Knitting and Reading

I finished reading Station Eleven and really liked it. I enjoy post apocalyptic tales for some reason, I think I like to scare myself about how easily and quickly society and all its infrastructure would break down. Cheerful stuff. The book followed several people over time from before the event and during life afterwards and ended positively. I really enjoyed it. 

I'm now reading The Miniaturist for my book group. The story is set in 17th century Amsterdam and the main character is a young girl who goes to live there after her arranged marriage to a businessman. She knows very little about her new husband and his household and there are a few mysteries. There is also a kind of magical sinister thread running through the book to do with a dolls house (giving nothing away) and I am looking forward to getting to the bottom of it. I only have a hundred pages or so left. The book group are planning to follow up with a visit to the Dolls House exhibition at the Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green. The museum is always good for a visit and this new exhibition looks interesting. 

This year (and last year, only this year I MEAN IT) I resolved to deal with some unfinished projects. So yesterday I decided it was time to pull out my purple poncho and coral cardigan and finally get both of them completed. The poncho just needs some sewing up. I love the yarn (James C Brett Marble Chunky), it is very warm and soft. The poncho is knitted as a series of different squares that are sewn together, and sometime I would like to use this yarn and knit a throw from the same squares for our living room. First I need to decide on a colour scheme for the room and decorate it. That's a whole other project! There's one sleeve to knit to finish the coral cardi, so I'm working on that now and then will sew it together. I'm looking forward to wearing it as it goes well with my coral sandals that I hope the weather will be warm enough for soon. 

Joining Yarn Along and Keep Calm Craft On

Knitting, reading

I'm knitting a baby blanket, my third time knitting this pattern. It looks quite pretty when it's finished and the lace edging has been sewn on, but knitting the main part is a huge garter stitch square and takes (me) forever. I'm not a very fast knitter!

For weeks I have been carrying the same book up to bed with me every evening, downstairs to rest beside me on the sofa during the day, and tucking it into my handbag when I leave the house. In about two weeks I have still only read 150 pages, I read that in a couple hours if I am enjoying a book. I wanted to like it; it's for my book group and others in the group have really liked it.  What I really don't like when I am stuck with a book I don't enjoy is that I'm barely reading at all, and I love to read.

I moved on and I'm now reading and enjoying Station Eleven. The story has a surprisingly gentle feel, though given the post-apocalyptic setting I am not sure if that will last! I've also been browsing through London Villages. I love that we live right on the doorstep and one of my favourite things is to drive into town on a Sunday and find somewhere that I've not been before to explore. Preferably involving cake and coffee. 

Joining Ginny and others for Yarn Along 

knit, purl, sneeze

I'm knitting a cowl for myself. I knitted it flat as I wasn't sure about the length I wanted and I'm still not, so I've stopped while I decide whether to sew the ends together now or knit more so I can wear it doubled. While I'm thinking, I've cast on a Chinese waves dishcloth (ravelry link) for my friend Lisa. I promised her dishcloths a while ago, and I'm seeing her Tuesday so I'd like to give them to her.

I'm reading Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie, the first of the books on which the series Grantchester is based. I'm enjoying it very much, and as I've already seen the first series I know what the characters look and sound like, which is nice. I don't like it the other way around, when I read a book then see the programme or film and all the characters seem wrong. I'm also reading Dave Ramsay's Total Money Makeover which I am enjoying less. I get stuck on his suggestion of saving three to six months's expenses before doing anything else. That's all very well, but we need to be saving for a car . While spending months or years getting that sort of money together together the bottom would likely fall out of our old car and we'd be running around like the Flintstones.

I have a cold so I'm not up to doing much today. I'll be writing a menu plan for the next week or so and a shopping list for the Prof to pick up on his way home from work. I think I'll do some knitting and sewing and watch the Downton Abbey Christmas Special.


Joining Ginny and friends for Yarn Along

Yarn in the post!

A parcel of new yarn is one of my most favourite things, and I just love Deramores online shop- as long you order by 5pm, the yarn arrives next day - super service, no? (they're not paying me to say that!). This is Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend Fino in Bramble. Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? I've knitted a bit with doubleknit Manos del Uruguay yarn before, but this is my first time with the 4ply. This is for the Miss Winkle knitalong from Crafts From the Cwtch. It's my first KAL, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's creations developing. 

And why is it called Miss Winkle?  There is an episode of one of my favourite programmes, 'The Big Bang Theory' in which Leonard is dating Leslie Winkle and they disagree over the correct version of Quantum Mechanics, String Theory or Loop Quantum Gravity. Leonard says that he prefers his space 'stringy, not loopy'. Leslie strongly holds the opposite view ("How will we raise the children?" she says), so this  loopy scarflette is named for Leslie Winkle. As the pattern writer Martina Behm says '....in honour of all women scientists and all women who know what they want and don't let any man talk them out of it!' 

I can't wait to get started, but first I have to wind the yarn into balls, which is a job on a par with sewing my knitted projects up, ie NOT my favourite. I need a minion to do these things. 

grey days

The weather here is grey, wet and miserable, I'm a bit poorly and have had to miss my craft group and the only thing cheering me up is the good books I've read recently and knitting, which I always find comforting. So here I am, still in pyjamas and purple fluffy dressing gown, ensconced on the sofa with a nice cup of tea and my knitting. 

It's so cold today that I wish the hot water bottle cover was finished already. It's nearly done, just a couple of inches to knit, then the making up and buttons to sew on. I need three buttons and  I'd like red or white ones, which I don't think I have in the right size, though I will turn out the button tin and have a good look. If not then a trip to Hobbycraft will probably have to happen at the weekend, which is never a bad thing! I'm glad I decided to sew on the felt heart, I'm really pleased with it. I think I prefer it to the intarsia heart on the original pattern. 

I've just finished Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty, a thriller that I really enjoyed.  I read it in one evening, staying up far too late into the night to finish it. I should stop doing that. They say you shouldn't read in bed, but I do so love to, it's where I do most of my reading. My next read is The Never List by Koethi Zan, I'm only a few pages in but liking it so far. 



Joining Ginny's Yarn Along and Frontier Dreams

news from the heatwave

It's very hot here. Indulge me while I behave like the English person I am and complain about the weather. Why do we have to have such extremes? More rain than Noah had to cope with, weather so cold my central heating was on from last September up until about three weeks ago and now this heatwave.

It is nice to see the sun though. Last year we didn't have as many drives out in the countryside as we like to, the prospect of grey cloud all day doesn't put me in the mood for a day out. We did more popping out locally instead, usually to the craft shop followed by the coffee shop. This summer more country time is definitely on the cards.

On Sunday we drove to Maldon and had lunch sitting outside in a lovely sunny little courtyard. I made the effort and completely against my natural inclinations sat in the sun in an effort to top up the vitamin D. My levels were extremely low not long ago and having had mega doses of a supplement for the last few months, I am keen for my levels not to drop like that again. I've also been standing in the sun  when waiting for buses, instead of lurking in the shade of the bus shelter and sitting in the garden for the odd 10 minutes with a book or a cup of tea. I can't stand it for very long, but I am hoping that every little helps.

I'm reading a lot these days. I'm averaging a book every day-and-a-bit at the moment, while it's too hot to do much else. I just finished Perfect by Rachel Joyce, who also wrote the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which I also read earlier this year. Both good reads, but I preferred Perfect. It's quite a gentle read, in fact they both are, thoughtful and well observed, and with a touch of sadness about them. This week I also read Blindness by Jose Saramago, a much darker book, which reminded me of Day of the Triffids, although it isn't science fiction. It has barely any paragraphs, and no quotation marks at all, which I found off putting at first but after a few chapters I was fine and it was a really good read, with some food for thought. I've also read Midnight Cactus by Bella Pollen, a book about a woman and her two children making a new life in the Arizona desert amidst political intrigue and a quest for revenge, and After the Fall by Charity Norman, a chilling tale about what really happened the night a five year old boy fell from a balcony. For once, I have enjoyed all the books I've read, and read all of them start to finish - so often I start a book and abandon it after a few chapters, but all of these were really good reads. next up is Going Gray by Anne Kreamer, in preparation for my own upcoming No More Badger Stripe campaign.

I'm not doing so much knitting lately. The Purple Poncho of Avoidance is still lying on the table all pinned together and ready to sew up, I just Don't Want To  Do It. I wonder if my Mum would like to do it for me? (Now lets see if that forces her to leave a comment, I know she reads along!) I have a dishcloth on the needles, and also another head wrap. I'm considering knitting various head wraps and hats in preparation for the above mentioned campaign, as of course there will be the mother and father of all badger stripes going on for several months before I can say goodbye to it for ever.

In other news, my baby boy was 22 yesterday. Once again, I am putting this song here, my favourite song ever about being a Mum and what it means, how I felt 22 years ago and still feel today about being his mother.