Yarn Along // WWRW

April 9, Feast of St. Mary Cleophas, who accompanied Mary, the Mother of Christ, and Mary Magdalene at the Crucifixion.

Something simple and straightforward to get back into the rhythm of crocheting: a soft baby blanket made entirely from double stitches, from here.  When I finish the rows, I'll add a shell border to tie it all in.  The yarn is called "Aran yarn," and I got it from Aldi.  I'm wondering how much more artisan yarn costs.

I've been reading aloud The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherine M. Valente to Afon at bed- and bath-time.  He only half listens, but I don't doubt for a minute that treating him like an advanced reader can only be beneficial.  I respect books far too much to withhold good ones from him based on something as insignificant as age.  c;

Ms. Valente knows her stuff.  It's delightful to read an author who has so carefully studied Faerie--and as is the way with Faerie (and fairy tales) this book isn't simpering and innocent.  There must be blood is one of the sovereign rules of Fairyland.  There's also lying, witches, blood tithes, and unsympathetic creatures, and that's only as far as we've read.  But the fickle, dangerous, and mysteriously ordered otherworld of folklore and human memory is intact and recognizable.  The witticisms abound, and are somewhere between fact and nonsense--which means it's probably, as is the way with literary things, truth.  Such as the assertion that children have no hearts, which is what makes them terribly thoughtless, reckless, and selfish, and that we grow hearts as we age.  It's biting but beautiful observation, and put in a way that maybe skims the truth of the matter far better than psychoanalysis.

I'll probably recommend The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland, especially for fans of Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Tollbooth; but the ending remains to be seen.

In addition, I'm reading The Kings and Queens of Wales by Timothy Venning and like it very much.  It's not a tome and divides itself into neat little sections by chronology and then geography.  Research for the first Story (work on the second draft has commenced as of Monday!).  But I also consider it pleasure reading.

Joining Housewifespice and Small Things today.  Happy reading!