ahhh snow and books.

This is the snow outside my window. It is ridiculous. It snowed here for about a day and a half last week and now there is snow up to my knees is many areas. On the upside more snow to play in.

The last month has been stupidly busy. I had a paper due for social history of alcohol as well as one due for historical theory and method which kept me busy with the reading and the writing. Those were due awhile ago so now I can read and knit. I also had to go out and care for my parents farm while they were in England for about two weeks. On the upside that gave me opportunity to borrow quite a few books. While my parents were in England they bought me and my boyfriend matching scarves. This one is mine and his is black, brown, red and green. They are lovely and soft and ARGYLE! I love argyle so very much.





This was good since I no longer have anything to read and I never have enough money to buy myself an new books. Quite a few of these are young adult books and advance reader copies (my mother is a librarian who goes to lots of conferences and always brings back books) but of the ones I have read so far most have been good. Most of these books I have finished in around 24 hours, the rest have not taken more then three days to read but that was because I was distracted with other things at the time.

So far I have gotten through:

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. This was actually a good book. Its is about a young boy (Matt Cruse) who works on a airship as a cabin boy. But on this trip his ship is attacked by air pirates and they have to crash land on an uncharted island. Between Matt and Kate Devries they find and defeat the pirates (who have a base on the island they crashed on), save the ship and discover a new kind of mammal that lives flying in the air for their entire lives. This book is good for just about anyone. I would recommend it for anyone but particularly for kids who don't really like to read. It sucks you in and makes it had to put down.

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel. This book is a sequel to Airborn. In this one while Matt is at the Air Academy he goes on a training mission. During this mission the airship he is on goes too high and they find the Hyperion which was owned by an eccentric millionaire and lost many year before, the crew gets knocked out by the high altitude but Matt gets them down again. Once people know that this ship has been seen the race is on to find the Hyperion. This book is filled with the same adventures that made the first one so good and is definitely and enjoyable read.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. I really liked this book and am now on the look out for the next books in this series. The book is about a boy names Tom Ward who becomes an apprentice to the county Spook. The Spook travels around keeping the county safe from witches and ghosts and all other manner of dangerous creatures. This book uses all the old superstitions about witches and monsters to create a very good world where they are real. This book can be funny but is also kinda scary and often creepy. It is another book that I think many could enjoy and could also get kids to read more.

Dirt Eaters by Dennis Foon. This book is the first of the Longlight Legacy. It is about a boy named Roan who lives on Earth many years after there was a huge war which left much of the world ravaged and polluted. After his village is destroyed he gets taken in by a group who says they are trying to help the world. After Roan finds out what is really going on he runs away into the Devastation which leads him to find a good friend and helps him to find out why his village was destroyed and what he can do to help the world. This is a very good book but is not really suitable for younger children. It is often kind of scary and violent but older children or teens would probably enjoy.

Geisha of Gion by Mineko Iwasaki. Mineko is the first Geisha to have spoken out about what the life of a Geisha is really like. She lived and worked as a Geisha for many years and does a very good job of explaining what life was like as opposed to what people think about Geishas. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about Japan in the more recent years or Geisha as well as anyone who reads the occasional autobiography.

Dragon Keeper by Carole Wilkinson. This book is about a young slave girl in ancient China who saves an imperial dragon from being sold to a dragon hunter and killed. She befriends the dragon and they set out to the ocean to try to make the old dragon better. This was a decent book that probably many young adults would like. It is a good dragon book which the Chinese dragon instead of the loser European dragons. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next one.

Other then reading I have been knitting with much of my time.

This is the first of the christmas and birthday socks for my dad (whose birthday is in a few days). I am using the Thuja sock pattern from knitty. They are knit in knitpicks swish superwash, which is nice and soft as well as machine washable. This sock still needs to have the ends woven in and be blocks but the second is well underway.



This is the first of the thrummed mittens I am making for my older sister for christmas. I have no idea what yarn I used but I did use fleece artist roving in wool and silk for the thrums. This mitten is done the the next is on the way. I really like how the thrums change colour as the mitten gets longer.



This is the first sock I am knitting for my cousin for christmas. I am using a pattern from the knitting in colour blog called the caledonia socks but without the colour work. They are knit in Merino big print yarn which is a nice superwash merino yarn. It is nice and soft and brightly coloured.


This is what I have done for now but soon I will post more pictures of what I have on the go as well as patterns that I promised.

Now to go and play in the snow.