Psychedelic mouse

This is progress on the baby cardigan:

In the above photo is looks liks a first attempt at knitting, the sort where the increases and decreases are accidental rather than deliberate...
Folded, below, you can see more of how it's meant to be. I love the way the stripes vary a bit depending on the width of the knitting. The yarn is Lion Brand Magic Stripes. The pattern is written for Opal 4ply, which I think has better yardage than Magic Stripes, so there probably won't be enough to make the little hat and socks too. But I have plenty of oddments suitable for those!

Anne very kindly sent me some of her leftover balls of Kool Kotton so I can have a play in preparation for the throw in May's Simply Knitting. If I decide to make the throw I don't want to start until after I've moved and seen how the furniture etc works in the new house, but this will give me a chance to see how Kool Kotton compares to the yarn used in the pattern.
Thank you Anne!

The very brightly coloured mouse is stuffed with catnip and is intended for David's cat Jennie, whom I'll see later this week. Jennie is blind and sometimes loses her toys under his furniture so I thought making a pschedelic mouse would help him find it for her again.
Unfortunately Sooty got a whiff of catnip whilst I was busy stuffing but hasn't managed to get his paws on the mouse (yet).

In terms of books, this week I've read:
The Dream of Rome by Boris Johnson. I think Boris is a prat, he is very very annoying on Have I Got News for You etc, but I wanted to read the book because I love Roman History and the TV series was quite interesting. The bits when he insists on comparing the Roman Empire with the EU are just plain clunky, but the bits about Rome itself are good. He has a very readable style, so it doesn't at all read like a dry history text (read the Amazon reviews, some are also quite entertaining!). Oh, good grief, someone has even done a BorisWatch website, how scary when you start Googling for links to a book...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (and bought from Greenmetropolis too!) - very useful list of ways to not only recycle things, but also how to reduce consumption in the first place. I also like the little cartoons!

I also finished Knitting Rules by the Yarn Harlot. I LOVE this book. Not only is it full of useful things to know for the beginning and not-so-beginnerish, but it's very funny! It's good for dipping into, and the basic pattern "recipes" are very helpful.

I'm not sure how much there will be in the way of posts and knitting this week. I have two days in Norfolk, two days in London and one day in Chelmsford (unfortunately not in that order, but more like behaving like a yoyo). Fortunately though London and Chelmsford will be done by train, which bodes a little better for knitting!