It's been a while....

Haven't been posting regularly. Sorry about that. I have been extremely busy lately. Have very little time for anything. I will be announcing something in the near future.....It's a surprise. It's part of what has been keeping me so busy. I promise to let you know soon.

In other news, I have finished a book that I would like to review for you!


Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanne Clark

It was wonderful book. I was fortunate enough to listen to the audio version, all 32+ hours of it. I am glad that I chose to listen to this because there are many footnotes within the story that I may have skipped otherwise. At first, these would bother me as I really wanted the story to get going. I felt that the notes were an intrusion. However, after the first CD, I appreciated the information that was given. These little notes helped to give a history of English Magic that was necessary to the story. If you want a synopsis of this book, I will have to disappoint you. Suffice it to say, this book is a must read if you are interested in magic or fantasy. I will be voicing more of my opinion of this book on Knit One Read Too when the discussion begins on May 2.

I also finished another book:

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Yes, this is an "young adult" book, but so is the Harry Potter series. What really drew me to this book was the narrator for the audio version: Brendan Fraser. I had read a review stating that he had done a fantastic job with the narration. I have to admit, it was wonderful. The story was quite good, however, it did not have the character development that I am use to in a story. I am sure that this is due to the fact that it is written for a younger reader. The story was enjoyable and had an interesting view on dragons. I think if I would had read this myself that the story would not have been as fun. If you have the chance to listen to the audio version of this book, I would highly recommend it. I am even looking forward to the next Cornelia Funke book that will be released in August with Mr. Fraser as the narrator.

That is all for now. I will post tomorrow....I promise. I have to update everyone on my knit alongs.

Americanese

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

15% Yankee

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I thought that I would be mostly "General American English." I think this comes from living on the West Coast for most of my life.

I promise to have an acutal knitting post today or tomorrow at the latest. I have been busy with Taxes (yuck!) and will have a surprise for everyone soon!

I've Been a Bad Blogger

It's been a whole week since I last posted. May not seem like a lot, but it is. I usually post 3-4 times a week. This keeps me "honest" with my knitting (I stay on track and actually keep track of what I am knitting! otherwise, I find started projects all over the house!) There are a couple of reasons that I am slow in posting: 1) Daylights savings has really screwed up my clock and I have no idea how late it is until it is time to go to bed; 2) I haven't been home a lot because of the many knitting groups and of course children's activities; and 3) I have been cheating on blogger!!! Cheating on blogger? what could I possibly mean by that?? Well, I have been playing with Typepad. I know it is expensive, but I thought I should at least try it out since so many people have fun with it. If you happen to be a Typepad user, please let me know what you think of your service!!

So, in the past week, what knitting things have been happening? See for yourself:

Shoalwater Shawl-Finished!


Yup, that's me. I'm on our balcony enjoying the view! I finally blocked the shawl and it came out so beautiful. See the close up:

Pattern Detail


Finished size: 64" wide and 39" long, knit with Angel Hair in Black Cherry on size US6 needles. This was a pretty easy pattern. After the initial chart is completed, there are a lot of repeats so it actually goes pretty fast. I hadn't done an I-cord edging before, so I think that I may have done it too tight. The specs in the pattern say that it should be 72" wide. Honestly, I think that would have been too big for me. I am very happy with the finished project. I really wanted to make this after I had seen an ad for Fiber Trends with this pattern highlighted.

I have also finished the socks that I was working on for my husband.

Retro Rib Socks

These were knit using Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wilderness, with some leftover random sock yarn for the heels and toes. I liked this pattern so much that I will be knitting myself a pair soon.

In case you were wondering, this is what I was looking at when I was standing on our balcony:

Spring Is Finally Here


Finally! A sunny weekend! I will be posting more this week. Well, that is the plan anyway!

What happened to my comments?

If you have read my blog in the past few days, you may be wondering what had happened to all of my comments??? Well, I finally did it. I changed over to Haloscan. I kept having a hard time reading comments that people had left for me, how could anyone be leaving any comments? Yes, this means that all of the previous comments are now history, but I did get to read them and I thank everyone for posting them. I could have probably worked out a way to keep both types of comments on my blog (Caitlyn did that), but I am much too lazy to do that! Tomorrow I promise a real post with pictures and everything!