I feel like I should start with an apology for the lack of blogging over the last couple of months, although that does sort of suppose that someone out there is reading this thing! But assuming you are, lovely reader, I'm sorry - it has been, and still is, an intensely stressful time at work, and my partner and I are also in the process of moving house, and Christmas happened, all of which have conspired to ensure that I haven't had a lot of time to read or knit lately, never mind blog about it.
However, I did find time over Christmas to finish the Little Tiny Fox Feet, a year after I started it, and despite the occasional fiddliness and tinking and bodging of annoying mistakes, it was definitely worth it. Click on the link for pictures!
Having not learned my lesson, I've since started a new scarf, which I won't post pictures of because it's going to be a present for someone. In keeping with my semi-tradition of choosing knitting patterns with techniques I haven't tried before, it's in brioche stitch, which makes for a nice double-sided finish, and so far I'm really enjoying it. It's taxing enough to be interesting but not so taxing that I can't watch a film or have a conversation without losing track of my stitch count, so it's got one over on the fox feet already. And the whole thing is practice for a brioche stitch shawl I've got my eye on, if I'm not sick of it by the time I get to that.
In reading news, audiobooks have come to my rescue in this busy period. At the moment, until we move, I don't have a bedside lamp, which has somewhat scuppered my habit of reading before bed, meaning I wasn't reading much of anything at all. Then I discovered that the Audible app on my phone has a sleep timer feature, which I thought I might use so I could still "read" before I went to sleep, but it proved tricky to listen to anything too interesting because I was missing ten-minute chunks when it continued playing after I drifted off! So I compromised on Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome - an old favourite with a plot easy enough to catch up on if you miss a bit - and I'm now on the sequel, Swallowdale, which is just as good.
In the car on the way to work, I've also been listening to Elephant Moon by John Sweeney, about a group of schoolchildren and their teacher trying to escape Burma in the Second World War, loosely based on real events. It proved an excellent listen, being a gripping adventure with an extremely nasty baddy and sympathetic goodies, and a large quantity of peril thrown in for good measure. Highly entertaining.
And finally, any spare half hours I get (when I'm not knitting) are currently being donated to The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, as recommended by Ann Kingman on the brilliant Books on the Nightstand podcast. I can't begin to tell you how much I already love this book. It's science fiction, but that doesn't really do it justice. If you can, get hold of a copy or download the Kindle sample and see for yourself. I'll post more about it when I'm finished, hopefully soon, from my new house, big enough for more books, and more yarn!
