20 years old of yarns - Purple Vest is finished

Has not posted any knitting for a long time. It is glad that to used up some aged stash - this purple vest (previous posts) has been finished a couple of month ago but Hong Kong is too hot to model it outside. Just picture it at home.



Pattern : my own - The upper part is using checker pattern and the lower part is just st.st.
Yarn : Jaeger Luxury Spun DK
material : 90% wool / 10% alpaca
usage : 5 x 50g

It is no mood to knit anything under such hot climate but I am thinking of sewing.

Reading - Change of Heart

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult



Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon, and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival—an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets.

The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart.

Reading - A Man Named Dave

A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer



The third tale in David Pelzer's autobiographical trilogy, A Man Named Dave is an inspiring story of terror, recovery, and hope experienced by the author throughout his life. Known for his work as a child abuse advocate, Pelzer has been commended by several U.S. presidents and international agencies, and his previous memoirs of growing up as an abused child (A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy) have touched thousands of lives. He provides living proof that we can "stop the cycle" and lead fulfilling, rewarding lives full of healthy relationships. Ultimately triumphant, this book will have you living through the eyes of a terrified child, a struggling young man, and an adult finally forgiving his dying father--reading with tissues nearby is recommended. Ending with a touching conversation between the author and his own son, you'll finish reading this with a warm heart and an enriched understanding of the need for compassion in all parts of life.

Reading - The Lost Boy

The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer



This is Dave Pelzer's long-awaited sequel to A Child Called "It". In The Lost Boy, he answers questions and reveals new adventures through the compelling story of his life as an adolescent. Now considered an F-Child (Foster Child), Dave is moved in and out of five different homes. He suffers shame and experiences resentment from those who feel that all foster kids are trouble and unworthy of being loved just because they are not part of a "real" family.

Tears, laughter, devastation and hope create the journey of this little lost boy who searches desperately for just one thing -- the love of a family.

Reading - Thursday's Child

Thursday's Child by Noel Streatfeild



This is the charming story of Margaret Thursday, an orphan with very definite ideas about her destination in life, with her continual reminders that she has "three of everything of the very best quality." Accompanying her, through the harsh world of the Orphanage, the hard-working freedom of the canal barge to which she escapes, or amid the bustle and gay lights of a travelling theatre, are the Beresfords : kind Lavinia, the eldest, who has to learn to work in the kitchen of a great house; bookworm Peter, with his unpredictably practical turn of mind in a crisis; and little Horatio whom everyone loves.

And each time she was asked, 'Who do you think you might be then?' she had dozens of ready replies. Whoever she was, Margaret had made herself the arch enemy of the crel matron. Soon things reached such a dreadful state that she decided to run away from St. Luke's, but not without Peter and Horatio, and her three of everything.... So the children fled in the night to become the unlikeliest leggers ever seen on a canal boat. And Margaret proved that she was a person of the very best quality....

Reading - A Child Called 'It'

A Child Called 'It' by Dave Pelzer



A young boy, Dave being starved, stabbed, smashed face-first into mirrors, forced to eat the contents of his sibling's diapers and a spoonful of ammonia, and burned over a gas stove by a maniacal, alcoholic mom. She no longer considered him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'. Sometimes she claimed he had violated some rule--no walking on the grass at school!--but mostly it was pure sadism.

His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and smelly, and, when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dogs' bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. Inexplicably, his father didn't protect him; only an alert schoolteacher saved David.

Reading - The book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak



It is a story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl loving outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist - books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.

With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.