Summer Book Recommendations ~ Part 1

The summer is coming. People, hopefully, have free time. More free time than normal, anyways, those who were in school. Unless you’re doing summer school, then you’re probably not as free as you’d like. Anyways, I digress.

The summer is coming, it’s pretty much here. I’ve completed *both* graduations. I’m officially a college student now (got my student ID, whaaaaat) I’ll be at our local community college this fall, and then after that I’ll make the big decision of which major university I’ll go to. Once again, I’m digressing.

THE SUMMER IS COMING. And you know what this means? Besides more knitting time, heh heh. More reading time!

I know I’ll have lofty goals of reading at the beginning, and it’ll actually come down to me reading probably only 5 out of the like 20 book list that I come up with. But hey, it’s 5 more than I was able to manage during the school year.

I’m really… not going very far with this post, it’s kind of just… rambling, haha. But that’s this blog is, right? The Ramblings of a Knitting Goddess, haha.

Long story short, I’m going to give you some book recommendations. Just one, right now, in this one post. But there’ll probably be more coming.

I will be re-reading, for probably the 15+ time, the Emily of New Moon series by L.M. Montgomery.

I know I’ve expressed my love and adoration for this particular series and this author many many times. But it’s just one of those things that has to be done every so often… because I love these books and this author so stinking much.

Why do I like these books? Why do I like L.M. Montgomery in general?

Her writing is so personable. It’s real. It’s full of amazing descriptive-ness of everything and anything. But not in a flowery, over-the-top way. Her characters, in all her books, aren’t perfect. Which bugs me, when authors start off with their characters, who obviously aren’t perfect, then slowly they become more perfect, till it’s kind of silly and it’s like “wat”.

I don’t really find that in L.M. Montgomery’s writings. They have their problems, and they still have their problems at the ends of the books. Obviously, some problems are fixed, but they go through hardships and trials. They’re very believable. And I like that. These characters have dreams, passions, goals, and strive to reach those goals.

“When I read that the flash came, and I took a sheet of paper. . .and I wrote on it: I, Emily Byrd Starr, do solemnly vow this day that I will climb the Alpine Path and write my name on the scroll of fame.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Emily of New Moon

Another thing is that the romance that she writes is just perfect. Like, oh my goodness, I love it. Sure, I like that kind of stuff. I’m not afraid to say that I am :-P

The books are some of the most quotable books as well. There are so many good lines and paragraphs, it’s almost ridiculous. In a really really good way, of course :-P

These are also the kinds of stories that once you start them, you have the hardest time putting them down. They pull you in, and you’re then part of the story. You live and breathe the characters and their adventures.

Plus, another reason why I love these books is that they remind me of when I was younger. I remember what I was going through when I read different parts. I remember learning lessons from the stories, and then rediscovering what I learned. Then discovering brand new things I didn’t see before.

These books, especially the Emily of New Moon series, are full of treasures for everyone of any age.

*end rambling-rant-whatever-you-wanna-call-this*

I know I didn’t really like say what the Emily of New Moon series is about, but I’ll just say that they’ll make you laugh. They’ll make you cry. They’ll make you cling on to the nearest cat due to scary situations. You will love these books.

Don’t know what to read this summer? Read these books, you definitely won’t regret it. :-)

I gots some more yarns. Heehee.

I got some yarns today. They arrived in the mail, and it made me happy ^_^

and they are extremely awesome. And I’m really excited about this.

These 5 balls of cascade 220 are going to turn into something that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. And it’s still going to remain a secret, until I get it actually going. It’s ok for me to start something, if I’m designing it, right? Right?? Haha :-P

Yes, yes. I am very excited about this ^_^

Musical Monday!!

I do apologize for doing two Josh Groban songs in a row. But I stinking love this song. It makes my inner-musical geek “eeeee” and wiggle at the same time. It’s just so.. haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Upcoming changes..?

The second shawl of the West Knits Shawl Club came yesterday. it was a major major happy moment ^_^ It looks like it’s pretty much completely in garter stitch, except the edging at the bottom. Still US4 needles, so it’ll take awhile, haha. but it’ll be really epic when it’s done :-P

At the moment, besides school, looking forward to the new year, trying to re-gain my correct sleep levels, and school. Annnd knitting. I’ve been working on ideas for this blog.. the appearance, posting, important stuff like that.

So my posting might not be *quite* as regular coming up, but that’s just because ideas are bouncing around in my brain, trying to make The Ramblings of a Knitting Goddess the best it can be :-P

Bertie is also pretty excited about it too, haha. You can see the excitement pouring off his face, haha :-P

I’ve noticed this… and this.. and this… and *this*

Things I’ve noticed/realized since… either Friday or Saturday. I forget which one, haha.

1) calls from your big sister just to say “hi, check out this adorable picture I took of one of my cats” and then to continue to chat for the next 20 minutes just makes me stinking happy. Like. really really happy.

2) hot baths are so nice. I always forget how nice they are.

3) any kind of bread dough is hard to get to the right… bread-y ness. Well, for someone with not a whole lot of experience in that area, such as myself.

4) therefore, this creates another reason why mothers can be soooo extremely amazing (even more so than before, because they were really awesome to begin with :-P) because… they know what bread dough should look/feel like. And therefore can help you get the right.. bread-yness, haha.

5) Even though Strip the Willow is such a simple dance, besides the Posties (and a couple others) it’s one of the ones that probably drains the most energy. Especially if you do the extreme version. Which I really don’t understand why. (Strip the Willow and the Posties are contra dances)

6) Due to so much dancing, so much force, and so much fun that was put into said dancing, my arms and shoulders are *still* extremely sore. But it’s the type of sore that you know it was totally worth it. Even though it may hurt extremely to pick up heavy things, or lift your arms above your head.

7) dancing like that can cause so much adrenaline that it’s hard to go to sleep afterwards. Which then results in a very very sleepy person on Sunday.

8) Even though everyone knows this, cause I’ve said it. But I have amazing friends who know when I need a hug, or comforting words.

9) I also have amazing friends who still love me when I more than extremely butcher a church piece. So much so that it confuses everyone. And I lose my place. it’s just bad.

10) then they come and sit with me while I finish at the end, then give me a hug on the piano bench.

11) when you have a job, that you’re supposed to be good at. And you fail. It’s hard. Well, for me it is anyway, haha. That piece caused tears. Silly piece. Silly me. Oh well, life moves on. And now I know better ^_^

12) it’s very very hard to have short hair and pull off curls without looking like a poodle that’s been through a wind storm. Some people can pull it off beautifully, and they look adorable. Can I? No, I look like a blown up poodle. And I don’t want to look like that.

13) I miss my long hair. Ooooh boy do I miss my long hair. Though this is not to say I don’t like my short hair, I do. But. yeahhhh. ^_^

14) it’s really important to read essay questions CAREFULLY so you make sure you write about the *right person*… instead of finding out you wrote about the wrong person *after* you wrote an entire essay. Yeah. Be careful.

15) Due to so many switches between printing and cursive.. my handwriting now is a weird mix of both. Which I don’t quite get. But oh well, haha. If I can read it… for the most part, heh heh… I’m ok with it.

16) I’m becoming obsessed with making hats. I have no clue why. It was very sudden. but now I’m attracted to almost every hat I see. Which.. is another thing I’m ok with ^_^

17) this post is very long.. and there haven’t been any pictures. So before I go…

Bertie wants to say hi ^_^ in.. a very sleepily manner, haha :-P

A Download of Summit and It’s Awesomeness

Summit post, here it is! Yesssss, accomplishment. (I’m also crossing things off my to-do list, so I’m feeling really good about myself, haha)

Summit was amazing. It was epic. It was wonderful. It was worth sitting through 72 hours of lectures. It was uplifting. It was encouraging. It was full of useful and interesting knowledge.

Would I go back again next year? HOLY COW, STINKIN’ YES.

So, what…exactly is Summit? It’s a Christian Worldview camp (this particular one, located in Manitou Springs, Colorado), where you listen to lectures about various topics (evolution, abortion, homosexuality, and various forms of government) from a Christian point of view. There are also lectures about things to apply to our lives (such as leadership, and the Biblical definition of being a man or a woman)

We learned how to support our own views and fight for them on college campuses and then in other settings.

We saw more of the other side of the arguments of these topics that had been talked about so much, but some of the things we learned hadn’t been said.

I learned that I didn’t know squat about some of those topics before. Now, I know what is actually going on…and how things are connected. What worldviews are, and how they affect other people’s and our own lives.

The whole Summit atmosphere supported asking questions, talking things out, learning more, and having a good time at the same time. And all of those things were so nicely squished into two weeks.

The staff, holy cow. They care about the students. They remember your name. They remember what some of your hobbies are. They treat you like equals. Best. stinking. staff. EVER.

The food? another holy cow. it was amazing…best camp food I’ve ever had. The kitchen staff (including the Dish Pit :-P) was absolutely amazing. Couldn’t have asked for anything better.

We had sports time every other day, where we all bused out to a big park where you had the choice to either 1) play speed volleyball. 2) play football. 3) play ultimate frisbee. 4) play basketball. 5) play tennis. 6) play soccer. or 7) just lay on the grass watching people run around playing various sports and get extremely into it.

Then on both Fridays, we had a cookout…so we were at the park for a longer amount of time, and had dinner out there. It. was. amazing.

This post barely even touches all the amazingness that came from Summit (and will always come from Summit) I could go ranting and raving about it for hours upon hours. But that would most likely result in many readers becoming so bored to death that they become ex-readers.

So. Dear readers. If you are thinking about Summit 2012. And are undecided…

You should go. Most definitely. It is expensive, unfortunately, but it’s so stinking worth it. Every single cent. All the time spent in the classroom too, is totally worth it. You can gain soooo much from it, it’s like… crazy.

the only sad thing was that I was away from Bertie (and my family, and my friends, and my bed, and our piano…and many other things) for a little more than 2 weeks. This was a sad deal. Was it worth it in the end?

Oh yeah.

Summit? That amazing worldview camp?

Yeah, it pretty much rocks my stinkin’ socks.

…not that my socks are stinky. But whatever.

O.o ….. ok, I’m going now, haha.

Zola and It’s Funny Pockets

Zola Blog post HERE

*still can’t get over how awesome the Rowan felted tweed is* *even though it sheds* *it’s totally worth it*

So the problem I encountered. And my plans to fix it…? Yeah, didn’t work.

So I kinda had to rip out the entire left front and re-do it.

But that ended up being ok, cause I found another problem that I had…I forget what, but I was able to fix that. And I knit it in…less than a day. So, a lot quicker than before. Which was awwwwesome ^_^

So I finished the entire left front today, during Joey’s piano lesson… including the pocket. Which was a brand new experience, cause I’ve never done pockets *anywhere* before.

Annnnnd….I kinda messed up on the pockets. Not like “Oh, the shape is wrong.” or “the increases are on the totally wrong side.”

More like…”Oh, the wrong side is facing outwards. Holy cow, how did THAT happen…??”

Yeah, I…somehow started on the wrong side. (which then in the pattern, meant that I started on the right side, on the knit side, instead of…starting with a wrong side row, a purl row, first.) (if you’re a not a knitter, that probably didn’t make any sense whatsoever. You can ignore that. If you are a knitter, I’m thowwie if that was uberly confusing…and still didn’t make any sense, haha)

But, upon looking at it…I actually like the pockets better with the wrong side (WS) facing outwards.

Sooooo…I’m gonna leave it ^_^ For that reason, and I don’t wanna rip it out. Not because the pocket was particularly hard or it took a lot of time… Cause it was easy, and took hardly any time at all. But I wanna keep moving forward on this. And I think if I *do* rip back…it’s gonna make me lose interest. And then that’ll be bad.

I think this’ll probably be the first solid color, cardigan thing that I’ve knit to completion without knitting on anything else during the process. Of..knitting the cardigan thing.

Anyways. I’m uberly excited about it. Can’t wait to see what it looks like on and finished.

Tweed, Spinning, and Dr.Who Fiber

*time to get back the regular schedule of blogging*

Ahhhh, it’s so good to be back ^_^

But to get down to business. And not necessarily defeat the Huns, but whatever. haha :-P

(I do warn you, I’m still suffering from jet lag, and am prone to say extremely weird things, laugh a lot when something isn’t really *that* funny, and randomly zone out. So, if any of this posts seems weird to you. Blame the jet lag. And the many cups of SWEETENED tea I’ve had to help the problem. Haha ^_^)

Anyways, *now* we get down to business.

Yarn stores we visited. Sooo many :-P Some were *absolutely amazing*…and some were kinda meh. But there are ones like that out there, and that’s just life.

But the amazingly awesomeness of the others made up for the meh-ness of the not-so-cool ones :-P

Anyways, what I’m currently working on, that I worked on on the plane, and before we left is…

Pattern: Zola by Carol Feller (Stolen Stitches)
Yarn: Rowan DK Felted Tweed (color 150)
Needles: US size 4 / 3.5mm

Just lemme say…

1) I adore the felted tweed. Holy cow, it’s like….SOOOO soft. and SOOOO pretty. Sure, it sheds everywhere. But it’s not like…”*cough* it’s shedding so much I can’t breathe *coughcough*” That might be a little much. I think after I’m done with it, it’ll have gotten most of the fuzzies out of it’s system, haha.

2) I love the pattern, sooo much. It looks really really simple, like shape and stuff. And it is, but it’s definitely different construction. And I’ve never done pockets before, so I’m learning something new! I love learning new knitting skills. it makes me feel good :-P

3)….and I kinda messed up. Like I messed up big time. BUT…I think I’ve figured out how I can fix it without having to rip out an entire side. It happened on the plane…and I wasn’t thinking properly, haha.

I was supposed to pick up 89 stitches along the side of the back (because the two fronts are knit…sideways, compared to the back. If that makes sense, haha) and do all the shaping and stuff on those 89 stitches. And there was something fancy with the pocket that I had never done before.

SO, I was like “ok, great. I can totally do this. Just 89 stitches…easy peasy”. And that part was really easy. So I picked up 89 stitches, and still had about 3 inches of the back left over that didn’t have any stitches on it…if that makes sense.

I didn’t think anything of it, because…I thought it had to do with the pockets, and all that stuff. Soooo, I thought nothing of it, and continued on with the shaping and stuff.

-_-

Well, upon later inspection (in other words, when I had gotten home, and after I was only about 10 rows from finishing the left front..) I realized that that open space needed to be included in those 89 stitches. *headdesk*

(if that was totally confusing, I’m thowwie. Haha, I’m not doing the best job and explaining it, haha.)

BUT I think I’ve figured out how to fix it. And It’ll be easy. and hopefully without a problem. And will…”add interest to the piece”

Hopefully it’ll work >.< We'll just have to wait and see, haha.

Also, let it be know that this is one of the best project bags in the ENTIRE world.

*may be biased because I’m that crazy cat person* *doesn’t care cause cats are totally worth it.* *GETS THE KITTY-KITTIES*

Anyways, I’ll be getting back to the regular blogging routine, and everything will start getting back to normal :-P

OH. OH OH OH!! I almost forgot.

I ordered my first Trindle(not these in particular, mine is actually purple (EEEE)!! Which is like spindling, but a bit different…

I also got some fiber…a little set of 6 2oz little…ball things (heh heh, my spinning terminology is like zero…right now, haha) and then a braid, I forget the weight, of these blues. That reminded me of the Doctor.

Which may or may not have been the reason for me getting the blue. But it doesn’t really matter ^_^

“O.o, this is random. Right now?? You’re like swamped with stuff. WHY are you starting spinning RIGHT NOW??” you might ask. Or something along those lines.

I say in return. “Ever heard of the Tour de Fleece?? That’s my reason.”

Plus, I’ve wanted to learn how to spin for the past 2 years or something. Annnnd…I’m finally getting around to doing something about it, haha.

I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT IT. HOLY COW. *wiggles (but not *THAT* kind of wiggling, ^_^) with the happiness of yarn-related stuff coming in the mail…soon*

Gotta love learning new things. Plus then when you succeed…the feeling is like “BOOYAH. *feels good about self* Oooooh yeah. I can teach myself new stuff. and it WORKS. Yesssss”

Or maybe that’s just me, haha. :-P

The Sharpie Notebook

I don’t think I can say it enough… how amazing Noro is. IT’S SO PRETTY!! *yarn fan-girl moment* eeeeeEEEEE.

something random, which I’m working on at the moment… is this…

You know those notebooks where you can color in the front…? I found one of those last year, around the beginning of school. Thought I’d use it, but never actually did. So, I found it recently…and decided I’d do something with it.

I’ve been using my little collections of Sharpies to color it in..

I dunno about you, but I ADORE Sharpies. (almost as much as I adore Noro :-P) Especially the smell. (yeah, I know it’s bad for you. It’s not like I have a sharpie attached to my head so I can smell it 24/7, haha.) But yeah, I like the smell. Don’t judge :-P

But I had this idea…that I’d leave most of the big circles blank, so when we go certain places…I can write where ever we are in one of those circles. So it’d be like…a little travel journal..thingy, haha.

Countdown till Europe: 5

EEEEEEEEEE

The Sleeping Cat…

I’m sorry. I had to post these…

*KITTY-KITTIES. HOLY COW*

Made 2 more coasters…each one took around 30 minutes, which is awwwwesome. They’re so easy, and they make the perfect gift! Cause I mean, who wouldn’t want a set of hand-knit coasters…in amazingly fun colors?? And there are endless ways you could embellish them, I’m sure. Like, add little charms around the edge…or add a fun crocheted edging…whatever you can think of. Ooo, color work…that’d be fun too. But I like the Purl Bee’s idea of putting backing on it….that’s a really awesome idea!

But if you’re a beginning knitter, and want to try something a little more adventurous than just scarves and wash rags…I realllllllly recommend these! Purl Bee has such amazing patterns in general, haha :-P

The skills you need to know are: knitting in the round, k2tog (knit 2 together), and YO (yarn over).

It uses hardly any yarn at all, sooo awesome for finishing up those little bits and pieces left over from previous projects. :-D

My cat is so adorable. End of story.