After I finished my class, I decided to do some leisure reading and picked up
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This was an all-around incredible book - I started it at 10 pm on Sunday night and finished during my lunch hour on Monday. This was just the thing I needed. Something really accessible after reading a book on research methods for the past three weeks. The protagonist Christopher has autisim and tries to solve the mystery of a dog murdered in his neighbors yard. It was a frightening and funny tale as he learned secrets about his family. I would highly recommend this. I only know of one person who read this - she liked the book, but has worked with kids with autism and said the ending was disappointing. We didn't have a chance to discuss it, so I don't know what she means. Maybe I will learn more later.
I also read
Dark Victory, an autobiography of Bette Davis. Not too good as far as old Hollywood celebrity autobiographies go. Nowhere near enough dish. Pretty dry. Probably true for the most part. I wanted to read the dirt on Bette and Joan Crawford's rivalry. Boring.
My next reading will be a quantitative research article in the field of human resources development. I can't wait to finish these papers so I can sell my book back. I still haven't recovered emotionally from spending $101 on the book.
In addition to an accessible book, I got some really fun yarn this weekend to make an easy scarf. I've been having a hard time finishing some gentleman's fancy socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, the tilted duster and a lacy tank from Interweave. My MIL and I went to
Borealis this weekend and each bought two skeins of
Araucania hand dyed wool from Chile- and we were both compelled to cast on almost immediately. Our local yarn lady told us it looks great in seed stitch and we cast on identical scarfs - 27 stitches on size 8s in seed stitch. Aren't the colors amazing? My scarf is in the blues and Sue's is in the other with the golds. The picture doesn't quite do the colors justice.
I am just a little into my second of two skeins:
And here's the tip 'o the day from the yarn shop: if you want to do a seed stitch scarf, always cast on an odd number of stitches. This way you always start with a knit stitch. Duh. Then you don't have to think too much.
I also picked up a couple skeins of cream colored worsted weight
Raggi. This is some pretty cool yarn - very fluffy and superwash. I am going to make some heavy weight winter socks with a cable pattern. Again, recommended by local yarn lady - she says her husband loves his Raggi socks and wears them while doing winter hiking. I'll make up the pattern based maybe on Elizabeth Zimmerman's woodsman socks with cables instead of ribs.
We also finished applying a new rubber roof to the top of our dormer. By 'we', I mean my husband and FIL. This was a much needed project because we were getting a little leaking on our back wall each winter. I'd show you a pic, but I am too scared to go up there. This was mercifully and uniquely a project that was significantly easier than we anticipated. This NEVER happens to us.
