My first pattern published with a yarn company has been released! Taming of the Fox, a lace sock pattern, was released as part of the literary-themed Winter 2010 collection from Sanguine Gryphon.

When I first saw this colour (Between Good and Evil), the first thing that came to my mind was the image of a fox, and I knew the yarn called out for a design that somehow incorporated a fox. I soon found a stitch pattern that reminded me of sheaves of wheat, and the following passage from the inspirational story Le Petit Prince was instantly brought to mind.

My design is a tribute to friendship and the faith one fox placed in a little boy. The fox forever looks out over his wheat fields and listens to the wind.

Excerpt:

“Nothing is perfect,” sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
“My life’s very monotonous,” he said. “I hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike.
And in consequence, I am a little bored.
But if you tame me, it’ll be as if the sun came to shine on my life.
I shall know the sound of a step that’ll be different from all the others.
Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground.
Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow.
And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder?
I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me.
The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad.
But you have hair that is the color of gold.
Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me!
The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you.
And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat…”

….

So the little prince tamed the fox.
And when the hour of his departure drew near—

“Ah,” said the fox, “I shall cry.”

“It’s your own fault,” said the little prince.
“I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you…”

“Yes that is so”, said the fox.

“But now you’re going to cry!” said the little prince.

“Yes that is so” said the fox.

“Then it has done you no good at all!”

“It has done me good,” said the fox, “because of the color of the wheat fields.”

From Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Price: $5.00 from Sanguine Gryphon

Skill Level: Intermediate

Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon ‘Eidos’, 4 oz/400 yds, 100% superwash merino, 1 skein, shown in Beyond Good and Evil

Needles: (2) US 1/2.25 mm, 16”/40 cm circular needles or size to obtain gauge

One set of four US 2/2.75 mm double-pointed needles for the cuff (or a needle two sizes larger than that used for main part of the sock)

Gauge: 34 sts and 46 rnds = 4”/10 cm in St st (unblocked)

Finished Measurements:

* Foot circumference (unstretched): 6.5 (7.5, 8.5)”/16 (19, 21) cm
* Foot circumference (stretched): 9.5 (10.5, 11.5)”/ 24 (26, 28) cm
* Foot length: Variable
* Leg Length: 5.5”/13.75 cm, measured from end of heel flap

Notions:

* Stitch Markers (2)
* Cable Needle
* Tapestry Needle

Errata (Sept. 19, 2011):
Instructions for the “wrap 3” are missing from the abbreviations (page 10). This should be worked as follows:

Wrap 3: ^With yarn in back slip next three stitches purlwise to right needle. Bring yarn to front and slip the stitches back to left needle. Bring yarn to back.~ Repeat from ^ to ~ twice more. Knit first stitch, purl second stitch, knit third
stitch.

A big Eclectic Closet shout-out to Bookninja for being featured tonight on The Arts Tonight with Eleanor Wachtel. The feature which ran just after 10 pm tonight should be posted in a few days on the Arts Tonight website so check it out if you get a chance.

Congratulations as well to Bookninja for winning the Canadian Blog Award for Best Entertainment Blog.

If you’re looking for something different for gifts, you should visit Selsi Sea Rocks. Celebrating everything salty, this unique sea salt bar offers truly flavourful gift ideas. Owner Andrea Brockie used to have an outdoor stall at the St. Lawrence Market but decided to move to a retail location to expand her range of products.

As a special treat, every Sunday in December you can experience complimentary sea salt mini massages and reflexology, to help combat the stresses of holiday shopping!

Selsi Sea Rocks
2 Gladstone Ave.
(at Queen St. W.)
416-854-9088

UPDATE (February 13, 2007): Due to condo construction, Andrea had to give up her storefront. You can now find her back at the St. Lawrence Market but indoors on the lower level.

Making his first appearance, my four-hour-old nephew – Matthew Timothy. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 14 oz. and 20 inches long, Matthew has brown hair with curls.

Happy Birth Day Matthew!

Into every blogger’s life comes a week when they can’t seem to post at all and this has been mine. Life explodes with craziness and good intentions of daily posts go out the window. The stack of books waiting for reviews to be typed up has grown monstrous, so expect a flurry of posts next week.

Tonight I head to Baltimore to attend Stitches East – entering that nirvana of yarn goodness. I wish you all days filled with books and will report back next week, refreshed and overflowing with creativity.

What a thrill to discover that you are being quoted by an author in their press material. I’m still waiting for that elusive quote on the book jacket!

Here are links to quotes I’ve discovered:

For The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

For Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman

For The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair

For The Unwritten Girl by James Bow

For In Arctic Waters by Laura Crawford

For Some Like it Haute by Julie K.L. Dam

For Troubling Love by Elena Ferrante

For A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch

For Waking Lazarus by T.L. Hines

For The Exquisite by Laird Hunt

For Miss Understanding by Stephanie Lessing

For The Inhabited World by David Long

For The Things That Matter by Edward Mendelson

For The Restoration of Emily by Kim Moritsugu

For Luxury Knitting by Linda Morse

For Damsel Under Stress by Shanna Swendson

For Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Book Sense has announced their Halloween Top Ten (part of the “Get Caught Reading” campaign)and two books I’ve reviewed this year made the cut.

#2 – The Mercy of Thin Air: a Novel by Ronlyn Domingue

#8 – The Inhabited World: a Novel by David Long

If you haven’t read these titles yet, may I suggest you take the earliest opportunity to pick these up? Oh, and what books would be on your top ten for Halloween?

What is Get Caught Reading?
Get Caught Reading is a nationwide book and magazine industry-supported literacy campaign to remind people of all ages how much fun it is to read.

tags: books Get Caught Reading Book Sense Ronlyn Domingue David Long

I’m taking a mini-vacation this week to catch up on reading and writing reviews. So in the meantime, feel free to peruse the archived book reviews and I’ll be back with fresh reviews on September 12.

In the news – I’m highlighted in this month’s Armchair Interviews ezine. This is a bit blush-inducing, but publicity is a good thing. Andrea and Connie do a great ezine so I would recommend signing up on their site.

Happy reading everyone – and don’t forget to enter my first book giveaway, the deadline is September 15!

Where did the summer go?

To date I haven’t put any fundraising appeals on my blog but this one definitely deserves a mention! My friend Linda is participating in Plymouth-Banjul Challenge. Anyone who has to dodge minefields and hire armed escorts in order to support charities has my support! And to top it off, she’s getting married at the end.

Anyway the end result of this has been that both Dave and I adopted a “life’s too short” philosophy and decided to get married. We didn’t want to do anything conventional (one of my long-time friends said “Linda, when you get married there’s no way it will ever be a normal ceremony”). So this is what we’re planning:

We have been accepted to take part in the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge. This is a charity car race of more than 4000 miles, travelling from Plymouth, England to Banjul, The Gambia. On the way we have to navigate a large stretch of the Western Sahara, pass through a minefield in Mauritania and hire armed escorts in Senegal. It is a totally unsupported race – no break-down trucks, no back-up vehicles, no medical staff standing by.

Oh, and by the way, vehicles are not allowed to cost more than £100, with no more than £15 spent on preparing it. Anything else has to be begged, scrounged or borrowed.

On arrival in the Gambia, all vehicles and equipment are auctioned, with the proceeds going to various Gambian charities.

So we figured since we were going to be in the Gambia, we might as well get married there. My dress and Dave’s suit will be made by a local tailor when we arrive. The eco-lodge we are staying in are baking us a local style cake. And the ceremony will be simple and short – down on the beach with whoever wants to watch as witnesses.

Linda has a goal to raise £2000 so please visit the website to follow along on their process, and if you are so inspired, make a donation in support of the charities.

Anne at Fernham has written a brilliant article on the challenges of reviewing books and literary criticism. A highly recommended commentary – and food for thought as I continue to develop my skills as a reviewer.

So, I think about Keats and try not to write a thumbs-down review that would kill a young genius. And, I think about Lockhart and try to remember not to judge literature by my own prejudices but, instead, to judge it on its own terms. For me, that means following the lesson of Woolf, who always tried to discern a book’s own goals for itself. What is it trying to do? Does it do it?

tags: literary criticism book reviews Virginia Woolf John Gibson Lockhart