Major Knitter

Holy Afghans Batman!

Thanks so much for all your wonderful ideas and suggestions for afghans that might work for my twelve-year-old Secundogeniture.  After reading your suggestions, and perusing Ravelry, I found that the afghans I liked most all came from one book - Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghans by Norah Gaughan, Margery Winter, and the Berroco Design Team so I quickly ordered a copy for myself.

I need to have Secundogeniture look through the suggestions you sent and the patterns in this book to see which he likes best.  I'll keep you posted.

Random Knitting and Movie Watching

I've been resting and relaxing and generally catching up on my Zzzzz's this past week.  It's been absolutely heavenly.  Knitting has been slow, but there has been some knitting.

But even more than knitting, I've been watching some movies and mini-series on Netflix.  Guess which one I'm totally hooked on?

Wow!  I just love this miniseries - Pillars of the Earth.  I can hardly wait for the big finale this Friday.  Oops - I can't watch it on Friday night, so I'll have to wait until it becomes available on Netflix sometime next week.  

I bought the book by Ken Follett several years back, but never got around to reading it.  

I guess it will be going back onto the bedside table for future reading.

OK - here's some little known trivia.  Donald Sutherland starred in another Ken Follett book-turned-movie about thirty years ago - Eye of the Needle.  I loved this book when I read it in 1987 - and loved the movie when I saw it some time later.  So maybe I'll be watching and knitting some more in the next little while.  But if I go radio silent, it's probably because I'm reading this thousand page tome.

 

I Judged This Book By Its Cover

I went to Barnes & Noble to buy a summer read, and the book I wanted wasn't available.  In the meantime, this cover caught my eye.

 

I don't know if I'll like the book, but I sure was drawn to the handknit blanket on the cover.
 

Twilight Knitting

I didn't get to see the latest Twilight movie since I was at camp.  Somehow it didn't seem right to abandon my post and 13 young men for a night out with my favorite vampires.  But Franklin did justice to the combination of Twi-hard meets Knitter in his June 30th post.  If you haven't seen it yet, click HERE.  

Andrew Davies is a Genius

I think I have a new crush.  You already know of my favorite BBC mini-series, Pride and Prejudice, but I've recently watched more and more BBC time period mini-series and have fallen in love with the characters, cinematography, and storytelling, time and time again.  It wasn't until recently that I realized a common thread in all the series I have been enjoying.  In fact, this past week, I watched Charles Dickens' Bleak House and saw that Andrew Davies received top billing. 

After further investigation, I realized that my favorite mini-series of late have all been written for the screen by screenwriter Andrew Davies.

• Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth)
• Little Dorrit
• Daniel Deronda
• Brideshead Revisted
• Northanger Abbey
• Bridget Jones' Diary
• Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason
• The Way We Live Now
• Wives and Daughters
• Middlemarch

These are just a few.  I think it's safe to say that Andrew Davies is the master of the time period production of English classics.  He brings them to life in such amazing detail and makes them utterly believable.  I'm not sure which series to watch next.

Water For Elephants

I bought this book - Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen - at a friend's suggestion almost as soon as it came out four years ago and it's been sitting on my bedside table ever since.  Perhaps because there wasn't a single book summary anywhere to be found on the jacket of the book to lure me into its intoxicating pages.  That's too bad, because this week, I finally opened the book and started reading.  It was so fascinating that I could scarcely put it down.

The narrator, Jacob Jankowski, a ninety or ninety-three year old man (he can no longer remember) relives the memories of his twenties spent as a veterinarian for the Benzini Bros traveling circus as the residents of the assisted living facility where he lives anxiously await the arrival of the traveling circus.  This delightful historical novel will enchant and delight you and take you back to a very happy time and place.

Little Bee

My blogless friend Kerry stopped by the other day and dropped off two books she thought I might like.  I quickly devoured the first book she loaned me - Little Bee by Chris Cleave.  

I read this book in no time flat, as it was hard to put down.  This intriguing tale of two women who meet happenstance on a beach in Nigeria will change the course of both their lives forever.  

I highly recommend this book for your next read.  You'll be glad you did.

Oh, We're From Iowa, Iowa!

Here's a song from my youth.  I bet many of you Iowans out there have never even heard it.

Oh, we're from Iowa, Iowa!
Best state in the land
It is very grand
Oh, we're from Iowa, Iowa!
That's where the tall corn grows!

-- Trick or Treat stanza of the Iowa Corn Song, circa 1957.

The reason this song is in my head is because I just finished reading the autobiographical Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart - the story of two University of Iowa girls' life changing summer in the Big Apple with jobs they miraculously landed as the first female pages on the floors of Tiffany in the summer of 1946.  It was an endearing tale for any young girl with wanderlust out to tackle the world.

Hmmmm.  No wonder I liked this book.

Time and Again

My knitting speed has slowed down a bit due to a few distractions.  I'm the Queen of Distractions.  I know, you thought I was the Queen of the Wallaby.  I'm that, too.  But I love a good book.  I love getting lost in it.  I love the way the mind's eye is like a movie screen with all these wonderful characters portrayed on the screen in our very own mind.  My latest distraction is a book recommended by a neighbor and friend Laura and her daughter Jayne: Time and Again by Jack Finney.

This book was first published when I was in pre-school.  So I definitely didn't know about it the first time around.  I'm so glad that Laura shared this gem with me.  I love New York and time travel books, so this was a double treat.  

Did you read this book?  What did you think?  

How to Knit a Love Song

So my new package from Amazon arrived last night.  I'm so excited.  Why?  Because it's a book I've been following for many years, from idea to writing, to re-writing, to acceptance, meeting with the agent, publishing, and finally the long awaited release date.  It's written by Yarn-a-Go-Go blogger Rachael Herron and it's a romance that involves, what else, knitting!

 

How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron promises to be a great read.  Here's the jacket description

Abigail is more than ready for a change when she inherits a cottage from her beloved mentor, knitting guru Eliza Carpenter. Leaving the oppressive city for the greener pastures of a small California beach town, she intends to turn her cozy little windfall into a knitting shop and spend her days spinning, designing, and purling. But she's not going to be welcomed with open arms by her new neighbor. Eliza's disgruntled nephew, the gorgeous Cade, now owns everything surrounding Abigail's ramshackle new home, and he views this sexy city girl as an unwanted interloper.

But chemistry working overtime is drawing two very different people closer than they ever thought possible. And when the past that Abigail thought she'd left behind comes calling, she'll have to somehow learn to trust her handsome adversary with much more than just her heart.

So I know you'll excuse me today when I choose to read about Abigail and Cade and knitting rather than actually knitting.  Hurry up and buy your copy today.