wed wip

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

Good morning! it’s time for Wed WIP!

I’ve been doing more reading then stitching lately so I don’t have a ton to share.

First, I started a new test knitting project, a pair of scrap fingerless gloves. These are the scraps:

And I started putting together my log cabin that I’ve been working on for months now. I’m still adding the white section to the individual scraps, but was eager to see what the afghan would start to look like.

I still have a pile of motifs from the fall scrap afghan that needs to be bordered & put together, my U Scrap is finished minus weaving in the last few tails, my shell ripple is finished, complete with border & just needs to be photographed. I also finished my scrap pink ripple, which came out really small :/ width wise, & that also just needs to be photographed.

I haven’t touched my Feb Lady Sweater or my EZ vest.

How are you doing? What have you been working on?

friday fo: fall scrap afghan, green ogunquit granny

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

Hello, crocheters!

I’ve been a busy bee, wanna see?

I finished up one of my fall scrap afghans & a green Ogunquit Granny…

Considering I didn’t really like this design when I started it, it’s grown on me a lot.

And here’s the scrap afghan, sized just right to fit on a lap… or maybe I’ll donate some of these to Dog Orphans, a local dog shelter…

I have a second one just about done that I’ll share with you next week.

Before I let you go, I wanted to ask if you had “liked” me on facebook yet? If you have a quick second, I’d really love it if you popped over to the group & said hello.

Happy crocheting!

out of mormonism: book review

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

Out of Mormonism: A Womans True Story by Judy Robertson

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I picked this book up on amazon when it was available for free. For the last few years, I’ve been interested in reading about the Mormon lifestyle (lifestyle, not so much the religion itself) & about how people have escaped the life.

I couldn’t have been more disappointed with the book.

The book begins with her life pre-Mormonism, but the author, Judy, only gives the most basic explanation of why & how they converted to Mormonism. Something as life changing as CHANGING YOUR RELIGION isn’t going to happen overnight; I think she was trying to simplify the story, in order to move the plot along, but she oversimplified way too much. As she talks about converting, she kept talking about how internally she kept screaming that this was wrong — and I just don’t buy it. Maybe it’s the way she wrote it or maybe it just seems way too awfully convenient to me that she had doubts – because seriously, if she had doubts, why on earth would she have converted? If she did have doubts, then she should have explained it better so the reader would better understand where she was coming from.

The next section of her book explains how they converted, some of the things that they had to do day to day, & then all of a sudden they decide not to be Mormons any more & they are just allowed to leave. I don’t really know much about that (which is why I read the book in the first place) but it just seemed way too easy to just leave. If it was really that easy to leave, why wouldn’t more Mormons who want to leave the church, actually leave the church? So their friends were disappointed… so what? I just didn’t get that.

The last half of the book was extremely preachy: I think what Judy & her husband is doing is wonderful, helping other Mormons to escape, but the whole second half of the book is devoted to that work. If that was the whole point of the book (which after reading the book, it seems that way to me), then the book should have been called How I Help Mormons to escape, instead of Out of Mormonism, because little was devoted to her escaping.

On TOP of all that, the book was so badly written & edited, I kept cringing inside, & I’m by far not the best writer. So if I’m cringing, imagine how bad the writing was.

View all my reviews

BEA Buzz Books

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

One of the things I recently downloaded from Net Galley is BEA Buzz Books: a sneak preview of upcoming fall books. I’m behind the times, of course, as this came out in May when it really would have been a sneak peak.

Some of the sneak peaks I enjoyed (and immediately requested from the library):
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
We sinners by Hanna Pylväinen
The light between oceans, by M. L. Stedman
Throne of glass by Sarah J. Maas.

The book also mentioned a new to me website that I also had to check out: Read It First, a site that sends out parts of the first few chapters of a book every day for a week. They featured Memoirs of an Imaginary Sinner a few weeks back, if you’d like to go read for yourself.

crochet patterns etsy treasury

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

‘Crochet Patterns’ by anastaciaknits

crochet patterns from indie designers on Ravelry

Striped Long Tail Pom Hat Cr… RAKJpatterns $3.99	CROCHET PATTERN: Belinda Ves… SaraKayHartman… $6.00
Crochet Shawl Pattern – Wing… Epicurus $7.00	Crochet Hat Pattern – Easy P… BBfromOz $4.00
Bead Crochet Pattern for the… CandiceSexton $9.00	PDF PATTERN Crochet Shrug Ca… TheYarnYogi $5.00
beginner crochet vest patter… anastaciaknits $6.00	Crochet Pattern – Stylish Cr… redjk $5.00
PDF Crochet Pattern – Beginn… AllieBlankets $4.00	Girls Purse/ Wallet with Fl… EvasStudio $4.80
PDF PATTERN Crochet Somerset… TheYarnYogi $5.00	Crochet Pattern PDF Cotton B… EvasStudio $3.00
Crochet Heart, Crochet Patt… EvasStudio $4.50	CROCHET PATTERN. Pom Pom Hai… Crocheted4Kids $2.50
CROCHET PATTERN – Multi-Stra… BusyMomDesigns $2.75

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

random blog posts

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

Source: aquieterstorm.tumblr.com via Melinda on Pinterest

I am going to break with all my usual stuff, to post some random stuff I’ve seen, done, posts I read that I thought you’d like etc.. you know, random stuff…

Source: redbubble.com via Ecstasy Models on Pinterest

Free kindle books (check the price, they probably aren’t free now)
Sorrow Without End
A Secret Wish

Source: repinly.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Blog Posts
crochet hooks in medicine
How to make an embroidered ladybug necklace – very cute!
encyclopedia of needlework available online – this blog post reminds us all of that fact!
things you shouldn’t crochet
how to wear a pashmina (long rectangle) scarf

crochet pins

Source: crochetconcupiscence.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Source: redheart.com via Disou on Pinterest

Source: redheart.com via Red Heart on Pinterest

in my mailbox

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

yes, it’s time for another In My Mailbox! It’s been such a great book week for me, that I thought I was due to share what I’ve gotten.

Through BookSneeze
A Marriage of the Heart by Kelly Long (kindle) – review to come beginning of November
Through Rushing Water By Catherine Richmond (kindle)

Through the Library
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Suzanne
Twilight of a queen by Susan Carroll
The passage by Jusin Cronin (sneak preview from the BEA Buzz Books)

I went a little crazy with netgalley this week…
Broken by A. E. Rought
Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem
Blüd and Magick
Crossing the Rubicon
Magick
Denali Dreams
Pilgrim of the Sky
Lily’s Plight
Princess of the Silver Woods

From the Author
Bitten- A Novel of Faerie
Abandon – Stephanie Dorman

Unsolicited
Encounter Way_ A Novella of Supernatural Suspense – M.L. Roble
Air and Fire (Shardhunter) – Jason Dookeran
Bucket of Blood – K. Bannerman

* beginning of rant*
I do want to mention, that I love getting book review requests from everyone – and I so look forward to reading them, but I’m always very disappointed when it’s for a book that’s totally outside of my usual books. I understand that it’s very hard to put a book into a category, but when I very clearly outline what I will & will not read, & you send a book that’s very clearly a book on my will not read list — it’s just such a waste of your time, and mine. So please, please – spend 5 minutes reading my book policy page, OK? I know there’s a lot there, but it’s just basic courtesy stuff, mainly, & it’s very sad that I had to write up basic courtesy stuff.

*rant over*

dark dates book review

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

Dark Dates by Tracey Sinclair

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First, I received a copy of this book from the author to review for free in July of this year.

I loved this book! It’s a great, fun, & fast read & was the perfect curl up in the sun & enjoy a good book read.

The first few pages were good – not great, but good – as the book got going, & then the rest of it I greatly enjoyed. There were a few holes in the plot that I wish were developed more, but I greatly suspect that there will be more in future books & left open on purpose.

One thing that did bug me throughout the book is that Cass seems like such a doormat sometimes when it comes to Cain. I get that when you have feelings for someone, love can often be blind, but some of the things she put up with when it comes to him made me cringe.

View all my reviews

friday fo

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

the slip stitch shawl is finished, I love how it came out & it’s just the right size! it’s been added to the donation pile.

less than one skein of Red Heart Super Saver was used, that I picked up on vacation at a thrift store for $1.

can’t beat that for a score

spirit fighter book review

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Anastacia Knits

Betcha you thought I wasn’t reading anymore, huh, huh, did you? LOL Nope, I’ve been reading, I just haven’t been reviewing. But I finally sat down, pulled out my stack of books, & picked one to review & I’ll be reviewing more in the next month or so.

Today, I picked Spirit Fighter to review, book I recieved from booksneeze.

Spirit Fighter by Jerel Law

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First, I want to admit, I finished reading this book months ago, & never wrote the review for it. Mainly because I received the book for free to review through booksneeze, & I wasn’t sure just how much I liked it, or if I even liked it enough to review it, so I sat on it to think about it – and then forgot about it ;/.

Part of the reason why I struggled how to review the book was because I would have absolutely LOVED & ADORED this book as a kid/young adult – I was a regular Sunday School & church goer, & there really wasn’t any Christian fiction out there besides the Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe, & that wasn’t really Christian fiction, just written by a Christian author. I would have adored reading a book like this, & I could see myself really getting into it.

But as an adult, I was bored throughout most of the story, & just felt like so much of the plot was way too awfully convenient, and boy oh boy, guess what, there’s a happy ending! Wow, I’m so surprised (insert sarcasm here). The book, however, was very well written & I did like some of the characters, though ironically not so much the main characters as the secondary characters. I also think that this is a very unique storyline, & for these reasons I am giving the book 3 stars.

View all my reviews

Anastacia Knits

easy, elegant & edgy crochet designs

Monthly Archives: October 2012