Bursting With Maternal Pride

On Thursday I accompanied the Evilpixie to her College presentation ceremony where they presented her with this -

The tutors for each course at the college select the Student of the Year for that course - and they chose the Evilpixie for perfect attendance, excellence in her work and always being willing to help everyone. I was all overcome with maternal pride. When I think how much she hated school, how we had to bribe, cajole and drag her to get there every day, how badly she performed in all her school exams.... I wish we could have got her started at college when she was younger. I guess some kids are just not cut out for school yet thrive in the college environment.

On Wednesday Maggi and I went on a little stash enhancement expedition to Knit2together near Newcastle-under-Lyme. We were very good and didn't run amok. I hadn't been there since they moved into their second shop, just up the street from the original shop. Now, they have all their standard yarns - the Jaeger, Wendy, Sirdar etc in that shop, and in the new shop thay have all the Colinette, Noro, Hanne Falkenberg etc. It's like designer yarn heaven! I bought just the one ball of Colinette Prism in Popsicle which I will knit some mittens out of. It's lovely stuff -

I also bought some Wendy 5-ply Guernsey, some of which is to make the Mamluke socks in the Folk Socks book by Nancy Bush. And some of which is for my long planned Guernsey socks which I said last year I was going to design. I have a swatch done, in standard sock wool, of the stitch pattern I'm going to use, but I was having trouble tracking down the Guernsey wool. And I was lucky as when we went to Knit2together they said it had only just come in that morning. How's that for timing? Maggi may have bought some stuff too. I couldn't possibly comment.

I am still ploughing on with the three books I am currently reading / listening to. I've discovered that I can spin while listening to audio though, so I shall definitely get more of these.

This is my 100th post on this blog. I'm astounded. I wasn't sure when I started how I would manage to come up with enough things to say to keep the blog going. I thought I'd just try it for a while and see. But it's been great fun and I'm looking forward to the next 100 posts. Thank you for all your comments and emails. It's nice to know there's someone out there reading my inane drivel. I'll do my best to keep you entertained.

Knitted by Nanas

Have you seen the new TV ad for Shreddies? It seems they are knitted by Nanas. I love it.

Not much knitting news as I've been busy working in the shop, but I did do a little crochet. Yes, you did read that right! I have been crocheting. This is a skill that always eluded me when younger - my grandma tried to teach me but failed. I just couldn't get my head round it. Last year though I knitted a cardigan from one of the Rowan magazines that had a crocheted edging so I faced that demon and just got on and did it. I guess some of Grandma's teaching must have sunk in somewhere as it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.


Anyway there was a shawl in another of the Rowan (what is it with them and crochet) books, (one of the cashsoft / cashcotton pattern books) that I just love but I can't afford it in the suggested yarn. But I have some wool/cotton stuff in the stash in a beautiful petrol blue that I thought would be good. However now that I have done a couple of segments (it's one of those modular thingys) I'm not sure that the pattern suits the colour and the fabric seems a bit dense. I'm not sure it will drape well.



Plus, while I am actually enjoying the little circles, the pattern calls for 36 of the suckers and I'm not sure I'm that fond of crochet. I'm thinking that I might abandon this pattern and knit the yarn into a Luna Moth Shawl instead.



I might go and cast on and see what I think. I shall want something to knit while I'm listening to the Elizabeth Peters audiobook I've chosen for reading group this month. Theme for the month is Edwardian crime as it's the library's centenary year. I thought I wouldn't like the Elizabeth Peters as I'm not big on historical stuff, and I especially hate historical involving the upper classes. However I am absolutely enthralled. It's a little window into a long lost world. The book is Guardian of the Horizon. (This link is to the paperback version and as always it's to Waterstones.com, but you should support your local bookstore if/while you still have one.) I love Amelia Peabody, and the narrator (who's name escapes me temporarily) is a hoot.



I'm being a bit of book hog at the moment actually as I'm also reading John Connolly - The Unquiet (upstairs book), and Pat McIntosh - The Harper's Quine (small paperback for carrying about). I do try and stick to one book at a time usually, honest. That's two historical books on the go at once. I'd better go and lie down.



Oooh, and I almost forgot. Look what I got in the post this morning -


Two of Elizabeth Zimmermann's books. These are quite difficult to get hold of in the UK, so I had ordered them from Amazon.com and I wasn't expecting them for at least another week. I've already dipped into them and they are just as wonderful as everyone keeps saying. Don't you just love the wonder of the internet.


I'm off to listen to more Elizabeth Peters now. Tomorrow Maggi and I are off on a stash enhancement expedition. Hmmmmm. Wooooool.


There might be the odd cup of coffee involved too, and maybe some knitting in public, as I missed International Knit in Public Day. It was Saturday and I was at work. For some reason they don't let me knit behind the counter.

Austin's First Law of Felting

Why is it that if you accidentally sling a woollen (or even a part-woollen) jumper (preferably your favourite, or worse - someone else's favourite) into the washing machine at 40 degrees it will felt itself into the smallest, tightest lump of felt imaginable; and yet, when you lovingly knit a pure wool pink fluffy trimmed bag for your daughter's birthday, and go to felt it - it will not felt under any circumstances. I washed that sucker to within an inch of its life, boiled it on a 90 degree wash (yes, alright, I know that's a contradiction), mashed it for ages in boiling hot water and would the damn thing felt. Would it heck.

Lesson learned - before you lovingly knit a pink fluffy bag in pure wool, do a swatch first and see if it will felt before carrying on to knit the whole bag. Oh yes, and try to do the felting bit before the eve of said daughter's birthday, so that if the felting gods are cross, then you have time to knit something else.

Does anyone think I'm be remembering these things next time I want to knit something for felting? No, me neither. What can I say I'm a knitter who likes to live on the edge.

Happy birthday (for yesterday) to the Evilpixie, born on that date seventeen years ago. Something is obviously wrong with the space/time continuum as last time I looked she was just 10. And I swear I am not old enough to have a seventeen year old daughter.

Just Another Random Monday

Just some random thoughts today as it's a busy day here at Austin Towers.

Firstly, Maxine is accusing me of cheating with the pink Michael Connolly book (who, me? cheat?) - well it is definitely a pale metallic pinkyish colour on the spine (if nowhere else). It did seem unlikely at the time but hey, I was under pressure. And yes, I have read it and thought it was great. Gotta love that Harry Bosch.

I do also like the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Tears of the Giraffe (which was also in the pic) was the last one I finished. I read one of these when I've had enough of serial killers and gratuitous violence...so not very often then. I am working my way slowly through the series, which for those who haven't read one yet can best be described as charming. There is no violence, no real crime to speak of, just a lovely gentle, humourous read. This makes them most unlikely candidates for my favourite books... but it works and I love them, just not too often or people will think I'm going soft!

I have just given up on Killing Time by Caleb Carr which is for reading group on Wednesday. I ought really to have ploughed on and tried to finish it but it was soooo tedious. And I have the new John Connolly sitting next to me on the shelf and it keeps whispering to me. Damn it, I hate attention-seeking books. I'm trying to ignore it but it's very persistent.

I have been knitting. Here are the photos (finally) of the completed Space Invader Socks

I think they're great although for some reason one leg is a bit wider than the other and the other sock has a wider foot. I swear I knitted them both exactly the same way. Anyway it's nothing too major, so I shall just live with it - not too noticable. I'm not sure I did the short row heels exactly right either as I was kind of expecting the stripes to match up and as you can see they don't...

Something to practice there I think.

Anyway as you know I can't be without knitting so I immediately cast on a pair of Cowgirl Socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2006 . The yarn is my own handspun in a colourway I called Pippin because it reminds me of apples. I love the socks which have knitted very quickly and are tolerant of the unevenness handspun qualities of the yarn.

As you can see I have nearly finished them and I only started them on Tuesday, but then they are only short ankle socks.

I'm starting to think about the colours for this segment of Project Spectrum which are black, red and metallic. I should have waited to do the Space Invader socks this month as they are the only project I have in mind at the moment with those colours. Oooooh. I shall have to go visit a yarn shop and see what inspiration strikes me. What a great excuse. In the meantime I'm going to rummage in my stash and see what I've got that I can knit / spin / ply into something original and creative. Watch this space.

Out and About on the Trail of Tolkien

Despite living near Birmingham for nearly 7 years, I've never actually been touristy and done the Tolkien Trail.

Anyway, on Saturday, the lovely Stuart Williams arranged a great walk for my Writers Circle, round the Tolkien haunts at Sarehole (where he lived for a while when he was a boy). We visited the mill, which features quite heavily in LOTR -

Stuart has an exhibition of his photographs in the new tearoom here. Then we walked down the River Cole and past the house where Tolkien lived, and into Moseley Bog, which is a wonderfully atmospheric bit of swamp with lots of trees - just the sort of place a young boy with a vivid imagination would really love!

Stuart gave relevant readings at various points along the walk - he really knows his stuff. Here he is waxing lyrical about the Lady Galadriel in a suitably wooded spot.

Then we walked up to Joy's Wood which is more open and higher than the bog, where we found some very entish trees.

It was a lovely day (I got a little bit of sunburn!) and very interesting. Stuart knows all the local connections and theories concerning Tolkien and his influences in the area. I'd recommend the tour to anyone interested in LOTR, and if you're not then it's still an interesting walk, though it helps if you have an authority along with you to point things out.

Knitting and book stuff tomorrow - it's too sunny to spend much time in front of the computer today.

Holy crap...where did May go????

In the sudden realisation that this is the last day of May, and hence the final day of this section of Project Spectrum, I offer you this...

..randomly and swiftly selected pile of pink books. I apologise for the fact that there are only 7 instead of the usual 12. It seems I do not actually possess 12 pink books. The colours for the next 2 months are black, red and metallics. My problem there will be which of the many books I own with those coloured covers I get to pick.

Something I've Been Dyeing to Show You

Yesterday, while everyone was out and I had peace and quiet I had a bit of a play with the dyestuffs I bought at Wonderwool.

I also had some Koolaid which I used to make this -

That's some unspecified British Wool roving in shades of pink and red and orange and purple - much brighter in real life than it looks in the picture.

Then there's this which is more of the same roving but dyed with Procion dyes in Cerulean Blue, Royal Blue and Deep Purple. I love these colours together.

And finally there's some handspun Corriedale in much more restained colours of green and pale blue.

I think that's not too bad for a first attempt. And I managed not to cover the kitchen in dye, or spill anything. Anyone who knows me will realise that in itself is a major achievement.

I'm still knitting the Space Invader socks but I'm on the foot of the second sock now so the end is in sight. I might even finish them this afternoon, while watching the Play-Off final. Good luck to the Baggies!

I'm also still reading Dying Light by Stuart MacBride. It's proving a very enjoyable read. I shall have to look out for his new one, called Broken Skin, if I remember correctly. It's also set in Aberdeen, and I'd have to recommend it highly for an accurate portrayal of my home city, even if he does feature all the worst parts. He manages to convey a real feel of the old place.

Bubba on the Beach

How's that for a dog in his element.

We had a great day out on Wednesday, to Rhyl, which is on the coast of North Wales for those of you not in the UK. I guess in its heyday Rhyl was a thriving seaside resort, but these days it's a bit on the shabby side. The beach is lovely though - miles and miles of beautifully clean sand, and that's the reason we went there. Also it's the closest beach to where we live - just about 2 hours away on a good day. I really miss not living near the sea. If we lived closer we would definately do this more often. Bubba just loves the beach.

The Evilpixie came too - note the new pink streak in her hair!

Bubba just making sure everyone else is as wet as he is!

I Promised a Post About Books....

...so here it is.

I've finished reading The Intruders by Michael Marshall, which I did enjoy, though I did find it a bit on the supernatural side for my taste. I think I prefer the threats in my books to more grounded in reality, less ethereal. That said, I did enjoy the book which is very well written.

I'm now on Dying Light by Stuart McBride. I liked his previous novel in the series, Cold Granite, which has been long listed for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year Award. They're set in Aberdeen, which is my home town, so reading one is a bit like going home, though he does tend to frequent the seamier side of town.

I found out today that my good friend Helen Oppenheim has been short-listed for the Daily Telegraph Novel in a Year Competition. I believe you had to submit the first 1000 words of a novel and a synopsis. Anyway Helen has made the top 50 from approx 2300 entries, with her novel "The Distance". Go read her extract (and the others too - there's some really great stuff there). The final 5 will be announced on the 26th May so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Helen. I really like her writing, she deserves a top five slot (and that's not just me being biased!).

The theme for Reading Group this month is Futuristic Crime (and Helen's book, when published would fit that slot perfectly), so I have a couple of great books to read. The Mocking Program by Alan Dean Foster and Killing Time by Caleb Carr. I'm looking forward to them when I've finished the Stuart McBride.

Just a quick post today, but check back tomorrow for photos of Bubba on the beach at Rhyl!

A Wonderful Time at Wonderwool

Maggi and I and Maggi's Mum had a great time at Wonderwool. There were lots of different sheep,

(this lovely one is Wensleydale)

and goats, and alpaca,

(we wanted to bring these guys home with us)

and plenty of retail opportunities.


I bought some Trekking sock wool in a great pink colourway.

This is for socks for the Evilpixie, who stunned my on Friday by saying, "These socks you knitted me are just great. Can I have some more?"

I bought myself some handpainted Slkwood yarn too -

Gotta love that combination of aqua and green and pink and purple. Not sure what I'll do with it yet.

And there were shearing displays -

The one thing I really wanted to get though, and couldn't find was some handpainted roving. Still, not to be beaten I bought some dyestuffs and some plain alpaca roving and plan to have a go myself this week.

Apologies for the lack of book posts recently. I will post about books later in the week I promise. Tomorrow however we are off to Rhyl for a day out by the seaside. Bubba just loves the beach.

Just a Little Update

I'd like to wow you all with descriptions of the great knitting I've been doing this week, plus tell you all how busy I've been - way too busy to blog. But truth is, neither of those things are true. So here's the not very exciting update on my week.

I have been carrying on with the space invader socks. I still love them. But I had a little trouble with the heel. It's the first time I've done a short row heel and I made a bit of an arse of it. Hopefully the other one will be better. I'm nearly finished the first sock -

Not a very good picture, sorry.

What else have I been doing.

A bit of spinning -


This is some superwash merino that I started to spin at the Derby open day last week. I love the way the colours have blended. I can't decide if I'll make a 2ply or if I should Navaho ply it. Might do a little test plying and see what looks best. I've got about 200g of this so I might manage to knit something other than yet another pair of socks. Not that there's anything wrong with socks. You can never have too many pairs of handspun, handknitted socks, right?

I got the new Summer issue of Interweave Knits in the post this morning, which was a bit of a surprise, as it's only a couple of weeks since I got the last one. There are some lovely patterns in this issue. Including several that I might actually be tempted to knit, instead of just drooling over them, working out how much the yarn would cost, and deciding that maybe I can live without it. But there's a pattern by Norah Gaughan, whose designs I love, called Origami - and I think I might have to knit it. It's just my kind of thing -

See. Lovely. I like to fool myself that when I'm wearing this cardi (though not in that colour), I will look as great as this model. Delusion is a wonderful place.

Anyway I don't care because on Sunday I am going to Wonderwool. Hope you're all jealous! I promise to buy lots of wool take lots of pictures. Mmmmmmmm. Fiiiiiibre.

A Plethora of Spinners

I'm not sure what the collective noun for a group of spinners would be but yesterday there was definitely a lot of us!

It was the annual open day held by the Derbyshire Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Guild, and what a lovely bunch of people they turned out to be. As a newish spinner this was my first event like this and I wasn't sure quite what to expect.

Well, I had a great time. They had laid on a fantastic event in a lovely hall. There were stall selling fibre, and dyes, and books, and beautiful hand-turned spindles and other woodwork. There were beautiful examples of handspun, handknitted and woven garments and wallhangings and bags and all manner of things.

I guess in total there must have been about 50-60 spinners in the hall, from all over the midlands. And they were all so friendly, and they didn't mind a bit if you just had to have a feel of their jumper and ask them how it was made.

Here are Mona, Catherine and Jan from my local spinners group (Walsall Handspinners) -

And here is the Scottish Fibres stall where there were all manner of lovely goodies for sale -

I took this photo while everyone was eating lunch (otherwise you wouldn't have seen the stuff for the spinners). Oh, yes, the Guild had laid on a fantastic spread for lunch and then even more for tea in the afternoon. We were so well looked after.

And here's Maggie, discovering just how addictive spinning can be once you find a wheel that suits you - Check the look of total concentration on her face. I wish I had got a photo of the excitement on her face later when she had in her hand her very first small plied hank of handspun. All her own work. And thanks to the lady, who's name I missed, who loaned Maggie her new Kromski wheel to try, and who really ought to be on commission as I gather everyone who tries it wants one.

I was very restrained with the shopping. But I did buy a few bits (well, it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it). So I did buy a bag of shetland fleece, and a nice pile of back issues of US knittings mags, and a back issue of Spin-Off. I totally resisted the piles of multicoloured merino, and all the many different rare breeds, and the silk and camel and yak and alpaca and angora. All of which I petted and put back. I resisted the rosewood and ebony circular and sock needles too, although that was hard as they were very nice. It was the books that really got me (that will not a surprise to anyone who's ever met me, or who's been reading the blog regularly), there were so many books that I wanted, on lace knitting, and dyeing and spinning and sock knitting. I could have spent an absolute fortune. Anyway I just noted a few titles for my wishlist ready for my next birthday or christmas or whatever.

So anyway a good time was had by us all. It was great to see what everyone else was spinning and be able to ask them questions. And there were so many beautiful wheels of many different makes, some old, some new. And a great variety of spinners too spinning all different things in different ways. I got some great ideas for things I'd like to try. A really inspirational day.

I Sooooooo Love These Socks.......

They are the totally wonderful BPM from Knitty.com. I knew as soon as I saw them that I wanted to knit them, and when I was rummaging in my stash yesterday I found 2 balls of black sock yarn so that was that. This is the first time I've knitted with different colours since I started knitting again, though I used to do quite a bit - I distinctly remember a couple of really hideous 1980s picture sweaters. So far it's going Ok, though I have got in a bit of a mess with the two balls getting tangled a few times. Ok, it was more than a few, but I don't think I swore. Well, not much anyway.

It was going to be an experiment in knitting socks on 2 circulars as well, but I found I didn't have any in the size I needed, so they will be done as usual on DPNs. They are really great fun to knit - and they have the added advantage that the 2 socks are different so there should be no problems with the dreaded second sock syndrome.

Gotta go - aliens to zap knit

Yellow Books

The next installment of my Project Spectrum series is books with yellow covers -

These are pretty much a giveaway about where my main interests in life lie.

Next up....pink books. Hmmmmm. Could be tricky.

Ware! Knitting Content!

Just in case you were starting to wonder, I have been knitting (and spinning too).

And I have photos to prove it!

Firstly here is my first attempt at Navaho Plying. It's a little overspun in places, but not bad for a first attempt.

Then I have some Merino/Nylon mix that is destined for socks in a lovely colourway that I am calling Pippin. This is also Navaho Plied - once I got started I just couldn't stop. I shall cast about on the net and in my various sock books for a suitable pattern for this later today. Nothing too complicated, I want the yarn to be the main feature, not the pattern, but something with cables maybe.

There is also this which is the last of the Shetland from Joyce's Raspberry Ripple Scarf project. This is destined to be part of a present too, but I can't reveal what it will be yet.

As well as all that spinning, which was done yesterday, while everyone was out and I had the house to myself for a change, I have done a little actual knitting. There's this -

Destined to be felted, and also a present, so more on that later, once it's been in the washer and is complete.

I'm still knitting the pink socks for the Evil Pixie, but they are just dull old plain socks, so I shan't photograph them until they're finished.


And I got this in the post on Friday -


Spring issue of Interweave Knits, the first of my subscription. It's the first one I've managed to get my hands on and I'm really impressed, so much better than what is available in the UK. There's a fantastic Top-down Cable Raglan Pullover in there that just has my name all over it. I do love top-down jumpers - no sewing up to be done!

Irritatingly, I'm still waiting for my first issue of Spin Off which seems to have got lost in transit. I've reported it as missing so hopefully the replacement will arrive soon.

I've been suffering really badly with hay fever this week. Whenever I go outside my eyes feel all puffy and itchy and I feel like I have a head full of cotton wool. There is nothing for it. I shall just have to stay inside and knit. Curses.

Books to Keep Quiet About

There's been a bit of a discussion in the blogosphere this week about whether or not you admit to all the books you read. Do you keep it quiet that you have a secret addiction to Jean Plaidy or Dan Brown or the plethora of misery memoirs, and only list the books that you think you should read?

I have to say that I have been completely honest about all the books I've read since starting this blog. Actually there aren't any on the list that I would be ashamed of reading, but I've read some bizarre things over the years. I've read the Da Vinci Code, mainly because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And I think it's only fair to try to read different stuff - how else would you discover that it's not to your taste. I might not like Sophie Kinsella's books, for example, but there are many who do, who eagerly await the next one. I haven't actually read any of the Shopaholic books, but I might, and if / when I do I shall tell you about it.

I am of the opinion that you learn a lot about writing from reading good books, but you can also learn a lot from reading the odd bad book, or from reading books that are outside your preferred genre. Most of what I read is crime fiction, but I also like historical fiction, classics, the odd bit of literary fiction, some fantasy and a bit of SF. Generally I don't like to read romantic fiction, chick lit, misery, horror or sport/celebrity biographies. That said, I come across books in all of these genres (except possibly celebrity bios) that appeal to me occasionally, and I try not to let pink covers get in the way.

It was one of my resolutions this year to read more varied books (or at any rate a lesser proportion of crime novels) , and I'm not sure that so far I'm really succeeding in that - so many books, so little time. Must try harder.

Anyway you can rest assured that I'll let you know what I'm reading, even especially if it's something I wouldn't normally read, and I'll let you all know what I think of it too!

Random Monday Stuff

It's been a hectic weekend here at Casa Austin. (Like we ever have any other sort, really). As part of the great plan to run down the book-selling business and reclaim the house from the many assorted piles of books that lurk everwhere, we did a couple of car boot sales (that's flea markets to those of you over the pond). We sold quite a bit of surplus stock, which was the plan but I am absolutely shattered today as it involved getting up at 5am on both Saturday and Sunday. And I worked all day in the shop today.

Consequently I have no brain cells functioning coherently, so random posting is the best you can expect. Anyone looking for scintilating wit and sparkling repartee should move along now. Nothing to see here.

I have knitted though, in between customers at the bootsales I finished the first of a pair of socks for the Evilpixie -



They're just standard recipe socks knitted in some vintage Sirdar Random that I found in the stash. They look a bit bluish in the pic but they are actually pink and white with a little hint of lilac.


This arrived in the post -

Issue 2 of Yarn Foward magazine. Kerrie has had all manner of problems getting this issue published, so I'm glad she managed it in the end, all be it four months behind schedule. Thankfully she seems to have solved the problems now and the next issue should be on track for July. I like this magazine, it's much better than the ones available at the newsagents, if not quite up to the standard of some of the American ones. Still it's early days, plenty of time for it to get even better.

I got this book at the weekend too -

Lots of great ideas for adding beads, sequins, patterns etc to your knitting.

I finished Dissolution by C J Sansom, and liked it a lot. I was a bit unsure at first, not being a big fan of historical crime and nor being a big fan of crime novels featuring much religion. But once I got into it I did enjoy it, and shall read the next one fairly soon. I'm now reading The Reckoning by Sue Walker. I'll let you know how that pans out, not convinced yet - I'm on page 108 and very little seems to have happened so far, though there's quite a lot of back story. We shall see.

Anyway I'm off to veg out in front of the TV and I think there's a glass of wine somewhere with my name on it.........

Standing at the Crossroads

I find myself at one of life's crossroads, with big decisions to be made, and some already made, about where I go from here.

I've spent the last six years, happily working from home, selling books on the internet. We've built the business up together and it's been hard work but a lot of fun along the way.

Yesterday, we finally admitted that it wasn't working anymore and that the new changes to eBay mean the business is no longer viable. So, over the next few months we shall run the business down and sell off the stock.

I shall still have to find some gainful employment however. I've asked about extra hours at my part-time retail job, but I shan't know about that for a couple of weeks. So in the meantime I find myself in the strange situation of having to re-evaluate my skills and look around to see what else I can do.

I'm quite looking forward to some new challenges. It will be strange though to go back out into the world full-time after so long spent working on my own, being my own boss. Interesting times ahead. Anyone got any vacancies involving books or knitting?

In the words of President Bartlett..."What's Next?"

Other Stuff!

Just a few little bits I've been meaning to blog about.

I also read Triptych by Karin Slaughter. Very good. Just when you think you know what's going on she takes you off in a completely different direction.

Maxine, I can send you my copy (it's a large format PB) if you like, email me your address. Or if you want your own, it is published in PB this week and will be half price in Waterstones from Thursday as it's their book of the week.

A Fine Dark Line

I said in my last post that this book, A Fine Dark Line by Joe R Lansdale deserved a post to itself, so here it is.

I did suspect that I was going to like this book before I started it. I loved The Bottoms. In fact it's one of my all time favourite books, and this one is fairly similar in structure.

It's set in East Texas in the 1950s and is a coming of age story about Stanley, who's parents run the local drive-in. It's a simple tale about a young boy discovering what's important in life, learning about sex and death and friendship, about inequality and racism. The whole book is full of wonderful, beautifully drawn characters, like Stanley himself, his father, mother and sister, friend Richard, Rosa Mae who works for the family, and the projectionist Buster Lighthorse Smith. Lansdale has a delicate touch and he subtly draws you right into this thirteen-year-old's world. Before you know it you're completely hooked. It's a masterpiece of setting and pacing and he pulls it all together beautifully at the end.

It's a book that stays with you, that you keep thinking about after you've finished it and put it aside. And for me that shows how good a book it is. I read so many books these days, some because I want to, some for review, some for reading group, and it is rare to find a book that stays with me for several days after I put it down, as this one has done. Too many of the books I read now have no real impact. They don't stay with you. You read them and they are gone. Sometimes I go to comment on a book at reading group and realise that I can't remember what happened in it, though I only read it a week or so ago. This book kept me thinking about it all over the weekend and prompted me to go pick up The Bottoms and start reading it again.

A Fine Dark Line is a great book. Go read it!

Socks!

I'm really not sure where the week has gone. I'm having trouble with the fact that Friday seems to have sneeked up on me already.

I have finished the Cherry Tree Hill Crusoe Socks -

They were an absolute joy to knit. It was the first time I'd used that yarn (Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Brights #1) and I was very impressed. The pattern knitted up very quickly and I like the way it turned out - there is a little pooling of the colours but nothing very major - I can live with it. And I still have about 55g of yarn left - should be able to get another pair of short socks out of that.

In books, I have finished A Fine Dark Line by Joe R Lansdale and will post about it over the weekend. It was a book that deserves a post to itself - I don't read too many of those!

I started The Ambitious Stepmother by Fidelis Morgan but couldn't get on with it somehow. This is for reading group, and I had been looking forward to it. Everyone keeps telling me how great these books are. Perhaps it was just that I was so absorbed by the Lansdale (which is a very different type of book) that the contrast was just too great. I just found it irritating. Perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

Anyway I have passed it up and started Triptych by Karin Slaughter. Murder, mayhem and serial killers - much more my kind of thing.

A Walk in the Park

On Friday, we took Bubba to Sutton Park for a walk. It's one of his favourite walks.

Sutton Park is a great place - absolutely huge - one of the biggest urban parks in Europe, and even when it's the school holidays and the park is really busy it's so big that you can sometimes not meet anyone. It's a wonderful place for dog walking, cycling, riding or just walking among the trees. There are wild ponies -

And lots of rabbits for Bubba to chase. And there are miles and miles of paths to follow -

And then there's the lake, which is the main reason that this is Bubba's favourite -

Here he is doing what a retriever loves best - getting wet and muddy!

We walked round the lake to The Boathouse and had a cup of coffee while Bubba dried off a bit.

All in all a very good afternoon.

12 Green Books

This post was inspired by Lolly who blogged about green books earlier in the week. So I picked 12 green books at random from our shelves -

Before I did this I'd have bet on there being more fiction than non-fiction, as that's mostly what I read, but actually there is more non-fiction. I guess maybe green is not the most popular colour for crime fiction covers. If black had been one of the colours I could have picked twelve from the first shelf! I guess these are a fair indicator of our interests - book collecting, knitting, writing, Subbuteo and an odd management book.

I intend to continue this thoughout Project Spectrum so to follow will be yellow books (not much crime fiction there then!) and pink books - I may struggle to find 12 pink books on our shelves.

Oooooh, Knitterly Goodies...

Yesterday was my birthday and I got some lovely knitterly presents (and some non-knitterly ones too).

First of course, my main present was my carders, which I had a couple of weeks ago after our visit to the Threshing Barn.

But, yesterday on my actual birthday I got these too -

That's Two Sweaters for My Father by Perri Klass, a wonderful book of writing about knitting, Domiknitrix which is just stuffed with great, fun patterns, and the first season of The Wire on DVD. Bubba also got me the latest Snow Patrol CD (but it's in the car so there's no picture).

I had a lovely birthday, read a bit, spun a bit, did some knitting, watched England playing cricket (not very well, but at least they won), had a super Chinese meal for dinner. A really good day.

I do have knitting to show you - these are the Cherry Tree Hill Bright socks in Crusoe pattern from Knitty.com. This is the sock pattern I had trouble with last month with the lovely sock wool from Jill in Canada. This yarn is much better for the pattern, at least so far with no major pooling.

They are knitting up very quickly too, although I am a little concerned that they might not be wide enough. I shall have to see when I get to the instep.

Random Tuesday

Just some random thoughts as I get over the Bank Holiday weekend. The weather for once was just wonderful all over the weekend, so even though I did 2 days work in the shop I still managed to fit in a few car boot sales, a few books and some knitting.

I finished the Lee Child book The Hard Way and enjoyed it more than I expected. I then read Illusion by Daniel Boyle. Can't say that I enjoyed that, found it very irritating. Reviews of both of these will be wending their way to Karen at Eurocrime this week. I'm now reading A Fine Dark Line by Joe R Lansdale. Couldn't resist it any longer (I thought I did well to fit in the Daniel Boyle first - showing remarkable retraint!).

I've been knitting a lovely chunky cardigan - Sonnet from Knitty.com. I'm knitting it in chocolate brown pure wool. The great thing about this pattern is that it is easily adjustable (designed that way!) so you can knit it in any yarn with any gauge. It's a bit of a dull knit though, even if it does knit up quickly in the chunky yarn. And of course the weaher has turned warm so by the time I'm finished it, it will be too heavy to wear.

Anyway it is entirely the wrong colour for Project Spectrum so I shall be casting on the bright yellow and green socks as soon as I've finished blogging.

There was a fantastic program on TV last night about Jackie magazine - great nostalgic value for those of us who were teenagers in the seventies. The Evilpixie watched it with amused fascination - difficult for her to image life without iPods, mobile phones, computers etc.

Tonight is the final part of Life on Mars. I've enjoyed this series immensely, but I think they are right to end it now. I understand there will be a spin off starring the wonderful Philip Glenister, set in London. Hopefully it will live up to the high standard of writing on the original series.

Anyway, must go - socks to cast on!

Is this bright enough?

I bought some sock wool for Project Spectrum. It might be a little bright...

It's even brighter than it looks in that photo. Here's a close-up...

That still doesn't do it justice. It's Cherry Tree Hill Supersock and is called, not unreasonably, Bright 1. It's not kidding. I think if I went out after dark in these socks I'd be accused of light pollution and may attract moths.

Also, arriving in the mail was this -

It's about a million miles of beautiful shades of blue laceweight. You know I said, way back in January, that I wanted to knit something really challenging this year? Well, this is for that project. It's going to be a shawl, when I can decide on which pattern I want to use. It will probably take me the rest of my life to knit and turn me into a raving chocolate / red wine addict. I can't imagine what I was thinking.

I finished the Raspberry Ripple scarf for my MIL's birthday and it was delivered today. (I think she liked it!) However I forgot to photograph it for the blog, because I am an idiot.

I'm still reading The Hard Way by Lee Child. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. I guess as long as you take Jack Reacher with a pinch of salt and suspend disbelief temporarily then it's quite an enjoyable little book. But now I can't wait to finish it because I want to get started on A Fine Dark Line by Joe R Lansdale. I treated myself to this while in Borders in Oxford today and I really want to read it right now. I absolutely loved The Bottoms, probably one of my favourite books of all time, and this is in much the same vain, being set in the same time period and also in East Texas.

I spent quite a bit of time in Borders today as they had knitting magazines I never get to see in Birmingham, some different knitting books, although alas not the Yarn Harlot, a wide range of graphic novels, and many, many other books I'd not seen elsewhere, thereby re-inforcing my earlier rant about bookstores. I could have spent an absolute fortune today, just on books I'd never seen in my local bookstores. And they have a Starbucks, where we got a particularly good cup of coffee. Now I have three great weaknesses - coffee, books and wool (not always in that order), so if only Oxford had a decent woolshop I would probably never leave.

Mightily Pissed at eBay

I don't normally like to post about work, as this is primarily a blog about books and knitting. But I am so pissed off about this that I have to let off steam.

A couple of weeks ago eBay in their infinite wisdom decided that in future items listed on the UK site would no longer be automatically visible on the US site. Apparently, up to 20% of all listings visible on eBay.com were listings from the UK and it was making their site unwieldy for US buyers. For this they blamed the popularity of the UK Cheap Listing Days.

The conclusion they came to in order to solve the problem was not, as would seem logical, to stop having Cheap Listing Days, or to do anything about the thousands of dodgy products which flood the UK site from Hong Kong and China. No, no. It was deemed much more sensible to change the way searches work so that if Americans want to buy from the UK they have to now search Worldwide, instead of the listings just appearing automatically.

The most frustrating thing about all this is that having changed the way the searches perform on the US site, THEY DIDN'T TELL ANYONE! They didn't tell the UK sellers that there was this change happening. They didn't tell the US buyers that in future they would need to search globally (by means of a drop down box at the side of the screen). They apparently didn't even tell the people at Paypal (who are after all part of the same organisation).

The first we knew was when we noticed a steep drop abrupt halt in sales to the US. We haven't sold a book to the US for about 2 weeks now, where before about 20-30% of our sales were to the US. We even had a batch of American Civil War books, and none were sold to the US. If we had been forewarned about the change in policy we probably wouldn't have bought them in the first place. As it is, our very small profit on the books was considerably less than we had predicted.

It seems that Books and Antiques & Collectables are among the worst affected categories due to the change - and these are not categories which are swamped by the cheap foreign tat, with inflated postage rates, that fills other categories. The solution we are told is to list our items on eBay.com or on both sites - but as we sell individual, rare and one-off items which we can't list on both sites simultaneously, we either lose our UK trade or our US trade (oh and this affects Canada and Australia too!). Ebay say they will monitor the situation and will be running some tests "in the summer" which may help. I fear this will be too late for many bookdealers, who without the American trade will be driven out of business.

Now I don't dispute that eBay have the right to make trading decisions and implement them where they see fit, to protect the integrity of the sites. But don't they think that a little warning to the UK sellers would be just common courtesy. That way we could have adjusted our buying to reflect the fact that we will lose most of our US, Canadian and Australian trade.

Thanks a bunch, eBay. Whatever happened to the famous eBay Community Spirit!!!!!!! It seems that despite all their shouting about Community, eBay really have no regard at all for the people who use their site, for the businesses that helped them grow from small beginnings, or anything at all bar a fast buck.

I'm not sure this was what Pierre Omidyar had in mind when he sold his laser pointer.