Viv, books, and crochet disappointment.

My cute little niece came to visit this weekend, my sister & brother-in-law came too, but she was the most important part, and she'll tell you so too. It was fun holding her and cuddling her. It was amazing that she could be so upset one econd and I pick her up and hold her and she calms down, it was pure magic. Sunday night I took Sara & Richard for their first night out without Viv, leaving her with Grandma Susan & Grandpa Bob. We went out to karaoke, and found a decent place around the corner that does Karaoke every night. The second Sara & Rich left the table to sing a duet a couple young guys swooped in to hit on me. It was cute, they were young but I was nice to them even thugh I wasnt interested.

Monday I went in to OfficeTeam, which is a temp agency here. I signed up with them and took their assesment tests. I did much better than their average on everything except the 10-key numeric data entry, which I've never done before. Hopefully Ill be able to get some jobs soon. Thursday I'll be going in to interview at my mom's company for a job at one of their other offices. It may only be for 3 months while the other person is on leave, but it could turn into something. If not I can still do the temp thing with OfficeTeam.

Since I finished Harry Potter 7 I've been itching for a new book that I havent read yet.. And I had just received a great gift from the parents of those fabulous kitties in Vail(Victor, Mitzi, Puck & Lilli), they sent me a 30$ gift card to Borders! So today I decided to check it out. I got 2 books...


I read reviews for both of these in Entertainment Weekly and Ive wanted to get them since then. I hope theyre good.

While I was in the store, I went to look for crochet mags or new books. The magazines were sad. Only 1 crochet mag, "Crochet Today" which is a new one, but it's practically sponsored by Lion Brand, and it looks it.. I dont have a problem with inexpensive yarn, but I do have a problem when it looks "Cheap". The thing on the cover was bulky and unattractive and soooo boring. I didnt even pick it up to look inside. And all the other yarn related magazines have stopped even trying to include crochet anymore. So I went to check out the books, and I wasnt expecting much, it is a regular book store so they dont normally have a wide range of crafty books. Hell even the yarn stores here have hardly any crochet books. So I found this...

I remember when the knitting one came out, I was working at Knitting Arts and it made a big splash because it was soo new and different. But when we got her individual patterns which included some crochet things, I wasnt too impressed. So I went to this unsure what to expect. It was ok, it starts out way simple, which Ive come to expect from new crochet books. But then I started to recognize things. The garments were all unimaginatively named after the stitches they used, "Catherine-Wheel wrap, "Margeurite top" or whatever.. I was so not surprised when I flipped to the back to see the bibliography and the first thing there was "The Harmony Guides Vol6: 300 Crochet Stitches". I was kinda annoyed, because I could have written this. I've made tons of things using stitches from that book, its my bible. Ive gone through 2 copies already. I know there are crocheters out there that might not know how to make things up as they go along, and need patterns written for them but I just thought that someone with that big a name in the crafty world would try a little harder. Eithher that or I'm just too good a crocheter for those kind of books.. I just wish someone out there would make books for experienced crocheters that want to broaden their skills. There's soo many knitting books that are for advanced knitters but crochet books only seem to address beginners with some intermediate content. With the exception of thread-crochet. That is advanced and I highly admire those with the patience to work with such itty-bitty hooks and delicate work. My hands and sanity just can't take it. Well if you've been looking at that Loop-d-Loop crochet book but havent bought it yet, I recommend you just get the Harmony Guide Vol. 6 maybe even Vol. 7 220 more crochet stitches. You'll learn more from them than you will from the other and they're cheaper too.