Friday, June 08, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Happy Blogiversary!
It's two years today since I started blogging! How weird is that? I'm not sure what I set out to achieve (I wasn't sure then either), and managed to post 3 times on the first day as I didn't know how to upload photos, so they were done separately. Of course, in those dim and distant days Blogger didn't let you upload them directly so it was a little more complicated...
Back in those days, I'd just completed my first pair of socks, and was VERY VERY proud of them. Knit Lincs didn't exist, our first meeting was documented here. I was only working one day a week and had yet to start venturing out for working away from home and had only just started driving again (strange to think that, two years ago, I'd never stayed in a B & B - now I live in them!). Some things haven't changed much. Two years ago I was attempting to wean myself off Neighbours, and I'm still trying. Going out to work more does help, but when I'm working from home, guess what happens at lunchtime? (and what's with the bizarre London story-line at the moment?!)
I'm not really sure what I expected when I first started, the blog has documented the ups - the arrival of another nephew, completing my MA, graduating (under protest, but with knitting!), buying a house (and having a knitting party in the garden), going on various knitting courses, events and weekends (intarsia, finishing techniques, Skip North, the Knitting & Stitching Show, felted slippers in the Devon sunshine and Knit Lincs outing to Yarn), the Knitting Olympics and loads of holidays, and all the downs - having tonsillitis over and over and over and over again. Getting my tonsils archived, finally... How much progress I've made knitting wise. And the mundane (why did I feel the need to blog about porridge?!) And documenting the books I've read (discovering LibraryThing has also been a great help with this!). I don't think I expected to meet (and "meet") so many people - all the other bloggers in the sidebar plus some others, some of whom I've got to know in person too - meeting Anne (who I've only met 3? times but it feels like I've known forever), Blueadt, Andrea, Nic, Alex, Ruth Yvonne, and all the Skip North crowd. And of course the Knit Lincs gang: Nic, Kat, Claire, Dawn, Sara and the others who are blogless.
Golly. Do I get an award for most number of links in one post? Anyway, it's been a good two years. Here's to the next two!
Back in those days, I'd just completed my first pair of socks, and was VERY VERY proud of them. Knit Lincs didn't exist, our first meeting was documented here. I was only working one day a week and had yet to start venturing out for working away from home and had only just started driving again (strange to think that, two years ago, I'd never stayed in a B & B - now I live in them!). Some things haven't changed much. Two years ago I was attempting to wean myself off Neighbours, and I'm still trying. Going out to work more does help, but when I'm working from home, guess what happens at lunchtime? (and what's with the bizarre London story-line at the moment?!)
I'm not really sure what I expected when I first started, the blog has documented the ups - the arrival of another nephew, completing my MA, graduating (under protest, but with knitting!), buying a house (and having a knitting party in the garden), going on various knitting courses, events and weekends (intarsia, finishing techniques, Skip North, the Knitting & Stitching Show, felted slippers in the Devon sunshine and Knit Lincs outing to Yarn), the Knitting Olympics and loads of holidays, and all the downs - having tonsillitis over and over and over and over again. Getting my tonsils archived, finally... How much progress I've made knitting wise. And the mundane (why did I feel the need to blog about porridge?!) And documenting the books I've read (discovering LibraryThing has also been a great help with this!). I don't think I expected to meet (and "meet") so many people - all the other bloggers in the sidebar plus some others, some of whom I've got to know in person too - meeting Anne (who I've only met 3? times but it feels like I've known forever), Blueadt, Andrea, Nic, Alex, Ruth Yvonne, and all the Skip North crowd. And of course the Knit Lincs gang: Nic, Kat, Claire, Dawn, Sara and the others who are blogless.
Golly. Do I get an award for most number of links in one post? Anyway, it's been a good two years. Here's to the next two!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Some book stuff
I've finally (only taken 10 months!) found a reading group to join. I've been on the waiting list for the one at the library for ages but never moved any further up, finally someone at the local bookshop put me in touch with a group that meets in a village about 5 miles away. Only problem is that I can't get to a meeting until July because of work!
Their May book was "Little Children" by Tom Perotta.
An enjoyable read. The novel follows a variety of characters, who act like small children in their selfish behaviour. It follows the thoughts and actions of a small group of parents and a sex offender living nearby who is living with his mother. Supposedly the novel is a cross between "Madame Bovary" and "Desperate Housewives", but as I've only read half of "Madame Bovary" and have never seen "Desperate Housewives", I wouldn't know! The characters are mainly in their thirties, and have discovered that life isn't quite all they thought it was going to be - there are frustrations with their work, their love lives, that they haven't quite got all that they thought they would - even the "perfect Mum" is revealed at the end to have enormous cracks in her relationship. All of the characters make bad decisions, the danger appears to come from the sex offender, but in reality comes from each one of them. I found some parts hard to understand - some of the characters play American Football and there are great long descriptions of matches (games?) which I couldn't make any sense of at all! The reading group gave it four out of five stars, which I think I'd agree with!
I've also just finished "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan. An excellent novel. And short enough to read in one sitting (176 pages). The novel follows Edward and Florence on their wedding day and to their wedding night when they fail to consummate the marriage. The reader gets drawn into what is going on in both Edward's and Florence's heads, and how they appear to each other, plus explaining the background to their inability to talk to each other and express their needs and desires, and how that fits in with the atmosphere of late 50s and early 60s Britain. It's an incredibly sad novel, if the characters had been born slightly later (or, indeed, slightly earlier?) they would probably have been fine, but the novel portrays how they both become victims of their age. And, as usual, I love the way McEwan uses words, the book just flew by!
And "Practically Perfect" by Katie Fforde. Which was enjoyable, but typical chicklit really - woman buys house, does it up, find best friend living next door (nope, that doesn't happen in real life), ends up with a greyhound by accident, gets yelled at by Greyhound Trust man (who has "twinkly" eyes, so you know she's going to end up with him), gets yelled at by Listed Buildings man (who is also the Greyhound man), a couple of people end up in hospital to facilitate woman and Greyhound/Listed Buildings/Twinkly eyes getting together. And that's about it really. Why doesn't somebody write chicklit that has some grounds in reality?! Although at least this heroine isn't as idiotic as some of the others out there...
And, finally, "The Wonder Spot" by Melissa Banks. Sophie (the main character) just floats aimlessly through life - the book is divided into sections, but none of them seem particularly linked together. Sophie doesn't seem to get anywhere or do anything, I felt like wanting to throttle her by the end. I wish I hadn't bothered to finish it, it was a waste of time
Their May book was "Little Children" by Tom Perotta.
An enjoyable read. The novel follows a variety of characters, who act like small children in their selfish behaviour. It follows the thoughts and actions of a small group of parents and a sex offender living nearby who is living with his mother. Supposedly the novel is a cross between "Madame Bovary" and "Desperate Housewives", but as I've only read half of "Madame Bovary" and have never seen "Desperate Housewives", I wouldn't know! The characters are mainly in their thirties, and have discovered that life isn't quite all they thought it was going to be - there are frustrations with their work, their love lives, that they haven't quite got all that they thought they would - even the "perfect Mum" is revealed at the end to have enormous cracks in her relationship. All of the characters make bad decisions, the danger appears to come from the sex offender, but in reality comes from each one of them. I found some parts hard to understand - some of the characters play American Football and there are great long descriptions of matches (games?) which I couldn't make any sense of at all! The reading group gave it four out of five stars, which I think I'd agree with!
I've also just finished "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan. An excellent novel. And short enough to read in one sitting (176 pages). The novel follows Edward and Florence on their wedding day and to their wedding night when they fail to consummate the marriage. The reader gets drawn into what is going on in both Edward's and Florence's heads, and how they appear to each other, plus explaining the background to their inability to talk to each other and express their needs and desires, and how that fits in with the atmosphere of late 50s and early 60s Britain. It's an incredibly sad novel, if the characters had been born slightly later (or, indeed, slightly earlier?) they would probably have been fine, but the novel portrays how they both become victims of their age. And, as usual, I love the way McEwan uses words, the book just flew by!
And "Practically Perfect" by Katie Fforde. Which was enjoyable, but typical chicklit really - woman buys house, does it up, find best friend living next door (nope, that doesn't happen in real life), ends up with a greyhound by accident, gets yelled at by Greyhound Trust man (who has "twinkly" eyes, so you know she's going to end up with him), gets yelled at by Listed Buildings man (who is also the Greyhound man), a couple of people end up in hospital to facilitate woman and Greyhound/Listed Buildings/Twinkly eyes getting together. And that's about it really. Why doesn't somebody write chicklit that has some grounds in reality?! Although at least this heroine isn't as idiotic as some of the others out there...
And, finally, "The Wonder Spot" by Melissa Banks. Sophie (the main character) just floats aimlessly through life - the book is divided into sections, but none of them seem particularly linked together. Sophie doesn't seem to get anywhere or do anything, I felt like wanting to throttle her by the end. I wish I hadn't bothered to finish it, it was a waste of time
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Some knitting stuff
Recently I've been working only about 20 miles from where my brother's family live, so I've been able to see much more of my nephews in the evenings. If my bro's on a night shift I've been helping my SIL with bathtime (which is great fun!) and also babysitting as I've arranged to stay in a B & B not far from them. And one time I managed to get a photo of the first knitted garment I made (I made it before I had a digital camera so couldn't photo it at the time!). It was originally made for Noah (I thought it would take 6 months to make; it took 10 days, so it took him a while to grow into it!). Now Dylan can wear it:
It's a Sirdar cabled cardi pattern, using Sirdar Snuggly Aran and the wooden buttons are from the Button Queen, on Marylebone Lane in London. I'd been knitting for about 6 weeks when I started this, and didn't know any other knitters, so there was no one to tell me that a plain stocking stitch garment might be easier than cables and bobbles for a first go... I knitted it in the final fortnight of Dad's life, so most of it was knitted in a very dimly lit living room at Mum's house whilst I was sitting with Dad (what was I thinking - navy blue with hardly any light, as well as all those cables?!). But it looks cool now (just don't look at it too closely, especially the seams) and both the nephews turned out with blue eyes so they look really sweet in it!
I've also been trying to teach Dylan how to catalogue. It's never too early to recruit future librarians - 11 months old, why not?
And I've finished my Helter Skelter socks (anyone who was on Skip North - you saw me start these off!). This was one of the patterns from the Fyberspates sock club, and the yarn is the January yarn from the sock club - 90% alpaca, 10% nylon. They're lovely and soft and squishy, and will be very warm! I used 2.5mm needles for the cuff and 2.25mm for the heel and foot.
It's a Sirdar cabled cardi pattern, using Sirdar Snuggly Aran and the wooden buttons are from the Button Queen, on Marylebone Lane in London. I'd been knitting for about 6 weeks when I started this, and didn't know any other knitters, so there was no one to tell me that a plain stocking stitch garment might be easier than cables and bobbles for a first go... I knitted it in the final fortnight of Dad's life, so most of it was knitted in a very dimly lit living room at Mum's house whilst I was sitting with Dad (what was I thinking - navy blue with hardly any light, as well as all those cables?!). But it looks cool now (just don't look at it too closely, especially the seams) and both the nephews turned out with blue eyes so they look really sweet in it!I've also been trying to teach Dylan how to catalogue. It's never too early to recruit future librarians - 11 months old, why not?
And I've finished my Helter Skelter socks (anyone who was on Skip North - you saw me start these off!). This was one of the patterns from the Fyberspates sock club, and the yarn is the January yarn from the sock club - 90% alpaca, 10% nylon. They're lovely and soft and squishy, and will be very warm! I used 2.5mm needles for the cuff and 2.25mm for the heel and foot.
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