Knitting Sandwich

yarn along 06.11.14

 joining up with ginnie at small things for this week's yarn along:

 crocheting: i warned you this would be the summer of crochet afghans and i wasn't kidding!  here's my latest, a neat ripple (pattern by lucy of attic24 (rav link)) worked up in my most favorite of all the acrylic yarns... vanna!  it's making me endlessly happy!

reading: i learned about the macken charm from kate, who posted a review of it a year or so ago on her blog.  kate lives on vancouver island, where the book is set,  i went on my honeymoon on vancouver island and have such fond memories of it that i wanted to read this book solely because of that.  

the macken charm is a light and easy read due mainly to mr. hodgin's mastery of prose.  this man can write, the words just roll off the page, you flow along his word choices as easily as floating down a river.  the characters are all just enough over the top to make them lovable, and surprisingly believable.   the enjoyment i'm finding in his writing style has made some other literary areas he struggles with (his less than subtle foreshadowing, and the over the top symbolism with the crows) more bearable.  i'm not quite finished with the book, but have enjoyed it thus far and would definitely recommend it for a summer reading list!

now my friends, what are y'all reading and knitting?!?

-melissa

yarn along 03.06.13

joining up with ginny at small things for this week's yarn along:

reading: the dispossessed by ursula k. leguin.  to say that i am enjoying this book would be a gross understatement.  it is precisely what science fiction should be (in my estimation anyway), a story set in the future on a distant planet yet it is a commentary on modern society and the choices we as a people continue to make.  what makes this book so amazing is leguin doesn't take the easy way out, instead challenging the conception of what a utopian society would be, from any side you wish to approach.  

the fact that she wrote the book in 1974 and it is still applicable today (perhaps even more so, given the manipulations of our government and our move towards globalization) make me believe even stronger than i did before that ms. leguin is nothing short of a visionary genius.

so yes, i'd recommend you read this book!

crocheting:  oh i am attempting to sate the granny square beast that has welled up in my soul since the begining of my new square-a-month afghan.  lily's school has a silent auction fundraiser in a month and i decided that my donation this year would be a granny square afghan.  now i can granny square to my heart's content and not foil the square-a-month plan already established.  

-melissa

yarn along 05.23.12

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along:

it's lily bookclub week again!  yay!  this month her choice was ramona and her mother by beverly cleary and my choice was oddfellow's orphanage by emily winfield martin of black apple fame.

the ramona books are some of my absolute favorites from my childhood and i don't think there are words for how happy it makes me to watch lily devouring them for the first time.  it simply warms my heart.

i am a huge fan of ms. emily winfield martin's art, so when she announced she was publishing a children's book based on her oddfellow's orphanage series of paintings i immediately pre-ordered myself a copy.  the book did not disappoint - it is charming and sweet and magical and absolutely perfect!  

i have to share one more photo because it is so completely charming:

and knitting?   well it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks but i've been managing to squeeze in some time to knit here and there.  i'm working on my may square for my square-a-month blanket for bundles of joy.  i should be able to finish it up today (although i've been saying that for the past three days!  sometimes life just gets in the way of knitting!)

hope you're all having a wonderful week!  what are you reading right now?

-melissa

yarn along 05.02.12

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along:

reading: mocking jay by suzanne collins - brian and i are about half-way through the final installation of the hunger games trilogy.  and oh goodness things are heating up!!  if brian and i weren't reading this together i totally would have stayed up half the night last night finishing the book!

crocheting: an andalucia skirt (rav link) for lily.  i love how quickly crochet goes - i began this project only monday and already have made quite a bit of progress.  i'm loving the fan pattern too - it's very zen-inducing and soothing to knit.  (or crochet, as it were.)

what are y'all reading this week?

-melissa

the lily-mama bookclub

our second meeting of the lily-mama bookclub was yesterday.  we opened with drinks and a snack.

had an enlightening discussion about this month's two books.

and rounded out the meeting with a game of sequence.

i love this bookclub.  and i'll tell you - it's not because of the chocolate cake!  (although that cake was amazing!)

-melissa

yarn along 04.18.12

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along.

this week has found me thoroughly enjoying myself as i knit up a pile of dishcloths (these are for a gift, so i can't show you any more specifics), and reading my books for lily's book club.  

this month she chose wolves of beyond - frost wolf and i chose children of the noisy village by astrid lindgren.  lily has finished both of them already, but i'm only half way through frost wolf.  bookclub doesn't meet until next week though, so i should be able to make it!

-melissa

Score!

My awesome Aunt Pat cleared out a bookcase and invited Sabrina and me over to see if we would like any of the children's books up for grabs. Pat is a retired elementary teacher and book lover. Lucky for us her grandchildren are too old and/or have a house full of books. We had a great time reading and playing and literally came home with a trunk full of books.

And puzzles and even some new paint brushes. Sabrina loves to paint so she insisted we use the new brushes first.

There is only one thing she loves more than painting with brushes.

That is painting with her hands.

Thank you Aunt Pat!

-Lindsey

yarn along 04.04.12

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along.

this week finds me spinning up some very sheepishly lovely fiber from smokey mountain fibers.  it will be for the back of my handspun logcabin cushion cover, but as i was spinning last night my mind was a whirl (pun totally intended) with ideas and things i wanted to spin up.  so it's fair to say i may have recaught the spinning bug.

and reading.... ah i have finally climbed aboard the hunger games bandwagon!  brian and i are reading this together (which means he reads out loud while i knit or spin, as the case may be) and we just began last night.  he actually gave me the book for christmas but we had to (a)finish listening to dance with dragons (b)listen to the final book in the inheritance cycle (c)have a addictive marathon viewing of the first season of game of thrones and now with all that out of the way we are ready to dive into the hunger games. when we finish the book maybe we'll go on a date and see the movie!

-melissa

yarn along 03.14.12 - kittycat edition

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along.

this week i am rippling along (pattern: neat ripple by lucy at attic24 - rav link) and have just finished reading the cats of rockville station by jean craighead george.  the book is my pick for the new bookclub that lily has created.  here are the "rules:" there are only two members - lily and i - and we each read a book, then trade and read the other person's book.  then we meet at the coffee shop, eat a giant cookie and talk about the books.  

we're supposed to have our first meeting next wednesday after school and we still need to trade.  she keeps changing her choice of books though (every book she finishes she decides is the book she wants to choose), so i need to pin her down before i start reading.

and speaking of cats..... here's some completely adorable shots i got of peapod this past weekend:

books, yarn, and cats... what more could you ask for?

-melissa

yarn along 02.08.12

joining up with ginny at small things for the weekly yarn along.

this week on the needles is a like sleeves for kids (rav link) that will be for lily's birthday.  after letting lily chose whatever pattern she wanted for last year's birthday sweater (and having to knit the neverending ruffle because of that) this year i decided to show her just one pattern and ask her if she liked it.

luckily for me, she did.  not only does it not have a giant ruffle, it doesn't even have sleeves!  it should knit up quickly (and be super cute to boot!)

and the book?  oh goodness am i ever excited!!  it's an early birthday present for me and just arrived yesterday.  i haven't started it yet, but i am already dreaming of tearing out all my grass and growing potatoes in my front yard!  bring on the suburban farming revolution!!!

and the pig?  oh that's just the piggy bank my parents got from their bank when i was born.  i love her.  

-melissa