A Little Dyeing

My good friend Maggi came over one day last week and we did some dyeing together which was lots of fun.

(making a mess in the kitchen)

( some sock yarn ready to go in the microwave)

(some of the end results)

(sock yarn all skeined up and ready to go)

(more sock yarn and some loopy mohair)

As you can see we had lots of fun doing this and made some lovely coloured yarns. I've been doing a little bit more today so there will be more yarns tomorrow when they are dry and skeined. There's also some roving which I haven't photographed yet so you'll see that tomorrow too.

In the meantime have a happy World Book Day!

Citron Shawlette and Challenging Myself

I realise that it is now nearly the end of February and I'm still lingering hoplessly on the letter C when I should have progressed through the alphabet much further by now. What can I say, I don't do deadlines.

I have a few C-shaped things to report though before moving on to D.


I finished my Citron shawlette, knitted in Malabrigo laceweight, colourway Red Mahogany.

(Here it is held up to the light so you can see the ripple effect.)

(and here, modelled beautifully by the Evilpixie)

I added an extra round of the ruffle and then ran out of yarn before the end of the edge-frill, however I am pleased with the overall result. Given the choice (or another skein of the yarn) then I'd have made it larger. While it will sit happily on the shoulders, this is not how I would normally wear a shawlette. I liked them looped around my neck, and this is not quite long enough for that. As a knit though I enjoyed it, found it stimulating enough to want to keep knitting, but not challenging so good for watching TV or taking to Knit Night. Several pub quizzes were won during the knitting of this shawl! I grew to like the colour in the end and it sparked in interest in semi-solid yarns that will continue into next weeks post (hopefully).



But it wasn't challenging. Nothing I've knitted recently has been at all taxing, and that's been fine, but now I want to stretch myself and tackle something more complex. I've been taking the easy options and knitting things that look more difficult than they are, letting the yarns do the work and taking the credit. Now I want to knit something that will make my brain work as well as my hands.



So I'm starting a pair of socks from Cookie A's Sock Innovation book. I have a skein of Paca Peds sockweight alpaca that I bought in Florida in 2008 that's been languishing in the stash. Now that I've wound it into a ball it's looking a lot more variegated than it looked on the skein. Twisted, the dominant colour seemed to be purple. Now that dominant colour looks to be the green and I'm thinking it will stripe rather more than I want it to. Here is where I need a nice deep semi-solid colour. I'm going to have a try with this anyway. I read through the book and some of the instructions are already making my head ache. Stand back - there may be swearing.

Charity Shopping

I'm all behind with my alphabet challenge. Let's face it I'm just rubbish at this. (Letter C from a building at Cotefield Farm, Bodicote, Banbury.)


And I promised a post about Banbury so here we go rolling it all into one.

A couple of weeks ago Pete and I went to check out an auction near Banbury because Pete wanted to buy some comics they had for sale. (And yes, he did get them, very pleased.) The comics were late on in the auction so we had a bit of time to kill and we went into Banbury for one of our usual shopping trips - coffee, charity shops etc.


I got a phenomenally good haul in the charity shops (known in our houisehold as chazzas). The first shop (PDSA) had a wonderful stack of proofs, some of books not even published yet.

Just around the corner the RSPCA offered up a couple of hardbacks I hadn't read and some quilting patterns for cushions with cats on. I shall use these to make a bright cheerful cushion for the MIL for her room.

Just around the corner the Barnardos shop had some great vintage 1950s fabric - slightly faded in places but lovely just the same.

I also bought a cord skirt I can wear to work and beautiful green velvet hippyish skirt.

On the way back to the car I spotted this pub sign by where we were parked -

Finally, just to top the day off where we were at the auction I spotted a big sign on another of the buildings just round the corner - Hagger's Mill - Alpaca Spinners and Textile Centre. Sadly it was shut but hopefully next time we're in that area it will be open and I can bring you a little peek.

New Yarn Shop!!!!!!

I'm all behind with my blogging, having been laid low by a nasty cold which left me gasping for breath and woolly headed.


However, before the hideous cold virus struck I had a great day on Thursday of last week. Firstly I went to visit my good friend Maggi (ravelry link) and we did some knitting and she kept us supplied with lemon cupcakes. What could be better than knitting AND cupcakes with a friend?


And after that I carried on a bit further to Stone (Staffordshire) where there is a lovely new yarn shop just opened.

It's just opened and I went and met the lovely owner, Jeanette, and looked at all the goodies she has. There were some fantastic sample shawls knitted up, very tempting. I was quite restrained and just bought a little ball of some hand-dyed 4ply in autumnal shades and a ball of Opal sock yarn. (Because you can never have too much sock yarn, right, and she had some great shades). Some of the stock was totally gorgeous, including some Artist's Palette laceweight. I've used their fibre but never seen the yarn - it's seriously lovely. I can see that this will be a regular yarn shop outing especially as I know Jeanette has great plans for adding to the stock she already has.

It's so nice to see a new yarn store opening, and if it's not exactly local (Stone's about 20 miles from here) then it's certainly worth a trip on a day out. It could easily be combined with a trip to Stoke to Abakhan Fabrics for example. Anyway I wish Jeanette at Yarn Gathering all the best and hope the shop does well. I shall certainly be visiting it again and I can recommend it. Her website's not up and running fully yet as she's been so busy getting the shop ready but I've given the link anyway so you can bookmark it.

I'll be back in a couple of days with a belated alphabet post featuring a day out to Banbury.

Keep knitting.

What's next on the TBR pile

So that's where I'm going next on my reading journey, starting in Michigan at the top, then Medieval Glasgow, Victorian London, Spain during and just before the Second World War, 16th Century St Andrews, Hong Kong and finally Montana.


That should keep me busy for a while.


I had a little moment last week when I was neither reading a book nor knitting anything other than the perennial socks which was a tad disconcerting. I felt a little bit lost for a while. But I soon got over that, cast on several new projects and started a new book.


Currently I am reading South of Hell by PJ Parrish, which is the pseudonym of two women, Kristy Montee and Kelly Nicholls. I first read one of these last year, A Thousand Bones and I did enjoy it, then I read a second one, Dark of the Moon, which was just as good and which delved into the backstory of one of the characters. However I realise that I am reading them all out of sequence and that there are apparently 10 in the seies, not all of which seem to have been published in the UK. Anyway I spotted Dead of Winter in a charity shop last week. It is the second in the series so I'm jumping back and forth a bit here.


I just finished the other 2 books I was reading - Rome by Manda Scott or M C Scott as they seem to be calling her now, and Sweetsmoke by David Fuller.


Rome was an excellent read - just what you would expect from Manda - lots of great characters, historical detail aplenty, a cracking storyline and a touch of mysticism. Her books are really such an enjoyable read. I just get caught up in them and swept along. Reading this made me want to go back and re-read the Boudica series, and I'm glad to see that she's planning more in this Roman series.


Sweetsmoke was enjoyable too but in a different way. It's set on a tobacco plantation in Virginia during the American Civil War and is about a carpenter (a slave) trying to find out who killed a local free woman. So it's a crime novel of sorts but really it's just a very involving story about this man, Cassius, and his struggle to come to terms with who he is, and who he is allowed to be. Wonderfully written and beautifully told from Cassius' point of view. Interesting too to read about the war from the perspective of a slave. I love the cover - the hands are so expressive.


Then there is the pile to be worked through - which one first? Decisions, decisions...

What's on the Needles

This is what I have on the needles at the moment..

These are handspun merino socks. I started to spin these at the advent gathering and I finished spinning over Christmas. As you can see there is one finished sock already. They are a quick knit because the wool is roughly DK weight. The yarn is really soft and cosy. I should have had these finished before that cold spell - I really could have used them then.

These are Opal socks with the sock yarn that I bought at Twist Fibre Craft Studio when I was in Scotland. I'm not at all sure about the colours and the way they are knitting up, which is why there is only the cuff and calf of one sock knitted. I keep picking them up and knitting a few rows and putting them back down again

Anyway I got a little sidetracked with this, which is Citron from knitty.com. It's a beautiful semi-circular shawlette. It's handily designed to use just one skein of Malabrigo Baby Merino Lace, which is quite reasonable. The shawlette in the pattern is done in a beautiful lime green which I loved but I couldn't find that colourway so I'm knitting mine in Red Mahogany. The colour is not quite what I envisaged having seen the colour on the internet. In real life the yarn is more brown and less red, more a semi-solid and less a hand-dyed effect than I had expected. I still like it though and I do wear a lot of brown so it will come in handy. The yarn is soooo soft that I may not want to take it off ever.

Next time...what's in the TBR pile and what I'm reading now.

B is for.....

......all manner of things.

Firstly this lovely Bloomsbury Classics edition of The Wide Sargasso Sea.

B is also for Boots and I'm very glad that in the Autumn I invested in a pair of Berghaus Walking Boots. They have been much appreciated through all this snowy weather. Lovely and warm and waterproof and with great grip. It's snowing again today and think I've had enough now. At least today I haven't had to try and get to work. I did try and get to the mile and a half to the dentist this morning and gave up after ten minutes sitting in traffic going nowhere.

Bubba, despite the evidence of this photo, (actually taken last year, not during this latest snowfall), is not enjoying the snow. It keeps balling up in his paws so he has to keep stopping to chew the ice out from between his toes. Poor thing. Plus this prolonged cold spell has brought on a slight limp which is probably arthritis inflammation. He'd much prefer to be fast asleep on the sofa and I have to agree with him. I'm getting rather bored with not being able to get anywhere and all my groups, reading spinning etc have been cancelled.

B is also for Black Country Knitters. I have found a lovely location for my Knit Night in Walsall. Every second Tuesday evening from the 26th January we'll be meeting in the Black Country Arms pub in Walsall High Street (that's at the top end of the market, next to Sofia's Restaurant). It's a great friendly pub with a huge selection of real ales and lots of little corners and nooks to sit and knit in, depending on how many people turn up. Come and join us.

A is for....

...is for Awards.

Yes it's that time of year again when I dish out the annual Mysterious Yarns Books of the Year Awards.

I'd have to say that the quality of the books I've read this year has been very high. There have been one or two duffers of course but in general I've been pleased. I've even liked some of the Booker shortlist.

Fiat Punto Award for the Book Hurled into the Back Seat with most Vehemence goes to - Library of the Dead by Glen Cooper. Not a crime novel at all really, though there is murder aplenty, not a convincing thriller, not even really about a library and very badly written to boot. Unsurprisingly there is a sequel, called Book of Souls. Guess what - I shan't be reading that.

The I Can't Believe I Paid Good Money For That Award (nominations in this category must be books I actually paid something ressembling the cover price for (342 or staff discount notwithstanding) goes to Sweet Smell of Decay by Paul Lawrence. Quite the most unpleasant protagonist in a novel this year - ignorant and self important, not someone you'd want to spent any time with. Billed as the First Chronicle of Harry Lytle, one can only hope that it is also the last. Also the title was so unmemorable that every time I've had to write about it anywhere I've actually had to go and look it up to see that it was called.

Enough of the whinging, on to the good stuff.

Favourite Crime Novel of the Year - Salt River by James Sallis, final part in the outstandingly brilliant Turner trilogy. What can I say. It made me cry. I loved it and didn't want it to finish. I'd say you should rush out and read these but sadly the first part of the trilogy, Cypress Grove, seems to be out of print in the UK at the moment. Someone at No Exit Press needs a nudge I think.

Favourite Non-Crime Book of the Year - The Children's Book by AS Byatt. This was a big surprise to me. I'm famed for my dislike of Booker nominated stuff, but I'd just read The Little Stranger and I was on a bit of a roll. This was another book that I just couldn't put down. It was a sumptuous book filled with beauty and style and wonderful prose. It wasn't perfect, rather losing it's way towards the end, but on the whole still a wonderful book. It may not be to everyone's taste, but as it's out in paperback this week I'd recommend that you give it a try.

And finally there are the Honourable Mentions - some books that made my year and deserve a bit of praise.

White Nights and Red Bones by Ann Cleeves - loving this series, can't wait for the fourth book at the beginning of February.

Rain Gods by James Lee Burke. A beautiful, heart-rending epic tale that people were likening to Cormac McCarthy. Let me tell you that Cormac McCarthy could only write an ending like that in his dreams. Not that I'm biased.

The Girl Who Played With Fire, by that Swedish bloke everyone keeps talking about. Enthralling and fast-paced, hard edged and Scandinavian. Bizarre that I like this but I do.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. I liked this when I read the proof which was handy because they quoted my review in the paperback edition, prompting me to leap about in Waterstones in Nottingham waving the book at Pete yelling "Look, look, I wrote that!" Quite one of my moments of the year.

So it's been a good year for reading. I managed to dodge almost all books set in Edinburgh, though I did enjoy The Complaints from Ian Rankin. On my TBR pile I have books set in St Andrews, Glastonbury, Canada and Hong Kong so I'm planning to be quite the gadabout this January.

I'm going to range far and wide this year and will be doing some time travelling as well.
Currently I'm in Alexandria, though I expect to be in Rome before I turn too many more pages. Simultaneously I am in Civil War period Virginia. It's looking like it might be another good year.

Summing Up

I'm all behind schedule, but I've got a day off at last so here's my review of 2009.

I had a look back at what I posted at this time last year, to see if I had accomplished any of the things I had wanted to this year, and I wasn't too far off the mark. I said I was hoping to read some great books this year and I really have. I've found some great stuff, not all of it crime, as I also said I wanted to expand my reading horizons and I think I've managed that. There have been some really good fiction titles published this year and I've tried to read some that I wouldn't neccesarily have tried if I wasn't pushing myself. Next post will be the Annual Mysterious Yarns Blog Awards so more on books then.

I wanted to knit more Norah Gaughan designs and I finished the Astrid shawl and also knitted the Loppem cardigan. I finished the Civil War Quilt and started another more modern one (not finished yet, though the top is done, just needs backing and quilting. Just!)

I planned to do more weaving this year and I have done a little, mostly on the Ashford Knitters loom, but I also bought a 4-shaft floor loom this year and I've been waiting for the time / chance to get it warped up and will hopefully teach myself to weave on it this year.

We managed a trip to Scotland and a weekend in Wales at Wonderwool and in Hay-on-Wye. Seattle was postponed for another year as the exchange rate is still pants (and we still have no money).

So, looking forward I want to do more weaving, knit some good and complicated and clever stuff - something stretching and technical, plus lots of quick plain socks and stuff. I want to carry on quilting, get some more blocks done for the Teach Yourself quilt and make some bags and little projects.

We want to get to Woolfest this year so that's one weekend, and we'd like to go back to the NE of Scotland, rent a little cottage so we can take Bubba and explore a bit more of the area. Barcelona would be nice if we can get cheap flights but I'm also quite tempted by Brussels and I expect that the presence of the TinTin museum could persuade Pete that he'd like it too.

Finally I want to get a Knitting Group up and running in Walsall. I think I've found a venue for this, just need to check with the people in charge. Knitting and real ale, anyone?

The End of the Year

I've just realised that it's the last day of the year. See, that's what bookselling at Christmas does to you. Lol.

I somehow had it in my head that the beginning of next year was still about a week away, instead of just tomorrow. Did someone mess with the days again?

I hope you all had a grand Christmas and got lots of lovely pressies, or time with your family, or both, whatever you wished for.

I got a fantastic new digital camera for Christmas. Of course I already have a camera but it's a digital SLR and it's quite large and not very easy to stick in your pocket, so I asked for, and luckily got, a small, pocket-sized camera that I can carry around with me and so will use more often.

In order to get myself into the habit of taking pictures and also to make me look at my world a bit more I have set myself a challenge for the first half of this year. Each week I will do a blog post on a subject beginning with a different letter, starting with A and working through to Z. It might be a simple photo post or it might be a subject I want to witter on about, and hopefully it will be a bit of both.

Come back later this week for the annoucement of my annual Blog Awards, a quick recap of the past year and a preview of 2010.

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, now that the last book has been sold, the final giftcard swiped and the last sale sticker affixed.

(Miniature Mittens from Latvian Mittens by Lisbeth Upitis)

I hope you all have a peaceful holiday. I shall be sitting knitting socks while Pete and the Evilpixie take care of the refreshments and vittels. Dr Who is on the TV later and I don't have to work until Tuesday.

Happy Christmas!

A Grand Day Out

I had a lovely day out yesterday at the Advent Gathering, hosted by the Staffordshire Moorlands Guild of Spinners and Weavers.

I went with my spinning group (we hired a minibus so we could all go together) and we had a great time. There were lots of lovely spinners, many wearing fantastic hand-knitted, hand-spun garments and accessories - very inspiring.

There was food too, a great spread, because you know all that talking and spinning makes you hungry.

And there was shopping - The Threshing Barn were there with lots of beautiful fibres and some very interesting books, and the chap who's name I can never remember who does the woodturning and makes beautiful spindles and bobbins and stuff. I was very good and I didn't buy anything. There wasn't anything that I thought I really couldn't live without.

I did buy some raffle tickets though (and I won a prize - a large bar of Carbury's Fruit and Nut chocolate) and i bought a Fleece Log, which is for recording the different fleeces you process as you go, noting how you washed them, spun them etc. I am more than likely never going to use it - I never ever use raw fleece if I can avoid it - give me nice clean, preferrably prettily coloured roving any day - but it was for a good cause as the proceeds were going towards a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome charity.

All in all it was a very good day. Just what I needed to set me up for the mayhem that will be the next couple of weeks in the run up to Christmas. Blog posting may be infrequent during this time.

Finally I really can't let another week go by without saying how sad I am that Borders have gone into administration. It doesn't look as though there will be any buyers for the business, though a few shops may be taken over by Waterstones/HMV. Borders had a unique place in the book market, with a greater stock of American titles than most in this country, and a great selection of magazines. Borders in Oxford has long been one of my favourite bookshops in the UK and I will be particularly sorry to see it close. I hope that the booksellers all manage to find other jobs, but with the economy in the state it's in at the moment it will be tough. You have my sympathy.

Mysteriousyarns in Blog Update Shock!

I can't believe that it's been nearly a month since I last posted. I guess that's what Christmas in retail does to you. I have lost all track of time and usually have no idea what day it is.

I have been reading a bit though, finishing Simon Beckett's Written in Bone which I enjoyed, even though I had figured it all out before the end. Good characters and an interesting setting - see, I'm easily pleased.

Then I read American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld which I didn't enjoy so much. It started well, a well-turned story of a woman whose life has been overshadowed by an early tragedy, and it's based (at least in part) on the life of Laura Bush so you get to see how "Alice" gets to the White House. I have to say that the final chapters were a big disappointment - once Alice becomes First Lady the story loses all its focus and the last part is very dull. However, after I'd finished it I kept thinking about Alice and while she had been quite irritatingly self-centred throughout the book once I'd finished she kept popping up in my head and I got quite annoyed about her selfish misuse of a fantastic opportunity. She was so wrapped up in herself and her marriage to the nauseating "Charlie" that I wanted to slap her. It's not often that a character gets under my skin like that, so if that was your intent Ms Sittenfeld then I salute you - but that last section of the book was still terrible.

I'm now reading Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson (due to be published in paperback in April 2010, but available now in hardback). It's set in the 18th Century, is full if interesting characters and has really grabbed me so far, but I'm only 50 pages in so time will tell.

All my Christmas knitting (that I can report on here anyway) is done and dusted. My new loom now has a proper home in the corner of the dining room. I have a day off today and I've just remembered that it's Wednesday so it's the Christmas Party at my reading group tonight. And on Saturday I'll be at the Advent Gathering hosted by the Staffordshire Moorlands Guild of Spinners and Weavers. Hey, things are looking up!

And the winner is......

....sadly not me. The Booksellers Bursary went to Russell and Sara, whose entries I haven't read yet but I'm sure will be excellent. Several people were very complimentary about my short story, and it was really good just to be shortlisted. It makes me realise that I have been neglecting my writing of late and that I really should try and make a space for it somewhere in my hectic schedule.

We had a good day out in London anyway - any day that involves bookshops, a couple of glasses of good wine, a stroll around someplace you haven't been before (ie. Marylebone High Street) and some sushi, will always be a success in my book.

I could have done without the totally freezing journey home in a very draughty train with no heat, but that was the only dampener on the day.

Next post - knitting update, honest!

A Blustery Day

We had a fantastic day out in London on Sunday, despite the rain and the wind.

The first thing on our agenda, after a cup of coffee of course, was the ABC (Art. Book and Comics) Show at the Royal National Hotel. By the time we got there we were drenched, as not all the tube lines were operating and it seemed easier to walk, even in the wet, than try and work out how to get from where we were to where we wanted to be by tube.

The show was great - lots of great comic artwork for sale, lots of comics and some interesting books. I wandered round for a while then went and sat in the foyer with the coats and purchases and my knitting to allow Pete to carry on looking.

When we got out of the fair the rain had finally stopped so we took a tube up to Holborn and walked down through Covent Garden and down Charing Cross Road stopping off in all the bookshops,as you do. In Foyle's I picked up Ghost of Flea by James Sallis, the last of his Lew Griffin novels and the only one I was missing.

A quick detour up Oxford Street and down Regent Street to Hamleys finished our little tour. It reminded us of when the Evilpixie was small and a trip to London just had to include a trip to Hamleys. Sunday was the last day of half-term and Hamleys was absolutely heaving.

It was a good day, despite the wet start. And I'll be back in London again on Friday because I've been shortlisted for the Booksellers Bursary - a writing competition open to all employees of Waterstones. I'm not expecting to win, but the prize of £500 and a Arvon Foundation writing course would be lovely. I'm really just pleased to be shortlisted as I know there are some really great writers among my fellow booksellers. I'll let you know how I get on!

A Pile of Booty

I never did update you on what I managed to buy while we were in Scotland.

There was this, not inconsiderable, pile of crafty books -

There's, from the bottom, a lovely book on William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Designers Design for Themselves which is about American Arts and Design, Knitting in Vogue (Patterns from the 1930s to the 1980s), Knitting Nostalgia - Knitwear 1920-1950, Amish and Menonite Quilts, Designing for Weaving, The Knit Kit, Handknit Style, Simplicity's Quilts and Patches, and finally Spinning and Weaving at Home which includes instructions for making a spinning wheel out of a bicycle - not sure I'll be trying that but it's a interesting book anyway.

I also had a little Stash Enhancement Moment which resulted in the following -

That's 200g of merino in lovely tones of green and a ball of the brightest Opal sock yarn I could find. I have to say that stash enhancement opportunities were few and far between. I had a vague plan of buying some Jamieson & Smith shetland in various colours with the aim of some fair isle knitting but I never actually saw any in any yarn shop I was in. Sadly it seems that yarn shops in Scotland have fallen by the wayside exactly as they have in England. Perth didn't seem to have a yarn shop at all, most of the other shops I was in were full of acrylic stuff and baby yarn. Twist Fibre Craft Studio in Newburgh was a beautiful shop, with lovely stock (and it was there that I bought the things pictured above), but by and large I was disappointed with the quality/choice of the yarns available elsewhere. I'd got it in my head that there would be lots of great yarn shops lurking in the many places we visited but alas this was not to be. Maybe we were in the wrong places, or maybe our timing was bad - certainly there were shops I knew about that we didn't get to because we weren't in the right area when they were open, or we just didn't have the time to spare to make a detour. Probably just as well - if they'd all been great shops I'd be bankrupt!

Next post on Monday hopefully, when I will be reporting on my trip to London on Sunday - to a comic fair primarily - might manage to squeeze a yarn shop in somewhere if any are open on a Sunday.

Also I have exciting news about something happening later in the week, which involves another trip to London. I have such a cosmopolitan lifestyle.

Finally.....a connection.

We are home again after our little (but very busy) trip into the Northlands.

Sadly I was unable to take you along with me due to the lack of internet access up there. I'd planned to blog a little every day but it was not to be so you'll have to make do with a few update posts.



We left here early on Sunday morning and after negotiating the many sets of roadworks on the M6 (there were 10 lots of roadworks between Birmingham and Carlisle!) we arrived in Glasgow where we spent a couple of hours mooching around the Barras market.




It's a funny old place, a real mix of stuff - secondhand books, antiques and all sorts of new tat. We always enjoy a wander around though even if we didn't really buy very much. Getting out of Glasgow proved a tad more difficult than we expected as they seemed to have removed all road signs directing anyone East and also closed some of the on-ramps to the M8. We got away eventually but it was very frustrating.



We were headed for Perth where we based ourselves for a few days while we explored round Fife, Perthshire and Dundee. Highspot of the stay for me was a trip to Twist Fibre Craft in Newburgh where I bought some fibre and some sockwool. Pictures of this to follow.


We also visited an exhibition in Dundee which featured sculptures based on the Starblazer comics and had some of the original artwork from the comic. It was fascinating but not as large as we would have liked. Sadly it is the only exhibition in Dundee of artwork from DC Thomson's archive. More on that in a future post.



On Wednesday we headed further north to meet up with some friends we hadn't seen for a very long time. By this time I was beginning to remember all the things that irritate me about Scotland - the lack of decent places to eat, sketchy internet access, the scarcity of decent coffee, the terrible roads. If you'd asked me on that morning if I would ever move back to live there I'd have said you were mad.

However a couple of very busy days in the North East near Aberdeen soon had me back in love with that part of Scotland at least. Aberdeen is such a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and the Moray coast is just beautiful. We spent a day exploring along the coast with K&D, our very lovely and hospitable friends. Portsoy in particular is just amazing.

I really wouldn't mind living somewhere near there.
We had a fantastic time and it was great to meet up with K&D. Apologies to everyone else up there who we didn't manage to get hold of - time was very tight - but we promise we will be back sooner rather than later.

We didn't manage to get as much done as we had originally planned, and there were lots of people we'd love to have got together with and didn't, but we had a really great week (though with hindsight we should have gone for longer - there wasn't a lot of downtime in that week - we were on the go most of the time.) Ah well, there's always next time.

No News from the North

Internet access is a bit sketchy here so you'll have to wait till later in the week for my scintillating report on The Barras market, roadworks and charity shopping.

Back soon.

Holiday reading

Just a quick post as I'm in the throes of packing for our trip to Scotland and tidying the house and generally getting organised. I'm usually very particular and have lists and things about what needs done and what I'm taking etc but I am totally flying by the seat of my pants here and just throwing some clothes in a bag and hoping for the best. I'm especially hoping it's not going to rain much as I can't seem to find a waterproof jacket in the house anywhere.

So my final choice of holiday reading is this.

Written in Bone by Simon Beckett - it's set in Scotland, though not in any part we'll be in - it's an isolated community, with dark secrets and a murderer in their midst....and a big storm coming. Sounds just right to me.

The other is Library of the Dead by Glen Cooper, which is a Dan Brownesque thriller but with books - I suspect it's a bit of hoary old tosh but sometimes that's just what you need - especially on holiday.

Just two books, I hear you cry! Ah yes but the chances of me being in at least one secondhand bookshop, and probably a few other bookshops too, are quite high. Bit of a certainty. I'll keep you posted.

I'm a bad blogger

I've not been posting...mostly because I've not done anything interesting enough to merit a post, which is sad.

It seems there are only so many posts you can make out of going to work, coming home, walking the dog and then vegetating in front of the TV.

However, next week we are off to Scotland for a short break. We're hoping to start in Glasgow, spend a day in Perth, swing though Fife, go to an exhibition in Dundee then meander up the east coast to Aberdeen where hopefully we will be able to meet up with some people we've not seen for a very long time.

As usual we will be visiting secondhand book shops, charity shops, wool shops, comic shops and anything else that takes our fancy so I hope you'll join us through the medium of the blog and I promise I will try and take lots of photos of where we've been.

Now I'm trying to get the house into shape ready to be left in the hands of the Evilpixie for the week, working out just how little I can get away with in terms of packing (so there will be more room for booty) and selecting my holiday reading.

Holiday reading for me needs to meet the following requirements -

• It should be plot-driven but not too complicated - ie I need to be able to put it down and remember what it's about when I pick it up again - so no Booker winners
• It should be a good read - but not so involving that I don't want to put it down as this could lead to marital disharmony
• It will preferably have cost no more than £1 as I will not feel guilty then if I discard it in a hotel room once read to make room for another book (or books)
• It will ideally be set in the country/state/city I am visiting, though if it is then it should probably NOT be about the murder of hapless British tourists on a bookstore trail
• It may be about the murder of hapless British tourists on a bookstore trail if it is NOT set in my chosen destination (I'm warming to this idea - I feel a short story coming on)
• It must be paperback as hardbacks are too heavy to lug about
• There should be a murder (at least one), preferably on page one, page three at the latest.

I'll get back to you later this week with my chosen books - let's see if they conform to my guidelines (you will note that these are already, mere sentences later, referred to as guidelines, not requirements - anyone would think I was a politician)