Fragment Friday - Saturday Edition

Waiting for the Water Monster to appear.

Time again to let you know what I'm doing out here in the Wild West. 

1. What I'm reading. 

Fiction: I'm up to Book Seven of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. This is an urban fantasy/mystery series centered around the cases of Chicago wizard Harry Dresden. I'm not usually a fan of books written in first person or private eye type novels, so my enjoyment of this series is a testament to the writing. Seven down, eight to go. 

Fiction:  For The Win by Cory Doctorow

This is a rather large and complex YA novel that deals with multiplayer online games, financial schemes, white collar crime, economics and worker's rights. It strays toward heavy handedness in some places, but the characters are engaging. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, since I'm not finished, but I'm still reading so that says something.

Non-Fiction: Legionary: The Roman Soldier's (Unofficial) Manual by Philip Matyszak 

This book is a tongue-in-cheek manual for citizens looking to join the Roman legions, how to qualify, different careers to aspire to, the equipment you get to carry-and polish- training, ditch digging and for a break in the monotony, warfare. Scott, knowing my love for Roman history, gave me this book for my birthday and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Poetry: the Collected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay 

Every now and then I like to touch base with the classics.

Any reading suggestions?

2.  What I'm listening to. 

David Gray - Mutineers
I like this album a lot. Draw The Line is still my favorite album of David Gray's, but this is running a close second. 
Videos - Back In The World & Gulls

3.  What I'm watching on TV/movies. 

Nothing much. Summer tv is usually dismal. I can't even get into baseball because the Rockies are playing so badly. I guess I hold out hope that football starts soon. Any TV shows I should give a watch to on summer reruns or Amazon Prime? Same goes with movies, haven't been in months. Debating going to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, or the fourth Transformers just to see a popcorn flick with no thinking involved. Anybody seen them? Yeah or nay? Any movies out there I shouldn't miss? I do have The Lego Movie to borrow from my grandkids. 

4. What I'm knitting/spinning/weaving.

Knitting - finishing up a pair of ankle socks in wool/bamboo/cotton blend. should be good for the summer. Plotting to knit my first sweater-like object, a vest with decorative stitching in a wool silk blend. It seems like such a big commitment after nice, compact little projects like socks...

Spinning - I continue to wash and card my 8 pounds of Targhee fleece to get it ready for spinning. I'm still spinning the Coopworth and California Red fleeces I got before that. Not sure I like the California Red. It's very sproingy. 

Weaving - I finished a scarf for Scott with some self-striping Cherry Tree Hill yarn I got in my Yarnbox subscription. about 12 inches wide by 88 inches long. 

I started a shawl with some pretty Noro Kirara yarn, and had problems with my warp yarn breaking. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and luckily YouTube has plenty of videos on how to fix it when one or two threads out of 300 snaps in your warp. I won't be using Knit Picks Stroll for warp yarn again, that's for sure.

Woven scarf for Scott.

5. What I'm writing 

Poems, of course. Doing a lot of editing to try and get poems finalized. Whoever said poems are never finished, only abandoned is right. Only so many times you can put a comma in and out of your poem before it makes you crazy. 

The Finished Fantasy Novel. Finished the query letter and synopsis for it. Ready to start sending it out to agents. We'll see how that goes. 

The Next Fantasy Novel. I'd like to be further along with this one, but the poems and Novel One suck up a lot of my writing time. My protagonist waits patiently in the wings, plotting various twists and turns I haven't thought of yet.