Athena Dreams

Books Books Books

This from Anne at How the West Was Spun...

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
Reference books .:. Hardcover. All else .:. Paperback. Though I have been making a better effort to go to the library and wait list myself for the popular books, in an effort to be a better budget miser. I don't re-read fiction all that much, and all those purchases just make their way to the library for book sales anyway.

2. If I were to own a book shop, I would call it…
uhm... Pages of Heaven, okay not so great, what about, Comforts...

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…

"... take care of the problems now, or else you'll just have to suffer again later when you scew everything up the next time. And that repetition of suffering - that's hell. Moving out of that endless repetition to a new level of understand - there's where you'll find heaven." from Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love

4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be…
Now that's a hard one... a jumble comes to mind immediately... Iris Murdoch and Roberston Davies, and of course Philip Pullman, and what about that Elizabeth Gilbert, and well, you know, of course, Shakespeare, because really all the other novelists have just copied him all these years.

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be…
I think would make sure I had lots of paper, oh, and a pencil, and would perhaps just start writing my own, then I could change it and re-write it all the time for my own amusement.

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…
I think I will just take a page from Anne, and reiterate: ... a gadget that would hold the pages open while you read AND respond to a "turn page" voice command when you reached the end of the open pages.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…
Reading at my grandparents house, probably an old copy of the Pickwick Papers, all tattered, sitting behind the couch leaning against the clanging radiator on a fall afternoon.

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be…
I always wanted to be in this one children's story... and of course can't remember the title or the author, but it was a wonderful story about a sensitive young girl who wanted to be an artist, and whose family simultaneously didn't understand her, and loved her whimsical look at the world... really, it IS a book, I am off to look for it again...

9. The most overestimated book of all times is…
Harry Potter? I will say I have read them all, but it still remains a phenomenon that is puzzling to me.... Oh, and then there's the mystery of The Da Vinci Code, a lovely tale, but what was all the fuss about?

10. I hate it when a book…
Just doesn't live up to its beginnings. You know, the ones that start with full vacuum hose working, sucking you into the story and the characters and all the details, and then somewhere along the way it just loses its focus and meanders to a sad and disappointing end. I hate that dreadful feeling I get in my stomach when I realise, "Oh this is happening, it's not going to be good", and then I can't put it down for hoping that it will surprise me and resurrrect itself... so disappointing.

Since I think most everyone has probably already participated in this meme, I will just leave it with those that want to participate, tell us about the books in your lives! But, if you haven't done it and would like: I will ask Hege, Janet, Kristi and Jennifer.

And Here We Are at Autumn

I had wanted to mark the turn of the page to Autumn with starting a sweater for the fall and winter. The choice has been made (long ago) and for those of you who followed me through my swatching and my colour foraging, you know it will be the Poetry Cardigan of long ago discussions. Aah, but which cardigan: there were 2 discussed ad nauseum...

It will be the Peony Cardigan number one, or the one on page 136 in the Poetry in Stitches book.

But the weekend ended up filled with a wedding to attend, walks to go on in the cool(ish) Bay area-starting to change weather, and colours to read about and projects to tie the loose ends up on . . .

. . . changing leaves to walk through, home made vegetable soup left to simmer on the stove and make the house smell all warm and cozy and delicious.

Have I mentioned that I love the beginning of Fall, probably many many times, but I always love to say it again...

and there's my newly growing friendship with orange, another thing to celebrate about the beginnings of fall.

Happy Equinox! May the changing fall air invigorate and inspire you all!

A Few Finished Objects

The hills of Baby Lizard Ridge will no longer be hills when it is finished blocking, but the photo is sure cool looking with all that undulating colour.

I finished the edges with a garter stitch that comes to a 45 degree angle at each corner, for easy smooth sew together, and did 2 rows of each of the solid colours in the blanket... am hoping the edges will not stay too wavy, but if they do, am secondly hoping that they will look ok if they are wavy... we shall see.

AND I finished my very first First Sock! Just a Rib pattern, but the colour of this Mountain Colours is so beautiful that the plain old ribbing is just fine. This is the first finished sock of what is to be 5 pairs of socks to gift to the boys in my family... yikes I have 9 more socks to make. Ah well, I will bask in the glory for a few minutes longer.

Thanksgiving was thankfully a lo-key day. Everyone in the family was out of town at various in laws and out of town family, and we opted to stay here and I am now so glad we did.

Quiet (small) dinner : Stories about old 30s Hollywood from Mr Athena's Grandmother : Knitting : Movies : Naps : Jammies : Slippers

I spent a bit of time with Brandon (a belated birthday present), and cleaned my studio and the rest of the house, and overall felt myself very thankful for our home and our immediate and extended families and the lives we get to have and all the moments and people and laughter and celebrations that make up our lives.

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, and now, after the quiet moment of this holiday, it's on to the knitting countdown for Christmas 2006...

Some This's and That's

I never have been much interested in that activity that some refer to as the "C" word. I attempted a few lace doilies when I was a teen-ager, and they made better yamukas (sp?) than doilies, never could get the tension right so they would lay flat... So all that personal history of The "C" word leads to...

this lovely... "Carnivale", just so captured me, that I bought the over-priced Rowan book just to have it... and I don't know how to crochet, except to make a chain for a knitted cast on. Hmmm.

And then there are these wonderful flowers...

Anyone out there know of a good beginner crochet book that will teach me all the possible stitches and funny indecipherable (to me) abbreviations? Will I be publicly stoned - you may read and interpret that however you wish, I leave the double entendre alone - publicly shunned, or otherwise abandoned if I crochet one shawl... maybe 2? The swirls... the flowers... they are singing a siren song...

----

Latest update on the Falling Leaf shawl with my own hand dyed... I spent a few hours knitting on Sunday - I haven't picked up the needles for any concentrated amount of time in a little more than a week, so it was nice to get another few inches done...

and for the some of the other scarves/shawls, I will be making this fall, I will be perusing another new purchase

this is the one (of the series of 3) that has all the cool lace patterns, so I was thinking I would use the Stitchionary to come up with some of my own ideas to put patterns together, and see how that goes.

---

and finally a very BIG and HUGE thank you to all of you who commented and e-mailed about the loss of our precious little Bebo boy. The house remains too quiet, and the porch too empty, but in the last few days we have managed to remember him in a happy way more than with tears. We hope he is in his best ever kitty world, with lavendar to sleep beside, and an endless supply of fresh catnip to roll in, an occasional bowl of milk, and belly rubs whenever he wants them.