Wool for Kiri September 24, 2005
I’m a bad, bad girl. Not only did I order the next three Mercedes Lackey books (The Mage Winds Trilogy), but I also ordered the wool for my Kiri. I’ve been debating about what to get for it for seeming ages, and finally decided on the color yarn. I ordered three skeins of Alpaca Cloud in moss from Knit Picks. A number of people on the Kiri SAL list have used this yarn, and seemed to like it. And it’s hard to beat the price. Including shipping it was only just over $16.00 for the three balls of baby alpaca yarn. Yum.
I love alpaca yarn. I have a little gray cardigan I knit a number of years ago (it’s my mushroom sweater—long story). It’s an alpaca/wool blend, heavy on the alpaca. Or light. Wow. That sweater weighs almost nothing and is super warm. Then there’s the natural black alpaca lace vest I knit for Mom some years back. That boy was a bugger to knit. It’s really hard to see mistakes in lace in black yarn. Egads. But, ooh, loverly. That black yarn was yummy, even if it was a pain to knit. It was spun for me by the alpaca herder—is that right, do you herd alpacas, or shepherd them, or something else? Perhaps it’s safer to call her the farmer. When she sent me the finished yarn, she also sent a photograph of the lovely black alpaca who gave her the wool. Mom loved it! So, yes, my love affair with alpaca goes back a ways.
Kerry September 24
If you’re planning to read your way through the Valdemar books, I’d respectfully suggest reading at least By the Sword before you read the Mage Winds trilogy, as it introudces new characters that become very significant.
Personally, I think you’re best to read them in the order they were written as that’s the way the concepts and characters progress.
If you read the Last Herald Mage trilogy before By the Sword and the Mage Winds books, then the Mage Winds make even better sense.
I respectfully suggest:
Arrows of the Queen
Arrow’s Flight
Arrow’s Fall
Magic’s Pawn
Magic’s Promise
Magic’s Price
Oathbound
Oathbreakers
By the Sword
(the first two of these are not directly related, but the backstory for people in By the Sword. You can get away with just reading By the Sword.)
Winds of Fate
Winds of Change
Winds of Fury
Storm Warning
Storm Rising
Storm Breaking
Most of the others are back story and can fit anywhere. Although if you’re pedantic like me, reading the Gryphon trilogy before the Storm trilogy can be useful. Not required, but useful.
Is that more information than you ever wanted?