2008 Round-Up

2008 is over and 2009 has begun. The NHL Winter Classic is on the tube and I'm wrapping up the year on the 'nets.

Knit in 2008
2 Appliqued Purses as Christmas gifts for two nieces

An Odessa hat, a Coronet Hat and a Laced Edge Hat for co-workers who shaved their head for St. Baldrick's.

I knit Straight-Laced Socks for a niece for Christmas, socks for a baby and Pomatomus for me.

Hats were knit for my mom who also shaved her head for St. Baldrick's this year. She recieved a Lace-Edged Hat, a Lace Leaf Hat and a Wavy Cable Hat.

I knit a Kitty, a 5-Hr Baby Sweater and a Helena baby sweater for babies this year.
My newest niece (the recipient of the Helena sweater) also recieved a Christmas Stocking with gingerbread men on it.

A sweet niece asked for a pink hat this year for her birthday and I obliged her.

Scarves were requested by the daughter for her and her now-fiance. Those were a Cable & Garter scarf and a plain stockinette scarf, both lined with black fleece.

Also knitted were 2 coffee cozies and 20 dishcloths. The dishcloths were my fall-back knitting.



Books read in 2008
I didn't read nearly as many books as last year. But I did read enough to average a smidge over 1 book a week. In total, 66 books for a total of 21,215 pages.

In no particular order, they're listed below. And yes, I did read some title more than once. Usually when they were part of a series.

Jennifer Crusie's Anyone But You

Katie Fforde's Restoring Grace, Practically Perfect, Stately Pursuits, Paradise Fields, Life Skills (I thoroughly enjoy Fforde's books; they're comedic, relateable and I enjoy the English aspect)

Jayne Ann Krentz' White Lies, Second Sight, Ghost Hunter, White Lies, Sizzle and Burn (Krent and her alter ego, Amanda Quick, provide some of my favorite reads. She has a series going right now that spans both nom de plumes)

JA Jance's Exit Wounds, Tombstone Courage, Desert Heat (Joanna Brady is a character I enjoy greatly)

Linda Howard's Up Close and Dangerous, Drop Dead Gorgeous (I keep intending to give up Linda Howard but hope is a powerful force)

Mary Jane Maffini's The Cluttered Corpse (A new cozy mystery writer and I enjoy the organizational tips scattered throughout)

Mary Kruger's Knit Fast, Die Young (knitting, mystery. 'Nuff said)

Nora Roberts' High Noon, The Hollow, Blood Brothers, The Hollow, Dead of Night, Waiting for Nick, The Hollow, The Pagan Stone (Nora is a favorite. I read and re-read The Hollow because I loved the characters)

JD Robb's Creation in Death, Strangers in Death (Lt. Eve Dallas is a strong character and I've enjoyed watching her and her "family" evolve")

Donna Andrews's No Nest for the Wicket, The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (cozy murder mysteries, unusual family and Meg keeps it under control)

Yvonne Lehman's Coffee Rings (Christian chick lit, I tried to read more of this type of book this year)

Laura Jensen Walker's Reconstructing Natalie, Miss Invisible, Dreaming in Technicolor, Dreaming in Black & White (this is Christian chick lit I absolutely love)

Sandra Byrd's Let Them Eat Cake (more Christian chick lit and a character I could relate to)

Charles Baxter's The Feast of Love (I haven't seen the movie, but I enjoyed this book. I'm having trouble picturing Greg Kinnear in it)

Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother (Brit lit. Enjoyed)

Amanda Quick's The River Knows, The Third Circle, Rendezvous, Dangerous, Reckless, Ravished, Deception (see Jayne Ann Krentz above)

Julie Garwood's Shadow Dance (part of a wide reaching series)

Jill Churchill's The Accidental Florist (Meh. I usually enjoy Churchill's books about Jane, but this one wasn't as engaging)

Lt. Carey Cash's A Table in the Presence (wonderful book written by a chaplain who was in Iraq)

Maggie Sefton's Dying to Sell, Killer Stitch (more cozy mysteries)

Tamara Leigh's Perfecting Kate (Christian chick lit and a story line about accepting ourselves as God made us)

Susan Meissner's The Remedy for Regret (Christian chick lit)

Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero (I'd heard about this on the BookLounge podcast, not my usual reading, but that's a good thing)

Sarah Vowell's Partly Cloudy Patriot, Assasination Vacation (love her sense of humor, her ability to pull things together)

Susan May Warren's Everything's Coming Up Josey (little bit of romance and some screwball comedy)

Julie Carobini's Chocolate Beach (and the Christian chick lit continues. This character was closer to my age though)

Jo Dereske's Catalogue of Death (I'd seen this author's books when we were in Seaside and tried it out from the library. I'll continue to read these cozies)

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next: First Among Sequels (love love love Thursday Next)

Adam Felber's Schrödinger's Ball (I was wandering around the library and came across this book. I love NPR's Wait Wait and he's a frequent guest)

Monica Ferris' Knitting Bones (just keeping up with the series)

Polly Evans' Kiwis Might Fly (a fun travelogue about her adventures riding a motorcycle through New Zealand)

Jan Burke's Kidnapped (this took me forever to read, but it's actually very good. I just kept getting distracted)

Kate Jacobs' The Friday Night Knitting Club (very enjoyable, I cried)

Debbie Macomber's Back on Blossom Street (part of the continuing Blossom Street series)

Kathy Reichs' Monday Mourning (love Tempe, love the science, love the Bones spin-off)

Now to wipe the sidebar clean and start 2009!

Happy New Year!

A knitting FO and some weather

First, the good news: I finished the Christmas stocking.



Mailed it out to Chicago so that Miss G could have her first Christmas with a handknit stocking made by Auntie Gina. Knit on Denise size 8s with Wintuck and Red Heart yarns. Gingerbread boys are knit in Reynolds Utopia and the faces used the Red Heart. Red gumdrop buttons and the string of candy and the other little candies are miniature ornaments from JoAnn's.

Since I mailed it out, we had a little bit of snowfall that melted quickly in Vancouver.


But since that early snowfall this past week, we had a bit more yesterday:


Definitely not as much as one sister was expecting in Central Washington (12 inches!), but this morning we had a coating of ice as well.


Not what we wanted since Mom was driving up from San Diego. I tried to get out of PDX yesterday to fly to Sacramento and drive up the rest of the way with her, but had my flight cancelled due to Southwest's lack of working de-icers. Mom figured she'd then spend the night at her sister's home and drive up today.

Instead, she kept driving and ended up at my brother's home in Gladstone at 2am. She did stop along the way to put on chains and she'll drive the rest of the way to our house today. It's only a 30-minute drive in good weather, so it'll probably take twice that today.

But it sure is pretty when you don't need to go out.

Christmas knitting

Working on a Christmas stocking for Gigi:



It's knit with size 8 needles and used Red Heart White & Wintuk Christmas Red for the stocking itself. I scrounged up some remnants of Reynolds Utopia for the gingerbread man. His gumdrops are buttons and the face was sewn on with the RH White. And he has a little bit of stuffing to make him pop out. There's a similar gingerbread man (no stuffing though) on the other side.

I just need to put her name on it and it'll hit the mail this week :) I'm tempted to figure out how to add "candies" to the stocking as additional embellishments, though.

I'm also knitting a pair of socks for Miss S:



Size 2 needles using Knitpicks now discontinued Dancing sock yarn in Ballet. The pattern is from Knit Socks! and it's called Straight Laced. I'm just about to start the toe decreases on this first sock and then I'll have to work hard to avoid Second Sock Syndrome.

Knitting

Another quick update (I know! TWICE in the same week!)

Knitting: I've cast on for a pair of Pomatomus socks from Knitty. I'm using stashed yarn:



I'm working on the first sock and I've finished the 2nd repeat of the pattern on the leg. I started into the heel and I somehow managed to lose a stitch. It's not dropped but I managed to still lose it. I'm debating ripping back the 3 inches I've knit to re-do the heel or just adding a stitch to bring it back to the count I need.

Now that I type this, I know I'm going to rip. There's a bit of a hole where the problem occurred and it would be a bigger hassle to work around it. I'm thinking of gifting these and have a person in mind and it would be better to do it right.

Ravelry: I have been sucked into the wonder that is Ravelry's stash notebook. I've loaded quite a bit of stash in there - mostly the good stuff, certainly not all of the acrylics. It has an export button to send my stash out to XL and I did. I've determined I really, really need to 1) knit from stash and 2) clear out the crap. I have over 19 miles of yarn - and remember, not everything is listed.

Now my stash is certainly not as big as what others have, but it is spurring me on to get it under control and organized. Or at least get rid of the stuff I don't want. Or intend to use.

Progress!

Well, I have lost 6 pounds since I first weighed in on January 1st. 5 pounds if I use my "official" weigh-in day of Friday, January 4.

I'm tracking my weight at healthylivingonline.com - it's free from iVillage, has a food tracker, an exercise tracker, offers menus and exercise programs and did I mention it's free? That's my kind of price right now.

My exercising has fallen off the radar. I've been fighting a crappy cold and cough for the last 2 weeks. I'm hoping to get back in to the gym this weekend for at least a little bit of cardio.

I have been doing some knitting as well. I've knit 7 dishclothes in various colors of kitchen cotton and 2 coffee cozies in some Cascade Quattro I had left over from making felted slippers.

Right now I'm working on some gloves for a friend in a pretty blue BabyGarn, size 2 needles, from the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.

I did manage to get some reading done in January as well. A total of 13 books for the month:

Katie Fforde's Restoring Grace: a library book that caught my eye. English author so there were a few expressions that were different, but I enjoyed it. A nice, easy read about a woman who divorced, was living in her family home that held memories of her marriage but was about to be making changes to the home and herself that she didn't expect. I'll be looking to check out her other books the library carries.

Jennifer Crusie's Anyone But You: quick & easy library book. A divorced woman (again!) meets a younger man and falls in love. She thinks she's too old, he thinks she feels he's too immature, goofy dog helps brings them together.

Jayne Ann Krentz's White Lies: this is a new book for her Arcane Society series. Ok, it's only the second, but there are more to come. Paranormal aspect, modern setting. Good characters, nice setup for a continuing issue through the series. I really enjoy Krentz whether she writes as Krentz, Amanda Quick or Jayne Castle. This was a library book, but I think I'll need to purchase it for myself.

J.A. Jance's Exit Wounds: so glad I found Jance again. This is part of her Sheriff Joanna Brady series and centers around a polygamist cult and women who exit the life. Love Joanna and the strong character she is in a traditionally male role. Another library book that will need to be purchased.

Linda Howard's Up Close and Dangerous: I keep giving Howard another chance to pull me back. This was OK. A young widow whose adult step-kids hate her ends up crashing into remote mountains on a private plane. Of course, the groundwork is laid for the stepson to be the bad guy, but you know it's not him. I don't believe the relationship she develops with the pilot and it's just an OK book. Too bad, I really liked her earlier stuff. A library book that won't be making the transition to purchased for the personal library.

Amanda Quick's The River Knows: one of Krentz's historical romances. I enjoy her female characters - they're intelligent, plucky and no fainting misses. Fun read and I might consider buying it later or maybe just keep buying it from the library.

Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother: I spotted this the moment I went into the library and snatched it up. I'd been wanting to read this and enjoyed reading the story of a man slowly going insane while the family around him struggles with their own troubles. If I spot this at Costco, I just might buy it.

Jill Churchill's The Accidental Florist: I bought this since I enjoy Churchill's Jane Jeffrey series. Rather a cosy mystery series, this one was different. Not so much focus on the mystery this time; the focus was more on the changing circumstances of Jane as she got ready to marry. OK, but not the best of the series.

Jayne Castle's Ghost Hunter: Krentz writes her futuristic books under the Castle name. This book continues her Harmony series. The series is a little different from her others I have and I wasn't sure I was going to keep the series. But what I like is that characters find that their paranormal development complement one another and they typically need the other's abilities to get through the situation.

Julie Garwood's Shadow Dance: Love Julie Garwood. Fun historicals that have made me laugh out loud. Her contemporary stuff is good as well. This one looks like it might be a bridge between the two. The setting is contemporary and fits within the series she's built around the Buchanan's, but it looks like it's going to go back towards her historicals (like Krentz and her Arcane Society). Anyhoo, it's a good book and I'm really looking forward to Shadow Music, her next book that's currently out in hardcover which seems to cover the historical mystery from Shadow Dance.

JA Jance's Desert Heat: This is the first book of the Joanna Brady series (I started in the middle, but the earliest book I could find at the library at the time). How Joanna gets pulled into the law enforcement field and the circumstances surrounding the loss of her husband. And I lucked out - the book I bought at Powell's is autographed!

Amanda Quick's Second Sight: This is the first of the Arcane Society series. I'd read it before from the library, but bought it. I wanted to read the lead book in the series to see how it was set up for the ones to come. I do enjoy her historicals.

Kathy Reichs' Monday Mourning: I enjoy these books more than I enjoy Cornwell's books that came post-Body Farm. I'm trying to read them in order and this one continues to provide interesting science, further explain the complexity of Tempe's emotions regarding her daughter, her friends and her love life. I enjoy the twists she has on cases that she worked on or that inspired the books she writes. If you liked any of Cornwell's earlier books, I would definitely suggest you read Reichs.