books and crafts

There are four new books on the sidebar, and I'll soon be archiving all of my 2008 books to make room for reading in 2009! I've been waiting for years for Wally Lamb to come out with another novel since I Know This Much is True, and that day has finally come. So the first book of 2009 for me will be The Hour I First Believed.

Anyway, I wanted to share my favorite five books of 2008:

1) The Last Life by Claire Messud
2) Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund
3) What is the What by Dave Eggers
4) Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben
5) The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

I also found myself getting a bit crazily crafty this Christmas - I made my own pattern and sewed an entire army of these tiny owls with christmas-y sayings on their bellies for friends and family. Also made some for Mariah that say "Pura Vida" - a phrase she picked up during her semester in Costa Rica. It's the response to the Spanish "What's up?" "Pure Life!" I somehow like that better than our American "not much," which sounds a little depressing in comparison...




Continuing on the Home Ec 101 Christmas theme, I also sewed this apron for Mariah - a self-proclaimed steak lover - with an appliqued felt t-bone steak pocket.



In other non-Christmas crafty news, I knitted this throw pillow for our couch, adapting a cabling pattern Mom had used for a vest and adding a ribbed trim and buttonhole for the back. I got the idea from a pillow I saw in a West Elm catalog that was similar, but had less cabling. This ended up going pretty quickly, and I think could be easily replicated with any cabling pattern.