I made a new superhero mask today. When it’s done drying (I’m blocking it), I will take less stupid-looking pictures of it, but for now:
Oh, and here’s another one I made after lunch (crochet):
#21:
An Improper Aristocrat (Harlequin Historical Series), by Deb Marlowe
Regency romance with Egypt-archaeology adventurers, but with some good chemistry between the hero and heroine.
#22:
Now, you know I do like a hot story, right? Slow Hands may not be great literature, but it’s quite steamy and fun.
#23:
The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival, by Stanley N. Alpert
The true story of Stanley Alpert, a federal prosecutor who is kidnapped at gunpoint and manages to survive the ordeal. This hit near and dear to my heart, so much so that I may very well write one of my rare “fan” letters to an author.
#24:
A twist on the Suprise Baby, we have Surprise Parents! All over the place! With cowboys! and PIs! I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did, but the truth is, I finished it because it was short.
#25: The generic trade paperback, by Doug Miers. A trade paperback compilation of The Generic Comic Book. This is a very entertaining spoof of the superhero comic book genre and the machinery that pumps out comic books but really looks for merchandizing and movie deals to make the millions.
#26
I have been knitting a newly-designed shawl for almost a year now. It languished over the winter, but I recently picked it back up again and have started knitting on it some more. It’s in 3 parts– middle, border, and edging. I knitted the border last week, and have moved onto the edging. It’s a knitted-on edging, which means, at least at the beginning, you start out with about 12 stitches on your needle, and try to attach it to the edge of the border. It’s fiddly and trying. And I managed to do it not once, but four times yesterday– twice were swatches with a contrasting yarn, to test the pattern and make sure I liked it. The third and fourth were with the real deal. Once I had 1 repeat done, knitting on the rest has been relatively easy. I say this, of course, because I haven’t dropped any stitches yet nor had my entire edging fall off as a result.
It’s also beaded. Did I mention that? Not heavily– just a little line of beads along the very edge to give it some weight and force the scallopy edging to do something neat once it’s all blocked. But yes. I do like it very much.
This shawl, incidentally, is destined to be given to someone who was a big help to my family last year (and who is in my family, I’m happy to say). The design/pattern has a future as my first mystery lace knit-along. That’s where you sign up and get each clue sent to you over the course of several weeks (I’ve done these before; they are fun), and you knit along in a big group of people also tackling the same project.
Designing and knitting this shawl has given me ideas for no less than 2 other shawls, which I’m going to work on sometime in the next few months, and both of which would be highly fun and amusing.
We’re in Ashland, Oregon, home of the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As an early birthday present, we’re going to see Macbeth, Henry VIII, and Much Ado About Nothing. The birthday part is that we bought tickets for really good seats to Macbeth, which is among my favorite Shakespearean plays.
Meanwhile, we’re staying in a local park that has RV sites, a lake, and a waterslide (for pay– we’re going to save up and go when the temps hit 90 later this week). There’s a 14-day limit, but it’s first come, first served in our campsite, so we can stay here until July 5th! Hooray– we won’t have to hunt for a campsite on 4th of July weekend!
I finished a sock:
It’s for my stepmother. She doesn’t like to wear socks, so I decided to try making her a pair to see if she’ll like handknit socks.
Remember the Anna Karenina socks I made in April?
Well, after wearing them for over a month, I decided that the anklets were too short, even for my little feet. So I decided to make them longer.
These were originally knit as cuff-down socks, so the cast-on edge is at the top. So, I took my scissors, and cut my socks!!!! I snipped the cast on edge and unraveled it. I picked up the stitches and knitted in the other direction for a couple of inches on each sock:
The result is a pair of socks long enough to stay up and keep my ankles warm:
Beautiful!
Oh, and these socks have officially broken 3 Brittany needles now. After the first broke, I requested replacements, and they sent 3 extras. I’ve broken 2 of the replacement needles, leaving me even. I’m going to quit while I’m ahead.
