Moving

Well to let those of you who still stop by know. I'm moving blogs.

Please check out my new blog here.

Weekend Book Report #17

Well I hope that everyone is having a good weekend. For us it's back to being a little chilly. Hopefully it won't last long. Sorry for the lack of crafty post. I'm hoping that my hubby works on fixing my computer this week. I've been busy backing up everything so he can do a reformat and hopefully clear up the issues with it.

Well this past week I finished this book:



Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rolvaag. This would classify as a fiction novel. It was written by a Norwegian immigrant about Norwegian immigrants as they settled in the Dakota territory. If you loved the Little House books growing up you would love this book. It takes a more adult look at the pioneer life. I did find that last part of the novel a little choppy and thought it ended very abruptly. But I will be reading the sequel to this book. A good solid four of five stars.

Well that's all I have for now. Back off to crafting something. Have a lovely weekend

FO: Mom's earflap hat

Okay I know this is a little late but. . . This was my last finished project of 2009. This was made for my mother-in-law on request for a stocking cap like the Monkey's.



Patterns: I kind of blended two patterns and add a little but of extra. The two patterns that I based it on was Tiennie's earflap hats and Thorpe

Yarn: Univeral Yarn Deluxe Worsted in Onre Blue (71601) and a gray/cream color. This was leftovers from the Boy's hat and I still have more leftover.

Size: Adult large (23 inches)

Weekend Book Report #16

Again, it has seem that time has past without me. I had meant to get post up last week and never did. And this post I had meant to write yesterday and didn't. In fact I did nothing yesterday.

So okay this post could be called a month of reading but we'll stick to the weekend book report. I've gotten some reading done but not as much as normal. I'm still trying to read The Scarlet Letter. Still haven't even finished the introduction. Maybe I'll get to it after this current stash of library books. But now on to finished books:



First off a romance novel. Nauti Boy by Lora Leigh. Again high on smut. Two stars



Marked by P.C. & Kristin Cast. This is book one of the House of Night series. This is a young adult paranormal series. It's about a girl deal with normal teenager problems and on top of that she has started to become a vampire and is forced to transfer into a different school. Was an okay read. Diffidently a book for teenagers. I will not be reading anymore if this series. Two stars.



Divisaderso by Michael Ondaatje. This is fiction novel. And well I didn't read it. I listened to it on CD on my way home from work. It is a twisting of two tales. One about two sisters and a boy that grew up together and the other about a writer. It was very interesting to listen to, but I'm not sure if I would have finished the book had I been reading it. There was a lot of jumping around from time and points of view. Good but only two and half stars.



Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton. This book eight in the Merry Gentry series. It would be an adult fantasy book. This is one of my favorite series. So my opinion is a little bias. It is about a feary princess. In this one she is helping solve a series of murders. Fair warning to those who have not read any books my this author: there is a fair amount a smut in them. Four and half stars.



The Mazes of Bones by Rick Riordan. This is the first book in The 39 Clues series. I would classify it as independent reader - spense book. In this book we meet a brother and sister who decide to take a chance at a larger inheritance. Love the concept of the book or the idea behind it. The whole National Treasure or Indian Jones type story. But I found it very lacking. I would not recommend this book at all. Not even to The Boy who is only 13. One star.

Well I hope everyone had a great weekend and the Monday was a good start to your week.

Where did time go!

Wow I have no idea where the past month went. We had nothing special going on. We did nothing special. But nothing bad is happening. I think spring might be on the way. Which makes me happy. I'm ready to have the windows open and go for walks at the park.

Well I just wanted to stop in and say Hi. I'm hoping to get a couple of post in, in the next few days. Well I hope you all are doing well. Have you been keeping busy? Up to anything fun? Read anything good?

Weekend Book Report #15

Wow I can't believe that it's been two weeks since I stopped and chatted with you guys. I can tell that mid-winter has set in. Not much to look forward to here, no long weekends, no real holidays for a couple of months. And here in Minnesota it cold and gray. Well we did have a warm up a couple weeks ago, but truthfully I think it just made it grayer, damp and foggy. On other news Squirms is working on popping some teeth in. We had about a week of little good sleep.

In the mean time I did get a couple of books read.



The first one I read was Envy by Anna Godbersen. This is a young adult fiction book. It is also the third in the Luxe series. It's about a group of young adults(of age at the time) in high society at the turn of the century that live in New York City. It's not a bad read, actual they read quit fast. Three out of five stars.



The other book I read was A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. This is an adult fiction novel. Again this novel it set at the turn of the century. For the main part of the story is set in a small town in Wisconsin. And is about a man who place a personal add for a wife and the woman who answers. There are several twists and turns in this story. I loved it. Four and a half stars.

Well that's all that I have finished. I'm currently trying to read The Scarlet Letter. But I'm struggling. I find I have to really concentrate on the words and what they are saying. Something I normal don't have a problem with. Anybody out there that has read this book and came across the same problem? Anybody really like this book, hate it? Please let me know. I'm interested in your thoughts.

Weekend Book Report #14

Did everyone have a good weekend. Our was very quite. Which I'm glad it was. I still didn't get as much done as I had wanted to. But we all have clean clothes to wear now. Now it's off to start another week of work. Hopefully things will be calm there.

I did get one book finished this week:



Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. This is book one of the Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is from a small southern town. Sookie has some special ability that has set her apart from the rest of the town. Now there is a new man in town, but he is also a vampire. This was an okay read, I'll read more of this series. But I probably won't keep any of the books around in my collection. 3 out 5 stars.

Just a Peak

This is what I've been working on this week.

FO: Boy's Hat

Okay here is one of the two projects that I finished before Christmas:

Pattern: Norwegian Star Earflap Hat by Tiennie
Yarn: Univeral Yarn Deluxe Worsted in Onre Blue (71601) and a gray/cream color.
Size: Adult large (23 inches)

This hat knit up a little on the small side. I 'm thinking it was my tension on the color work. Otherwise it worked up quickly, as I started this the beginning of December and finished adding the strings on on Christmas Eve.

The two skeins of yarn that I bought were more then enough to make this hat. In fact have made two hats and still have leftovers of it. It worked up nicely, and made a fairly soft knit.

Weekend Book Report #13

Wow it's been a while since I did one of these. But I haven't been reading much the past month and half. I had a book I was trying to read but just wasn't in the mood for it. So I'll try it again, later.

But this is the one I did get finished this weekend:


The Ghost King by R.A. Salvatore. This is the 22nd book in the Drizzt series. But in truth it book 3 in the Transition series. All I can say is WOW. This is the series of books that really got me in to fantasy books. In this when there is a change in the 'magic weave' and all sorts of magic are not working right. And I counted 3 character deaths. So yeah this is a hard book to review, with out giving too much away and not reviewing the past 21 books.

Well hopefully I have more books for you soon.

Part 1 of New Year Clean Up

Well I know last week I told you we (hmm . . . I) was working on clean and re-organizing our apartment.

Well one of the first rooms I hit was The Boy's room. Now to understand The Boy's room also is used as the guess room, game storage, and where the vacuum and ironing board live when they get put away. See he doesn't stay with us all the time, unfortunately we see him about 6 days a month. And The Boy also became a teenager here after Christmas. Needless to say it was a bit messy in there after the holidays. And needless to say I was a bit irritated with The Boy. He should know how to put clothes away and throw out broken stuff. I'm not done with it yet, I'm thinking of moving the furniture around. But here's what Hubby came up with for the games:


Before they were all on the top shelf of the closet. Now they are at least accessible.

I also found two of these at Target:



I've been looking for something like these but figured I pay an arm and a leg for them. But got them from the dollar bins at Target for $2.50 each. Not quite perfect but they work get as a project container to sit out by my chair.

I'll keep you posted as things get done around here. Hope you all are having a great weekend and staying warm. It was -11 when I went to do errands yesterday.

Christmas part 2

I just wanted to share what my sister gave me for Christmas. This was part of it:


I love The Pioneer Women's cookbook. Great pictures, looks to be great recipes. I haven't decided yet where to put it. The cookbook shelf or the bookcase. I did I tell you great pictures.

Clean Sweep

Well I didn't bring in the New Year with much excitement. I made no resolutions. But I've been cleaning and updating.

My apartment is working on be thoroughly cleaned. With a couple of new pieces and re-organized. This will probably take a while. But all with time.

And well I've done some updating here in my blog home. Some of it was easy, some took some internet searching, some took a lot of trial and errors, and well I also got some help from Anina from NestKeeping.

So what do you think? Anything just look stupid? See something you just hate? Please let me know. All feedback welcome.

Well it's back to work tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it. I've got almost a week and half of catch up to do if my boss didn't do any of it. Hope you're week will be off to better start then mine.

Christmas, Gifts and Giveaway wins!

Well Happy New Year's Eve. Can you believe that Christmas is over? That it's almost time for a new year? I can't. Any resolutions? Me no. It's just something that I can't seem to get.

Anyways.

This is what our Christmas looked like:

I had ten people in my apartment. That is with one person MIA because of the weather. But Santa was good to one and all. As a family we got Guitar Hero World Tour kit for the Wii. Which I think was a good hit. Monkey was still a little disappointed that Santa didn't bring here a DS. Santa thought she was still a little too young.

What did I find in my stocking? Well I think Santa thought I was extra good :) I think he forgot to add in all my naughtiness. But this is what he gave me:

The Beatles Rock Band, Poems sock yarn and some very nice size 6 dpn (which are already in use on my Swirl Scarf)

See told you he was good to me.

And since I keep forgetting to share with you. I'll share with you today.

I got this from a give away from Katie over at See Katie Sew. She was cleaning out her sewing area. Katie has some wonderful pictures on her blog.

I then got this from Evelyn from a giveaway on her blog Use the Loot. A whole bag full of vintage linen squares. I think she said she got about 150 in the bag. I can't wait to start a quilt from them. Evelyn likes to share with us all the finds that she finds. She also participates in Project Linus.

Well have a safe and happy New Years Eve. We'll try to stay up, But probably won't make it.

Well. . . .

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas weekend. I hope that Santa was good to those who still believe. I know he was good to me and mine. I'll share what I got later.

We had a good Christmas. But I'm glad that everyone has gone home. It was a little crazy in my little apartment.

I got two project finished. But I sent them off to their new homes before I got pics. I know I can get pics of one in a couple of weeks if not sooner. The other one I have a request for a photo in.

I did get a chance to watch Julie & Julia. I know a lot of people out there have watched this. Have you? What did you think? I thought it was good. . . but not as good as all the hype. I was disappointed by it. I'm not sure why. Anybody else feel or thought this?

Well, I have a week of vacation put in for this week, and I'm off to work to work on payroll this morning.

Silly Husband

Well I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Nothing planned here. But that okay. Last weekend my hubby sent me off to the yarn store by myself. I haven't been to the yarn store since May. Since then she's moved to a new space. It's so nice. Double Ewe Yarn is my favorite local yarn store. I went to get yarn for one project this is what I came home with:





Then on the way I stopped at another yarn shopped to check out this new yarn that they got in:

It's Dream in Color Starry. I love it I can't wait to start a project with it.

So needless to say I came home with way more yarn then I planned on.

Our Christmas Tree

Happy weekend everyone. I didn't think Saturday could get here fast enough. We don't have much planned for the weekend, just the normal: errands and cleaning. I'm debating on weather or not to make some Christmas treats. We'll see.

This year I decided not to put up a tree. We have a nice fake tree. But last year I gave up more living space for a third bedroom and a laundry room. The new living room is on the small side and with all our furniture there is not much room for a tree.

But I didn't want to not have a tree and I didn't want a table top tree for the same reason. . .no where to put it. So this is what I came up with:


I kind of like it. But is it as lame as it seems??

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Wreath

Well I came across this on one of my ventures out into blog land. And well I had to make one.

Off to the dollar store I went. $8 later I came home with these:



52 Christmas ornaments.

Monkey helped and cut all the hangers off and I hot glued the tops on. Then we threaded them and then re threaded them and ended up this this:



I think we could have used an other package or two of ornaments. It would have made it easier to use a wire coat hanger to as my base. If I were to make more I think I might spend the extra few bucks and buy a little better ornaments. I had a couple of them pop off while I was trying to close the hanger. The tops split.

So how do you think it turned out?

FO: Squim's Matinee Coat

I got this finished final over the weekend. I had it pretty much finished the week before just had to go and pick up ribbon.

matinee coat, originally uploaded by afraenia.

Pattern: Matinee Coat by Debbie Bliss found in her Simply Baby book.
Yarn: a little over 3 skeins of Knit One Crochet Two Babyboo in olive
Size: 6-9 months

My model didn't want to stay still very long for me to take pictures.

First she was like this:



Ten seconds later she was like this:



I hope every one is having a good week. I have more that I want to share. Here's hoping that I have a good internet connection so I can.

Weekend Book Report #12

Well I hope that everyone has had a good weekend. I've finished a few books that over the past few weeks.

The first book that got finished was Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. This is the second book by this author, all are part of the a series. It is classified as a young adult fantasy. In these books we are introduced into a world of faerie. In this book we are introduced into the Dark Court. It was an okay read, rated at three stars.








The second book that I read was Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr. This is the third book in this series. In this we are dealing with all four courts of faerie. Another good read. This was was better the the second one. Probably a three and half star rating.










And the last book that I read was Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton. This is the second book in knitting mystery series. In this book Kelly finds the dead body of one of her new friends while taking a group of knitters out on a tour of this friend's ranch. A nice easy read. Three stars.