Short Story Writing Month

Because I really don't have any time on my hands, I've signed up for Short Story Writing Month it's kind of a prelude to NaNoWriMo and it should be fun. I'm trying to write more.

I got my Ravelry Summer Camp Swap package today, but I can't find the doodad that makes my camera and my computer be friends at the moment, so pictures tomorrow! :D

Oh, and I think the second volume of the Bookswap will start off around the 21st of September, so be thinking. (maybe a back-to-school theme? So classics?)

LOLCat

Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

54% Affectionate, 27% Excitable, 57% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.


To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Book Review: Water for the Elephants

Water for Elephants: A Novel

This novel does what many novels fail to do: it combines several different, and distinct themes and time periods in a way that is incredibly natural. Jacob Jankowski is the narrator, although he narrates from two very different perspectives, himself at the age of ninety (or ninety-three) and twenty-three. At somewhere over ninety, he is in a nursing home being cared for and condescended to in a way that he does not care for at all. At twenty-three he is own his own for the first time, his parents dead and having run away from his veterinary school exams.

In switching between both points of view, Gruen creates two different worlds, both of which have their own population and vernaculars: the circus and the nursing home. I had never thought of the particulars of a nineteen-thirties circus and found her descriptions to be absolutely fascinating and achingly brutal at times. In particular, the emphasis of the prohibition interested me, simply because I'd never really thought about it before.

Although the plot within Jacob's circus years can seem a bit contrived at times, particularly the climax scene, it's not entirely too far-fetched, and a nice love story.

The nursing home scenes open up another world of honesty, and I thought the overall message about treatment of the old, who had once been so independent was brilliant. The foreshadowing and interlocking of the two worlds was also well done.

I listened to this on audio, (audible link: and the narrators were fantastic. They gave Jacob two voices, but at the same time, kept him the same person. I would definitely recommend listening to the book.

What's Up Boredom?

So... I'm alone in a sorority house. Yeah. Because apparently we were supposed to have house manager training, but that was before the Greek Adviser left. Funny story, that one.

My big sister (sorority.... although she's not technically IN my sorority, but she fits the bill anyway), just left for two years in the Peace Corps and not many other people have moved onto campus.

The Center for Civic Engagement has put me off a few times too, as far as working on organizing our knitting club, but I have emailed Local Yarn Stores for any aid they can give us.

I finished the second half of the cables on the Seaman Scarf, so I hope to get it finished before classes start on the 28th, and get started on Wicked! :D It'll probably be slow-going, because it won't be my in-class knit, which will mean having two projects on the needles, regularly *gasp!*

Hmm... that's about it. More when my life gets more interesting.

Swatching, Baking and I should be Packing!

As I said before, the finishing of my socks and all meant that it was time to swatch for Wicked! I love the yarn I chose, and my stitch gauge is right on! It seemed to grow a bit in blocking, which means I'll probably do the smallest size, since Wicked seems to run large. My row gauge is off by a bit, but most of it is measured in inches, so that's okay!


Today I also baked a bit. I made dinner for my mom, actually, my first time really cooking from scratch! (I don't count steaks on the Foreman, I could do that at eleven). I've baked from scratch before, but chicken terayoki is new. (Thank you Cooking Outside the Pizza Box: Easy Recipes for Today's College Student)

I even got my brother in on the plan, he took my little brother for the afternoon (Brother 1 is 35 with a kid of his own) and Mom didn't know until this morning :D

And the only thing tht went wrong was that I lost a battle with a can of mandarin oranges!


The brownies were from:Baking with Splenda and they tasted really good. I had to used our whipped butter though, instead of margarine, and so they were a little crumbly and hard to spread as batter. Still taste good. They have M&Ms, chocolate chips and nuts in them :D

I love baking, being able to go from this: to this: (yes, i know, lumpy. But good)

I'm planning on baking something about once a week once at school, so keep an eye out for that!

Speaking of school. I leave tomorrow. And yet I'm sitting here on my computer (In my defense, I had to reformat it and I'm getting everything stored again).

Mom and I have been sewing skirts for me, but the elastic she got at Jo Ann's didn't spring back well, so she'll have to start over and send them to me. Plus her surger didn't work. So much for really learning to sew this summer.

Summer.... which is basically over. Dang. I really can't believe it.

Oh well, onward to a new semester!

FO Jeans Socks!

These socks are knit from the yarn my LJ Secret Pal sent me (thanks Lauren!). They're knit in Knitty's toe-up pattern, exactly, but still a little loose in the foot and the heel's long. I think I'm going to try a backwards flap heel next time. Still, they fit. Poor darlings were so streatched out after I wore them yesterday though!



 Next up is finishing the scarf I started before Europe, and then swatching for Wicked!

Unidentified Sock Yarn

I did a lot knitting related today that wasn't really knitting. (Don't worry, I'm getting to it!)

 I wound the yarn for my Wicked (tis so pretty) it has more pink in it than I thought, but that's not a bad thing. This was while I was in the process of organizing my stash and putting the yarn from Europe in it.

When I was archiving it on Ravelry I realized that this yarn has apparently had a ballband switch:


seeing as it is definitely NOT Surf Color. Can someone identify? (I realize it's a bad picture, i'll try and take a better one when there is more light)

 Still getting used to Wordpress. I do like a lot of things better than Blogger, but the photo interface sucks a bit. Still, can't have everything.

Comment if your reading this so I can make sure people know I  switched??

Wordpress!

I decided to switch to wordpress, so that I could seperate out things like book reviews and FOs and give them their own pages (look up!). I like them a lot, except for the somewhat limited customization features, but I think my blog looks pretty, so we're good.

PLEASE update your bloglines and RSS feeds! I'd hate to lose commenters and readers!

Book Review: I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I picked up this book at a Books ETC in London, so the cover picture up there is from Amazon UK, although the link is to Amazon.com. I bought it because the review on the top was from JK Rowling. It wasn't until I was well into it that I realized that it was written in the forties. That matters not, of course, and I was struck by how timeless the story was.

It's told in first perosn, by Cassandra. At first she is still childish, depsite having finished school and watches the events around her somewhat naively. As she wishes for something exciting to happen in a life that at first seems fantastic (living in a castle!) and turns out to be quite woeful (her family is broke, her writer father hasn't written in years.).

 When the unexpected happens, and two eligable gentlemen walk into their lives the true Austen-esque themes come into play. Cassandra, though, is well-read and notes how much see and her sister seem to be living the lives of one of Austen's heroines, with some marked differences.

As Cassandra grows up through the year she writes about in her diary, the reader sees the change in her. The book is so richly detailed that every character's story is well-told, from her father to the hired boy (who hasn't been paid in years) who is absolutely devoted to Cassandra. Deeper themes of religion, selfishness, love and even a commentary on the difference between the US and England are woven into the narrative.

In the end, i can't recommend this book enough. I won't spoil the ending, but I have to say I didn't even mind that Cassandra turned out more like Austen than one of Austen's heroines.

Book Review: Knitting For Peace

Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time

I've been wanting this book all summer, but only got around to ordering it right before I went to Europe, and it was waiting for me when I got home.

 I read it quickly and found it very inspiring; there were a lot of charities listed that I would love to knit for. My few complaints are that I would have liked to see more basic patterns, for novice knitters, since I will be working on converting others to our knitting club. Also, some of the stories felt a bit repetative, which probably just goes to show how many people need help, because this means that the world can support several charities to help them.

FO: Lizard Ridge Afghan

Pattern from Knitty Fall 2006

Started: January 2007 Finished August 2007



Pattern Notes/Mods: I love this pattern, and the afghan is gorgeous! One thing I did differently, though, was lay the blocks out so that they flow down instead of across, because the afghan is larger that way. Also, i did a garter stitch edging with mitered corners to make the edge a bit more frame like. I sewed tbe blocks together with mattress stitch (Techniques with Thersea)


What I really love about this pattern is that each block is separate and thus each tells a story. There's one that I bought at my dad's in the spring. Three that Mom and I bought before she left me back at school. There's the one fro m my Secret Pal and the one I was knitting when my friends and I got coffee and knit.



On Ravelry, I have tons of blog entries devoted to this thing, because where ever I went a square went.


(complete yarn details here on Ravelry)

And now it's done. What's a girl to do with herself?

Swaps

Thanks to Ravelry I'm now in two swaps that end before October. I'm excited, and while I know that my packages aren't the best-best, since I am poor college kid, i have fun with them.

The Ravelry summer camp swap will be awesome, and the Caffine addicts swap will be fun too. :) (and Bunkmate, probably my school address!)

I just got revealed for my LJ Secret Pal (yay!) and that was a great way to spend the summmer. Missed the deadline for Secret Pal 11, but I figure I'm too broke anyway.

Swaps are fun, because it's always a surpries, you know? And less guilt with the buying stuff too, because it's not for you!

Not much to report

Not much to tell. I think there will be a bigger post with a large FO probably tomorrow, but today not much. I'm just trying to get through a couple projects before starting my Wicked.

Life's kind of boring before I head back to school in a week and a half :D

France

So, there's probably less to say about France, just because the majority of the trip was spent speaking french with other 18-25 year olds, so naturally much of the time was spent philosophizing and drinking European beer (sooo much better than in the US, but still kind of icky).

But, let's see. Mom and I went to the Lovre:

(note Mom's hand blocking my shot!)


And then I was sent off on my own on a great adventure to Avignon! Where there is a Palais du Pape, and my sock yarn was used to put cornrows in the hair of an awesome Romanian guy.


(Billet du train)




I also learned that I can rhapsodize in French about an atrocious version of King Lear to which I paid about thirty minutes of full attention. Yay, theatre skills.

And, memorably for me, during an excursion to the Photo Exhibition in Arles I actually agreed to use a wheelchair, and didn't end up staying with the adults the whole time. As in, my friends didn't care, just as my mother had said for years.

This one's with the 3d glasses required for one of the exhibits. (two polish girls, our group leader who's French me and a turk :))


And this one, with Nesli, my best friend there.

Martyna, a polish girl who is one of the sweetest people ever.


I was sad to leave, even though our living conditions were less than ideal. We lived in an elementary school, which equals outdoor portable showers, and toilets which are also outdoors, though not portapotties thank God.


And then, back to Paris with Mom, a glass of champagne in celebration at the Hilton (she's getting better about the alcohol thing, and of course it was legal there) and back to the states.

I loved Europe, particularly London and Avignon. Paris wasn't for me. It made me sad to see the beautiful old buildings with flashy modern shops below, and the people reminded me of NYC. Not rude, just too busy to be bothered.

Tomorrow back to your regularly scheduled knitting blog, and I do have some things to share :D