Reviewed: "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is an apocalyptic young adult book. I love reading apocalyptic books and have enjoyed a number of young adult books. This is the first one I've read where the two genres were put together.

And it wasn't that bad!

Miranda is a 16 year old girl with two brothers - a younger one and an older one. Her Dad left the family and started another one with his new wife.

An asteroid hit the moon and moved it's orbit closer to the earth. It wreaks havoc with the local economy - the skies darken because of increased volcanic activity, coastal cities flood and millions of people die. Winter comes earlier than usual and the area is hit with a super flu ala the 1918 pandemic.

Miranda is likable and believable as a 16 year old girl. I like how the book shows the gradual changes in their world, but the changes are so dramatic that it really makes you think about how you would be able to survive similar circumstances.

Fun, quick read.

WIP: Arwen - try on

I've tried on the Arwen and I'm very happy.

WIP: Arwen

I have to admit that I'm getting tired of knitting on this, but with the cooler weather, I feel the need to finish it up.

Last night I was able to do a three needle bind off on the shoulders and am continuing knitting up to finish up the hood. I'm very pleased with how it looks and the length in the arm area works well.

Happy, happy

Nerd Ornament

I bought a kit at Maker Faire and put it together this weekend. I think it's a great ornament for our Christmas tree this year!

Reviewed: "The Fugitive Queen" by Fiona Buckley

Ursula is now Mistress Stannard and is pulled back into a web of intrigue when her ward, Pen, is tripped up into some court intrigue. Ursula must take her to the north to settle her onto her newly acquired land and married off. Oh - and Ursula should make a side trip to find out if Queen Mary is really guilty of the crime she was accused of.

This book was okay. I found it read very similar to the previous book. Mary Stuart played a part in both books. A forced marriage by kidnap was in both novels.

I don't know. I'll read the last book in the series. I'm starting to sour a little on the series as the story lines seem to run together.

WIP: Little Treasure Jacket - Front Right

I've cast on for one of the sleeves and decided to knit it in the round for a portion of it and then go flat on the top.

WIP: Little Treasure Jacket - Front Left

Self explanatory.

Reviewed:"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

I initially didn't want to read this book as I find Hosseini's stuff a little sad, but the ladies at church highly recommended it. Initially the story seems to be two separate stories, but midway, Hosseini pulls both women's lives together in tragic circumstances.

I liked being able to try understanding how women will allow themselves to be treated as second class citizens, but Hosseini explains it very well. It seems that it's mostly a function of survival.

The characters of this book will live with me for quite sometime and I won't soon forget them. This is a great read.

WIP: Little Treasure Jacket

This is the back of the jacket. I initially did the bobbles wrong. I moved the yarn to the back, slipped 3 stitches and then knitted - this put the bobble on the wrong side of the work. Once I kept the yarn in front while slipping, the bobbles popped right out.

Maker Faire

DH gave me the best present ever!

We had a couple of obligations that popped up this weekend, and it was looking like I was going to miss being able to go the the Austin Maker Faire this weekend.

http://makerfaire.com/

Well, DH said he'd cover the obligations and encourged me to go alone.

I am so excited!

So, I'm off to Maker Faire tomorrow! Whoo Hoo!

FO - Little Treasures Baby Booties

Yarn: Sandnes Garn Mandarin Petit (White)
Pattern: Little Treasure Booties from Simply Knitting 31, August 2007
Size: 3 - 6 months
Needles: US 3
Thoughts: I knitted this flat, so I had to sew up the bottom/back. I'd like to try to convert them into knit in the round. Super fast knit.

Dexter

Well, a new season of Dexter has started and it's been fun to watch. I never would think that I'd ever root for a serial killer to allude getting caught, but I do with this series. Jeff Linday has another Dexter book out (Dexter in the Dark) and I'm next on the library list to get it.

I'm currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. I am borrowing it from a lady I met at Westside UU and it's started out pretty good. Hosseini writes so well and there's usually a thread of sadness that runs through his work.

Oregon Vest

Here's a photo of my progress on the Oregon Vest.

I'm just a little tired of knitting on the Arwen. :( I'm starting to feel the need to knit a toy!

Tandem

J found a deal on our local Craig's List:

We bought the little tandem bike in hopes of getting M a little more used to being on a bike. We have rented a tandem twice - both times was when we were in San Francisco - and M LOVED being on the bike.

But when we come home and tries to ride her own bike, she panics and ends up crying. Bicycle riding in our household is just not a thing of joy.

So, I got an idea to see if we can find a tandem in order to get M more acclimated to riding bikes.

Well, she didn't want to get on because the bike will tilt. She didn't want to get on because she didn't want to go fast. She just kept on making up excuses. So, I did an evil terrible thing. J & I told her that if she would not ride on the bike, we will sell it. She didn't want that, either. So she braved getting on the bike with tears streaming down her face. So, I took her around the loop, all the while M was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was screaming so loud that some of my neighbors came out to see what the racket was all about. I rode the bike to all the places M refused to go. J was watching and encouraged me to keep going. So I did.

Well, I guess it was the best medicine, because M now LOVES riding the bike. Every day last week whenever she got home from school, I would HAVE to take her bike riding.

I guess sometimes we have to terrify our kids for their own good. I just hated having to do it while it was going on.

Knit-In 2007

I belong to the Bluebonnet Knitting Guild of North Texas and we had a knitting event last Saturday. We basically show up at Stacy's Furniture and use their community room. The price is $10, but it's worth it. We get a great goodie bag complete with a 10% off card for Joann's, yarn, craft scissors, a cloth tape, and two project bags. This year the guild asked various members to put on a "Circle of Learning" where we'd teach a new knitting technique. I taught how to bead while you knit. It was fun.

I cast on for my Oat Couture Oregon Vest with some Eggplant Lion Brand Suede. I thought I had met gage, but after I've knitted quite a bit of the vest, I'm off by two stitches, so I think the vest will be smaller than I want. I may have to frog the thing - which isn't good with the "Suede". LB Suede is really a chenille yarn and doesn't frog well. (sigh) I guess I'll be pulling out my calculator to see if I can recover from this.

Disney ride photo's

Ride photo's are fun to look at after you get off the ride, but we rarely buy them. Below are the sum total of the photo's we've ever purchased - and it's really because we think the terror-filled faces are funny.

Reviewed: "An Ice Cold Grave" by Charlaine Harris

This is the latest Harper Connally novel by Charlaine Harris. Harper is called into a small town by a newly elected sheriff to help her find some missing boys. Harper finds them and the killer goes after Harper and lands her in the hospital.

I have to admit that I don't like Harper as much as I like Sookie. Harper seems to be a bit more fragile and more dependant upon her step-brother. I did like the big plot point that happened in this novel - I like it when a writer who dangles a big plot point through several novels finally meets it head on rather than keep on dangling it. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how Ms. Harris will handle this in future novels.

I also have a confession - I think the young black psychic is FAR more interesting than Harper Conally and I'd actually like to see Ms. Harris spin off a series about him.

Reviewed: "A Pawn for a Queen" by Fiona Buckley

I have enjoyed the Ursula Blanchard series. So much, in fact, when my local library didn't have the rest of Ms. Buckley's series, I found them for a reasonable price from on-line and will donate them to the library once I'm done reading them.

A Pawn for a Queen finds Ms. Blanchard a widow once more and is summoned to her girlhood home - the Faldenes - and asked to go after her cousin, Edward, who is working to try to usurp Queen Elizabeth.

General observations of this book: I like where Ursula is in her life. She's not having to be a spy anymore and she's enjoying raising her daughter. Her family, however, brings her back into her former profession. Ursula is shown as a bit of an adventure junkie as she allows herself to be used by the family that really doesn't care for her.

There are some BIG story plot lines in this book. I won't spoil them, here. I'm just glad I pushed through and bought the book.

Summer

Here's the summer panel.

More M Fashion Sense

She loves wearing her baseball socks with dresses and she loves her new sparkly princess shoes.

I love her headstrong sense of what makes her feel pretty.