Lots of picks!

I haven't been very good at keeping up with my picks, so here are the highlights of the last few months.

On the music front, I have been really enjoying the soundtrack to the movie, August Rush. I just watched it recently, and while it's rather improbable and a little sentimental for my taste, the music has been filling my soul these last few weeks. I like the mix of styles, and I love the sounds of August's Rhapsody.

The other album that I have been listening to a lot is the newest Need to Breath album, Rivers in the Wasteland. So many of there songs are encouraging to where I am myself in my own wasteland, and I love that their sound is still what I fell in love with. Excellent album; I can't recommend it enough.

Lastly, I downloaded the full album that I've had a damaged copy of since college, Watkins Ale by the Baltimore Consort. If you love Medieval music like I do, than this is a great place to start. It dosen't sound too 'rough' while still being period accurate.

In books, I have come across some really good ones. First, Winter, the final chapter of the Lunar Chronicles finally came out, and I gobbled it down in a matter of days. I liked the ending; while I found it very hard to see the depths that all the beloved characters had to descend before things could swing up, that made their sacrifice worth it. I think we do kids a huge disservice by 'protecting' them from everything sad. After all, “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” Neil Gaiman paraphrasing G. K. Chesterson.

Finally, I have been waffling about whether or not to buy this book, finally took the plunge, and didn't regret it for one instant. This has been likened to steam-punk Hornblower; steam-punk yes, Hornblower in feel no, but a brilliantly written tale of a duty bound captain, yes. Awesome cats? Yes! Crystals? Yes! Great story? When does the next one come out--I don't think I can wait. This it the first steam-punk novel I've read (other that Wells and Verne), and it ROCKED. READ. IT.

Holding off the crazy with a fork...

Not a lot to report even after two weeks; I strained my right hand and arm, so I haven't been able to put in the crafting time that I would have liked. Plus, there is a lot of Christmas crafting going on, and I don't want to spoil people's surprises. That being said, here is the baby cat hat I made: not sure if I like the fun fur or not...

I've been working a bit on my tree skirt, trying to finish off my Ned scarf, working on a cross stitch gift, and a knit gift that I don't see how I'm going to get done in time, plus doing a lot of work for school. I am so tired all the time now; I'm just hoping that there is enough nap time amidst the ton of work I need to do this holiday to let me get somewhat caught up. Next year is going to be an endurance run, and I'm already so tired.

Parting shot: I caught these amazing clouds while walking on the airstrip; I love watching a good storm roll in!

In which I make pretty things!

It has been a long time since I puttered about with a dye pot, but since it’s half-term this Monday and Tuesday, I figured I could splurge and take one afternoon and evening completely off from marking. I had the remnants of a dried out food coloring paste from the kitchen that I wanted to play with, so I soaked some yarn and a bit of alpaca roving in water and vinegar while I mixed up the food coloring with some more water and vinegar.

I soaked one skein of yarn properly for over an hour, and the other one I didn’t soak as long as I wanted it to take up the dye unevenly. The less soaked yarn went straight into the pot to kettle dye, and the more soaked yarn I wound around a stick of bamboo which I put over the top of the pot. I wanted to try my hand at a gradient dye job, so about every five minutes I would go in and turn the stick to let a little more yarn into the dye bath.

The alpaca roving I had was stuffed in an old nylon, also thoroughly soaked, and I just let that cook away in the hot dye. Overall, I am quite pleased with the results! Too bad that was the last of that food coloring… I tried to make sure to heat it for long enough for the dye to set properly, and when I rinsed the yarn very little washed out.

Now I have the yarn I want for the project that I have been desperately wanting to cast on…

And cast on I feel I can since I finished two things this week!

On Halloween night Beth and I really pulled out all the party stops…or something like it! I was a pirate for the evening,

and we made lattes, ate Nibbs, and watched Ghostbusters while knitting. Do we know how to party or what? Neither of us had seen that particular part of pop culture before…can’t say that it was life changing, but for what it was, it was fun!

In knitting news I finally finished the everlasting mittens! I had enough green to do the thumbs in the checkered pattern, so I ripped out the first one and fixed it. Not bad; I’d do that pattern again, but not for awhile…

I also finished a little hat with cat ears for a friend’s new baby—adorbs! I might have to make a few more of these… I opted out of embroidering the cat face on the hat; I think that puts it over the top. I have another one that I tried that involves fun fur…picture to follow.

I'm hoping to do a bit of spinning over half-term, but we'll have to see how things go. Signing off for now!

Parting shot: Java is too adorbs sometimes for her own good...