On the Needles, on the Nightstand

Knitting: Wedding Washcloths from the Purl Bee
Reading: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
and Harry Potter and the Camber of Secrets (#2) by J.K. Rowling

I just finished Devil in the White City recently and all I can say is "wow." It blew me away. I had a really hard time putting this book down, however, because half of it is about America's first (documented) serial killer, it was so scary that I only let myself read it when Aaron was home. The other half, about the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, was just as fascinating. So much was happening at that time in America. We think of this as a time when technology changes rapidly, but the amount of things that were changing at that time really shows that this is nothing new.

When I wasn't letting myself read Devil, I was reading the second Harry Potter book. I don't know why. I guess the combination of being in school and it being summer made me want something light. Also, I am trying to read books that I won't necessarily have to keep when we move, so this was a candidate. I don't know what it is about the Harry Potter books, but I find them incredibly boring and slow and I am really not interested in any of the characters whatsoever (perhaps Ron is okay, though). I suppose this might be good to read in line at the bank or waiting in the dentist's office, but I just don't know. I'll finish it, but it didn't compel me to read the rest any more than the first one did. Definitely glad I won't be lugging it to RI.

Knitting more washcloths, as always. I love how fast they are. I can finish one in just a couple of days. I love the seed stitch ones in the above link.

Today

Today, I am...

...Cleaning the house
...Reading Possession
...Watching Songcatcher
...Eating homemade food cooked for (not by) me
...Saying goodbye to my MIL who has been here since Thursday
...Thinking about Farm School
...Loving my little bald kitty
...Folding laundry
...Packaging the mint I dried for winter teas
...Knitting Christmas presents
...Basking in the fact that my semester is over

Illumination Night

Knitting: Tessellation Cloth
Reading: Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman

This cloth has been such fun to knit! It's almost like a lace pattern. I've been knitting it while watching the hours and hours of recorded material that I need to watch for class. Shhh...don't tell!

I just finished Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman. A teacher had recommended it years ago and I finally got around to reading it. A hard book to put down, it's the story of a Martha's Vineyard couple and the people around them. And there is a giant in it. I liked Hoffman's approach to the story, but there were large portions of the book where she used second person and I don't think it was 100% successful. However, it was a perfect summer read!

On the needles, on the nightstand: Catching Fire

I am on to Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. It is not as good as the first one, but I'm going to have to finish the series out.

I am also knitting a wool soaker. I can't seem to find the pattern I used, but that's okay. It is a quick knit but maybe not the best soaker ever. I plan on knitting more using different patterns and can't wait to try the pattern that my friend Jayna recommended as her favorite. I love knitting up quick little things in wool. They feel so good and so rewarding.

On the needles, on the nightstand: gnomes and goblins

I made this little gnome with some scrap cotton yarn and stuffed him with wool roving that I bought at a local farm. Here is the pattern. He was my first little knitted toy, really, and so much easier than I thought it would be. I will be making many more of these with all of my little scraps. I really want to knit one up in a pretty silvery colored wool to make a Gandalf the Grey.

Early in the morning
When the first cock crowed his warning,
Neat like bees, as sweet and busy,
Laura rose with Lizzie:
Fetched in honey, milked the cows,
Aired and set to rights the house,
Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat,
Cakes for dainty mouths to eat,
Next churned butter, whipped up cream,
Fed their poultry, sat and sewed;
Talked as modest maidens should
Lizzie with an open heart,
Laura in an absent dream,
One content, one sick in part;
One warbling for the mere bright day's delight,
One longing for the night.

-Christina Rossetti

I recently read Rossetti's "Goblin Market," a long poem published in the 1860s. It's about two sisters who live a perfectly simple life until goblins attempt to sell them tempting fruit. It's one of those pieces that I somehow missed reading in college and always meant to pick up. It has been cropping up a lot in my research for the gingerbread paper, so I thought now might be a good time to take a look. Boy, is it good. I know that most say it is about feminism, but as I was reading it I couldn't help think about our current food situation in the U.S. (big shocker, huh? I'm always thinking about it). The sisters lead an idyllic life until the merchants tempt them with abundance and exoticism, altering the sisters forever. I think that parallels can be drawn between this and crop subsidies, GMO seeds, federal regulation, certain seed/poison producers, and what has become of the American diet. I always think of Poptarts. They are so cheap to buy and so easy to get...but what do they provide for you, really? Why can't fresh foods be as accessible and affordable as Poptarts?

I was really struck by some similarities between our current food problems and Rossetti's poem.

Their fruits like honey to the throat,
But poison in the blood