Reading Machine

One of these days I'll learn to write a post more than once every two weeks. I haven't been very crafty lately and therefore haven't had much to write about. I have been an absolutely reading machine though. It has been about two years since I was this into reading! I have been an avid reader all my life. Unfortunately, reading took a bit of a backseat to my knitting since I could only do one or the other and let's face it, I'm addicted to knitting! The other issue was I just couldn't find books that were truly interesting me. It's not that I have stopped reading in the past two years, it's just that I would read so sparingly, it would take me anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months to finish a book when I used to read one in less than a weekend.

I don't know what has happened but all of a sudden, great books are all around me and I cannot...stop.... reading! Two weeks ago my boyfriend and I went to a local used bookstore here in Nashville. This bookstore is in a former warehouse and is HUGE. It is insanely well organized and I can spend hours in there. Before we left for the bookstore, I went to my Goodreads account. (Sidebar: If you love to read and haven't checked out Goodreads, I highly recommend you do. It is like MySpace and Facebook for books! You input what you've read and what you'd like to read and can view what others are reading too. It's a great way to find new books.) Anywho, I wrote down a few titles off my Goodreads list and off we went to the bookstore. Within a few minutes of browsing, I found one of the books I was looking for for just $0.10. That's right - 10 cents. Get out! Needless to say, with prices like that, I majorly stocked up on books.


I just finished reading "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. If you like mysteries, I recommend this book. The story was good and kept my interest. There were even a few unexpected twists here and there.

I am in the middle of reading "Crazy Aunt Purl's Home Is Where the Wine Is" by Laurie Perry. If you enjoy Crazy Aunt Purl's blog, you'll enjoy this book.



This is Laurie Perry's second book and comes complete with knitting "recipes".

Next up after "Home Is Where the Wine Is" will be "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier. I am dying to start reading this. I plan to finish up "Home Is Where..." tonight and hope to start "Rebecca" either tonight or tomorrow night.

If anyone signs up for Goodreads, be sure to "friend" me and if you're not into Goodreads but know of any great books, be sure to pass the book titles along to me. Thanks!!!

Hot Mess

Folks, I have been a hot mess lately. I just cannot get it together! When I try to focus on my crafts, I make the silliest mistakes. A few weeks ago at my knitting group, I was complaining about how I didn't think the hat I was knitting was turning out quite right. The hat pattern included sequins. I have never really done a knitting project with sequins or beads. It was easy enough but still didn't seem quite right. Finally, at the end of the evening as I was complaining about my hat yet again, Stephanie finally asked the question "Is it supposed to be knit in the round? All of a sudden it hit me! I was taking a pattern intended to be knit on straight needles and was knitting it on circular needles yet still following the pattern exactly as it was written, not accounting for this change. The original hat pattern called for stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row) I was doing this on circular needles which is not necessary! When knitting on circular needles, you just continuously knit (not purl) to create stockinette stitch. DUH! I pulled everything out immediately and started over. I am still not in love with the hat. I think I bought the wrong kind of sequins. The picture in the pattern was a bit fuzzy and the directions didn't specify so I bought sequins with the hole in the center. I think the pattern may actually require sequins that are more like discs with the hole at the top. I'll complete this hat with the sequins I have and see what I think. I may need to make another one with sequin discs. You can never use too many sequins!

In other blunders, I pulled out my card making stuff this past weekend to make a birthday card for JJ's mom. I was working away having a grand ol' time stamping, punching and cutting. I completed the front of the card and opened it up to stamp a sentiment on the inside of the card only to discover I had glued everything on UPSIDE DOWN. Oy ve! Thankfully it was an easy fix. I just cut the card front off and glued it onto another folded card. It didn't look bad either. Whew!

I think this may be a sign I am trying to get too many crafts in with too little time. One of these days I hope to turn my hobby into a full time job. I am not 100% positive how I am going to accomplish this but I do have some ideas. That's a post for another time. Until then, I'll just keep on keepin' on and hope for the best. Have a great weekend everyone!!!!