I LOVE BOOKS // WINTER 2014

ALL SOULS TRILOGY - Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of witches - Shadow of Night - The Book of life

26 BOOKS in 2015: a book by an author you've never read

Witches and vampires. Forbidden love and Family. History and science. Books and knights. Past and present. Basically a fantasy version of Outlander. What's not to love?? Devoured the trilogy in a fortnight . I read a lot of fantasy (most of it considered to be either Young Adult literature or BitLit) but this one is neither. Definitely for adult but not full of violence and sex like most vampire/witch novel tends to be lately (like the Anita Blake series and so on). It's smart and moving, Diana and Matthew (the two main characters) and both super smart and magical and strong yet very human and "normal". It's kind of cheesy sometimes (maybe? i don't mind so you would have to ask someone else) but half the story is about history (the author is a historian, bonus points!), evolution, science which I got TOTALLY hooked on. I mean you know you love a book when you start reading at 10pm and suddenly it's 4am and you wonder if you should sleep or move straight to Book 2. Magic.

Favorite quote: "It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches."  

"No fangs either. And one last thing: I do not, nor have I ever, sparkled"

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVERS THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE - Benjamin Alire Saenz

26 BOOKS in 2015: a book set in the summer

Might have picked this book just because of the title (seriously, it's an awesome title), then started reading with absolutely no idea what it was about. so consider me very pleasantly surprised! A very sweet, smart and moving read. I'm not used to young male narrator (which I had never realized before I read this book!) but the themes can I think speak to absolutely everyone: friendship, love, family, accepting who you are. The only thing I'm not sure I liked or not is how I spent the entire book figuring things out before the character. Maybe it's a girl thing? Anyway, a lovely story <3

Favorite quote: "All on my own. I was in love with that phrase. I wasn't very good at asking for help." 
"Take off your shoes, Ari. Live a little." 
"Good, I said. I've always wanted to be weird in a good way."  

A WALK IN THE WOODS - Bill Bryson

26 BOOKS in 2015: a book based on a true story

When I said I was going to read this book, it seemed like everyone had an opinion. "That guy is a jerk" "it's kind of inappropriate" "he has way too big an opinion of himself" "he's obnoxious". I quickly found out that it was kind of true, but sarcasm being my favorite language I was actually quite into his dark humor. The thing no one told me though was that past the first third of the book, it becomes SO boring! You go from a cool tale of hiking the AT to 3 lines of "we're walking" followed by 3 pages of completely random facts. It's like reading Harry Potter and suddenly the author starts talking about owls' crap for a chapter. Just not what you want to read right! All that to say, liked his style enough that I might check out some of his others books but wold not recommend this particular one!

Favorite quote: "All over America today people would be dragging themselves to work, stuck in traffic jam […] I was going for a walk in the woods. I was more than ready for this." 
"Plan B was that we would kill Mary Ellen and take her Pop Tarts."

ELEANOR & PARK - Rainbow Rowell
26 BOOKS in 2015: a book your friends love

Another oh my this book is so freaking adorable. Could not put it down. And I read mostly at night so let's just say that I went to bed very late this week ;) This must be the sweetest love story ever. The kind with the butterflies everywhere and where holding holds is the most magical thing ever. It's pure and precious and beautifully written. Highly recommend it. Obvisouly I want to read all of Rainbow Rowell's books now, Fangirl is for sure next on my list! 

Favorite quote: "The agreed about everything important and argued about everything else." 
"You can be Han Solo" he said kissing her throat. "And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you."
"He tried to remember how this happened - how she went from someone he'd never met to the only one that mattered."



PS: I've updated my 26 BOOKS IN 2015 page. How are you doing on the challenge?

YARN ALONG // ALL THE COLORS

Joining in with Ginny for the Yarn Along.

I love to knit. I love to read. Here's a little bit about both.

KNITTING!

So last week there was a knitting/sewing fair in Paris and I went (obviously) with in mind the notion that I needed some worsted weight yarn and lots of neutral colors. SO of course I went home with fingering and lots of pinks and blue. I blame Valentine's day. Anyway, need to find something very special to make with the gradient kit by Julie Asselin <3

On my needles, still more colors! I NEED to finish that bobble cowl because I've started it like 8 months ago, and I'm using my 3,75mm on it which I need for like 5 other projects. The cowl is really pretty and comfy (the yarn is 100% alpaca), but there is so much bobbles and cables on every other row that it takes a crazy while to knit up.

Some yellow now because that wouldn't be very me if there wasn't some yellow somewhere. I'm knitting the Mountain Moss shawl (which I'm renaming Moonrise Kingdom) from PomPom Summer 2013. It looks small and weird right now but that's just because it need to be moved on to my long circular (yes that one pair currently on the red cowl haha). I can already tell I'm going to love it.

READING!

Eleanor & Park. It's just so freaking adorable, I can't put this one down. I should finish reading it by Thursday I think, which mean a new I Love Books report should go live on the blog on Friday. It's a good one, if I may say so ;)

and the WINNER is...

Melissa Marie! Congrats, you won the pattern of your choice from Cabinfour's ravelry shop! She chose in her comment the Pure shawl which I think is very appropriately named because it is just so beautiful! Please send me an email (there's a mail link on my sidebar) with your definitive choice of pattern and I'll make it happen :)

Thanks to everyone who participated, I'm really happy if it's helped you discover a new designer out there and I hope to do it again from time to time!

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend, and treating yourself and your loved ones with kindness on this Valentine's day. February 14th happens to also be my sister birthday and I am giving her free babysitting time so she can enjoy her day. I'll be spending mine with my favorite little man. Also on my list, catching up on my magazine reading. Stories and photos, my favorites ;)

Designer crush: Cabinfour (and a GIVEAWAY)

Farmhouse shawl. photo by @cabinfour

Let's start with a confession: I spend way too much time on Ravelry. I know you do too, so it's ok. And sometimes, it's so worth it! I can't remember when I first stumbled upon Deneise's patterns. Maybe I was looking for a shawl. Anyway, instant crush! She designs under the name Cabinfour and I think her patterns are super modern and simple, with a definite nature, sort of folk vibe that I just love. I mean check out her latest design, the Farmhouse shawl. Fringe, how I am supposed to resist you? The answer is, I'm not. Neither should you. The fringes are calling!

He'e Nalu shawl. photo by @cabinfour

And her socks!! You probably already know of my sock obsession by now, so it's no surprise that I bought like most of her sock patterns. They're awesome and it's the only sock patterns that I have that actually don't call for fingering weight yarn but sport and worsted instead. Which if you're a beginner I would TOTALLY recommend because bigger yarn means less stitches and quicker knit. I'm currently working on her Irish Oats socks design and it's so cute! The Laule'a socks will be next but I need to get some yarn first!

Irish Oats socks. photo by @cabinfour

Because you guys have clearly been the best lately, I think it's time to give a bit of that love and support back and so, it is GIVEAWAY TIME! I decided to gift one of you the pattern of your choice from Cabinfour's pattern page. All you have to do is go check it out then come back here and leave a comment telling me which pattern you would like!

I will pick a winner on Saturday 14th at noon (french time)!

weird ramblings and knitted socks.

Does life gets worse than job applications? I don't think so. 

I have been stuck for the past 3 hours on a very simple yet awfully complicated question: describe a personal project you are most proud of. So far my answer is along the lines of Hello my name is Léa, I'm 25 and I have done nothing with my life. Please give me a job. Then people get like: of course you've done things! You got into the college of your dreams and graduated. You got the internships you wanted. You did that Lord of the rings + The Hobbit marathon. You learned Photoshop, English, movie editing, HTML, knitting… pretty much by yourself. You traveled alone. You went everyday to the gym (for 4 months). You sort of kept this blog alive and more people keep coming to listen to your weird ramblings and see your knitted socks. 

But let's be honest, all you think of is: yes that's nice but look at those thousand things I still haven't done! 15 year old me had BIG plans for the 25 years old me. Guess what? None of those plans have come true. But 15 years old me also dressed in black, wrote very depressing poetry and listened to  a lot of Britney Spears. Not the wisest. So maybe I should stop listening to her. And make new plans.

The one thing I have learned this last couple of years is that: starting over is freaking hard. Especially when you don't know where to start. Won't stop me from trying though.

ps: I realize that post title includes the promise of socks. So here's one photo for you. I love walking barefoot just as much as I love knitting socks. Life, you're a funny one.