Sunday, February 22, 2009

French Fiction

Exteriors Exteriors by Annie Ernaux


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Lately, I have been fascinated with America's preoccupation with "Truth". In my opinion, this spate of successful memoirs that turn out to be fakes and "betray" the American public says something (although I am not entirely sure what yet) about how we value stories as a culture. Apparently, other countries are less concerned veracity and Annie Ernaux's popularity is evidence of this. Her books often blur what is real. In the case of Exteriors, the entire book is a series of observations of ordinary life which could be completely fabricated from Ernaux's imagination or actual scenes she has personally observed. The reader has no absolute way of knowing. My guess is it's a mix of both. Ernaux explains at the beginning of the book that she decided to write this book when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers. She explained that her mother's world was quickly becoming populated with strangers and she believed that to better understand her mother's experience she needed to explore the strangers in her own world. This is a beautiful reason to write a book and it is no less powerful to me if some of the observations are less than "true."


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Monday, February 16, 2009

Granny Square Blanket


It's official , my first successful baby blanket is packaged up, addressed and ready to go. Earlier this year, I tried a baby blanket that didn't quite "shape" up correctly. Parallelograms are a nice shape but not great for blankets. The Lion Brand Bright Baby Blanket was a giant granny square that while still not entirely square was a lot closer. In fact, if I had dared to block it might have perfectly square. However, when it comes to hand made isn't perfect a little overrated. I know, I know, it probably would be better and more polished to block the piece before giving it to my friend but I was so nervous things would go badly. I have never blocked before so I didn't want to try on a gift. One of my next projects is a blanket I want to make for myself so I will practice blocking on that.

Anyway, I am hoping that my friend won't lay the blanket on the floor a lot or scrutinize the back stitches. (I wove those threads in like crazy but you never know). I did use the machine washable Cascade Yarns 100% Superwash wool in magenta, pink, apple green, and white. The yarn was a good quality that split very little and worked up nicely. I am also now a big fan of this pattern too. It only took me about a month and half to finish and that was with some breaks due to some busy nights where I couldn't watch TV and therefore crochet. The color changes kept the pattern from getting boring and I am now inspired to make more in an array of different color combinations. Although, next time I do it I think I will follow the pattern a little more carefully. I didn't realize until I was almost done that I was suppose to work three rows of the light pink color (the color I chose as my main color) each time. Instead I just did one row of light pink in the sequence. I think this design choice looked fine but I did end up almost running out of the other colors and having a lot of light pink left. To use up some of that pink I did four rows and the end as a border. I liked the border but the more I looked at that pink the more it resembled Pepto-Bismol to me. Hopefully my friend won't think so.
Now that the blanket is finished I am moving on to the PDQ hat from the Happy Hooker book. After finishing a long project like a blanket it is always fun to start something small that I can finish quickly.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Chain of Events


When my mom is asked how she learned to crochet she loves to tell the story of how her mother only taught her the chain stitch. My grandmother likes things done well and she didn't want to teach her anything else until she made a perfect chain. After weeks of chain stitches, my mom became impatient and taught herself how to single crochet, double crochet and pretty much every other crochet stitch except for maybe the popcorn stitch. When I expressed an interest in crochet, she taught me how to chain and then quickly taught me the simple stitches. I am grateful that I didn't have to make yards and yards of crocheted chains but for some reason I had a hard time figuring out where to put my stitches. In my childhood I had made a few crocheted things but mostly round doilies that rippled instead of laying flat. My mom is a truly amazing crocheter who rarely follows a pattern, I think I always worried I wouldn't be able to make anything as beautiful as her pieces. Some of her crocheted table cloths and doilies are the most beautiful pieces of crochet I have ever seen.

As I got older, though, I started to feel bad that my mom's amazing talent and knowledge would not have a legacy. Maybe it's a bit melo-dramatic but I think it is a tragic thing if this yarn crafting skill dies out with my mom. So, during several trips home I asked her to teach me to crochet again. I would like to say that it went well and I never got frustrated or yelled at her and became an accomplished crocheter after a couple lessons from Mom. Well I would like to say that. I did learn how to single and double crochet and she did teach how to read a pattern. The problem was when I would come home I had no one to ask questions to or to look over my work to confirm I was doing things right. After a few years of trying to teach myself in a vacuum and trying to get the motivation to actually do a whole project I was invited to my first Stitch & Bitch. All the other ladies in the group are knitters so I didn't have feedback but what I did have was motivation to get better. I wanted to hang out with ladies every other Sunday but I didn't want them to see that I didn't know what I was doing. So, I bought several books, looked at videos on line, and crocheted while watching TV. I watch a lot of TV so I was able to whip out projects like hats and wash cloths by each Stitch & Bitch. The book that really gave me the confidence to crochet in front of people and to even give some of my work as gifts was Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker. There isn't a book out there. in my opinion that better explains how to work into a chain, decrease, and work in the round. The writing is so clear and engaging, so I am actually reading through the instructions and not skimming them for the main points like I have been known to do with instructional books. After the Happy Hooker and a year of the Stitch and Bitches I am now a fairly confident, competent and helplessly addicted crocheter. Now it is hard for me to believe there was a time I watched TV and didn't do anything. That just doesn't sound fun anymore:).

For anyone learning to crochet I cannot recommend both the Happy Hooker and a Stitch and Bitch group enough. Even if no one in the group crochet's, like my case, just having a time set aside every month that you dedicate to crochet is a great way to improve and the girl time is just as relaxing or maybe more so than the craft itself.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Intro to Hooks and Books

I am a technical writer, avid reader, and beginning crocheter from Austin Texas. This blog is dedicated to all things books and yarn. I know it is not exactly the most traditional combination of topics. I have noticed although that many of my knitting/crocheting friends are also readers. I do think a blog with a solid focus is better than a "I found this cute puppy pic on the web and I had a tuna sandwich for lunch blog" so I want to focus on topics I know I will have a lot to write about. That being said I am giving myself permission to stray on occasion when the topic is interesting enough. So, expect lots of afghans, scarves, fiction, and the occasional reaction to a Lost episode.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

February Book Club Book

In the Woods In the Woods by Tana French


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
An thoroughly entertaining and well crafted mystery novel. Unlike most mystery/thrillers I have read, I was fully invested in the characters and never thrown out of the world by clunky, agonizing sentences. One or two characters are a little too broadly drawn but overall French's world is populated with believable, complicated, and unreliable players. A great read for a cold winter weekend.


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First Audio Book of the Year

The Last Town on Earth: A Novel The Last Town on Earth: A Novel by Thomas Mullen


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
A historical novel set during the flu epidemic of the early 20th century, the Last Town on Earth was a compelling first novel and made a great audio book. At times the writing was a little over wrought but not so much so that I was distracted from the characters and the plot. Overall this is a plot driven novel, it was obvious the author did considerable research and he adeptly used that research to add depth to the world he created. This novel left me feeling so much more educated about early 20th century America; giving me an insight into the labor relations, medical practices, and general political climate of the time. As I was listening to the novel I kept asking myself how we as modern Americans would react to an outbreak of these proportions. The descriptions of the disease are graphic and horrifying. I don't know how we would react to something that fast and that devastating. The decision to quarantine may not have been the wisest but you cannot blame the characters for trying to protect what they had worked so hard to build. Overall, I would recommend this book and warn that for a few days after reading it you will look at everyone who coughs around you a little cautiously.


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