The fangs of freelance by Drew Hayes

Plot

Everyone's favorite vampire accountant is back in this fourth book in the Fred series. At the end of the last book Bloody Aquisitions Fred and friends created the new vampire house and Fred signed up as a freelance asset for The agency. Hoping to gain their protection against the encroaching house of Turva. 

Bureaucratic wheels turn slowly but now the agency is calling on Fred to fulfill his end of the deal. But before he can officially work for them he is taken to their headquarters for a skill assessment. Along with agents Arch and Krystal who decided to tag along Fred will meet not only His prospective boss Roderick but also run into September Windbrook brother of June Windbrook and Krystals ex fiancee. 

My thoughts

Did I actually manage to make guy going on a job interview sound exciting? I think so. Like the others its a collection of chronological short stories. And the first is literally just Fred going for a job interview and meeting some of Krystals coworkers. The other stories follows Fred and co going on assignments, some for The Agency others helping out friends. Of course in a world of  magic assignments for accountants can still involve lovecraftian wizard ghosts in a crumbling castles and other dangers. 

There is less of an over arching plot to this one but there is a theme though one in the background of the plots. It's about how moving forward and not stagnating becomes more of a conscious choice as an immortal or undead creature. But also what happens for those that don't make do that choice. Although sort of immortal Fred and his friends are all quite young by supernatural standards. Fred and Krystal are in their ... early thirties? Neil and Albert are nineteen. Bubba and Amy are probably older than Fred but I don't think by much. So this is all a bit new to them.

All in all it's good but it is mostly Fred doing more or less accountant things. I'm not saying this as a bad thing it's just a bit of calm and return to a new normal after the last book and before the next. 

  

Infinity-scarf with a hood

 In my ongoing quest to not freeze this winter I have been wearing a lot of hoodies inside often with the hood up. This means that I need to change into a sweater when I go outside. You just can't wear a hoodie under a wool coat at least not comfortably. Also when I get back in I don't have a hood anymore unless I change clothes again. But I have come opp-on a solution to this problem a sweater and a removable hood. Or to put it differently a circle scarf with a hood attached. 

The idea is to make it in sort of this shape (see picture) then fold in the center and sew or crochet the top together. Of course the long part being a circle but that's hard to draw and I was more interested in the measurements. I had used a scarf I have to measure out the length. Circle scarfs are annoying like that doing them too long or too short makes them hard to fit.  Since I'm doing Doing it lengthwise I need to figure this out from the beginning since I can't add anything later on.

For this project I plan on using some of my left over yarn Since I feel like I have too much of it. This isn't even all of my yarn just the ones that matched my color scheme. This is also why I decided to use needle-binding since it works well with yarn scraps. Unlike knitting where you just pull as much from the skein as you need for each stitch. In needle-binding you cut off and use a short piece at a time. 

I don't have enough of any color for the whole hood so the plan is to use alternating colors first the black then gray then blue. letting the colors overlap and creating a gradient.

A thing that annoys me when I'm googling ideas for what to do with crafting scraps is that they mostly assume that you have the same yarn or fabric in different colors. I do not. I have wool and cotton, thick and thin, elastic and non elastic and they in general do not want to work together. 

This is what I'm thinking as I'm finishing the second row of this scarf in a thicker yarn that almost completely covers the first row.

I'm on row ten when I notice that the scarf has gotten longer and by quite a bit too. I think its a result of measuring it out using a thinner yarn and then doing the same number of stitches for the thicker one. At this point I should unpick it and start over. But needle-binding takes almost as long time to unpick as it does to make. So instead I chose to keep going hoping that reducing the number of stitches would fix it. You'd think I'd have learned by now that this rarely works. This time was no exception

After making two new rows I ended up unpicking it anyway and started over this time starting with the thicker yarn. I then unpicked it again because I had figured out another way to add a new row. This would allow me to put the rows side by side rather than overlapping them. This reduces the thickness but lets me get more length which I need since I have limited yarn. Needle-binding is still rather new to me and I'm still figuring it out. 

Third time was the charm and I finished the scarf part. Starting on the hood I measured out the length for it and marked it off on the scarf. Then once I reached my marker I simply stopped going round and started going back and forth between the markers. Slowly it started going higher.

Every row I also started adding a single stitch in the center back of the hood to make a bit if room for the back of my head. Then once it got high enough I started reducing by one stitch instead. Then two and three as I started to reach the top. Until finally I could stitch the top together. Here was a bit of a problem you can sort of see it on the picture but the top is a bit concave with the front being higher than the center. I solved this by stitching the front together then doing another few rows on the inside of the hole left before binding the edges together. Then all that was left was weaving in the edges of which needle-binding has many.   

Result

Trying it on it wasn't quite as deep as I wanted so I added two rows along the front edge. This also evened it out some but really can you ever have a hood that's too large. 

Despite the hood size I still liked the shape of it. However I'm also not sure about the color. The gradient is a bit stark so the scarf is gray and the hood blue and a bit uneven. It looks like it was made from scraps more than anything deliberate. I know that's what it is but I'd still prefer it not look like that.

It is cozy and warm though so I have been using it quite a bit. It's nice to wander around the house with which was the plan all along so I'm not too disappointed.

I might redo this some day but then with a single color and type of yarn. If so I'll make the hood even deeper and have something More dramatic. 

 

How to defeat a demon king in ten easy steps by Andrew Rowe

I din't really plan to buy this book. I got it because audible was offering a discount a half price for three months or something and then the second month they had a different discount with two books for one credit. This one just happened to be the most interesting sounding. 

Plot

The planet goes through cycles. A demon king will appears, rules for a hundred years and takes over roughly half the planet. Then the hero is born and defeats them, people rebuild and then a new demon king appears.

This time however it's different. An early alliance with one of the Kingdoms means that by the time the hero is born the whole world will be under the demon kings command. 

Young protagonist Yui is not a hero but has decided that they don't have time to wait for the hero and devices a plan to defeat the demon king anyway. Step one steal the heros sword from the stone.

My thoughts

The setting is very videogameish people get sorted into classes (not in an dystopian way its based on their actions). Classes that levels up with experience points from killing monsters. though slightly arbitrary like the hero class only being for those with a tragic backstory. It's very cliche. But it makes fun of those cliches and has characters who uses them to their advantage. Like making fun of the unrealistic inventory or ken who knows all the traditions and who by making Yui a green tunic is able to trick all the NPCs. I like Yui experimenting with her magic figuring out how it works. What would make her increase her level and skill as quickly as possible. Al with comments from her long suffering parents. 

Maybe I just have a fondness for clever characters who solves problems especially by using tools in unexpected ways. 

All that being said I'm fairly certain I would have gotten more out of it if I had ever played legend of Zelda or any similar game. I haven't all I know about them I do from just cultural osmosis. But its enough to recognize NPC dialog and enjoy the book.

The book does a very modern thing where it questions who the real villain actually is. Is it the demon king or the silver goddesses that perpetuation the cycle. But it does go somewhere with it and not like how I usually see it, in commentary videos or fanfiction. Though thinking about it this whole book might be considered a fanfiction now that I think about it. 

Regardless I enjoyed it.

Nice and short. 

Making Breakfast Bars

 I started making these regularly after I moved. At work there is an early morning meeting once a week and to get there on time I would skip breakfast eating two of these on the train instead. It gave me plenty of opportunities to improve the recipe. Now I could easily buy some bars instead but they are all 1 too expensive to be a regular purchase and 2 mostly sugar. 

Ingredients

3 dl Oats

50g Coconut oil
100g Datepaste or dates

1 Banana

100g Peanut butter

50g Almonds or other nuts

50g Dried fruit(I like cranberrys)

Instructions

In general you can mix these however you want but this is how I usually do. Preheat the oven to 175 C.

Melt the coconut oil in a double boiler (basically put it in a small bowl and then put the bowl in warm water). Personally I used my small mixing bowl and put the water in my large mixing bowl to avoid unnecessary clean up. While the coconut oil is melting use a blender to turn the oats into flour. I use a immersion blender and a mason jar. This doesn't have to be perfect since some texture is nice.

Peel the banana and put it in the mixing bowl with the oil along with the date past, and mush them with a fork. A thing a bout date paste, I prefer to use it but it can be somewhat hard to find in stores. You can replace it with finely chopped or blended dates.  

Then add the peanut butter, oat flour and stir. Roughly chop the almonds and cranberrys add those as well and stir it into a even paste. If its too dry you can add up to 50g of juice. 

Spread the mixture on a parchment paper on a baking tray making it about 0,5 to 1 cm thick. I tried to make it a square since it needs to be cut up later. Then bake for 20 minutes.

Once it's baked take it out of the oven and let it cool for a little. But before it cools completely and gets hard cut it up in 2×5 cm pieces.

Results

I have done this several times before and it turned out like usual so it's hard to have any opinions since its mostly what I was expecting. In general they are good and I lake them. If you are used to the store bought kind they are less sweet and they have a milder and less immediate taste. This is mostly because there isn't as much sugar. But most store bought bars are more like candy than food.  

There is a thing with the amount. I could have made a double batch and it would have filled out the baking tray rather than just a bit in the middle. But I like to save these for the days when I don't have time to eat breakfast therefor these will last me a long time a there is a limit to how much I want to store. 

About storing I put them in a box in the freezer, I don't think they would survive that long. But they thaw very fast in a few minutes you can eat them. 

All systems red by Martha Wells

Plot

 This is the first book in the murderbot diaries. One of my favorite series.

Murder bot is a secunit a security construct rented out by the company to provide security for research expedition on an uninhabited planet. But after two of the researcher nearly got killed by dangerous fauna that wasn't in the information packet. Large parts of their map is blank and when they loose contact with the only other expedition on the planet. It becomes clear that they are not as alone as they thought.

Murderbot must reveal that they are in fact not controlled by the habitat security system and haven't been since they hacked their own governing module month ago. 

My Thoughts

It's short I think its technically a novella and I read it in two days. But though there is places that could be stretched out I don't mind that they weren't. This isn't a suspense full book, the focus is on the mystery (who is messing with them and why) and outwitting them. Even more is about Murderbot´s anxieties about their changing circumstances. 

The whole book is from Murderbot´s perspective and it has captured it well both the anxiety and the in-humanness of them. A usual flaw of first person limited stories is how to incorporate conversations and events they weren't present for. This neatly solves that, the company records everything in the habitat to data-mine for trade-secrets. Murderbot, as part of the security system, can access these when they want. Beside using nearby cameras and drones as much if not more than their eyes. 

Interesting to see the expedition members reaction to realizing that Murderbot is less like a robot and more like a person than they thought. A somewhat traumatized, introverted person who gets overwhelmed by being talked to but who is also very capable of killing them all. 

It's surprisingly relatable. Murderbot doing the bare minimum of work to keep the Company from getting suspicious and reconnecting them to the system. All the while just wanting to watch their series. About the Company it's unnamed and while not really evil they are somewhat the antagonists they are just the worst of capitalism. Greedy and cheap, cutting corners where ever it can and will do the right thing only to avoid paying damages. 

Murderbot can be bought at Amazon

Making a basket of scrap fabric

In general I have far to much scrap fabric or rather the box I use to store it in is full and I've decided not to get a bigger one. Mostly as a nod to minimalism but mostly since crafting supplies have a way of multiplying if I'm not careful. 

Since I also kind of want something to keep project tools in while I'm working on a project but that can  easily be stored away when I'm not. Something to keep needles and thread in. I have been seeing these little folding baskets in some stores so I'll try making one.

Materials

Fabric: Two square pieces, mine are cotton 22×22 cm 

Four snapp fasteners.

For the handle either two rectangular pieces of fabric 5×24 cm or one could use a piece of ribbon instead. Or ignore it completely, the handle's not integral.

Also normal sewing supplies like thread, scissors, needle or sewing machine.

Instructions

First iron the fabric, measure out and then mark up the pieces before cutting them out. As I said I'm doing 22x22 because that's is the largest I can do with the amount of blue fabric but it can be made bigger or smaller. The important thing is that the handle pieces are slightly longer than the basket pieces.

To make the handle pin the handle pieces together inside out. Sew along the edges to turn it into a tube and turn it right side out.

Iron it again and then sewing again along the edges, this last one is mostly just to make it look nice. But it's a small thing. 

I then took the two square pieces again pinning them together inside out. Remember to place the handle in the middle going from one edge to the other. Let it be a little loose since it needs to be folded around the edge. I did not remember this and pinned it to the outside first unfortunately I had already sewed it together before I realized.

So I unpicked it re pinned it and sewed it along the edge same as the handle. Though since it needs to be turned I din't sew all the way. I then turned it right-side out before ironing it again, making sure to fold in the open unsewed part. Then sewed along the edges. Again mostly for neatness but it also because it closes the opening. Sewing under the handle was a bit tricky but it was worth it for the visual. I should say since I'm doing two different color fabrics I had to match the over- and under thread to them. 

I then pulled up the corners and pinned them in a way that looked nice. I used that to measure out  where I wanted to put the snap fasteners. In my case that was 3,5 cm from the edge and 1 cm down. Placing one at each side of the corner. Then all that was left was sewing on the fasteners. 

Result

This is a nice little project that I finished in a few hours. As a basket it works well when sitting on a table but the bottom is a bit to soft for carrying it around. It works but it's not that great. If I make another one I might put a piece of cardboard in it. But then I wouldn't be able to fold or roll it up when I'm not using it. I also didn't know how big the bottom would be. With 22 cm pieces it's bottom is only 12 cm so while it works well I can't fit my big scissors in it. So I'd probably make it a bit bigger. 

Bloody aquisitions by Drew Hayes

Disclamer this book is the third in the series. If you haven't read the previous check out my review of the first one here.

Plot

A new clan of vampires (the house of Turva) are moving to Winslow. Meeting the local big wigs and investigating any vampires who lives there. Having heard rumors about Fred and his exploits they are naturally curious. Except the rumors are though not wrong certainly taken out if context. Fred, who so far has had very limited and mostly violent interactions with other vampires, are not happy about this development. He is even considering leaving Winslow to avoid them. 

Even so unlife goes and between helping friends move, and work he is quite busy. Apparently there was a severe lack of accountants and now Fred and his assistant are swamped with more work than they can handle. 

Then The House of Turva asks for a meeting.

My thoughts

Again this is a collection of shorter stories these ones however are more connected than the earlier books which is why I'm describing the overarching plot rather than the first story like I've done for the others. The second story is basically just the gang traveling to a small town and Fred considering moving there. It works well in the book as a whole but not as a stand alone story.

Like the others this expand on the bodybuilding mostly it give some more insight to how vampires work. Fred who haven't really met one before (unless one count Quinn trying to kill him) and hadn't realized how out of the norm he was. Now we see just how ruthless vampire clans can be and we get a bit more insight into why vampires in particularly are feared and mistrusted. It does do this in a rather nuanced way. It could easily have gone the route of all vampires are evil except for Fred. Instead it introduced Lilian who is part of Turva and sent there to spy on him but ends up befriended instead.

There is also a bit more considerations to the long term. Most of the main characters are sort of immortal though still young Fred has only been a vampire for maybe two years but it's nice that they are starting to acknowledge it. 

But mostly everything I liked about the last ones still apply for this one. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here:

Amazon

Bokus

Adlibris