Knitting News

I haven't posted anything about knitting here in a while because I've been working on some original designs.  I've added test knitting to the process so it's taking a bit longer.  My first test knit project is finally through testing and ready to be posted for sale.  I'm very excited about it!  Here is a couple of pictures:

 

The pattern is called Diamonte, because of the diamond motif on the hand part of the mitts.  The cuffs are short and done in seed stitch.  These knit up pretty quickly and I've used one of my favorite yarns, Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherds Wool.  They are very cozy.  If you'd like to download the pattern, you can purchase it from my Ravelry store.

Twitter links and a scarf design

I wanted to share a couple links that I came across on my twitter feed this week.  First, this link to the Weird Book Room on AbeBooks.com.  It's a collection of books with weird titles.  It's pretty amusing.  Then I realized I actually own one of these titles and have read one other.  Can you guess which ones?

The next one is a link to a blog in which the blogger has collected photos of authors dressed as superheroes. You will definitely recognize some of these authors!  Really amusing.

And now to the scarf design.  I have designed a scarf!  You probably wouldn't think to look at it that it would take a long time to do but I've been working on this for quite some time.  Now I've finally finished it and I call it the Lattice and Leaf scarf.  Here's a picture:

If you'd like to try knitting this for yourself, you can download the pattern from my Ravelry page.  download now
If you do knit it, let me know what you think of the pattern.

"I have seen my hat." - Bear

You may remember back in January, I wrote about a new book called Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen.  It is such a delightful book and has become a big hit in the knitting community, especially among knitting librarians.  The library will be getting a copy from Junior Library Guild this month.  Actually, I will also be donating my old copy to the library because now I have a new copy signed by both the author and the illustrator!  Mr. Barnett and Mr. Klassen visited Hicklebee's today.  They took turns reading books and holding books.  Mr. Barnett read his hilarious book Guess Again!, then Mr. Klassen read I Want My Hat Back (squeeee!), and finally Mr. Barnett read Extra Yarn.  Here's some pictures of the action (you can see Miss Valerie in the first picture):

After the reading, Mr. Barnett explained how books are made.  It was very enlightening!  I had no idea that pirates and fire breathing sea monsters were involved in the book making process.  We also learned that the Pacific Ocean is made of Mac Barnett's tears.  Later, while taking questions from the audience, Mr. Klassen revealed the true fate of the rabbit in I Want My Hat Back.  But I won't say it here because that's not my question to answer.  All I can say is that your worst fears have probably come true.

Afterwards, Mr. Barnett and Mr. Klassen signed books and I had decided - as soon as I found out they were coming to Hicklebee's - that I would bring them a gift made from some of my extra yarn.  So last night I made them each a finger mustache.  Here's a picture:

You may also remember how I was inspired to make Bear's pointy hat.  Well, I also decided it would be fun to give that hat to Jon Klassen to thank him for writing such a fun book.  Also it would be fun to see it on his head:

Turns out is was super fun!  I'm absolutely delighted! Thanks again, Hicklebee's!  And thank you Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett for writing and illustrating (not respectively) such wonderful books!

Hey kids!  Be sure to check out the Brixton Brothers mysteries by Mac Barnett at the library.  They are hilarious!

Back to Kidlit and knitting

Well, looks like February has been a slow blogging month. But I have passed the 2,000 pageviews mark, which is kind of exciting. It's good to know that someone out there is reading what I write here. Hopefully, it's not the same person reading it 2,000 times. That would be worrisome. I've been on a graphic novel kick, but they are not graphic novels for kids so I didn't want to talk about them here. I want this blog to be about books you can find in the Marshall Lane library. I have been growing the graphic novel collection, though, because I'm a convert. There are some really good stories out there in graphic form. When I first started buying graphic novels for the library a few years ago my intention was to bring more boys into the library. I bought a few Star Wars comics and the boys flocked to the library. Those books never make it back to the shelves. They are always on hold and fall apart by the end of the year. Then I started buying Babymouse for the girls and they flew off the shelves as well. Then I noticed that some girls were checking out Star Wars and some boys were checking out Babymouse. So I decided to throw my gender biases out the window and started buying a variety of graphic novels based on quality and interest. I don't have a huge collection but they are hugely popular. And what I've noticed is that while the boys, generally, keep checking out mostly the Star Wars books, the girls are reading everything else. Which is interesting. Not sure what it means. Except that maybe my purchases are still biased towards what girls like. Perhaps I should start buying superhero comics. Well, I've waxed on about this more than I intended. Let's get back to kidlit.

I read - or rather, listened to - The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, which was the Newbery Medal winner in 2008. The story centers around Lucky, a ten-year-old girl living with her guardian in a very small town in California. Lucky's mother has died and her absent father has brought is ex-girlfriend Brigitte over from France to be Lucky's guardian. Lucky worries that Brigitte, who is homesick for France, will abandon her also. Lucky feels sure that if she could just find her higher power, a term that she overhears the 'anonymous people' use, her problems would be solved. I liked this book. But this is one of those Newbery books that doesn't really appeal to most children. And, in fact, this book has not circulated well in my library. But it is a good story and I would encourage people to give it a read. I read it because my friend Mrs. Freeman recommended it. She's reading her way through all the Newbery books and she told me it was a good one. I trust her judgement. She told me that Al Capone Does My Shirts was good and I agree with her. I pointed her towards Odd and the Frost Giants when The Graveyard Book was unavailable and she liked that. So, the point is, get a book buddy. They help you to read things that you might not normally pick up off the shelf.

I've also just finished Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer. This is the third book in the series and I'm really enjoying it. I was going to just stop at the first one but I'm kind of sucked in now. If you don't like series books, don't worry, these books read well as stand alone titles with recurring characters. The stories are a great blend of fantasy and high-tech thrillers. Action, intrigue, and fairy magic. Even though the main character is not always a good guy, he is likable. If you like the Alex Rider series or the Percy Jackson series, I think you'll like Artemis Fowl as well.

Well, I think I've gone on long enough. Looks like it's feast or famine here at the old Marshall Lane Library Blog. I'll close with some pictures of what I've been working on whilst listening to books:

A dear friend of mine and his wife are expecting their first baby so I knitted her some tiny shoes and a blueberry hat to go with the book Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman.

The object in the last picture is a Cthulhu. A cuddly one. If you don't know what Cthulhu is, you need to brush up on your H.P. Lovecraft. That is all.

Odd Fish, Film Festivals, Yarny goodness and a poodle.

So this is exciting: the esteemed Mr. James Kennedy, author of The Order of the Odd-Fish, the ostensible winner of the 2009 Newbery Award and co-curator of the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival, left a comment on my blog entry in which I talked about the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival. This made me even more determined that Marshall Lane should be involved in this so I approached one of our 4th grade teachers, who had told me they were already working on re-imaginings of the Island of the Blue Dolphins story, and she was very enthusiastic about it. They are going to be pretty busy until the end of March but once they get started on it, I will report on their progress here.

My favorite student story of the week comes from one of our 5th grade teachers who witnessed the 1st graders playing "Zombie Apocalypse" during recess. He said a first grade girl actually used the words 'zombie apocalypse' and asked him if she was a good zombie as she held her arms out in front of her and dragged a foot behind her. He, of course, assured her that she was, indeed, a good zombie. I guess it'll be a few more years before steampunk and dystopian fiction trickles down to the elementary level.

My sweet poodle got a hair cut today, isn't she adorable?

I realize my posts have been a bit sparse lately but I have been knitting like a mad woman. This is some of what I've been working on:

New books, new circulation system, new catalog.

Whew! It was a bit of a bumpy start this year with the new circulation system. The initial bugs have been worked out so now it's just getting around the huge learning curve. All in all, I think the change will be good. The new system does some very useful things that the old system couldn't do and once I really get into the rhythm of it, I look forward to taking advantage of all the new bells and whistles.

I've finally made some headway in cataloging and processing as well. All those new books I've been writing about here are finally ready for check out and have, in fact, been flying off the shelves. I'm also expecting a couple of shipments of books to be dedicated through the Marshall Lane Book Club program, for which I can't seem to find any information online to link to. I'll have to look into that. Anyway, you can see me in the library for more information.

Have you browsed the new catalog yet? It looks pretty good and kids are now able to put books on hold. Which they have been doing, since it's the only way to get a Star Wars book! Don't forget, kids can also add ratings and reviews to the catalog from home, they just need to log on with their 5 digit student number and their password is the first 5 letters of their last name. While you are poking around the catalog, check out the other resources available in Quicklinks such as World Book Online (username Marshall, password Student), the Online Social Studies Factcards (username marshall lane, password mustangs), and the growing selection of e-books.

Here are a few pictures of things I've been knitting recently to help me relax!

Okay, so this hasn't been actually knit into anything yet but it's a lovely bag of yarn with endless possibilities!

And that is all I have to say about that.