrop shape of the center open work line is very eye-appealing made a with sc and dc pattern. It looks large in the picture, but I have quite a bit more to crochet. It's repetitive and moves along fairly quickly.

 



http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/



 :: What are you making?? ::

Book Musing Secrets!

 

Happy Monday-Funday!! Are you reading a good book this week? I am beginning Fin & Lady by Cathleen Schine. Not sure about this one yet because I'm only a few pages into it. At this point, it seems that Lady is a zany young adult who is stepping in to take custody of her much younger half-brother when he is left an orphan.

 

Still reading The Intercept by Dick Wolf, though I must admit I have been neglecting Keeping Mum by Alyse Carlson. The Intercept is not my usual fare, but I'm staying with this thriller to the end. It does seem quite wordy to this reader.

 

===========================================

Today's musing is a set of book-related questions:

Top 3 bookish pet peeves?

1. Unnecessary interruptions while I'm reading.
2. Having to wait for a book that I really-really want to read.
3. Coming to the end of a good book that has drawn me into its world.

Perfect reading spot?
Anywhere. Any time. My choice reading spot is on the swing on our back deck, birds chirping,
and a gentle breeze rustling the leaves  on the trees. Like now as I write this.

3 Bookish confessions?

1. I do not re-read books, even ones that have spoken to me deeply.
2. I write favorite passages from books, but seldom go back to my journal to read them. Maybe the act of writing the words that touch me is enough.
3. I keep a physical map on which I plot the settings of each book I read, though I do not select books by the setting. Thus far in 2014, my book settings cluster in England and on the NE coast of the USA. 

When was the last time you cried during a book?
Years and years ago. I don't remember, really.

How many books are on your bedside table?
None. I don't keep books there.

What is your favorite snack to eat while reading?
A Diet Coke and chips. (Please don't judge me!!)

Name 3 books you’d recommend to everyone.

1. The Gamache series by Louise Penny
2. The Sugar Queen by Sara Addison Allen
3. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Write how much books mean to you in 3 words
Lost without books.

What is your biggest reading secret?
I prefer books to people much of the time!

Who I’m tagging:
YOU!

Be Careful What You Wish For ~ Jeffrey Archer

Do you read books by Jeffrey Archer? I get absolutely lost in his writing--so lush, so rich, so enveloping. I am now reading Be Careful What You Wish For, the 4th book in the Clifton Chronicles series with so many twists and turns that I have to pause and take a deep breath every now and then! Will the Barrington Company go forward with building and launching the new ship, The Buckingham? Who will have controlling shares in the Barrington Shipping Company? Does Jessica learn the identity of her biological parents? Read on. Read on!



"Sebastian tightened his grip on the steering wheel of the little MG. The lorry behind him touched the bumper and jolted the car forward, sending its number plate flying high into the air. Sebastian tried to advance a couple more feet, but couldn't go any faster without running into the lorry in front of him and being squeezed between the two of them like a concertina." 



 What will you be reading this weekend?

A Blingy Bag for a Walker

Front View

My stash yarn came in handy for this project. The pattern is called "Helping Hand Walker Bag" and is available at crochetme. I used a G hook and WW to make a sturdy fabric to avoid as much sagging as possible. After a bad fall, a friend has to use a walker so why not add some bling? Hope she will like and use this button-on bag. The three buttons on the pocket are not functional, just some extra bling!

All of the buttons are from my mother’s button jar, possibly from the ’40s or ’50s?? This was fast and fun to make.

Back View

 

Details are here.

 

 



The Intercept by Dick Wolf

"Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name."

"Bassam Shah had driven through a day and two nights from Denver, stopping only for gas, eating fried pies, drinking Red Bull, and urinating into a plastic milk jug between gas station fill-ups."

First sentence. First paragraph. An evocative and rather disgusting opening for this thriller also launches a new author and the Jeremy Fisk series about New York City's joint task force on terrorism. I haven't read a thriller in a while and am tip-toeing through this one, ready to slam the book shut on any sickening violence. So far, so good.



Rules:*Grab a book, any book.*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
 *Find any sentence,  that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple



"Geeseman gestured to two men who looked like they had been sent by a movie studio casting department to play computer hackers. Rosofsky was the plump one, Pearl the emaciated pale one, each wearing jeans, T-shirts, and shy smiles. No eye contact."

What is your current read? 



Book Formats -- A Fave?

 

 

The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry;
The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy;
The books that people talk about we never can recall;
And the books that people give us, oh, they're the worst of all.
 

                                                                                                                --by Carolyn Wells

 

 

"All other things being equal, what is your favorite format for reading? Hardcover? Paperback? New book? Old book? Leather-bound first edition? E-book?" http://btt2.wordpress.com/

Hardback books, especially thick ones, are my all-time favorite reading format. I like turning the pages, seeing them stack one upon the other from right to left as I travel through the words and commas and periods.

E-readers are so convenient for accessing books and for portability. I do like reading on my Nook.

I find that my most common way to read in recent years is via my iPod so that I can knit, crochet, cook, work in the yard whilst absorbed in the world of my current read. I download books from two libraries and get absolutely lost in the stories.

What? What's that you say? I can't hear you because of my ear buds.

Sorry, I'm in Tuscany at the moment.

Suzon Shawl in Silk

It's time to pull out the Rowan Summer Tweed again for yet another project. After a couple of incarnations, said yarn is becoming a beautiful summer shawl. Luscious to knit, Rowan Summer Tweed is 70% silk/30% cotton and feels a bit stiff at first. It softens as I knit and transforms into this lovely shawl. The cream and nutty brown colors are Summer Tweed combined with the soft green and purple stash yarns for the stripes.

 

I loved this pattern from the first moment I saw it! It is knit from the neck down is alternating sections of stockinette stripes and a simple lace pattern. The sizing can be adjusted by the yarn weight and needle size that you choose. This WW and size nine needles is yielding a nice shawl size, but would probably be too heavy for a neck kerchief. It would be lovely with DK and a smaller needle size. The pattern pictures show gorgeous striping with variegated yarn. I wanted to use only stash yarn and didn't have suitable yarn in variegated so my stripes are solid colors in cream, soft green, and purple. The pattern is the "Suzon Shawl" by Cecile Berne.

What do you have on your needles??

Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR list

"Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers."

 

 

~ Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR list ~

1. Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer
2. I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You by Courtney Maum
3. This Town by Mark Leibovich
4. The Vacationers by Emma Straub
5. The Storied Life of A. J. Fickry by Gabrielle Devin
6. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
7. The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
8. China Dolls by Lisa See
9. The Girls Of August by Anne Rivers Siddons
10. The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

 

Being a slow reader, I know I won't get through all of these books by September. It will be interesting to compare this list with the books I do read!!

 

* * I'd love to read your list! * *

Flight Behavior ---

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sadly,this was not a book for me. The atmosphere was heavy, the characters were heavy, and the setting was less than attractive. There were brilliant descriptions of butterflies and mud and despair which wore thin for this reader.

There was a ray of hope in the story which, alas, was not quite enough for me.

View all my reviews

Books To Read

"To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?"

CURRENTLY READING

• Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (It's taking forever to read this book. I'm simply not engaged with the characters.)
• Keeping Mum by Alyse Carlson (I set this one down mid-read and have yet to pick it up again!)

RECENTLY FINISHED

• Latte Trouble (Coffee House Mystery #3) by Cleo Coyle  3/5
• Framed in Lace (Needlecraft Mystery #2) by Monica Ferris  4/5

TO READ NEXT

• Every Day In Tuscany: Seasons in an Italian Life by Frances Mayes
• A Stitch in Time (A Needlecraft Mystery, #3) by Monica Ferris

What's happening in your reading life?

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2014

"Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers."

 

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

1. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
2. Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes
3. The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer
4. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
5. The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn
6. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
7. A Matter of Honor by Jeffrey Archer

 

 

What are your top reads thus far in 2014?