Fitzwilliam Darcy

Not a lot of knitting going on at the moment I'm afraid. I don't need to go to London during August so my sock knitting is suffering from a lack of train knitting time. Progress this week:

• Baby jumper - the body is nearly complete although I ran into problems running out of yarn (I was using up bits from charity shops). There were also loads of ends to sew in :-( but most of them got done yesterday.
• Kidsilk Haze wrap - over 2/3rds of the way there now. I got some more done at Knit Lincs yesterday, although I was the only person at the meeting! Think the heavy rain put everyone off. I got drenched walking there! Luckily had put all knitting into plastic bags inside my rucksack so it was fine!
• Kureyon Kozy - the knitting part is complete. I just need to work out how to put it all together! The stripes look fab, and I got both sides to match. Tried to take a pic for the blog but it's always too dark (see comment about rain above). Am very tempted to make one of these for myself. Although I'll need to buy a teapot to wear it...
• Baby socks - I like this pattern, it makes more sense than my adult Opal socks one. I got the heel turned last night so there should be something to show fairly soon.

All my projects seem to be at the almost completed stage so it's time to think of the next ones! I picked up the latest edition of Knitting magazine yesterday, and liked some of the patterns this time (although there was ANOTHER bikini pattern! What is going on? Does anyone wear knitted/crocheted bikinis? Has anybody found somewhere with suitable weather to wear a knitted/crocheted bikini?!). I liked the twinset, although wouldn't be able to wear the parts together, unless I also put my glasses on a chain and hair in a bun (to complete the stereotypical librarian look). It's OK to look like a librarian if you're not one, but I will be qualified very very soon so need to cultivate a different image.

I have done a lot of reading though. After getting all wound up and upset by "Harry Potter" and "We need to talk about Kevin", I decided to play it safe with books at the moment. The dissertation will not get anywhere if I have too many sleepless nights! So, enter Fitzwilliam Darcy- Gentleman! My friend Penny lent me these & they are excellent. Much much better than the usual Jane Austen sequels/spin offs. The first, "An assembly such as this" covers the first part of Pride and Prejudice, until the point where the Bingleys shut up Netherfield and return to London. It's written from Darcy's point of view, but is SO much more realistic than the terrible "Darcy's Story". The second volume of the trilogy is "Duty and desire" and covers the time when Darcy is absent from P & P, before he and Lizzy meet again at Rosings. Pamela Aidan has obviously done some research (unlike some other sequel authors!) and really gets into the style of writing. She has a very humourous approach - creating a wonderful Shakespeare quoting valet for Darcy. She fleshes out the Darcy we already know in a very creditable way. The third volume will be called "These three remain", but unfortunately hasn't been published yet. :-(

Oh, and I've just despatched a birthday scarf to my friend Kim:

Her birthday was actually in June, but she went home to Trinidad for a holiday and has only just returned. It seemed a bit silly to send a scarf to Trinidad... I knitted this back in May using 2 balls of Adriafil stars - really really soft and much brighter colours than they appear in the pic!