Guide to Halla by D.J. MacHale

Since I've enjoyed reading MacHale's Pendragon series, I decided to check out this book in order to find out more about the territories in "Halla", which is the universe MacHale created. I was sorely disappointed by this book. It did not contain much additional information about the territories which I did not already know. It only had basic information about each territory.

Completed Letter C

I crocheted the Letter C together in order to create the Letter C alphabet pillow.

Clownfish 3

I have finally completed the clownfish. All that was left was putting the eyes on the fish.

Good Deal on Yarn

I went to Michaels to get some yarn. When I saw some yarn was on clearance for 50 cents each. I had to buy all the skeins that were left. I'm not sure what I will do with it. I hope to make a blanket. Worse comes to worse, I can make 3 scarves out of these skeins.

Camoflauge Yarn

Since I gave away the last scarf that I made from "camo" yarn, I wanted to make another "camo scarf", so I bought another skein of "camo" yarn.

Letter C (finally)

I finally finished making the two halves of the letter "C" for the alphabet pillow.

Clownfish 2

I finished sewing the fins on the clownfish.

Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

This is the final book in the "Song of the Lioness" (Alanna) series. As usual, much of the storyline is predictable. The ending is very climatic, though. Thom, Alanna's brother has now become a master sorceror. Because others keep teasing him and appealing to his ego, he raises Duke Roger from the dead in order to prove that he is very powerful. Of course there are problems with this.

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

This is the third book in the Alanna series. Alanna wishes to set off on an adventure. She gets to the desert and is attacked by the hill people. Some of the desert tribes people help her and take her into their tribe, after she is tested to see if she is "worthy". Unfortunately, the shaman does not accept her and ends up attacking her. Since she defeats the shaman, she must replace him until either someone else kills her, or she has taught/found a replacement. This book is also very predictable, but still enjoyable.

In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce

The second book in the Alanna series is In the Hand of the Goddess. Alanna is now a squire for Prince Jonathan. She also meets the Great Mother Goddess, gets a "companion", "Faithful" who is more than just a plain cat. She also has purple eyes, like Alanna. Jonathan and Alanna fight the Ysandir in the Black Castle which she has dreamed about/seen visions of. In addition, she finds out more about Duke Roger, whom she must eventually face.

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

This book was a quick read and is meant for young adults. The storyline is predictable. I found the first 1/2 to 3/4 of the book boring, but found the ending intriguing. Alanna is a girl who lives in a society where only males can become knights. Her twin brother wants to become a sorceror and she wants to become a knight. She then goes to the king's court (really Duke Gareth's castle) and pretends to be a boy in order to become first a page, then a squire and later a knight. In the meantime, she meets Jonathan, the Crown Prince, and George Cooper, the "King of the Rogues".

Alanna Series

A friend had recommended to me the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce for a while. I had tried to read one of the books from the Circle of Magic series which are also by Tamora Pierce, before, but I found the first book rather boring, though to be fair, I had not read very much of the novel. Since my friend really liked this series, I decided to try and read some books in the series.

Clownfish

I knitted the body of a clownfish a long time ago. Since I hate sewing, I avoided making the fins for the fish for a long time. A couple days ago, I finally finished the fins so that I could finish the clownfish. Note that it is not Nemo since there is no "lucky fin". I still need to attach the fins and sew the eyes on it.

Winnie the Pooh with Shirt

Even though I used a crochet hook that was two sizes bigger for the shirt than the hook used to crochet Winnie, the shirt still looks a little small on Winnie. I was also careful and tried not to overstuff him. Perhaps I just need to make the shirt longer next time.

Winnie the Pooh's Shirt

I crocheted a red shirt for Winnie the Pooh using the same pattern book. Although the red color is a little lighter than I would have liked, I think it is fine. The first time I made Winnie, I used the same size crochet hook on Winnie and on his shirt. The pattern called for the hook to be used on Winnie to be two sizes smaller than the one I used. Since the yarn was so thick, I felt that it was a better idea to use the bigger hook. As a result, the shirt was rather small/short on Winnie. This time I used a hook that was two sizes bigger than what the pattern called for so that the shirt would be bigger.

Winnie the Pooh

I am almost done crocheting Winnie the Pooh. He is made from worsted weight Red Heart yarn, in the color "Sunflower'. It is a mix between yellow and gold. I haven't stitched the eyes and eyebrows on him yet. This is the second time that I've made Winnie. I'm debating putting more polyfil in his head. It's not very obvious in the picture, but his head might be a little understuffed.

Waterfall Scarf

I finished crocheting a scarf from Red Heart yarn that is blue, yellow, purple and shades of green. The shades of colors on this scarf are longer/wider than usual. As a result, the colors are more like stripes than the usual varigation of colors.

Allegiance by Timothy Zahn

I was walking around the library, looking for a book and noticed this book. Timothy Zahn is a great author. I've never been disappointed by any of his books. Admittedly, the books in his Star Wars series was much better than his Conqueror's series books.

This book did not disappoint in the least. It is set between Star Wars Episode 4 and Episode 5. Han is still just as sarcastic and irreverant as ever. Readers are also able to see another side of Mara Jade. They are able to see Mara Jade in action as the Emperor's Hand.

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Joanne Fluke's novels are generally pretty good. They are fast reads, include lots of delicious sounding recipes for desserts. Hannah Swenson, the main character, is a detective in a small town. In this novel, there is a carnival/fair in town and one of the judges gets killed. Of course Hannah has to investigate this.

I was disappointed by this novel. Much of the story line was predictable. Hannah was not as witty as usual. In addition, there were not as many funny interesting events as usual. Although the book was ok, this book was definitely not as good as other books in the series.

Stumbling on Happiness

I was listening to the radio the other day and someone recommended the book Stumbling on Happiness. I checked the book out of the library. I've only read the Forward and a few pages of it, but it seems to be an interesting/entertaining book. The author has a sense of humor. The book isn't hilarious, but it does make me almost chuckle at times.

Orientation of Picture

I don't know why, but the picture that I posted of half the G and C was sideways. At first I had posted the picture in horizontal orientation. After I saw that the picture was sideways, I went back and edited the picture. When I checked the picture today, it was sideways. I don't know why/how that happened. I just edited the picture (again) to make it vertical. Hopefully when I check this again tomorrow, the picture will remain vertical.

Burgundy, Beige, Green and Blue Scarf

I finished crocheting the Burgundy, Beige, Green and Blue scarf today. It isn't as bad as I thought the colors would turn out.

Mismatch of Letters

I'd thought that I had two halves to the Letter C. As it turns out, I have one letter C and one letter G. I didn't realize this fact until I put the two letters next to each other so that I could take pictures of them.

5 LB Boxes of Fiberfill

I periodically bought some 5 lb boxes of polyester fiberfill when I had 50% off coupons at JoAnns. It was cheaper than buying smaller 20 oz bags of polyfill. I knew that I would use a lot of fiberfill in making the gigantic crayon pillow, alphabet letters and other items. Unfortunately, I overestimated the amount of polyfill I would be using in what amount of time. I now have 4 boxes of polyfill. Fortunately I have been able to use up 2 boxes of polyfil already.

Letter C

I finished making the two halves to the letter C yesterday. One side is a light/royal blue, but the other side is a dark blue. I ran out of the first blue colored yarn and had to improvise with the darker blue. I hope to crochet the two sides together soon.

Unknown Burgundy, Beige, Green and Blue Scarf

A while ago, a friend gave me some yarn that she didn't want. She had tried to learn how to crochet a while back, but was either bored with it or for whatever reason did not like it. She had some leftover yarn which she didn't want, so she gave it to me. She had some rainbow yarn, and she asked me to make her a scarf. She also had this other varigated yarn that contained Burgundy, Beige, Green, and Blue in it. All I know is that the yarn came from Walmart and that she had bought it a long time ago. I started making a scarf out of it, but although it is quite long, it is not long enough. I hope to finish it within a few days.

Heart Blanket

One year ago I made a beautiful heart blanket. The blanket is made by stitching together hundreds of about two inch granny squares. It didn't take very long to make each individual granny square, but it was tiring after a while to have to make and store so many little squares. In addition, at the end, I had to stitch together all the squares to create the blanket. The result was a truly beautiful blanket which made it worth all the hard work.

Pictures Posted

I finally had a chance to take pictures of the items that I had recently created. I had already taken pictures of some of them before, but had forgotten to download them to the computer. This morning I had time to do all that and update this blog with those pictures.

Candy Cane Suncatcher

A year or two ago, I bought a suncatcher kit from Jo-Ann's after Christmas. It was on sale for 75% off. The suncatcher kit comes with three pots of "paint" and a paint brush. This particular suncatcher is in the shape of a candy cane with a bow and some holly on it. In order to paint the suncatcher, one drips the paint from the brush onto the suncatcher. I've been meaning to complete the kit for a while now and I finally finished it on May 6th. It doesn't take very long to complete, but it is a smart idea to let the paint dry over night when switching colors.

Crayon Scarf

I finished crocheting a scarf on May 4. It is multicolored, but not varigated. It has "flecks" or shorter pieces of each color. The colors are similar to that found in a crayon box.

Alphabet Pillow L

I finsihed making making the letter L alphabet pillow today.

Alphabet Pillow N

A while ago, I started making alphabet pillows. They are created by making two copies of the same letter, and sewing it together. I made one side of one pillow a while ago. I didn't know if I had enough yarn to finish making the other side, so I finally finished making the other side and crocheted the two sides together.

Blue Homespun Scarf

I finshed knitting a blue Homspun scarf on April 29th. I found some leftover, scrap Homespun yarn and decided to make a scarf out of it.