Ideas for Face Vase?

Regarding my last post, Brie said she also hated Wuthering Heights as the characters were not compelling - I totally agree; that is the exact word I was looking for (or group of words). I, too, LOVE Jane Austen, and thought Jane Eyre was a great book, too, but not Wuthering Heights. I have a silly grudge against the Brontes anyway, since one of them said Jane Austen's writing was frivolous (to paraphrase) and I can never remember which it is. I actually think it was the one who wrote Jane Eyre, which is a great book, but which is, imho, still inferior to Miss Austen's writing - which as well as being love stories, were also clever observations on her society, while Jane Eyre just seemed to me a romance. But even if she'd said Jane was the greatest writer who ever lived, I would still not like Wuthering Heights.

Regarding unfinished series: I don't mind re-reading books (I tend to miss so much in the first read), in fact, while I am nearly always reading a book, about half the time it seems that I am re-reading one of my favorites instead of a new book, so the best unfinished series are almost guaranteed a re-read anyway (although having to re-read 10! books, wow, that is a lot). For A Song of Ice and Fire, I've read each of those books at least two or three times. But I do think I'm going to finish the Death Gate Cycle before I start The Name of the Wind.

I've also been reading A Series of Unfortunate Events. I don't own them all, but I have access to them all. I'd gotten to Book 6, and I don't really know if it's worth continuing. Taken on its own, each book is pretty well-written and enjoyable enough, but as a series, it's gotten to be VERY redundant. Honestly, I think there are only 13 books in this series because 13 is an unlucky number, not because there were 13 books' worth of story to tell, if you know what I mean. I'll probably finish them anyway since leaving a series unfinished is like leaving a book unfinished, and only the very worst of books (e. g. A Million Little Pieces) deserve that.

Ok, so now, the real reason for today's blog post. I bought a Face Vase, and I don't know what to put in it. I'm going to post a picture (although the only picture I could find was of a black one, and mine is white). What would you put in this vase?


Also, I am dying to make a Rorschach Inkblot lamp like these on Craftster.

Finally, my touchpad on my laptop keeps going crazy, clicking on and selecting things when I am not even touching the touchpad OR the keyboard. And sometimes it won't click at all. It is driving me insane!

To Read or not to Read?

Of course, the answer is always "To Read," unless you're talking about one of James Frey's books. But the question is, which?

First off, thanks for the birthday wishes! They are always appreciated, as are any comments! :-)

I find myself in quite a dilemma. I've read the first book of the Death Gate Cycle (great book!), and received the rest of the series (6 books) for my birthday, BUT I also received The Name of the Wind. I've heard really, really great things about the latter, which makes me want to read it ASAP. Thing is, the sequel evidently won't be out for a while, which isn't a big deal (as there are sooo many books out there I want to read!), except that I could read the rest of the DGC first and then my waiting for The Wise Man's Fear would not be so prolonged (though my anticipation to read the NotW would be, resulting in major disappointment if the book turns out not all it's cracked up to be - somehow the longer you have to wait, the more disappointing it is for the book to turn out not as good as you expected). Of course, I'm used to waiting by now (see: A Dance With Dragons, haha). So which would you do? Read the book you're a bit more excited about but will have to wait a year or more for the next installment, or read the series that is complete and so far has been interesting, saving the other book for after you've finished?

Not that I even know when I will have time to start any new book that isn't about endocrinology. I've so much studying and so many projects to do for school, that I've had time for nothing else. Finished a sock, but haven't started the second yet. I love biology, and endocrinology in particular is turning out very interesting, but darnit, I want to knit and paint and read my fantasy novels!

By the way, which book organizing site do YOU use? I tried librarything a year or so ago (?) but they had a limit for free accounts, which I quickly surpassed and so gave up the site. Then I found Goodreads on Myspace and whatever-it-is on Facebook, but though I've been cataloging books I've read, am reading, want to read, own, and want to get, I'm not really sure which is better, if either. I don't particularly want to bother with TWO sites as I really don't even have the time to keep up with the one.

When it comes to reading materials, I find myself gravitating toward a particular type of book - fantasy novels. Not that I don't enjoy other types of book, but when I am looking for something new to read, I usually will head to the fantasy aisle first. Therefore, while I am somewhat of a prolific reader, I don't consider myself a great reader, as I'm not very well-rounded for the most part. I do also really love classic literature (everything from Beowulf to Chaucer to Shakespeare to Tolkien to Austen to Hemingway), and I'd say it's genre #2 for me (if it is indeed a genre). I'd like to branch out, but really, I never know what to read in other genres. Something's being a best-seller doesn't automatically recommend it to me. I know I enjoy other types of book - I used to be crazy about John Grisham's books, at least the first ones were really great, and Tom Clancy had some novels I liked, too. In high school I borrowed true crime books from a girl who lived next door, and devoured those. In high school I read everything I could get my hands on, but I had more free time then. Now if I'm not reading fantasy, I'm reading a book on micro or something similar.

I also adore Librivox for the free audiobooks. I've been listening to Wuthering Heights recently, for the first time. Honestly, I'm not crazy about this particular book thus far, but audiobooks are amazing and I wish they were less expensive. Seriously though, how in the world did Heathcliff come to be considered some sort of beloved dream-guy? Sandor Clegane is nicer and more of a dreamboat than this guy (at least he does semi-nice things for one person, well maybe two). I really can't stand any of the characters, and can't bring myself to care about what happens to them. I'm at the point of wishing that Heathcliff and Catherine would just run away together and save me having to read the rest of this book (or in my case, listen to). I usually love gray characters, and it's fun to read about people who aren't perfect heroes, but Catherine and Heathcliff are so dark gray, it seems like there is no depth to them at all (which I suppose is the point - they are both shallow people), and the kind of selfish love they share is not romantic at all. Seriously, I cannot find ONE thing to recommend them. Also, someone on one of those sites (was it Goodreads?) commented that HC and Cat could not marry because at the time it was illegal for an unrelated man and woman who had been raised in the same house as brother and sister to marry. I wondered about the accuracy of this, as in Mansfield Park (which is not from the same time period but is only about 30ish years earlier) Edmund and Fanny are raised in the same house and ARE related, and marry.

Finally, I find that I've become quite obsessed with fig scents. I want to find that perfect perfume that is figgy, a bit sweet, a teensy bit floral, very fresh, and woodsy, a bit musky. Sigh.

It's past bedtime. Goodnight!

New project: Butterick 5046

Rapunzel is going well, but right now I am S-L-O-W-L-Y wading through an ocean of seed stitch, so I really don't have anything interesting to report! I'm so sorry, y'all. I only brought 2 projects, and need to get yarn for the third (a test knit), but haven't been able to yet. So yet AGAIN, I've nothing interesting to say about my knitting on my KNITTING blog. Argh! I can say that I'm a little worried - the back of Rapunzel is looking kinda large. :-(

So, remember the Garnethill dress I posted about last time? Well, check out Butterick 5046. Very similar, no? A few details are different - the obvious length and lack of cap sleeves, and the Butterick pattern doesn't have gathering on the shoulders or a bias strip on the edges, but aside from that, it's the same dress. So I got this pattern and some beautiful linen... it's between a deep turquoise and a deep jade. Sometimes I see the green more and sometimes the blue stands out more. I really love the color! So, I'm cutting this one out next. I need a break from working with knits! I really like them, and they are easy to sew... but annoying as all get out to cut. Well, better than chiffon. But more annoying than a woven, because if you're not careful, you'll stretch the fabric and cut your piece too small. I "finished" the wrap version of S4076, but I feel it's kinda tight so I think I'm going to need to loosen it up (fortunately I left enough hem allowance to do so).

I'm going to shorten it to the length of the Garnethill dress, or maybe even right above the knee - I'm short and it seems that's the best length for me. In the tissue fitting, the shoulders were too wide by quite a bit... can I just use that extra space for a gather, or will it not work because there's no curve? I'm also wondering how to add the cap sleeves. I really can't afford to buy more patterns to add shoulder gathering and cap sleeves from them right now, but I definitely don't know how to draft my own! Any hints? There is a sleeve in the pattern, but it's definitely not a cap sleeve.

I also picked up, at Hancock's, the pattern I never received from eBay, Vogue 8386! I filed a non-receipt claim with Paypal, so hopefully I can get the money back on that. But yeah, so I will be using the pink/black/white flowers for this dress! I'm pretty nervous about this one because I don't want to ruin that wonderful fabric, so I'm going to wait until after the linen dress and the "Stacy Shirt" (made of the same gorgeous chain link fabric she used!) to give the dress a try.

Finally, another pattern I'd been coveting since it came out, and got awhile back at a sale, was Simplicity 3797. I'm enamored of the dress view! I had some cotton that might work, but I'd originally planned it for other projects. What do y'all think? Should I use this for the dress or for the projects for which it was planned (a blouse and a skirt, not to be worn together)? I've also thought of making this dress in pink, just as shown. This, by the way, is the reason I chose the teal/jade linen for the GH dress instead of going for pink - I figure that although I can't see how, it probably IS possible to own too many pink dresses.

And, I finished another book, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It's non-fiction, but presents itself very much like a fictional novel. It was very good! I am extremely interested in viruses, so I expected to like it, but I think someone who isn't necessarily interested in microbiology would enjoy it as well... especially if you like thrillers, or Michael Crichton (though, of course, his sci-fi IS fictional!).

I started The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I own this dvd, and have always wanted to read the book. So far, it is, of course, better than the dvd. :-)

As an aside, I am not in any way affiliated with Amazon. It's just the first site I could think of where I knew I'd be able to find these books. Buy them from anywhere you like, or borrow them from the library. :-)

Edited to add: Stacy, I am all about a Vogue dress sew along, but you may not want to wait for me to get to mine - it may be a week or two. I want this dress to turn out as RTW looking as I can get it (well, expensive, well-made RTW looking... not cheap, badly made RTW!). That's a general goal for every project, but this one in particular! So I want to get a couple of other projects done, because I'm using a different sewing machine and learning how to work it. It is quite different from mine and, while nicer, is harder for me to control the speed (a big thing for me, since I still have to go more slowly to keep a straightish seam).

Atajev, thanks for the advice about using a cap sleeve from another pattern. I DO have one pattern here (aside from the knit tops I just made) that has cap sleeves, but it is Simplicity. I'll cut it out and see if they match.

Also, I forgot to mention this. Yesterday we went fishing and I caught an eel. That was neat, but I didn't think to bring a camera on this little adventure, so I don't have a picture. I now have a pretty good list going of weird things I've caught when fishing: 2 stingrays, a shark, a sheepshead (and if you don't think that's weird, check out its crazy teeth!), and now an eel (link is not to my photo, but it looked like that except it was green and fatter, with a pointy nose). Wonder what strange creature will hop on my line next!

Oh no!

Evidently, I will not be getting my Vogue 8386 dress pattern from eBay. It looks more and more like I've been screwed over on that one. This is my first transaction in which I paid but didn't get my item. I've emailed the seller several times (at least 3) without receiving a reply, and the seller has 7 bad feedback comments within the past couple of weeks. I am VERY disappointed... I guess I'm going to have to file a report with eBay and Paypal to get my money back, and I wanted this pattern so badly! I really wanted to work on this dress soon. ARGH! And it figures the Vogue sale would pass, and there is no where around here that sells patterns... there is a store about 40 min away, I think (I don't know the area too well yet), but it will do me no good if I can't get over there during a sale... and I'll probably be working that weekend. And I also feel bad, because what if something bad happened to this person, and that's why they haven't sent the things out, and here I am whining about a sewing pattern! :-(

In good news, I actually worked on Rapunzel some last night and got to the armhole shaping. It feels good to be knitting again after my hiatius.

Thank you all for the great comments on my recent projects! I am going to be doing some more knitting and some sewing, so I will have more to update about... but not the dress! So disappointing.

Speaking of dresses, there was a Garnethill catalog in the mail, and I fell in love with this dress. I really want to copy it, anyone have pattern suggestions? It's linen.



Also, I have a book recommendation for you! I am calling it a recommendation rather than a review, as I am neither a writer nor a critic, just an avid reader. I just finished The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I loved it! It is about a boy who ends up stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger and three other animals. It is charming and a well thought out story. It is not "action-packed;" it is more of a thinking type of book, yet there is still some exciting action in it, certainly enough to make you fear for the main character's life many times, and it is a very original story. Pi is such a real character, too... so well developed. I highly recommend it! :-)