This morning, I was wondering what I could blog about today, and then I finally remembered it's Sunday. I can't remember what day of the week it is anymore. I need a job again.
Anyway. Sunday means booklove day! It also means I made it through the first week of NaBloPoMo! All good things. So onto business.
I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and it was fantastic. It really does fly by. The story is so good, and it keeps taking all sorts of delicious turns that you think will go one way, and then they go somewhere completely unexpected, and it's all still marvelous. I loved it, and I've already passed it on to my mom for her to read it.
Since then, I also finished David Sedaris' When you are Engulfed in Flames. I like David Sedaris' writing just fine, but his books go by so fast for me, and this time I actually think it's not just because I don't have a job and I can read half the book in a day if I feel like it. I think his kind of writing just slides past me very quickly. So while it's still a really funny book, and I'd still recommend it to anyone looking for something strange and entertaining, it's not my favorite type of writing.
Now I've started reading the other book I bought when I got the David Sedaris. Boy-Creature and I went to this little independent bookstore near Magazine Street called the Maple Street Book Shop. When we got there, it turned out they actually have two shops right next to each other, one for used books, and one for new. We only went in the used side. So I got the David Sedaris for a little over five bucks, and Robertson Davies' Happy Alchemy for five bucks as well. Not bad, for two fairly new books.
I've read Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy, which are some of his more famous works, if I'm not mistaken. I loved Fifth Business, very much, and while I wasn't crazy about The Manticore, it was ok; the last of the three, World of Wonders, was also very good, but not a terribly close second. Davies is a pretty prolific writer, and I can't pretend to be that versed in his books, but I enjoyed those books enough that I bought this just based on it being his writing. Happy Alchemy is a posthumous collection of his essays, speeches, and thoughts on music and theater. I'm not very far into it yet, but I like it so far.
The other thing I started is Tom Robbins' Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates. I've read even less of it than the Davies, because I just started it this morning and I seem to have almost no attention span today, but I think I'll like it. I read Even Cowgirls Get the Blues when I was in high school, and I've heard a lot of his other books are even better than that. Fierce Invalids... came recommended by a friend who lent it to my mom, who has since passed it on to me, so I've got a feeling I'll like it. So far he reminds me a little of Christopher Moore, although no monsters or demons or vampires have shown up yet, and I don't entirely expect them to. But I'm looking forward to reading more of it.
Showing posts with label nablopomo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nablopomo. Show all posts
November 8, 2009
November 5, 2009
A knitter! With actual knitting!
My god, how long has it been since there was some knitting on this blog?!? Way too long. And I've gotten so much done!
Introducing... (wait for it...)
My first socks! They're finally done! And now they get to sit around for two months until Christmas. But still, it's a marvelous feeling, finally conquering something that had so many missed starts. And the second one went so much faster than the first. I think it was because of the combination of feeling more sure that it would turn out right (since the first one did), and because I have very little else to do these days than knit and read and write and send out resumes.
But during the whole driving across the country part of this moving trip, we did stop at one yarn store. There was a new one that opened up in Santa Fe right before graduation, and I never got to go while I was still there. So this time I made sure we went there. And I got my very first KOIGU!
All the knitters out there understand why I'm so excited. It's Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino, which is one of the most beloved yarns out there. I just wish I could have afforded more. But two skeins will have to do for now. It's just so pretty! And my camera kinda washes out colors, so you can only sort of tell from that picture how gorgeous it is. I have no idea what I'll make out of it, but it's gorgeous, and I can't wait to knit with it.
I also got a mini-skein of Opal Harry Potter sock yarn in Draco, because it was only two dollars and the little baby skeins are so cute. I should have put something in the picture for scale, because you can't really tell, but this picture is just about actual size. I figure I'll make a cuff or something out of it.
And finally, I ordered a skein of Cables and Lace yarn. The handsome and oh-so-manly proprietor is a Plurk buddy of mine, and he announced a couple of weeks ago that he would be closing down the shop. So unemployment-enforced yarn diet or no, I scampered over to his site and bought of skein of the Spider's Breath in Seahag (from his Old Man and the Sea line) immediately. It's way less blue than I expected, but just as beautiful as I'd hoped. Again, my camera does weird things to colors, but it's a deep, dark foresty green. I've already decided it's going to be a Whisper Cargidan, from Hannah Fettig's pattern. I had planned to make that sweater out of a different yarn, but the Cables and Lace is so gorgeous, I can already tell I'll get plenty of wear out of it.
As for what I'm actually knitting now, that's a secret. It's a certain Christmas present for a certain someone that doesn't know about it, and I've got a few more presents in the queue, too. So I'll be busy. But not too busy to cast on at least one more something for myself. I think it'll be the Avalon scarf from Susan Pandorf, in my Lime and Violet Intentions yarn. I've been excited to knit with that yarn since the day the nice mailman brought it to me.
One last thing: this is only-quasi knitting-related, in that someone knitted it, but I'm kind of in love with this girl's sweater on the Sartorialist.
Incidentally, if you want to see more of my knitting, you can click over to my Flickr photostream, over there in the sidebar.
Introducing... (wait for it...)
My first socks! They're finally done! And now they get to sit around for two months until Christmas. But still, it's a marvelous feeling, finally conquering something that had so many missed starts. And the second one went so much faster than the first. I think it was because of the combination of feeling more sure that it would turn out right (since the first one did), and because I have very little else to do these days than knit and read and write and send out resumes.
But during the whole driving across the country part of this moving trip, we did stop at one yarn store. There was a new one that opened up in Santa Fe right before graduation, and I never got to go while I was still there. So this time I made sure we went there. And I got my very first KOIGU!
All the knitters out there understand why I'm so excited. It's Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino, which is one of the most beloved yarns out there. I just wish I could have afforded more. But two skeins will have to do for now. It's just so pretty! And my camera kinda washes out colors, so you can only sort of tell from that picture how gorgeous it is. I have no idea what I'll make out of it, but it's gorgeous, and I can't wait to knit with it.
I also got a mini-skein of Opal Harry Potter sock yarn in Draco, because it was only two dollars and the little baby skeins are so cute. I should have put something in the picture for scale, because you can't really tell, but this picture is just about actual size. I figure I'll make a cuff or something out of it.
And finally, I ordered a skein of Cables and Lace yarn. The handsome and oh-so-manly proprietor is a Plurk buddy of mine, and he announced a couple of weeks ago that he would be closing down the shop. So unemployment-enforced yarn diet or no, I scampered over to his site and bought of skein of the Spider's Breath in Seahag (from his Old Man and the Sea line) immediately. It's way less blue than I expected, but just as beautiful as I'd hoped. Again, my camera does weird things to colors, but it's a deep, dark foresty green. I've already decided it's going to be a Whisper Cargidan, from Hannah Fettig's pattern. I had planned to make that sweater out of a different yarn, but the Cables and Lace is so gorgeous, I can already tell I'll get plenty of wear out of it.
As for what I'm actually knitting now, that's a secret. It's a certain Christmas present for a certain someone that doesn't know about it, and I've got a few more presents in the queue, too. So I'll be busy. But not too busy to cast on at least one more something for myself. I think it'll be the Avalon scarf from Susan Pandorf, in my Lime and Violet Intentions yarn. I've been excited to knit with that yarn since the day the nice mailman brought it to me.
One last thing: this is only-quasi knitting-related, in that someone knitted it, but I'm kind of in love with this girl's sweater on the Sartorialist.
Incidentally, if you want to see more of my knitting, you can click over to my Flickr photostream, over there in the sidebar.
November 2, 2009
Everybody needs an evil plan
Ever since signing up yesterday for NaBloPoMo, the wheels have been turning.
I've been oogling other people's blogs and reading ideas about how people keep up with it, as well as coming up with my own ideas. I've gotten some really good tips, and I've got some stuff planned that I think is going to be fun. Some of it is stuff I've been meaning to do for awhile on this blog. Right now, while it's all starting and I've got the whole month ahead of me, it starts to look like a big, heaping pile of bloggy goodness.
This is going to be a fun month.
I've been oogling other people's blogs and reading ideas about how people keep up with it, as well as coming up with my own ideas. I've gotten some really good tips, and I've got some stuff planned that I think is going to be fun. Some of it is stuff I've been meaning to do for awhile on this blog. Right now, while it's all starting and I've got the whole month ahead of me, it starts to look like a big, heaping pile of bloggy goodness.
This is going to be a fun month.
November 1, 2009
NaBloPo-FeeFiFoFumEenyMeenyMiney-Mo
Oh my god, it's November.
How did this happen?!? HOW?!?
Crazy. But it's here now. Which means all the NaNo stuff has begun. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers' Month), NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month), and so on. There's one for crochet, one for journalling, and one for blogging.
Of which I will be partaking.
The challenge is to blog every day for the month of November. Just like Blogtoberfest, which I forgot about until three days into the month of October. So I'll be doing NaBloPoMo.
I actually did NaNoWriMo in 2006, and I even made it to 50,000 words. But between moving, and job and apartment hunting, AND Christmas knitting (which recently suffered a semi-tragic setback), I don't think piling 50,000 words on top of all that would be the best idea. Even though I did have some really good ideas for what I could write. It kinda sucked having to put my foot down and tell myself not to do it.
But blogging I can do. And this lovely month of November just happens to start on a Sunday, so it's BOOKLOVE DAY!
I'm still just reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and loving it just as much as I was before. It's fantastic, and it's going much faster than I expected, considering it's over 1000 pages long. To anyone who has thought about reading this book, but has been intimidated by the monstrous page-count, read it! It's such a fun read, you'll fly through it.
Granted, it helps that I am still sans job, but still. It's a good read.
How did this happen?!? HOW?!?
Crazy. But it's here now. Which means all the NaNo stuff has begun. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers' Month), NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month), and so on. There's one for crochet, one for journalling, and one for blogging.
Of which I will be partaking.
The challenge is to blog every day for the month of November. Just like Blogtoberfest, which I forgot about until three days into the month of October. So I'll be doing NaBloPoMo.
I actually did NaNoWriMo in 2006, and I even made it to 50,000 words. But between moving, and job and apartment hunting, AND Christmas knitting (which recently suffered a semi-tragic setback), I don't think piling 50,000 words on top of all that would be the best idea. Even though I did have some really good ideas for what I could write. It kinda sucked having to put my foot down and tell myself not to do it.
But blogging I can do. And this lovely month of November just happens to start on a Sunday, so it's BOOKLOVE DAY!
I'm still just reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and loving it just as much as I was before. It's fantastic, and it's going much faster than I expected, considering it's over 1000 pages long. To anyone who has thought about reading this book, but has been intimidated by the monstrous page-count, read it! It's such a fun read, you'll fly through it.
Granted, it helps that I am still sans job, but still. It's a good read.
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