katiesbooks.org

Hi!! How are you?? I haven’t seen you in so long, oh my God! I know, I know, I’ve been awful. It’s so good to see you, though - you look great! Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Reading

• I’m reading the third book in the original Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey. Good stuff, man!
• My latest from LT Early Reviews was Olive Kitteridge - I found it so-so. You can find my review on LT, and I may post a bit more about it here.
• I’ve just begun Jodi Picoult’s Vanishing Acts, and it’s promising to be another pleaser.
• I read Libba Bray’s Rebel Angels over the holiday - and I preferred it to the first in the series

I’m working in general on being nice to myself, and that includes not judging my own reading. I wish I was reading all highbrow literary fiction, heavy-hitting history, poetry both modern and ancient, but nope. I’m reading mysteries and historical fiction and young adult and fantasies. I think I’ll always have at least a little problem with this - but I’m trying!

Crafting

• One of my biggest craft projects recently has been the little gifts I gave out to my co-workers. I made paper bird ornaments with pretty decorative papers and lots of glitter, and attached them to Paper Source pillow boxes filled with a Trader Joe’s nut mix. It was more work than I thought it would be, but also a lot of fun. And the leftover birds went on my tree!
• The log cabin throw has slowed down a lot, but I’m still moving. Hopefully I’ll be on the last round soon.
• I’ve been making a lot of bookmarks, and I’m going to use my Christmas gift certificates to get more papercrafting materials. Hopefully some neat stuff will be posted soon.

Speaking of posting, one of the reasons I’ve been posting so little recently is the photo issue. I’m finding taking/managing/posting photos to be a real pain. I’m going to look around and see if anyone has any good advice about workflows for this…

Oh! And I’m on Ravelry finally - I’m ladypeter there, as I am on LT.

Sometimes I feel like the weirdest mix of the masculine and feminine, and I think that this collision is illustrated in my blog reading, which is split between content that’s aimed specifically at women and other content that’s aimed pretty much at men. I mean, this is what I’ve read today:

Cute Overload
All my knitting sites, including Mason Dixon knitting
All my general craft sites, headlined by the Craft Magazine blog

Then there’s BoingBoing, not totally masculine, but getting there.

And then, what’s this? My new blogroll category, infrastructure! Here’s where I have completely gone over the edge into Boy Country:

Telstar Logistics, the blog about “The Technology of Land, Air, Sea, Space”, etc. I spent a few happy minutes listening to their audio of a pissed-off JFK ground traffic controller trying to figure out who’s supposed to be going where, when. Awesome!

There’s aslo gCaptain (”for mariners, by mariners”), from which I followed a link today to Popular Mechanics. They had an infographic about a container ship captain.

Man, it’s not that I’m a boy, it’s that I’m a complete, 50/50 boy/girl hybrid. Are other people like this? I can think of one friend, I guess, who’s similar (points if you can self-identify, person!). But it seems like an anomaly in our culture. Guess I should just enjoy what I enjoy, but it creates a bit of a cultural disconnect.

This makes me remember a craft project in which I actually brought together these two sides of myself: I made an embroidery based on an architectural drawing by Robert Mallet-Stevens:

Now I want to create more things like this, and bring together male and female!

Where have I been?

Well, things have been a been stressful here at katiesbooks HQ the last few weeks. I apologise for the sad lack of posts. Here’s what I’ve been reading and making:

Reading:
I’ve had trouble finding things I can really get into. I had high hopes for Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight”, but man, I was displeased. I was right in there until I learned that this was going to be about a grand conflict between vampires and warewolves, and that the heroine would have romantic interests on both sides of the conflict. Haven’t I read this before??? Now my real question is, what is the ur-text for this narrative? Who thought it up first?

Thank God for Naomi Novik, though. “Empire of Ivory” is a total joy. That’s got me occupied for now, and I have my next Maisie Dobbs and Kushiel’s Legacy books waiting in the wings. I’ve also got a good-looking Mary Stewart romantic thriller. A steady diet of reading pleasure!

Crafts:
Work on the log cabin throw goes on apace. I slacked off a little last week, but I’m back in action now. I’m a few rows shy of halfway through my second of three bands, and it’s getting huge! It’s already a generous lap-warmer while I’m knitting.

I’m also well into the leg of my first sock. I’m knitting it cuff-down on two circular needles, and it is a small miracle. To see what is obviously a nascent sock coming off my needles is something I’m still marveling at. May this be the first of many!

I have materials for some Christmas crafts that are taking some time to get off the ground. Maybe this weekend while M is studying…

Do I really want to knit socks? It’s like certain books: I want to have knitted socks. But actually knitting them, that’s no fun right now. I’m doing OK with a sport-weight yarn on size twos, but knitting with sock yarn is like using toothpicks to knit hair. But what comes out is so pretty! 

Well, I officially cast on for a first sock using baby cashmerino and twos. I can really only do a round or two before I have to go back to my lovely, cushy worsted yarn on nines. Speaking of which, I have to go BACK to Windsor Button for 2 more balls of that nice worsted for my throw. I mis-purchased on Tuesday. I feel really embarrassed, like they’ll think, “Back again? Do you have a compulsive shopping problem?” Sigh. I weren’t so damn self-conscious.

Last Friday I bought a bunch of yarns and made some samples for the log cabin throw. The first one I did was different from any of the designs below, and I fell in love with it. So I’ve settled on that for my final design. It’s a traditional log cabin design that uses a bunch of the colors below, but incorporates some of the tonal aspect of chromatic blues. I’ll get pics up soon. I laundered it on Sunday to see how it held up, especially since I used two different brands of yarn. It seems like there’s basically no difference between Lion Brand Wool-ease and Plymouth Yarn’s Encore. I do prefer Encore, but Lion had this mid-green that I couldn’t find in the Encore worsted line.

So anyways, I brought the sample in yesterday to show my knitting co-worker. I had it in my pocket all day, and I kept taking it out and looking at it and fingering it. Do you think there’s a market for the mini-security blanket? I think I may have hit on something. I love totems, but I usually think of them as jewelry; a lot of my pendants and rings have totemic value. What about a little knitted piece that you can carry in your pocket? Hmmmmm. He-LO Etsy product!

Oh! Speaking of which, I’m totally copying this design  from the Paper Bluebird for personal holiday ornaments. I don’t even feel like it’s stealing, since it’s a very traditional design. I’m loving the look of embellished felt these days. I first noticed it here. Must. Work. on more. Plush.

And. Windsor Button was having a sale on all yarn, so I got a bargain when I bought tons of yarn for the throw yesterday. Of course, I also bought a ball of sock yarn, two balls of baby cashmerino, also for socks, and two balls of cashmerino chunky for a modified version of Russian Winter from Stitch and Bitch Nation. And some DPNs. And a row counter. And maybe one or two other things. All things considered, I’m lucky it came out to less than $130.00. Yeesh.

I feel like kind of a joiner for jumping on the knitting band wagon. I authentically love it, but it’s so trendy right now that it’s hard for it to feel authentic.

Pics to come…

So I’ve decided to throw out the design for my throw (heh). It came out waaay too dark. I’ve been playing with new designs for my log cabin throw, and results are below. Vote for your favorite! I know which one I think I’ll go with, but first I’m going to pick up more balls of Encore and play (in very small format) this weekend. So tell me what you think:

Edited:

He-LO Swish! I think I’m in love… 

Ah! I’ve discovered another leetle difficulty with being a large knitter: if I want to make a Mason Dixon Perfect Sweater, which I do, and I want to use the Cascade 200 they recommend, which I do, I’ll have to buy nine skeins of it. NINE SKEINS. That’s $90! Son of a bitch. I know, I know, this is my entertainment too, but man! $90 is rough. Maybe Knit Picks has a good substitute…

I’m almost done with the test log-cabin. This is basically a cat-sized throw I’m making to test the pattern. I’m going to do one more round with blue, then another round of grey, and I’ll be done. You can compare the pic to the design I posted below. I think it’s pretty close, aside from being a messy beginner piece, and the fact that I made the test rectangular instead of square. Which shape should the final version be?

A basket-weave scarf I’m working on for myself:

A chunky rib scarf for M:

An easy Suar-N-Cream hand towel with braided loop for hanging that I just bound off:

Am I reading my stats aright? Do I have German readers? Are you native Germans or ex-pats? As a 5/8 German myself, I offer a shout-out to you in the form of some traditional German handcrafts:

Image curtesy of Black Forest Gifts, where I’m hoping to do a lot of shopping soon! My family collected tons of Wendt & Kuhn and other Erzgebirge when I was a kid, so I have a real soft spot for it.

Anyways, greetings, Germans, and how the heck did you get here in the first place?