A Meme About Books

I'm not usually one for memes but here's one I cadged from the wonderful Rabbitch that's right up my street.

Hardback or Paperback? - I'd say a bit of both. I love the feel of a good substantial hardback (with beautiful endpapers) but I always have a paperback in my bag to read if I get a spare moment.

If you owned a bookshop what would you call it? No-one in their right mind would ever own a bookshop, so if I had one it would have to be The Asylum.

Favourite Quote: Tricky one - I'll get back to you about this one...

Author you would most like to have lunch with? I'm sure that most authors have better things to do, and frankly some of them are just not that interesting so how about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (but only if he makes the lunch) and then a few after dinner pints in the Oxford Bar with Ian Rankin

Desert Island Book - well, it would have to be something I hadn't already read, and something long and that I could read over and over again and still enjoy so I guess it must be time for War and Peace.

Most Longed For Book Related Gadget - something to hold the book where I can read it while knitting and which would turn the pages when told (If I were obscenely rich and decadent I could get an exquisite houseboy just for this purpose!!!!)

The smell of an old book reminds me of.... cold auction rooms with boxes of dusty tomes, finding the odd gem amongst the dross, crap coffee and the smell of bacon butties. I miss that life!

Which lead character would you be? Difficult. I'd quite like to be VI Warshawski (the feisty female PI from Sara Paretsky's crime novels), but she has a tendency to get shot. I think I'd be Boudica from the Manda Scott series of the same name - she's fiery, intelligent, mystical and inspiring. (It may be heresy for a Scot to want to be such a very English heroine).

Most overestimated book - anything that has ever won the Booker Prize (which is announced today and looks to be Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach this year. This proves my point.) Well, that shows what I know as they just announced it's gone to The Gathering by Anne Enright.

I hate it when a book....... confirms all my worst preconceptions (or has a pink cover).

I'm going to tag a few people with this but please feel free to ignore the tag if you don't feel like it.......Freestylefibre Jo, Celtic Memory Jo, Ms Knitingale.....have fun with it, or not, the choice is yours.

Snowflake Socks

Here they are in all their glory -

And so you can see the lovely stripy soles -

For the record these are the Snowflake socks from the Autumn (or is that Fall) 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. Knitted with Wendy Guernsey 5ply wool on 2.5mm dpns.

It's incredibly difficult to take photographs of your own feet. I've been looking for one of those old sock display models that you used to get in old fashioned drapers shops, but all I can find are modern plastic ones - I want a beautiful old wooden one. In the meantime you'll have to put up with my feet.

Not much knitting (or reading) has been accomplished this week as I am still feeling cr*p. That elephant is still in residence on my chest and now I have a hacking cough, a rasping throat and a head full of cotton wool to go with it. I have spent an inordinate amount of time lying on the sofa watching re-runs of STNG and Voyager on Sky. It's about as much as my brain can take this week. Also I am between knitting projects which is always a dangerous time for me. The spectre of the Christmas knitting is looming large and makes me want to go and knit myself some armwarmers. (I've always been a great believer in denial - Christmas can't be round the corner - we haven't had summer yet!)

The first issue of a new knitting magazine landed on my doorstep this morning. It's called Let's Knit and it seems to be aiming for the already crowded market currently occupied by Simply Knits, Knit Today etc etc. I'm not sure that the market can take another magazine for this sector. It's very much a beginner's magazine and therefore not to my taste and I can't say I was inspired by any of the patterns. I quite liked the sock pattern but they had knitted them in cashmere at £22.95 for a 55g skein (though they do call them a "total luxury project"). Making the socks (if you were to knit them in the suggested yarn) would cost nearly £50!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other than that there were some interesting bits about knitting groups and knitting on the web but nothing I didn't already know about. I've signed up for the 3 issues for £1 deal they were offering before launch but I can't see that I would carry on and actually subscribe to this. It costs £4.99 per issue and I can get IK from the US for less than that with the exchange rate as it is - far better value, far better patterns.

I'm hoping the next issue of Yarn Forward will arrive soon - I've read good things about it from people who've picked up their copies at AllyPally. Mine will be coming by post so it could be a while. Poor Kerrie - she gets all the production issues sorted and the mag all ready and the Royal Mail go and sabotage it for her.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that I actually have some days off this week. If fact I only have to go to work on one day. WoooHoooo!

The bad news is that I have been afflicted with a nasty cold all over the weekend - one of those virusy things that feels like there is an elephant sitting on your chest. Lovely. Anyway I have managed to pass it on to the Evilpixie. I am so generous with my infections.

Because I've been feeling crap and have been sitting about on the sofa a lot I have managed to finish the Snowflake socks. They are currently blocking nicely over the bath so piccys will follow tomorrow when they are dry.

I've also been reading quite a bit. The time was right, I thought, for the new Val McDermid - Beneath the Bleeding. I had been saving it so I could sit down and read with no distractions as her books are normally the sort that really grip you. I'm sorry to report that this one was a disappointment. Now every writer has books that are better than others, or just books that I prefer because I like the setting or a particular character or situation more than others in the same series. And I was all geared up to like this one as it was set against a football background, with a Premiership player being murdered and then a bomb going off at his team's ground on a match day. (I'm not giving away anything that's not in the blurb by telling you this). But I just felt let down by the plot which didn't seem to use some great ideas that were lurking in the background and, I thought, could have been used to better effect. Also I could see the end coming a long way off. I kept reading as I thought - that's so obvious, surely there's going to be a twist somewhere - and there wasn't. I have to say that it came over more like a plot for the much watered-down TV series than the kind of novel I would expect from a writer of her calibre. Now I'm generally a big fan of Val's books, and particularly the Jordan & Hill series but this one just wasn't up to her usual high standard. I'm hoping it's a blip and that the next one will be better as she's written some really great stuff - The Mermaids Singing is a wonderful book (even if it has bits you want to read with your eyes shut).

So I'm having a short break from crime to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I'm only a few pages in so it's too early to tell yet. What I can say is that it's different.

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that this post is not about "Writing a Novel in a Month" as billed in my previous post. That would be because the even more eagle-eyed will have spotted that this month is October and National Novel Writing Month (or whatever it calls itself) is not until November. I apologise to Julius Caesar for apparently thinking that his calendar would be improved by the omission of October. I blame this virus.

End of the Month

Last day of the month so it's a quick catch up post before I go to work.

Finished Object Alert!!!!!

Hand-dyed, hand-spun, handknitted socks. I love these, just what you need to keep your feet warm and your heart bright on a cold wintery day.

And the final installment of books from my shelf - orange books -

From the bottom they are -

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly (my treasured signed first edition of his first book)

Ode to a Banker by Lindsey Davis (possibly not my favourite of the Falco books but still good)

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich (silly but great if you're in the mood for something light)

Money to Burn by Katy Munger (another funny one but darker than Evanovich if I recall correctly)

Everybody Dies by Lawrence Block (my favourite of all the Matt Scudder books)

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (just wonderful)

And my much battered, much faded Jane Austen's in the Penguin English Library edition. I've had these since I first had to read Miss Austen at school for English Lit and I've re-read them many times since. Persuasion is my favourite though and for some reason it wasn't on the shelf with the others.

Next post - writing a novel in thirty days!

Brown Books

We are almost at the end of September which I am finding it hard to believe. How can it be autumn when we haven't had summer yet? But the weather has taken a distinct chilly turn here and thoughts are beginning to drift towards warm knitted jumpers and shawls.

But meantime we have unfinished Project Spectrum business to attend to...

The brown books (not very many I'm afraid are -

Pulp Culture by Woody Haut (a fascinating book about the roots of hard-boiled fiction)

How to Write for Children by Louise Jordan (in case I decide to write the next Harry Potter)

Body Trauma - a Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries (in case I decide NOT to write the next Harry Potter)

Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmermann (what can I say - She was a God)

A Ticket to the Boneyard by Lawrence Block (one of the wonderful Matt Scudder books)

White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke (I won't bore you by banging on and on about JLB again. This one's historical - set in the American Civil War, not a Dave Robicheaux novel)

Sometime in the next 2 days I will bring you the orange books to round off Project Spectrum for this year. I've not done as much knitting as I wanted to in the prescribed colours but I've enjoyed trawling my bookshelves and I hope you have too.

November sees the start of National Novel Writing Month (otherwise known as NaNoWriMo). The idea is to write a novel (approx 60,000 words) in a month. This may be pushing it a bit for me. I don't think I've written much more than 600 words in the last 6 months but the idea is to get you writing and not worry about the quality so I'm going to take the opportunity to try and bang out a first draft. Two of the women I work with are also taking part so we can encourage each other. I'll let you know how I get on!

Catching Up

I did manage to get some knitting done this week despite the number of days I was working. So there is progress on the Snowflake socks -


One finished and the second one started.

Also I did spin the hand-painted roving from the last post and it looks like this -

It's lovely but there's not a lot of it. I shall have to ply it with something else to produce enough to knit anything with. I'm thinking of plying it with a plain pink or purple and making some handwarmers. I've been dyeing again this afternoon (and I have the blue fingers to prove it) and this time I've gone all dark and moody. Photos later in the week once I've washed and dried it.

I am no longer reading The Interpretation of Murder. I'm sorry but I didn't finish it. I got so exasperated that I hurled it into the back seat of the car in disgust. (It's OK I wasn't driving at the time!) It had been irritating me for a little while but I came to a particular plot construct that just took the biscuit and I refused to read any further. People who have read it may feel free to speculate what it was that annoyed me. I understand that some people (who's opinions I normally trust with regard to books) thought this was a great book so I'm not going to spoil anyone's enjoyment of it by telling you what happened. But I bet if you read it you'd feel the same as me at the same point. I believe my exact words were "Oh, for God's sake, no, no, no!" The people in the car next to me in the car park at the time may have thought I was a little mad.

As an antidote to this I read A Crime in the Neighbourhood by Suzanne Berne, which I believe won the Orange prize a few years ago. It was an interesting but ultimately disturbing book. Very well written. Not really a crime novel as such, though there is the aforementioned crime in the neighbourhood. It's really about the effect that this crime and some others events have on a quiet street in America in the 1970s.

Now I am reading Emperor: The Gods of War by Conn Iggulden. It's the last in the Caesar quartet which I have enjoyed immensely.

A Good Day to Dye

(with apologies to Simon Kernick, whose title I have pinched)

I've been busy with the dyepot and the microwave this afternoon. I wanted to produce a range of different colours to combine with what I already have so I can experiment with carding and spinning and plying them in different ways.

I split some merino up into 4 x 25g bits and then split them in half. Then I chucked them all in a bucket with some vinegary water to soak whereupon they all merged together into one big pile of roving. Not quite what I had planned.

Anyway these are the colours I ended up with -

I was meant to be concentrating on greens and yellows as that's what I have least of in the stash, so please tell me how the pink, purple and coral snuck in there. Like I don't have enough purple already.

When I'd done as many colours as I had prepared (there are 8 bits of roving in the photo) I still had a bit of roving left in the bucket (told you it all got mixed up) so I had a bit of fun with the dye I had left over and made this -

That's it just painted/squirted before it went in the microwave.

Here it is cooling on a chair in the garden and looking like a multicoloured chrysalis -

And here it is all rinsed and drying with its siblings -

Later in the week, or possibly next week as I won't have another day off until then, I will spin it and show you what happens.

Purple Books

I just realised that it's nearly the end of September - meaning that Project Spectrum is drawing to a close and I haven't done any of the requisite coloured books for this section.

So here is a randomly selected sample of the purple books in my possession -

For those of you who (like me) have less than perfect vision here's the list -

Tunnel Vision by Sara Paretsky - Paretsky was the first female detective I ever read so the subsequent ones had a lot to live up to. She's the main reason behind my crime obsession, though her later novels haven't quite done it for me.

Hen's Teeth by Manda Scott - Manda's first book, and she's got better since but it's still good (and set in Glasgow, which I almost always like).

Driftnet by Lin Anderson - another first novel set in Glasgow and very good indeed if a tad on the dark side if I recall correctly.

Tart Noir - short stories from a whole host of women crime writers including Val McDermid, Liza Cody, Denise Mina, Laura Lippman, Lauren Henderson, Karin Slaughter and many others

Purple Cane Road by James Lee Burke - I know I've probably said this before but I just love his prose - it makes you want to roll naked in it. (I think you can be arrested for that though.)

Emperor: The Gods of War by Conn Iggulden - the final part of his fictional life of Julius Caesar, and excellent reading.

Folk Socks by Nancy Bush - wonderful ethnic sock patterns from the queen of sock knitting

One Thousand Sweaters by Amanda Griffiths - great mix and match pattern book covering just about every type of sweater and variation you could think of.

Honorable mentions for the two books I wanted to put in this photo but couldn't find - The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid (very purple cover) and The Color Purple by Alice Walker (just because it's a wonderful book and I've read it many times).

Sometime in the next two weeks I'll cover the last two colours - orange and brown.

I am currently luxuriating in the prospect of two days off in a row (heaven) and trying to decide whether I should go and try to spin something impressive (unlikely) to take to the first of my classes on Wednesday, or to go and play with felt. Or there's also the (remote) possibility that I could find a half-decent film on Sky and just chill out for the afternoon. We'll see......

Two Blokes and a Bookshop

Two enterprising ex-Waterstones employees are planning to open an independent bookshop in Wood Green in North London. Tim West and Simon Key were made redundant when Waterstones closed their Wood Green shop with only 9 days notice recently, leaving Wood Green without a bookshop. The intrepid lads hope to step into the breach and are blogging about their progress at Open a Bookshop, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? I wish them well and hope they succeed.

I've been to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the NEC today despite the best efforts of Central Trains to keep me away. It seems that there was some vandalism to a line somewhere and it meant they had to cancel virtually every train between Walsall and the NEC. Thanks guys! Anyway I got there in the end, though I was a little disappointed with the number of knitting / wool sellers there. However in general it was an interesting event - the exhibitions are always wonderful, and I got talking to various people from various craft guilds about spinning, felting etc. I didn't spend a lot, just bought a ball of brightly coloured sock wool, and a couple of knitting-related charms which I will turn into earrings.

The journey back was twice as bad as trying to get there as, despite boarding a train which said it was a straight-through train to Walsall, it actually terminated at Birmingham. No-one saw fit to inform the passengers of this, until someone asked if this was the train for the NEC and half the carriage said "Yes" and the rest of us said "No". Chaos ensued. Eventually a porter chap appeared and said that the Walsall train was cancelled. Where could we get another train to Walsall? He had no idea! Finally we found out that there was a train to Stafford, passing through Walsall, on a different platform, leaving in about 30 seconds. It was a sight to be seen - all these women clutching bags of wool and craft stuff sprinting up the stairs, along the corridor, back down the stairs and onto the new train. Which sat where it was for another 20 minutes. Aaargh - the wonders of New Street Station!

Finally a note to Walsall Council. We locals all know that the Ring Road is terrible, we know that it needs to be widened / resurfaced / rerouted but is it really necessary to dig up every single road in Walsall all at the same time in order to do this. I had two simple errands to run in the car when I got back to the station, each errand took no more than 5 minutes. Driving the 4 or so miles I had to cover to complete my mission and get home took an hour and a half. It just wasn't my day today, was it.

Busy Busy

I can't believe it's Monday again already and I don't seem to have done much and I never did get around to my promised post from the end of last week.

Here anyway are the before and after pictures of the wet-finished yarn I was playing with. I'm not sure there's all that much difference in the samples - but I've lost the "before" sample so I'm just going by the photos I took earlier.

Before much swishing and mashing in hot soapy water -

And after -

Actually now that I can see them together the second sample has tightened and is fluffier than the first so I guess it worked. What I did was I plunged the yarn into a bowl of extremely hot water with a little Ecover washing soap in it. Then I mashed it about for a bit with a wooden spoon and a potato masher, then I plunged it into cold water, rinsed it, wrung it out in a towel and hung to dry. Definitely something I would try again, perhaps with a slubbier yarn.

Also this week I succumbed to temptation and stared the Snowflake socks from the lastest issue of Interweave Knits. I love them -

I'm knitting them in Wendy 5-ply Guernsey wool from the stash and they are knitting up very quickly. I did the three pattern repeats on the leg in one afternoon/evening.

They are stalled a little now as I am elbow deep in the new Rebus novel. It's turning into one of those books that I really don't want to finish (because it may just be the last one), but I can't stop reading. Anyway, more about it later when I've finished it.

Just one more thing to show you today - a great vintage knitting pattern I found at the weekend (on yet another car boot sale) - this one is for Gloves, Mittens, Helmets and Flying Gloves for the RAF. It's not dated but says it's designed and approved by the RAF Comforts Committee. It cost 3d when it was published.

Random Monday Again

Yet another Random Monday post today I'm afraid. My hectic schedule of work days continues and looks like it will continue for the foreseeable future. While this is good for the bank balance, it does mean that I have less time to post, and less time to do things about which to post. So you'll have to bear with me. I have no idea how I'm going to manage to get the work done for the course I've signed up for, which starts in 2 weeks, but I'll worry about that nearer the time.

I have been knitting, though nothing very exciting. I have finished the Hot Lava Cardigan however and I actually like it. I promise I will get Pete to take a picture of it for you - I tried to get a photo of myself wearing it and let's just say that I don't have a glittering future in self-portrait taking.

I am experimenting this afternoon (a day off!!!!!!!) with wet finishing some hand-spun yarn. I am taking photos as I go so once the results are in I shall let you know how it went.

I can't remember what I was reading last time I posted. Ok, I've been and checked and it was Moon Tunnel by Jim Kelly. I have finished that and I did enjoy it. Philip Dryden is a great character and the books are well-plotted.

Now, I'm reading Buried by Mark Billingham. I'm not enjoying this so much. I think it's because it is very much the police procedural, which is not my favourite crime genre (or should that be sub-genre?). Anyway, I 've read each of Billingham's books as they've come out in paperback and the last one Lifeless was my favourite, but I think that's because it took Tom Thorne out of the police station and onto the streets of London. I like Thorne as a character, but this one seems to lack pace and tension. Still I'm only half-way through so it may pick up. I think part of the problem is that I'm struggling to empathise with the missing boy - he seems very one dimensional. Perhaps there's a reason for that which I haven't got to yet. Anyway the jury is still out.

The jury is definitely not still out on the other book I've been reading this week. Actually I've been listening to it as it's an audio book, but I have say that it has little to recommend it. Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen is a dreadful book. I did listen to it all the way to the end but it was very difficult. Perhaps it would read more easily but the narrator calmly describing how the serial killer tortured and killed his victims did not make for pleasant listening. It seemed gratuitously violent and voyeuristic and I shall not read / listen to one of his books again. I don't know if it was because he is a man but the woman who is the central character in this book just did not seem believable to me and some of the things she did and thought made me very uncomfortable. The other thing I did not like about this book is something that bugs me in general aboout fiction. I hate books where all the characters are damn near perfect. Oh, the main character, who went by the unlikely (and irritating) name of Smoky, was scarred both physically and mentally, but all the others were beautiful, handsome, loving, generous, flaky but in a good way, brilliant, etc etc. Why can't somebody in one of these books screw up now and again, or be ugly, or even just ordinary - just once. And the most annoying thing was the way the climax was set up.

Spoiler Alert - if you think you might want to read this book ( and I recommend that you don't) then don't carry on reading this because I'm going to give away the end...........................


The serial killer sends some associates to scare / kill the wife of one of the FBI agents hunting them, along with a little girl she is looking after. To do this they kill the two agents who are supposed to be watching the house. But our heroic team arrive in time and save the woman and the girl. Then they fly off to another part of California, find out who the killer is and come back. Surprise , surprise, they've forgotten to replace the two dead agents outside the house and the serial killer now has the woman and the little girl hostage. Doh!

Is that sloppy plotting or are the FBI really that thick? I'm hoping that it's the plotting thing, you know, in case I should ever need the services of the FBI.

What a Great Weekend!!

It's been a lovely weekend here for once. The weather has been much improved, and as it was the Bank Holiday Weekend it meant that even though I was working on Saturday, I still got 2 days off - Sunday and Monday.

And what lovely days they were too. Those of you know know me in real life probably know that I'm a great fan of car boot sales (that's flea markets for those of you across the pond). August Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally (at least by us) spent at a succession of car boot sales acrosss the Midlands where much fun is usually had, some money spent and a few bargains procured. This weekend has been exceptional.

Yesterday -


I got a whole host of vintage knitting patterns, a Vogue Knitting magazine from 1956 and a lovely little booklet called Lace-Making with Crochet Hook and Knitting Needles. It's undated but probably late 1940s. I also got Knitting in Vogue Books 1 & 2 and a great crochet book - New Directions in Crochet by Anne Rabun Ough. It's crammed with crochet stitches and designs.

My favourite books from Sunday however were Mary Thomas's Knitting Book (from 1938) , Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns (from 1945) and The Knitter's Craft (from 1951). This latter has great endpapers with a picture of Wensleydale Knitters from 1814..

And as if Sunday wasn't good enough, today at a local car boot that I nearly didn't go to because it isn't usually much good for the sort of stuff that I like to buy - I got this -




It's not very easy to see in the pictures but there's a whole pile of little sample bags and some larger amounts of fibres from Wingham and Texere. There's camel and soya bean and mohair and cashmere and various sparkly trilobal nylons and other synthetic stuff in bright colours. There's Shetland and Jacob and lots of little samples of lots of different types of silk in lots of different colours and then there was this -


A whole pile of silk hankies - there's actually about 340g of them in a whole variety of colours. How cool is that? I'm not going to tell you how little I paid for them as you might cry.

It turns out that the girl who was selling them all had just finished a course in machine embroidery and she was selling off all her excess bits and pieces. I was chuffed to bits. So now I have lots and lots of stuff to play with and to experiment with and to blend with the kilo of Merino I just ordered from Fibrecrafts.

I bought the merino so I would have enough fibre to play with work with now that I have a new book -


which I ordered last week and which arrived on Tuesday. It's a totally wonderful book, and I can't wait to get dying and blending and experimenting with all the colours and all my new fibres.

A Ridiculous Decision

I'm on my soapbox this morning!

In my previous existence as a secondhand bookseller I attended a lot of auctions. One of these, and by far my favourite auction is J S Auctions near Banbury. They've been fighting a long battle against the local council who feel that an out of town site is not the right place for an auction house to operate. This week they have lost their appeal, meaning that they have to close down their business, putting people out of work and affecting the livelihood of many more. The decision by the council is absolutely absurd and shows a complete lack of understanding of the business. JS Auctions is currently based on a farm where they hold the actual auctions in 2 large sheds, with a huge carpark adjacent. This means you can park right outside the auction and you can drive right up to the sheds to collect heavy or bulky items like furniture or books. They have worked hard over the years to improve the facilities at the site with better parking, new office accomodation etc. It's a lovely set-up and one which they could be proud of. They can easily accomodate the 300 or more people who attend their auctions every other Saturday, with no disruption to locals. It's a great, friendly auction house, run by people who care, and who've worked really hard to build their business. It's one of the best run auction houses I've ever attended and trust me I've been to quite a few!

Cherwell District Council think this kind of huge operation would be much better if it were in the town centre. Now, you're probably not familiar with Banbury, but it's a small market town, with limited parking at the best of times. On a Saturday it is really busy and virtually impossible to find parking. This is not the kind of place where you want to add to the traffic by trying to hold an auction (where the attendees often have large vans to park, and need access to the doors of the auction room to collect things). As an example, there is already an auction house in the centre of Banbury, which holds auctions on a Tuesday. I try and avoid this auction house because you have to park miles away and there is nowhere to stop to collect any heavy purchases. The last time I bought anything there I nearly got a parking ticket when I stopped briefly to load the car with the several boxes of books I had bought. I had no choice. I couldn't carry the boxes to the car so I had to stop temporarily on a double yellow line (that means No Parking, for those of you not from the UK). There was a prowling traffic warden hanging around waiting for just that situation. And that's on a Tuesday! On a Saturday with extra shoppers and extra people you can imagine the chaos another several hundred cars and vans would cause.

Cherwell Council should hang their heads in shame over this decision. They have potentially ruined a great business, cost some lovely people their jobs, deprived hundreds of people of the pleasure of a well-run auction in a great location, and threatened the livelihoods of many dealers.

JS Auctions are hoping to find alternative accomodation to enable them to continue with the business that is their livelihood. I really hope they succeed. The auction world would be a poorer place without them.

I am Rubbish....

...at all this rushing around being organised stuff.

I don't seem to have had any time at all for the last week. I did manage to get to Stitch 'n' Bitch on Saturday, which was the first time in ages and for once I had taken some mindless knitting instead of starting some thing new and complex that I was going to screw up because I was talking and not paying attention. (See, I can learn new things.)

What I took to SnB was this -

Trust me, this is the Hot Lava Cardigan. It looks like a couple of sleeves with a gaping maw in the middle. When this is finished I will either totally love it...or it will be the most unflattering jumper ever knitted in the history of knitkind. I rather suspect that the sleeves are going to reach to my knees and I am somewhat worried about ever washing it as I think that may only encourage the sleeves to reach for the ground even more. I shall persevere for the moment.

Also I have been knitting the Log Cabin throw -

This is more pleasing to the eye and has the added advantage that it cannot possibly be too long in any dimension. Currently however it could only be thrown over a postage stamp. You will note that nothing more complicated than garter stitch or stocking stitch has been attempted this week. (Wow, two things learned in one week - excuse me while I go and lie down for a bit.)

Very little reading has been done this week. I finished Letters from a Lost Generation (it did indeed make me cry) and started The Moon Tunnel by Jim Kelly. I am liking The Moon Tunnel greatly. Philip Dryden and his taxi-driving sidekick are wonderful. I have totally failed to read the books I am supposed to be reading for Book Group this month but, hey, I've still got a week.

How Did I Used to Do It??????

I was a full-time working mother from when the Evilpixie was just three months old until about six months after we moved to the Midlands. For some of that time I worked a rotating 24 hours shift pattern. My question is...how did I do it???????

I've been working almost full-time hours for only the last two weeks and I am exhausted. So, how did I manage when I had a baby / young child to look after too? Tuesday night when I got home I was so tired that I couldn't even summon the energy to knit (bad, huh?). I was so tired that I almost fell asleep during CSI Miami. (Yes, I know, it's a load of tosh, but you gotta love Horatio and the Sunglasses of Righteousness).

Today, although tired, I am not working. In fact I am off now until Sunday so you can expect regular service to be resumed at least for the time being. I'm not promising that I'll have anything terribly interesting to blog about but at least there should be a post or two. I have even found the time to install our new printer which has been waiting two weeks to be connected after the previous one died horribly mid-document. Of course installing the new printer was not as simple as it should have been. It was only when I unpacked it all that I realised that I didn't have the right kind of USB cable (now who would assume that one would come with the printer - I checked that it had the ink cartridges. How was I suppoed to know I'd need another cable.) Of course this is a very cheap and cheerful printer. The USB cable I had to rush out and buy cost half as much again as the whole printer. AAAAgh. Then on the way home from the computer shop there was a nasty accident at the junction near our house (about half a mile away) which meant a 5 mile detour and an extra HOUR on the journey (I kid you not).

Nevermind, we got home eventually.

There is some knitting news. I have cast on the Hot Lava Cardigan, though I have changed the cuff as I didn't like the double moss stitch cuff on the pattern. I am knitting plain stocking stitch with a slight flare at the cuff - quite my favourite style of sleeve. I just love the way the sleeve rolls back on itself.

I have also cast on for a log cabin blanket / throw. This is to be decorative and go across the back of my sofa where it can be pulled round my shoulders if it gets chilly. Pictures of these and possibly other stuff tomorrow, honest!

Reading has been going slowly, mostly due to the fact that I fall asleep as soon as I sit down with a book. Or I go to bed intending to read for a little bit and manage about a line and a half before the book hits the floor. However I have finished the Andrea Camilleri and did quite enjoy it, once I got used to the very odd Inspector Montalbano. I'm not sure I would rush to read another one but it was interesting. I'm still ploughing through Letters from a Lost Generation, which, as I suspected, has made me cry. I'm thinking I need something light and funny after this to cheer me up. Or possibly the new Val McDermid which so far I have resisted though it is calling my name every day in the shop.........

Weekend of Wool and other Stuff

I had the weekend off and so I've been catching up with all the stuff that needed doing - like sleeping, and knitting, and reading.

Oh and I've been surfing the net too and I bought this -

Isn't it gorgeous. 5 skeins of Manos del Uruguay wool in colourway 6460 (oranges and browns and pinks and greens and reds). Won on eBay on Friday evening and delivered on Saturday, which was pretty impressive. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it when I bought it, but it was a real bargain and I couldn't resist it. Then I looked on Ravelry (sorry, if you're still waiting for your invite!) and found the ideal pattern - it will be a Hot Lava Cardigan. I'll probably do a version with just one button, but we'll see. Not sure if I have the right size of DPNs to do the cuffs and sleeves with which might be a problem. Large sized DPNs are not easy to find round here. I don't think I have the right size in circulars either come to think of it. I could probably buy them online .... but I want them NOW!

I have finished sewing the Ribwarmer -

I love this too and think I might knit another one. It was great to knit. EZ is a genius.

I went to a car boot sale today and bought a box of wool. I'm not sure exactly what it is, except that it is wool and it comes in several lovely shades of blue and green and beige. This was ludicrously cheap. I think I might do a log cabin throw with it, like the ones in Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Also I have been knitting the rainbow hand-spun socks -

Sock One - not sure if maybe it isn't a little on the wide side. I shall have to see what I think after I've turned the heel. I'm knitting them toe-up which I don't really like but it's the only way to be sure to get the colours right and use up all the wool.

On Friday at my spinning group we had a little party (with cake!) to say farewell to Catherine who is going home to New Zealand after a couple of years over here. I only got to know her towards the end of her stay in England, but she's lovely and we're all going to miss her. Sadly, I'm an idiot and have no photos of this event to show you. Have a safe trip home, Catherine!

I finished Cut Her Dead by Iain McDowall and thought it was excellent. A well constructed plot and an unusual crime. I shall read more of this series. Otherwise I'm still reading the Vera Brittain which is fascinating but will shortly get very sad. I rather expect tissues may be required to finish this book.

A Quick Preview

Just for a change, as I am working extra days in the shop this month (and am already all flustered and behind with everything at home), I give you a swift preview of what I WILL be working on this week -

There's the EZ Ribwarmer, now knitted (finally got into Brum for the last ball of yarn) and awaiting sewing up....

It looks as though the stripes don't match in the photo but they do in real life - I spent a lot of time making them match!

Also there are the Shock Wave socks.

I had started these in the Trekking XXL for the Evilpixie, but the pattern I was using wasn't right for the yarn. The Shock Wave pattern is just right.

I am reading Cut Her Dead by Iain McDowall. I've had his first book on my TBR pile for long time, but I got hold of a proof of this one and it's really good so far. It's not out in PB until December though. I am also reading Letters from a Lost Generation by Vera Brittain which is a fascinating book, but I have the hardback edition which is way too heavy to lug around for portable reading (hence the McDowall). This is research for a writing project I will tell you more about once I'm up to speed with the research and happy that I know what I'm talking about. (Funny, that doesn't usually bother me, does it?)

In spinning, I have started the rainbow roving I dyed last week and it is spinning beautifully. I have almost finished the first half (just the violet bit to go) then I will spin the matching 2nd half and Navaho ply them so that I keep the colour changes. They will be toe-up rainbow socks. Pictures of all that on Thursday which will be my next day off.

Got to go and make some dinner now and think about all the things I need to do this evening before I can sit down with a book and a glass of wine......

Catching Up

So it's the last day of July which means that this is the last day of this segment of Project Spectrum. So I have for your delight and titification - metallic books.

I struggled with these. I knew there weren't many on my shelf with metallic covers but I thought there might be a better selection with metals in the title. Apparently not. I give thanks therefore to Lindsey Davis who saved my bacon with her Falco novels. Some of the others are a little tenuous. The bottom one, in case you can't see, is Dan Dare - Marooned on Mercury. It's a reprint of the old Dan Dare story from the Eagle comic. Fabulous artwork by Frank Hampson.

I have totally failed to complete any projects in the Project Spectrum colours for this period, but I am playing with that black recycled sari silk -

I started knitting a modified Clapotis with it. It will be heavily modified as I don't have enough of the silk to knit the pattern as it is written. I hope to do better in the next slot for which the colours are brown, orange and purple. I have the Sonnet cardigan (brown) ready to be sewn up and button added, plus I have some orange Rowan Tape that I have been saving for just this time (it's going to be a vest top - especially as it looks like we might finally get a little bit of suitable weather for it), and I have been spinning some lovely purple shaded roving which I hope to knit up in the next few weeks.

Yesterday I managed to get a little bit of dying done. There is some fantastic rainbow roving which I will be knitting socks with. I'm hoping to start spinning it later today. I just can't wait - it looks so scrummy. Here it is drying in the sunshine. (Yes, I know, sunshine!!!!!)

And some other pink and purple splodgy stuff - I'm calling this colourway "A Spot of Bother".

We nearly had a purple dog while I was doing this as Bubba decided he was going to help me. I was dyeing in the garden, on the patio so I could lay out the roving for the rainbow stuff. Trust Bubba to come and stick his nose in! In the end disaster was averted, but I did end up with a purple / orange finger as one of my gloves sprang a leak.

I got my invitation to Ravelry last week and have been browsing the site. I'm not sure I will use it to track my stash. This would only be helpful if it actually came round and found the stuff I was looking for. I know I have a skein of pink hand-dyed sockwool, bought at the Knitting Show at the NEC last year, but can I find it? Anyway, I think for me the best bit of the site will be seeing what everyone has done with various patterns and yarns. Lots of inspiration I hope.

I have also failed to finish the Karin Fossum I was supposed to read for Reading Group tomorrow night. Instead I read The Riverman by Alex Grey. It was interesting, but there were a lot of characters introduced in a very short space of time and it took a while for me to sort them out. Also I'm not sure I got a very good feel for the detective, he seemed a little one dimensional. Maybe I missed something by starting several books into the series. (This is the 4th one I believe). By far the most interesting character in the book was the Riverman of the title - the man whose job it is to fish bodies out of the River Clyde. I have to admit I was far more interested in him and the work he did than in the police in the book. There just wasn't enough of the man with the boat.

Now I'm reading Boudica by Vanessa Collingridge. I don't know much about our most famous warrior queen, other than from the fictional Boudica series by Manda Scott. I loved her portrayal of the Boudica and the Iceni people. Collingridge's Boudica is a very different kettle of fish, at least so far - much more Romanised than Scott's very Celtic woman. As we know very little about Boudica, apart from the Roman views of Tacitus and other later descriptions, I guess you can pick which portrayal you like best. We're probably never going to know what her life was really like.

Red Books

I give you a random selection of red books from my shelf -

The one on the top is Emperor: The Field of Swords by Conn Iggulden. I picked it off the shelf to photograph a couple of days ago and started to read it as I'd just finished the previous one. I am therefore no further along with Karin Fossum. Atlantic Canada is from a brief period when we flirted with going to live there, before we concluded that we'd rather live somewhere warmer (though I'd still like to spend a bit of time there). Ray Bradbury - because I love his short stories. Sue Grafton - because she missed out on being in the black books last week. This one is D for Deadbeat. Michael Connelly - needs no explanation! The Picador Book of Crime Writing. The Best American Mystery Stories Vol 2 (from 2003) - I like these because I can get a taste of some new authors. And finally 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die - I haven't read nearly enough of the books listed here, though there are some that I have no wish to read, and there is nowhere near enough crime fiction!

In answer to your question Karen, the Fossum we should be reading is He Who Fears the Wolf. I've read about 60 pages and am struggling to make myself read any more. The theme for the month is "On the Couch - Crime and the Mind". I have no idea what the other selections were though I think there was a Frank Tallis. It must have been a selection that didn't appeal to me much if I ended up with the Karen Fossum!

I have run out of yarn for the Ribwarmer - I kind of thought I was going to, after I weighed the first half and the yarn I had left, but I was hoping for miracles. It will have to wait until after the weekend now as I'm working Friday and Saturday and to get more wool I need to get into Birmingham to Rackhams.

I started a triangular shawl with some black recycled sari silk I bought from Hipknits a couple of weeks ago - well, it was in the sale! However the shawl is not looking right so it might turn into something different - it's difficult to get any stitch definition with the hairyness of the sari silk. Needs a bit of a rethink.

And I have been spinning - some of the unidentified British Wool that I dyed last month in very subtle shades of purple and blue. I'm going to ply it with some vintage art silk/cotton that I found in the stash. Photos after the weekend if the deluge has abated and the light is a little better.

Monday Stuff

Another random Monday stuff post, because I'm still a bit brain-dead after working in the shop the whole weekend.

Of course it was Harry Potter weekend and we were very, very busy, and a lot of work had gone into making the shop look great, and making sure everything went smoothly. Saturday was very manic and just the slightest bit weird. Hats off to booksellers everywhere though for getting into the spirit of it all and making sure the customers had a great time. I have to admit that yes, I have read the ending so I do know what happens, but no, there is no way I would reveal it and spoil the book for anyone.

There has been knitting in between the bouts of Harry madness. I started Elizabeth Zimmermann's Ribwarmer and I am more than half way done now. Here's the first half -

It's in James Brett Marble DK in the pink/green colourway which I had almost 2 balls of in the stash. I love the way the colours are merging into one another. It looks completely different from the Cloud Bolero which was what I had previously knitted in this yarn. I'm having a little bit of fun trying to make the two halves match up colourwise, and I'm not entirely sure that I have enough yarn. But I should be able to get another ball easily enough, and it wasn't expensive. It is 100% acrylic and so it's not something I would normally choose (as I do prefer pure wool) but I remember liking it last time I knitted with it and it's proving just as nice this time. I think I might have to get some more of this in other colours sometime.

I've been reading too, though not the Karin Fossum I should be reading for crime fiction group. I've run up against that old problem I have with translated crime and particularly it seems with Scandinavian translated crime. I just find it very difficult to read. Something about the language sounds slightly off to my ears, seeming stilted somehow. It just doesn't seem to flow like it should. Now I don't know if this is a problem with the translation or if it's the Scandinavian intonation and thought process that doesn't come over well. Anyhow, I just wasn't enjoying it. Instead I read the second book in the Emperor series by Conn Iggulden. This is called The Death of Kings. I am liking this series a lot. I've been on a bit of a Roman kick recently - watching the BBC/HBO series Rome, which finished last night. The Iggulden series revolves around some of the same characters and it's fascinating to link them all together. My knowledge of Roman history is a bit limited - coming only from fiction - Lindsay Davies and Steven Saylor - and from watching I, Claudius when I was young.

While I'm on the subject of TV series, I must remind you that Heroes (which I have been banging on about for months) finally starts on BBC2 on Wednesday night. Trust me, it's great stuff. Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!

Between Projects

I find myself between knitting projects. This is a situation that always makes me a bit twitchy. The twitchiness in this case seems to be magnified by the fact of being between projects in life at the moment also.

I am fighting the twitchiness by drinking too much coffee and eating too many jaffa cakes. Neither of these things help in the slightest. (I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone).

I seem completely unable to concentrate on any one thing for more than about twenty minutes, which makes reading books very difficult. I've started three in the last 2 days. At the same time I am desperately hunting though knitting pattern books and magazines for something that I want to knit (but it has to be something I can knit from the stash) and nothing is quite right. Tomorrow I am going to have to delve deep into the boxes that contain the stash and hope something (other than a large spider) leaps out at me.

In the meantime I have spent the afternoon reading Knitting Rules by the Yarn Harlot, accompanied by a large hairy dog on my lap. Bubba is very frightened of thunder. Storms can only be endured by sitting as close to me as doggily possible while holding a stuffed lion in his mouth. You won't tell anyone will you? He doesn't want anyone to think he's a wuss.

Some Favourite Books

When it comes to "black books" I am rather spoiled for choice, so instead of the usual 12 random books I have selected 12 favourite books from my shelves.



I had some difficulty with this, more than I expected, as not all of my favourite books are immediately accessible, buried on shelves behind boxes. (We are still trying to reclaim parts of the house from the mountains of stock.) However I came across enough books to select a dozen I would call favourite, or which represent a favourite author or series.


So we have these -

Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky - because Paretsky was the writer who got me into crime fiction in the first place, so deserves a special place in my heart. I haven't read any of her more recent work but I did love those early VI Warshawski novels.

Backhand by Liza Cody - another of my favourite feisty women detectives and this one is set in Sarasota, Florida (one of my favourite parts of the world). It's a shame that Cody stopped writing these, though I did like the ones with the wrestler too.

Hurricane Season by Mickey Friedman - another Florida-based mystery, this one selected for the opening passages which are in my opinion some of the best I've ever read. (and its not just my opinion, as I think it was Sue Grafton who alerted me to this book in a writing manual about crime fiction). Sadly the rest of the book doesn't quite stand up to the excellence of the beginning.

Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell - say what you like about her later work, this is still a classic. I only wish this was the highly valuable first edition and not, sadly, the book club edition that it is!

The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb - I love this series, set in the Appalachian Mountains.

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane - because it's a wonderful book, but also representing all his other books, including the totally fantastic series featuring Patrick McKenzie, Angela Gennaro and Bubba Rogowski (everyone's favourite sociopath).

An Air That Kills by Andrew Taylor - the first of the Lydmouth series. Andrew's a great writer.

And then there are these -

Story by Robert McKee - The best writing manual I've ever read. Actually written about screenwriting but very applicable to the novel.

Boudica - Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott - a great first book in a series that just gets better as you read on. Her crime novels are good too.

Coronado by Dennis Lehane - Yes, I know we did him already but I couldn't miss this one out. Probably the best book I've read so far this year and containing one of the my favourite short stories of all time.

Final Edition by Val McDermid - One of the Lindsay Gordon mysteries, which were where I started with Val's books. My favourite of her books is probably The Mermaids Singing (despite the gruesome bits) but I can't find it (though I'm fairly sure it has a black cover). I like all her detectives, Kate Brannigan is another of those feisty females! Pete has just walked into the other room and picked Mermaids Singing off the shelf where I had been looking for it for about 10 minutes - don't you just hate that!!! It does have a black cover.

The Black Ice by Michael Connelly - the second of the Harry Bosch novels, selected because this is in better condition than The Black Echo, which is the first Bosch book (and a rather battered paperback). Michael Connelly was the writer who finally got me off the feisty females and into stoic, grumpy male detectives. I started with the Poet (my copy doesn't have a black cover) then I found Harry Bosch and I've been with him ever since.

The White Road by John Connolly - this was the only one I could lay my hands on easily but it represents all the Charlie Parker novels, which I have loved since the very beginning.

OK, so that's the run down on some favourites. But even now as I'm typing this I know there are books that are missing from this list. There is no Ian Rankin - my favourite is Black and Blue and it's missing from its shelf for some reason. I don't seem to have any Lawrence Block handy and I love the Matt Scudder books (though not any of the others for some reason). Nor have I listed any James Lee Burke though I think I have a full set. (I'm such a completist). I know there are others that I've missed, Carol O'Connoll and Laura Lippman, GM Ford and PJ Tracy. I can see I'm going to have to come back to this theme sometime. Favourite detectives, favourite amateur sleuths, favourite duos, favourite Americans, favourite Brits, favourite Scots, favourite feisty females......oh, god..Kinsey Millhone, how could I forget her?

Next up...later in the week probably - red books........

Luna Moth

Look, look, the Luna Moth Shawl - she is finished and she is beautiful......

Here's a close up of the pattern -

I am inordinately proud of this. It's my first real attempt at lace and although it wasn't the most complicated pattern ever I have managed not to make any glaring errors, or had to tink too much of it too many times. Almost no swearing was involved in this shawl, which probably means it wasn't very complicated at all really. But I don't care.

Today has been a running around catching up sort of day, as I have worked 6 out of the last 7 days. So there was some hideous housework to be done, even ironing (not my favourite). And all sorts of other dull stuff. But I have got 2 reviews almost finished and am started on a new book so I'm making headway with the backlog.

And after a couple of days when I was almost without knitting (shock horror) I have succumbed to the temptation and cast on the French Market Bag from knitty.com. Yes, I realise that this is yet another adventure with felting, which may not appear wise after the last failure, but I totally blame Celtic Memory Jo and Lene because they gave me the idea in the first place. And Lene's bag is totally wonderful - mine will have no beautiful embroidered butterflies, but I hope will be sturdy and useful, which is the general point after all. Mine will be blue/grey, using some aran weight pure wool from the stash.

And, yes, I have knitted a swatch, and run it through the washer to check it would felt. What kind of an idiot do you think I am? Answers on a postcard....

Best Laid Plans.....

This week I was a woman with a plan. I had three days off in the middle of the week and I was going to use them wisely.

I was going to finish painting the living room. I was going to finish knitting the Luna Moth Shawl. I was going to catch up on the books waiting to be read and write the outstanding reviews.

Instead I was offered three extra days work in the shop so I've done none of these things. My only day off this week will be Saturday when I plan to collapse in a heap and do absolutely nothing (except possibly eat, and drink copious amounts of coffee).

Oh and just one other thing. Could whoever it was who left the rain running please go and turn it off now. I've had enough.

Sunday Already!!

Where has the week gone?

It's been a busy week here at Austin Towers. The Evilpixie had her very first driving lesson. She was very nervous, bless her, but she managed alright and didn't crash the car or anything. You should note that neither Pete nor I am teaching her to drive. That would be way too much to cope with. She's got another lesson tomorrow so hopefully she won't be as nervous this time.


I've been dyeing again. I got a fresh batch of colours from D&T Crafts and dyed some commercially spun yarn for a change. So here are the results -



This is double knitting, about 50g, and there there is some 4ply -



and -

None of these coloursways have names yet, so suggestions are welcome. There's about 50g of each of the 4ply, which should be just about enough for a couple of pairs of short ankle socks.

Today I've been faffing about trying (without much success) to make a belt, first a knitted one, then I tried in macrame. This is in aid of a medieval costume I have to come up with for Saturday when my spinning group will be demonstrating at the Lichfield Medieval Market. I shall have to get hold of some linen fabric this week and make a bodice thing, and find a leather belt. I promise pictures!

I've been cracking on with the Luna Moth shawl and am on the final rows of the last repeat so it should be finished this week (it the sewing doesn't take up too much time).

I've also been reading a bit. I finished The Riddle of the Sands which I enjoyed but I think it has dated rather. Still it was a fascinating read though. The narrator's voice was most interesting and kept me enthralled. I also finished The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh, set in Medieval Glasgow (which has really got me in the mood for the market next week). This was really good. I'm not one for historical crime as a rule but I thought this was great and shall now track down the rest of the series (this was the first one).

So, I'm all up to date with books for reading group now and shall be starting the latest Denise Mina this evening. Also set in Glasgow of course - is there a theme developing here? It's been on the shelf for a while now and I gather the next one is due shortly so I'd better get cracking.

Humble Apologies to Erskine Childers

I apologise profusely to the late Erskine Childers for stating that his one and only novel The Riddle of the Sands is set in Egypt.

This charming and classic novel, published in 1903 is set, not in the sands of the desert but among the sandbanks off the coast of Holland, Germany and Denmark. It's a book about boats - what on earth made me think it was about camels! In my defense let me state that the copy I have has the classic orange and white vintage Penguin cover - not the one I've linked to which has a picture of a boat on the front. (Bit of a clue that)

I started it on Sunday and am progressing well. It's a wonderfully seductive read and I could barely put it down yesterday. I shall go back to it later - I'm not allowing myself to pick it up until I've done all the things I need to get done today otherwise nothing will get done and I'll just sit and read all day. Not that there is anything wrong with sitting reading, but I do have some stuff that needs to get done today. See I do have willpower!

I have finished the new John Connolly novel, called The Unquiet. I think the title is very apt. It's a most disquieting and unsettling book. Very good, but very bleak. Karen, I'll do you a review of it this week, once I've mulled it over a little.

The Luna Moth Shawl progresses slowly, not helped by a few technical problems. It's not a very good idea to knit lace when your mind is still somewhere on a boat on a sandbank off Holland. I told you that book was compelling, didn't I?

Just a quick post today as I still have to paint a corner of the living room before I can go back to the seductive charms of the Dulcibella.

Just a few things I've been meaning to say. Thanks to Maxine for the book. I'm looking forward to it - looks very interesting. Jill in Pennsylvania - glad we got you knitting again - can't wait to hear how your sweater turns out. Did you get your ribbing problem sorted?

I have FOs to show you

I know I've been very remiss about blogging this week. Pete has been working an evening shift and it's got me all out of my normal routine.

But I've been knitting. Look I have finished objects -

There's the Sonnet cardigan - knitted but not yet sewn together and with no buttons as yet -



And I've finished the first of Pete's dogwalking socks. These are just miles and miles of 2x2 rib and are absolutely soul destroying so I only knit them in little bits then I go and knit something interesting for a bit and come back to them - so it could be a while before I finish the other one -

That's a terrible picture - they are navy blue with a couple of green stripes around the top of the leg and matching green heel and toe. Knitted in some un-named generic sock yarn from the stash.

And I've been spinning. I have about 250 yards of this -

which is the purple roving I dyed last week (or was it the week before). Anyway I love it now that it's spun. Not quite sure what I'll do with it yet. I've been looking for the right yarn for a couple of projects but I don't think there's quite enough of this for either one. It will have to sit in the stash for a bit until it finds its destiny.

And I started to spin this -

Which is more hand-dyed roving and I've tried to add some coloured nepps but I'm not sure I'm doing to right as they haven't spun in very well. Might need a bit of practice on that one. I thought the colour was a bit washed out looking when I was spinning it but it looks much darker on the bobbin so it is growing on me. Also strangely although the roving was dyed with equalish parts of green, blue and purple, it's the green that is really dominating the yarn when it's spun. That's typical because I didn't dye any nepps green - I only did blue and purple ones!

When I was at Stitch n Bitch on Saturday I was toying with the Origami cardigan and the teal/petrol blue wool/cotton from the stash. It seems the yarn just wasn't right for the pattern so now it has a new destiny - it's going to be a Luna Moth shawl. I've started it and it's going remarkably well for a first attempt at lace (all be it quite a simple lace pattern). There has been very little swearing if you don't count the bit where I couldn't get the provisional cast-on to "un-zip" like it said in the pattern. Took me three attempts and there may have been a bit of cursing. Anyway things are going Ok now (she says, tempting the wrath of the knitting gods). I took a picture but it just looks like a blue blobby thing so I'll try again at the weekend when the light might be better.

I finished the Elizabeth Peters audio book and I did enjoy it. I'm not sure I will be rushing out to read any more but as a one-off it was interesting, even if the plot did get a bit implausable towards the end. I would say that I've had my fill of Edwardians in Egypt but the next one for reading group is The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers so it's back to the oasis I go.