Fiber Cheating Again

Despite all that I got done this past week with regard to my fiber addictions, I still stole time away for a different guilty pleasure.

Current Reading
I have been making time to keep up on my reading. I personally think that reading is one of the most enjoyable ways I have of expanding who I am and what I know, and so after years of pushing it aside for other leisure activities, lately I've been reading quite a bit.

This past weekend, I finished one of the best books I've ever read.




The Tricky Part by Martin Moran has two extraordinary characteristics.

First, the story is brilliant and interesting and told from an unlikely perspective that expanded my understanding of life in a way that very few stories could. I was constantly amazed at how a forty-something author could recall so vividly his experiences as a young teen, and even more amazed at the memories it brough back in me.

Second, Martin Moran's writing is astonishingly well done. One of the book flap quotes puts it best, Terrence McNally says about Moran, that "...his book is art."

I'm not sure if I was so absorbed in this story because I had some similarities to the author (the story is autobiographical), or whether the core emotions he describes are universal in a way that all would relate to them.

It's the first book in years that I've read that I will, at one point, go back and re-read.

Current Knitting
I had an opportunity to get some knitting done last night, and I'm happy with the progress I made. I have about 60 rows to go before completing the current row of color blocks. I will be glad to start the last row of colorblocks so that I can confirm my layout of colors.

But, even if the color combination turns out to be hideous, I will enjoy covering myself with this throw for years to come.

Quilting
Tonight I head over to JoAnn's to see if I can get a piecing foot for my sewing machine. I'm also going to pick up a couple of replacement blades for my Olfa rotary cutter and some thread.

Believe it or not, I've already used up a full spool of white thread and I'm on my second one.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Margaret K. says, "Hand quilting is relaxing.... and I bet your work would be beautiful. I hate to see you send it out."

My purpose in making this quilt is twofold. First, to have something beautiful for my bed, and second to be able to say I made it.

Since sending it out for quilting allows me to meet both those criteria, and I already have plenty of "relaxing" fiber activities, I think I'll wait for a smaller quilting project to do my own hand quilting.

Steven states, "It takes a lot more guts, gumption, and conviction to approach a stranger on his/her territory than spouting off to no one in the media or, even more pointless, to people who already believe the same as you."

I agree with Steven that it takes more guts to approach a stranger than spouting off (as in a poli-knit blog). But I do find it interesting that even though he no longer does evangelical work, he still seems to think that a rude reaction to an unrequested/unwanted "salesperson" is not a perfectly acceptable response. I get the impression that he still thinks that evangelicals offer something of value in their door-to-door work.

Binky asks, "Joe, are you willing to dish on the name of the particular "quilting women with a speech impediment" you mean?"

It is Nancy Zieman, although I had to google search to find her picture to confirm. Just like Thaddeus can't click past a SciFi movie or show, I can't click past Nancy.