Book Round-Up

 Cold Clay by Juneau Black: Sad to say, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first. The authors have created fun characters in a delightfully cozy setting, but the actual writing in this novel was not great — both overwritten and messy.

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch: I’m enjoying the Rivers of London series, an urban fantasy about a police officer learning to become a wizard. This one centered around jazz music and its vampiric fans.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly: This book, about a boy who finds himself in a world of fairy tales, was a lot darker than I expected, but it was a moving exploration of grief and growing up, deeply satisfying by the end. The only flaw was the chapter with Snow White, which was completely out of place tonally.

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-García: This was a bit of a disappointment; it has lots of interesting elements and characters, but it doesn’t quite cohere, feeling more like a draft than a finished novel. Some elements are left dangling — ownership of the land, so critical in 1908, is not mentioned at all in 1998, and Minerva talks about her mother and great-grandmother, but her grandmother is entirely missing. Then there’s Alba’s relationship with her putative lover: Alba, and the narrative itself, treat it as if it were merely inappropriate and not absolutely awful. I don’t regret reading it, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Gods of Jade and Shadow.

The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James: I try to read a Simone St James novel every fall; she excels at mysteries that are spooky and romantic. I didn’t love this one as much as the first two I read, but it was an enjoyable, creepy-but-not-too-creepy story about psychics real and fake.

Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher: Kingfisher's novels have certain commonalities -- middle-aged characters with ordinary jobs, humor to counterbalance the horror and weirdness, and a pantheon of saints and gods -- but the settings and stories are varied and inventive. This one takes the elements of Snow White (queen, daughter, mirror, apple) and puts them together in an utterly novel way. I just can't get enough of Kingfisher, and I'm pacing myself through her extensive bibliography.

I'm Hanging on to Fall as Much as I Can

 Because it is my favorite season, and because I don't want to rush Christmas.

This pattern, from and old issue of Love Embroidery magazine, was designed by Elahe at Momentoell and is now available on her website (along with many other lovely ones). Her thing is using all six strands, and even twelve, of cotton floss, which gives the embroidery a chunky, dimensional look. For even more textural effect, I used wool thread for the pumpkins and linen threads for the stems (but the latter isn't quite so obvious). I'm really pleased with this design, especially the soft fall colors.

Belated Crafty Halloween Post

I was so busy finishing up some crafts, helping my kids prep for Halloween, and the usual ridiculous drudgery I never got a chance to show off what I made in October.

Those cheapo witch's hats you see in stores this time of year are too small to fit my giant head, so clearly the solution was to make one of my own:

The pattern is the Twisted Witch Hat by Stephanie Pokorny. I used two strands of black worsted weight yarn (I have GOT to stop picking patterns with multiple strands of black), and counted on both Stephanie's instructions to go up a hook size at a certain point and my own loose stitching to get the right circumference. And because of said loose stitching, I eliminated a few rows in the crown and brim (also, I ran out of yarn). The curl at the tip is maintained with 16-gauge floral wire. And to make it pretty (we need more beauty in the world) I crocheted some flowers, using the patterns here and here.

Earrings!

I've seen variations of the adorable floral ghost earrings for a couple of years now, so I finally made a pair for myself. The two skull pairs of earrings are part of my ongoing effort to create the perfect calaverita/sugar skull earrings. I'll get there someday.

Book Round-Up: Cozy Witchy Edition

Thornyhold by Mary Stewart: Just about the gentlest possible story you could imagine about witches in a small English village. As with most of Stewart's romantic suspense novels, the protagonist is an orphan looking for a purpose. In this story, she inherits a cottage from her witchy aunt and finds among her neighbors a busybody who seems to have powers of her own and a handsome widower with an adorable son.

 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna: Just about the coziest story you could read about witches in a small English village, complete with magical potions, adorable moppets (three daughters this time), a goofy dog, and a sweet romance. As one would expect from a modern romance, the magic is a much bigger deal than in Stewart's novel and the characters are dealing with not just a growing attraction but their own past trauma. It was lovely, and I look forward to Mandanna's other novels.

 Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: Just about ... eh, I guess third time's not the charm. While waiting for some holds to come in at the library, and having just watched Miyazaki's adaptation of Howl, I decided to re-read it. Some day I have to get the sequels.

 Cackle by Rachel Harrison: Every once in a while I feel like my understanding of a book is vastly different from others’, or at least of those who are active online. Cackle is often described as a cozy, witchy, feminist novel, and it is that, but there is serious psychological horror underlying it. “It’s about female friendships, and not needing a man to have a fulfilling life!” It is, but it is also about how friendships can be just as toxic as romantic relationships. “It’s about empowerment and discovering your authentic self!” But Annie’s empowerment comes at the expense of a whole lot of people. The life Annie ultimately chooses – carefree, living day to day, enjoying nature and beauty and good food – seems like a dream to anyone mired in the daily grind, but it is ultimately a superficial life, lacking in meaningful connection or purpose of any kind. Annie finds herself but loses her humanity, and to me that is a horror.

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

This was a fun little project, although not quite done. The cross stitch design is Oddpothecary by Noctiflora Designs, from the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue from 2024. I did redesign two of them, changing bat wing to wool and frog bones to toes to better fit the quotation from MacBeth.

Meanwhile, A Somerset Halloween featured a cute project from Patty Thurlby, using altered Altoid tins to hold fun little Halloween treats. The tins were supposed to be covered in gold leaf, but that was a fiasco -- neither my local craft store nor Michaels had real gold leaf, so I used a fake version from the latter. I then tried applying it with double-sided tape, tacky glue, and the glue recommended for gold foil, but each failed in a different way 🙄. I eventually painted the lids in black and the rest in a metallic copper. I backed the cross stitch with heavy-duty fusible interfacing and trimmed them (I should have made a template first), then glued them to the lids. I then glued a bit of yarn around the edges of the fabric. Maybe I'll add a second cord around the top. Or dimensional paint; that could be cute.

 

The insides of the tins are unaltered; I want to decoupage some spooky paper images, but my paper craft stuff is stored away at the moment. I shredded bits of yarn for the wool and found a package of eye cabochons for the eyes, but  I haven't yet come up with a thing to be the frog toes.

It's not quite the look I was envisioning, but overall I'm pleased.

Book Round-Up

 Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher: The third in T. Kingfisher's Saints of Steel series. I am loving the world she has created: the gods, wonder workers, gnoles, and lawyers.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells: I think I loved this one even more than the first. ART is a great addition, and it's fun to see Murderbot acquire friends and allies despite its best efforts.

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jiménez: I enjoyed this well enough, and appreciated that the central conflict came from the characters' circumstances rather than a misunderstanding or three. This novel is apparently heavier than her others (it's my first Jiménez book), but I thought it was handled sensitively.

Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global by Laura Spinney: this book about the development and spread of the Proto-Indo European language and its descendants would make an excellent companion to Who We Are and How We Got Here -- both argue that the evidence increasingly supports the idea that humans have always been migratory, sharing genes, technology, and language for the betterment of humanity, despite what certain politicians would claim.

Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian: I'm a sucker for academic satires, and this novel, purporting to be a master's thesis that dissects the marriage and infidelities of its star professors, fit the bill. At one point one of the professors, teaching a course in writing, mentions the need to strip out the conceits of a story to see what is left. At the core of this novel is the complicated portrait of a particular marriage, and a person on the outside looking in.

Quick Jewelry Hits

A colleague at work has one of those gemstone initial necklaces that are so popular. I have a strand of tiny gemstone rondelles and assorted gold charms. The result:

Have you heard of fordite beads? Pretty amazing what gets made from paint scraps. I got a strand (not cheap) and used some of them to make hoop earrings, adding tassels I had lying around. Because these beads are not actually made from glass or stone (although they look it), they are lightweight to wear.

,

Humblebeads had a cute tutorial for a bird bracelet using wirework techniques. The copper wire I used for the links wasn't the right gauge, so I may remake it in the future.

I was finally able to get some large freshwater pearls with large holes, which allows me to use cords and techniques I otherwise couldn't (pearls are usually drilled with tiny holes to accommodate only silk thread). First up is a stretch bracelet, inspired by some bracelets Candie Cooper made.

Finally, I remade a wire-wrapped ring I made decades ago that was fun and pretty but too uncomfortable for me to wear. After cutting it apart I glued the central flower bead with its two glass bead toppers to a ring black -- much easier to wear. The cluster of beads and charms that dangled from the old ring became the center of a simple necklace, to which I added a few more beads and charms.