H.P. Lovecraft Books: A Guide

As a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft I've decided to update my book collection, and after a couple days of reading reviews and sifting through what felt like a million different collections of stories on Amazon I have pinpointed those that I think are worthy of the aspiring Lovecraft enthusiast. I wanted to share with others in case anyone else is looking to read more of his work. All of this information I have gathered is from reading reviews on Amazon and my own analysis of the books of his that I already own.

The book I have currently been reading from is The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories from Penguin Classics, an annotated collection. It has a very informative introduction, and at the end of the book S.T. Joshi (who is one of the most well versed writers on Lovecraft) has many interesting notes as well as a short summary and analysis of the story itself.

There are two other Penguin Classic books that follow The Call of Cthulhu collection that feature (what I believe) to be the rest of his short stories and novellas (not including his essays on horror, letters, and poems). The Thing on the Door Step and Other Weird Stories and The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories. Both of these are edited by S.T. Joshi. I really recommend these books, this is the collection I have at the moment.

For someone who has already read Lovecraft, The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft (also annotated by S.T. Joshi) from Del Rey features more in depth notes that are on the bottom of the page as opposed to the back of the book. Many reviewers said that while these notes were helpful they often took up the bulk of the page and gave away parts of the story to come. There are also pictures, mainly of the various locations and surroundings that inspired Lovecraft.

There is also More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft which is a continuation of stories. These two volumes seem to be by far the most informative annotated collections that also feature pictures. However, these 2 collectively only offer about 16 stories as opposed to the Penguin Classics version mentioned above which has at least double that. I came across other Lovecraft collections from Del Rey press but none of the books I saw were annotated by S.T. Joshi or seemed to provide supplemental information on the same scale that the first two do.

There are various other collections out there that have his more popular stories in them, but most of these only have an introduction and no notes to supplement the stories.

If you're looking for his poems, essay and letters, there are other books out there that have those (most of them annotated by S.T. Joshi too I believe). There is also at least one book, there may be others, that feature stories that Lovecraft shadowed of other authors that wrote in the same genre as Lovecraft himself.

So anyways...in summary the 3 Penguin Classic collections of H.P. Lovecraft offer the most stories as well as great notes to the texts. If you're familiar with his stories and are looking for more supplemental information, The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft books by Del Rey is a good way to go.

If anybody has any comments, corrections, or suggestions please bring them to my attention!

Christmas

I've decided this year, that instead of waiting till 1 week before Christmas to try and make presents, I should get a head start somewhat early.

I recently discovered Brooklyn Tweed and want to knit a vest and a hat for my boyfriend and one of our friends.

I'd like to give Alberta a try, and perhaps use Noro again despite being dissapointed with the colorways before. This time, I think the trick will be to choose a neutral, more muted colorway (I don't think my boyfriend would appreciate the purple/teal/yellow colorway I used before).

I finished my Phiaro scarf, but wish I had knit a couple more inches to make it wider.

Instead of binding off the way the pattern calls for, which wants you to weave in 5k ends, I just did what most others did in their Ravelry projects notes and pulled the remaining yarn through the loop and left enough slack before going to the next set of stitches to give it enough room when I dropped the stitches. I used 2 skeins of Araucania Ulmo and LOVED it!


On the needles now...February Lady Sweater

Vampires

I just finished the Twilight book by Stephanie Meyer, and I feel kind of disgusted with myself. The only reason I decided to read it was because the boyfriend and I saw the movie at the dollar theater for shits and giggles, and of course by the end of the movie (like every other girl), I was charmed by Edward and couldn't help but "Aw" at every ridiculously corny moment.

The book was written well, it's nothing against Meyer- she certainly knows how to get to the heart of her audience, but unfortunately the target audience for this book is the prepubescent teenage girl who thinks that boys are actually charming (hah!) and act like Edward. Then again he IS a vampire, so I suppose to try and argue that the book is unrealistic is a bit trite.

I feel a bit like I need to repent by reading Anne Rice again. I remember when I was younger being so captivated by the world of vampires she created in her books...

The only creative output I've done recently is a beret, I can't seem to bring myself to start any other projects.

This is the Cabled Beret by Debbie Bliss, adapted to knit in the round with her cashmerino aran.

Oh my- It's been forever. Life has been hectic but I'm finally able to devote some time to knitting again!

I have two projects I'm almost finished with. First is the Phiaro Scarf from Knitscene a couple issues back:

I am also knitting a beret from the first issue of Debbie Bliss (I have a newfound love for her yarns, now). I'm using the cashmerino aran yarn from her line:


And of course Duchesse is doing well :)

Dawn is done!

I finished the Dawn pattern by Kim Hargreaves' book "Nectar" today! I was worried about the seaming, it really wasn't bad at all...I looked up some pictures and backstitching and used that for all the seams. It was so nice to knit something that turned out perfect the first time around without having to rip back into it!

Le Voila! (or is it voici? my French has gone down the gutter this summer)

Twinkle-ness

So as I'm casting on for the Twinkle Hoodie with the yarn I frogged from my twice failed Best Friend Cardigan, I found out that WEBS is having a sale on Tahki Baby at 6.99 per ball (which is half off). This is one of the yarns I've seen a ton of people substitute the twinkle with, and Chia mentions it along with Cascade Magnum as a viable substitute.

I'm thinking of ordering the White 01 for the Nimbus Sweater in Twinkle's Weekend Knits?

I've also been itching to knit up a high waisted skirt. I love the high waisted look- especially with my figure, it's quite flattering with a blouse tucked in and some flats or pumps. I've been making notes and researching some different yarns to perhaps write my own pattern, but in the mean time I found a much quicker project to get my hands on. As I was looking through Twinkle's Big City knits book I noticed that the Groovy Sweater Dress could be cast off after the ribbing in the waist for a skirt! I would probably have to knit one or two more repeats of the pattern as well to make it longer. I'm not sure how the chunkiness of the wool will flatter my rather plump bum, but it's worth a try? Besides, I love this pattern but would never be able to pull off the bobbles that the top features. Nor is Georgia's winter harsh enough to justify wearing that along with a coat and leggings.

I'm thinking the skirt in this colour with a black top tucked in and some grey tights, black shoes, and maybe a beret:

Why are kitties so cute?

Cupcake

I knitted this for my father's birthday. The amount of time I spent sewing in the individual beads took longer than the cupcake itself. Knit with Paton's Grace on Size 5's.

Dishcloth Beret

My dishcloth beret I adapted from this pattern is done! The 1 skein of malabrigo worsted I used to knit it with was amazing...I am hooked and want more. If anything the beret came out a little too big, which is fine with me since I have an abnormally large head.

For the pattern, all I did was knit the pattern accordingly and when the time came to bind off..I just kept knitting until it measured 4" from the last decrease (or one of the edges of the stars).

So tada!

I have been incredibly sick lately. I seem to have caught something in between the flu and an awful cold. Every time I think it's getting better I start sneezing again and get tired. Needless to say, I haven't gotten much knitting done. I have, however, at least started studying my French again for the coming semester. I also started re-reading the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. I've read up until the 6th book in the past, where it started to get boring and I lost interest. The first book is beautiful though. Re-reading it now I am able to catch the French influences (since afterall, Lestat and Louis are French).