Currently Reading/Making:

Right now I'm about halfway through "Peony in Love" by Lisa See. I am a huge fan of historical fiction, and loved her first book "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan". See does her research impeccably, and puts such detail about the daily lives of women in China at the time the book takes place. That part is truly fascinating. I love hearing about the rituals surrounding marriage and death, and the insight into Chinese philosophy.

The first part of the book - it's divided into sections - I almost stopped reading it because I really wanted to smack the main character. I don't want to give the book away too much but essentially the plot of the book centers around Peony, a 16 year old girl in China, who is engaged to be wed. She is obsessed with the opera "The Peony Pavilion", which is about a young girl who meets a man in a dream, falls in love with him and then pines away for him, starving herself to death. He in turn dreams of her, and falls in love also, and finally meets her spirit and has a 'ghost marriage' and brings her back to life. Peony sees a young man at a performance of the aforementioned opera, and though it is strictly forbidden, she meets with him and talks with him for 3 days. During these 3 days, she falls in love, and in a case of life imitating art, becomes depressed that she is now in love with a man she can not marry, and must marry someone she does not love, and starves herself to death like the girl in the opera through her obsession.


Now, I'm a practical sort of gal, and killing yourself over a man that you talked to for what probably amounted to an hour over 3 days of your young life seems overblown, ridiculous and frankly, stupid. Her anguish and constant dreaming about "her poet" seemed unreal to me. Is this what normal 16 year old girls are like? I don't know. I wasn't pretty nor dreamy when I was 16, and therefore had neither the opportunity nor desire to become lost in lovesickness. Which is what the book called it. Apparently many young girls starved themselves to death after reading this opera. It's romantic themes were considered dangerous for that reason and it was banned. Girls and women were banned from seeing or hearing it performed. I wonder though if they were not just depressed that they lived lives where they had no choice about anything, where they were considered more than useless - burdens on the family. Even their bodies were not theirs to control - their feet were bound by their families as children. By starving themselves they regained control over their bodies, and found freedom in death, though according to Chinese tradition of ancestor worship, they would have very miserable afterlives as "hungry ghosts", as they are not considered part of their parents family, nor did they have sons to take care of their spectral needs.

My wondering was at this modern ideal of her heartbreak at being married to someone she didn't love. This was not the norm in that time and place. Why then was she so depressed about it? The author implies if not states full out that is was because of the opera, but that seems far fetched to me. I don't know.

The second part of the book I'm finding much better. Now Peony is a ghost, and she's matured somewhat from the naive, silly lovesick girl. In death, as See would have us believe, you can see things you wouldn't be able to in life. Also, her ancestors help her connect the dots of her own life. We'll see how it gets on.

March 2010

During March I largely caught up with most of my magazines. I still have a couple left, and of course the new march/april issues, but those can wait.

During spring break I read "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd, and it was excellent. I devoured it in a couple days. I hate bees, they scare me, but I enjoyed learning about them in the little tidbits they put all around the story. The main character's story was riveting, very raw emotionally.

I just watched the movie of it tonight actually. I was annoyed at all the little nonsensical changes they made, like most movies made from books. They made a few big changes too, which bothered me even more. Also, I felt that the movie just sort of skimmed the surface, it didn't make an emotional connection like the book did. You never get to really know the characters, don't get to really see the relationships between them grow and develop, so things just don't hit home like they do in the book.

Mid Feb Update

I haven't been reading too many books lately, because I've been trying to catch up on the pile of magazines I have laying around! But I did take a break to read "Push" by Sapphire. This was the book the movie "Precious" was based on. I did not find it as hard to read as I thought I might, considering it's about rape/incest and abuse. Though some parts definitely were shocking and uncomfortable, I really could barely put it down. I hadn't planned to read it but I picked it up one night to browse through it and started reading and didn't look up for a couple hours. The young girl in the book leads a pretty bleak existence until the book actually starts, which is when her life starts to turn around. You are left with a feeling of hope at the end.

My shawl is coming along. It's probably about 60-70% done. I'm almost 1/2 way through the 2nd skein. I hope to finish it today, but I'm not sure if I will or not.

Currently Reading/Making:

Finished Dewey last week. It was a nice read. Nothing too heavy but thought provoking in some ways, especially about the fate and history of small town/rural America.

Right now though I'm catching up on some long neglected magazines. I have about 3 months worth sitting on my coffee table. I subscribe to Mother Earth News, Countryside, and also to Nutrition Action Newsletter. I was getting another health newsletter thing but decided I didn't like the other one. Those are a quick read. Mother Earth News can take a bit longer. Countryside though takes a lot of time! Long articles mostly, fewer pictures, not as many ads. I like it. I am sure my mail carrier thinks I'm a dirty hippie.

In crochet news I'm gearing up for the Ravelympics! Hard to believe it's been 2 years since the last one. I'll be making another shawl, at least one scarf, and trying to finish at least one of my grocery bags. I'm not ambitious enough to attempt to finish the afghan.

Currently Reading/Making:

I've been reading more. Ever since I got treatment for my sleep apnea, I can actually read again! I finished Nickel and Dimed, it was really good. Very insightful. It's shocking the way the poor are exploited and the way people are forced to cope with such low wage jobs.

After that I read:
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Loved it! Khaled Houssini is amazing. Some parts were difficult to read, but so powerful.
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs - The sequel to The Friday Night Knitting Club. It was a bit slow to get going but I actually liked it better than the first one by the end.
Marley & Me by John Grogan - Cute book, very funny.
A Christmas Carol - God I hate Dickens. Don't know why I tried. Love it when it's turned into a movie though, like most of his stories... I hate his writing style.
The Handmaid's Tale - Fascinating. I could barely put it down.

I'm kinda thrilled I read 6 books in 2 months! Before that I might have read 2 books in 6 months! Although I am turning into my mother and reading in the bathroom... is that tmi?

Latest book:
Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat who Touched the World by Vicki Myron - I enjoyed this book, possibly because I'm a librarian and a cat lover. It's not the best book ever, but it was a sweet and interesting story. It's not just about a cat. It's about a town. And a library. And the librarian that runs it. You'll get some background on the town and library, and learn how the author became a librarian. It follows the life of Dewey, and his library family and the town. It's really amazing how famous one cat can get!

What I'm Making: I turned the leftover pieces of the sandcastle into a coat for Sammy. I want to either trim it or make a second layer and sew together the top layer (which I did start making) with a single skein of Homespun I got in a swap that I think will look great on Sammy. It's browns and blues with a bit of red.

Currently Reading/Making:

I need to keep up with this more.

Books: Started Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't really in the mood for it lately. I just started Wicked by Gregory Maguire and can't decide if I like it or not.

Hooks: I've made 4 ornaments, 3 of which will be going in my secret pal package, which should have been mailed already, but oh well. I've been working on a garland to go with it also, cause I felt the 3 ornies weren't enough. It's done in the basic "bookworm" pattern...3 dc in each chain so it twists around. I'm also attaching jingle bells to it, using the technique I learned in Drew Emborsky's class on the cruise. I have 2 other exchanges coming up, both due around the first week of Dec I think. Ornaments and a birthday fun exchange. Don't know if I'll make anything for the b-day one or just send yarn and patterns.

Currently Reading/Making:

Reading:
The Red Tent by Anita Diamont

Making:
Nothing! Just finished a Secret Pal project-It was supposed to be a sandcastle but my god it was taking foreverrrrr, even with the alterations I made to save time. So I scrapped it and made a water bottle holder instead. :o)

Now it's a question of what to start working (or reworking) on.

Long time no blog

Wow I haven't posted here in almost a year! I feel slightly bad about that. I have also been neglecting Ravelry, and haven't been taking pictures of the things I've crocheted. I've read a few books (well maybe more than a few) in the past year. A few of them are:

Beauty by Robin McKinley
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Chicks with Sticks (And the sequel) by Elizabeth Lenhard
Re-read both HP6 and Angels and Demons before seeing the movies
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

I'm sure there were more but that goes back to October or so.

I do enjoy reading and crocheting...I must find time to do both. I need to spend less time on the computer!

Wicked Easy Produce Bag

Like the idea of making produce bags to reduce your plastic bag consumption, but are new to crochet? Don't enjoy or know how to crochet in the round? Well this bag couldn't be easier. Hence the name "Wicked Easy Produce Bag". It is just a rectangle folded in half and stitched together.

Here's mine -->

To make: I used size 10 thread and a size E hook. This makes the stitches loose, and therefore stretchy.

Crochet a chain about 16-17 inches long.
Row 1: Dc in 4th ch from hook. *Ch 1, sk next ch, dc in next ch* across. Ch 4 and turn.
Row 2 and beyond: Dc in first dc, *ch1, dc in next dc* across. Ch 4 and turn.

Repeat until rectangle measures about 10 inches high. On last row do not ch 4, but fold rectangle and sc the sides together, down the side and across the bottom, putting 2 sc in the spaces between stitches, 1 sc in the stitches and 5 sc in the corner. Fasten off, weave in the tail and you are almost done! Now cut a 20 inch piece of cotton or acrylic yarn and weave it through the dc at the top. Knot the ends for a drawstring. If you want a very strong drawstring you can make a chain or an i-cord of thread or yarn.

I'm working on another of these bags, this one is a slight variation. I'll post pics of it later.

First produce bag

I've been using reusable bags at the grocery store for some time now. I even have ones from both Walmart and Target now. But one thing that bothered me was that since I buy a lot of fresh produce, at least in the summer and fall, was that I was using several plastic bags each time I went grocery shopping. One for the apples. Another for some pears. Another for the onions. One more for peppers and yet still one more for green beans. I might use 4 or 5 plastic bags on a typical weekly grocery trip. That didn't sit well with me, so though I'd never used thread (My fellow crocheters may want to smite me for saying so, but I think doilies are pretty but pointless and I doubt I'd ever use one) I decided to try my hand at making a small drawstring bag that would be reusable and washable.

I used size 3 thread, which is good to start with if you haven't used thread before. It's not much smaller than baby weight yarn. I used a size F hook and Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet. I started off making a basic circle. Most crocheters know how to do this, especially if they've made hats! You make a small chain and join it to make a circle, then make dc inside the circle.

Ch 4, join to make ring.
Rd 1 - 12 dc in ring.
Rd 2: 2 dc in each dc around (24 dc).
Rd 3: 2 dc, 1 dc - Repeat 12 x. Total 36 dc.
Rd 4: 2 dc, 1 dc, 1 dc - Repeat 12 x. Total 48 dc.

You get the idea right? For each additional round, you add another dc, which increases it by 12 each time.

I did that until I had 5 solid rounds, and then made 2 more skipping some of the dc and putting ch in their places to make some holes. Starting with Rd 8, I started making the mesh. To make mesh is pretty easy. You just ch5 and then sc. On the first round of mesh, I sc'ed on every 5th space, aproximately. This made 21 loops of ch 5. Here is the trick: On the last (the 21st) "loop", instead of ch 5 and sc, ch 3 and then make a dc in the same space you started the first "loop". This puts you in the middle of the "loop". Continue making ch5 loops, sc in each loop around. Do the dc trick on each round. I made 25 rounds of mesh for this bag which makes it quite long--even the largest ears of corn or longest cucumbers fit in this bag! It stretches quite a lot.