Links for You

Even you non-knitters will love this poston a blog I recently discovered, Exercise Before Knitting. In this post Elinor describes taking up the torch after a beloved 94-year-old knitter dies: she’s promised Laura Belle that she’ll complete the last cabled afghan in a series she made for her children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren. It’s truly a lovely story and the photos of Laura Belle’s handwritten knitting notes decorated with the marginalia of life are sweetly moving.

And have a peek at my dear friend Alison’s brand new blog, Artist Adrift, which she’s started as a way to let us follow her sailing adventures over the next year. She’s a talented artist, a published writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, as well as a naturalist, so you shouldn’t be surprised to see how pretty the blog looks already — that is, if you can call a watercolour of a skull “pretty.” Why a skull? — why don’t you hop over there and see for yourself.

I also recommend a charming blog, Whimfield, by a clever, gutsy, and very likeable young woman who, with her husband, embarked on another sort of adventure. They moved from our West Coast all the way to the other side of Canada where they bought an absolutely idyllic-looking 100-year-old home with 63 acres in Prince Edward Island for less than a song. Unfortunately, it wasn’t winterized, needed a new roof, and was generally in bad need of some tender loving care. Reading this modern-day tale of young love and pluck and determination and the homesteading frontier thing — inspiring, fun, and you just might learn how to replace a very steep roof!

By now, there’s not likely to be a Paris-lover left who hasn’t heard of Petite Anglaise’sbrilliant blog (and its landmarklegal repercussions) and her charming book (which I posted abouthere). But if by any chance you don’t know her, check out this recent post, one of the few that Petite’s written since her book was published, she married her Boy, bought and moved into a new place, and began working on a novel, under contract. Pater and I are especially attentive to anyone writing about the difficulties and pleasures of living in French-as-a-second-language — this post delightfully outlines an aspect of such living that I haven’t seen covered before, being corrected by one’s own bilingual child.