So you will recall I had a goal to read 52 books in 2011 . I surpassed that in June and decided I would try for the rather lofty goal of 100 books in 2011....
I didn't quite make it, but pretty close!
Grand total: 96.
I'm pretty stoked with my efforts, it's been many years since I have been able to truly indulge and read to my heart's content and I have loved reading so many books this year.
The best in 2011?
Best new (to me) author: Geraldine Brooks. I read People of the Book and Year of Wonders. Both were excellent. I love her style of writing and the historical research she does to make her books come alive. I have March (a tale of the civil war) to read in 2012.
Best series: The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carringer. Fun, light hearted, steampunk at it's funniest. Extremely enjoyable reads.
Best fantasy/epic saga/omg the size of these books! : Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin. I read 3 books in this series and loved them. They are epic, long and complicated, and sometimes frustrating, but great story telling.
Best unexpectedly good read: World War Z by Max Brooks. Superb. Scary. Engrossing. Excellent.
Best Audio: Feed by M T Anderson.
Best YA: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey. A NZcentric supernatural thriller set in Christchurch. I can't wait to read more of Healey's work.
Other excellent and highly recommended books:
Room by Emma Donaghue
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones
13 reasons why by Jay Asher
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer (also gets the tearjerker award!)
The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell
Water for Elephants and Ape House both by Sara Gruen
City of Glass, City of Bones, and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (YA)
The Guildhunter series by Nalini Singh.
What was your favourite read/s in 2011?
Friday, December 23, 2011
Merry Christmas!!!
To all my readers - Merry Christmas!
I hope the festive season is full of fun times and lots of yummy food! May 2012 bring you much joy..and yarn :)
2011 has been a pretty shit year to be honest. 2010 was bad, and I never considered 2011 would bring even worse. The earthquakes did so much damage - to our beautiful city, to our family. I think we will be carrying the effects of those months for many years.
In spite of everything - the exhaustion, the stress, the worry and fear, the move to the other end of the country and leaving behind loved ones and a broken city, 2012 has ended on a high note...
The sweetp family bought our first home a few weeks ago (hence the blog silence for a bit there)! It is everything we were looking for - modern (warm and dry with no draughts), with a nice view, close to town but still a little bit isolated. We've been enjoying the novelty of knowing it is OURS to do with as we wish, and have spent the last few weeks settling in and getting things sorted. It is exciting and nice to end the year with something special just for us.
And what new house would be complete without a new yarn/book storage area? I call this sweetp's corner and it makes me smile every time I look at it.
So summer for us this year will be quiet as we settle in to our new home and recover from a busy term/stressful year. I'm looking forward to doing not a lot of anything, hanging out at the beach and maybe a few day trips to local sights and beaches.
I hope you have lots of nice stuff planned too and have a lovely day tomorrow with your loved ones x
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Testing testing testing
This year has seen me partaking in a lot of test knitting. Some of it has been 'in house' testing of club patterns, some for friends, some just when I see something I like on a testing board on Ravelry.
Earlier this year I replied to a call out for testers from Belinda Too aka Blendy Knits. Belinda is a NZ designer who published a pattern book - Blendy Knits Socks - last year. She had a new book in the works and needed testers who could use NZ yarns to test the patterns. So I replied, got allocated a pattern, knit it up , sent it off to her and then...kind of forgot about it!
A few weeks ago this arrived in my letterbox:
Blendy Knits Again is Belinda's follow on pattern book with a range of patterns; from scarves, hats and mittens to legwarmers and socks. I love the layout of the book, with it's clear difficulty ratings and coloured sections for each 'type' of pattern. There are some really fun patterns ( a child's hat that looks like a Wot-Wot, zany legwarmers) and some lovely elegant scarves.
The pattern I tested was this baby cardigan. That's my knitting the cute baby is wearing!!
I love how it looks on a real baby. It was a fun, if somewhat challenging knit, made in some gorgeous Vintage Purls sock yarn. There is something pretty special about seeing your own knitting (and your name) in actual print! I've been given the cardy back now and will keep it my baby gift box.
Blendy Knits Again is available here.
Earlier this year I replied to a call out for testers from Belinda Too aka Blendy Knits. Belinda is a NZ designer who published a pattern book - Blendy Knits Socks - last year. She had a new book in the works and needed testers who could use NZ yarns to test the patterns. So I replied, got allocated a pattern, knit it up , sent it off to her and then...kind of forgot about it!
A few weeks ago this arrived in my letterbox:
Blendy Knits Again is Belinda's follow on pattern book with a range of patterns; from scarves, hats and mittens to legwarmers and socks. I love the layout of the book, with it's clear difficulty ratings and coloured sections for each 'type' of pattern. There are some really fun patterns ( a child's hat that looks like a Wot-Wot, zany legwarmers) and some lovely elegant scarves.
The pattern I tested was this baby cardigan. That's my knitting the cute baby is wearing!!
I love how it looks on a real baby. It was a fun, if somewhat challenging knit, made in some gorgeous Vintage Purls sock yarn. There is something pretty special about seeing your own knitting (and your name) in actual print! I've been given the cardy back now and will keep it my baby gift box.
Blendy Knits Again is available here.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Meet Frank
Frank is a very cute and quick knit from Katie Boyette's Knit Wit book. You might know her as caffaknitted .I have long admired her quirky toy patterns and this is my third knit from the book, having made an Owl and a Robot earlier in the year.
Frank is destined to be a Christmas present, but he's so cute I may have to make one just to keep!
This is a great pattern for leftovers. I didn't weigh my yarn but it probably took less than 20g. The pattern is written for worsted but mine is DK and I didn't make any adjustments other than needle size. And did I mention quick? A few hours. Now I just need to find an equally quick and cute knit for the recipient's big sister!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Winter is coming...
It feels funny typing that when really it is summer that is coming but if you have read or watched "Game of Thrones" (George R.R. Martin) then you will recognise the quote. Game of Thrones has just started airing on the new Sky channel SOHO and I am loving it so far. I am probably only a couple of nights reading from finishing the the book as well! If you love epic medieval fantasy novels then I highly recommend it - it has everything from action, suspense, political intrigue to the spooky supernatural.
This month Tri'Coterie is offering a range of "winter" yarns with a bent towards Game of Thrones - think greys and black, sparkly snow and a wintery palette.
For stripes this month, Maylin chose the banner colors of the Stark family - wardens of the cold and icy north - in greys and white.
I had an advance sample of this as a BFL wool sock yarn and decided to knit it up into something 'not socks' to see what happened to the stripes in a FO that wasn't a sock.
I know, it looks a little strange but this is a new pattern called "vertebrae" by a friend of mine, Kelly Brooker of knit-so-quaint, and it was designed to be frontless. Ideal for spilly babes or for use when baby wearing - when the baby has their front to yours but you want some coverage for their back and arms. The lack of front pieces makes this a fast knit,even on 4ply, and I love how the stripes turned out. Very very cute. This is the 3-6mth size and used about 75g of yarn. At the moment a free version is available on Ravelry (newborn in 4ply) and the extended version for babies (for which I was helping test) will be up soon. She is also working on a kiddie version as well and hopefully in the future an adult sized pattern. I think it would make a lovely summer cardy for when you want to keep a breeze off but it's too warm for too much fabric.
The other wintery yarn offerings for this month include some gorgeous gradient colours. I'm in love with this one:
Huge gradient shawl maybe?
This month we are also trialling having a pattern offered alongside the yarn which is an exciting new avenue for us.
This is my new pattern "wolfsbane" and is knit in gorgeously soft baby alpaca (chunky/14ply). The semi-solid grey colourway is aptly named "direwolf".
I love how the grey tones give it a really wolfish look. The pattern is an easy lace panel flanked with cable twists. There is a provisional cast on in the middle of the scarf which is probably the hardest part if this is a new technique to you, but otherwise it is a lovely fast knit, perfect for when winter really is coming.
We are offering a special on the yarn - 10% discount if you have purchased the pattern. This is available until Dec 15 (or until stocks last). Wolfsbane is available for purchase for $3US.
You can see all of the November winter yarns at the Tri'Coterie group on Ravelry.
And now I'm off to read some more Game of Thrones!
This month Tri'Coterie is offering a range of "winter" yarns with a bent towards Game of Thrones - think greys and black, sparkly snow and a wintery palette.
For stripes this month, Maylin chose the banner colors of the Stark family - wardens of the cold and icy north - in greys and white.
I had an advance sample of this as a BFL wool sock yarn and decided to knit it up into something 'not socks' to see what happened to the stripes in a FO that wasn't a sock.
I know, it looks a little strange but this is a new pattern called "vertebrae" by a friend of mine, Kelly Brooker of knit-so-quaint, and it was designed to be frontless. Ideal for spilly babes or for use when baby wearing - when the baby has their front to yours but you want some coverage for their back and arms. The lack of front pieces makes this a fast knit,even on 4ply, and I love how the stripes turned out. Very very cute. This is the 3-6mth size and used about 75g of yarn. At the moment a free version is available on Ravelry (newborn in 4ply) and the extended version for babies (for which I was helping test) will be up soon. She is also working on a kiddie version as well and hopefully in the future an adult sized pattern. I think it would make a lovely summer cardy for when you want to keep a breeze off but it's too warm for too much fabric.
The other wintery yarn offerings for this month include some gorgeous gradient colours. I'm in love with this one:
Huge gradient shawl maybe?
This month we are also trialling having a pattern offered alongside the yarn which is an exciting new avenue for us.
This is my new pattern "wolfsbane" and is knit in gorgeously soft baby alpaca (chunky/14ply). The semi-solid grey colourway is aptly named "direwolf".
I love how the grey tones give it a really wolfish look. The pattern is an easy lace panel flanked with cable twists. There is a provisional cast on in the middle of the scarf which is probably the hardest part if this is a new technique to you, but otherwise it is a lovely fast knit, perfect for when winter really is coming.
We are offering a special on the yarn - 10% discount if you have purchased the pattern. This is available until Dec 15 (or until stocks last). Wolfsbane is available for purchase for $3US.
You can see all of the November winter yarns at the Tri'Coterie group on Ravelry.
And now I'm off to read some more Game of Thrones!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Zing!
I'm starting to try and get a few xmas gifts done. The arrival of November always scares me a bit. I can't believe the year is almost over (and what a year it has been!!)
With 11+ shawls finished, the womenfolk of the family are taken care of. For the menfolk I've started knitting a few "man" things.
For my stepdad and 1yo. nephew I knitted Ziggy beanies. This is a recent release from Australian designer, Georgie Hallam also known as Tikki, who you probably know from such hits as the Milo vest and the Rainbow dress. Tikki's patterns are always fun, there's usually a little bit of quirk in the construction while still being great 'wearable' items. The ziggy beanie is part of a larger set that includes a skirt, vest, legwarmers and sweater that all use a fun zig zag cabled pattern to add a bit of zing to your knitting. Quite addictive I must say.
I knit my stepdad's one first while on holiday in Golden Bay. The yarn is from Red Riding Hood yarns and is simply gorgeous. The DK was nice and soft and had lovely stitch definition (which is an important consideration for this pattern if you want nice sharp cable lines), but the colour....oh the colour. For "brown" it is simply gorgeous. Lovely subtle changes and really rich and deep. Just lovely.
This was my first time knitting with RRHY and I was really impressed with the colours I received as part of my petite set (5 x 55g mini skeins). Isn't this a cool idea? Instead of getting just one colour, you get to sample a few.
Photo from Red Riding Hood Yarns - "Paris Je T'Aime" Petite Set.
Hannah packages her yarn in red paper, with red ribbon and lovely little RRHY tags. It makes it all the more special when so much care is taken with the presentation. Hannah sells her yarn via facebook with weekly updates and sometimes has custom spots available too on her blog. I'll definitely be knitting with RRHY again.
I made my stepdad's one in the dark brown (far right) with a rib band from the milk chocolate skein (far left) as I was worried I might run out of yarn and I didn't want to play yardage chicken with my holiday knitting. Of course, you know what happened - I had some leftover! The toddler size one is made from the rest of the light brown skein.
The little blue hat I made my nephew last christmas no longer fits so this is a more grown up replacement. Such a fun knit, it only took a couple of nights. I must say after a year of knitting 4ply shawls, it has been great to do some quick DK knits.
After my Ziggys were finished I had a 10g ball of each colour leftover. The wool was simply too nice to throw in my odds&ends bag, so I decided to use every bit of the loveliness up.
And I made myself a little friend:
When I saw this pattern in the latest knitty.com issue I just knew I had to make one.
My leftover brown yarns were perfect (I striped them), finish it off with some black and white scraps, some black felt for eyes and you have a cute little kiwi! He's only 10cm high so as you can imagine took almost no time at all to make. In amongst all my lofty shawl making goals, my test knitting and xmas to-do list, it was pretty satisfying to make something 'just because'.
With 11+ shawls finished, the womenfolk of the family are taken care of. For the menfolk I've started knitting a few "man" things.
For my stepdad and 1yo. nephew I knitted Ziggy beanies. This is a recent release from Australian designer, Georgie Hallam also known as Tikki, who you probably know from such hits as the Milo vest and the Rainbow dress. Tikki's patterns are always fun, there's usually a little bit of quirk in the construction while still being great 'wearable' items. The ziggy beanie is part of a larger set that includes a skirt, vest, legwarmers and sweater that all use a fun zig zag cabled pattern to add a bit of zing to your knitting. Quite addictive I must say.
I knit my stepdad's one first while on holiday in Golden Bay. The yarn is from Red Riding Hood yarns and is simply gorgeous. The DK was nice and soft and had lovely stitch definition (which is an important consideration for this pattern if you want nice sharp cable lines), but the colour....oh the colour. For "brown" it is simply gorgeous. Lovely subtle changes and really rich and deep. Just lovely.
This was my first time knitting with RRHY and I was really impressed with the colours I received as part of my petite set (5 x 55g mini skeins). Isn't this a cool idea? Instead of getting just one colour, you get to sample a few.
Photo from Red Riding Hood Yarns - "Paris Je T'Aime" Petite Set.
Hannah packages her yarn in red paper, with red ribbon and lovely little RRHY tags. It makes it all the more special when so much care is taken with the presentation. Hannah sells her yarn via facebook with weekly updates and sometimes has custom spots available too on her blog. I'll definitely be knitting with RRHY again.
I made my stepdad's one in the dark brown (far right) with a rib band from the milk chocolate skein (far left) as I was worried I might run out of yarn and I didn't want to play yardage chicken with my holiday knitting. Of course, you know what happened - I had some leftover! The toddler size one is made from the rest of the light brown skein.
The little blue hat I made my nephew last christmas no longer fits so this is a more grown up replacement. Such a fun knit, it only took a couple of nights. I must say after a year of knitting 4ply shawls, it has been great to do some quick DK knits.
After my Ziggys were finished I had a 10g ball of each colour leftover. The wool was simply too nice to throw in my odds&ends bag, so I decided to use every bit of the loveliness up.
And I made myself a little friend:
When I saw this pattern in the latest knitty.com issue I just knew I had to make one.
My leftover brown yarns were perfect (I striped them), finish it off with some black and white scraps, some black felt for eyes and you have a cute little kiwi! He's only 10cm high so as you can imagine took almost no time at all to make. In amongst all my lofty shawl making goals, my test knitting and xmas to-do list, it was pretty satisfying to make something 'just because'.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
For the dinosaur enthusiasts...
...a great place to visit is the Ti Point Reptile Park. We met some friends there during the last few days of the holidays and had a lovely family day out exploring the Matakana area.
The park itself is about an hr north of Auckland and 20min from Warkworth. We were very pleasantly surprised by the range of animals the park takes care of - from skinks and geckos, to tortoises and turtles, alligators and lizards and tuataras. It's set in gorgeous bush with views out to the coast with enclosures spread out all over the park.
I think my favourite were the chameleons. This one was on a branch right next to the glass which meant I got a couple of good photos up close. Their eyes are totally creepy- they can independently rotate so potentially the chameleon has a 360 degree view. And such bright skins, so fascinating!
The park has a range of tortoises (land based) and turtles (water based). I never realized how much variation in size and colour there were between species.
This doesn't really capture his size very well, but this enclosure houses a Galapagos Tortoise. He is HUGE. Like a giant slow moving rock. Very cool.
Afterward we drove down to the Goat Island Marine Reserve which was another stunning piece of NZ coastline. We easily could have spent a week there exploring. DH couldn't stop talking about the massive snapper swimming around in the glass-like water.
The kids played in the sand and the rock pool area while our friends went snorkelling. Next time we visit we will have to take a ride in the glass bottom boat that does trips around the island.
We packed so much fun into our holidays, I was quite sad when they (too quickly) came to an end. Now we're heading into term 4 already - where has the year gone!
The park itself is about an hr north of Auckland and 20min from Warkworth. We were very pleasantly surprised by the range of animals the park takes care of - from skinks and geckos, to tortoises and turtles, alligators and lizards and tuataras. It's set in gorgeous bush with views out to the coast with enclosures spread out all over the park.
I think my favourite were the chameleons. This one was on a branch right next to the glass which meant I got a couple of good photos up close. Their eyes are totally creepy- they can independently rotate so potentially the chameleon has a 360 degree view. And such bright skins, so fascinating!
The park has a range of tortoises (land based) and turtles (water based). I never realized how much variation in size and colour there were between species.
This doesn't really capture his size very well, but this enclosure houses a Galapagos Tortoise. He is HUGE. Like a giant slow moving rock. Very cool.
Afterward we drove down to the Goat Island Marine Reserve which was another stunning piece of NZ coastline. We easily could have spent a week there exploring. DH couldn't stop talking about the massive snapper swimming around in the glass-like water.
The kids played in the sand and the rock pool area while our friends went snorkelling. Next time we visit we will have to take a ride in the glass bottom boat that does trips around the island.
We packed so much fun into our holidays, I was quite sad when they (too quickly) came to an end. Now we're heading into term 4 already - where has the year gone!
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