Harvest Leaf Bag & Banned Book Week

I'm finally settling in to the school year now that we're approaching October. As much as September is a one way trip to crazy town, I do enjoy meeting new students (hello sophomores!) and learning new things (good times with Android Studio). In the spirit of learning new things, I finished the bag part of my Harvest Leaf Bag test knit and just have to do the duplicate stitch leaves. My progress so far:

What the finished bag will look like:

I've never attempted duplicate stitch and want to do a duplicate stitch pocket with a sheep design for my toddler dress I'm still making for a friends baby (who is now 6 months old). Thank goodness there's YouTube! Stay tuned for the next podcast this weekend to hear about my progress and details about a giveaway for the pattern and 4 hanks of local to me Gotland yarn in the month of October!

In other news, it's Banned Book Week!

I try to read at least one new to me banned book every year during Banned Book Week. This year, I selected Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.  My school changed their summer reading initiative to the One Book, One Community initiative 4 years ago, and I am the coordinator (by default, no one else volunteered, but I still love doing it). Two years ago, Little Brother was selected by a Florida school for a similar summer reading program:

The principal of Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida, has canceled the One School/One Book summer reading program after he decided he didn't like the chosen book: Cory Doctorow's YA novel, Little Brother. The teachers had worked hard to create a study guide for the novel, which focuses on a group of teen hackers who use their skills to regain civil rights for citizens after a terrorist attack hits San Francisco and civil liberties are severely curtailed for U.S. citizens. The same school also banned Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. - writerswrite.com

The author retaliated by giving every freshman and sophomore a free copy of the book, and you can download the book for free (I got mine from my library). I just started it last night; so far, I find it's very much like Ready Player One with a heavy dose of Mr. Robot.

Doctorow published the book in 2008 which is important on a number of levels. First, some of the tech is dated, but at least so far this hasn't lessened my enjoyment of the book. Second, the book came out during the height of the second Iraq war when the Patriot Act was in full force. The book addresses both the aftermath of terrorism and the implementation of intense surveillance and a police state. For example, in this world, there's an app that rewards people for turning in students who cut school. While I don't encourage cutting, I don't think adults should be paid to rat the kids out.

I also just finished Necromancing the Stone, the sequel to Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride that I shared in last week's blog post. So much fun!! Perfect fall reading if you want something light and slightly scary.

Today I'm joining a new link party, The Really Crafty Link Party along with Nicole at the Keep Calm Craft On link party.  On Wednesdays, I participate in the Yarn Along on Ginny Sheller's blog. Please join us either by contributing a link to your fibery work in progress and current read and / or by checking out the posts to the link parties.  You may find your next book or project waiting for you!