1. I bought a new curio shelf. We liked the interesting shape of it. It wasn’t expensive, and we already had more than enough curios to fill it with.

2. I also bought a new altar cloth. It was made in India, where they like their gold really golden. I love the deep red but usually silver trim is more my style. Still, I’m committing to this one, and I’ve already personalized it by sticking my collection of souvenir pins to the edge.

3. I read and enjoyed The Willows by Algernon Blackwood (available free from Project Gutenberg). It’s a novella, so quick to read, published in 1907. It’s a nicely mysterious story, sort of a ghost story with elements of psychological horror. Two friends are boating down the length of the Danube. Near the end of their trip, in the wilds of the Danube Delta, things get spooky.

4. I also read and enjoyed Daphne DuMaurier’s The House on the Strand. This is mainly a psychological novel, with elements of fantasy to it. The main character, Dick, is staying at a friend’s home in Cornwall. He agrees, while he’s there, to test an experimental drug his friend has concocted. This drug gives him seeming glimpses into history, showing him the lives and intrigues of the area’s medeival lords and ladies. Watching these people is compelling, even addictive, and affects Dick’s life in the present day. This book wasn’t scary at all, but it had the mysterious feel of a good ghost story.

5. I knitted a thing. A little scarf. I need to buy a couple mats and block it properly before it will really look good, but I love the color and the yarn so I wanted to share anyway. The yarn is from Crow and Crescent, and this is the most perfectly dark purple I’ve ever seen in a yarn. (My pictures don’t do it justice–the pictures in her shop are darker and closer to the real color experience.) I’m dying to try more colors. Like most hand dyed yarn, it’s fairly expensive, but even so I’m tempted to try a sweater or shawl in this soft and beautifully dark stuff. The scarf pattern is the Gold Leaf Scarf by Simone Clark. It’s a pretty pattern and not too difficult. I liked the clever built-in i-cord edge, which should look really neat once the scarf is properly blocked.

6. I’m also crocheting some things. Months ago I bought some nice cotton yarn to make a gift with, then decided to give that person something different. Now I’m using the yarn to make some fancy squares that will become a blanket. The colors are some of my oldest kid’s favorites, so I’ll probably give her the finished piece. The patterns are from the Stardust Melodies crochet-along pattern set, by Polly Plum. I just love these square patterns. You can easily pick them up and put them down like granny squares, but they’re still unique and a slight challenge to make. For this blanket, I’m actually just using four patterns (and maybe a fifth if I want the blanket bigger) that go well together–one pattern for each color in the blanket.