Sunset

Sunset from the parking lot as I left work. While I don't love that this was taken at 4:30, I love that I was there to see it.

Knitting Notes

And so the holiday knitting begins. These are Paul Atwell socks, by Emily Johnson, in Knit Picks Stroll in the Midnight Heather colorway. They'll be either for Dad or C (probably Dad, as the other colorway I bought is Merlot Heather, and C is the wine drinker, so it just seems to fit). I actually cast these on on Sunday, but the lack of light when I get home (definite downside of daylights savings time) means I didn't get a photo until I had a spare moment on Wednesday before work. And you can tell how long it took me to have time to clear my camera... Anywoo, the pattern is pretty easy, once I figured out how to follow the lace repeat. I don't know what I was smoking that night, as it's actually pretty simple, but it took me few very confused moments to get through the first repeat. I memorized it after the second. It's going quite nicely now.

So, since I have another pair to complete before Christmas, and the November Sockdown challenge doesn't end until 12/31/09, you can imagine how my progress on the Tilted Cabled socks is going. I did actually get through the heel, but have stalled out on the gusset decreases. I'll probably work on them hear and there for a little variety, but I won't count on finished them anytime soon. And that's the state of knitting for now.

YA Challange 2009 (1/1/09-12/31/09)

I'm done with the 2009 YA Reading Challenge, slightly ahead of schedule. I read:

• Daughter of Venice - Donna Jo Napoli - finished 11/12/2009
• The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Vol. 1 - Dianne Wynne Jones - finished 11/6/2009
• Mister Monday - Garth Nix - finished 9/23/09
• The Crow - Alison Croggon - finished 7/21/09
• The City of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau - finished 5/11/09
• Princess Academy - Shannon Hale - finished 3/27/09
• The Dreaming Place - Charles de Lint - finished 3/13/09
• The Birchbark House - Louise Erdrich - finished 2/2/09
• Bound - Donna Jo Napoli - finished 6/9/09
• Inkspell - Cornelia Funke - finished 2/23/09
• Slam - Nick Hornby - finished 10/28/09
• Sorcery & Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot - Patricia A. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer - finished 1/10/09

In the group were one regular fiction, three historical fiction, one historical fiction/fantasy hybrid, one post-apocalyptic/sci fi book, one urban fantasy, and five fantasy books. If someone hosts this challenge again next year, I think I'm going to challenge myself to try to read less fantasy. It is definitely my favorite genre, and there is a lot of it available, much of it good, but I think I should stretch myself and see what else I can find. So here's hoping there's a reprise of the challenge next year!

Daughter of Venice - Donna Jo Napoli

Read for the 2009 YA Reading Challenge.

Most of Donna Jo Napoli’s books draw from fairy tale or folklore backgrounds, but Daughter of Venice is a straight historical fiction story, something I tend not to run into as often in my young adult reading.

Donata, with her twin sister Laura, is the second oldest daughter of a noble Venetian family in the late 16th century. There are 12 children in all in the family, and while they are wealthy, it’s probable that only one of the sons, and one of the daughters, will marry. The daughter will probably be Donata’s older sister Andriana, but Donata wishes to marry too, and experience more of the life outside her family’s palazzo home.

This is the background to Donata’s decision to sneak outside the palazzo, dressed as a boy, which leads her to a series of adventures, and ultimately will shape the lives of her and all her sisters.

This is a fun read. Donata is full of modern spunk (I seriously doubt a real Venetian girl from that time period would have been quite that daring), and her adventures cover a surprising amount of ground in Venice. I think I would have enjoyed this had I read it when I was younger, and would have undoubtedly wanted to learn more about the city. Being older, and having actually traveled there (for a far too brief time), I enjoyed imagining the past in those charming alleyways and canals.

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci Vol. 1 - Dianna Wynne Jones

Read for the 2009 YA Reading Challenge.

In the Twelve Worlds, only an enchanter with nine lives is powerful enough to be the Chrestomanci – an enchanter charged with making sure magic isn’t misused among the different worlds.

This book is an omnibus of two of the Chrestomanci books. In the first (Charmed Life), when Cat Chant and his sister survive the terrible boating accident that killed their parents, Cat assumed it was because his sister Gwendolyn is a powerful witch. Cat himself can’t work magic.

It’s Gwendolyn’s idea to contact the Chrestomanci, who had written to their father at some point, and seems to have some interest in their family. Before long, Cat and Gwendolyn are installed in Chrestomanci Castle, and when Gwendolyn realizes that they’re not going to let her get away with as much magic working as she’d done in the past, she goes on a rampage. It’s funny at first, but Cat gradually realizes how far his sister is willing to go, and her actions have far reaching consequences for everyone at the castle.

The second book (The Lives of Christopher Chant) takes place about twenty five years before the first, and tells the story of Christopher Chant, who in the first book has become the Chrestomanci. Christopher has the ability to spirit walk, and for as long as he can remember, has visited many of the versions of the Twelve Related worlds. As fun as Gwendolyn’s rampages through Chrestomanci Castle were, Christopher’s adventures in the various worlds are better. He meets a whole cast of interesting characters, and is eventually forced to defend the castle against evil forces with the help of a living goddess, a cat, and the minor magic workers of the castle, after the Chrestomanci goes missing. Good fun, especially after seeing Christopher’s grown up self in the first book.

There are several more books in series, which I’m very much looking forward to reading.

Knitting Notes

I cast on my November Sockdown socks today. The pattern is Chrissy Gardner's Tilting Cable Socks from the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits. I'm using some Plymouth Happy Feet in a tealy green colorway. I can already tell these are going to take a little while, because of the cables. I tend to grasp my work a little tighter when I'm doing cables, so my hands actually get tired.

I had been trying to come up with a sweater to use with my Fibre Company Organik yarn that I picked up at the former owner's tent sale. I was thinking about making the Eastlake Sweater from Norah Gaughan Vol. 3, but I kept putting that off, and finally decided I just wasn't feeling that sweater in that particular yarn. Trouble is, I can't seem to find another sweater that I like that I actually have enough yarn to make. So I've put that back in my stash, and if I decide to make a sweater anytime soon, I'll likely be buying more yarn to that.

I received the yarn for my father and C's Christmas presents yesterday, so one pair of those will probably be on the needles relatively soon. Between the scarf, Tilting Cables socks, and those, I have my November knitting work cut out for me.

Magic and the Modern Girl - Mindy Klasky

Magic and the Modern Girl is the last book in a series about Jane Madison, who was a perfectly normal modern-day girl until the day she discovered a magical library in the basement of her new home, and that she could use it, because she’s a witch.

While definitely a fantasy-based story, this is also chick lit, so there’s always been a heavy emphasis on Jane’s disastrous love life, even while the perfect man (her warder, David) is right there in front of her. This being the last book of the series, I’ll give you one guess how everything turns out, though there’s naturally a bit of a twist to that part of the tale.

The other story thread is that Jane is losing her powers due to lack of use (a girl gets busy, you know), and it takes the help of David, and her mother, and her grandmother for Jane to figure out how to get them back.

I’m glad I borrowed, and didn’t buy this book (I do own the first two). Unfortunately, the series has suffered in my eyes because it is ultimately chick lit, and there are several conventions to that genre that drive me crazy. Don’t get me wrong, this is well-written chick lit, and I’m by no means sorry I read it. It just annoys me that there is much better written true fantasy that can’t sneak into the regular fiction section by way of its trendy genre, and is therefore ignored by the general masses. I hate that this book makes me think of that. I’d rather just be able to enjoy the story.