Sunday Salon

Thought that I would kick-off the new year with a post...okay, so don't fall off your seat as you scratch your head in wonderment & ponder the question...how long with this last? No promises except to say that I will do my best to be better in 2009.
For the first Sunday Salon of the new year, I am in the midst of reading a book loaned to me by my friend Jill over at The Magic Lasso entitled "The House of Riverton" by Kate Morton (actually her advance reader's copy). Back in October, I picked up the book & started to read but put it down because I knew within the first couple of pages that it would be an excellent selection for a discussion book for my Womens Reading Group (only female authors are allowed). And lo and behold, it is the first pick for 2009...discussion tomorrow night.
As one turns the pages, the reader is vividly transported back to another time & place...pre-World War I England. It is like falling into an episode of "Upstairs, Downstairs." The narrator is a 90+ old woman, former servant at the House of Riverton, who is reflecting on life...brought on by the request of a documentary producer to tell the story of an event that took place years ago...a mysterious suicide of the gentry's family friend. Or was it a suicide? I'm about half way through the book & thoroughly enjoying the wordplay, the history, & the flashing between time (one of my favorite writing methods to read). I keep contemplating with wonder how society moved away from such strict delineations in social strata...how does that happen? Someone finally just gets tired of hearing "but that's the way it has always been done" and becomes a trailblazer.

Should be a lively discussion tomorrow night.

Still knitting up a storm (actually did three test knits last year & would love to continue the tradition in 2009) but most importantly I bit the spinning bug (cycling I already had but fiber this time around).
In a nutshell, I had a mini lesson when we attended the Estes Park Wool Market festival last June from none other than Maggie Casey herself, author of "Start Spinning." I purchased a hi/low whorl from her store's booth, a 1.1 oz Schacht spindle & spun my first fiber from Pigeonroof Studios over the summer & made an unoriginal hat for the daughter of a friend. But I'm finally making some headway because I either practice every day or read something online to further my skills.
Currently I'm coveting some of the unique lightweight spindles that Mary creates over at Butterfly Girl Designs namely her paua shell version & I have my eye on the lamborghini of drop spindles, a Golding. The goal in 2009 is to spin up laceweight yarn to knit up my favorite project, lace patterned shawls.

And last but not least, E becomes a teenager today...how did he become 13 soooo fast!