All sorts of interesting little bits and bobs this morning.
Jeanne has a funny post about making some absolutely adorable felted catnip mice.
Jenn suspects her cat Cocoa has been reading about Chaos while Jenn’s at work.
SRP: Sunday I finished reading Treasure Forest by Cat Bordhi, 288 pages. Winner of the 2004 Nautilus Award. I was familiar with Cat Bordhi’s Socks Soar… and moebius books, so when I heard she had also written a fantasy novel, I was intrigued. It’s a sweet story, with bits of spinning and knitting intertwined with spiritual, new agey bits.
Some of you know I read while I knit. I firmly believe that reading while knitting is a skill that can be learned (with many thanks to WildKnits for convincing me of that!). However, it really helps to have the right bookstand. I use a ReadUpon, which is a small pillow with a clear plastic bookholder attached. Unfortunately, the company that made this bookstand appears to have gone out of business. There are some other bookstands that might work – but please note that I haven’t seen or tried any of these, ok?!
The BookGem might work, if paired with a pillow. The Peeramid might work, although I’m not sure that it will hold the book open for hands-free reading. The Reader’s Laplander Lap Desk seems a bit big (and expensive) and I’m not sure it will give you a good reading angle. The Hold-and-Read might work, if paired with a pillow, but looks like it can only handle paperbacks. If anyone has other ideas, I’d love to hear them!
Shannon of Yarn and Chocolate had a contest to collect ideas for thrifty knitting and I won the lovely skein of Mountain Colors pictured below. Thanks, Shannon! (The skein is the bit on the right side of the picture…)
I’ve never tried to read a book while I knit, although I sometimes knit while I’m reading stuff on the computer. Oh, I might have to look into book holders.
I didn’t know you read while you knit. Very cool. I’ll have to give that a try one day. 🙂
I will have to check out some of those bookstand options. I would love to read while knitting.
The Mountain Colors is the smaller black thing in the picture without the tail??
You are so multi-talented, reading and knitting at the same time.
I often just prop the book in my lap and keep it open with a weight (remote control or something like that). This only works with hardbacks, though. The combination pillow/ bookstand sounds like a great idea- I will have to keep my eyes peeled.
Chaos looks very handsome and shiny and barely yarn-y at all. 🙂
I’m going to have to try one of the book stands (probably Book Gem) see if it works. Thanks for the tip.
Love the colors in the wool you won, luckky thing.
Read AND knit?? hmmm.. my two favorite hobbies at once? What a grand idea 🙂
I almost choked on my cookie when I read that caption!!!
hilarious!!!
you always win cool stuff!
It’s hard to tell the difference between the yarn and the cat! Glad it got there.
I got good enough at crocheting to do it while reading. I guess I have something to work toward with my knitting!
I’ve used something that my hubby calls “the blackjack”. It’s a leather thing with heavy weights at each end of a strip. Great for hard-backs, magazines or large format paperbacks. Not so good on the “pocket sized” paperbacks.
I hear you can pre-draft cat fur using a clothes dryer, Chaos, so you’d better watch out and leave mommy’s socks alone.
Watch out Chaos – you might just fall off the edge!
I read and knit the old fashined way – download books to my iPod from Audible.com iPod and listen while I knit. And listen while I walk, drive, work, while small children blather away at me….
I’m all for Audible….though I know some people think that’s cheating.
How fun to win something!!! I’ll be having a contest soon, any good ideas?
Oooh, like the new digs.
Hey….the new site looks good.
I sit with one leg at an angle and the book balanced on my tummy which seems to work really well whilst knitting. It doesn’t work when Ophelia also decides that she wants to be where the book is. I have a large number of books with toothmarks on them as she gets annoyed with the book and starts to munch on them.
I’ve also started listening to the radio at the same time as well. How is that for multi-tasking?
Never in my life will I be able to read and knit. I’m sort of a spaz that way.
welcome to the new home!
Yay! I can comment! 🙂
p.s. you need to install the Akismet plug-in so you don’t have to moderate comments. It works great!
and have fun going through and making post categories!
Congratulations on your new move! How will you decorate? ;o) j/k! Pretty yarn from the contest too!
I listen to public radio sometimes when I knit – other than that maybe I do need to look into a bookstand. I hardly ever finish full books anymore, especially with two cats around and a husband who likes to have all of the lights off when we watch movies :o(
Yay! A new internet home! It looks fabulous, too.
I read when I knit, but only simple things. The knitting, that is. I can read anything. I just can’t knit lace or fair isle while reading.
Congrats on the new site! I love that pic of Chaos. Makes him look rather small though – or is that a rather large hank of yarn 😉
I love the new site!!! It looks awesome & is really easy to navigate.
I wish I was a better knitreader. Maybe I need to look into a set up like you have!
Cool! You’ve moved! It looks so pretty.
And still – which one is Chaos and which is the skein of yarn? So very close (not). 😉
Love the new site! And as always love Chaos.
Oooh, I am a link – now the pressure is on! ;->
I find that rubberbands on small paperbacks work – can play havoc with my allergies if I try to carry them around on my wrist, but on the edges of books they do a passable job. Really works well if you own the book (or it is old) and the binding is flexible.
Lace and reading is possible – slow but possible.
Oh my goodness!!! It looks like you’ve done it!
Congrats on your new home!!
Woohoo for your own domain! WordPress is fairly easy to use, in my experience – hopefully it’ll be a smooth transition for you!
I use WordPress so let me know if you need any help! Whoo hoo for your own domain!
Hey, nice digs! Woo hoo!
Cool new blog home! What on earth is Chaos looking down at? He knows he’s just a couple inches off the floor, right? Walter Mitty Kitty!
Lookin’ good!
I LOVE THE NEW SITE!!!
What a beautiful shiny puss he is!
Nice work, like the site. I had some difficulties with akismet so I got spam karma 2 instead and it works great. WP and I have had our little issues, but I still love it.
Good luck here at your new place! It’ll be fun to see your site evolve as you acclimate to the new location.
I just prop the book up with my feet! It worked very well when I had to read 5 books a week for school last fall! One of these pillows may be a good investment, however 😉
Congrats on the new site, it looks great. Love the pictures.
Your new place looks great!
And, I’ve tried reading while I knit, but my problem is that I’m VERY particular about caring for my books, and do everything I can to avoid cracking the spine for as long as possible. (I have some books I’ve read five or more times that still barely look like they’ve been opened.) Most of the book-holders out there require the spine of the book to be OPEN, and unless it’s a cooperative, large-enough-not-to-be-damaged book . . . that’s just not going to happen. I will read magazines while I knit, though!