FiberTribe: SnB at the Yarn Shoppe

Feed My Head 2010

Andrea Camilleri: The Wings of the Sphinx (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries)
The wonderful, irascible Inspector Montalbano of Vigata, Sicily is at it again. Did I mention he's wonderful? And there are 10 earlier ones in the series.
Ariana Franklin: The Serpent's Tale
The very wonderful Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar (prepare to die!) continues her work. Who knew that the wretched pit that is present day Salerno once housed an amazing and Europe-reknowned medical school? Where even women were allowed to become doctors...
Ariana Franklin: Mistress of the Art of Death
Wonderful. And amazing as a first novel. There are some inevitably cringe-worthy scenes (if you're going to be true to the middle ages) but Franklin's ability to bring those times to life is spot-on. And she is amazing with the first of the Plantagenets. Makes me want to jump his unsavory little bones.
Nicholas Blake: The Worm of Death
Vintage 1960 British murder mystery. Good if you'd like to learn quayside shipping vocabulary for the docks at Greenwich...
Kent Haruf: Where You Once Belonged
Well written but depressing. Very depressing. His others are better.
Kent Haruf: Eventide
the sequel, sort of, to the wonderful Plainsong. I know that he's the father someone related to a knitblogger I read regularly. She mentioned him one time and the prior book Plainsong. Who? dunno. I'm not sure I would have appreciated Haruf as much had I not moved to a small, rural town. Go find him. He's quietly wonderful.
Ray Kurzweil Ph.D.: Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever
Another state-of-the-research book from Kurzweil and the longevity physician, Terry Grossman. I liked Fantastic Voyage better, but for sheer quality of information relevant to our health today, it's hard to beat. You can get a free (but for the shipping cost) copy at Ray and Terry's, their website that sells the supplements key to the program. As they say, they don't care if you get the supplements from them or not, just get them, take them and make the lifestyle changes. Then we'll be around to benefit from the next geometric progression of the health research paradigm.
Mehmet Oz M.D.: Healing from the Heart: A Leading Heart Surgeon Explores the Power of Complementary Medicine
so far so good. the ego required to succeed in the star-system world of cardio-thoracic surgery is only minimally present at the half way point in this book. In his world this is no doubt radical, radical stuff. Interesting to see the highest towers of traditional western medicine allow alternative therapies in.
Diane Ackerman: The Zookeeper's Wife
Love Diane Ackerman. Just started this, I'll get back to you...
Dana Stabenow: Whisper to the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Novels)
Another keeper. All is not well in The Park. The Aunties have taken matters into their own hands. Be afraid. another bit of wonderfulness from Dana Stabenow. Once again I'll be tapping my fingers for another year till the next Kate Shugak mystery shows up. Sigh.
Byron Katie: A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are
Loving What Is continued on...tough Work but is there really a choice about it? heh.
Greg Mortenson: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
Alrighty, I'm late to this game but if you haven't read this, go forth and read it NOW. It's a wonderful tale and it's not over yet. As we ramp up the war in Afghanistan why not join the Dept. of Defense and do your required reading? As Rep. Mary Bono (yes, that one) says, you'll learn more about the region from this book than you will from months of Pentagon briefings. Go Dr. Greg!
Andrea Camilleri: August Heat
Camilleri's latest Inspector Montalbano mystery set in Sicilia. Just wonderful. Now I have to wait a year for the next one. Crap.
Janwillem van de Wetering: The Japanese Corpse (Soho crime)
Two Dutch cops sent to Kyoto to solve a murder in Amsterdam involving the Yakusa. Van de Wetering is a 'voice' like no other. He spent several years in a Zen monastery in Kyoto himself. The entire series has been re-issued by Soho Crime and is totally wonderful. And the cover design by Cheryl Cipriani is awesome. Yes, I'm a cover art ho.
Anthony Bourdain: Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)
Alice Hoffman: Practical Magic
The hardback has an illustration taken from Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Proserpine. Much nicer. Hoffman's a great storyteller. And I always want her characters to go forward to the next book. But they never do. Go read this one anyway. You're welcome.
Tony Hillerman: The Mysterious West
This is a REALLY wonderful short story collection edited by Hillerman. Lord, I'm going to miss that man. All of the stories are set in the west or midwest, small towns and large. They're quirky and somewhat unexpected, especially relative to the usual work of the authors like J.A. Jance, Dana Stabenow (a bit darker), Lia Matera (chilling), etc. The true find for me is Wendy Hornsby. One of the best written stories, independent of genre, I've ever read. I've never read a more skillfully built exposition of the backstory built into the actual story. wow. I'm off to see what else of hers I can find.
Charles de Lint: The Wild Wood
Re-reading this bit of loveliness from de Lint. Among other things, it's about an artist who's lost her mojo. It's apropos given that I've re-started The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.
Elizabeth A. Lynn: Chronicles of Tornor 3: The Northern Girl (Chronicles of Tornor)
Found this as I was repacking ancient boxes of books. It was written in the late 70s and is flat out wonderful. It's the third book of a trilogy (the 2nd one is Dancers of Arun) I highly recommend all of them. It's Fantasy with an incredibly drawn world worth of an Ursula LeGuin, deep and quirky characters, and stay-up-all-night story telling. go. find them.
Julia Cameron: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]
A birthday gift from the Gomez. Starting this once again after years of hiatus. Wonderful.

January 30, 2005

SnB at the Yarn Shoppe

Yes, chicas, we have an SnB! Two of them, to be exact. The south end of the county group consisting of me, Jessica and Laurel and now the north end of the county tribe consisting of Lisa, Heather, Ciara and me. And probably Jessica next time since she also works at the Yarn Shoppe. So if these are SnBs does this make us Yarn Bitches?? I think so. YBs for short. Shana, the kind proprietor who welcomed us, has been open just under 6 months and is stocking up on yarn fast. Lovely stuff, she has. Dollops of Noro, much trendsetter and K1C2 and Stacey Charles etc, etc. Much and variegated color. More on this next post since it's late and must be up super early tomorrow. It was just such a joy to find a knit store open on Sunday AND such a great group of women.

And in further yarn goodness, on Wed. night I headed up to yet another SnB, up at the Yarn Tree, a knit store open about a year up in Hollywood, FL, about 45 minutes north of me. It's a beautiful shop and get this: the yarn is arranged BY COLOR. Like the pictures of the Seattle store, Tricoter that I've seen in their eponymous books. Did I mention how much I love that? And her yarns are luscious. I began to dream of a thousand multi-colored sweaters. Of going back to how I started knitting which was picking out 10 balls of yarn of harmonious colors and just casting on. No worries about gauge nor fiber compatibility. Just play with the color, babe, play with the color. sigh. Painting with yarn, it is.

Margene recently blogged the question, Why do you knit? For me it isn't the process (sorry, Margene!), it's the color. The Yarn Tree is tugging me back to my roots... heh.

And lastly, actual knitting progress, peeps. I'm into the second ball of Silk Garden #84 (reds) for the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I am so. lovin. it.

Posted at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Comments

Oh, color and texture are certainly part of the process....why else would we enjoy it so?

Posted by: Margene | January 31, 2005 at 11:39 AM

Yes, it's all about the color for me too - though I'm working on a plain as dirt beige cardigan right now! :-) Thanks for the tip re CoQ10 for my dad, I had my husband on it when he was sick. I'll suggest it (but not wear myself out trying to encourage it).

Posted by: Catherine | February 01, 2005 at 05:46 AM