doldrums

Ah, the anguish of finishing the final book in a long series! I've just been aimlessly wandering through the first few pages of a couple of different books, but nothing seems to be calling out to be read.

Oh, bother!

The ultimate WIP

Though up until now, this blog has mainly functioned as a way for me to keep track of which books I read when, I've decided to branch out a bit. I plan to gush about knitting considerably more, deposit my students' witticisms for all to see, and, perhaps most importantly, keep track of progress on our new abode.

We'll be renting this little hovel for a song. It's just down the road from the monastery, where Pete works and studies. We haven't seen the inside yet, but I'll be there in a couple of weeks to case the joint. After that, the work begins. I'll spend my Christmas break there, cleaning, painting, and generally making it inhabitable. Stay tuned!

happy birthday!

My darling Muiche has just had her baby! I'm taking a break from my shrug to whip up some slightly wonky striped socks for him.

The little one is destined for literary greatness, as he shares his birthday with both L.M. Montgomery and Mark Twain.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Mark Twain absolutely detested Jane Austen's work!

Observe:

Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

Oh, Mark Twain...I only wonder why you keep rereading it then!

¯\~(°_0)~/¯

My wedding shrug is finally taking shape! I love the above emoticon--can you tell that it's supposed to be someone shrugging?
Pattern: Two-Toned Ribbed Shrug by Stefanie Japel from the book Fitted Knits

Yarn: 4 skeins of an aran weight pure white angora/wool blend (Lush by Classic Elite Yarns)
1 skein of white lace-weight mohair-sparkly nonsense (Gossamer by Karabella)

Inspiration: My wedding dress is strapless and thus utterly scandalous by Orthodox standards. Something had to be done.

I chose a simple shrug pattern and luxurious yarn with a subtle halo to soften the look a bit, but knew from the beginning that the ribbing was too casual for my dress. Lace wouldn't stand up on its own to provide the dramatic high neck I was after, so I began looking everywhere for ideas. The vertical ruffles on the skirt of my dress seemed a great place to start. The pattern for this ruffly knitty scarf, Latifa, by Jillian Moreno, taught me how to make ruffles. This shrug by reflectionsbyds on etsy has the perfect neckline, which I'll try to recreate on my own.

Now to finish the other sleeve and start experimenting!

For grown-ups only

I got Pete a volume of Roald Dahl's short stories after I saw that a whole shelf in his childhood bedroom was filled with tattered copies of Dahl's children's books. These have a similar flavor, and are thoroughly creepy and have plenty of twists. As we drove to and from the city yesterday, I read a few to him. I have a feeling we've started a tradition.

Catching up

It's impossible to remember all the books I've read in the near year between posting, but here are a few notable ones:

My school's little dusty library, which has been shut up for a few years now, supplied most of my choices. One day at summer camp, during the little ones' nap, I had this irresistible urge to devour a book, so I grabbed Little House in the Big Woods, swallowed it whole and proceeded to gallop through the rest of Little House series. I spent the fall with Anne & co. As always, I began by idolizing her, found myself beginning to get annoyed with her, and just in time, one of her Jonah days would sweep her back into my affections.

I just finished Rilla of Ingleside on Friday and immediately began The Blue Castle at Suzie's insistence. So far, Valancy is much more interesting than her ridiculous name implies!