A Little Different ~ Sophie

 

I'm knitting and reading things that are not my usual choices this week.

 

The knitting is a mesh triangular scarf which I'm doing with a yarn which my mum bought back from one of her crafty outings.  The colours in it range from browns, yellows and greens into turquoise and lavender.  I like it but I would have never picked it up myself as it's not a combination I would usually be drawn to.  This is excellent as my collection of greeny/purple scarfs is probably in danger of getting out of hand!  When I am knitting it up against my turquoise cardigan it looks great. 

 

I am also reading books which are a little away from my usual choices.  I tried a Terry Pratchett book years ago and couldn't get into it.  Someone recently suggested I try, 'The Wee Free Men' so after having it sitting around for ages, I'm giving it a go.  I'm still not sure to be honest!

 

The audio book I have on the go is called 'The Garden of Evening Mists' by Tan Twan Eng.  I am very excited to say that I chose this from my library's free audio book service which has been going for a while but I have been unable to access.  They have updated their system and it's now easy to use.  I am really enjoying this so far, it is incredibly atmospheric.

 

I also just finished listening to 'The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year' by Sue Townsend.  'Nuff said!!

 

Gaby and I started listening to this at the weekend......

 

 

 

.....I love Jacqueline Wilson's books.  We found this and more whist having a mooch around the charity shops the other day.

 

 

I was really pleased with myself until I got home and realised that I got rid of the cassette player in the kitchen!  We do have one in the house, just not where I'm usually listening to books, but they were a bargain!

 

I'm linking this post to Ginny's Yarn Along

 

Good Stuff is Happening Despite the Storms ~ Sophie

I'm linking this post to Ginny's Yarn Along today.

We've been having a pretty awful half-term here weather-wise.  But, as the title suggests, good stuff has been happening too.  I got offered an allotment!  Today, we ventured out into the wind and rain to the library where I picked up the books above.  I also have this book...

...which was a birthday present. I will be pouring over all these and making some plans over the next couple of days.  I don't particularly want the allotment to be really low-maintenance but I know there will be times when I have less opportunity to get over there so I thought it may be worth seeing what was suggested here.

My crocheted coasters have been on the go a while.  Thanks to my lovely mum, we've been having a few kitchen alterations - the other good stuff - so I've been making these for when it's finished.  Which hopefully will not be too long now.

Yarn Along

I often go over and look at Ginny's 'Yarn Along' at Small Things on a Wednesday.  It's nice to see what others are knitting and reading (although I don't really need to be tempted into buying more books right now)!  I have been thinking about joining in for a while so here goes................

I was lucky enough to receive Loani Prior's 'Really Wild Tea Cosies' for Christmas.  I love nearly all of the patterns in this book, they are such fun.  I have started with the 'Coral Punk' and it's going to be for my mum because she gave me the book! 
 (Apologies for the really poor quality photographs today, I can't work out why they are like this, I've tried in several different lights?!)

I have to make about 50 of these coral tentacles. I'm over halfway now.  Although the pattern is straightforward, it's taking me some time as I find them fiddly and get achy fingers!

As for reading, I always have far too many books on the go at once. I also often have an audio book to listen to whilst knitting or doing crochet.  I've been listening to 'The Hunger Games' trilogy, but ended up buying the books for Gaby so I've been reading the paper version of 'Mockingjay', the 3rd book.  I've loved them all. 

The other book in the picture, 'Fire Dreamer' by Beth Webb, is the second in the Star Dancer series.  I am really enjoying this series although I originally bought the first book, 'Star Dancer' for Gaby.  She was rather absorbed in all things Twilight at the time so I gave it a go myself and got hooked!  I will definitely be finishing the series.  More information about the series and Beth Webb can be found on her website -  http://www.bethwebb.co.uk/index.html