Dictionary Delight

Decades ago, one of my neighbors had a HUGE dictionary sitting in her living room that I thought was so cool! I've wanted one ever since. However, I've never seen one in any of the many antique shops I've visited. That is...until last week.

My daughter and I needed to get out and about one day last week. So, we drove to Temecula for a little shopping. What a great afternoon we had! We hit the jackpot at Home Goods (that will be another post) and finally found...not just one...but two...huge dictionaries at an antique shop. Wow!


I spotted the green one sitting on a trunk in one of the booths. I quickly darted over and grabbed it up! My daughter, being the antique book lover and collector that she is, gasped at my find. It's something she has been wanting too. I figured that if the vendor of that booth liked one enough to buy it, they might have two. It was worth a look. Our eyes started scanning every inch of the booth and...there it was...the tan and red one!


They're big and heavy! Each one is 5" thick!


They're both from 1966. Not super old but old enough for us and we love how they look.


We're still not sure which one we each want. I like the green one but it's a great color to go with my daughter's shabby chic look. She likes the red and tan one but the red goes great with my decor. Hmmmm? Maybe we'll just trade off.


They're a lot of fun to look through. They have tons of info in the front and back about language and various things...even algebra. And, they have lots of maps!


We think we got a pretty good deal on them. One had a price of $16 and the other was $24. However, we asked if they would call the vendor and ask if we could get the $24 one marked down to $16 since they were both from the same year. They called and the vendor gave us an even better deal. We ended up getting both of them for $30. It's always worth asking.

Ocean Breezes

Ahhh, fresh ocean air, a cool breeze, and a warm, soft scarf. The beach and knitting. These are two of my favorite things that come together in a book I got this week, "Ocean Breezes, Knitted Scarves Inspired by the Sea", by Sheryl Thies. The photos and patterns in this book are beautiful and unique. They're wonderfully textured and the variety of styles provide possibilities for everyone. There are scarves that are thick and warm, whispy and lacy, whimsical and fun, dressy, casual, rectangles, diamonds, "Goldfish Tails", a cowl, a collar, and more. Some of the inspiration came from waves, shells, mermaids, turtles, and starfish. It's fun to see how she interpreted the inspiration into knitting.

There are so many scarves in this book that I can't wait to knit...it'll be hard to pick the first one. The patterns appear to be clear and easy to understand. The author provides information about each scarf and the inspiration behind it. And, the book provides information on techniques and helpful advice to get the most from the projects. She says that it's a great skill building book. That sounds great to me...especially, with small projects that can provide learning, fun, and quick rewards. I love a knitting book that has lots of patterns that I love. This is one of those books!

I loved how I got this book too...free! I've been participating in Harris Online polls for years. They send me emails to take surveys. I do the surveys and earn points that I can redeem for merchandise or gift cards. I've gotten quite a few great things over the past few years, including gift cards for Target, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and now, Amazon. This time I had enough points to get $20 in giftcards at Amazon and this book is one of the things I got. Fun! I always love free, especially when it's great stuff like this...and especially when it's related to fiber fun!!! :-)

Here's to the sea and knitting, and to Sheryl Thies for bringing these two wonderful things together! :-)