Book Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

For some strange reason my branch library did not get a copy of this book. I will be donating my copy after I let a couple of my regular kids read it.

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. I've never been a fan of sci-fi (except for the guilty pleasure of Star Trek: TNG paperbacks) and so I was a bit reluctant to read this. However, it had garnered so much attention at ALA Midwinter (I missed out on the ARC) that I thought I'd give it a try.

I love the fact that it's hard to pin down exactly what the book is. Is it sci-fi? Romance? Mystery? Well, it's all of those, which means it should attract a wide range of readers. The shifting of POV from Amy to Elder means that both boys and girls will be interested. Short chapters with cliffhanger endings are good for those reluctant readers.

Okay, now that I've explained how the book will appeal to Teens, let's get down to the story. I thought the character development was quite good, especially with Amy. Could get her sense of frustration and loneliness. Elder's character seemed a bit canned but when you think of it in relation to Amy it makes sense.

I did figure the plot out but there were still bits that surprised me. I'm really interested to see where the story goes in the next book; I think this one stands fine on its own.

Sock Yarn Blankie progress!

The sock yarn blankie is up to 3 squares.

Square #2 is Patons Kroy Sock in Mulberry. Purchased from Michaels; I originally tried to make Duckies but gave up after I lost track of the mods I was trying to do. This particular square shows only the browns of the yarn; I bet I could do another square using the pink/purple color run and no one would guess that they were related.


Square #3 is Mirasol Chirapa, color #709. Leftovers from my Lacy Baktus (Rav link). Bought the yarn from ImagiKnit in San Francisco, after eating a sandwich from Ike's Place, which has since moved. Knit the majority of Baktus on a road trip to Ensenada in October 2009.

Yesterday I bought a new plastic bin solely for the purpose of storing the Sock Yarn Blankie project. Coincidentally, I also received several packages in the mail containing mini skeins. I think I have about 20 mini skeins right now, with more coming this week.

And So It Begins

This is the beginning of a sock yarn blanket.

Many, many squares will be knit together to form a blanket. There are many examples of this blanket on Ravelry, and the original inspiration can be found here.I've only been knitting for a few years, and I knew that I would want to knit one of these eventually, preferably after I'd mastered knitting socks and as a result would have plenty of leftover yarn balls with which to make squares. But that's not the case. I have knitted a total of 3 pairs of socks. But I have sock yarn. Actually, the yarn that makes up Square #1 wasn't even leftover from socks, but from a scarf I made for my sister. The yarn is Fleece Artist Nyoni, I don't remember the name of the colorway.

It is my hope that I will be able to share the story of each square here on my blog. Most of the time there won't be much to the story; in fact I can tell you that Square #2 lived a very quiet life. But I do have yarn coming to me that I will incorporate into the blanket and I'm sure their stories are much more interesting.

And now here is the shameless plug for yarn, fingering/sock weight, all I need is 5g to make a square and it doesn't have to be machine washable.

One other thing, I'm not using the aforementioned pattern for this blanket. I'll be using the method I used for the mitered square baby blanket, knitting the squares in rounds. I don't know how many rounds it will take for me to consider this project finished. What I do know is that I'm really excited to see how it develops.

First FOs of 2011!

As January winds down I proudly present my first finished objects of 2011!




The top 2 baby hats are for a super-preemie by the name of Asher. He just came home but was unable to attend his own baby shower. I whipped up the hats for my good friend Kim, who is auntie to the little boy. She'd asked if I could do a baby blanket, which I will do soon, but didn't want her to go to the shower empty-handed.

In the middle is a blanket for Baby Jacob, due in February. His mama Rosie is a very good friend of mine who was an absolute rock to me while Dan was in the hospital last year. Pattern is Cotton-Ease Baby Blanket from Stick-Legged Girl. I used Simply Soft.

I absolutely loved knitting this, so much that I plan to make a few more baby blankets using this pattern. Oh, and I've decided that I'll use the pattern for a sock yarn blanket as well. More on that to come...

The third pic is yet another hat. This was supposed to go to my friend Franco, who wore out the hat I gave him for his birthday a few years ago. But after finishing it I know it won't fit him. I'll have to go back and see what pattern I used for the first one.

Book Review: The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson

This was my first choice for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge hosted by The Story Siren. I picked it because I needed something quick and I knew Amazon would have it on my doorstep just in time for me to have something to read at work.
The Latte Rebellion centers around Asha, a high school senior of mixed race who, with her friends Carey and Miranda (also mixed-race), launch a website to sell "Latte Rebellion" t-shirts in hopes of raising enough money to go on vacation after graduation. What starts as messing around with a thrown-out idea soon turns into situations none of them envisioned.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Although I didn't care for the jumping-around with the timeline (which always irritates me to no end) I thought that the book as a whole had some substance to it. The issue of mixed-race ethnicity certainly needs to be addressed and is sure to become a talking point of the book. However, I did enjoy many of the sub-plots even though they could have been developed a bit more.
I would recommend this to teens who are into realistic fiction, but don't like Gossip Girl-type drama.

Hello 2011! New year, new hopes, new goals

Let us hope that 2011 is the year that I maintain this blog. There is alot on my plate and hopefully posting here regularly will help me keep sense and order of everything.

Resolutions? Several...

Knitting: To finally knit a pair of socks in a reasonable amount of time.

Reading: This is also a professional resolution, I am joining The Story Siren's 2011 Debut Author Challenge. I intend to read at least 12 YA/Middle Grade books by new authors in the coming year. In addition to posting my reviews here, I will most likely put them on my Goodreads page as well. I think my first selection will be The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson; at least, that is what I ordered from Amazon. However, I'm attending ALA Midwinter next week and so I hope to get some good titles there.

Eating: To plan out meals better and eat healthier. We are going to see how long we go without succumbing to fast food, and that includes Chinese.

In addition, we need to kick Dan's rehab into high gear. Cardiac Rehab appointments are done, but there's an opportunity for him to continue there under their "Fit for Life" program. They would incorporate some weight training in addition to the treadmill and bike, and the price is about the same as a gym, even a bit more reasonable when you consider the fact that they will let us work out alongside without charging any extra. Also need to remind myself to make Dan do more things for himself and stop being an enabler...

Trying to get back to "normal"

I honestly thought I'd have more time to blog. Dan has been home for about a week and a half now, and I've gone back to work, so we are trying to settle into what is going to be our usual schedule for at least a month. Dan is in Sharp's Community Re-Entry Program (CREP), Monday-Friday from 9-3. He gets 6 hours of various therapy. It's a whole new set of therapists, but I've met them all and like them all. Also, there are only about 6 or 7 other people in the group so it's a nice small group and he is never neglected. In fact, they even keep an eye on him in the afternoons until I get off work to pick him up.
Physically, Dan is doing great. I've only had to give him extra insulin one time, and that was because I couldn't refuse him a taco that Joanna had brought. Other than that, his BG is usually somewhere between 95-120 when we check before meals. I'd like to think it's because of what we've been eating; I could continue to be anal about the carbs.
Obviously the main concern is still the memory. Dan's short-term memory is horrible, although at times it seems that there is progress. While he still can't remember what happened yesterday, with some prompting it seems as if he remembers conversations from earlier in the day. He has a book where we write his activities during the day. I do hope we find that right memory aid soon.