Goodbye and Good Riddance!

 

A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan

 This is a perfect read for the long, cold, winter nights. Kate and Donovan are two government agents in 1917 sent to a lord's manor on a remote island in the hopes of discovering who's been selling secrets to the German army; complicating matters are the actual, literal ghosts Kate sees all around her, some of whom are dead soldiers angry at the lord's arms-dealing. 

In other words, it's an Agatha Christie-type story but with a supernatural bent and a willingness to address the legacies of a pointless war.  It's spooky and serious without being grim or depressing, and does a good job of illustrating the messy complexities of everything from relationships to the military-industrial complex to grief. Add a romantic subplot, and you have a thoroughly satisfying read. I'd love to see more of Kate and Donovan's adventures.

Advent Blog Hop

 Welcome to my stop on Jo's annual Advent blog hop! As usual, I have a few ornaments to show off (I prefer to stitch small projects; I'm more likely to finish them in time 😛).

"Tres" by Monsterbubbles (Just Cross Stitch August 2008):

This has been on my to-do list for a long time, but stitching on metal mesh/screen is a pain; the beaded edge was fun, though.

Here's "Meowy Christmas" by Fern Ridge Collections (Christmas Ornaments 2019):

It's true to life, too! There's a reason why I keep my fragile ornaments on the top of the tree ....

(I also stitched "Mary & Jesus Stained Glass" by Snoflake Stitchery (Christmas Ornaments 2019), but  I forgot to take a picture before I sent it to my mom.)

Jo also asked us to write about our favorite Christmas book. Mine's a new one, that I discovered last year:

I loved it so much I bought my own copy this year. This collection of stories, memories, and recipes is moving and insightful, and I highly recommend it.

I hope you all have a lovely and peaceful Christmas, and a much-improved new year!

Winter Wreath

 

This sweet wreath is Alicia Paulson's latest pattern. It was quick to stitch, and because it's not really Christmasy, I will keep it up all winter.

One Last Fall Craft

 I love the look of flint corn, aka calico corn, aka indian corn (not a great name). I keep a bundle of three cobs up all fall, I nestle mini cobs in a bowl with pine cones, dried oranges and pomegranates, and cinnamon stick. I even tried my hand at beading a tiny one. So of course I inevitably wanted a neckace.

Rather than soaking the kernels until I could pierce them with a needle (something I heard was hard on the fingers), I drilled each one -- tedious but effective.  

The resulting strand (minus some I turned into a stretchy bracelet for my youngest, and the ones that broke) is quite long, long enough to wrap three times around my neck. I'm contemplating interspersing copper charms throughout the strand.

Book Round-Up: Eclectic Fall Edition

 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: I don't know why I didn't read this when it first came out. It is dreamy and romantic and perfect for cool fall nights. 

Sweet Alaskan Fall by Jennifer Snow: Part of a series of romances set in Alaska, I grabbed it because of the title (I'm a sucker for all things fallish). It's your standard romantic plot line, but I liked that both of the main protagonists were coping with temporary and permanent disabilities.

The Devil's Wedding Ring by Vidar Sundstøl: It's set in midsummer, but has a spooky vibe that makes it a great read now. I loved the Norwegian setting and the introduction to local folklore and customs, and the two protagonists -- a detective returning to his homeland and a nosy young librarian -- were a treat. I half expected them to form their own agency at the end, but alas, this is a stand-alone novel.

 Echoes by Ellen Datlow, ed.: A large collection of ghost stories. An excellent collection, with a number of stand-outs: "A Shade of Dusk" by Indrapramit Das (melancholy and touching), "The Puppet Motel" by Gemma Files (just confirms my desire to never use Air BnB), "A Burning Sword for her Cradle" by Aliette de Bodard (a novel take on assimilation), "The Other Woman" by Alice Hoffman (an impressive amount of story packed into just a few pages), and "Jasper Dodd's Handbook of Spirits and Manifestations" by Nathan Ballingrud (heartbreaking).

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by M.R. James: these are classics for a reason: short stories that are spooky but not too horrific, with a bookish bent. There is an odd level of distancing to them -- each is told in the first person, but the narrator is relating something he heard happen to other people. 

 Toil and Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft: The first story was so stupid, I almost refused to read the rest. But then I was stuck in a doctor's office for hours, so I did, and some of the stories were genuinely enjoyable. Others were not. I am not a fan of young adult fiction.

More Squash Squad!

 Knuckehead Pumpkin:

Big Moon:

Mellow Yellow and Painted Purple:

Remote schooling sucks. That is all.

Trick or Treat Blog Hop

 It’s Halloween, so once again it’s time for Jo’s blog hop! 

I’ve got a few new finishes this year, including this little freebie design from the Caron Collection that I stitched more than two decades ago (gosh, I'm old) but only finished this year.

This is Miss Witch by Satsuma Street. I can't get enough of her designs, and I have to restrain myself from buying them all.

Persian Pumpkin is from Mill Hill, and will go well with my Crazy Pumpkin wall-hanging, based on Mill Hill's somewhat larger Paisley Pumpkin.

And finally, Downdraft by Turquoise Graphics and Design, from this year's Halloween special issue by Just Cross Stitch.

Now it's time for the letter you are all here for!

 

Head on over to The Alchemyst's Study to get the next letter, and have a happy (and healthy) Halloween!

Squash Squad II

 The next in Sue Spargo’s stitch-along. Blue Hubbard:

Queensland Blue:

Baby Boo:

Four more to go!

Spooky Skulls

 I've been more focused on stitching than beading lately, but I did pick up a couple of kits from Candie Cooper to make some seasonal jewelry.

A pendant:

This was super fun to make. The skull is quite heavy and needed a sizeable tassel, which I made from silk sari strips, copper chain, beads, and various copper charms, using the toggle part of a clasp to suspend it all under the skull. I love the colors in this kit -- fun but not so overtly Halloweenish that I can't wear it at other times.

Skull and key earrings:

These skulls have a more rustic look than my Day of the Dead earrings, which pairs nicely with the vintage-looking keys and bits of sparkle.

(The other pair of earrings were made with leftover beads from the pendant kit.)

Pumpkin Patch

 These were super easy to make; the base is a styrofoam ball, with a bit of the top and bottom cut off and a hole dug into the top. Then place on a fat quarter of fabric (I used recycled sari silk) and fold it up around the ball and shove the edges in the hole. I used small pins to keep the fabric in place for extra security. Glue on a pumpkin stem (painted, perhaps) and you're done! The idea came from one of those holiday decor mags, but I don't remember the name of the person who came up with it (sorry, Ma'am!).

 One I sent to my mom, and the other joined my Pumpkin Row:

 

Have I mentioned I love fall?

Squash Squad

 Sue Spargo has a new stitch-along called Squash Squad, and who am I to say no to yet another project?  It will consist of nine squares, one per week. As usual, I'm working from my stash.

No. 1, Spaghetti Squash (but that's not what spaghetti squash looks like!):

 

 No. 2, Long Island Cheese Pumpkin (I bought a real one today! On Long Island!):

I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up the whole nine weeks (remote learning is AWFUL) (not the teachers and staff, they are amazing and trying so hard), but I'll try. I do a lot of cross stitching this time of year because of all the cute ornaments, and it's nice to have an embroidery project going for variety's sake.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

 Clarke's long-awaited second novel is nothing like her first, the very British and esoteric Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Piranesi is weird and haunting and gorgeous, a meditative narrative suffused with innocence and melancholy. It's the story of a man wandering a vast House with infinite halls filled with statues, flocks of birds, and oceans that rise and fall, who slowly realizes the world is not what he thinks it is.

Piranesi is an innocent who delights in the world around him -- the endless rooms, the tides, the marble statues representing every human thought, the birds winging through the air and the fish swimming in the seas. He writes everything down in his journals with the enthusiasm of young explorer, but earlier journals have very different accounts from a life he does not remember. As the memories come back he is both made and unmade by them, until two different lives are at odds within him. That tension dominates the last section of the book, but despite everything Piranesi retains what The House gave him -- the capacity to notice the world around him, to take it as it is and find value in every detail.

It's a skill that all too many people have lost, and that some of the other characters are seeking, but they misunderstand it as a putative source of power. For Piranesi, it is a form of inner strength, and indicative of his basic decency. Clarke has taken a genuinely disturbing premise and turned it into a quiet celebration of creation.

Autumn Leaf

 Lolli and Grace has a lovely freebie on her website: an autumn leaf to embroider. I intended to use some lovely autumnal silks from my own stash, but then I actually saw how Anne used a fabulous color scheme of DMC cotton, and changed my mind.

Teal and navy aren't traditional fall colors, but long and short stitching with so many different colors created a kind of thready pointillism, and I love the effect:

I love this leaf so much!

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

 Yu's critically acclaimed novel is unlike any I've read in a long time. The narrator, also named Charles Yu, is a time machine repairman living in Minor Universe 31, a science fiction universe abandoned by its creator and so a little fuzzy around the edges. Yu's father, an early time machine innovator, has disappeared, and his mother lives in an hour-long time loop of a peaceful dinner with her son. Yu himself has been living in the present-indefinite tense for the last ten years, stuck in an emotional rut. This changes when he finds himself in a time loop and struggles to break it.

The plot is not really the focus of the book, however. Fictional Yu spends much of the narrative ruminating on the past, his relationship with his parents, and more generally on finding meaning in a universe where you can travel back in time but you can't actually change the past. Yu's narration, recursive and repetitive as he works out this thoughts, adds to themes. Adding another layer, his future self gives him a book titled "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe," excerpts of which stud the novel and which fictional Yu reads/writes/remembers all at the same time.

It's an impressive novel, one which plays with metaphysical and philosophical ideas while also being deeply personal, and I can see why it is so highly regarded, yet it left me cold. I admired this book greatly, but I didn't love it.

Yay Fall!

 My first finish of the season:

The pattern is Sign of the Cat by Durene Jones, from the 2018 Just Cross Stitch Halloween special issue. It was supposed to be stitched in black, but I had this gorgeous skein of Valdani's stranded cotton in "Quiet Autumn" that was begging to be used. And this way I can display it the whole season rather than just in October.

Book Round-Up: Love Stories

 Persuasion by Jane Austen: I think this is now my favorite Austen novel. It was her last work, published posthumously, and I find the comedy funnier, the satire sharper, and the emotions more heartfelt than her other works.

 Well Met by Jen DeLuca: The Ren Faire setting was cute, and the argument the protagonists had about the Authorship Question had me laughing, but overall I found the characters behaving more like teenagers than the mid- to late-twentysomethings they were.

 Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn: a love story where the protagonists are more interesting than usual, and which had some smart things to say about friendship. My only complaint is that the narration, the interior monologue of the heroine, was verbose to the point of distraction.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King: I read this in 23 hours, neglecting sleep and chores and work (but not my kids -- they are too noisy to neglect easily). It's a moving novel about grief, daily pressures, inspiration, writer's block, and opening one's heart. Its setting of Cambridge and Boston in 1997 is evocative (I lived in Somerville in 1998, and Boston thereafter) and the depiction of Casey's struggle to get her life under control was moving. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

A Sampler Wrap Bracelet

 Inspired by Kate Richbourg's appearance on Beads, Baubles & Jewels, the Beadshop's project pages, and the perpetual trend for wrap bracelets, I succumbed and made my own, incorporating as many techniques as possible.

 

For the most part I was working off images rather than written instructions, so certain segments took a while to get the hang of -- the chain section in particular. I loved the look of it in the BB&J episode, but it was never explained. 

The whole point of this exercise was to work it out of my system, but now I want to make more, more, MORE! Maybe in soft neutrals, and perhaps another in rich jewel tones.

A Cellini Rick Rack Ninja Star

 A heck of a name for a heck of a pattern:

The pattern is Sarah Cryer's, apparently the result of several techniques mashed together, and I'm not going to lie -- it was a challenging thing to make. The pattern itself is quite logical, and it's easy enough to understand what to do, but actually getting the beads to behave was a fiddly, frustrating process. I think part of the problem (for me at least) was having each round start at an inner point, which meant I had to step up and keep the work from twisting while also positioning the beads correctly and maintaining adequate tension for the decrease.  

Once the first four rows were established, the star was much easier to manage. Which is why Cryer recommends pausing after row four to create a "caster star" off the original base -- another four rows which are then removed from the base and left that way, from which to create new stars. The advantage is that the beads are all in place already, making it easy to "continue" beading with new thread and different beads for the new star (the first three rows of peyote are always the most difficult).

So, I tried that, and ended up with a twisted mess, even though my base was not twisted or a mess:

But I really, really want to make more stars! So after I finished, I started a new one with 4 rows to serve as my casting model. At Cryer's suggestion, I connected the inner points together with some extra beads to make it even easier to work with:

I am seriously excited to do this again; I plan to make a Christmas ornament, a larger one by sizing up each of the beads to 11s, 8s, and 6s.

Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

Empire of Gold was a glorious finish to a wonderful series; not only did Chakraborty tell a fascinating story filled with magic, politics, world-shaking events, and heart-felt relationships, she introduced me to cultures and mythologies I knew little about, something I am grateful for.

Like the best fantasy, the novel reflects the challenges humanity faces on both a global and personal level. Chakraborty doesn't shy away from depicting the horrors of prejudice, occupation, and genocide, but she doesn't wallow in it, either, and there is a strong thread of hope throughout the series. Many of the characters, however good or evil their actions, however naive or cynical they are, want a better world, and this is treated as a laudable goal, not a fantasy. By the end of the book old hates have not been forgiven or forgotten, but there is a path forward to a more peaceful future.

On a smaller scale, one of the things I enjoyed the most was watching Nahri -- orphaned con artist and reluctant heir to a powerful legacy -- face every challenge with her own brand of strength. So many tried to put her in a box, whether as a woman, a Nahid, a shafit, an tool of revenge, but at every step she defied them and out-manipulated them, refusing to let someone else control her fate. I don't recall any other fantasy heroine who was quite so adept at not doing what others wanted, while still honoring her own (evolving) moral code, and that makes her a treat to read.

Lately almost everything I read inspires me to make something. The covers of the U.S. hardcover editions featured gorgeous color combinations which I memorialized in some simple stretchy bracelets: