How to Knit a Love Song

I've been reading Rachael Herron's blog for a couple of years now, so I was very excited to be able to buy her first book, How to Knit a Love Song.

The book "in the wild"

The Wild

I bought the book at The Bookstore in Glen Ellyn, even though they had to order it for me, which meant that I had to wait for it to come in. The Bookstore is a tiny, little bookstore. However, they're also next to my LYS, String Theory Yarn Co. (on the left in the photo), so I suggested to the owners of both shops that stocking the book could be a good idea. After all, there's a pattern for Cade's sweater in the back of the book. Buy the book, then head next door for the yarn. Win-win, right?

Of course, the book is also available online at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Powell's. It will be available in Target stores starting in April.

The Review:
I'm not always much of a romance reader, but I enjoyed How to Knit a Love Song. I admit, at first I was horrified at Abigail's assumptions and borderline rudeness. And sometimes Cade's an idiot. But things start to work out between them, and by the middle of the book I wanted them to get together, without feeling any of the whiplash sometimes associated with such a change of opinion concerning a character.

I loved Eliza Carpenter. The quotes are great -- very much reminiscent of Elizabeth Zimmermann without actually copying her. The knitting-related parts of the story felt very real to me. I'm not entirely sure I'd like to have EC organizing my life like that, but it surely works in the story. And I love the sweater pattern that's included. I'm tempted to cast on for it right now, but I should probably finish at least one of my dozen or more current projects first. So I have the right sized needles available, if nothing else.

My regular readers are probably shocked by now. No complaints at all? So unlike me! Therefore, full disclosure: I could have lived without the last 14 paragraphs of the epilogue, but that's my hang up. I don't really like what a friend calls

**SPOILER ALERT**

Baby Ever After endings. Like I said though, that's my hang up. It's a common enough type of ending in romance novels that lots of people must enjoy it.

All in all, a very good book. I'm definitely going to get the next book when it comes out. I want to see what else Eliza's been up to.

EDITED TO ADD: The book is published as Eliza's Gift in Australia. I probably should have mentioned that earlier, since I know I have international readers.

Frustrating Weekend

What do you mean, I didn't post last week? I see no week!

So, yesterday we went out for my sister's birthday. (New Star! Best Chinese restaurant ever! Well, within 15 miles, at least.) I even finished the hat in time.

You're just waiting for the frustrating part, aren't you? The hat was rejected. Deb didn't like it. It was too short, despite the fact that it's longer than she asked for. It's too loose, despite the fact that it's tighter than she asked for. I was waiting for her to tell me that she didn't like the color, despite the fact that she picked out the yarn. So, here's a photo of it in it's formerly completed state. (Well, the photo was before I cast off, but it's close enough.)



And the poor hat's current condition.



*sigh*

School? My Spanish midterm went well, complete with the 8-minute one-on-one conversation with the prof. This week I'm working on my midterm philosophy paper, in which I get to argue both sides of the legalizing prostitution issue. Fun! :/

Didn't Win

Current photo of Deb's hat, my project for the Knitting Olympics.


Yeah. No gold for me.