Have a Kindle? Three Great Blogs for Free Books

I've been doing a lot of reading in what little free time I've had lately.  The beautiful thing (since like most people, I'm watching my wallet) is that most of the books I have been reading I haven't paid a dime for.  Below are three blogs I read that post about bargains or free books available out there.

Books on the Knob - Recommended by my knitsib and fellow Kindle Fire owner, CaughtKnittin, Books on the Knob is a great resource for Kindle users.  They also list deals for the Kobo and Nook as well, so still check it out if you aren't a Kindle owner.  I find the posts really comprehensive and very easy to browse through quickly.  There are short descriptions of the books as well as the publishers they come from.  As an added bonus they even post about any free audiobooks through audible.com.

Pixel of Ink - I just recently started reading Pixel of Ink after it was recommended to me by my friend RisenPhoenix.  This blog is specifically for Kindle users and is similar to Books on the Knob in format, though the updates range a bit more throughout the day rather than all at once.

Kindle Nation Daily - This is another blog I stumbled across recently that again is only for Kindle users.  The format for their updates is a bit longer than the previous two blogs.  There are more reviews and sometimes samples from the books that can be quite lengthy, so if you are looking for more in depth info about the books, you might want to check this one out.

By following all three of these blogs I do see a fair bit of repeat info, but I don't mind.  Someones one will post about something that the other doesn't.  Anyway, that's it from me today... so HAPPY READING! :)

Tour de Fleece Days 4 through 6 - Cape Cod!

In my little corner, happily
spinning away!

So I'm a little behind on the whole posting thing for the tour, but hey, at least I'm spinning!  I started off day 4 spinning with several fellow Tour de Fleece competitors at my usual Tuesday night knit night.  When I spin there I get soooooo much done!  It's nice to only have the distraction of laughter rather than all the normal chores which so easily pull me away from my wheel when I am at home.   I just love my knitsibs!  They are a wonderful group of ladies that sympathize,
I was so on a roll I actually finished up with my 2oz of roving in less than two hours!  It was a good thing too because after I got home, hubbie and I headed to the Cape to spend time with his family for the 4th of July. 

12oz of singles done!

On the 4th we spent the day at the beach where I relaxed in my camping chair and did quite a bit of reading on my Kindle.  I just love having multiple books with me wherever I go.  I don't have a ton of books on there yet, but I have a good selection of fantasy and classical literature, which are two of my favorite genres.  Lately, I've been re-reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind so that I can pick up the second book in the series and continue reading that.  I'm trying to read better quality literature rather than the easy to read romances I have trended towards for the past few years. 

The 5 seconds our sail was going
just fine!

Most recently I read North and South (free Kindle edition) by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell which was written in the 1850's.  I really liked the story, which is a bit like Pride & Prejudice (free Kindle edition), however it took me more than a few chapters to get to the point where I was taking in all that was reading.  The prose is very dense and required my full attention until I got used to it.  Once I got into the mindset though, I flew through the book.  Gaskell has written several other books, which also happen to be free for the Kindle, so I'm hoping to read some more of her work over the summer.  

My first 340 yard 2 ply skein

After beaching it throughout the afternoon and getting some quality time in with our nephew and the extended family, we went back to the house to watch the Pops and fireworks as per usual.  We didn't have the opportunity to see live fireworks due to the 4th being in the middle of the week, but I was content to spin away listening to all the great music performed. 

The next day, hubbie and I went out for a sail on the family's sailboat.  Let's just say that itwas not the best sail we've had and leave it at that... Hopefully the next time we make it to the Cape, sailing will go much more smoothly.  Other than, that I just spent the rest of my time on the Cape spinning away on my roving.  I made tons of good progress and was able to hang out with family and chat at the same time.  All in all, it was a nice little trip.  Hopefully we'll be able to go back very soon!

Tour de Fleece: Day 3 - 6oz of victory!

Just a quick post tonight as it is very late. I've finally caught up on my daily spinning goals!!! I was able to spin another 2.5 oz this evening and now this very full bobbin has 6oz on it. Not too shabby. Now I have a fighting chance of getting it all spun into singles AND plying. It's been a good night! Hope yours was an productive as mine :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tour de Fleece: Day 2

Day 2 Progress - 2.5oz

Today was another pretty full day for me.  I went to go see Pixar's Brave with a couple of good friends after going to church in the morning.  Brave was absolutely awesome!  Pixar does such great work.  There were multiple times in the movie when in some of the wide shots, the animation was so good, the people and scenery looked real!  The storyline, voice acting and music were all top notch as well.  So, if you are itching to go to the movies make sure you check Brave out.  It is a good movie for all ages. 

The title does say Tour de Fleece, so I guess I should talk about spinning huh?  :-)  Unlike yesterday, I got to sit down at my wheel reasonably early in the day and was able to spin for about 3-4 hours altogether, which was really nice.  I got a nice rhythm going and was able to watch Mirror Mirror starring Julia Roberts as I happily treadled away throughout the evening. That was enjoyable movie number two for the day.  I was on a roll!

While I didn't completely catch up on my spinning goals for both yesterday and today, I did make a ton of progress, spinning about 2.5 ounces in total.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish up the little bit I have leftover from today's bump of fiber and then attack another one :-)

Below are the trailers for the two movies I saw today.  Mirror Mirror is now out on DVD and Brave just started in the theaters last week.

Tour de Fleece: Day 1

I spent most of today with my husband taking care of my friends' 3 month old son, which I might add, was an awesome way to spend a Saturday together :-)  After that we went to my favorite Italian restaurant, Polcari's, for dinner.  We then wended our way back home where I had to sit down to prep some music I'm singing tomorrow.  Finally around 8pm is was time for me to get spinning!

My spinning setup & Dr. Who on Netflix

Day 1 Progress - 1oz

Because I had such a full day, I wasn't able to spin up a whole 2oz bump of fleece as I had hoped.  Nevertheless, I am a happy camper for actually sitting down to get Elphaba, my wheel, up and running and also reclaim my spinner's mojo.   It always takes me a bit of time to get back into the steady rhythm of treadling and drafting, but it's kind of like riding a bike (ha ha ha, Tour de France, do you see what I did there? Yes, I can hear you groaning at my horrible joke) so you don't forget how so much as need to reacquaint yourself with the mechanics of things.

I was hoping to be able to spin my singles pretty thin so I could ply two or three together to get a DK or worsted yarn for the final product.  So far it looks like that might actually happen - HUZZAH!

Anyway, just a quick update for you.  I'm hoping to get way more accomplished tomorrow.  Although, I've got a pretty full day planned again.... /facepalm.  Anyway, g'night!

Ready? Set? Wait!

My Romney fleece before processing

It's that time of year again.  The time for some friendly competition.  Our weapon of choice? Spinning wheels.  That's right, it's Tour de Fleece time!  I think this is the third year I have taken part in this fun spinning competition organized by volunteers on Ravelry.  It's a great way to challenge yourself and find some motivation at the same time. Fortunately, three of my fellow knitsibs will be taking part in the games, so knit night should turn into a veritable wheel-a-palooza for the next three weeks. 

My team for the Tour is Team Sasquatch, which consists of knitting and spinning podcasters and their listeners.  It's nice to be on a big team of people with a common interest (well, other than knitting).  Competitors cheer each other on, offer advice and encourage those with spinning injuries or equipment failure.  Having your drive band snap just when you are just getting your spinning groove on is just not cool.  You need moral support for that kind of tragedy!

My goal for this year's Tour is to spin up a beautiful Romney fleece that a friend and I bought at Rhinebeck a year and a half ago.  We sent the fleece out to be processed and split what came back, each getting about 2.5 lbs of gorgeous wool, which is the most fiber I've ever purchased at one time. I want to spin all of it up on the 23 days of the tour and if I have time I'm going to try to ply it as well. 


Weighing one of my Tribbles!

While the Tour doesn't start until Saturday, there are things I can do to get ready.  Yesterday, I started prepping my roving and gathering all the various bits of equipment I'll need to spin and ply my yarn.  I split up the roving into 2oz bumps so that I could pace myself throughout the Tour.  I ended up with 20 of them, so that means I could spin just a bump a day during the tour and meet my goal.  My little bumps of roving look suspiciously like tribbles according to my husband... What do you think?  So, what I need to do in the next two days is check over my wheel and do any regular maintenance that I probably haven't done recently, like oiling all the moving part and tightening up the joints that inevitably work loose as you spin over long periods of time.  I already gathered up all the free bobbins I had available to me, so I think I'm doing pretty well. 

Now I just have to be a patient little spinning and wait until Saturday evening to get my spin on!

Hexipuffing Along!

Back in November I started work on a project that I know is going to take me quite some time to complete.  I know I know, I am the queen of long term abandoned projects, but I don't think that will happen with this one.  The pattern is the much loved Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits which is made up of hundreds of small hexagonal puffs (dubbed hexipuffs) that are stuffed with fiberfill so they are all smooshy and skooshy.  The beauty is that the yarn for the project is just leftover sock yarn scraps.  Lets see if I can manage to use said scraps rather than letting the quilt be an excuse to just acquire more sock yarn, lol.

I really like the Beekeeper's Quilt because its a large project, but at the same time, you just work on it one puff at a time.  In the words of two of my favorite podcasters, the Knitmore Girls, it's "potato chip knitting,": You can't just knit one.

Let me tell you, over the past few days I've found out just how addictive knitting these puffs up can be!  I've made about 12 of them so far and did a good 8 of them in the past two days. I'm guessing I probably make one in about an hour, which isn't horrible, but not exactly quick either.  That's ok, since the pattern is so easy to memorize and it is quite possibly the tiniest project to carry around ever; perfect to stuff in a purse and go!

Anyway, I'm off to knit some more hexipuffs and enjoy all this lovely weather we are having.  Ta!