Yeah, I know. I read a book. Big deal. But I’ve had some serious reading issues lately.  Since reading The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, I have found nothing to catch my interest.  Okay, I also read  The Life of Pi, but I have mixed feelings on that one.  Sometime, I think of it, and I’m just like “Oh puke, what a stupid book.”  Other times, I’m like “Oh that Richard Parker!” and I tilt my head to the side to appear to look reflective and mutter “well, it wasn’t that stupid if I pretend the ending didn’t exist.”

There were 2 books that I attempted to read since Life of Pi, but bailed on.  I can’t even remember both.  I  know that one was The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  I guess, it is not a bad book, but I just didn’t care and it went on and on and on.   The other book?  I’m sure it will come to me later…  I did  just remember that I also read The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller.  That was just okay too – as I wrote on my “Reading” page – certainly no Senator’s Wife.

Okay, I remember now, the other book where I jumped ship – Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – another book that just seemed to be going on and on and on before getting to the point.  I stopped when Major Pettigrew just seemed to be hung up on this pair of guns that he thought he should have rightly inherited instead of having had to share them with his brother and I was just like” get over it already Major Pettigrew and grow up!”  This book has 4.5 stars on Amazon so it is probably a fine book, I just needed to jump off and find something with a better start.

So, what kind of books have the best starts?  Young Adult.  The good ones always start strong probably to keep the interest of the young adult who is being pulled in by so many other things like texting and facebook and hulu, etc…  This book is good albeit not quite as good as Harry Potter or Hunger Games, but it appealed to my younger self in its similarities to The Little House on the Prairie.  Like the Hunger Games and many other books it is set in an “alternate USA.” In this one there is a frontier which is occupied by both regular and magical wildlife such as mammoths and steam dragons.  The people all posses the ability to do magic which I bet would have helped the Ingalls very much when their crops were eaten by grasshoppers.   This seems to be the plot that this book replicates in its magical way – these crazy grubs which eat everything in sight and threaten to destroy all the settlements on the other side of the Great Barrier Spell which cast by Benjamin Franklin and  Thomas Jefferson many years earlier.  The book is called Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede  I finished it last night which will delight Agent B as when she stumbled across it I had a hard time prying it away from her.  The very likable main character, Eff, as you can probably gather is a thirteenth child which in her culture means that at some point in her life she will “go bad.”  Her twin brother, Lan, however, is the seventh son of a seventh son which is  the most honored, respected, and magical position in their society.  The book follows them from the time they are little until just about 18 years old and I can’t wait for the next book to see what happens next!

My next book club book is called Look  Again by Lisa Scottoline.  I’ve read the first chapter, but I’m already preparing for potential derailment because just from the short first chapter is starting to look like it has the potential for great sadness as the mother discovers the photo of her adopted son on a “have you seen this missing child” flyer.  Has anyone read this? Do you know if there will be tears?

For the last month or so, I’ve been doing R&D.  (DH loves when I say that, btw.)  I’ve been the proud owner of a set of Greener Shades dyes for about 6 months and finally happened across a really nice supply of organic wool top to try it out on.  I did some testing and voila!  We have a new product line to play with!  This new line is called Spincerely Naturals and thus far is is composed of exactly *one* product.  But, it is an awesome product!

What is Spincerely Naturals? It is soft, white (prior to dyeing), wooly and makes fantastic yarn that is squishy and elastic. (And it smells heavenly!) Here is the description from the supplier that just says it all,  ” Fine wool top. Imported for one of the United States’ few certified organic spinning operations, and sourced from a leading European certified organic wool topmaker who worked with a South American organic wool grower, we’ve been able to secure a supply for handcraft use. Specifications: organically grown and sustainably processed top, white. Staple length 2.2-3.5 inches (55-89 mm). Fiber count 74s (19.5 micron).” Did you notice?  19.5 microns??? 74’s????  Yes, this stuff is as soft as merino!

After previously dyeing with the wide array of acid dye color choices, it is a bit different to work with the limited colors available from Greener Shades.  But I think I’m getting there with my mixing.  The photos in this post show mostly the pure dye colors as I wanted to see what they were all about before starting to mix.  Greener Shades also doesn’t come with much instruction on hand painting, but fortunately most of the acid dye techniques I’ve used work very well.

Are you ready for photos?

This:

Turns into this:

and this:

turns into this:

This:

turns into this:

and these:

Oh wait!  What ARE those?  Phat Fiber samples?

Yes! Sixty samples were sent off for the Midsummer Night’s Dream box for June.  The color?  Lysander, picked and named by Agent J who happened to be reading it just when color advice was needed.  She picked the green, black, and purple because she said that “everything happens at night.”

I’m happy to announce the official product launch of Spincerely Naturals 74’s Organic Wool Rovings.  Watch for them to appear in my shop soon!