Saturday Evening Book Review and a Productive Weekend

I hope everyone had a successful and great week! Mine just flew by, I can't believe it's already 11:30 PM on  Saturday night!

I have a couple of books I want to share with you tonight, since I haven't in awhile, so here goes.

Knitting Loves Crochet by Candi Jensen

Likes:

-The overall concept of combining knitting and crochet into one pattern.

-The author is versatile.

-Explains techniques so those who do not know them can easily understand -- there are pictures!

Dislikes:

-Most of the patterns that are primarily crochet involve granny squares and/or flowers. I KNOW there is more to crochet than that!

-See above, but basically I do not like a lot of the patterns in this book. 

Favorite Patterns:

-Designer Jacket

-Open-work V-neck Cardigan

-Shaped Cardigan with Shell Sleeves

Overalll, I like this book and how it includes both techniques, but I don't like many of the patterns and I feel like it is lacking for those looking for primarily crocheted patterns.

Ten Secrets of the Laidback Knitters by Vicki Stiefel and Lisa Souza

Likes: 

-Chapters divided by tips or 'secrets' and all of these secrets are so diverse! There's a section on roving, a section on color, a section on socks, etc.

-The 2 ladies talk about their experiences with these 'secrets' like it's a normal conversation.

-Lovely patterns!

- Amazing Photos!

Dislikes: 

-There is really A LOT to read...I mostly skimmed it :/

-Even though you get it in pretty much every book, it'd be nice if there was a glossary of basic knit terms for newbies.

Favorite Patterns:

-Jive Sweater -- Yes another top I want to make. Argh. Maybe 2012 can be my year of sweaters!
-Smoked Jewels Hooded Shawlette

-Wild Linda's Camisole -- why is this NOT on Ravelry! It's adorable!

-Perfect Harmony Socks

Overall, a very fun book I wish I had more time to read. I like the photos and a majority of the patterns. I am really glad I write these reviews so that I can go back to them later for pattern ideas.

So back to the realm of reality, I also wanted to share with you some stuff I have going on.  I feel like I have barely talked about my art lately, and maybe it's due time I gave you all an update as to where I am at! I 'finished' (or at least will not be working on for a while) my first knitted still life painting last week:

(I promise the yellows are NOT that intense in reality)
Still some touch ups needed, but I need a break from this. 

My teacher says that it is still an abstraction of what I am seeing, but it works.  She wants my next one to be REAL and exactly as I see it. Lets just say it's torture so far.

I also FINALLY figured out my drawings.  For now I am sticking with the trees, although the final drawings have no actually tree-made marks on them. I am not giving away my secret yet, but I'll show you an example of one of the four I made today.

We have been messing around a lot with wash in my figure class and it made me want to try it on these too. I am so glad I did, because I absolutely love how this is going and am enjoying make these!

Finally, to add to the productive weekend, I started and am 3/4 of the way done with my kitty ears hat (my actual hat will get on Ravelry when I remember to photograph it!)! I am knitting it in a pretty purple Cascade 220 and loving every second. I cannot wait to get it done! I also was able to start and finish a quickie birthday gift for a friend of mine tonight while I watched The Lorax.  It's a scarf/wrap type thing.  It's super quick and super cute!

I wish I could say I designed the pattern, but I did not. I saw it at Wildflower the other night and knew it'd be the perfect quickie gift! Basically, you knit 8 inches of seed stitch, sew the ends together to form a tube, then attach tassels which go around your neck to form the scarf.  It took longer to braid the tassels (optional) then it did to knit the tube!  

Wow, that was a very long post, but I wanted to share everything with you all since I have been so productive lately (I blame the fact that STBBF is out of town this weekend....). Tomorrow promises to be productive as well; I have some figure homework and a major overhaul of my apartment to get done, as well as laundry! AHHH!!!! 

Happy weekend everyone!

~Lisa