Category Archives: Reading

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Thursday thank yous

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Dotty’s celebrating her first Sockiversary and she’d love to hear what you love about sock knitting. Leave her a comment before midnight PDT, September 30, and you could win sock yarn, a sock project bag, and other goodies.

Jeanne’s got a great shot of Chaos shooting Jeanne’s husband Michael the Glare o’ Death and a bit more about our adventures with Mrs Pao and Pao last week. And just so you know, there were many more things on sticks – I only captured some of them.

Reading Update
The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde. I have the strangest desire to brush up on my nursery rhymes now… Was Humpty Dumpty a suicide? Or murdered? Answers to age old questions are revealed in Fforde’s rollicking tale. I love this bit from the book:

[Jack’s mother] opened the door within two seconds of his pressing the doorbell, letting out a stream of cats that ran around with such rapidity and randomness of motion that they assumed a liquid state of furry purringness. The exact quantity could have been as low as three or as high as one hundred eight; no one could ever tell, as they were all so dangerously hyperactive.

I would argue that you really only need two cats to achieve that state!
Aunt Dimity’s Christmas by Nancy Atherton. Waiting for more of the series to arrive at my library! These are lovely British village cozies.
Mad Mouse: A John Ceepak Mystery by Chris Grabenstein. Fast-paced and well-done, I found the second in the series to be as enjoyable as the first.

Thank You Update
I’m a little behind on thank yous, but not too bad. First, let me thank everyone who weighed in on whether to knit my Trekking 126 plain or with pattern. I decided to go with plain, and have ripped back and reknit to where I was earlier in the week.

Next, some fun things I got in the mail recently. On the left is an adorable crocheted black kitty wallhanging, sent to me by Wendy because for some reason it made her think of me. On the right is a Chococat notebook (with Chococats on every page!) and a nifty little bookmark, sent to me by Ruth. Thanks, Wendy and Ruth!

Chaos and Mayhem were mightily intrigued by that there bookmark.

“What is it, big kitty?” -Mayhem

“Obviously a most unusual and shiny cat toy, May.” -Chaos

“Hmm, it sure doesn’t seem to do much.” -Mayhem

“Here, let me help, May.” -Chaos

“Let’s see if I can get a fang into it and carry it away…” -Chaos

Failing that, Chaos turned to admire the gift from Wendy and absorb every possible molecule of Lucy scent there might be.

“Mmmmm… sweet Lucy…” -Chaos

Knitting, Reading, Viewing

Trying to catch up

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I took a bit of a computer break over the holiday weekend and am frightfully behind in bloglines. Please let me know if you’re having a contest you’d like me to mention, as I’ll probably read about it on your blog long after the deadline has passed… Thanks!

Check out Frarochvia’s new etsy shop!

Reading Update
The Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel by Laurell K. Hamilton. Wow, there was actually a wee bit of a plot mixed in with all of the sex. I was pleasantly surprised by that, but disappointed that the entire book only covered maybe 24 hours – it could take years to get to next week at this rate! At least Edward was in the book – he’s one of my favorite characters.
Aunt Dimity’s Death, Aunt Dimity and the Duke, Aunt Dimity’s Good Deed, and Aunt Dimity Digs In by Nancy Atherton. Apologies to whoever recommended these to me – I am obviously much enjoying these lovely British mysteries about the amazing Aunt Dimity, ghost.
Tilt-A-Whirl by Chris Grabenstein. This mystery is set in a seaside New Jersey town, told from the perspective of a part-time summer cop. This was a well-written and engrossing read and I’ll be interested in seeing where this series goes next (the next books are already in my library list).
Damsels in Distress by Joan Hess. I’ve never really gotten into Hess’ Maggody mystery series, but I do enjoy the Claire Malloy mysteries. The latest features shenanigans amongst the members of ARSE (Association for Renaissance Scholarship and Enlightenment) at a RenFest.
Knit Two Together by Connie Lane. When Libby inherits a rundown yarn shop from her estranged mother, it changes her life. Definitely formulaic, but since it’s a Harlequin, I was fully prepared for that.
Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston. Another formulaic romance, but I enjoyed it anyway. Come on, it has a picture of coffee on the cover (and it was $0.70 at the thrift shop).

Viewing Update
Bridget Jones’s Diary. Of course I had to watch this after watching Pride and Prejudice recently! My favorite P&P allusion was when Bridget was listing Mark Darcy’s faults and one of them was the length of his sideburns. Hee hee.
Love Actually. A very sweet film and another chance to see Colin Firth sans crazy P&P sideburns. 😉

Knitting Update
I actually am working on a non-sock project, which I’ll talk about it a few days. First, I need to get some input on this sock I’ve started. I can’t decide whether using the 9 to 5 pattern on this yarn is a good thing, or whether I should rip back and just knit the sock in stockinette. What do you think?

“I just can’t decide, Mom – I like them both! Maybe if I ate one of those Addis while I was thinking…” -Mayhem

Contests, Knitting, Randonymity, Reading

I solemnly swear that I do not knit catnip into my socks

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Ugh – the past two nights I’ve been awakened in the wee small hours by some very serious thunderstorms. Last night it was 70 mph wind, torrential rain, nonstop blinding lightning, and thunder that set off car alarms. Poor kitties – they are nervous wrecks!

Hockeymom’s having a contest – caption the (a-hem!) picture and you could win some of her hand-dyed yarn or roving. I think Tink or MamaTulip might have a lot of fun captioning this picture (hint: taken while tailgating before a Foreigner/Def Leppard/Styx show..) – maybe you could convince Hockeymom to come up with a non-knitting prize. 😉 Leave your captions by 6 pm, September 3.

Reading Update
Spare Change by Robert B. Parker. I’m not big on Parker’s Spenser mysteries, but I do enjoy the Sunny Randall mysteries. In this one, Sunny teams up with her father.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. Yeah, I listened to it again. 🙂
Vineyard Stalker by Philip R. Craig. I love the J.W. Jackson Martha’s Vineyard mysteries, but sadly, they will soon come to an end, as Craig died earlier this year. According to his son Jamie, Craig left three completed mysteries (of which I assume Vineyard Stalker is one) and one incomplete mystery.

Knitting Update
Friday night I finished the 9-to-5 Socks (follow that link for yarn and pattern details). They took six days and I totally love them!

Although not as much as some around here do…

“Don’t make any sudden moves, Mom – I’d hate to have to hurt the socks.” -Chaos

“Because I really, really love these socks. How do I love them? Let me count the ways…” -Chaos

“Mmmm… purple stripey socks…” -Chaos

Randonymity, Reading

Mmmm… Ranger…

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Congrats to Jeanne and Louise, whose socks won prizes at the Minnesota State Fair!! Jeanne even won a first place – yay, Jeanne!

Hee hee – this lolcats could almost be from my place, eh? Here’s another recent favorite… and this is definitely me when at work. Beware…

Reading Update
Bled Dry: A Tale of Vegas Vampires by Erin McCarthy. This light and steamy romance about the Vegas vampires is as fun as the first two books.
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich. What can I say – I love this series. People definitely fall into either the Morelli or the Ranger camp. How about you? Me? I’m a Ranger girl all the way. Mmmm…. Ranger… *fans self*

“Chicks dig us strong, dark, handsome, silent types. Why, yes, I do work for RangeMan in my spare time. How could you tell?” -Chaos

Contests, Knitting, Reading

Working 9 to 5… ha!

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Lynne is celebrating her third blogiversary with a contest! Leave her a comment (by midnight, August 24) about why you started blogging and you could win some lovely sock yarn.

Reading Update
Careful What You Wish For by Lucy Finn. A light romance about a single mom who finds a genie in the Diaper Genie… Of course the genie is sexy. Duh. 😉
The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman. If you haven’t read one of Goodman’s novels, lucky you! You have them to anticipate. This one’s about a medium and some mysterious events related to a seance in 1893, which come to light more than a century later when resident artists stay at the same house. Goodman blurs past and present, reality and dream, until you’re not exactly sure which is which.
The Scent of Shadows: The First Sign of the Zodiac and The Taste of Night: The Second Sign of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson. This series, set in Las Vegas, is about superheroes named after signs of the Zodiac, Shadow battling Light as is the way of superheroes. 🙂 It’s very involving and well-written overall, although I think there’s a major logic flaw…

Knitting Update
Friday afternoon I started another pair of socks – the 9-to-5 Socks. The name particularly amused me, since I was home early from work, resting for a bit more switch work that night – only midnight to 3 am this time! Woo-hoo! (Although rumor has it we have one more night of this stuff, sometime this week…)

I’m knitting these from Wool2Dye4 Supersock, as dyed by me in May.

Initially, May was more interested in the cord on my sock bag…

“Mmmm… rattail cord… Funny, I would’ve thought that rat tails had more flavor.” -Mayhem

“But oh, Addi cords are ever so much chewier!!” -Mayhem

*off-camera snatching away of Addis*

Contests, Randonymity, Reading

Stripey redux

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This post is coming to you via the miracle of pre-publishing. As you read this, I hope to be snugly asleep in my bed, after having worked on a switch upgrade from midnight until 4 or 5 am. Do I have a wild life or what?! 😉

Have you seen the IKEA cat beds on Cute Overload?! They would so match my slippers, wouldn’t they?

Cara’s holding Spin Out 2007! By donating to Heifer International, you can be eligible for some absolutely amazing prizes – besides helping reduce hunger worldwide.

Julie’s participating in the Light the Night Walk to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphona Society in honor of her friend Betty. If you donate to support Julie’s effort, you will be entered in a prize drawing.

Reading Update
Dark Thirst by Sara Reinke. A little trashy, but a nice distracting read. Probably the only book (obviously intended to be a series, since it stopped in the middle of the action) about a deaf-mute vampire…
White Night: A Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Mmmm… Harry Dresden. Latest book. Tall, smart alecky, sexy wizard in Chicago. What else do you need to know?
Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway. Witches and vampires and zombies in Madison, Wisconsin, oh my! This second Garnet Lacey book is an engaging read, too.
Death by Chick Lit by Lynn Harris. If this was supposed to be a spoof of chick lit, I’m not sure it succeeded very well. I found it to be a boring read…

Stripey Update

“You don’t think that big kitty’s going to try to steal my stripey socks, do you?!” -Mayhem

“He better not! These are my stripey socks! Mine!! All mine!” -Mayhem

“Now I’m really worried.” -Mayhem

“Really, really worried! I better hold on tight to my stripey socks so the big kitty can’t sneak up and take them.” -Mayhem

Knitting, Reading

Back to reality

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Many, many thanks to the Procrastinatrix, who turns out to live three blocks from me and to have had the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows just lying around!! I spent the weekend enthralled, listening to 21 hours of Harry Potter and knitting. No spoilers in the comments, please! I really appreciate that I was able to listen to the book without having encountered a single spoiler, and I hope that others are able to do so as well.

But now I must blearily return to reality… I’m further behind in bloglines than ever, so please let me know if you have a contest you’d like me to mention!

I finished the Sockamania Spiralling Socks, which took me exactly one week to complete.

“Hold that thought, Mom. I’ll be back!” -Mayhem

While we wait… The Trekking Pro Natura (wool/bamboo) was ok to knit, but I’m really curious about how these socks feel after they’re washed. Will the bamboo get softer?

“Ok, I’m back! Did you miss me?” -Mayhem

But of course…

“I think these are ok, but I still like those stripey socks more because they’re stripey! When are you going to show them the stripey socks, Mom?” -Mayhem

Shhhhhhhh, Mayhem…..

Contests, Reading

*sniff*

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Susan’s having a humorous caption contest – best caption wins Koigu! Leave your caption comment by midnight EDT, August 14.

Wendy’s giving away a copy of The Yarn Girls’ Guide to Knits for All Seasons – to enter, send an email to her contest line before noon EDT, August 12.

Cute Overload is having a meerkat caption contest (your odds are going to be a lot better in Susan’s contest!) Winners will be announced Monday and will win a packet of goodies from Animal Planet.

A Message from Chaos and Mayhem
Mom doesn’t seem able to blog today. She finished listening to something called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince late last night and even though we know it wasn’t the first time she’s listened to it, her face got all wet and it took a lot of purring and bringing her fetch toys before she seemed all better. She did seem cheered about being all ready for when book 7 comes in for her at the library, and she sure got a lot of her second Spiralling Sock knitted while she listened!

Maybe you could toss a fetch toy or two while you wait for her to be all blog ready again on Monday? We’re waiting.

Knitting, Reading

Spiralling Mayhem

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Don’t forget about the Project Spectrum mix cd contest! Submit your email entry by 6 pm CDT, Wednesday, August 8.

And don’t worry when there’s no post from me tomorrow – the Knitty Professor will be staying at Casa de Chaos y Mayhem tonight and I’m taking tomorrow off to play.

Reading Update
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (audiobook). Making good progress on listening to books 1-6 before I get the book 7 audiobook from the library.
Candy Apple Red by Nancy Bush. No, no, not that Nancy Bush! 🙂 This is the first Jane Kelly mystery – it was an entertaining read, and I’ll definitely read more in this series. It’s kind of fun that protagonist Jane Kelly is lactose intolerant. Hmm, maybe there’s an open niche for a mystery series featuring a gluten intolerant sleuth…
Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie. The most recent Kincaid and James mystery is as engaging and well-written as all the previous books in the series.

Knitting Update
Can you believe it?! Two posts in a row about knitting?? I’ll wait while you all recover…

After taking a month to knit the Serpentines, I’ve already made great progress on this month’s Sockamania Spiralling Socks, which I am knitting from Trekking Pro Natura (75% wool, 25% bamboo, color #1607).

“I don’t see any sock in here! Oh, but that ball of yarn sure looks tasty… Does bamboo taste like kitty grass?” -Mayhem

“Oh! Here’s the sock! Maybe I can quietly gnaw a little hole in it while Mom’s distracted with the camera…” -Mayhem

“Hmph. I don’t see why you’re so unreasonable about me tasting your knitting. It was only going to be a wee little hole. Hmph.” -Mayhem

Contests, KALs, Reading

Serpentine Mayhem

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Lisa moved her blog to her own domain and is having a contest to celebrate! Leave her a comment by 5 pm EDT, August 5, to be entered and possibly win a gorgeous fibery prize.

Thanks to Janna for the heads up on this silly “test”: Which lolcat are you? I was Cheezburger Cat. If you don’t want to end up as Cheezburger Cat, you should probably have a snack before taking the test.

I’m very behind on blog reading after a weekend away. Please do let me know if you have a contest you’d like me to post about this week!

Reading Update
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (audio). Plodding along, but I will finish listening to these again before I listen to Book 7. I’m #96 on the waiting list (and there are 94 copies) – I need to speed up my listening, don’t I?!
A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton. Is it just me? Or do others have trouble getting into these knitting mysteries set in fictitious Fort “Connor,” Colorado?
Passon, Betrayal, and Killer Highlights by Kyra Davis. The second book about mystery writer Sophie Katz and her cat, Mr. Katz, is as enjoyable a read as was Sex, Murder and a Double Latte.

Knitting Update
Alas, I didn’t finish my TDF KAL project – the Sockamania Serpentine Socks. I got about 1.5″ knit on them Friday at the cabin (on the dock, with the cool breezes blowing off the lake…. ahhhh…) before everyone else arrived. Didn’t touch ’em again after that. (The cabin was great fun – it was sunny and there were no bugs worth speaking of.) I would’ve had to knit every waking minute (and a few sleeping ones, too) in order to finish these in time. Ah well, at least I wasn’t kicked out of the Tour for drug use, eh?! (Please ignore how shockingly dirty the bottom of my foot was in the picture below – what can I say, I was just back from the cabin.) (And obviously too lazy to go wash my foot and take another picture!)

“While Mom is obsessing over having such a dirty foot, I’m just going to steal this Addi. I’m sure she won’t miss it, since she isn’t using it right now anyway.” -Mayhem