Books

Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)


Did anyone see the first book in my favorite series on that list? Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. I also like David and Leigh Eddings' series and Tamora Pierce and many many others. I would love to one day like in a house filled with books. But sadly I have only read 38/100 since I counted having to finish the book to make it on the list. I am also so pleased that Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier is on the list. Earlier this year when I was reading Rebecca's Tale which is by another author but picks up the story of Rebecca many years after the fire at Manderley no one around me had heard of the book. Very sad.
Also nice to see The Red Tent by Anita Diamant on the list. I have a signed copy of that book, have met her and did youth group with her daughter. She helped somehow with the building of the mikvah that my mom promised to take me to when I got my job (now going on a year ago). It is such a beautiful building. The only author my family knows better is Linda Barnes who wrote the Carlotta Carlyle mysteries.

I always manage to shock my friends (except for maybe Beth who loves books as much as I do) by telling them that when my family goes to Rhode Island on vacation in August we take a lot of books and we don't have access to internet and usually not TV (this has changed over the last few years). We read and swim and walk and explore and go to our favorite places. We trade books when you run out of your own books to read. One year I watched The Notebook get passed around not only my family but a few other families that always stay near us. You sit on the beach either in the sun or under an umbrella and read. You read in bed and on the couch and during all meals but dinner. If you truly run out of books, we head over to Mom and Pop's Used Book Store to get more (sometimes even when we still have books left to read). Its very relaxing to just read and do other hobbies (like my mom paints and in past years I have crocheted or done needlepoint). I think the idea of not having to do anything but read and eat and sleep is the best type of vacation.

Red Sheep of Scotland and Blanket

I think the title is inviting enough: The Red Sheep of Scotland.

And in knitting news, the baby blanket is entirely done and waiting to be given to new mother and baby this after noon. YAYAYAY!

I may never crochet again except for the two blankets waiting to be finished. I think I need a long crochet break.

2 Posts a day, one for each of my permenant readers...

This post is actually going to be about knitting (and a tiny bit of crocheting)

Last night during the meeting of the Breakup Club we attempted to work on my baby blanket. I knit some, Marie knit some, I knit some more, the cat cut the yarn.... etc. Well I find out today that the coworker who had the baby is coming in tomorrow so I am going to try to finish it tonight. Can I do it?

Amy from Knitty fame posted that the surprises will be up tomorrow morning. Whew. I have been unconsciously stalking the patterns page hoping that I missed the email about the surprises and that they have magically appeared.

I have been working occasionally on the sock. I am not bored with it, just hoping that the heel comes sooner so I can learn how to do that. Its official measurement is 4 1/2 inches so I have a bit more to do.

Non-knitting comment: I really hate when I take a book from the library and get really into it but also really confused on the back story only to realize that it is THIRD in a series and I can't seem to find the rest in the series. Grr. I took out every book by this author the first time to try and avoid this problem. Also annoying: reading a great book, finding out there is a sequel and not being able to find it or having to wait months/years to read it. Yes, I need to read it now. No, you can't drive me to the library fast enough. No, this can't wait. It's sorta like needing yarn or a new pattern or the needles so you can work on a project right this moment. And I mean RIGHT THIS EXACT MOMENT.

short note, more to come

In the mornings I like to sit down and read blogs.

Today I have to pass on something I read in Ask Poops, Please since it was just so great.

Does anyone here watch Scrubs? Sadly I use to more regularly but now that it is against CSI...
Anyway, remember Teds Band? No? Well check here.

One more thing added by my father: Sheep bought as Poodles

Sorry for the delay in posting...

I am such a bad blog keeper. I know for a fact that one person checks my blog every day and I feel sorry that I had kept it the same for so many days so when she checks it she finds nothing new waiting for her. I personally love when other people update their blogs and my morning time with Google Reader is now a part of my day that I look forward to. I did for the first few days use certain excuses such as "Well Yarn Harlot doesn't update her blog every day..." or "I haven't knitted much so I can't blog much..." But those are really excuses. I did knit a lot. In fact a lot knitting wise happened since I last updated. Now can I remember it all.

I finished the boring part of the tank top. In fact I am almost entirely done with it. I have like 4 inches left on the decreasing strap part and then to graft the straps together and weave the ends in. Last night I got too tired to knit pretty quickly so I wove a few ends in and was very proud of myself. It did however take us two tries to figure out the straps since the pattern reads:

On the following RS row, k1, Ldec, k to end (again, don't forget V-shaping!).
Cont decreasing 1 st EOR (every other row) until 4[3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4]sts rem.

I first assumed that this meant decrease only ONE stitch per row and it was agony decreasing down until 3 sts remain and right there the side was too big. So we ripped back and tried again with TWO decreases per row and it came out perfect. I checked on knittyboard to double check and this was the solution someone else figured out as well. Can we make a change to the pattern yet?


My Knitpicks Options Set came and I do enjoy them however I have yet to use them. Soon... soon my pretties. I think that the kit should have come with 3 three dividers as well as 2 two dividers and 2 whole pages. Then the whole kit they send to you would fit into the three dividers instead of some needles crammed together in another pocket. I tried to print the pictures out from here but I couldn't manage to get them to print at the correct size and then it was dinner time.... I need to come back to fussing with it since the designer's look perfect and like they fit correctly. Grr.

I got the yarn for Clessidra from Knitpicks too. I have been drooling over the part merino and part silk and touching the hanks every time I walk past them in my room. I really look forward to when I can start working on them.

Finally, Auntie Em did the hard work of ripping back Tempting I and putting it on smaller needles so I can one day bring myself to work back up it. It was painful and almost relieving to see it being ripped back.

I need to get my butt into action and finish the projects. The dreaded baby blanket which I did a few stitches on yesterday. The traveling sock that saw the Red Sox lose with me on Monday night. The almost finished Honeymoon tank and Tempting I. Plus the gauge swatch for Cables and Os is calling me but I am trying to keep it under control until something (or even 2 somethings) are done.

I am starting a mental list of really great movies to knit to. Today's addition is: Wordplay. Its funny, easy to watch and knit to, makes you feel like you could do a crossword puzzle too and actually a very nicely designed movie.

Whew. That was a long post and I'm sure there are things I forgot to mention. I'm sorry my one lone constant reader and I promise I will try to update that much more.

Just some chatter

Have you read this rant on Lion's Brand Yarn? Maybe you should. I almost never buy Lion's Brand and I am ashamed at the Red Heart I use to buy before I knew any better. (All beginner knitters are like that...) but I do have to say that I am using Cotton-Ease on this tank top and overall it is doing ok. It was relatively affordable, came in blah colors but I wanted white so how blah can you get? To my eye, the stitches look better and less see through then the yarn the pattern called for and I think it will be a nice tank to have. Plus you get a lot out of the yarn instead of those tiny tiny ball you see occasionally at your LYS.

I am defending my yarn. Keep in mind this may change at any moment.

I am determined to finish the 12.5 inches needed before the strap knitting can begin before Saturday knitting time. I have even ordered the needles for the next project so this project needs to end. (I am not good at all with the boring stages of projects. I really have no staying power when the knitting gets boring)

On Tuesday when I last posted and measured I made the inner goal of knitting an inch every day until it was done. Tuesday on the way to class I decided that wasn't that hard a goal and I could easily knit an inch and then finish the d*&n baby blanket that evening. Well.... an inch almost killed my hand. So much so that I didn't get an inch done on Wednesday and sadly got only a little more then a row done. At least I did something. (Besides getting the replacement cell phone and trying to reset all my wonderful settings that I liked having in my old cell phone. Oh and class. I got to watch rats explore objects in an open field for part of the afternoon. Not as much fun as mentally hoping they won't fall off planks.)

Today I knit a ton the whole ride to work. I even knit just a tiny bit (shh) at work after I emailed all the people I was suppose to email and resisted killing Chris from Comcast. (I am proud of myself for that.) The work measures 11 3/4 inches. I have 3/4 of an inch left to go.... must keep knitting!!!

I bit the bullet....

And finally ordered my order from Knitpicks.com.

Ahhhh It feels good to know that it is coming my way...

What I finally decided on ordering:
Options Needle Set
Size 2 24" Circular (for Cables and Os)
Needle Tags
Needle Sizer since mine seems to be incorrect for the larger needle sizes and correct for the smaller ones... (something to ponder...)
4 hanks of Gloss Sock Yarn in Burgundy to do the Clessidra Socks

What is still on my wish list:
Socks Soar on 2 Circular Needles
2 Hanks of Memories Yarn in Red Hat (socks for my mom one day)
2 Hanks of Memories Yarn in Yukon
2 Hanks of Memories Yarn in Rocky Mountain Dusk
2 Balls of Essential Yarn in Navy (for Pomatomus - not sure about the exact color but it looked like the best blue to me.)

I think if Knitpicks had even more hand dyed yarn colors I would be spending even more money there.

Update on Honeymoon tank:
9 and a half inches total. I need to knit until it is 12 and a half inches and then I get to do something fun again. I really don't think I am good at this boring knitting where there is nothing to do but knit around and around and it never seems to get any longer.

Socks:
Didn't turn them into traveling socks today so I have no idea how long they are. I would guess between 2 and 3 inches.

Pictures will be upcoming if I can squeese the time to take them in between work, eating, sleeping, getting dressed and collapsing in a heap from the near constant headaches I have been getting. Feeling like a drill is working on my forehead is not exactly making me want to knit.

The storm yesterday was impressive. I wish I took pictures of Zack when he was all psycho scared kitty and crawling under the covers with me. It was also freezing in our apartment since they decided that yesterday was a great night to shut off the heat finally. All I know is that around 5 am I woke up to a terrible storm with the trees outside my window violently shaking and looking like they might come through the glass and a cat on top of me under the covers with his claws almost digging into me. Poor thing. When the marathon was underway he did leave my bed for a moment to go look outside the window to see what all the noise was about. But just for a moment and then he was curled up again on the blanket.

Pictures may be upcoming....

First an update on my Size 6 Straights. They were found yesterday. I had lent them to my room mate thinking she would like to learn off of them but then also lent her a size 10 (maybe, didn't look at the size) that someone along the way had did some garter stitch on. I was tearing apart my drawer thinking that the Size 6 had some how falling through the cracks into another drawer (I wasn't quite sane at this point) and she just came in and handed them to me. Ahhh. Dark Blue Needles are back in my hands and in my knitting back waiting for me to finish the step I am on in the pattern.


I have a lot to take pictures of: The Yarn for Cables and Os which is so pretty. The beginning of my sock and the slow progress I have made on the tank top.

Maria and I were planning a trip to WEBS and visiting my sister. (My parents were going to drop us at WEBS while they took her to the eye doctor and then come get us so we can all go hiking together.) We tentitively were planning to go for the tent sale. However, Chil's Wedding is that same weekend. We can't go that weekend.

I forgot if I mentioned this but Maria and I are booked to ride with Yarn Safaris to go see Yarn Harlot at WEBS at the end of May.

Hopefully I can add pictures later....

Has anyone seen my size 6 straight needles?

Ok, I know that is a weird question for me to be asking since I truly dislike straight needles which always seem to hurt my wrists and I like to be in denial that I have any of them. However, the pattern I am knitting calls for the strap section to be worked on straight needles and I do have some in size 6 but where did they go?

Other then that, knitting has been slow. Blogging has been slower. Sorry but this week has been super busy. And the knitting is in the knit stitch round and round for inches section. Nothing very blod worthy.

However my shopping list from knitpicks seems to be increasing by the day. I don't want to think of how much is it going to cost by the time I actually buy it. So far it is:

Options Needle Set.
Size 2 24" Circular for Cables and Os
Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles

But today I am looking at sock yarn and DPN. Socks are calling to me and it is by sheer will that I have not started one. I have even pulled out some DPN and yarn so many times and forced myself to put it away. But now I went and did it. I signed up for Sockapalooza 4. And I don't regret it. I am looking forward to making my own socks and making some for another beginner out there.

Do you hear it calling me?

Rain

Even Zack is watching the rain fall today. Today would be the perfect day to lay in bed with him and knit all day but sadly I have work and class. I have done a lot of work on the tank top, and the interesting part is done and the next step is to knit over and over until it is 2.5 inches from the pin I placed. I am so proud of my decreases that I had to take a picture of just them. They are so cute lined up like that. The lace twisted ribbing at the bottom also looks really good, especially now that I am done with it. It took so long and felt so funny doing it, but I can see what it is there.
In other knitting news, I ordered some Queensland Cotolino in color 17 to make Cables and Os from "No Sheep for You". That pink cardigan has been calling me and I can't wait to make it. For some reason pink has been calling to me. Also socks but I have been trying to ignore that call.
Maria and I are also planning to buy bus tickets to go see Yarn Harlot at WEBS in May. There were tons of reasons to not go, like work and school and getting out there but it will be after school is over for me, there is a bus leaving from Riverside and I can work in the morning and still go out there. We can't wait. It may or may not be our first trip to WEBS depending if we go out there once earlier this spring to visit my sister. Either way, we order way too much stuff from them.Zack is not thrilled about the weather or having his photo taken.