Saturday, November 17, 2007

 
Last week we went out to LA to surprise my mom for her birthday. Because I didn't want to show up at their front door, yell surprise! and discover they'd decided, themselves, to go somewhere that week, I obviously had to tell my dad for it all to work. When talking with my dad about our visit I mentioned a comment my daughter made to in the car recently. She said, in a very earnest tone, "My life would be complete if I could 1) go to Paris, and 2) see Wicked." So, as a surprise for my mom and my daughter, my dad got us tickets to go see Wicked. It was SO amazing. My daughter is convinced she'd love to have Glinda's wardrobe (all sparkly, puffy dresses). The music was wonderful and I'd had no idea it would actually be funny. Some great one liners. Now my daughter's decided she wants to see more plays, and we've put Cats on our list, because she's a huge feline lover (I told her it was actually based on a poem by T.S. Eliot but she was good with that, as long as the people acted like cats).

So now my daughter can scratch Wicked off her list of things she needs to do in order for her life to be complete. But she's only ten, so we're holding off on the trip to Paris for at least a couple of years. We want her to have something to live for, right?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

 
I always thought it would be cool to know how to knit. There's probably nothing better than picking out your own yarn and making the perfect sweater in the perfect color. Unfortunately my handiwork never made it beyond those potholders you weave with raglan and hook rugs (I made a mean rug with a turtle on it, very awesome, and the little metal hook tool that came with the hook also made a great weapon for torturing my brother). In any case, Elizabeth Lenhard didn't just think knitting was cool to do, she wrote a whole series of books about it!

Elizabeth Lenhard’s trilogy of witty, knitty novels concludes with Chicks with Sticks (KnitWise).

The Chicks trilogy began in 2005 with Chicks with Sticks (It’s a purl thing). Fifteen-year-old Scottie lives in a cool, Chicago loft, goes to a progressive-to-the-point-of-wacky private school—and she’s miserable. Her former best friend, trust-fund princess Amanda, is just that—her former best friend—and her mom has become an It girl in Chicago’s art world. Meanwhile, Scottie just wants to blend in.

Then she discovers knitting, and it’s as if she’s been thrown a cashmerino lifeline. Soon Scottie and Amanda find themselves hanging at their local yarn store, bound together by a yen for yarn and a hunger for friendship. They make two more knitty friends: Bella, a new age yoga goddess, and Tay, an indie tomboy with “anger issues” in the wake of her parents’ divorce. The friends’ stitches and their relationships become so intertwined that it’s hard to remember which came first: the girls or the purls.

Chicks #2, Chicks with Sticks (Knit two together), could be called the Chicks’ boy book. At sixteen, Scottie is finally smitten and thrilled to have her first boyfriend—or does she? Amanda’s heart is broken when she wakes up one day and finds that she’s a trophy girlfriend. Tay wonders if her b.f.—an adorable basketball player who knits on the side—is a cling-on. And Bella swears off boys altogether. Drama ensues—all, of course, to the tune of the girls’ click-clacking needles.

And now, there’s Chicks with Sticks (KnitWise). For Scottie, Amanda, Bella, and Tay, life in Chicago has been all about seeking shelter. They’ve found it in their firelit stitch ’n bitch at Joe Coffee; in the halls of their quirky private school; in the arms of boyfriends—and always in the comfort of the friendship that bonds them together.

But now the Chicks are staring down the end of high school and it's time to contemplate life beyond the protective web of their knitty ensemble. Will the stresses of college applications and service projects, debutante balls and long-distance loves, mean the end of the Chicks? Or can this unlikely foursome bind-off the happy ending that only true friendship can craft?

The Chicks with Sticks books aren’t just for crafty types (though each book does include several original knitting patterns and projects). They’re for anyone juggling the works-in-progress that are friendship, first love, and surviving high school; for anyone who’s ever found friends in the most unlikely place—or wanted to. Sometimes you just need some string and sticks—with some full-fat hot chocolate on the side—to get you there.

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