I am very excited to see that a Bangladeshi microloan pioneer has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Microloans (or microcredit, as they are sometimes known) are a way to offer people in an impoverished background a small amount of money to create/improve a business. Loans are tiny by American standards — under $500 usually — and are used by people who would be turned down by standard banks because they lack financial collateral. There usually is no interest demanded and repayment is encouraged so that others in similar straits can also get ahead. This sort of financial system can be a real boon to people who might be discriminated against, like women who want to start a home-based business.

I first became aware of microfinance a few years ago while working at Wesleyan and I’ve touted the idea to Rudi a couple times as an example of the sort of program that really does seem to work. I’m glad to see it recognized in such a public way.

This year’s prize recipient is Muhammad Yunus, who created the Grameen Bank to manage the microcredit program in 1974. He has said he’s going to use his portion of the prize money to open an eye hospital and to create a food company aimed at the poor.

Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. My folks built their first fire of the season Saturday night. The flames crackled and flared and sent the delicious scent of burning wood wafting into the corners of the house.

2. The Mets swept the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs. I feel good about how they played, but I also don’t think the Cards are going to roll over without a fight in the NLCS series that begins tonight.

3. Rudi and I normally drive up to Connecticut after work on a Friday night in order to maximize our time there. However, although we wanted this visit to be a surprise, it would not have been a nice surprise for my family if we’d arrived unannounced at 2 a.m. So we headed up Saturday morning instead. It’s amazing how a drive that you’ve made a hundred times can look utterly different when you make it at a different time of day. Who knew that the ride was so lovely?

Over the weekend, I found a dress for the upcoming wedding Rudi and I will be attending. It’s a tea-length apricot-colored organza dress with a black net overlay with black embroidered flowers on the skirt. (I am not an expert on fabrics, so I welcome Mum chiming in to correct my description…) $30 at Marshalls. I love Marshalls.

Earlier in the day I’d been whining to Mum that I’d wished I found a dress earlier in order to knit a shawl to go with it. Since I had waited until the last minute, clearly that was out the window.

The more amazing thing is that I actually have a peach-colored shawl/wrap on the needles already (although not the needles in the photo).

The shawl had been put aside when the weather warmed up because it’s made with the yarn pictured above — 500 yards of Brooks Farms’ Duet, a kid mohair-fine new wool combo — which I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in 2005. The pattern came with the yarn and instructs me how to make a self-fringing wrap on the bias. (The farm shop links to a similarly named pattern, but mine forms a parallelogram instead of a triangle.)

I pulled it out tonight and started knitting on it again. I have 10 days until the wedding and, because the shawl is knit on size 17 needles, I think that will be sufficient time to finish. Despite being several inches into the project already, I loosened my gauge a bit in order to facilitate getting the yarn over the cable join of my circular needles. Yes, I know it will cause the bias to curve a bit at the bottom of the shawl, but by the very nature of the knitted object, I think that will be okay.

Now if I can just figure out a wedding gift, I’ll be all set….

I don’t know how some people do it. They post every day and they include photos. How do you do it? I love how the photos look, but boy do I find prepping them tedious!

I’ve been sitting on a number of updates just because I couldn’t face the photo tweaking that accompanied them.

But laziness aside, I need to get this post out of draft format and move along. So here you go….

(more…)

We decided to come up to Connecticut this weekend to surprise the family. The drive up was lovely once we got clear of the rain in Maryland and the trees are a muted riot of color. And the family was very surprised to see us, which was nice.

I am late, late, late in posting about September reads. And really I have no excuses. Just laziness. And the fact that I can’t read, knit, watch baseball, and type simultaneously…

The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis

From the book jacket: “How a talking horse and a boy prince saved Narnia from invasion”

Why this book? The next book in the Narnia series.

My take: It becomes harder and harder to ignore Lewis’ biases as the books go on. In this one, he doesn’t like people of Middle Eastern descent. There’s a reason why the first one is so well known and the rest aren’t read as frequently. And I can see why I lost interest in them before this point when I was growing up.

Putting that aside for the moment, however, it was a stronger story than The Silver Chair, which preceded it in the series.

Pages: 217

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan

From the book jacket: “Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he’s not even sure he believes it himself. Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp….”

Why this book? I’d read great things about it all over the place, but particularly and repeatedly from Camille at Book Moot.

My take: Percy Jackson is a compelling Everyboy kind of character. He’s always in trouble. He and his step-father don’t get along. He doesn’t get good grades. He suffers from ADD. And then, after surviving a couple of harrowing attacks, he finds out (as every child hopes to one day) that he is more extraordinary than he ever could have hoped. And his real adventures begin.

Compelling, exciting, and both character- and plot-driven — exactly what a young adult novel should be. Exactly what any novel should be. I couldn’t put it down and can’t wait to read the next one. It deserved every bit of praise it received — and then some. Definitely a top-10 book for the year.

Pages: 377

The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones

From the book jacket: “Tonino Montana often wished he had been born with an instinct for magic like his brother Paolo. Paolo had no trouble learning spells, or ordinary lessons for that matter, but Tonino was dismally slow at both…. Not that his family minded in the leeast; they had too many other worries anyway, because lately none of their spells seemed to have the old power. Something — or someone — was definitely sapping the strength of even the mighty charms set to defend the city, and if they gave, there would almost certainly be war.”

Why this book? Jenn suggested I might like the earlier books in this series. Since the library didn’t have them, I chose this one instead.

My take: How do the apparently non-magical function in a magical world? The answer would seem to be through strength of character and observances, although it’s never as simple as that, of course.

The book features warring magical clans, communicative cats, and an overabundance of Punch and Judy. If any of that sounds interesting, I’d recommend the book. And I was sufficiently intrigued by the wizard Chrestomanci, that I will seek out the other books featuring him that Jenn recomended.

Pages: 269

Knitting Rules! The Yarn Harlot’s Bag of Knitting Tricks, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

From the book jacket: “The Yarn Harlot spills her bag of knitting tricks. Essential survival skills, insider secrets, and undercover revelations for yarn enthusiasts of all levels and persuasions…”

Why this book? I read Stephanie’s blog every day and heartily enjoy her trials and tribulations in the knitting universe. I saw her last month and picked up a copy of the book for her to sign for me.

My take: Her book is just like her blog — witty, entertaining, and real. She relates funny stories, offers up basic “recipes” for how to create scarves, hats, shawls, and socks, and provides incentive for taking on that next scary project. And she makes you laugh while you’re reading, which is key.

Pages: 224

Total pages for the month of September: 1087