Look Who Came Home!

It's my mojo, it seemed to find its way back home.  At first I thought it smelled the yummy butternut squash soup I was making or it wanted shelter before the Nor'easter hit town but then I remembered what really brought it scampering home.

I won a contest over Talk Crafty To Me ,  after several days of  recapping all sorts of craft books to inspire you there was a contest for a $25 Amazon gift card to spend on some crafty books and I won! I have had
The Big Ass Book of Crafts in my amazon wish list for a long time so I think I may finally get that. And we all know that I love me some knitted toys and I have admired Rebecca Danger's monsters for a while now so I am pretty excited for her book Big Book of Knitted Monsters that is coming out in January. Any other must have craft books that people out there just adore?

I also think my mojo came back because it knew Ariel was headed to town. Arriving 24 hours earlier than I expected (not that she arrived early just that I am a bit of an idiot), we have already spent some of those 24 hours eating awesome burgers, drinking cocktails with names like The Ditzy Blond and The Petite Flower and plotting a possible trip to Webs. A good day by all standards.  Only a true knitting friend understands the importance when you say you are contemplating a sweater (really it's been ages since I did a big project) and it involves steeking.

Good Eats

Last week, before it snowed….yeah, you read that right, it snowed here yesterday, big white fluffy flakes coming from the sky for a good part of the day… in October. October!!! It forced me to stay inside and knit and nap and watch Gilmore Girls reruns and Netflix movies. Tragic! Luckily, the snow was all gone when I left for work this morning and by the end of the week it is supposed to be back to more seasonable temperature. Really, I may have some cute cold-weather knits to wear but I am really not ready to bust them out just yet.

Anyway as I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself, last week I got the chance to see Alton Brown host of cooking/food science/ pop culture skewering TV show Good Eats It was a family outing, as I went with my mom and brother-in-law. My sister was supposed to come too but was feeling a bit under the weather.

Since it is kind of hard to do a reading from a cooking/ behind the scenes book he just took questions from the crowd. Both Charley and I got to ask him questions. Mine was about his favorite food writers. His favorite is John Thorne, if I remember the name correctly. I instantly forgot it after he said it then remembered it again and forgot it again and finally had to do a wikipedia search today of all food writers until I recognized the name. Seriously I am getting old. I will have to check out his work at the library. Charley’s question which was “If you could switch shows with anyone else on The Food Network who would it be?” was much funnier than mine since it led to some gentle mocking of Semi -Homemade Host Sandra Lee. Alton Brown is very funny and quick and it was much more like seeing a comedian than a chef.

Here's a some of him signing books after the reading. I tried but I just could not get a good photo of him during the reading; the theatre it was held in was way too dimly lit for my puny camera to get a good shot.

I'm excited there seem to be a whole bunch of authors I like coming to town in the next few weeks and this Saturday is the Boston Book Festival with a whole slew of signings, readings and other events.

The House in the Woods

Well, I am back from the wilds of Maine where I spent the holiday weekend. You've got to love a town where when the phone rings on the 4th of July it's the neighbors letting you know that a wild turkey and her babies are walking down the street.

I spent a lot of time doing my favorite activities, eating yummy breakfasts of waffles or pancakes and watching birdies out the windows. Below are my favorites the gold finch.


There were also a ton of humming birds but as much as I stalked them Sunday afternoon for a photo they could sense my presence and flitted away. As did the chipmunk and the blue jays and the dumb little chickadees who were confused by trying to drink out of the humming bird feeder. Cute birds but not the smartest. It is not unheard of for a chickadee to bonk into the kitchen window when overshooting the bird feeders. Don't worry they are okay, just a bit dazed for a moment.

I got absolutely no knitting done even with a last minute run to Woolcott when I realized I left my current project at home. I was forced, (forced I tell you!) to buy some Silky Wool for stranded mittens. I did finish "The Friday Night Knitting Club", an enjoyable read. I read most of it while sitting on the deck enjoying the view and my laughing companion. No, not my giggling niece although she can crack her self up. But this guy.





I did manage to get my ass in gear for an afternoon in Portland where I visited the Portland Fiber Gallery and Knit Wit . Both lovely shops that I hope to return to when I have more time. And in visiting the Fiber Gallery which has spinning supplies it came up in conversation that my sister has four drop spindles. How did I not know this? So I may have to borrow one and try my hand at spinning.

Well, I hope that everyone had a great weekend!

Lists and Books - My Dorky Heaven

So here's the thing, I love lists - always have. Shopping lists, to-do lists, movies-to-see lists...As a young girl, I was slightly obsessed with checkboxes and my family has been known to mock me about them to this day. So fine, I included things like "Wake up" "brush teeth" but that was only on important days like the first day of school or camp, etc...

But my favorite list of all and the only permanent, long-standing list is my Book List. I don't remember how the Book List started but it was some point after college I started keeping a list of the books I had read. Initially I just wrote down the title but starting in January 1998 I included the date I completed the book. So I'm going along keeping my list and then a few years back over a dinner the topic comes up and my sister goes, "I keep a list too" and then my mom says "Me too!". Clearly there is something on the XX chromosome in our family that triggers this sort of thing. We were all doing the same things unbeknown st to each other for years. Eerie....

My mother and I have proceeded to debate our lists. Not the content mind you but the actual list format themselves. Mom keeps a file on the computer with author, title, main character names and a synopsis. She can not understand how I can just have the title, it drives her nuts. - an added plus for me.

So last night, I am at book club and found out about this site Good Reads. It's a site to list your books and see what your friends are reading. I have only just started entering books but I can this will give me much list-fetish joy to come.

Check out the Good Reads button to the right and it will connect you to what I'm reading.

Happy Slushy Valentines!

So I went to an author reading by Christopher Moore last night and I have to say he is hysterical. Another author who doesn't actually read at his readings which I am finding are usually a bit more entertaining. I've read several of his books Lamb, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and my favorite holiday book ever The Stupidest Angel. And he has a great website where he recommends other fun books to read while you are waiting for one of his to come out.

While he touched on many topics what I came away with most is a new phrase to add to my lexicon. He was telling us about pitching ideas to tv execs who wanted to make his books into shows when he suddenly has an FI moment. FI moment? When you suddenly realize you are talking to a fucking idiot. Like people being dumber than bags of hammers I know that I will start muttering under my breath "It's okay you're just having an FI moment - it'll pass." Not very PC or genteel but this is from a man whose new book is called You Suck.