The Inevitable Ruin is both exactly what you expect from a dungeon crawler Carl book and very possibly the most deeply emotional one yet. I've not finished it, yet, but it's punched me right in the feels several times.

🪐📚 Finished the eye of the bedlam bride and I am not all right. Also I can't remember if the ebook versions have the pineapple cabaret shorts in them or not, but things are getting interesting. Dinniman is very good at pushing things just far enough without making them cringe or laughable.

🪐📚 Can confirm this is a very fun and enjoyable book. This might also be the one where she fakes her own death to do the thing that gets her catapulted into the future. And then she gets to have adventures with reality-bending nonsense. (The wuxia comparison is appropriate).

As a reader, language adds some character, but it needs to serve a purpose I.e. Tao Wong's climbing the tower - set in Malaysia w/ the linguistic melting pot that entails. I don't speak Malay or any Chinese, but having it there reflects the culture and location and doesn't detract 1/

Lots of sequel reading and some chonky books happening behind the scenes. I started Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman, but it's a little too relevant. I'll pick it up again at some point as it's a very good book, but the gamification of war and xenophobia was a little too much rn.

📚🪐 Bethany Jacobs- these burning stars The butcher of the forest by premee Mohammed Emily McCosh- under the earth, over the sky Charlotte Bond- the fireborn blade Ava Reid - juniper and thorn Kameron Hurley - God's War Arkady Martine - A Memory called empire Grace Curtis - floating hotel

Almost done, but finishing the front waistband is not a late night activity. It's pinned in place and ready to sew. Then all that's left is hemming. I may also press the pleats so they're more crisp. All in all, very nice pattern and huge pockets!! #garmentsewing

Pockets and pleats are done. Honestly the pockets are the fiddliest bits on this pattern, unless I follow her tutorial for the elasticated waist. Her version is excessively complicated, but I can see it gives a really nice finish, so it's not been ruled out. #starlightpalazzo #garmentsewing

Maternal grandfather did machining or something for NASA and had several small side businesses including a photo lab grandma helped with Paternal grandfather started off in trucking or something, eventually got a degree and started a business in trucking safety/education. Grandma stayed home

I'm occasionally terrible at following recommended fabrics and this might be one of those times. I've got a lighter weight terry backed denim that I'm thinking about making the starlight palazzo pants. At the very least they'll be dramatic? And probably comfy? 🪡

🪐📚 Despite asking for happy books, I finished this over the weekend... It's not particularly happy although it does have a remarkably good ending. I definitely cried while reading it. It's very, very good and has a bit of a mystery/twist to it, so I won't say much more and spoil something 1/

🪐📚 Picked this up after seeing it on here and it sounded like a good time. Next one is on hold, which should tell you everything you need to know. Fun play on exploration and cryo with some reasonably plausible sounding science. It's clever without trying to be too clever for it's own good.

Ok, I need some happy books and that's not something I excel at picking out. Preference for SFF, but I'll take anything. Should be a temporary shift, but at least I finished On Vicious Worlds yesterday (excellent book). I'm currently working on the first book in bobiverse (so far so good).

I was on the waitlist for the digital version of this kingdom will not kill me and checked for the physical version. The physical has a much shorter waitlist and more copies. This feels like a hack. I shouldn't be 15th in line for an Ilona Andrews book weeks from release when I just placed the hold.

As I've mostly been reading ebooks/audiobooks I don't always realize how many pages or how thick a book is... I got the sequel to seven blades in black and it shocked me how thick it is??

Ok so if you don't already know, I live in a semi-rural area and have the privilege of access to really fresh produce and several orchards. Certain varieties of produce don't handle transport and storage well, so you can only get them in season.

Five is not that many, especially for some urban fantasy authors. A lot of them have hit double digits for a single series Suzanne Palmer (finder chronicles) K.B Wagers (Indranan books) Elizabeth Bear Aliette de Bodard Cherie Priest

Did some research and it's not a hexagon, but a square with extra sides that makes the shape work correctly for a hexagon cardigan. Found a square pattern that did what I wanted and now I've got a square with extra sides cardigan. And endless possibilities nillakcreates.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-...

Went back to the drawing board and this seems to be better. I'm attempting to recreate one I saw online without a pattern, so thank you for all the kind advice. I've never really thought about what makes the crochet hexagon cardigan work before which is probably why the first 2 weren't quite right.

Not really my usual fare as it's magical, but all the conflict is social/interpersonal.... But for the three women who've been fucked over by the same guy to get together and try to ruin his chances in a competition, I had to try it? Pros- Bisexuals Queer romance Magic(?!) Halloween vibes?

Working on another crocheted hexagon cardigan, although I'm not sure why the two sides aren't the same shape when folded... I'm not following a pattern, so it's possible I got something wrong on the top one when I was trying to do the same thing I did for the bottom... (Advice welcome)

📚🪐 First off, this has a really cool cover design Secondly, it's very good, if very dark And NGL I thought I knew where it was going to end and I was wrong. It's framed as the main character, Sal, telling her story as she awaits her well deserved execution. 1/

First off that was a fast hold and I got a bunch of digital holds in as well. Picked this up last night and I've finished it. Clearly as long as I don't own the physical book, I can finish it. Carl is a rip-roaring good time as usual, though there's some tricksy stuff going on on this floor

Age verification because my whiskey tastes will absolutely give you the wrong idea of my age and gender. Islay Scotch is a bit like smoked tea in flavor profile and it's one of those things you either enjoy or hate.

Doing a back to back comparison as it occurred to me that my grandpa style tea this morning would probably be good in the gaiwan. It's probably a bit less nuanced grandpa style, but by no means a poor choice as they evolve very differently over the duration of each preparation.

🪐📚 Finished redemption ark and I've got to say, Reynolds' work feels like it wants to be a noir detective drama. Is noir scifi a thing? It's all gritty and grimy and while generally somewhat hopeful, those hopes are very carefully guarded.

Weirdly parallel reading choices this week in a romance where a woman runs away to avoid becoming a conscripted mage and another where the woman was conscripted and has since gone rogue.... Like if one didn't have giant murderbird mounts and the other didn't, they could take place in the same world

"I mean they're doing weird shit with their money, but I don't necessarily think it's suspicious?" Or maybe "This is sus.... Oh yeah they're laundering money/structuring." Or some variation there of. If things are going fine, I generally don't need to talk to anyone.

Green tea is a bit finicky, so I don't often make it because I have a tendency to forget I've got tea steeping. This is a ceylon green that does admirably in the gaiwan, despite the fact it's a broken leaf grade. It's got a really lovely citrus scent that comes through with a bit of umami in the cup

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Very little went to plan with this loaf, but it turned out. Some of it was my fault (sour cream not room temp) and some of it was nature (low humidity), but I figured it out despite things not going quite to plan. This is the sour cream loaf from Beard on Bread. It's a delicate, pleasant bread.

This mug is for the *fragrance* So this is one of the Bitterleaf Teas that I thoroughly enjoyed. The dark roast in the milanxiang (honey orchid) tasting set. It's really cool to see how roast affects the flavor between the three roasts without necessarily detracting from any of them. #teasky

I've placed a hold on a physical book that I intend to read for the first time in quite a while. Maybe I'll get through it because it's a library book with a deadline? We will see. There's a good reason I don't post pretty physical book photos.

Buffy meets golden girls. They've retired from the saving the world business, although they were all quite famous in their youth, until the past comes knocking and they need to save it again. Exactly what it says on the tin. I found it a bit cozy and generally a good take on the genre 1/

Ok so I let out the side seams and they're wearable. Not as good as they could be, but ok. I'd let out the inseams as well, but I'm too thorough and already flat felled them (slightly unusual construction inseams>crotch>side seams). Now they just need cuffs!

Remembering why I don't sew with McCall's patterns rn. The ease is different from simplicity and butterick, so I'm like a size bigger, but I don't have the larger size pack. Anyway I'm making some really nice pajama pants that won't fit me 😅

So this mug was handmade by an artist in Germany and gifted to me by my German friend. It's got a really nice shape and a little extra texture with the raw clay and scores on the band. (I'm drinking a Kenyan blend and I missed having one so much)

Leaving today 🤞🤞(plane is currently delayed for maintenance) Anaconda got a little bit of snow yesterday, which is impressive because it was cold (single digits) and driving out to Discovery was surreal with the mountains wreathed in clouds and snow. The distant ones looked almost black and white.

Natural hot springs today (Renova Hot Springs) outside of Whitehall, MT. They're literally little ponds along the river with silt bottoms. They'll occasionally bubble a little as hot water comes up and it does smell like sulphur. It was like 30*F out, so the perfect temperature to enjoy them.

The big storm is going to miss Montana. This has been an unusual year for them as they usually get more snow at all elevations, although they're not hurting as bad as the Northwest and the Rockies. Montana has really only gotten snow at high altitudes.

Ohoho. It's US only afaik tho 😅 really good series ngl

We're going to see if we can't see the lights tonight since Montana is well within the zone.

Drove through Teton Pass to get to Jackson, Wyoming (and then back again lol). It's apparently a fairly popular back country skiing location, as there are places to pull off along the pass. Leaving grand Targhee, the bushes and trees were covered in hoarfrost.

Gonna be honest, the Wyoming/Idaho/Montana region is a microcosm of America. Like you'd think it's white as hell, but there's Mexicans, Indians/nepalis, Thai, etc and yeah some of it is catering towards the elite that travel and live here, but they're also running gas stations and hotels

3 states yesterday- Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. It's a lot of scrubby land between stunning mountains. Idaho and Wyoming meet around Targhee National Forest and you can see Grand Teton as you approach over the flatlands.

🪐📚 Reading The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross, and while the reader purposefully gets what's happening before the MC, the slow realization that they're acting out a popular action franchise is a really cool use of world building. Middling spoilers below 1/

If you recall this post, I've managed to bring it back from the brink. I chucked it in a bag with a chunk of my jujube shoumei because if things went terribly wrong it wouldn't be an expensive mistake.I think it helped introduce back in some of the fruity flavors and tone down the bitterness. 1/

📚🪐/litrpg This was adorable. Shrubley is a soul shrub, which is an animate shrub monster race. Unlike most monsters, however, Shrubley is sentient and was raised by a druid to be a hero. Things don't go as smoothly as he might've hoped however and he gets caught up in bigger events. 1/

There's a couple of pattern sellers on Etsy that I know are legit, but outside of them I wouldn't bother. I know wearing history makes good patterns and I've had my eyes on the hollyhock romper, but just searching for a sewing pattern now is a minefield.

🩸📚🪐 I don't buy a lot of books because I've got an awesome library system, but this bundle is tempting. There's so much good stuff, as well as new to me stuff in here