Of Books and Yarn ...

This is it. The week I must get absolutely everything done. Writing a 20 page project; revising a short story; planning a summer course; packing up and getting ready to move.

It doesn't make for a very contemplative Holy Week, on the face of it. But I suppose all I can do is what I'm supposed to for the place I'm at in life right now as a student.

And of course, there are always moments of knitting and reading to help me keep my sanity.The bridesmaid stole is coming along. I'm hoping to have it finished by this time next week. And then I'll start blocking these buggers! With real blocking pins! I am going to order some from Knit Picks.

My Easter Annis, meanwhile, has been off the needles for almost a week, and is soaking in a bowl of water as I type this, looking like nothing so much as a big blob of seaweed. (The first picture is what it looked like moments before it hit the water.) The color is greener than it shows up in the pictures. I intend to block it after posting.
(One of these days I need to sit down and figure out the pictures on blogger, because I know there has to be a better way to do this and have them look nice in the post ...)

As for books: every now and then I drop by a used bookshop called Caliban after teaching my Seminar in Composition class. Sometimes I take the time to browse thoroughly; more often I just stroll by the shelves, pleased to be in the company of books for a few moments, and scanning certain spots on the alphabetically-ordered shelves for my favorite authors. Last week I was thrilled to find Flannery O'Connor's letters. This book has been on my wish list for a while. I'm not as thrilled about the library-esque plastic on the cover, but there's adhesive along the top on the inside. We'll see if there's anything I can do about it.

I cracked it open and read the first few pages; what a wonderful woman. Not a saint, to be sure, but she remains one of my heroes.

A few days ago I finished Warrior, on my brand new Kindle (named Lewis II ... may he avoid the fate of his predecessor). It's the second book in a fantasy trilogy by Christian author Bryan Davis, and pretty enjoyable. I am generally leery of "Christian" fiction, especially Christian fantasy; I can't stand being preached at. But he does a fairly good job at avoiding that. In fact, some of the Christian elements do some interesting things for the way characters play off each other.

And finally, I am reading Yarn Harlot by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I recommended this to my mom the day I started reading it. It is hilarious. I'm pretty sure that after finishing this one my next step will be to snatch up all her books and read them in quick succession.

Alright. Time to block a shawlette! Thanks as always to Ginny for hosting the yarn along.