Yarn Along

I've pledge to get rid of my stash this year, and if you combine that with a renaissance of the ripple afghan, you get a great opportunity for stash busting!  I was really won over by this gorgeous blanket in shades of gray and brown.  Really...click that link...you won't be sorry!  I've decided to hone my ripple skills on a stash-buster, and then make one of those.  The ripple has been a mystery to me all my life, but now I think I've got it, thanks to Attic 24.

I've finished reading The Language of Flowers:


Honestly, it was one of the best books I've read in ages!  I couldn't put it down, and there haven't been many of those lately!  It haunted me for days afterward, and even now, I'd love to sit down and re-read it.  It's a heartbreaking story of a young girl who was abandoned at birth and passed from foster home to foster home until she was declared "unadoptable" and lived her teen years in a group home until she was 18.  What happens after she ages out is both sad and hopeful, but this poor young woman has been emotionally damaged by her life, and she uses the language of flowers to communicate.  It was an eye-opener for me about the foster system, and I found out that the author is a foster-parent, herself, as the book was profiled in this month's Costco magazine.  This is the 2nd book I've read that was highlighted in Costco Magazine---I think I'll look more closely at them every month.  They were both excellent!