This weekend was really good and really quiet, which makes for very few journal entries but a lovely time. We went to the library on Saturday and I picked up a bunch of research books that I'd requested, including one that's turning out to be one of the most useful books I've found so far: Maggie Lane's Jane Austen's World: The Life and Times of England's Most Popular Author. The first section, on Jane Austen's life, is interesting mainly for the (excellent) illustrations, but I tended to find the text itself - especially her interpretations of "what Jane Austen must have felt" at various points - fairly inane. As soon as she moves on to life in England at large, though, it becomes a fantastic social history resource, with lots of really useful small details. I'm definitely planning to buy a copy for myself to keep in our library (i.e., the stacks of books piled in the corner of our end room...cough cough).

And I've discovered the joys of knitting with fat, chunky yarn. It's amazing how quickly a scarf made out of thick, soft cotton knits up! Sooooooo satisfying. I'd already bought a skein of thin wool for a pair of socks (to follow the scarf), but as soon as I'm through with that, I'm committing to fat yarn for the rest of my knitting days! I love the sense of accomplishment I get from knitting for just 20 minutes and having an extra two inches hanging off my knitting needles (versus knitting for an hour and still not being able to tell the difference, with some of the thin yarns I'd been using before...).

Meanwhile, I've finished Chapter Six of Kat by Starlight, written an encounter with a dangerous rake and a show-down with a Society snob, and am having an awful lot of fun. I'm just about 1/4 of the way through the book, I think, and I'd love to finish the first draft by the time we leave for our trip to Michigan in January.

Hope you guys all had a good weekend!