This weekend I spend an afternoon at the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival in Lake Elmo MN. It’s a haven for fiber geeks. Several buildings packed with yarn, fleece, spinning wheels, spinners, weavers, knitters and more. Then walk across the fairgrounds a little way and it is barns full of sheep, goats, llamas and more. I taught two mini versions of my “technology for artists” classes in a 4H barn with no internet connection, but despite that, I think they went really well! (Hello class!) I didn’t take a camera with me, so no photos of the sheep!

We also had a couple of cute visitors over the weekend. My nephew, who just turned 6 months old, and his mommy came up for his first trip to the big city. We went to a couple of greenhouses and hung around the house with Lucy. Evidently, when you are 6 months old, Lucy is the funniest thing ever. Every time she would look his way, he would burst out giggling.

This week should be a little quieter. I finished my Pioneer sweater and it is drying from blocking right now. Pictures soon. It turned out great, although I did a couple of modifications.

It’s also time for another book report! Recently finished:

Dissolution, Dark Fire and Sovereign by C.J. Sansom.
Mysteries set in the time of King Henry VIII, just after he had beheaded Anne Boleyn. Having watched The Tudors recently, I was instantly familiar with all kinds of characters from these books. Matthew Shardlake, the main character, is a lawyer who gets noticed by “those with power” far too often for his piece of mind. Great mysteries with lots of interesting incidental characters. The King and the Court are really minor characters, which I like. Often these kinds of mysteries have a talented commoner interacting with the King or Queen and this was a nice change. Matthew deals with underlings who are grasping to stay powerful and often they do not care how that might cause problems for those they order around. I look forward to reading more.

Firebird by Mercedes Lackey. A retelling of a classic fairy tale, another favorite genre. This one was a very easy read. Our main character, Ilya, is clever, the ending has a nice twist, the story had a very classic feel. I am not familiar with the Firebird story, but it had that traditional kind of feeling. I usually like Mercedes Lackey’s writing and this was no exception.

Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn. I loved the first two. The third was equally compelling. I read it nearly in one sitting. Lady Julia epitomizes “curiosity killed the cat” as she herself acknowledges in this book. I would call these a romantic mystery. Once again, great twists to the plot, witty writing that make me laugh out loud. The covers to these books in paperback are ridiculous -don’t let that turn you off. They are smarter than they look.

The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey. Part of her “Tales of the 500 Kingdoms series”, which is truly delightful. The series follows fairy godmothers and the kingdoms they oversee. Not true fairies, but clever magically talented girls who find themselves doing an unusual job. The “Tradition” is a magical force that tries to recognize bits of traditional fairy tales happening to regular people and then it jumps in and tries to force their story fit the fairy tale. A girl with a grumpy stepmother can find herself reliving the Cinderella story. Light, funny and packed with snippets and characters of fairy tales, which makes it fun.