Gilsland Farm – Falmouth, ME

Knitting Notes

This is Gleipnir, by Lanja Sámsdóttir.   I’m using the leftover Tess’ Designer Yarns Superwash Merino Lace in the Maine Woods and Waters colorway.

This has been interesting so far – it’s true lace, so I’m having to work the pattern across the back as well.    There are a fair number of p2tog through the back of the loop – they’re definitely variable in ease.

The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo

This book is nominally set in the Grishaverse, but is all the fairy tales they would tell there.  You can definitely see the parallels to tales in our normal world.

My favorite story was “Ayama and the Thorn Wood”, which is sort of a cross between “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast”. The younger son of the king was born a beast, and has escaped his confinement, and is slaughtering livestock and people in the countryside. Ayama, a younger sister of the girl who everyone thinks should be a princess, ends up being the one person that can reason with the beast. I really loved how this tale ended – it’s a great twist on this story.

The last story, “When Water Sang Fire” is a take off on “The Little Mermaid”, and I wasn’t as fond of that one. What mainly interested me is that this is the second or third time I’ve now run into stories that were very clearly influenced by the Disney version of this tale – interesting how that’s clearly now a cultural touchpoint.

The Sharing Knife: Beguilement – Lois McMaster Bujold

Fawn has fled her family. She’s done an incredibly stupid thing, and feels the only way to remedy it is to run away. On her way, she runs into Dag – a member of a patrol of Lakewalkers. The Farmer folk are a bit leery of the Lakewalkers, who have magic, which they use to protect everyone from Malices – terrible beings that would enslave everyone if they could. While together, they fight a Malice, and something happens that binds Fawn and Dag together.

The book has the air of a Western to some degree, but in a fantasy land. There are tales of sunken cities, and old magic that caused terrible injuries to the land. But at its heart, the story is a love story. One I’ll be interested to follow in the next book. This book was more about Fawn’s family, but I think the Lakewalkers are far more interesting. And there is the small matter of the thing that’s bound the two of them together that still needs to be resolved.

I can’t say this is my favorite Bujold story, but it’s not bad.

Knitting Notes

Pattern: Icy Seas by Hunter Hammersen
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette in the Macaw, Serrano and Semolina colorways and Lichen and Lace Matte Sock in the Teal Tide colorway
Needles: Size 2 DPNs

We’re doing Christmas ornaments for my boss this year, and as soon as I realized I had the right colors in leftover yarn, I decided on mini hats.    This pattern set has four different patterns.    I love all the cables.    Breccia (in blue) is probably my least favorite – it ended up being a totally different size than the other ones, but it is a very different pattern.    Good thing I’d already decided to keep it for myself, since the color isn’t traditionally Christmasy.

 

Penric’s Mission – Lois McMaster Bujold

This novella is a bit of a sea change from the earlier Penric stories. Pen’s patron, the Princess Arch-Divine, has died, and he’s a bit adrift. He’s ended up in the service of the Duke of Adria, who sends him on a covert mission to meet with a general in a nearby land who’s contacted the duke about leaving for Adria. Since one of his demon Desdemona’s former carriers is from Cedonia, he should fit right in. But it’s quickly clear that it’s a set up.

Pen ends up helping General Adelis and his widowed sister Nikys flee Cedonia, and you end up learning a lot about what happened to him between the events of the last novella and this story. It ends on a bit of a cliff hanger – I’ll fully admit I went right out and grabbed the next novella – which I’m normally better about rationing. But I need to see what happens!

Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde

This is the second book in the Thursday Next series. Thursday is a cop in the Special Operations portion of the police in an alternate England. In the last book, she ends up married after various adventures that include going into the novel Jane Eyre, and changing the ending.

Not too far into the book, her husband is disappeared (I forget the novel term) as if he’d never been, even though Thursday’s still pregnant with their child. It’s of course a ploy by the evil Goliath corporation to get back their bigwig who Thursday stranded in Poe’s “The Raven”.

These books are meant to be absurd, and I didn’t mind it in the first book of this series, or some of the other books of the author’s I’ve read, but I was apparently not in the mood for it this time around. I had a really hard time getting through this book. I can’t really put a finger on why – it’s true to form of his other work. Like I said, I may not have been in the mood.

Knitting Notes

Here’s what I now have on the go:

A cowl in Lichen and Lace Matte sock, in the Pressed Flower colorway.   This is the particular colorway that caught my eye in this yarn.   I just thought it would make a nice cowl.    I’m using the Bryce Canyon cowl by Courtney Mussatt as inspiration (there was a sample at the LYS when I bought this yarn), but trying to engineer the pattern myself – it seems simple enough.

We’ve decided to give my boss ornaments for Christmas this year.   I was lamenting my lack of Christmas colored yarn ends, until I remembered that it was highly unlikely we’ll hit 90 degrees again this year, so that frees up the red color from my temperature scarf.   The 50s (green) and 70s (yellow) will also work, and I have plenty of those left.   So that was that.   I’m doing the Icy Seas hat ornaments by Hunter Hammersen – some fun cables, and I should be able to knock them out well ahead of when I need them.   (I may also make the fourth pattern with some of the leftover Lichen and Lace Teal Tide, and keep it for myself.)

Ancient Magic – Linsey Hall

Three girls wake up in a field with no memories, but knowing that they need to flee. They clearly have some magic ability, and they also know they’re FireSouls, magic makers that share the soul of a dragon. Problem with that being that FireSouls are generally thrown into magical jail.

It’s about ten years later, and Cass, Nix and Del have set up a business finding magical artifacts. It allows them to use their abilities in a way that blends in with regular magic. Cass especially uses their abilities – her dragon sense can led her to the artifacts they seek, and she can claim she’s using seeking magic.

Enter the local incredibly hot shifter, Aidan, who needs help finding a magical scroll. At first Cass isn’t interested, because he could figure out her powers, but it turns out that scroll might her all their names on it, with their abilities, and the girls can’t afford to let that fall into anyone else’s hands. And have I mentioned Aidan is hot?

This was a fun book – it could have veered into silly, but stayed pretty clear of it, and I did enjoy it.

Knitting Notes

Pattern: Eurydice by SpillyJane
Yarn: Lichen and Lace Matte Sock in the Teal Tide colorway
Needles: Size 2.5 DPNs

I’ve had this pattern since I did the Three Irish Girls sock club back in (cough) 2011.   Yowsers – how time flies.   It’s nice – pattern is complex enough to be interesting.   If I did it again, I’d probably add an extra repeat to the leg, but this was my first time making size 11 socks, and I really didn’t know if I’d have enough yarn.   (These are for my Aunt N, who was admiring the yarn when I Instagramed it.)

Love this yarn.  It does have nylon in it, but you really can’t tell – it’s so soft!   And I do love the color sensibility.  I may have found my new favorite sock yarn.