Books I’ve read this year #25

“Ordeal by Innocence” by Agatha Christie.

50 year old copy bought in a junk shop last week for $8 – bargain!  Loved it, but then I do like a bit of Agatha Christie.

I FINALLY finished the baby blanket

Remember the stripy blanket I blogged about a few months ago? The one I started before Christmas, was making when my sis was here in February, and that I didn’t think I liked and frogged a quarter of it before deciding it was actually okay? That one. The pain in the arse blanket. Well, I finally got round to sewing in all the ends and finished crocheting the border yesterday. Aaargh, those ends. There should have been about 5000 of them, but because bloody Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky wool has loads of breaks in it, I ended up with about 50 times that many.

OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but, honestly, I reckon one in three of the balls of wool I bought had breaks that had simply been knotted together in them, which was Very Frustrating Indeed. Why does that happen? And why do you only discover a knot right near the end of a row?

Anyway, here’s the blanket:

Hmmm, looks a bit wonky. Maybe I should have blocked it. But it’s going to be covered in poo and sick soon anyway, so maybe a little wonkiness doesn’t matter.

That pic’s not very good – it doesn’t show off the colours very well.

That’s not much better, is it? Ah well.

I’m wondering if maybe I should have done the border in a different colour – maybe the red or the brown. Never mind, too late now: I fly to the UK on Tuesday and haven’t even started thinking about my packing, so no time to change it now.

Fifty summer crafts for kids

Oooh, look at this. The long thread has put together a list of 50 summer crafts for kids. What fabulous timing, too, as this time next week I shall be back in the UK and will have littlies on tap to play with.

Books I’ve read this year #24

“Hunting Midnight” by Richard Zimler.

This book was a surprise present from a friend. She loves it: she told me she’d bought about six copies of it for other people. So, this book had a lot to live up to, but I LOVED it: best book I’ve read in ages. Highly recommended. You can read reviews here and here

Books I’ve read this year #23

“The Amber Spyglass” by Philip Pullman.

In the end I loved this trilogy. I think I’m possibly the last person in the world to read His Dark Materials, but if I’m not, then read it.

What my husband’s colleague said to my husband

It’s Fieldays this week: the largest agricultural event in the southern hemisphere. My husband has to go with his colleagues, and he asked if I wanted to join them. “What is it?” I asked, “What would I like about it?”

“There’s tractors,” he said. “And farming stuff, and stalls and… stuff.”

Hmmmm. “What time are you leaving?”

“Six o’clock.”

I’m not going.

Then today, my husband came home from work and said, “Bill at work wanted to know if you were coming with us to Fieldays. He says I should tell you there are a couple of stands in one corner that sell potato peelers and cleaning products and saucepans, and that all the women love them.”

Potato peelers? That changes everything. I thought it was going to be all sheep dip and stuff. But potato peelers? Oh yes, I’d definitely get up at 5 am to see those.

Apparently, the girls at work think Bill is a bit sexist.

Sock monkey

As soon as I saw the sock monkeys Little Miss Flossy made, I wanted to make one myself.  It’s taken me a while because not one shop in the town where I live sells socks. Not one.  I checked them all.  Mind you, round here, people are still going to the supermarket in bare feet, so maybe there’s not much demand for socks.

In the end, I asked my friends in Auckland to take pity on me and send me some socks, and I have finally made my first sock monkey.  Here he is.

Books I’ve read this year #22

“The Subtle Knife” by Philip Pullman.

Oooh, I am enjoying these books – can’t wait to start the third one.

Books I’ve read this year #21

“The Partisan’s Daughter” by Louis de Bernières

I liked this.

I’m rubbish at book reviews, aren’t I?