Some things that are off topic but mostly things that aren't

I have just enough time to get a post in before January ends so Happy New Year!

I've been procrastinating on my blog posting - obvs! - so I have quite a bit to catch you up on.

I've gotten interested in knit wear pattern design so I've been working on a couple of designs in the last couple of weeks.  One - a pair of fingerless mitts - is currently being tested and the other - a super funky hat - needs to be written so I can get it tested.  It's a fairly time consuming process, I'm discovering.  I come up with an idea and start knitting it.  As I'm knitting it, I have to keep pretty meticulous notes about what I'm doing so I can convert those notes into a pattern.  In the meantime, I'm discovering what works and what doesn't work and then I might have to tweak my design and start the project all over again.  Then I give the pattern to testers and they try it out and find all my typos and math mistakes and provide me with feedback for a final draft.  It's an interesting process and immensely satisfying when it works out the way I want it to.  I will post these projects here once they've completed the testing process.

I've been listening to podcasts mostly while doing all this knitting.  Mostly comedy for grown-ups type podcasts which led Mr. Richards and I to spend this past weekend in San Francisco for Sketchfest. Sketchfest is a festival of comedy and features stand up performances, sketch comedy, improv, and storytelling.  We stayed in the city because we had tickets for 7 different shows, several of them were live versions of some of the podcasts I listen too, including The Thrilling Adventure Hour.  This is a fantastic show that is usually performed monthly at Largo in L.A., recorded, and the segments are released as a weekly podcast.  They're tagline is 'The new time podcast done in the style of old time radio."  The show contains a serialized segment that's basically a western on Mars, and 3 other non-serialized segments.  It is delightful and funny and family friendly and I highly recommend it.  Getting to see it performed live this weekend was so much fun!

So that's what's been going with me, now some news!  The American Library Association announced the winners of they're big awards this week, specifically the Caldecott, Newbery, Geisel, and Sibert awards.  I'm particularly excited about the Caldecott medal as the winner is a Marshall Lane favorite as are several of the Honor books.  The winner is that hilarious follow up to I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen.

This makes me very happy!  Another thing that makes me very happy is that Extra Yarn received a Caldecott Honor.

I just adore this book and its author and illustrator.  I look forward to seeing more of their work and as a matter of fact, Jon Klassen is collaborating with Lemony Snicket on a book called The Dark which will be released in April!  I may lose my mind from the happy!

In other news, we've begun reading the California Young Readers Medal nominees.  I have to keep them in the library until voting is over but I'm sure you can find them at the public library or at Amazon.  The Primary (grades K-2) nominees are:

 And the intermediate (grades 3-5) nominees are:

Finally, all the new books from Book Fair have been processed and are now in circulation and many of them are circulating very well.  My shelves are looking pretty full so I'm going to have to start weeding out some of the older, worn out and poorly circulating books to make room for all these fabulous new titles.  

Well, that's all and enough for now.  Come by the library and say hello and tell me what you are reading!