Books and TV

My boxes (of stuff I mailed to myself because there wasn't room in my suitcase) came today.

One good thing - my "blankie" came, and tonight is going to be a very cold night here. One thing I had asked for for Christmas (and got) was one of those cotton flannel blankets that Vermont Country Store has - I figured it would be good extra insulation under a quilt on cold nights, and on warmer ones, it could take the place of a quilt.

It's very nice - soft and warm - after it came out of the dryer (I figured it was best to wash it first even though it came all packaged up. It felt like there was still some sizing in it).

Also, the books I got for Christmas came:



(I didn't realize there'd be a reflection on the piano bench until I looked at the photo on line. That's kind of cool).

Several craft-type books. ("First rule of Sock Club: you don't talk about Sock Club." Heh. It had to be said). Also a couple books on making "critters" out of (commercially knit) socks. Also I got the "one-skein wonders" sockyarn book.

The "Geometry of Pasta" is about the different shapes, and also has recipes for each shape that is ideally suited to it.

"Beatrix Potter's Americans" is a book of letters she wrote.

(And I'm not sure I want to read the "mice giggle..." book just yet. Yeah, giggle at my snap traps, steel wool, and peppermint oil, little boogers...)

The little blue book (you can't quite read the title) is called "The Six-Cornered Snowflake" and is by, of all people, Johannes Kepler. (It actually comes with the original Latin on the left-hand pages, and the English translation on the right-hand ones).

The spiral bound book is a series of reminiscences and stories and poems all around the topic of "threads" and how the generations are bound together by activities and by faith. It was put together by a friend of my mother's who teaches writing. My mother has a piece in there, about memories of cooking and sewing when she was growing up (and memories about her grandmother and even great-grandmother) and how those activities got passed down to my brother and me (well, the cooking. My brother knows HOW to sew but he doesn't, other than to put buttons back on things).

***
And then the television.

I guess you could still call this a "critter," even though it's not actually representative of an animal? (Maybe "softie" is a better term here). This is the "TV Guy" from the Mochimochiland book (my favorite pattern in there).

I was going to be all clever and historical and name him something like Philo, but when he was done and I saw the "rabbit ears" and their "dome," it made me think of the old Viking hats.

And so, his name had to be Sven. I think that works better for him.



Sven likes old movies, holiday specials, and shows like "How it's Made." He doesn't like power outages or infomercials.