Bazaar Left Overs!!

Thank you to everyone who shopped my table at the South Jefferson Elementary Holiday Bazaar!! It was so much fun! I do have a few leftovers if anyone is interested message or email me!!
Dish Cloths $7
Dish Scrubs $3
Coffee Cozy $5

"I think there is just one kind of folks. Folks."

This quote embodies why I love Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird so much. This book showed me, at the ripe age of 15, that required school reading could actually be readable, could inspire compassion, and could make you take a long hard look at your life.

Why am I telling you this now?? Well with Thanksgiving in 4 days and another compelling author offering 19 books for me to do so, why wouldn't sing the praises of the book I am most thankful for...

Thank You Beth Revis ( author of Across the Universe which will renew your faith in YA fiction if you stopped at Twilight) for this opportunity to win some awesome titles!!

A Snowy Halloween Weekend!!

Happy Halloween!! Unfortunately my party plans and Abby Shuto costume were thwarted by a freak snow storm in OCTOBER!!! I did get some much needed knitting and movie time though!!

It was a weekend of Halloween treats, movies, and knitting with the girls and Stephen and even though I was bummed about not getting to wear my lab coat and chucks out and about, we had a great time!!

Knitting Up Loose Ends...

So life has stuck me again and kept me away from blogging... I have had a summer of library, kids, and absentee husband!!! But luckily after a much needed beach week and some time to re-group I am back!!

I have had some time to finish up some knitting projects including a super easy "boa" scarf for Kaylyn. She likes to be super fabulous on her birthday which was the 19th of September so I made this for her to wear to school!

Kaylyn's Boa Scarf

I have some exciting library/school/knitting projects coming up so be sure to stay tuned!!

WWKIPFlyer

WWKIPFlyer, a photo by whitneyj210 on Flickr.

Warning.... rant coming

I don't get this whole trolling thing... (definition here). I thought the beauty of the internet was that you could be free to share and debate ideas. I love a good healthy debate, but what's the purpose of saying crappy things for the sake of saying crappy things. I can't believe that there are actually people who have the time and the energy to "troll" around the internet looking for places to make random nasty comments.

I was particularly upset about it this morning when it disrupted my only quiet 15 mommy minutes when both kids are occupied and I can take my coffee and stalk various sites. Being that facebook has many of my favorites in one place I usually stop there. One of said favorites is usually the knitty page where there is sure to be a knitting article, pattern update, and/or pretty FO picture. Sadly today it was bombarded with needless copyright and security spats. I respect knitty's right to air their opinion on such topics but what gets me ranting is the unnecessary nasty comments one makes purely because they disagree and have no life. Enter the 'troll' that one person who is sure to stomp their feet and demand "look at me look at me I'm a bitch"

Please for the sanity of others if you have an opinion state it and move on. Unless you have groundbreaking information that the rest of us don't you are not going to change anyone's mind. I sincerely hope that you have better things to do.

On the bright side... I love these trolls!

Knitting Scarves...

I like to knit scarves... it takes awhile, you usually use thick, scratchy yarn, and the stitches can sometimes be boring, but I find it relaxing to the brain. Dishcloths are done too quickly, hats are fun but I always want to make them fancy, and socks almost always end up being chucked in anger behind my couch! I'm beginning to think that I'm amongst a minority in the knitting world who actually like to knit scarves. Maybe because length can be a problem... more than half of mine that have been gifted have come out too short, but it doesn't seem to phase me... I'm ready to force them upon unexpecting victims!!
Lately I've been working on a fair isle hat to practice my technique... but in order to rest my chart weary mind I have been making some progress on my Neverending Scarf!!

I started this scarf the night I went into the hospital to be induced into labor with Alice. Since she decided to cause trouble and not wait for the drugs I didn't get a whole lot done on it. Now and then I pick it back up and work on it. I love the yarn, and I really like the stitch pattern. I don't know if I'll ever stop knitting on it, I could just add random stash yarn onto it until I have a scarf that covers me head to toe!!




By the way... whenever I think of this scarf and sometimes while I knit it... I of course think of this song and maybe even hum a few bars! Warning this video is pretty 80stastic!!

I'm entering a contest!!

So I saw this contest on Goodreads.com and then on Beth Revis' Blog. All I have to do is tell you lovely people about it and then I'm entered!! I've already read Beth's book Across the Universe and it was great!! I also have Matched on my "To Read" list. I haven't heard much about the other books, but I figure if I can't use them the library could!!  Click the link and read all about it!!

Hi, I'm Whitney and I'm a SciFi lover....

 

So I don’t know why I’ve ignored this fact for so long... I avoid the SciFi section at the bookstore. I skip over the SciFi channel unless provoked. In short I deprive my totally obvious inner nerd for no rational reason!!

The signs are all there... LOST, Fringe, Charlaine Harris, Stephen King, even Lewis Carroll!! The final kick in the head notification came this weekend when I read Beth Revis’ Across the Universe. It’s total teenaged science fiction at it’s best and I loved every minute of it. Again, I avoided it like the plaque... “Ughhh cryogentically frozen space people no thank you” even though Amazon, Livingsocial, and Goodreads all screamed their recommendations at me and tons of knitting librarians in my RaveLibrarians group sang it’s praises! I simply thought I knew my reading tastes better!! I was mistaken!



From Wikipedia

“Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with the impact of imagined innovations in science or technology, often in a futuristic setting.[1][2][3]
It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation). Exploring the consequences of such differences is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas".[4] Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possibilities.[5]
The settings for science fiction are often contrary to known reality, but the majority of science fiction relies on a considerable degree of suspension of disbelief, which is facilitated in the reader's mind by potential scientific    explanations or solutions to various fictional elements.”

Even the definition sounds like something I would read... now I’m left to ponder what other mental blocks I’ve placed on myself...

A Note on eReaders!

So... I love my iPod, I love my iPhone, and I love to read... all this put together means I MUST definitely want an eReader... well not necessarily.

I admit that an eReader does seem pretty convenient , and the fact that you can store lots and lots of eBooks in one little device seems pretty cool but I love books. I love lots of pages bound together and seeing how far I am by how my book mark is dividing those pages. I like seeing the creativity in the cover art, and page composition in person where I can feel the paper and how heavy the book is. I mean lets face it if you’re going to commit to reading Under the Dome, you should have to lug that big ole sucker around!!  I feel like the eReader shows you a picture or a digital image of the actual book. It just doesn’t excite me.

That being said, if I was a traveler I could definitely see the perks. Easily transporting lots of stories and being able to delete and add more with the touch of a button. If I was on the go a lot I would be all for it!

If I did someday decide to betray my beloved books... First I would immediately nix the Amazon Kindle(s) not a single one of them are compatible with Library content and um hello I do in fact work in a library!! The Nook(s) look ok except that space is a little iffy there, I would want lots and lots of stories on there, plus stuff for Kaylyn, plus stuff to try and tempt Stephen.... tons of space needed!  I guess I would continue with my iRevolution and get an iPad... if for no other reason so that I could pretend that I got it for other apps and for fancy presentation making and then secretly read my eBooks in shame.

PS I got some nifty eReader comparison notes from Wikipedia if you are so inclined.

**A late edition... with my iPhone 4 that I got over the weekend, I received an iBooks App... I have yet to decide if I want to try it out or not... 


*Picture above from BCNN1

A little ball of yarn...

So once upon a time I thought... "Hey I do a lot of baby knitting, I should buy some baby yarn..." and proceded to buy the biggest skein of baby yarn I could find... it was 1 pound of yarn and 1020 yards!!!! (Hence the name pound of love) It was mint green, soft (although acrylic) and washable and many many babies got a little bit of it!

Now, 2 years and 10 projects later I am down to this little tiny ball of yarn!!! Alice's Snazzy Vest was the final project before re-winding... and now I don't know what to do with this little scrap... suggestions??  It can't be more than 50 yards...

Blog on Blogs

So what blogs do you read?  I’m always amazed at the different varieties of writing there is out  there, especially where the internet is concerned. In the matter of an hour you can learn new recipes, find a new knitting pattern, read reviews on the latest Stephen King (great BTW!) and then sum it all up in your own space of the WWW!

I’m always interested in the blogs and articles that I’m missing out there. For instance I just recently discovered the wonderful insight and banter of the Librarian in Black!  A wonderful look at traditional vs digitized libraries and how they are meshing nicely! I believe she is somewhat of a local celebrity in her hometown and her easy flowing posts show why! I also discovered that an all time favorite actor, Wallace Shawn, is a fantastic writer with a book of essays out!!

So now I ask, what else am I missing? What is your daily internet reading (besides Facebook and Ravelry which I am also addicted to)?

Yay I found it!!!

Yay!! Finally a book that can explain to me how to fair isle without pulling and how to read lace charts without going nuts and how to...... no no, I will never steek so lets just forget that one!

I just got this book over the weekend and I love it! There are some really cute patterns (of course) and it explains some of the intricate knitting techniques without the stereo instruction style that so many knitting books take on!

I am almost caught up with my promised knitting so I can soon tackle some of the pretty pretty patterns in this book... My current favorite is the Colorful Cable Hat which I am thinking of for a certain friend displaced in a certain windy city... and also I am in love with Nip Tuck which is super cute, but the super cute model that it is on makes me worry about how it will look on me.

I am also itching to try an actual lace shawl (ie not k2tog yo but an actual chart) but I keep putting it off because I have this to knit and that to read and mostly because I'm scared... But there are some pretty lace designs in here too!

All in all a great book! Debbie Stoller doesn't disappoint!