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Archives for January 2014

2013 was supposed to be the year of not buying books

January 20, 2014 by Susanne 2 Comments

Well, that didn’t happen.

I only thought about it because there were so many unread books around the house and on my ereader, and also I wanted to sew and buy more clothes, and the money for that had to come from somewhere. The many, many books lying around that I had bought or gotten as a present, all books that I had been very excited about when ordering them, or receiving them, those books were weighing on me.

Every single book I have around that I didn’t get to read felt (and still feels) like a chore not done.

I don’t want reading to be a chore. Since I no longer am at school there is really no mandatory reading in my life and that’s a good thing. About a dozen unread books to choose from feels like opportunity, and choice, and freedom. Two shelves of unread books, and more than a hundred ebooks I haven’t read yet – not so much.

I started buying ebooks because I don’t have room on my shelves anymore, and I won’t be installing new bookcases soon. Though I have to admit that I’m thinking about adding a shelf in the bedroom for my books about knitting, spinning, and sewing. That’s a whole new field I’ve added to my library, and I don’t really want to throw out that many books from my fiction or other non-fiction books.

But. I started getting ebooks. And they’re very tempting. Also you can want one, and then have it within minutes. It’s almost too tempting. The ebooks were one reason why I started turning off the wifi before dinner. Otherwise I’d stay up all night reading a book – which is already a bad thing because then I’ll feel horrible the next day – and then I’d download the next in the series immediately afterwards and stay up even longer. I no longer do that, it’s not good for me.

So I had this plan, I’d only buy books I had either pre-ordered already, or that were coming out from authors I buy everything from. The rest of the year I was going to read the books I already had. 150 books, or rather 200 should get me through almost three years without buying anything new so I wouldn’t actually be depriving myself of anything. 

If I encountered a book I wanted I’d put it on my wish list, or download a sample and put it in the “buy later”-folder. All very sensible.

Then I found Debora Geary’s “Modern Witch” series. And soon I was downloading all of them, and wanted more. And all the books I had suddenly became very unappealing. And then I bought a new book. And then another one. And another one.

I don’t know how many books I bought last year. I think it might be a little less than the years before but not all that much less. So not buying books was a complete failure. (My plan of updating my wardrobe didn’t work either, by the way.

It seems that buying books is still more important to me than buying clothes. Which is no surprise when you know that I’m reading about 70 books a year but am basically wearing the exact same thing most days. I usually am the kind of person who only buys new clothes or shoes because the old ones are full of holes or completely faded. Or don’t fit anymore.

So that leaves me with still way more books than I need. I can’t sell ebooks, unfortunately. Most of the books I still want to read, only I never quite get around to it. It feels as if a book has grown stale sitting on the shelf for more than a few weeks. Which is complete and utter nonsense.

So I’m trying something different this year in dealing with the pile of unread books, I’m making a new rule to read one “old” book for every new one. I don’t know if that will be enough but right now it does feel doable. Much more realistic than last year’s attempt. Right now I’m finishing a book that I started about 1 1/2 years ago or so. It was a birthday present. It’s a real book so I decided to put it with the swimming stuff and take with me to the pool. Then I hurt my ankle and didn’t go to the pool anymore. So I never finished it even though I like it. Of course the problem with this book is that it is the first of a series. So when I finish it, and since I like it, I might have to buy seven more books because I read this one.

I could put them on my “buy later”-list, though…

How do you deal with piles of unread books? Or don’t you have any? How?

Filed Under: reading

Books I read in 2013

January 17, 2014 by Susanne 2 Comments

So here’s my yearly post about which books I read. I was (as usual) surprised at how many there are in there. I actually read more than a book a week on average. Which is good, I suppose.
I’m not quite sure any of you actually looks at the list. No pressure but maybe you enjoy it. Of course I’m already diving into the piles of books again.

Filed Under: reading

Handgemacht – Folge 42: Faserverrückter Jahresrückblick

January 11, 2014 by Susanne Leave a Comment

http://creativemother.de/audio/Handgemacht42.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Gestrickt habe ich:

  • Magnolie ist komplett fertig, gewaschen, mit Knöpfen und passt.
  • Carrot Sweater ist komplett fertig, gewaschen, mit Knöpfen, eine Spur zu eng:
NaKniSweMo2013 day30
  • Lintilla fertig gestrickt und gewaschen
  • Carrots and Oranges komplett fertig und passt auch
  • Silky Strength angefangen, ich vergrößere gerade den kraus rechten Anfangsteil, weil die Wolle so superdünn ist
  • Socks with a Twist: der erste Socken ist fertig, beim zweiten hatte ich den Schaft schon gestrickt und habe dann gemerkt, dass ich zu weit gestrickt habe und am Anfang zu viele Reihen bevor das Muster anfängt, deswegen ist der zweite gerippelt.
  • Autumn Featherweight: angefangen, habe die Passe gestrickt und die ersten 12 cm des Vorder- und Rückenteils

Gehäkelt habe ich:

  • Quick Christmas Beanie: ist fertig, aber die Fäden noch nicht vernäht, weil ich nicht genau weiß, wie. Die Wolle ist zu dick für die Stopfnadel
  • passenden Halswärmer: gleiches Problem
  • acht Maschenproben für die Jehanne Jacke

Gewebt habe ich:

  • ein Drittel Geschirrhandtuch
Gesponnen habe ich:
  • BFL von Dornröschenwolle auf der Tiny Turkish Spindel
  • grüne Merino vom Wollschaf
 Die Fragen des faserverrückten Jahresrückblicks:
  1. Dein Strick/Häkel/Web-Jahr 2013: Erzähle von einem, deinem Projekt, es muss nicht das grösste und das liebste 2013 gewesen sein, sondern das Projekt, was dir aus irgendeinem Grund einfällt. Vielleicht, weil das Stück, das herauskam, etwas ganz Besonderes ist, oder weil das Muster dir etwas neues beigebracht hat oder weil das Garn so besonders war… greif 1 Projekt heraus und erzähle uns etwas davon.
  2. Dein Stash 2013: Wie hat er sich entwickelt? Hast du tolle neue Garne erworben, hast du ihn ab- oder aufgebaut? Hat sich dein Geschmack geändert – was war dein liebstes Garn/deine Fasern in 2013?
  3. Spinnen 2013 (wenn du spinnst): Welches Garn kommt dir in den Sinn, von dem du erzählen willst? Hast du eine neue Spinntechnik gelernt und Herausforderungen gemeistert?
  4. Welche deiner Stücke, die du gemacht hast, waren 2013 deine Lieblingsteile (also, die du oft und gern getragen hast)?
  5. Die “most knitworthy person(s)” 2013 für dich?
  6. Was waren die schlimmsten Crafting-Unfälle und Reinfälle?
  7. Lieblings-Designer_in 2013?
  8. Song des Jahres?
  9. Buch des Jahres?
  10. Film/Serie des Jahres?
  11. 3 Dinge, die du nicht hättest missen wollen?
  12. 3 Dinge, auf die du gut hättest verzichten können?
  13. Was hast du 2013 neues begonnen?
  14. 14: Wovon hast du dich 2013 getrennt?
  15. 15: 2013 in einem Wort? (oder ein Motto)

 

Erwähnt wurde:

  • Jahresrückblick von Ziska
  • KAL von Ysolda
  • Ysolda Teague
  • Kate Davies
  • In My Mind

  • Jherek Bischoff
  • Deborah Geary und die Modern Witch-Serie
  • Sherlock
  • How I Met Your Mother
  • Big Bang Theory
  • das Wort des Jahres (Anleitung auf Englisch)
  • dropcloth sampler
  • Doodle Stitching

Filed Under: Podcast

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Archives

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  • crafts (55)
  • creativity (37)
  • daily journal (1,045)
  • family (20)
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  • reading (9)
  • Rhiannon (5)
  • script frenzy (2)
  • self-help (40)
  • sewing (7)
  • spinning (31)
  • story of the month (13)
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