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What I read: November 2024

LHC #275: "The Only Good Indians" by Steven Graham Jones. eBook. Loved it. There's another book by him on my list, and I'm not sad about it. The character development was beautiful. I think horror might be good at that! Highly recommended.  LHC #276: "The collected novellas of Stefan Zweig". eBook. Another one that I have no idea how it ended up on my list; clearly recommended by someone. The library Holds tool really needs a notes field, where I'm sure I would faithfully note "recommended by: " or some such thing. Anyway. I'm almost tempted to describe this as horror. At least for me. The character development was very rich. Not my thing maybe. So patriarchal.  "Build : an unorthodox guide to making things worth making" by Tony Fadell. This was my office book club's Autumn selection. I got it from the library in hard copy because it would be faster than waiting. Also, I feel like I might be serving the library better getting...
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In progress: Nov 2024

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   So that funeral scene, I looked for where to cram it in (fortunately I have a calendar of the events).  Persephone  (probably not its real name): I think I figured out the ending.  Short Stories:   Finished one, for some definition of finished.   Critted  4  Got back  2 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Blushing Cloud  (Knitty S/S24). Started the month with 10.5 inches of back done. I might have 14 now, depending on how much I'm allowed to stretch it.  Hamilton  (Self). Started the month maybe 2" from armhole on the body. I had to do algebra to figure out the sleeve decreases! 3x+4y=133; x+y=37. x=15; y=22! But then I realized I didn't need algebra, I could have just done 37/133=3 R=22, so I would do 15x dec every 3 rows and 22x dec every 4 rows. I finished the body to the armholes, and started the first sleeve.  Seamless s...

What I read: October 2024

LHC #270: "The Ruin of all Witches" by Malcolm Gaskill.  eBook. It's a history of a witch hunt in 1646 in Springfield, MA. There are a lot of characters and sometimes I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. And is the case with trials, the same ground was sometimes covered over and over, hard to keep track of. Still, it was a good read and reminded me of something important I forgot in WWS.  LHC #271: "Blood and guts in High School" by Kathy Acker. eBook with poorly reproduced graphics. Very strange and short. I wonder if this is what Gemma Files' notebooks are like? It was nice to get to practice my Farsi.  LHC #272: "The Next Supper" by Corey Mintz. Hard copy because that's what was available. Published in 2021, it's very much a still in the pandemic book. 3+ years later, that sometimes felt a bit weird, but there was a lot of interesting information in here, and food has always been a volatile industry so I suppose whenever he w...

In progress: October 2024

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   While reading about puritans, I discovered a scene that I'd missed that might be a wedge into finishing this.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): I think I figured out the ending.  Short Stories:   Last month I was writing one from scratch. It's pretty close to done now.  Critted  5  Got back  2 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Blushing Cloud  (Knitty S/S24). Started the month with 7.5 inches of back done. Did 3".  Elbrus socks II . Last month I had finished the first and run out of yarn, which was a whole mess of coming up with an elegant solution. They're finished now. Hamilton  (Self). Started the month with 2" of bottom edge, finished that and started main colorway.   Seamless seam socks (Knitpicks Pop Socks). Love this pattern. Finished one sock, nearing the toe on the second.  Sashiko project:  Nothing....

In progress: Sept 2024

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise. I actually opened the file this month, because I discovered a missing scene! Need to find a way to work that in.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Continued to think thoughts.  Short Stories: I have two open on my late night desktop now, and I pick away at one of them most every night.  Critted  4  Got back  2 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Cathar  (self). Finished the endless finishing.   Blushing Cloud  (Knitty S/S24). Started the month with five inches of back done (up from three). Now I have 7.5, so half done.  Elbrus socks II . Last month I had started the first. Ran out of yarn, finished first, almost done second.  Hamilton  (Self). Started. will get to second colorway and decide if I hate it or not. I think I don't. I'm still on the waistband though, which looks ugly. ...

What I read: September 2024

An interesting stat (to me anyway): Nine (1/8) of the books on my library holds list are sequels to things I've already read. I think only six are non-series books by an author I've read before.  LHC #265: "Silver in the wood" by Emily Tesh. eBook, nice and short and delightful. The follow-up is on the list.   LHC #266: "How we learn to move" by Rob Gray PhD. Hard copy because that's what the library had. There are a lot of pics in this book and they are low-quality. While the concepts are interesting, I had to make an effort to relate them to the activities I participate in.  Most interesting perhaps was the brief discussion of habit and automatic portions of a movement, and whether automation is something we should even strive for. For me, if there's a portion of a movement I can automate, that's a win, because then I can focus on something else, e.g., automating the embusen of a kata. But is that even automated? At the same time, the idea th...

In progress: August 2024

Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Continued to think thoughts.  Short Stories:   After posting that short story from last month onto the workshop, I picked one of those short stories I'd started and forced a plot onto it.  Critted  5  Got back  4 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Cathar  (self). Started month with two inches done above the armholes. Listening to audiobooks, I finished the fair isle portion, cut the steeks, and set up and knit the neckline. Just the endless finishing now.   Blushing Cloud  (Knitty S/S24). Started the month with (still) three inches of back done. Socks take priority.  Elbrus socks (Knitty first fall 2024). Finished.  Elbrus socks II . Started the first.  Pole shorts  (Joan McGowan-Michael). I knitted these several years ago, but the...