Jessica Snell's Blog, page 6

Bag-End Bunny ("Sophie" by Ysolda Teague)

My brother and his wife are expecting their first child, and I really wanted to make something for my new nephew. I thought about making a blanket, but my sister-in-law is a fantastic knitter, and was already making her baby a gorgeous blanket.

So, I started thinking about what else I could make him, and remembered another baby shower I'd been to once, where a friend had knitted a really adorable stuffed elephant for the new baby.

Reader, I was inspired. I went to my friend's Ravelry page, and found the elephant pattern, and it turned out it was by Ysolda Teague, so I started looking at Ysolda's other patterns, and there was one in particular that I loved.

So I made a bunny. Isn't he cute?
The pattern for the bunny is "Sophie." It's really well-written, which is good, because there were some really tricky bits (I broke two separate needles), and having clear instructions kept me from getting frustrated during the difficult bits.
But the part I'm REALLY proud of his little sweater. I designed it myself, and it's removable, see?



I'm so pleased with how this turned out! I don't think I've ever winged a design like this before in knitting--only in crochet. But I might do more of it now, because it was really fun!

Peace of Christ to you,Jessica Snell

Book Notes: "The Magic Mirror: Concerning a Lonely Princess, a Foundling Girl, a Scheming King and a Pickpocket Squirrel," by Susan Hill Long

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The Magic Mirror, by Susan Hill Long, was a recent read-aloud of ours, and it was a good one.

It's a children's fantasy, set in a medieval world, complete with a recognizably Catholic belief system. That background presence of religion was actually one of the things I enjoyed about the book; it's not that I agreed completely with the religious beliefs of any of the characters, but it just felt more like a real world when there were people of faith, common superstitions, churches as part of the urban landscape, etc. It was interesting to read about a world where God was God, and God was good, but there were still bits of minor magic floating about, almost as if they were just another bit of creation.

We follow our heroine, Maggie, as she sets off on an adventure. It's a travel story, with colorful characters who are (on purpose, I'd bet) reminiscent of Chaucer's pilgrims.

Maggie is our lodestar, and her plot is always foremost, but the author threw in so many other things! The book is full of side quests, complications, and minor characters. There's danger, and dire deeds, and I appreciated that the author didn't gloss over the evilness of the villains or the foibles of the heroes, BUT she also never wallowed in any of the bad stuff, nor did she write about it in a way that's inappropriate for school-age kids.

(Note: There's definitely stuff here that you'd want to talk through with your kids--I'm not saying it's void of troubling or controversial content. But I found that it was all presented in a way that sparked good conversation with my kids, and not in a way that left me feeling like I had to do damage control. And that's something I like in kids' books. YMMV.)

I really enjoyed this one, though I found it odder than I expected. Occasionally that oddity felt irritating, but mostly it just made for an engaging, colorful tale. My kids were fascinated by the characters, and crowed at all the plot reveals as the story progressed. Recommended.



Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


This post contains Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Weekly Links

~ LINKS TO SOME INTERESTING READING, FOR WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR WEEKEND ~


FAith -"How I Leverage My Autism for Pastoral Ministry": My own Aspie (HFA) kid read this and was encouraged by it. I can't give it a higher recommendation than that--it's a great article.
-"Fast from Food, Not Facebook": Helpful.

FAMILY -"Sudoko vs. 4x4: Choosing a Capsule Type": I find capsule wardrobes fascinating, and this article actually shows you how to design your own (as opposed to just imitating someone else's).

Fiction -"Five Ways to Fix the Marvel Cinematic Universe": I gotta say, I especially appreciate #5.
-"The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2017": If you're an author, you'll appreciate this clear layout of the different kinds of publishing that are out there right now.
-"5 Ways to Maximize Your Writing Time": I thought the "pre-rough-draft" idea was especially interesting.
-"Interview: Megan Whalen Turner, Author of the Queen's Thief Series" : AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Finally, after seven years, there's a new Thief book. (Yes, I have it. Yes, I've started it. Yes, IT'S GOOD.)



I hope you have a lovely Sunday, full of worship and rest!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Weekly Links!

~ LINKS TO SOME INTERESTING READING, FOR WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR WEEKEND ~


FAmily -"How Ready Are You for the End of School: A Quiz": the first question is my life right now.

Fiction -"7 Things I Learned About Starting a Career in Science Fiction"
-"Once Upon a Time Knitting Pattern Reference List" - if you like your crafting to be inspired by stories (stories on TV, in this case).
-"Reshaping the Bizarre Structure of Fairy Tales" - as someone currently working on a novel inspired by an old story, I enjoyed reading this.




I hope you have a lovely Sunday, full of worship and rest!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Book Notes: "The Wind in the Willows," by Kenneth Grahame

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"The Wind in the Willows," by Kenneth Grahame is, of course, a classic. But it's a classic I hadn't read before (though I'd encountered bits of the chapter with Pan in various other publications).

It's a story about Mole, and his friends who live on or near the riverbank, particularly Rat and Toad and Badger.

I loved Mole. And I loved Rat, too, and I enjoyed and appreciated the venerable and valiant Badger.


I pretty much hated Toad, though, and I disliked almost every scene he was in.

I have a terrible feeling that the moral of the story is that We Are All Toad, and that we don't deserve the beautiful and joyous life on the riverbank, except that we have Friends who help us win back our Heritage, and so we are all Recipients of Grace, but... I still don't like Toad.

I expect I'll read "The Wind in the Willows" again. Because it is beautiful.


Except for the parts with Toad. Maybe I should be good enough to read those again.

But I don't think that I am.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


This post contains Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Weekly Links!

~ LINKS TO SOME INTERESTING READING, FOR WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR WEEKEND ~

FAITH -"The Battle is the Lord's" - a snippet:

God is God. He has the power and the plan and all will be well and jolly and good and beautiful in the end no matter what I do, but I can be a part of the jollification. God does not need me, but I can be there.

-"Family Worship as Spiritual Formation": This is one post from a really excellent new series over at Mere Orthodoxy.
-"On Family Worship and Failure": This is another.
-"Father and Son at the Cross"
-"Giving People a Chance to Grow"
-"On Acts 29 and Spiritual Gifts"

Family -"On the Outside": I know this was written to make me tear up. But...it worked.

Fiction -"The Speculative World of William Shakespeare"


I hope you have a lovely Sunday, full of worship and rest!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Look Where You Want to Go: Bible-reading and Mountain-Biking

My dad is a big mountain-biker. And because he was into mountain-biking, when we were kids, my sister and brother and I got into mountain-biking. Because we wanted to spend time with our dad.

And there’s something I learned during those years of biking: You Go Where You Look.

Sometimes Dad would take us on trails that were kinda scary: narrow-singletrack stuff with sharp drops on one or both sides of the trail. You’d think that you’d want to be hyper-aware of the dangerous part, that you’d want to really concentrate on the sharp cliffs, so that you could avoid them. But it turned out that the opposite was true: If you looked down the drop…that’s where you’d go.

You wanted to look straight ahead. You wanted to keep your eyes on the trail. Because it’s just this automatic thing: where your eyes look? That’s where you’d steer the bike.

So, reading the Bible is about looking at the trail. It’s looking where you want to go.


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell




p.s.: RE: the picture. Yeah, I know about the rock song. I think the picture's funny anyway.

The Joy Grows: an Easter post at The Lent Project

Today, I'm over at Biola University's Lent Project, writing about Jesus meeting Mary Magdalene in a garden:

Even when we did find our way into gardens, and were refreshed by the common graces of sunlight and rain, we dragged with us our cloud of pollution, dimming the light and poisoning the ground. 

There was light, but it did not purify. Fruit, but it did not assuage our bottomless hunger. Water, but it could not quench our endless thirst. 

Then the Son of God became Man. 

He was light, and no pollution could abide in His brightness. 

He became the food that could truly feed us, and He Himself was the living water—the water that could flow over the dead lands and call life out of them once more. 

He took our sin upon Himself, and burned it all away.

Please head on over to The Lent Project to read the rest.


And if you're interested in reading more about how to celebrate Easter (and the rest of the church year) in your home, consider picking up Let Us Keep the Feast!



Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


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This post contains Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Mini Reviews: The Books I Read in March 2017

--I'm catching up on my book notes, taking them a month at a time. Since I'm behind, I'm only allowing myself a line or two on each book. I hope they still give you an idea of whether or not these would be books you'd enjoy picking up yourself!--


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-"What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and at Home," by Laura Vanderkam. This is a compilation of three short e-books. I don't share Vanderkam's optimism about how many things can be accomplished in one short weekend or morning, but I still appreciate her novel and hopeful way of looking at the number of hours we are all given in our days and weeks.


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-"Eleanor and Park," by Rainbow Rowell. I listened to this one on audiobook. Beautifully and compellingly written, as Rowell's work always is. But I didn't enjoy it, mostly because the heroine's home life is so (legitimately, realistically) bleak and depressing. I also wouldn't pass it on to a teenager, b/c of the level of (probably also legitimate and realistic) sensuality. But beautifully done, all the same.


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-"The Masqueraders," by Georgette Heyer. This was my favorite Heyer for a long, long time. ("Sylvester, Or, The Wicked Uncle" has since supplanted it from the top spot, but just barely.)

This romance, full of adventure and derring-do, disguise and weariness of disguise, a slow-burning friendship turned into passion, and one of the happiest and most harmonious sibling relationships I've ever seen in fiction, remains one of my very favorite stories. Prudence and her "mountain" win me over every time.


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-"How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets," by Dana K. White. Lots of housekeeping books say they're for people who aren't naturally good at housekeeping.

This one actually is.



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-"The Hobbit," by J. R. R. Tolkien. Just finished listening through this with Adam and the kids. Delightful, as always.


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-"Busman's Honeymoon," by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was my first time making it through this--which is shocking, given my love for "Gaudy Night"!  But l always stalled after the delightful exchange of letters at the beginning of the book. Still, I'm glad I've read it now, and next time I can revisit it with pleasure, knowing that while it might be a bit uneven, it has all the charm and interest and deep feeling I've come to expect from Sayers' accounts of Lord Peter and Harriet.

(Also





--SPOILER ALERT--




the ghosts! Why did I never know about the ghosts???)




Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell





This post contains Amazon affiliate links; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Weekly Links - Holy Week edition

~ LINKS TO SOME INTERESTING READING, too late for the weekend, but perfect for a monday ~



-"Thoughts on the 'Benedict Option' - a Lament": Dr. Peters' point? Don't write a book about the Benedictines and get the monasticism wrong. 


-"10 Things You Should Know About the Trinity": This whole thing is good, but I especially appreciate point #8.


-"The Death of the Levite's Concubine":

Once having choked it down, you’re left wondering, as with the whole rest of Judges, who exactly the good guy is. 

-"Three Myths of Cohabitation": interview with a sociologist who just completed a very interesting study. A snippet:

Generally speaking, the least educated married families in Europe enjoy more stability than the most educated cohabiting families. That’s not what I would have guessed.

-"Stop Hating on Christian Popular Culture": now here's a challenge for our modern age!


-"Celebrating the Feast of the Anunnciation": I'm a few weeks late on this one, but I really appreciate this piece, and I think it's a good meditation for Holy Week:

This year I had several friends who faced the death of a loved one right at Christmas time.  They had no choice but to grieve and celebrate in the same breath. These sorts of emotional juxtapositions always be gut retchingly difficult. Yet living year by year through the liturgical seasons we are offered a foretaste of the multi-dimensional nature of our emotional life.  In following the seasons we are encouraged to explore the depths of our own souls in both joy and sorrow, to bring our hearts before God, and to align ourselves with the life of the church. When triumph is followed by disaster we have a sense of the path to take, we have walked it and we know where to fix our eyes. In the darkness of the tomb we wait for the light of resurrection.

-"Sushi Saturdays": My eldest daughter and I are the only people in the house who love sushi, and we're determined that this experiment is the perfect activity for Bright Week this year.


-"Researchers Have Transformed a Spinach Leaf into Working Heart Tissue": wow!


-"The Impossible Novel that Became IMPOSSIBLE SAINTS": I follow Clarissa Harwood on Twitter, and enjoyed reading this long version of her first novel sale, especially her honesty when she said:

In hindsight I can see that I was far too close to Novel #2 to see it clearly enough to revise it. I invested too much of myself in it, but that’s also why it was such a joy to write. It was everything a first draft should be: too long, repetitive, self-indulgent, and confusing. In other words, what was an utter delight to write was a complete nightmare to read.

I hope you have a good and blessed Holy Week!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell