Soul of a Highlander

Soul of a Highlander by Melissa Mayhue

My rating: 3 of 5 stars






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another good escape for a few  hours

philomena scarf

moving right along...

Rabbit Season Duck Season

I actually finished stuff!!  Of course the end of month Nerdopolis deadline helps :)  These socks were adapted by me to anklets from the pattern HISS available on Ravelry, with Rabbit Season Duck Season Doppelganger sock yarn set from Gnome Acres.

PS love the new foot I got a couple months ago!

2nd Ever Fraggle Card Swap!!

If you're on Ravelry and are interested in some non-bill, non-advertisement mail, the Fraggles are hosting a Card Swap.  Easy Peasy! Mail a holiday card, receive a holiday card!

 www.ravelry.com/discuss/backstage-team-fraggle/3537024/1-25

Rules are simple:

 

1. Reply to the thread that you want to swap.
   
2. PM my your snail mail address and what winter holidays you celebrate (Christmas, New Year’s, Solstice, Kwanzaa, Festivus Hannukah- I don’t know any others)
   
3. Deadline to sign up Dec 5th.
   
4. I’ll PM your swap partner’s info on Dec 6th.
   
5. Mail out date Dec 12.
   
6. Post here when you mail your card.
   
7. Post here when you receive your card.
   

Rugged Knits

Rugged Knits: 24 Practical Projects for Everyday Living by Andrea  Rangel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm going to buy this book. (That means it's really like 9 stars but Goodreads only goes up to 5) Patterns are great patterns to wear every day. All my cables and lace are great, but not necessarily able to survive my everyday life. Here's what I've queued up already:

Bright River Cowl Neck Sweater
Wheat Creek Vest
Elderberry Road Cardigan
Wrap Up Hoodie
Blackberry Grove Cowl
Surging River Wrap
Weathered Mountain Hat
Blueberry Paws Mitts
Braided Brook Pullover




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Cattastic Crafts

Cattastic Crafts: DIY Project for Cats and Cat People by Mariko  Ishikawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cute book, I adore some of the projects, but other than the sock mice, nothing to give me an idea for my catphew's Christmas present.



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Turkey Trot

The Angie and I did the 5K Turkey Trot for the Food Pantry again this year.  (Curt did the 1 mile fun run - proud of him) I made matching turkey hats for us.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm going to s special place in Hell.  Got into a huge argument with my mother. Called her a false prophet following heretic... so yeah.. went well...

An Irish Country Love Story

An Irish Country Love Story by Patrick Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When does the next book come out???

Continuing the lives of Dr Fingal Flaheritie, Kitty, Barry Laverty, Sue Nolan, Kinky, and the rest of the Ballybuckleboo residents. Barry pining for Sue who is exchange teaching in France, Fingal's home and office are in danger of being torn down for a new road, and a councilman sworn on vengeance against him is leading the charge. Lars is helping the Marquis donate property to the National trust to try and save it from the insanely huge inheritance taxes - but he seems to be spending a lot of time with the Marquis' sister Myrna. Sonny has an odd disease. Donal is embroiled in a scheme, Bertie is using his political wiles for good??



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A Killer Stitch

A Killer Stitch by Maggie Sefton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Small quiet mountain town... Yet another murder. (memo to me - if moving to a idyllic town, make sure the yarn store is one town over!) Same cast of characters. East coast CPA transplant Kelly sleuthing around, Steve the builder, ever patient, will Kelly ever take it to the next level with him? Burt the retired cop turned spinner, Curt the rancher coming out of his shell helping Kelly with the Wyoming ranch she inherited and trying to help her get an alpaca ranch of her own. Mimi, the motherly LYS owner, Jennifer waitress/ real estate agent whose friend is in trouble, Lisa, Megan, Lizzie all are there as well.

I had the wrong killer for about 75% of the book, but that's par for my course.



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When I'm stressed or want to escape. it's the perfect sort of book.

Urban Knit Collection

Urban Knit Collection: 18 City-Inspired Knitting Patterns for the Modern Wardrobe by Kyle Kunnecke

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Love this book. Definitely going to attempt his way of locking in floats. A lot of charts/colourwork/cables right up my alley.

The three I really want to make after Christmas knitting is done are:

Rosema Wrap
D'Amour Wrap
Farmer's Market Mitts



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Twelve Days of Christmas

Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What would happen if you decided to "kill someone with kindness"? Would it change them? Would it change you? And being a Macomber book - would it help lead you to happy ever after?



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Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet

Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet by Leonard David

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Gorgeous photographs, amazing artists concepts pictures. The book is a companion piece to the National Geographic show that starts on Nov 14. It talks about the history of Mars exploration (yay Space Robots!!) What challenges need to be overcome to get boots on the ground. How the technology is just sooo close right now. Information as recent as Scott Kelly's year in space twin study. What challenges will arise to actually colonize the red planet. The challenges of terraforming it so the colonists could actually survive outside their habitation without space suits. The psychological issues of the big blue marble becoming a tiny insignificant dot. The physiological changes to long term low gravity living.

One of my favorite features is in between chapters it does a career highlight on someone involved in the drive to get a person on Mars, the last of which is Buzz Aldrin.

Great forward by Ron Howard ( a lot of times I skip the forward but read this one).

If the show is half as good as the book it will be amazing!



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Self Striping Yarn Studio

So nothing new to show you.  Started a pair of cabled knit socks and a crochet shawlette/scarf.  My husband sat on my beaded shawl and I dropped stitches (no lifeline lectures please) and I've been too hectic to sit down and figure it out.  I recently picked up 2 knitting books from the library so I'll post those instead.


Self-Striping Yarn Studio: Sweaters, Scarves, and Hats Designed for Self-Striping Yarn by Carol J. Sulcoski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Excellent for the adventurous beginner who's had a few projects under their belt. It goes over the differences in yarns, variegated vs striped, near stripes, wide vs narrow stripes, even vs variable, self patterning yarns, transitions, sharp vs gradual, gradients, ply-shifters, repeats, predicting what your yarn will do, joining a new ball, common trouble spots and fibers.

Honestly, it appears that the patterns are well written, but the only one that actually tempts me is the Saturnalia Vest.



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The Gold Bug and Other Tales

The Gold-Bug and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Poe just isn't my author



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Highland Guardian

Highland Guardian by Melissa Mayhue




Not that much like book one in the series - although near the end we catch a brief glimpse of the main characters of book One. I like that both books revolve around modern day characters who have inherited Fae magic and have to learn to deal with it. Already requested book 3 from the library!



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Thistles Seem Popular

At the restaurant we had brunch on Friday, the Angie took this picture with thistles in the arrangement.  The centerpieces at the wedding had thistle mixed in with huge sunflowers, and when we stopped for dinner Sun night there were more!

 

Happy Halloween

Ignore the mess in the background - I was Dark Rey inspired by Star Wars, Curt was some kind of 70's construction foreman (walked around with a clipboard as well)

Weekend pictures

Heading to Virginia

My favourite cousin in the entire world, and second favourite relative only behind John, Norman's(well the world calls him Bill) daughter Kristin is getting married!  So we'll be down at the Winterham Plantation for the ceremony.

Sorting Hat

Pumpkin

The Village Uncle

The Village Uncle and Imaginary Retrospect by Nathaniel Hawthorne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I don't know, I think I'm not literarily savvy enough to appreciate this,



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Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Haven't read a comic book in while, saw 2 episodes of Firefly a couple years ago - keep meaning to look for it on Netflix or Hulu to watch the rest.



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Changed up a recipe - shocking.

I was muddling through Pinterest, watching an  evening drain away, and I saw a fantastic sounding recipe.  

www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/black-bean-and-quinoa  an Enchilada Bake.  It is healthy and meatfree, so I saved it.  Then when I got ready to make it, some changes happened.  First, I had about 1/3 pound each of ground buffalo and chorizo leftover in the fridge, I add mushrooms to just about everything, and I had some leftover rice in the fridge as well.  Also - something about a Tex-Mex casserole that just screams "I need fritos!"  So here's my version, a bit less healthy (buffalo though is a very healthy, very lean red meat choice)(can't really defend the chorizo except it has so much flavour) 

1/2 cup pre-rinsed quinoa
1 cup no salt added chicken stock
drizzle olive oil
1/2 vidalia onion- fine diced
3 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup ground buffalo
1/3 cup ground chorizo (remove casing if stuffed sausage)
1 cup diced baby bella mushrooms
2 fire roasted jalapenos diced
1 red pepper diced
1 yellow pepper diced
1 cup frozen corn kernels
juice and zest of one lime
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 handful chopped cilantro
salt/pepper
1 can low sodium black beans - rinsed
3/4 cup cooked rice
1 can hot red enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1 cup roughly crushed fritos
sour cream and guacamole if desired


First, using stock prepare quinoa per package directions. Preheat oven to 350.

In large skillet, heat olive oil, add onions, garlic, buffalo, chorizo and mushrooms to start to brown, breaking up the meat.  Add peppers, corn, juice, zest and spices.

While skillet cooks down a bit (not more than 5 minutes) Stir beans, rice and cooked quinoa together , breaking up clumps.  Add mixture from skillet, sauce and 1/2 cheese.  After stirring together, pour into pre-sprayed 8 x 13 glass pan.  Cover with foil, put in oven for 20 minutes.  Remove foil, top with rest of cheese, put back in oven for 10 minutes more.  When fully melted and bubbly, remove from oven, top with crushed  fritos, let cool until no longer the temperature of the surface of the sun, serve. 

I topped mine with sour cream and guacamole with tomatillos.  
 

 

The tail is done!!!

As last time, the finished pictures are after the break- just hit "more" to see them.  I made several changes to the pattern - see my Ravelry project page if interested.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman

The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Beginning of the book is a little slow, but it is fascinating how Margaret Sanger (the woman most known for fighting for birth control rights) and her lesser known sister influence the creator of Wonder Woman. While Wonder Woman is often seen as the creation of the women's rights campaign, she was created by a man who pretty much failed at everything he tried to originally do in the world of psychology, and used his psychologic background to try to defend the comic against it's critics. He married one woman, unofficially married another (who had almost completed her PhD, but dropped out to be the nanny of his legal wife) slept and lived with a third on and off. He had children by the first two, the children of the mistress never knew he was their father. He took credit for the scholarly work both women did, hired male artists when there were more than enough experienced women who could have taken the job, and although he was a verbal proponent of women actually being superior to men, and predicted a female president (albeit in 500 years) he treated the women in his life as subordinates not equals. He had a bondage fetish, which showed up in Wonder Woman being captured and fettered in every story usually by page 3. And even though Wonder Woman is a super hero and has these amazing powers, she always seems to get herself overpowered by men.

Her truth lasso was inspired by the lie detector test proven inaccurate that Moulton proposed, her bracelets by the bracelets his mistress wore.


While I think I'm going to bury my head in the Lynda Carter and forward versions of Wonder Woman - it is kind of sad to realize that woman haven't really come that far since the 40's. Sigh.



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Ended up with Saturday off..

 So I dragged Curt out to sit in obnoxious bridge traffic (hate the  Mid-Hudson bridge)

 Made some new friends

 It was a gorgeous day!

 Waited in line for probably 40 min for a lamb sandwich that was oh sooo worth it.

Yes, you guessed it- I went to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Show.  I only bought one skein of yarn (really hadn't been planning to go, so no yarn budget) but I had a fantastic  time !