More Amigurumi, this time from Lion Brand
I just opened my Lion Brand newsletter and more amigurumi jumped out. Here’s the Lola cartoon.
Hopefully they won’t mind if I posted this, since I’m directing them to their website and the free Amigurumi patterns and their new book.
AMIGURUMI, Grim Reapers and Zombies
I need some cute crafts in my life right now, so Amigurumi may just be the trick. Ok you ask what is Amigurumi? Straight from the wikipedia, it’s the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen.
Here’s a picture from the book Amigurumi World. (notice the word cute seems to follow these critters around).
I personally want to make some of the Creepy Cute Crocheted critters from the book of the same name. There are several people on my Christmas list that need to get the Death amigurumi (the Grim Reaper in crochet), in their stocking.
This is my therapy, whether I crochet something, knit something, sew something, it doesn’t matter if it is creepy, cute or just plain ugly.
I just found this ZOMBIE pattern for free from http://qdpatooties.blogspot.com/! I may have a theme going here. 
Jim Chastain, Nathan Brown, Dorothy Alexander, Okie Poets
NewsOK just this last Sunday did an excellent article on one of our Oklahoma poets, Jim Chastain. He is a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Awards for his book of poetry, Antidotes & Home Remedies, Village Books Press. Jim is an inspiration to all of us in how to live a fulfilled life while struggling with adversity. He expresses his journey through his prose and poetry, and invites us along for the rough ride. He is currently writing a blog for NewsOK. Visit there for samples of his poetry.
Nathan Brown and Jim Chastain are friends and colleagues, both on the finalist list for the Oklahoma Book Awards. Way to go you two!
This is Nathan’s finalist book. I picked a poem from another of his books, because it’s about the Okie heat and I want my friend to read it who is always gripping about our lovely summers.
Burn
Oklahoma in July
is a marshmallow
in a bonfire;
a branding iron
on the face;
a toad in the slow-
ly heated pot;
where Fahrenheit
screams until its eyes
turn red–
until the blood
rises in its mercurial veins.
…from the book Ashes Over the Southwest
BAM’s blog highlights Dorothy Alexander reading her poetry and her book is also an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, Lessons From An Oklahoma Girlhood, Village Books Press. 
Village Books Press is a small Oklahoma press dedicated to providing a voice and venue for Oklahoma poets, artist and writers. My understanding is Dorothy Alexander runs this publishing house in Cheyenne, Oklahoma.
So if you don’t think Poetry when you think Oklahoma you better start…..
Horse stealing and the Anti-Horse Thief Association
In my other life, I do some digitizing of historical Oklahoma publications for our digital collections at Oklahoma Crossroads. The last one I put up was a little annual report from the Anti-Horse Thief Association from their 1917 meeting in Shawnee. One of the staff at ODL (OK Dept of Libraries, thanks Colleen) transcribed the contents so all the names, places, etc. are fully searchable from Crossroads. You might find some relatives who prevented horse stealing in Oklahoma. 
The first charter of AHTA in Oklahoma Territory was granted on July 27, 1894, with headquarters in Arapaho. The sub-chapter president’s would organize posses, to track down and apprehend individuals horse stealing, and vigilance committees to observe suspected thievery. I guess we could think of them as the first neighborhood watch associations except with firearms. In 1916 AHTA had over forty thousand members in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, lllinois, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, and South Dakota. As horses gave way to cars as the chief source of transportation the need for the A.H.T.A. diminished, and eventually developed into a social and fraternal association but in 1917 it was still very much in the law enforcement business.
Part of this information was excerpted from Patrick Keen’s article in the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture Online.
Picture taken from website, The Long Riders Guild Academic Foundation, http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/ahta.htm
With following commentary: “The organization was very effective. It is stated that from 1899 to 1909 the Oklahoma AHTA recovered stolen horses and other livestock valued at $83,000. Four hundred suspected thieves were caught and 272 of them were convicted. That was just in the state of Oklahoma. ”
Booksale exhaustion, Yeah Metropolitan Library System Friends
Holy Cow Batman, I just got back from the Metropolitan Library System Book Sale. Don’t tell any of the hundreds of people lined up to get books that we don’t read any more. You would get flatten on their way to the book tables. 
OK, maybe there weren’t quite that many people but it sure felt like it. I stood at one of the tables with a woman who said this was her first time and she just couldn’t believe it. She was going to have surgery and had to be off for 6 months and desperately needed reading material. We heard her husband paging her, but she wasn’t getting out of the line until we got to the end. My husband went once, freaked out by the crowds and hasn’t been back. This is a booksale Not for the faint of heart.
I however am very happy to have 72 paperbacks and 1 hardback, (saw it while going to the checkout line and it jumped into my bag). All of these treasures for only 37 dollars!!! The only thing that could make me happier would have been some knitting books, but either they were all gone, I didn’t find them or someone got to them first. Drat.
I love this book decadence, and it’s re-using resources, supporting a good cause and helping to stimulate the economy while saving money. Makes me feel like a saint.
LOCUS, magazine of science fiction & fantasy
I’ve had a lot of reading for work lately, some good some not so good. So it is a very good thing to sit down with a glass of wine and the February 2009 issue of Locus. Ah …the past year in review. 
This is a magazine of people who know their stuff, writing about and reviewing authors who know their stuff. Not glamourous in any way, only about two or three color illustrations per issue, just packed full of Science Fiction and Fantasy information. This month there is an interview with Jonathan Lethem. His website is certainly worth a visit, as well as his novels.
This issue has a ballot for the Locus poll and survey but you can also vote on the Locus magazine website. Locus awards are given to the winners of the reader polls. John Scalzi does an excellect job of explaining all this in his blog. Check out his Zoe’s Tale on the 2008 recommended list in Young Adult.
OK, here I am writing this and I want to read my magazine so bye for now, get your own or at least check out the Locus Online website.
LOCUS, magazine of science fiction & fantasy
I’ve had a lot of reading for work lately, some good some not so good. So it is a very good thing to sit down with a glass of wine and the February 2009 issue of Locus. Ah …the past year in review. This is a magazine of people who know their stuff, writing about and reviewing authors who know their stuff. Not glamourous in any way, only about two or three color illustrations per issue, just packed full of Science Fiction and Fantasy information. This month there is an interview with Jonathan Lethem. His website is certainly worth a visit, as well as his novels.
This issue has a ballot for the Locus poll and survey but you can also vote on the Locus magazine website. Locus awards are given to the winners of the reader polls. John Scalzi does an excellect job of explaining all this in his blog. Check out his Zoe’s Tale on the 2008 recommended list in Young Adult.
OK, here I am writing this and I want to read my magazine so bye for now, get your own or at least check out the Locus Online website.
Marcia Preston’s Trudy’s Promise
Finished Marcia Preston’s book, Trudy’s Promise, which is on the Oklahoma Book Award Finalists’ list. 
This is a book of political ideologies played out against family, relationships, trust and loyalty. Trudy Hulst loses her husband during his failed attempt to flee East Berlin and gain his freedom. Soon after she is forced to leave her only child, Stefan behind to save herself from prison. This is the story of her unfailing attempts to re-unite with her child. Historical references continue to draw you into her story.
First, the stark reality of the Berlin Wall, locking an entire city and people behind it. Then the dichotomy of Rolf and Wolfgang’s political ideologies. Rolf, Trudy’s husband forced to be part of Hitler’s Youth growing up, grew to hate everything communism stood for, and helped others flee its politics. His boyhood friend, Wolfgang, who was allowed to leave Germany during the war years, comes back and finds a home in the repressive East Berlin regime, sympathizing with its beliefs and struggling to rise in its ranks.
Constantly looking for a way to get her son back and to get him to West Berlin, Trudy avails herself of aid from a disingenuous American, accompanying the Kennedy visit in 1963. This is the one part of the story where I had to suspend belief and accept it as a literary device to get Trudy to America and propel the story forward. It’s just too hard for me to believe that one of the President’s motocade limos would stop and help someone they bumped against, and bring them to America after hearing their story. The cynic in me thinks they would probably have arrested her or maybe just run over her.
America is of course America, and Trudy is used by her political “friend” to further his career. She does make some headway in her quest to free her son and then when she has hopes of meeting with Mrs. Kennedy and perhaps the President, he is killed in Dallas. Historical references again take over and we re-live the assasination of our president and the grief the world experienced.
Trudy is forced back to Germany to keep her promise to Stefan. Wolfgang has been Stefan’s caretaker when his grandmother passed away, and changes in his behavior and beliefs are beginning to take place. You will discover who is friend and foe, who is the stronger character and what becomes of a mother’s promise to her son.
The writing is good, the history and characters interesting. However, I thought there were a few too many coincidences or lucky circumstances to make the story believable.
Marcia Preston’s Trudy’s Promise
Finished Marcia Preston’s book, Trudy’s Promise, which is on the Oklahoma Book Award Finalists’ list.
This is a book of political ideologies played out against family, relationships, trust and loyalty. Trudy Hulst loses her husband during his failed attempt to flee East Berlin and gain his freedom. Soon after she is forced to leave her only child, Stefan behind to save herself from prison. This is the story of her unfailing attempts to re-unite with her child. Historical references continue to draw you into her story.
First, the stark reality of the Berlin Wall, locking an entire city and people behind it. Then the dichotomy of Rolf and Wolfgang’s political ideologies. Rolf, Trudy’s husband forced to be part of Hitler’s Youth growing up, grew to hate everything communism stood for, and helped others flee its politics. His boyhood friend, Wolfgang, who was allowed to leave Germany during the war years, comes back and finds a home in the repressive East Berlin regime, sympathizing with its beliefs and struggling to rise in its ranks.
Constantly looking for a way to get her son back and to get him to West Berlin, Trudy avails herself of aid from a disingenuous American, accompanying the Kennedy visit in 1963. This is the one part of the story where I had to suspend belief and accept it as a literary device to get Trudy to America and propel the story forward. It’s just too hard for me to believe that one of the President’s motocade limos would stop and help someone they bumped against, and bring them to America after hearing their story. The cynic in me thinks they would probably have arrested her or maybe just run over her.
America is of course America, and Trudy is used by her political “friend” to further his career. She does make some headway in her quest to free her son and then when she has hopes of meeting with Mrs. Kennedy and perhaps the President, he is killed in Dallas. Historical references again take over and we re-live the assasination of our president and the grief the world experienced.
Trudy is forced back to Germany to keep her promise to Stefan. Wolfgang has been Stefan’s caretaker when his grandmother passed away, and changes in his behavior and beliefs are beginning to take place. You will discover who is friend and foe, who is the stronger character and what becomes of a mother’s promise to her son.
The writing is good, the history and characters interesting. However, I thought there were a few too many coincidences or lucky circumstances to make the story believable.
Look at me, very fancy, love the scissortail, buffalo
New graphics, new look, more room on the page, just got an upgrade to my wordpress blog by the newsok folks. I saw the Oklahoma emblems and since I get questions at work all the time on these I thought you might like some links to find out about our state symbols. Office of State Finance page uses the Dept. of Libraries’ images from the Oklahoma Almanac. Which I might point out is the best and most complete information about our state wrapped up in one reasonably priced volume. You might want to wait for the next volume, it comes out every other year, and the new one will probably roll out in May or June. Don’t worry I’ll remind you again.
Oklahoma Online is graphically clever with the symbols and information. Enchanted Learning gives the school kid twist. TravelOK is a good source, complete with activity sheet for the kids to color and fill out.
Have fun with our symbols, your kids will love them and it’s fun Okie trivia.
So if you were going out for the official Okie meal, what would you order? Hope you know what drink to have with the meal and I’ll give you a clue it’s not Choc Beer.
