I hope you had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a happy and safe New Year. I took a little blog vacation the past two weeks to prepare for company, enjoy some time with my family, and help Chris celebrate his birthday on January 2.
I received some lovely yarn to make the Noni felted purses I've mentioned in past posts:
for the Night Garden Evening Bag -- the same colors as in the pattern photo
for the Sweetheart Roses on the Petit Fours purse. I ordered the frame and feet today too!
And what would Christmas be without new books? It wouldn't be Christmas! Our bookcases are in a sorry, overstuffed state now, and Chris is threatening new ones to add to the dining room.Good thing it's winter, when we have more reading time. I've already finished A Christmas Promise by Anne Perry, which I'll review in an upcoming post. Another Georgette Heyer mystery, The Unfinished Clue, arrived after the photo was taken.
What am I working on now? I'm knitting the Lace Twist Mitts by Debbie O'Neill, from the fall 2009 Knitscene, and I'm reading The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie. My fancy new copy of Pride and Prejudice (see On The Nightstand column for these -- my edition of TMMQ is an old one, though) arrived from Amazon after Christmas, a present to myself, and I'm reading it in anticipation of a trip with friends to the Morgan Library in NYC this weekend. We are going to see the Jane Austen exhibit, and though I won't finish the book in time, I'll hopefully have a better appreciation for what I'll see there.
What are you working on now, knitting, reading, or otherwise? I hope your New Year (and goals) are going well so far. Next post I'll share some of mine.
P.S. A photo of my last knitted ornament for this Christmas, a gold and red one, is in the 2009 Knitted Objects photo album. I couldn't show a photo until now because it was a gift.
I don't read much now these days, but back in the day, I think I read every Agatha Christie book out there. I loved them! I think I should read one or two of them again for fun.
Posted by: bettyc | January 04, 2010 at 08:43 PM
Oh, I love that Cascade picture! Pretty, pretty colors. I'm working on the slowest Trekking 100 sock evah. It's not the sock, it's me and me back, alas.
Posted by: Chris | January 04, 2010 at 09:32 PM
Love that book title "Death by Cashmere"! That's how I want to go!
Posted by: Robin | January 04, 2010 at 10:37 PM
Great photos and I bet your mitts are stunning! I just finished The DaVinci Code tonight and am also reading Crazy Love (about our relationships with God). And I'm knitting too many projects to list here. :) Right now I'm trying to finish Tenza Mitts.
Posted by: Beth | January 04, 2010 at 10:44 PM
Happy New Year!!! I love the colors of all those new yarns you got! And one of my New Years resolutions is to get back to reading - I've really cut down my reading time over the years because I've let knitting and blogging and other computer stuff take it's place. I'm going to fix that this year. Right now I'm reading Knit Two, which Pete got me for Christmas. I've been thinking of diving into some Agatha Christie books from the library next though!
Posted by: Karen | January 05, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Lovely new yarn and great new books! I would have loved to do some Austen reading in preparation for this weekend, but it didn't quite work that way. I have a beautiful book on Jane Austen's world to read at some point soon, though, so it will be a nice follow-up to the trip.
Posted by: Dorothy W. | January 05, 2010 at 11:37 AM
Happy New Year! Your new yarn looks gorgeous! Hope you enjoy Georgette Heyer--she is one of my favorite authors. :-)
Posted by: Leah | January 05, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Wishing you all the best in 2010! I love the color palette of all the Cascade yarns, and the Tilli Thomas yarn is to die for.
The Jane Austen exhibit looks so neat! I hope you let us know how it is.
Posted by: Jodi | January 05, 2010 at 04:49 PM
Oh such pretty yarn. I love the yarn for your Noni purse especially. I'm still working on my jacket and a pair of socks that I've been knitting on forever.
Posted by: Sydney | January 05, 2010 at 07:27 PM
Love the books!! You're lucky the hubs is willing to build more bookshelves-- Matt just thinks I have too many books :)
It's been a busy holiday but it feels so nice to be blogging again! Glad to see you had a nice-- lovely new yarn-filled!-- Christmas! Happy New Year!
Posted by: Sarah | January 06, 2010 at 02:10 PM
cool post,
books make your soul full,
knitting makes your hands full,
happy 2010.
Posted by: jingle | January 06, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Oh, the color of that Tilli Thomas yarn is sooo yummy!
Happy New year!
Posted by: Pam | January 06, 2010 at 05:15 PM