Category Archives: Reading

Project Spectrum, Randonymity, Reading

Little purple houses for you and me

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Bethe’s cat Pugsley was fine with wearing bibs – maybe because of the catnip bribe?!

SRP update: Wreck the Halls by Sarah Graves, 320 pages. Another Home Repair Is Homicide mystery – these are light light light, but I’m enjoying them anyway.

Ok, as promised and to finish off Project Spectrum purples right, I present two more purple houses. First, the less purple house – I’m particularly fond of how bowling balls are used along the sidewalk. (Click on the pictures see them larger.)

Next, the purple stucco two doors down, which is the most unapologeticaly purple house I’ve ever seen!

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this utterly un-purple house on the next block, which I could have used during PS April!

Once upon a time, I owned a purple Escort station wagon. I loved that car. Alas, it rewarded my love by throwing a rod through critical engine bits (probably an important life lesson there, eh?). Here’s a very bad picture of me with the dead and dusty Escort, as I prepared to remove my stuff from it.

Speaking of cars, this auto repair place a few blocks from where I live has great purple signs. Sorry about the photo quality! I took this 6 am Saturday, as I headed out of town to the cabin. I wasn’t up to playing around with camera settings until after the caffeine took hold many miles later!

Chaos survived my being gone just fine.

“I demand popcorn to compensate me for the emotional trauma of worrying about you!”
Alongs, Project Spectrum, Randonymity, Reading

KisS KisS

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Although I’ve been rather quiet about it, I’m participating in the Knit Sock Kit Swap (KSKS). I had to be sort of sneaky about the whole thing because my swap target was Mrs Pao and I didn’t want her to figure that out. But now that she’s received her swap package, I can talk about it – especially since it was such a Project Spectrum kit! 🙂

I asked Scout to dye a special skein of yarn for Mrs Pao, incorporating her favorite colors of black and purple (yes, yes, I know, those are my favorite colors, too, but I was ever so good and didn’t keep the lovely skein of yarn). The absolutely perfect Stormy Chaos colorway reminds me of Lorna’s Laces Black Purl and Koigu #305.

The bag was knitted from black Tahki Capri, a sadly discontinued Egyptian cotton tape yarn, using the Two Old Bags’ Pamela bag pattern. I can’t sew worth anything, but I dug out some swirly purple silk jersey and sewed a bag lining by hand. I have my very own Pamela bag from the same yarn (although not lined… yet) and think it’s perfect for carrying around a sock, since the bag handle loops so handily around the wrist. As soon as Mrs Pao’s router is playing nice again, I’m sure she’ll share details of what else was in the kit!

Last night I met another local knitter, blogless Kathryn K, at Bar Abilene for chips, salsa, margaritas, conversation, and, of course, knitting. We had a lot of fun and I bound off the first purple Trekking sock! One down, one to go…

And yet another SRP update…
The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King, 358 pages. The first Kate Martinelli mystery in a long time! This book sort of bridges King’s two mystery series, the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series and the Kate Martinelli series, as much as can be done when they take place many decades apart.
Wicked Fix by Sarah Graves, 290 pages. This is the first “Home Repair Is Homicide” mystery that I’ve read, but I enjoyed it and will be reading more. The series is set in Eastport, Maine, and features former Wall Streeter Jacobia Tiptree.

If you’re ever curious about the order of books in a mystery series, curious about mysteries set in a certain location, can remember the character but not the author, or want to find new books to read based on authors you like, check out Stop, You’re Killing Me! It’s easily the best resource an avid mystery reader can have (besides a public library…).

Chaos is enjoying the sun and the air conditioning…

“Why are all of you upside down?”
Randonymity, Reading

Return of the Phantom Paw and Monday miscellania

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Insomnia Girl here. What the heck, I’m not going to fall asleep anytime soon, so I might as well post my Monday morning post a wee bit early.

I’m not done organizing my pictures from a big dyeing adventure Saturday evening, but you can read about it at Wound Too Tight. All I’ll say right now is that Deb is an incredibly gracious, generous, and all around damn fun hostess! 🙂

Janna’s knitting a bib for no reason other than to see her cat Simon in it. Go, Janna!!

Craftlilly Jennifer is having another contest! It runs through midnight, PST, Wednesday, July 26. Anne is having a blogiversary contest – what would your superpower be if you had one?

SRP update:
Quicksilver and Shadow by Charles de Lint, 357 pages. This is another book of de Lint’s early short stories. You might remember I wasn’t that keen on its predecessor, A Handful of Coppers, when I read it recently. Fortunately, in Quicksilver and Shadows, de Lint is much more accomplished. I would still limit my recommendation of this book to diehard de Lint fans, but you will find it to be much more pleasant going.
A Circle of Cats by Charles de Lint, 44 pages. This delightful children’s book about a girl who is always searching for fairies in the woods but never finding them is a prequel to Seven Wild Sisters.

Congratulations to American cyclist Floyd Landis, for winning the Tour de France against amazing physical odds!

This sign in the 50th and France neighborhood amused me no end:

Why was I as far from home as 50th and France? I met movie maven Renee of A Good Yarn Friday afternoon to catch a matinee of Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man. Leonard Cohen is a remarkable singer, songwriter, and poet who has been making music for a long time – he’s in his 70s – and has influenced an awful lot of artists. The 1991 tribute cd I’m Your Fan contained covers by R.E.M., the Pixies, John Cale, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The 1995 tribute cd Tower of Song contained covers by Bono (U-2), Sting and the Chieftans, Tori Amos, Willie Nelson, Peter Gabriel, and more. Even if you haven’t heard of Leonard, you might have heard his songs “Bird on the Wire” or “Hallelujah” (perhaps as covered by Rufus Wainright on the Shrek soundtrack, by Jeff Buckley, by Allison Crowe…). Probably the best concert I’ve ever been to was Leonard at the State Theater in Minneapolis on June 22, 1993.

You might have guess that I was pretty excited to see this movie. And I was disappointed overall. Most of the movie focused on the Leonard Cohen Tribute Concert in Sydney, Australia, in 2003. The concert footage was intercut with interviews with Leonard Cohen and with artists talking about how Leonard had influenced their lives and work – most notable were the interviews with Bono and Edge of U-2 and with Nick Cave. The concert footage was the weak point in the film, and since it was most of the film… However, I would suffer through that part of the film again to see the glorious few minutes of Leonard singing his song “Tower of Song” with U-2 backing him!

I have a few more pictures from my early morning purple mouse photo shoot (I wasn’t kidding about chopping off ears, was I?!). Check out the phantom paw in the first picture, and please forgive the blurry second picture…

“Mousie, mousie, roly poly mousie. Mousie, mousie, crunch him up, yum!”

“Doesn’t he look scrumptious, my SPM?!”
Randonymity, Reading, Those Cats

The jangling nerves of the Cat Chaotic

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A few miscellaneous things…

To humor me, Kat took a picture of her dog Java wearing a bib. Talk about a hangdog expression! Thanks, Kat! Sorry, Java – does it help to know that you look awfully cute in that bib?

MeanGirl Jen is having a contest – you have until Friday to leave her a comment with the posted and forecasted high temps where you live. The winner will be selected by random number and receive a skein of Mama-E’s sock yarn! Susan’s going to have a contest starting on Friday (she’s being very mysterious), so drop by tomorrow and see what she has in store for us.

Send me an email if you’re having a contest (chris at my domain) and I’ll let people know – I love contests! (And I’m so far behind in bloglines that your contest will probably be over before I find out about it otherwise.) In fact, I’m thinking about what to do for my next contest…

Another SRP book completed – Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton, 245 pages. The latest but one in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. I enjoy this series, but it is not for everyone. It is sexually graphic and often violent. If that isn’t a problem, Laurell K. Hamilton always writes an intense, page-turning read that you won’t soon forget. The series should definitely be read in order (Guilty Pleasures is the first book in the series). This book reveals a bit of wereleopard Micah’s past as he travels with Anita to Philadelphia for a zombie raising.

Chaos has been a nervous wreck since Tuesday. While I was at work, the guys who are doing the window installation in my building used a hydraulic lift to reach my third floor windows, ripped out the rotting wooden trim around the windows, put in new trim, and wrapped it with aluminum. In addition to the noisy hydraulic life and strangers looking in the windows (not so common in our third floor condo), they were using a nail gun to secure the wood and trim. All new experiences for Chaos, who tends to be jumpy anyway, and all very loud.

“It was terrible. Terrible, I tell you! I’m sure that I will have nightmares for years,
and probably will require lots of tuna to soothe my jangling nerves.”

I work at home most Wednesdays, so Chaos did get some tuna yesterday, along with lots of petting, brushing, and soothing talk… Until the big thunderstorm, although he’s never been afraid of thunder before. And then the guys came back on their lift to use the nail gun to finish one of my window ledges! And then a jet flew very, very low above us!! Argh. Back to seeing my noisy, saucy, bossy kitty with his tail down and puffed out, quivering and cowering behind the toilet. I’m back in the office today, so when they start that lift and begin driving it around, I’m not going to be there to calm my poor kitty. Hopefully the guys will finish the windows soon and things will be quiet and calm and sunny again for the dusty Cat Chaotic…

Knitting, Project Spectrum, Randonymity, Reading

Tidbibs

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You may have had some difficulty connecting to my blog over the past several days. My blog hosting provider has had a very rough few days. Please keep your fingers crossed that everything is back to normal and thanks for hanging in there.

We went up to the cabin Saturday morning and my brother immediately finished hooking up the toilet, giving us complete indoor plumbling facilities!! (Pause for a moment to consider what using the biff on a humid 96F day would be like – see why we were excited?) We then got the air conditioner installed – ahhhh… My brother and I worked on stuff outside, taking many frequent indoor water breaks. My sister-in-law was supposed to be taking it easy inside, but she managed to get most of the cabin decorated and vacuumed. Not surprisingly, she was a bit tired and sore on Sunday when we headed back to the Twin Cities around noon. But she’s doing great! 🙂

I am spectacularly behind on bloglines again – I usually catch up on the weekend, but going to the cabin prevented that. Sooner or later I’ll get caught up!

Knittymama is having a contest – tell her your biggest “I can’t believe I did that” knitting story in her comments and you could win two skeins of plum Misti Alpaca laceweight! The contest deadline has been extended to Friday, July 21.

SRP Update

Please Do Feed the Cat by Marian Babson, 192 pages. A cozy little English village mystery set in “Brimful Coffers,” where many mystery writers live and discover mysteries in their midst.

A Handful of Coppers by Charles de Lint, 332 pages. This is a collection of de Lint’s very earliest work and is a bit heavier on the sword and sorcery than I generally enjoy. I would not recommend this unless you are a diehard de Lint fan or unless you are interested in a few of the stories that combine Arthurian legend with some bits of the Mabinogen.

No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman, 343 pages. Chicago has V.I., Santa Teresa\Barbara has Kinsey, and Baltimore has Tess Monaghan. The latest Tess Monaghan novel is another enjoyable, suspenseful read.

That brings me up to 22 fiction books completed, for a total of 6809 pages since the beginning of July. Still eight fiction and two non-fiction to read by the beginning of September.

Knitting

I finished knitting my bag for the Knit Sock Kit Swap. Whew! I still have a few ends to weave in and then I should probably line it. But no pictures of it until it’s received by my swappee.

I also finished another bib… Really, I don’t have a problem. What makes you think that?! Tell me if you could resist not only the baby’s parents going on about how great these bibs are, but also the baby’s grandfather?! Yeah, you’d be cranking out bibs, too. Hopefully my friends now have enough bibs to get them through! Although I do have another color I want to knit… Anyway, the most recent bib was knit top down from Sugar’n’Cream, color Jewel – very Project Spectrum!

Apologies to Chaos. I tried one last time to have him model, but it didn’t go so well… At least his fangs didn’t break the skin, right?! Which probably means that I got off easily.

“Run away! Run away!”
Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

Just another Random Wednesday

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SRP update: Dating Can Be Murder by Jennifer Apodaca, 275 pages. Obviously inspired by the success of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, but not as well-written or clever. I got the book for $0.69+tax at the thrift store and it was worth every penny. 🙂

Jeanne’s been knitting bibs, bibs, bibs, too! Her four cats were just as unimpressed by bib modeling as Chaos was, but Jeanne might have the only “color true” picture of a Countryside Ombre bib in existence. Sydney (July 5 entry) had the same problem I did getting a decent picture of that color.

Mouse sent me some wonderful stitchmarkers! Her fimo stitchmarkers are extremely cute and clever – you can see them at her new store, Mousie Masala. Check out the the little red mouse, mini-mini Chaos, and tiny red tuna!

The markers received the Furry Black Paw of Approval.

I finished another bib. (Um, is anyone at all surprised?! Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) This one’s from Sugar’n’Cream color “Playtime,” although I think the color looks more like a tropical sunset.

Chaos quickly took action to prevent any bib modeling.

“Hee hee. I am so tricky!”
Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

We didn’t make it to the cabin…

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This was not the weekend my brother, SIL, and I had planned. On Friday night, my brother and SIL were driving up to the cabin. They stopped at a Dairy Queen for supper and were sitting on the tailgate of their pickup, eating their burgers and enjoying a lovely summer evening when a minivan backed up without looking and trapped my SIL’s leg against the truck tailgate. Initially, it seemed likely that she had a broken leg, but so far it’s “just” severely bruised. She’ll have more tests this week to see if there’s nerve, ligament, or tendon damage.

So I spent my weekend at my brother and SIL’s house, helping them out. I got a little knitting done – this bib was knit from the Fiesta Ombre Peaches’n’Cream that Frarochivia gifted me with. Isn’t it wild?! I love it. (And I decided to spare Chaos, so didn’t entrap him to model it.)

I also read Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanna Fluke, 342 pages. The latest in this somewhat silly series set in the fictional town of Lake Eden, Minnesota, again features cookie baker Hannah Swensen, her giant orange tomcat Moishe, more romantic entanglement for Hannah, and lots of recipes. I’m a sucker for those Minnesota mysteries. 🙂

Anyway, this is going to be a week or so of craziness, with unpredictable blogging, erratic bloglines reading (I’ll probably never catch up!), and lots of family time. Send healing thoughts my SIL’s way, if you have a few to spare! Thanks.

“I hope you get better soon, Jess! Even though I sometimes hiss and spit at you when you come to visit, I know you took good care of me when I was a tiny kitten.”
Alongs, Knitting, Project Spectrum, Randonymity, Reading

In which I read more books and knit more bibs

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SRP update:

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich, 310 pages. I like a mystery series that makes it easy to tell what book is next. Number twelve in the wacky Stephanie Plum series is Ranger, Ranger, Ranger, which to me equals hot, hot, hot. *fans self*
Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, 396 pages. Book 7 of the Dresden Files. Both suspenseful and funny – I was laughing out loud at times. As always, many plots twists and turns. If you like well-written fantasy novels, I can’t recommend this series enough.

Monkeemaven is having a contest to celebrate her second blogiversary. Here is my entry for the A category (share a favorite path) – this is another photo of the amazing bridge between Loring Park and the Sculpture garden. I love walking on this bridge. It has spectacular views of downtown and I never tire of reading the John Ashberry poem that graces the bridge.

Chaos is much calmer this morning than he was last night – some idiots in my neighborhood were setting off fireworks (big stuff, not just sparklers and firecrackers) in the street in front of my building until nearly midnight. Plus this morning I had to move all the furniture away from the windows and take down all the blinds, since I’m getting new windows installed! Great for me, but nerve-wracking for the jumpy Cat Chaotic… and the window installers haven’t even arrived yet.

In knitting news, I finished two more bibs… The first was in Sugar’n’Cream “countryside ombre” – a bad name for a lovely variegated sage green and purple yarn. It would be more Project Spectrumish if I had been able to get an accurate picture of the color!

I think my model’s goodwill on the bib thing might be exhausted. I’m sure no one is surprised!

“No!!! Not another bib!! Run away!!”

“Hmph. That didn’t work so well, did it?”

“Well, I did get one leg free. Maybe if I keep running away from it…”

I took it off him at that point. Sorry, Chaos! The extra kitty treats seemed to go a long way toward earning his forgiveness. Plus, when I finished this belated June Project Spectrum bib in a denimy blue ombre and didn’t even menace him with it, he seemed relieved!

Alongs, Reading

Poetic lace

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Two more books completed for SRP:

Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters, 381 pages. I have no idea what number this is in the series, but the latest episode finds Amelia, Emerson, and the rest of their quirky family once again in Luxor. It’s the fall of 1922 and Howard Carter is poised to discover Tutankhamon’s tomb…
Dead Days of Summer by Carolyn Hart, 280 pages. The latest Death on Demand mystery sticks to the predictable formula. I’m actually not sure why I keep reading these, but I do… They’re a little choppy (cutting too quickly between too many perspectives) and a little too sweet for my taste.

And now, the The Amazing Lace Challenge #3…

Cabernet bemoans
she is not yet becoming
an Adamas shawl
Chaos lurks and waits
Opportunity will knock
He is sure of it
Alongs, Reading, See the Sights

Pride trekketh

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I’ll start with a quick SRP update…

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher. Book 6 of the Dresden Files. 372 pages. Once again, Chicago wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden faces tough enemies and deals with startling revelations. I love this series.
Dark Tort by Diane Mott Davidson. 284 pages. The latest mystery about Colorado caterer Goldy Schultz – what else can I say? 🙂 It’s light reading with recipes.

Amy of Knit Think sent me an email a few days ago, mentioning that she would working at the Mother Bear Project booth at the GLBT Pride Festival in Loring Park yesterday and that, since I live in the neighborhood, I should stop by and say hi. Okey dokey.

I haven’t ever been to the Pride Festival before. I was amazed at how large it was. Thousands of people and hundreds of booths surrounded the lake in Loring Park – this picture is only a tiny portion of the Festival.

Fortunately, I stumbled on the Mother Bear booth very quickly. I saw Amy (left) and met another local blogger, Julie (right).

The Mother Bear Project has sent nearly 11,000 bears to children in emerging nations whose lives have been touched by HIV/AIDS. There’s definitely going to be some bear knitting here at Casa de Chaos over the winter! It doesn’t hurt that these bears are seriously cute. If you’re interested in helping the project in some way other than by knitting a bear, there’s information here.

I had my purple Trekking socks with me, so I snapped a few pictures in the lovely Loring Park garden. Yes, I finally made it past the yarn vomit!

Out of all the benches in the garden, I was pleased and saddened to chance across this one:

I know you’re all worried about Chaos. He wasn’t too happy with the Pride Festival’s fireworks, but I did come back from the festival with a silly little toy that seems to have puzzled him…

“You’re not going to make me play with this in the tub, are you?!!”