Creepy Books

I read a blog over on Xanga by Fibermom. She's looking for some creepy books for a group she joined that's starting to read creepy books now and up until Halloween. What Fun!

She asked for recommendations for creepy books and I thought you might be interested in my comment (which got out of hand and ran on and on).

Here's what I said:

I was surprised to find that I don't have many creepy books on my bookshelves.

I read Lightning by Dean Koontz recently. It's a time travel story told from the perspective of one person traveling through time in the normal way, so the story happens out-of-order for her, if you can follow that. Some arbitrary and scary things happen to our heroine, and she is saved over and over by a man who doesn't age. But will he continue to be able to save her? 

I also have A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane. It's a youth book, but very good about a teen named 'Nita who is a wizard, and is sent to Ireland for the summer and runs into a lot of very old Irish myths come to life. And some of those myths are pretty scary. I enjoyed it tremendously. 

If you want evil sorcerers, vampires, werewolves and wizards, there are the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. They start with Storm Front. I can't recommend them highly enough, but in spite of all the magical creatures, not really creepy. They're scary, but not creepy, if you catch the difference. 

There's also Tam Lin by Pamela Dean.  articular version of Tam Lin, but I've heard praise from so many people about it. The traditional story has Tam Lin captured by fairies (more like Tolkein's elves, but with an evil streak). Tam is convinced that the fairy queen has bad plans for him, and tries to escape on Halloween with the aid of his mortal girlfriend. Fairport Convention has the Childe ballad of Tam Lin on a few of their CDs, but you can find it on Amazon available as a single song. It's VERY spooky! This is classical horror that's probably well over a thousand years old. 

My coat finally arrived yesterday, and it almost all that I could have hoped for! It IS faux suede, but, except for the weight, indistinguishable from real suede. The toggle buttons are plastic, but a pretty convincing copy of horn. And, amazement of amazements, they included an extra button (which immediately went in my button box--the one that I'm going to have to replace soon, because there's no room left in there). The buttons I bought from JoAnn Fabrics match them perfectly, so I can add them to fasten the mittens and hat to my coat so I won't lose them, once I figure out a good location for them.

I'm in ecstasy about the coat. And it's getting cooler lately, giving me hope that I may be able to wear it soon.

I'm going to regret that last statement later this Winter, when the high for the day doesn't get up to 22 degrees (F).

In intended to go to WalMart yesterday, but I got a late start, and due to a dead spot in the bus schedule, had to wait almost 45 minutes until the bus was due. It didn't show up until more than 15 minutes late, and then it wouldn't stop for me! Between the late start, and another half hour wait, I gave up on it. So, I have to do that today. And once it's done, I doubt that I'm going to want to walk over to the library, too.

There's not much on TV tonight. I'm going to be watching Bones. It's not SF, but it's good.

Have a great Wednesday!

More Finished Knits!

Last night I stayed up late and finished all the stuff I made out of the Moda Dea Sassy Stripes (the color is Swish).

The reason for staying up so late is the edging I put on it. I've always wanted something with a whip stitched edge, but I knew it would be a lot of work. It's so much work that if I had stopped before finishing, I know I would never have finished it. I used some yarn from stash for the edging.

So, I found out two things about whip stitched edges. I really hate to do them. But I really love the result.

See? Isn't it pretty?

It works especially well with the cast-on and bind-off edges I used. The edge shows exactly where to insert the needle so that I get perfectly even whip stitches.

The total set includes: mitts, previously made in another almost matching yarn that's been discontinued, and are not shown here; a hat (with button loop on the top); mittens to go over the mitts, also with button loops at the cuffs; boot toppers for my navy Wellingtons; and, of course, a loooong scarf!

It was all made to go with this coat (which hasn't yet arrived):

and the Celtic sweater, which is my next project to finish.

You can't see it well in the photo, but the coat has a crochet slip stitch around the edges in an off white. That makes it look sort of hand stitched, and will go well with the scarf, etc.

All have a rich, expensive, hand-made feeling about them. I have a pair of Uggs boots in the same color as the coat, which I think will look smashing with it for times when the Wellies aren't appropriate, like when it's just cold. I suspect that I can use the boot toppers with them, too, if I want to.

So, the moment of truth comes for the sleeves for the Celtic sweater. When I was doing the cable for the shoulder straps, I originally planned to make drop shoulders. Then, for no reason I can explain at the moment, I actually made a fitted shoulder without thinking about the fact that it would mean I'd have to knit a sleeve cap. I'm actually going to have to write out the directions for that so that I'm sure the second one will be a duplicate of the first. Can't have miss-matched sleeves!

I've also been delaying working on the sleeves because I have no idea how I want the cuffs.

Do I want the set-in sleeves to act like normal set-in sleeves until the elbow (or just below) and then flare into bell sleeves? Probably. Sleeves that taper all the way to the cuff just don't seem like they'd look right with the rest of the sweater.

I'd actually like to do a knot like the one on the top of the hood on each sleeve and have it go into a braid like the hood does. But I'm stumped about how to do that.

Once I solve those problems, there are pocket linings to knit, and a few places where a couple of things need a sewn stitch or two. The braid goes right off the front of the sweater into button loops, but the loops want to twist. A stitch or two will make them lay flat and look professional (once they're blocked).

Then there's the blocking and the buttons and I'm ready to  wear it in public and impress people.

I need some new clothes to go with all that. Some of my winter shirts are so threadbare that you can almost see through them. They'll need replacing. Most of them are over 10 years old!

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In other news, you probably already heard this, but George Takei got married or partnered, or whatever they're calling it these days.

You can see Nichelle in the background, and almost see Walter, too. Read more about it here. There are lots of photos, too! I envy everyone at the wedding. Nichelle is such a good hugger!

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I wish I had some science fiction news, but I just read io9, and feel like I know nothing. If you're a SF fan, you should read it!

We have Lost to look forward to tomorrow night on SciFi of course. And Sarah Connor, of course, if you want to miss the recap of Heroes.

The really big news Monday evening is the season premier of Heroes, though. One of my favorite shows is back! 

My DVR runneth over!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Labor Day!

There has been lots of knitting going on, but it doesn't look like much. I did a gauge swatch for the mitts, but it was too loose, so it got ripped out and reknit, so there's not much that's actually finished.

The IRS made a big mistake and sent me a stimulus payment. I suspect that I'll have to give it back to them to pay taxes, but in the meantime, I have it.

My winter coat is ripped and looks old and really bad, so I was looking for a new one today, when I found this coat. A winter coat for about $30 including shipping? I couldn't let that pass. It doesn't look like it'll be very warm, but it looks wind resistant, and with warm clothes underneath it, it should be very warm. Which is good, because with lighter clothing, it'll be a good coat for chilly days, too. And for $25, I couldn't ask for more.

There will be what appears to be a new episode of the Middleman on ABC Family tonight.

I hope you're having a great Labor Day!