Rain+Fire+Book+Yarn

Equals a very good way to spend the weekend.



*Knit a few rounds, read a chapter, add log to fire. Repeat from * until sock and book are finished.

I had some very nice company.



"Mom, who's the fastest finger knitter?" he asked.

"You are son," I answered.

After turning one ball of yarn into eight feet of finger-knit i-cord, he asked for more yarn.



Even villains have a soft spot for wool.

About the book I read: I don't usually read romance novels, so I was quite surprised by myself when I picked up a paperback novel from the New Release section of our library. I think it was the basket of yarn on the cover that drew me in. Reading the back of the book clenched the deal: small Vermont town, knitting shop, sorcerer's daughter, warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches, Mr. Right (you know, all the usual fairytale creatures).

I brought the book home, but didn't think I'd actually read it. Then it started raining and my outside plans were cancelled. I picked up the book and finished it within 24 hours. It was highly indulgent and completely enjoyable. Most of the books I choose to read require a dictionary and over-extend my level of reading comprehension. Not this book.

"The joy of life pretty much arrives around the same time as my third cup of coffee and the fourth round on my latest socks-in-progress," says Chloe Hobbs, heroine of Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton.

Now that's my kind of lady. I bet she even has a messy house.