Knitting Notes

It occurs to me that I hadn’t gotten a very recently picture of the hexipuff pile, so here that is.    It’s definitely getting bigger, but still not big enough for a blanket.

My scrappy ten stitch worsted/aran blanket is actually big enough that I think I’m going to finish it off shortly.   I have a few more scraps I can put it into it – that’ll go into 2020, but I can finish that in January.     That’ll leave the sport/DK one still going.   So that should be only two long term projects still going after I do a little clean up in January.

 

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2019 Books Read

1. Mastiff – Tamora Pierce
2. The Future Falls – Tanya Huff
3. Lies Sleeping – Ben Aaronovitch
4. Alanna: The First Adventure – Tamora Pierce
5. In The Hand of the Goddess – Tamora Pierce
6. Dark Lands – Tony Wheeler
7. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man – Tamora Pierce
8. Lioness Rampant – Tamora Pierce
9. Periodic Tales – Hugh Aldersey-Williams
10. Siege and Storm – Leigh Bardugo
11. Fire Touched – Patricia Briggs
12. Wild Magic – Tamora Pierce
13. The Snow Child – Eowyn Ivey
14. Long May She Reign – Ellen Emerson White
15. The Reluctant Queen – Sarah Beth Durst
16. Wolf-Speaker – Tamora Pierce
17. Emperor-Mage – Tamora Pierce
18. The Realm of the Gods – Tamora Pierce
19. Penric and the Shaman – Lois McMaster Bujold
20. Flowers and Herbs in Early America – Lawrence D. Griffith
21. Seeing Further – ed. Bill Bryson
22. The Invisible Library – Genevieve Cogman
23. On the Edge – Ilona Andrews
24. The Confession of Brother Haluin – Ellis Peters
25. Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
26. The Immortals – Jordanna Max Brodsky
27. Fortune’s Fool – Mercedes Lackey
28. Beauty and the Werewolf – Mercedes Lackey
29. The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
30. Fire Dance – Ilana C. Myer
31. A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness
32. Shadow of Night – Deborah Harkness
33. The Book of Life – Deborah Harkness
34. The Library – Stuart Kells
35. Clean Sweep – Ilona Andrews
36. Sweep in Peace – Ilona Andrews
37. One Fell Sweep – Ilona Andrews
38. Japanese Fairy Tales – Yei Theodora Ozaki
39. Silence Fallen – Patricia Briggs
40. Lingo – Gaston Dorren
41. Time’s Convert – Deborah Harkness
42. Temperate Garden Plant Families – Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning
43. Gunmetal Magic – Ilona Andrews
44. Once Upon a Kiss – Althea Kontis
45. The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch
46. The Prophecy Con – Patrick Weekes
47. Ruin and Rising – Leigh Bardugo
48. The Spectral City – Leanna Renee Hieber
49. Tongues of Serpents – Naomi Novik
50. The Hills Have Spies – Mercedes Lackey
51. The Prince of the Pond – Donna Jo Napoli
52. Wolf Moon – Charles de Lint
53. Corsets and Codpieces – Karen Bowman
54. Sweep of the Blade – Ilona Andrews
55. Penric’s Fox – Lois McMaster Bujold
56. Magic Breaks – Ilona Andrews
57. The Owl Service – Alan Garner
58. Eye Spy – Mercedes Lackey
59. The Prodigal Tongue – Lynne Murphy
60. A Scandal in Battersea – Mercedes Lackey
61. The Iambics of Newfoundland – Robert Finch
62. Crucible of Gold – Naomi Novik
63. Paper and Fire – Rachel Caine
64. The Heretic’s Apprentice – Ellis Peters
65. Death in the Garden – Michael Brown
66. White as Milk, Red as Blood – Franz Xaver von Schonwerth
67. Sabriel – Garth Nix
68. Lirael – Garth Nix
69. Abhorsen – Garth Nix
70. Goldenhand – Garth Nix
71. The Darkling Bride – Laura Anderson
72. Moon Called – Patricia Briggs
73. Shakespeare Wrote for Money – Nick Hornby
74. Firefight – Brandon Sanderson
75. Shifting Shadows – Patricia Briggs
76. Cry Wolf – Patricia Briggs
77. Ancient Magic – Linsey Hall
78. Sweep of the Blade – Ilona Andrews
79. Rivers of London: The Fey and the Furious #1 – Ben Aaronovitch
80. Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde
81. Penric’s Mission – Lois McMaster Bujold
82. The Sharing Knife: Beguilement – Lois McMaster Bujold
83. The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo
84. Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
85. Knight of the Crescent Moon – L.E. Towne
86. A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness
87. Daughter of the Blood – Anne Bishop
88. Blue Gentian – Casey E. Hamilton
89. Losing Mars – Cidney Swanson
90. The Golden Shears – D.S. Murphy
91. Mirror Mage – Linsey Hall
92. Soot and Slipper – Kate Stradling
93. Stolen Magic – Linsey Hall

Soot and Slipper – Kate Stradling

This is a twist on Cinderella. It starts with the step mother asking Eugenie to stay away from the coming masquerade ball – everyone knows that Eugenie is prettier than her two step sisters, and because she will inherit her father’s estate once she comes of age, it’s vitally important that they find themselves good husbands. So as much as Eugenie would like to go, she lets them go without her, because she’s always been kind like that.

I was already sold with this set up, but the author actually manages to take it further – how this ends was amazing! This is probably my favorite Cinderella adaptation (and I don’t give Mercedes Lackey’s The Fairy Godmother a run for its money lightly).

The Golden Shears – D.S. Murphy

Following the action of The Scarlet Thread, Kai has managed to escape from the home of the gods lead by Hades – it would seem that their reasons for helping her might not always be pure, and they’ve neglected to tell her that her friends at the old institute, who are like sisters, are now targets. So she and Puriel, one of the fallen angels, are off to save them.

On their own now, they’re trying to figure out what the Fates might have had in mind by giving Kai the ability to see the threads of life. They manage to make their way to Europe, and end up on a Greek Island. There’s a Temple to the Fates there, and it would appear that Kai will be able to get inside.

This definitely seems like a middle story – there’s movement, and the introduction of a few new characters (Zeus and Athena in the flesh), but this definitely feels like a way station to a greater action – good thing I got a cheap trial of Kindle Unlimited, and the next book is included…

Losing Mars – Cidney Swanson

Jess has returned to Earth, destroying the one ship left that can journey between Earth and Mars in the process. She’s been reunited with her brother Ethan, and Pavel, the boy she’s pretty sure she loves, but who is also the nephew of her (and Mars’) greatest enemy on Earth.

So what’s a girl to do? Reunite the rest of the stranded Mars crew, and get a new ship, and new allies, to try and get them back to Mars.

I need to never again get a six book series on spec through a Kindle deal. For some reason, I’m having a terrible time getting through these books, but because I bought all six, I really feel the need to get through them. I’m not sure what the problem is – the story’s really not bad, and it’s a nice twist on the colonization of Mars and how that impacts things back on Earth. I’m just having the worst time getting into them.

Blue Gentian – Casey E. Hamilton

Salya is a Traveler, and as she’s approaching adulthood, she’s feeling the pressure to devote herself to the healing trade of her grandmother. It’s a very serious thing among her people –a true vocation. But she’s not quite sure she’s ready for it.

One night, an injured man stumbles upon their camp. Bren is a spy for the neighboring kingdom, desperate to get back to his country with news of an attempt on the life of his queen. Salya ends up leaving with him to get him back to his home safely. Along the way, she sees more of the world than she ever thought possible, and learns more about her family than she’d known before.

This book is ok – the world building is decent, but it seems unfinished somehow. Salya does have a complete journey, but I don’t know – I’ve just read better, more well rounded stories like this. It has potential, but I want a little more.

Knitting Notes

Pattern: Stash Busting Helix Hat by Jessica Rose
Yarn: Quince and Co Owl in the Buru, Cranberry and Straits colorways, and Berry Meadow Heritage Alpaca in Tashi
Needles: Size 8 and 9 circs and size 9 DPNs

Stash busting continues, with a touch of it’s been cold, and I’m still trying to perfect my winter hat game.   I added a pure alpaca lining to this one.   Haven’t tested it outside yet, but it’s instantly warm when tried on.

 

Knight of the Crescent Moon – L. E. Towne

LibraryThing Early Reviewers book

Tam Paradiso is a cop in Philadelphia who also happens to be one of the few people that can see otherworldly creatures, so she has a double job – cop by day, protecting the world from evil by night.

As she’s tracking a particularly nasty creature one night, another creature hunter, who also has the ability to travel through time, follows a creature into Tam’s present. His name is Christopher Marlowe – yes, that Christopher Marlow. His time traveling ability isn’t anything that he can control, so they need to find this creature before he’s whisked back to his own timeline.

I like Tam – she’s had to become tough because if her abilities, but she’s still built up a circle of friends that she lets in as close as she dares. Marlowe is immediately something special in that circle, because he already knows all of her secrets, and she’s never had anyone she can share that much with before. Him having to acclimate to the present day is also fun. I enjoyed this book – it’s a solid adventure.

Knitting Notes

Pattern: Cowl based on eyeballing the Bryce Canyon cowl by Courtney Mussatt
Yarn: Lichen and Lace Matte Sock in the Pressed Flower Colorway
Needles: Size 5 DPNs

The cowl is done.    Still love the yarn, and I really like this colorway.   I wasn’t much into the speckled colorways that have been popular in recent memory, but it turns out if you frame it botanically, I can get behind the idea.

Here’s the last of the two Lichen and Lace yarns as hexipuffs.    I sure went through two thirds of that purchase quickly.

Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I can’t say this book is reinventing the YA star-crossed teenage love story trope, but it has a few things I like that are a bit different. We have Ethan, who’s lived a small South Carolina town all his life, and has wanted to leave for ages. His high school is full of people who don’t want to leave, and while he fits in because his family has lived in Gatlin forever, he doesn’t really feel like he belongs.

Into this comes Lena, the niece of Macon Ravenwood, who lives in the old plantation at the edge of town, who no one ever sees. She drives his hearse to school. And it turns out she’s the girl in the dreams Ethan’s been having, where they’re together, and he’s unable to rescue her from some terrible fate. You can totally see where this is going – the cheerleaders hate her, and when Ethan and Lena get together, things get interesting. Oh, plus she’s a Caster. And when she turns 16, she’s going to either go for the light side, or the dark side, and she has no control over which way she goes.

I like that Ethan is the narrator here – it’s nice to see it from the boy’s point of view. And I’m really glad that while Lena does have powers, she’s still a teenager, so you don’t get an icky Twilight vibe from their relationship. It’s intense, but in a normal teenage way.

I’ll be interested to see where the story goes from here – I’m leaving out a ton of extra detail that will clearly be explored further in the future books of this series.