Will You Be Staying for Tea?

Hello there! Recently I've acquired a few new obsessions in my life: drinking at least one cup of tea per day and watching Downton Abbey on PBS Masterpiece. I think the latter definitely influenced the former, for what it's worth.

In honor of my new obsessions, I'm hosting another Storied Yarns SAL/KAL!

Yep, it's the Downton Abbey Spin-Along and Knit-Along!!!

This time around you can - as always - opt for yarn, batts, mini skein sets or roving. Along with that you'll receive some extra special goodies, and the prize this time around is going to be a special Downton-inspired tea (or coffee) mug from Winemaker's Sister!

If you want to play along, purchase your listing by April 24 or they'll be gone forever!

As an added bonus, this weekend only (April 13-15) you can receive FREE Worldwide Shipping in my Storied Yarns shop when you use coupon code ChaiTea at checkout!

So, will you be staying for tea? I'll ring for Carson ...

Book Review: Divergent By Veronica Roth

About a month or two ago I was browsing Etsy for literary-inspired creations, and I stumbled upon The Green Forrest. Among the books I recognized as the inspirations behind several pieces of jewelry in the shop, I also found some that were unfamiliar to me. Namely, I found an entire section devoted to The Divergent Trilogy.

So, naturally, I had to research the books for myself. I found the first novel in the series, Divergent, through my library's e-book system. I had to wait several weeks on the waiting list to get it, but the wait was well worth it.

I'm going to avoid spoiling the book here, but I'll just give you the basics so you will be enticed to read it for yourselves (I hope).

A few disclaimers before we begin:

- Nobody paid me to read this book. I was not given a copy of the book by anyone else, including the publisher. I chose to read it on my own and the opinions I will express in this review are also my own.
- I am a HUGE fan of dystopian literature, particularly of the Young Adult genre. You should know this in advance because I am predisposed to like books like Divergent. If you are not similarly predisposed then you might find my review a bit biased or over-enthusiastic.

Anyway, let's move on to the actual book, shall we?

The Basic Plot

Divergent is a dystopian novel, meaning that the setting takes place in a fictional future where war has torn apart the world and the leaders of the society have taken measures (sometimes drastic ones) to stop that from happening again. In their pursuit of a Utopia they end up creating a system that fails in some way when things go horribly wrong.
In this future version of the United States (Chicago, to be exact), the people who live in the city all belong to one of five factions. The idea is that if human nature's propensity for evil is what creates wars, then the only way to eliminate war is to put a huge emphasis on the more positive characteristics in the human personality. Each faction chooses one main emphasis: Amity for kindness, Erudite for intelligence, Candor for honesty, Abnegation for selflessness and Dauntless for courage. The people inside those factions have to behave a certain way and strive to always emphasize that one important trait in their lives and in their behavior.
At the age of 16, children born into a faction must take a test to determine their aptitude for a particular faction, which may or may not be their own. Then they choose the faction they want to join as an adult; choosing a faction other than the one they are born into means leaving their family behind forever, so it is rarely done (but it does happen).
The main character in the novel takes her aptitude test and finds out that she doesn't have an aptitude for one faction only; rather, she's Divergent, meaning she shows strengths in a variety of areas. This, she soon discovers, is a dangerous label to own, so she must hide her Divergence as she chooses a faction for herself.

My Reaction

I really loved this book. I enjoyed watching Beatrice, the protagonist, as she struggled to choose a faction and be true to herself. I admired her courage as she pursued initiation into her faction and also as she took the steps to dismantle the corrupt government toward the end. There's a nice bit of romance in the novel while still retaining a strong female protagonist, and the plot twisted often enough to keep me guessing and to keep me biting my nails. If you enjoyed novels like The Hunger Games, Uglies or Incarceron then I highly recommend the Divergent Trilogy as well.
The second novel in the trilogy, Insurgent, comes out in May. I can't wait to read it!

Do you have any other dystopian literature to recommend? I'd love to know about it! Leave me a comment and tell me all about it.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

This post will henceforth be also known as:

My Public Apology to Josh Hutcherson

Last night I finally saw The Hunger Games in my local theater. I'd been waiting a week mostly to avoid obnoxious crowds, but of course I was waiting long before that for this movie to arrive.

SPOILER ALERT: My apologies to those of you (living under a rock, I presume?) who haven't read these books or watched this movie yet. I plan to discuss the movie in full in this post so you may want to stop reading here if you plan to watch it in the future (which you should, SERIOUSLY).

I have to admit, before this movie came out, I was pretty upset about the casting. I had no trouble picturing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, and I was excited to see Woody Harrelson as Haymitch and Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. But Josh Hutcherson as Peeta? I just couldn't get behind it.

I'd seen this actor in other movies, namely Cirque du Freak, Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Kids Are Alright. I thought he did a fine job in those roles, but I really didn't think he could do Peeta justice.

I am here today to tell you that I was so very, very wrong. 

I loved this movie; I loved almost everything about it. As an avid fan of movies that were inspired by books, I know that sometimes the movies are a great representation of the book and sometimes they're an epic fail. I had high expectations for The Hunger Games along with all of its other fans, and this movie did NOT disappoint.

Was it 100% true to the book, in the sense that it quoted every page? No. I'm okay with that, though, because I feel a movie needs to be a little bit different than the book for a lot of reasons. There were behind-the-scenes moments in the movie, like Haymitch bargaining with the sponsors and President Snow's conversations with the Game Maker, that you wouldn't read in the book because it was told from Katniss's perspective. I enjoyed these additions and thought they really rounded out the story.

Most of the actors portrayed their characters really well. Just before the start of the Games Lenny Kravitz had me tearing up as Cinna; the look on Liam Hemsworth's (Gale) face as he carried Willow Shields (Prim) away from the Reaping was priceless. I could totally picture Woody Harrelson as drunk-and-bitter adult Haymitch with the younger, craftier, former Victor version of himself just under the surface. Wes Bentley has long been a favorite actor of mine, and his portrayal of Game Maker Seneca Crane was wonderful, right down to the kick-ass beard.

The one actor who totally stole this show for me, though, was Josh Hutcherson. His portrayal of Peeta was spot-on; he brought out aspects of Peeta that I didn't even consider in the book version. The way he chatted up Caesar Flickerman in the interviews to bring himself favor from the sponsors was boyishly adorable. When Katniss kissed him in the cave my heart sank at the look of shocked glee on his face, and I felt the exact same emotion during their victor's interview with Flickerman and their ride home on the train. When he said "I don't want to forget," I realized that I didn't want to forget, either - not this amazing movie and not his performance in it. 

In this movie, Josh Hutcherson reminded me why I am, now and forever, firmly planted among the ranks of Team Peeta.

My "Peeta" colorway on BFL top

 And a few years from now, when I hear him say, "You love me - real or not real?" I know that my heart will melt in all the right ways.

I'm sorry I ever doubted that Josh Hutcherson could bring this character to life. I promise I'm not going to go all Cougar-like on him, though he is adorable; I just really appreciated the way he played this role. I apologize for doubting, and will henceforth trust in the awesomeness that is this movie and this role. ;)

Thank you, Mr. Hutcherson, and the rest of the cast of The Hunger Games. Thank you for bringing these characters to life for me, for letting me spend a little more time with one of my favorite stories.

Spin a Story: Rue's Lullaby Handspun Yarn

Hello, my lovelies!

You may have noticed that my Storied Yarns Shop is a tad bit empty at the moment. Sorry about that. I'm waiting on a big honkin' order to come in from my supplier and then I promise I will dye until my hands turn all sorts of fun colors and get that baby re-stocked. Want something to look forward to? How about this: in April my re-stock focus will be on my new-ish Downton Abbey colorways, and in May my re-stock will focus on my oldies-but-goodies Percy Jackson colorways.

Hooray!!

In the meantime, I've been a spinning fool over here. My spinning wheel and I are having quite the love affair lately, with several fun and awesome yarns coming off those bobbins. Today I'm taking a break to tell you all about one of them:

Rue's Lullaby.

As you know, I believe very strongly that when you create something with your hands, you tell a story through that creation. This is why I work so hard to make hand dyed and spun yarns and hand dyed spinning fibers that are inspired by the stories we love, because I feel we have a chance to honor that story in our memories when we use the yarn or fiber. Plus, it adds such depth to the item we create when we infuse it with the spirit of the story that inspired it. 

In my own storytelling this week, I created this yarn. I corespun my Rue batt and then plied it with clear sewing thread. Then I washed and set the yarn and when I was finished I sewed on lovely organza flowers (purchased, by the way, from this shop).

This batt (and, of course, the yarn) was inspired by Rue, a character in Suzanne Collins's novel The Hunger Games. I'm going to assume you haven't been living under a rock and that you know the basic idea behind this novel and its movie version which just came out in theaters last weekend.

For those of you who have read the book or watched the movie, my use of flowers in this yarn will make perfect sense. It might even give you chills or make you weepy - it does that to me, I'm hoping I'm not the only one. If it does, then it illustrates my point perfectly. I have told a story through this yarn, paying tribute to a character in a story that touched me and stayed with me long after I closed the book.

I LOVE stories, and this is my way of helping them to go on beyond the page.

What kinds of stories are YOU telling this week?

Fiber Arts Friday: Hodge Podge

This week has been one of those "a little of this, a little of that" kind of weeks. I did some knitting and crocheting and designing, oh my! Wanna see?

This is a knit and crochet version of the same pattern; I'm calling it Tea with the Dowager Countess (Knit) (Crochet) and it's available now on Ravelry. The yarn you see here is my Storied Yarns Superwash Bulky in the Violet Crawley colorway, inspired by Downton Abbey. The pattern is written for 2-cup, 4-cup and 6-cup teapots.

I also did some spinning this week. This is my BFL top in my "Matthew Crawley" colorway (also inspired by Downton Abbey), n-plied:

I also made a messenger style purse/bag for myself for spring. I followed this tutorial by Obsessive Crafting Disorder and bought the fabric from Sew Fine Fabric and I love it!

Now to fill it up with all my junk!

What have you been up to this week? Show it off over on Andrea's blog and link up with other fun fiber artists!

I'm Still Here!

Eek! I haven't posted on here in 20 days, that's far too long!

I've been working on various things, but most of them are pretty secret so I can't really post details yet. However, I have done a few things I can write about!

I made some skirts out of t-shirts for my daughter. She wanted skirts for her new spring/summer wardrobe so I figured this was a cheap and easy solution. I basically followed this tutorial, using boys' t-shirts that were a few sizes larger than what she would wear as a top.

And voila! Skirts!

Here she is modeling the third one, which is black:

The black one turned out a little long, but I figure that will be nice because she can grow into them a little bit more this way. I love it when I can make her clothing last more than one season!

Now I want to go thrifting so I can find T-shirts to use in making some of these for myself!!

I'm also contributing to the Phat Fiber boxes in April. The theme is Tea Party so I'm sending in the following colorways on superwash sock yarn:

I'll be working to fully stock the shop with Downton Abbey colorways in April. I'm also going to be hosting a Downton Abbey SAL/KAL, so check back soon!

Fiber Arts Friday: Random Fun

Hello, and welcome to Fiber Arts Friday! I'm sorry I've been a little absent from blogging lately; things have just been busy as usual around here!

Recently, most of my fiber arts activity has involved buying fiber, ha! I've been on a real combed top kick, though I haven't spun any of it yet (I think I'm starting to hoard for Tour de Fleece). It's funny, though, because just when I think I'm on a combed top kick, I pull out my drum carder and start playing around. Then suddenly I want to keep all the batts I make!

This week I whipped up a few beauties to add to the shop, like this one:

or the silky-shiny-sparkly goodness of this one:

At this point I remind myself that it's good to have a stash with plenty of variety to suit your moods. :) If you're looking to boost up YOUR stash for Tour de Fleece, might I suggest having a peek around the Storied Yarns shop? The batts above are just two of the beauties I've added recently. :)

In other news, I have actually been knitting and spinning this week! My first-ever sock is coming along nicely; I've done the heel decreases and now just have to do the increases and then move on to the ankle portion:

I'm also knitting a Shimmer Lace Top using KnittinK Black Canary sport weight yarn:

In the spinning news, I've been spinning up the mini wool samples from my February Phat Fiber box and a few others I had here using my Threads Thru Time medium hot pink spindle:

I'm planning to include them in the shop as a mini skein set for hexipuffers who want some handspun in their blankets. So far, though, I only have three samples done:

Left: Storied Yarns BFL/Firestar in "Lady Chatterley." Middle: Masham top from BohoKnitterChic Spins. Right: Berry Gelato batt from Zauberzeug.

Anyway, that's about it from here. The Hunger Games KAL/SAL kits will be going out very soon, so follow along with us in the Ravelry thread and cheer on the Tributes as they compete to have the best yarn or FO!

Happy Friday! Head on over to Andrea's blog and have a visit, will you?