The Land of Oz

Here's my second block from Sany's pattern, using her diagonal color change directions!  In the corners, you join with one chain and a single crochet, and continue with the same color.  I'm not explaining it very well, so you should check out her directions.  It's pretty brilliant.

So, I'm kind of an L. Frank Baum and Oz fan...  And I'm really excited (and nervous) about the new Disney movie Oz The Great and Powerful. Did you know that there are fourteen books in the Oz series by Baum? (Oh man, my geek is really starting to show!  And I'm afraid it's going to get worse.)  In the books, the land of Oz is made up of four countries, and in the middle where they meet, is the capital, Emerald City.  Each country has a favorite color... Munchkin's is blue, Winkie's is yellow, Gillikin's is purple, and Quadling's is red.  Now is my crocheted block making sense?

I did a quick internet search to find what those colors were again instead of going through my books, and ran across an entire wikipedia page on the Land of Oz.  So I made my block based on the colors of the map I found there...  Later I pulled out a few of my Oz books to show you, and found I had a map in my All Things Oz book.  And I noticed the colors are reversed!  Well, apparently East and West are sometimes reversed, and there's an entire little section in that wikipedia entry devoted to theories on why haha!!

Anyways, here's a few of the Oz books from my collection.  I'm always on the lookout for them in used bookstores.  Yes, I could probably find them online somewhere, but it's all about the hunt!  Some of them are pretty rare and collectible.  These are just a few of the Oz books I have...  (My bookcases are in disarray, to put it lightly.  My close to 700 books are double stacked on the shelves, and in some places in piles resembling a Jenga game.  I was afraid if I pulled one more out, the whole thing would collapse.)

And I haven't even mentioned the Oz graphic novels (I have a couple by Eric Shanower), a bizarro fiction book (The Emerald Burrito of Oz), or an Oz/Wonderland crossover comic book (Oz/Wonderland Chronicles Book 1)...  Oh man, I've said far too much!  My geek flag is a flyin'!

Oh well, you've probably already figured out I was a big book nerd from my other book inspired crocheted blocks (like Wool, Molly Fyde, Dr. Seuss, Under Wildwood, The Mark of Athena, Tantra Song, and Alyss Heart).  So, bringing this back to where I started, now you may understand why I'm both excited and nervous about this new Disney movie!  I don't want to be disappointed!  However, I think it's good that the original Wizard of Oz movie, which you are most likely familiar with, is still owned by MGM, which means for this new movie Disney will have to rely more heavily on the original books by Baum since they are in the public domain!

That's probably enough Oz talk for today...  Have you guys read any of the Oz books?  Do you like movie and book adaptations of older books and fairy tales?

(Did you know that in the books, Dorothy's shoes are silver and not red? Sorry, I'm done. I promise.)