monday :: read this book

Charming, idyllic, funny, full of period detail, you can almost smell the air, hear the water. Beautiful, can't believe I haven't read it before.

monday :: read this book

There are so many books I have read recently that I want to recommend to everyone I know, i've decided to space them out a bit and have myself a regular monday feature :: read this book. I'm not one for book reviews....never know quite what to say, inarticulate and all that...but I'll only ever put a book up if I loved it so much I know I'll re-read it.

First on my 'you must try this book' list then ::

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea

Michael Morpurgo

I read lots of children's books because I work in the children's department of a bookstore. I've never read any Morpurgo before, and I loved this. I think he is better known for his animal stories, but this is a biography-style book with a hefty dose of sea-faring which made my heart leap. Lovely book, good writer, gorgeous mix of line drawings and photographic illustrations on the cover, and on each chapter heading.

project development

The wedding quilt (I'm going to call it a quilt rather than a blanket because it sounds nicer) is developing, I've found lots of inspiration and decided on my square size :: 8".

I've found some beautiful crochet square designs :: flower burst square, victorian dream square and cygnus square, which may not make it as they are a bit complex, and if i worked them in my aran weight yarn, would end up as larger squares than I intend. The last one measures 12" sq when finished.

I've also found some lovely motifs :: motif 46, motif 41 and motif 118 I particularly like.

It seems that a lot of crochet squares look radically different when they are done with added colour yarns or variegated yarns. Sometimes the colour brings out the detail wonderfully, like this one, which is actually a very simple design ::

Some crochet squares are beautiful but the design can disappear when worked in one colour only. So I need to be careful choosing my square designs. I also don't want it to be too 'busy'...I want to stick to a small number of different patterns. I don't want it to be a sampler-style blanket.

I think I might add some knitted lace squares, like this tulip square, and below it the simple vine square (thanks 'vogue ultimate knitting book'...I forgive you for being so ugly, as you are so useful). Neither of these have been blocked, by the way.

read this....

Thanks awfully for your nice comments on the wedding and my dress, very blush-making.

I'm planning a post this weekend about the wedding quilt (sounds nicer than blanket) which is coming along nicely, but had to pop in and tell you all about a delicious book called 'Good Evening, Mrs Craven'.

It's published by Persephone, and contains the wartime short stories of Mollie Panter-Downes, 21 in fact, who wrote 'A Letter from London' in "The New Yorker", between 1939 and 1944. Some are a little sad, some are quite funny, all are absolutely fascinating.

decision time

I've bought a skein each of drift and tulip from the Blue Sky Alpaca dyed cotton range! Amazing how exciting it is to buy yarn again, even 'once removed' on the web. I used Loop in London, who I've found to be good at calling me when there are issues, and prompt shippers. Also I think they have a gorgeous website.

Thank you for you comments...deciding is the hardest part, so many options! I'm going to go for mixed whites, mixed patterns, and just sort it all out once I've done all the crocheting. This way, if they stop producing the whites I'm starting with (though unlikely) I can use other brands/shades, and if I discover a great pattern in a few months time I can easily incorporate it.

I've had some fun today brushing up on my crochet...I realised I hadn't actually done very many granny squares before, and I found purlbee's wonderfully clear tutorial very helpful. It was also easier to start with string and a very big crochet hook, so I could understand the details better. I havn't yet attempted the garden square...I need to decipher some of the terminology first.

plans for a wedding present

So, I've had an idea for a wedding present for the pembrokeshire wedding couple ~ clifftop ceremony in a ruined chapel, picnic 'reception' on the beach ~ that I need some advice on

They live on a narrow boat, he is a buddhist, she is into crystals, reflexology, natural fibres, and a vegetarian. She is knitting him a sweater (don't worry, she already has the ring so won't be affected by the curse), and he has talked about knitting a blanket for their bed. Now you know them a little better. I have to say they are the most serene couple I have ever met, and she is particularly good-natured, calm and affectionate; an old-fashioned, lovely heroine.

My original idea was to make them a wedding quilt, however I don't think I can quite run to this, and although I'm quite happy with my beginner quilting skills, I know they are not up to making such an heirloom.

But I can crochet. So I thought I could make them a crocheted wedding blanket...in white yarn, maybe organic cotton, made up of pretty but not fussy granny squares. I know they are also keen on having babies straight away, so it could also be used as a baby blanket.

The questions are:

Which granny square pattern/s should I use?

Should I stick to one square design, or mix a few?

Should I use a few different shades of white? Or maybe a variegated white?

What yarn should I use? It needs to be affordable, but I want to use the best I can.

So far I've found a few patterns I like, and I'm quite keen on Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton yarn in these shades....

614 drift

616 sky

615 tulip

Garden, by Patrizia Pisani

standard, by purlbee

What do you think? Any pattern/yarn suggestions, or advice would be very welcome! I'm quite keen to get started on this straight away, I haven't knitted or crocheted in months!

hello again

Well, I've been away from the web for a while, and now I'm sitting here late at night, it's far too hot to sleep, so time to write my diary. Thank you for any comments I've recently received that I haven't personally replied to, I do appreciate them!

Lots of inconsequential bits and pieces have been going on; I got through a Brownie sleepover, with 5 and a half hours sleep (my lovely pink sleeping bag was very comfy); developed a new chocolate cake with my lovely sis (add whole milk, risky but worth it);

received a stellar late birthday present;

read 'Land Girls' which is really good, if a little silly; 

tried baking a new cake (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's) Lemon and Poppy Seed from one of the sunday papers;

and finally, bought a Norwegian flag for a little Eurovision party on Saturday night.