Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to go to a knitting event featuring Stephanie Pearl-McPhee at Webs. It was awesome. She gave a talk at the Clarion, and then was signing books at the yarn store afterwards. I really wish my carpal tunnel hadn't been acting up, 'cause it would have been fun to be knitting, like practically everyone else. I bought Knitting Rules, and had it signed, which was cool. And I bought about $60 worth of yarn and needles...which I totally needed, so don't go thinking that I was impulsive, or that I have no self control. Read both Knitting Rules and At Knit's End (which I borrowed from J, as I don't have my own copy yet) this week. I liked both of them very much, and I especially enjoyed the quotes from AKE, which I made a game of trying to figure out where they were from...because I am silly like that. Knitting Rules on the other hand has inspired me to dig into my sock yarn stash and try my hand at socks. Again. Because my first two pairs were both uncomfortable and lumpy...and I am convinced it is the yarn. So I'm going to try using some actual sock yarn. Nice, yummy, beautiful merino sock yarn. We'll see how it goes. This brings me to 19 books and 7377 pages.

Attack of the Yarn! I spent some time last night cleaning out the yarn storage unit. Again. This is part of my attempt to make my bedroom look less like something exploded in there. 

Car Yarn: This pile is all yarn that, for one reason or another, has been driving around in my car with me for God only knows how long.

 

Knitpicks order: This is my most recent order from Knitpicks, which arrived in the mail yesterday, long after I had forgotten I had ordered it.

 Webs yarn: This is the yarn that I have bought on my two most recent trips to Webs. A strong argument that I should not be allowed to go there anymore. This would be 3 hanks of Malabrigo, 3 Hanks of Schaefer Anne, 3 balls Reynolds Odyssey, 5 hanks of Classic Elite Premiere, and 8 skeins of Silk Garden (which is funny, 'cause I could have sworn I bought 10). 

 All the yarn: This is just to give you an idea of how much yarn there is. It made a two foot high pile the length of my bed. And this doesn't include the bag of scraps and acrylic yarns I put aside for toys and other small projects, or the bag of yarn that I am giving away. What can I say? I am a sick woman. I think the solution is that I need to learn to knit faster. Either that, or quit my job.

 Clapotis I am about halfway through the straight section (as indicated by the pattern), but I am using a fingering weight yarn, and I don't think it's going to be long enough unless I had another 6-10 repeats...so I have a long way to go, yet. But it's striping up real pretty. 

 Gwydion investigates

 Gywdion helps out In the way that he always does....by laying down directly on top of whatever it is I am trying to look at, work on, read, or otherwise engage myself with.

I really do mean to keep up with this better. I have no excuse for not writing, except for my own laziness. However, I haven't been entirely lazy. I have been reading a lot, among other things. Garth Nix - Across the Wall 305 p. A story set in the world of the Abhorsen Trilogy, and a Choose Your Own Adventure spoof are just some of the highlights of this clever, entertaining, and thoroughly enjoyable book. Jennifer Donnelly - A Northern Light 396 p. A charming book set against the backdrop of a real murder in 1906. The main character is quite well done, though some of the other characters are lacking in dimension. An engaging book. Garth Nix - The Ragwitch 391 p. Nix's children are precocious, but not stereotypically so, which makes them much more interesting to read about that many other characters. Like all of Nix's work, I found this book hard to put down. Edith Pattou - East 507 p. I'm a sucker for retellings of fairy tales, but this one is particularly good. Surprising and well-written, and drawing from history and mythology as well as the original fairy tale, to weave a multi-dimensional tale. Libba Bray - A Great and Terrible Beauty 432 p. Picked up on a whim because I liked the title. Reminds me of the gothic novels of which I am very fond. I look forward to reading the sequel. Elliot Perlman - Seven Types of Ambiguity 640 p. Perlman is clearly intelligent, but he seem to need to show off his intelligent, which is both distracting, and sometimes boring. I'm still not sure whether or not I liked this book. Cathy Hapka - Lost: Endangered Species 195 p. Ummm...yeah, okay, this is a silly, silly book...as books made from television shows often are. David Laskin - The Children's Blizzard 295 p. Real life tragedies: murder, flood, hurricane, blizzards, you name it...I want to read about it. This was an excellent exploration of the events which lead up to the blizzard, and the reasons why it turned so deadly. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee - Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter 240 p. Love. Love. Love this book. I laughed out loud. Really. If you knit, you should read this (that is, if you haven't already...in which case, you should read it again). Jasper Fforde - The Well of Lost Plots 416 p. There are parts of this series that I really, really like. Things that are clever, or innovative, or just plain fun. And then, sometimes, it seems to get too wrapped up in the gimmick and kind of loses me. So far this year, I have read 17 books, totalling 6833 pages. Go me!

The 2nd moose sweater is done.

   

Finished sweater for beanie moose (shown with scissors for size comparison).

   

Moose is very happy to have a new sweater, and immediately models it for me.

   

Moose gets back to work. Poor little naked mooses hide in the background.

   

Better watch out, Moose. I think your fellow desk animals may be jealous of your spiffy new sweater.

I got suckered into making another moose sweater. I didn't have any more yarn to make one like the stripey one I did for ladygwyn's moose, so I let my co-worker pick from a couple of different balls of crappy acrylic yarn in colors I don't like that I got for free and was never going to use for anything...with the result that I am now making a tiny variegate pink, baby blue, and lilac sweater. For a beanie moose. Should be done by the end of this week, and then I will post pics. In the meantime you can imagine my joy at knitting something in baby pink.

I have been decidedly un-crafty lately. I haven't started on my bunny ornaments, and there's only two weeks 'til Easter, so I guess I won't be hanging them up at the office. I have worked on my Clapotis a little bit, but am still only on my third of what will probably be 20 repeats of the straight section of the pattern. And I had this brilliant idea to make a felt Pisanka (Pisanky?) but ran out of steam before it was finished.

Hmmph. I am a bad, bad crafter.