Recent Reading and Knitting

Our friend Terri lent me this book and I really enjoyed reading :




Booklist said in a *Starred Review*


Take a pinch of marigold to stimulate affection, add a dash of snapdragon to repel evil influences, finish with a generous helping of rose petals to encourage love, then stand back and let nature take its course. It may be the recipe for Claire Waverley's successful catering business, but when it comes to working its magic on her own love life, she seems to be immune to the charms found only in the plants that have always grown behind the Waverley mansion. Like generations of Waverley women before her, Claire has accepted her family's mysterious gifts, while her estranged sister, Sydney, could not run away from them fast enough. Knowing it's just a matter of time before her abusive boyfriend finally kills her, however, Sydney escapes with her young daughter back home to the only place she knows she'll be safe. Spellbindingly charming, Allen's impressively accomplished debut novel will bewitch fans of Alice Hoffman and Laura Esquivel, as her entrancing brand of magic realism nimbly blends the evanescent desires of hopeless romantics with the inherent wariness of those who have been hurt once too often.
(Haggas, Carol)
Very enjoyable!

Here are some pictures of what I have been knitting:

The mittens are from that wonderful kit I got from Finland. We had a discussion at the last String Alongs meeting about how much I really paid for these kits. See I paid in Euros which aren't real money to me-but when the ladies started doing conversions for me I just about had a heart attack. I guess it was better for me to stick my head in the sand than figure out how much I paid in real money (dollars). The kit had all vegetable dyes yarns and the yarn still has a noticeable amount of lanolin in it too. Riihivilla the small business run by Leena Riihelä is an amazing find. The kits came in a very nice box that our Eve the kitten has used for a bed!






















































I have also been knitting washcloths for the youth group fundraiser in August:























That's all for now. Talk to you again soon,
Lynda