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.

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!

Mr. Wednesday learns to knit

I was thinking the other day about all the different skills I've learned as a knitter.  I began listing in my head the 8 different techniques I know just to cast on. And I know that there are more ways to cast on that I haven't done yet.  There are also many ways to cast off.  And as I was listing these skills in my head, it reminded me of a scene from one of my all time favorite books, American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, in which Mr. Wednesday lists all the charms he knows.  Then I thought, wouldn't it be funny if Mr. Wednesday learned to knit, and then he could list all the cast ons and other skills he knew.  I decided I wanted to see what that looked like so here is my interpretation of Mr. Wednesday, who has learned to knit, listing all the skills he knows.

     Wednesday said nothing for long enough that Shadow started to wonder if he had heard the question, or if he had, possibly, fallen asleep with his eyes open. Then he said, staring ahead of him as he talked, "I know a cast on that's easy and simple and is good for beginning knitters.
     "I know a cast on that requires a long tail.
     "I know a cast on that is very stretchy and good for 1x1 or 2x2 ribbing.
     "I know another cast on that starts from the middle of a circular piece.
     " A fifth cast on: I can use waste yarn to cast on and then pull out the waste yarn to create live stitches.
     His words were quiet, urgent. Wednesday spoke as if he were reciting the words of a religious ritual, as if he were speaking something dark and scratchy.
     "A sixth cast on: It's like knitting but you put the new stitches back on the left hand needle.
     "A seventh cast on I know: I can use two needles to start a sock from the toe up.
     "An eighth: it's sometimes known as Old Norwegian and is favored by sock knitters.
     "A ninth: I can cast on by putting the needle between two stitches and putting the new stitch back on the left hand needle.
     "Those were the first nine cast ons I learned.  Nine nights I hung out at the yarn store, my thumb pierced by a darning needle.  I swayed and blew in the cold winds and the hot winds, without food, without water, a sacrifice of myself to myself, and the wools opened up to me.
     "For a tenth thing, I learned to use a drop spindle, to spin them around in the air so that the yarn will never unwind again.
     "An eleventh: if I store the yarn properly, the wool will go uneaten by moths or other pests, and will last a very long time.
     "A twelfth thing I know: if I see a knot, I can undo it, no matter how large, and return the yarn to a neatly wound ball.
     "A thirteenth: if I sprinkle water on wool, it will felt.
     "A fourteenth: I know the names of all the breeds of sheep. Every darned one of them.
     "A fifteenth: I have a dream of merino, cashmere, and angora, and I can make people believe my dreams.
     His voice was so low now that Shadow had to strain to hear it over the plane's engine noise.
     "A sixteenth thing I know: if I need yarn, I can spin the fiber of any animal.
     "A seventeenth, that no animal will give its fiber to another.
     "And I know an eighteenth thing, and that thing is the greatest of all, and that thing I can tell to no man, for a secret that no on knows but you is the most powerful secret there can ever be."

And that's based on a scene from Chapter 10 of American Gods, a book I highly recommend you read if you haven't already.  If you have read it, I hope you enjoyed my little parody.

  If there are any kids reading this, I recommend that you wait until you are an adult to read American Gods and in the mean time, you should read lots of mythology books.  Especially Norse mythology.  And fairytales, folktales, and legends.  And about world religions. This will get you ready to read American Gods so that you understand all the references.

And thank you for your indulgence.

Spinning Yarns

I have just enough time to get a post in before the end of April.  I've been knitting like crazy this month and while I was knitting, I listened to a couple of books.  I listened to the Wizard of Oz read beautifully by Anne Hathaway.  I had never read the Wizard of Oz before, though I loved the movie as a kid.  It was fun to compare the book to the movie and, of course, a lot more happens in the book.  I really enjoyed the story.  I wish I had read it as a kid though.  One's perspective is so different as a kid and I wish I had read this book with a kid's perspective.  It's a wonderful fairy tale adventure and deserves a place in a young person's psyche.

Another book I listened to was Among the Hidden by Margaret Haddix Peterson.  This is a distopian novel, a genre much requested by the 5th graders at Marshall Lane, and the first in its series.  I'm interested in getting them as many distopian books as I can but I feel I need to read them first.  Distopian fiction tends to be a bit depressing but also presents the reader with an interesting thought experiment.  Take a flaw from current society, magnify it, and follow it through to its worst case scenario conclusion.  Could this really happen?  What would the world be like if it did?  Anyway, it was an interesting story but it lacks conclusion because the first book is a set up for the rest of the series.

I'm currently listening to Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.  I like the story but I don't care for the reader's voice so it's a bit distracting.

And here's what I've been knitting:

I finished a pair of sweaters for Ms. Wright's twin boys who will be joining the world soon.

I also made this sweet little doll inspired by the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman.  The book is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and it's one of my favorites.  Here Coraline is wearing her blue coat with a hood, her red scarf and her yellow Wellington boots.  She's holding the seeing stone given to her by Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and she's ready to go exploring.

Also, you might have heard that I bought a spinning wheel.  Here is some of the yarn that I've spun on my spinning wheel.  (The big lumpy one is my very first skein!)

In other knitting news, last week was the last meeting of the Sticks and Strings knitting class.  Miss Colleen has done a very nice write up of it here.  I'm going to post the coin purse on Ravelry soon, I'll let you know when I do. 

So that's my kidlit and knitting news.  

Kid knitting

You may already be aware that there is knitting going on at Marshall Lane.  It is the brain child of the lovely woman who is responsible for the blog My Material Life.  She's also a mom at our school.  She approached me some time ago to find out if I'd be interested in helping with a knitting class that she wanted to launch.  Of course I was game to be a helper and I let her do all the footwork to get it going.  She's done an amazing job!  Today was the third day of class and I've been enjoying it immensely!  We've got 23 kids in the class (nearly twice the original limit we intended!) and they've been great.  The first week we showed them how to make toilet paper roll knitting nancies and got them started on knitting long tubes.  This was an instant success.  They have been bringing their projects to school and inspiring other kids to make their own toilet paper roll knitters!

The second week we introduced them to needles.  Colleen put together project bags for all the kids and gave them a pattern I wrote to knit a small coin purse.  This project will teach them how to cast on, garter stitch, make a button hole, cast off, weave in ends, sew up seems, and attach a button.  These are a lot of skills for a beginning knitter.  Turns out, 8-10 year olds need lots of one on one instruction to get the hang of knitting and I was afraid that some of the kids left the class pretty frustrated.  But a few caught on.  And the best part, some went home and got help from their mothers and grandmothers.  It made me really happy to hear that some of the kids were giving their mothers and grandmothers the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience.

After last week's session, Colleen and I talked about how we could clear some of the stumbling blocks the kids were having so we started our session with a story to get us all in the mood.  I read Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen and showed them the picture of the author and illustrator with the finger mustaches that I made for them.  Then we split into small groups, gave some intensive one on one instruction, and we had a lot more clicking this week.  We used the old verse for teaching kids to knit:

In through the front door
Run around the back
Out through the window
And off jumps Jack.

One girl was having a hard time getting her head around the 'Out through the window' part.  I pointed to the loop between her needle tips and said, "That's your window.  The tip of your needle goes through there." And that's all it took!  It clicked for her and she was off to the races!  She was so pleased with herself.  Most of the kids had this kind of 'A-ha!' moment today and it was very satisfying.  I look forward to seeing the kids progress and help them improve their skills.

"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!

Happy New Year, I want my hat back.

I hope everyone enjoyed their time off for the holidays. It already seems like it was ages ago, now that we are back in the swing of things. I had lots of people coming and going at my house so I was pretty busy cooking food and cleaning up messes and having fun with the people. But now I'm back to work and have books on my mind and knitting needles in my hands.

    This is the book that has been on my mind. It is my new favorite and I have enjoyed reading it to all the classes so much. It's called I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. It's about a bear who has lost his hat and no one has seen it ... or have they?

I love the deadpan expressions of the animals in the book. I love how the color of the words match the animals who are speaking. I love the dark humor and the mystery of what may have happened to the rabbit. I use a croaky voice for the frog and a slow, deep voice for the turtle and the kids crack up! I love my job! I'm so obsessed with this book that I decided that I needed to make a hat like Bear's for myself. So, I did. Here's a picture:

    I made this hat by first knitting a very large pointy hat out of 100% wool yarn. After it was all knitted, I put it in the washing machine with a pair of jeans and some very hot water for about 30 minutes. Then I switched the machine to rinse and spin and when the cycle was done, my hat was finished! This process is called felting. People make hats and slippers and coats out of felted wool. Here is a picture of the hat before I put it in the washer:

    As you can see, the hat was much larger before it shrank in the wash. Here it measures out to about 14 inches in height. After felting, it measures about 11 inches tall. I created the pattern for this hat myself, so there was a bit of trial and error before I got it right. Here is a picture of the first one I made, which is not quite right:

If you'd like to try making this yourself, I created a pattern which you can download here.  If you have trouble downloading the pattern, leave me a comment or DM me on Ravelry and I'll email you the PDF.
And here's a book trailer for the book:

New books, socks, a hat, and a poodle.

Scholastic Book Fair is over. I want to thank all the parents who helped out over the course of delivery, sale days, family night, and pack up. You really help to make things go smoothly. Extra super thank yous to Saskia Choudry for chairing the Book Fair once again and to Michelle Fine for being her right hand lady. I've said it before and I'll say it again because I mean it, you are a rock star Saskia! I appreciate you taking this on for the benefit of the library and for the kids.

So, all of this means we have new books in the library! As you can see in the picture, I've got a couple new Geronimo Stilton books, the new Judy Moody book, some Ready Freddy books, some Star Wars books and lots more. I also got a copy of The Exquisite Corpse which I wrote about last year.

One of the books I picked up, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis, by Barbara O'Connor, is a book I didn't realize I already had in the library. Scholastic has given it a new cover for the paperback edition. Anyway, I was intrigued by this book (the new cover is way better than the old cover, pictured) so I took the library copy home to read. I'm happy to report that it is a delightful story. It is exactly what it promises to be on its cover - a small adventure. This was a very nice change of pace from the World Saving Orphans Who Get Their Special Powers When They Turn Thirteen type of books that permeate children's literature these days. Which isn't to say that Popeye and Elvis's lives aren't completely different from yours or mine, because they are. The story takes place in modern Fayette, North Carolina, but Popeye has no computer, no cell phone, no video games. Elvis's family lives in a motorhome. But when these two boys meet, they enjoy a few days break from summer boredom, and even though their adventure is small, it is still very compelling. I highly recommend this book and have added it to my favorites list. To see what else is new in the library, go to the library's online catalog and click the What's New icon.

And now, here's what I've been knitting:

And here's a picture of my poodle:

14 Authors and a pair of socks.

Last Saturday, Mr. Richards and I spent the day in San Francisco and one of the things we did there was we went to the San Francisco Public library to see a couple of my favorite authors in conversation about a new book that I now have in the library. The book is called The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. It is a collection of short stories written by many famous authors inspired by the picture book by Chris Van Allsburg called The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick was originally published back in 1984 and the story goes that an editor was presented with a stack of pictures from 14 stories written by Harris Burdick, who wished to be published. The editor was intrigued by the pictures which were accompanied by titles and captions, hints of the larger stories, and asked Mr. Burdick to bring the complete stories to him the following day. Mr. Burdick left the pictures with the editor, but never returned. The editor could not track him down. The editor handed the pictures over to Mr. Van Allsburg who compiled them into a book to allow readers to imagine the stories that might accompany the drawings. Which is exactly what the 14 authors of The Chronicles of Harris Burdick have done. This great collection of authors includes Stephen King, Kate DiCamillo, Jon Scieszka, Lois Lowry, Louis Sachar, and Linda Sue Park with an introduction written by Lemony Snicket, who was at the San Francisco Public Library along with Chris Van Allsburg and Mac Barnett (The Brixton Brothers Mysteries). Here is a picture of me and Mr. Snicket yucking it up while he signs my book:
Here is a picture of the slightly more phlegmatic Mr. Van Allsburg signing my book. (Yes, you have to look up the word phlegmatic for yourself.)
Sadly, I didn't know that Mr. Barnett would be moderating the discussion so I didn't have a book for him to sign. I'll get him next time, though!

In other news, I finished that pair of socks I started while waiting for Brian Selznick to give his presentation a couple of weeks ago. Here is what they look like now:

In other other news, the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever has been released. I don't have it in the library yet, but the Book Fair is coming to the Library December 5th and I'm hoping I can get a couple copies for the library then. Until then, I should be getting a new shipment from Junior Library Guild very soon and there's always good stuff in those boxes! If you've already read Cabin Fever, leave a comment and tell me what you thought of it.

Two Books (audio) and a scarf

The weather suddenly feels very autumnish, which makes sense because it is, in fact, autumn.
I've finished a couple of audio books this week. The first one is called Masterpiece by Elise Broach. This is a story of a boy who befriends a beetle that can draw. The beetle draws a picture as a birthday gift for the boy but the boy's family thinks he drew it and that he's suddenly revealed a hidden genius talent. The boy and his beetle get drawn into a plot to foil some art thieves who are planning to steal a famous drawing from the local art museum. One thing that bothered me in this story is that the art thief turns out to be someone that the boy and his father and his father's friend know, and when they find this out, they actually consider not turning the thief in to the police because he is their friend. They actually say he is 'good' friend. This bothers me because a good friend doesn't use his friend's connections to art museum collections in order to steal from said art museum. That's not being a good friend. Otherwise, if you have an appreciation for art, you'll probably find a kinship with this author. She definitely likes to talk about art.

If you like mysteries with a scottish flair, this book is for you. Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer is a terrific noir mystery featuring a hard-boiled 12 year old detective named Fletcher Moon. Eoin Colfer seems to have tapped in to the preteen psyche. As in the Artemis Fowl series, he deftly crafts grand adventures for his heroes while balancing the action with the kind of humor that preteens and the parents of preteens can easily appreciate. The book was expertly read by Sean Patrick Reilly who really brought the noir mood to life. Think of a 12 year old Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. I highly recommend this one.

Now, I know you want to know what I've been working on while listening to these audio books. Remember the Nerd Wars tournament I participated in over the summer? Well, Tournament 3 has commenced, but this time, I'm on a zombie themed team called Team Braaaaaains. Here is my first project submission, it's called You've Got Red On You.

This particular challenge required us to write a haiku to go with our projects. Here is my haiku:

Shamble, moaning, bite
Swing cricket bat at the head
You’ve got red on you

More than red on you
It seems you have intestines
Wrapped around your neck

Now you must be inspired to write your own zombie haiku so share it in the comments!

Wow, that went quick!

Well, this is it. The last week of Summer. That sure went by quickly. I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked but I did have some fun. I went to visit my mom and dad in Tehachapi. We caught up over quilting and knitting. My mom has become quite adept at quilting and is working on a beautiful quilt for her first great grandchild that she's expecting to come someday, but not soon. I worked on this Doctor Who illusion panel for Nerd Wars:When you look straight down on it, it just looks like blue and white stripes, like this:Pretty cool, eh?

After that, I paid a visit to my dear friends in Fullerton who had their first baby in June. Remember, I knitted a blanket for the baby back in May? The baby is healthy and happy as are her parents and I had wonderful visit with them.

Next, I flew to Portland to visit two of my highschool girlfriends and together we went to see The Go-Go's perform at the Portland Zoo. It was super fun and just like old times. One of them I see about once a year, the other I haven't seen in about 16 years but when we were all together it was like no time had passed at all. We promised each other that we wouldn't let that much time pass before our next visit.

And now school is about to start and here is what I did accomplish this summer:

As for reading, I've been busy with A Game of Thrones, which is long and not for children. I enjoyed very much so now I'm on to the next volume A Clash of Kings. There are 3 more books in the series so I'll finish these as fast as I can and get back to the kidlit soon! In the meantime, I have lots of terrific books to bring back to school and I have orders waiting for my return. I'll give you a sneak peak next time.

I am looking forward to getting back to school next week, partly because I'm out of money, but mostly because I miss everyone and all the books over the summer. See you all next week!

Go go, Gryffindor!

So Mr. Richards and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2 last week and it was fantastic! I wore my Gryffindor house scarf:

I was very impressed with the number of people dressed up in line at the theater. Most were dressed as Hogwarts students. Speaking of the line, we happened to line up right behind the library clerk from Forest Hill who was there with her daughters and their friends. At the same time, I was texting my daughter who was in line for a theater in Oregon, where she lives now. She wore the Quidditch sweater I had made for her. It made me happy that she wore it but sad that we weren't together.
Back to the movie. My expectations for this movie were pretty high, as were the world's. I was not disappointed! It was very satisfying. Harry finally steps into his hero role and defeats ulitmate evil. (I don't think this is a spoiler at all because even if you haven't read the books, you know this is coming.) I think it's important, when critiquing the movie, not to compare it to the book. One of the biggest complaints I hear about the movies is how much of the story is left out. But that's why books are always better and you just have to take the movies for what they are. They have limitations in storytelling. Putting words on a page costs nothing. Sets, costumes, actors, special effects, etc., cost millions of dollars. So accepting the fact that some things are left out due to time or budget constraints, I feel like they left all the important stuff in. I thought Harry's final conversation with Dumbledore was handled beautifully. Everyone in the theater cried when the fatalities were revealed. It was so quiet you could hear the sobbing (I'm sure it wasn't just me). Likewise, everyone cheered when Molly confronted Bellatrix and for Neville's big moment. The epilogue was also very nicely done. The aging effects were perfect and it was a lovely, quiet goodbye to these characters we've been following for 10+ years. Really, a very satisfying close to the franchise.

So, I know your next question is, Mrs. Richards, what have you been knitting? Well, it's round two of the Nerd Wars tournament and I've finished one project so far:I submitted these fingerless gloves with a fishtail lace pattern for the Mythology challenge. The are supposed to represent mermaids and they are linked to Harry Potter because mermaids live in the lake on the Hogwarts grounds. I'm also working on a large piece of illusion knitting for the Big Nerd Love challenge. We are supposed to knit something from one of the other nerderies in the tournament. It's hard to explain what the illusion knitting is so I'll show it to you when it's finished. It's pretty cool though.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer and reading lots of books. I've been reading and listening to lots of different things, but I'll tell you about it next time because this post is already too long! Leave me a comment and tell me what you've been reading.

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter

The final Harry Potter film opens next week, bringing to a close the story of the boy who lived that began 14 years ago. I'm going to miss ol' Harry Potter. Reading the books and seeing the movies played a significant role in my kids' lives, especially my eldest daughter who has been a big Potter nut since the 4th grade, about 12 years now. I'm a little sad to see it all end. But wait. There's this: pottermore.com I don't know exactly what this is yet, but it looks like it's never going to end after all! Yeay!

In the mean time, I can still participate in Nerd Wars* on Ravelry.com on team Dumbledore's Army and relive the glory days! Here are some of the projects I've completed so far:

In this photo, we see a first year Gryffindor scarf, Mrs. Norris - Filch's cat, and a miniature first year Gryffindor scarf for Mrs. Norris. This is an elf hat for a baby. One of the challenges is called "Giving Geeks" and in June, we were to make baby hats and donate them to needy babies. I made two more hats in addition to this one and donated them to an organization which distributes them to homeless families. And this is a Golden Snitch.
There are three rounds in the tournament, each round is 1 month long. There are 6 challenges per round. In June, I could only complete 4 of the 6. I don't think I'll be able to complete all 6 this month either. It really is a challenge!

*Nerd Wars is a knitting/crocheting tournament with a nerdy theme.

Right. Back to books.

Whew! I feel like I'm consuming a lot of media these days. But there are so many great stories being told!

I found out that a Judy Moody book is coming out this summer so I decided I had better read the book since I've been meaning to for so long. I read it on the Kindle app on my iPad, it was on sale for $0.99! I enjoyed it. It was cute story and Judy Moody is quite a character. If you like Judy Moody (by Megan McDonald), you might also like Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, Moxy Maxwell by Peggy Gifford & Valorie Fisher, and Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry. All funny girls with unique perspectives.

I want to tell you about my new favorite book to read aloud. It just came from Junior Library Guild today and it's called Press Here by Herve Tullet.

This is an interactive book that seems almost magical. On the second page, the reader is asked to press a yellow dot. On the next page, a second yellow dot appears. Press the dot again and a third dot appears on the following page. Gently rubbing the dots changes their colors and shaking the book scrambles the dots. So far, I have read this book to kinder, 2nd, and 3rd classes and they all delighted in it equally. I can't wait to read it to the rest of the classes this week!

Another book I've been reading, well, listening to, is A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. This book is not yet in the Marshall Lane Library, I wanted to read it first because I'd heard that it's pretty dark and grim. I'm about half way through it and I'm finding that it's not so much grim as it is gruesome. This is in keeping with the original Grimm's fairytales, which were not actually meant for children. They were grown-up tales, some of them pretty horrific, that were sanitized or 'bowdlerized' for children. I tend to think this book would fit better in a middle school library. Though, if you are a 5th grader with a taste for blood, you can check it out from the public library. I would recommend reading it rather than listening to it. I don't care for the reader of the audiobook, I think the voice in my own head would sound better. Um, I think you know what I mean here.

Other stories I've been enjoying: Doctor Who. If you aren't watching this series (Saturdays on BBC America), you must start now! Last Saturday's episode was written by my favorite author Neil Gaiman, I may have mentioned him before in this blog. You may also have seen a picture of him signing a copy of the Graveyard Book on my Author Shrine in the library. If you are a Doctor Who fan and haven't read anything by Mr. Gaiman, you need to pick up a copy of The Graveyard Book or Coraline immediately! I've also been really enjoying Game of Thrones which is based on a series by George R. R. Martin and it's Totally Not For Children so I won't discuss it here. In comics, I'm still working my way through Sandman, Walking Dead, and Transmetropolitan. These titles are also Totally Not For Children, but I still check in with the Comix for Kids app to see if anything interesting pops up. I think I'm going to pick up Atomic Robo and see how that goes.

And finally, while I've been doing all this media consumption I've been working on a baby blanket for a dear friend's first baby. Here is a picture:

Lastly, you should follow Adam Rex (Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, The True Meaning of Smekday) on Twitter. Today he tweeted a really funny poem about a smelly elephant in an elevator. Well, that's all I have to say for now. The library will be closing soon but the blog will continue on through the summer like it did last year. If there is anything you think I should read, tell me about it!