“Words belong in contexts…”

“…not pegged out like biological specimens.”

Latest in the completed reading pile is La Belle Sauvage, the first in the Book of Dust trilogy by Philip Pullman.

I reread His Dark Materials a few months ago in preparation for this book. I was given it at Christmas and have been itching to read it, but I wanted to do it justice. I originally read His Dark Materials when I was a teenager so although I remembered the basics of Lyra, Dust, Mrs Coulter, Will and Mary, I didn’t remember all the details and how things had ended up.

The reread was better than I remembered, and La Belle Sauvage similarly did not disappoint.
As ever with Pullman, he effortlessly creates characters you feel you know. They have flaws, desires, and weaknesses to juxtapose their strengths. The plot zips along and you quickly get caught in the current of the action and the unfolding mysteries.

As ever with my reviews, there will be no spoilers. All I will say is things get a little weird at one point (which I’m hoping will be explained/developed in the next two books in the trilogy) and the ending comes a bit too quickly. You build up pace, the tension rises – and smack! It’s over and you’re closing the back cover.

Speaking of covers, the dust cover is pretty enough by itself:

But underneath it is just as lovely – I particularly like the quote on the spine rather than just the book title and author as usual:

My only other criticism was at one point I swear an adult’s ferret daemon changed into a mouse daemon, which shouldn’t be possible.

All in all, however, I highly recommend this book and I personally cannot wait for the next book to be released.

*Quote from Philip Pullman

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies…”

“I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”

So I have finished Saco Stripes:

I really enjoyed knitting this. The wool felt nice, the pattern was simple enough that I could watch TV whilst knitting (yet another re-watch of Gilmore Girls) but interesting enough to keep me from getting bored.

The problem reared its ugly head at the end…

I wanted to knit a baggy vest top, but I didn’t appreciate that the ease is written into the pattern, so I’ve knitted one exactly my size. Instead of a few inches of positive ease, I’ve probably done it with a couple of inches negative ease.

*Facepalm*

Not the end of the world. It still fits, it still looks nice, I can still wear it as I planned, plus I’m sure it will stretch a bit after a few wears. Plus it gives me an excuse to knit another one at some point!
The other issue I have with it are the edges. Once I had joined my two pieces my edges were a bit uneven. No problem, I thought, I’ve yet to do the edging. That will neaten things right up!

Except…it hasn’t really. It looks different, but not massively neater.

Again, not the end of the world as it’s just a casual holiday vest top, but I am disappointed. I made the extra effort to finish it and it feels like a bit of a waste really.

Actually those pictures don’t look too bad. Maybe blocking has helped more than I thought!

*Quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald

“You can lead a horticulture…”

“…but you can't make her think.”

Ooh you know what? I think I’m late for my Resolutions update!

So I made 7 resolutions in January (blogged about here) and talked about my total of books read/films watched/knitted things knitted.

So where are we with those?

1. Read 26 books (one every fortnight).
Chugging along VERY nicely with this one as you’ll see in the totals below. I’m reading at least one chapter every day. That just keeps me in the habit of reading and my love of the activity and the stories keeps it from ever being a chore.

2. Knit myself a jumper. 
COMPLETE! Peloponnese blogged about here.

3. Knit CB a jumper. 
Yeah. Still working on that one. It’s the next to be cast on, I swear!

4. Knit myself a pair of socks.
COMPLETE! Socks (and an Easter bird) blogged about here.

5. Knit CB a pair of socks.
I have started these. I’ve knitted one sock…and a bit….and then I ran out of steam. I am still aiming to finish by the end of the year, but I can’t say I see many more socks in my future.

6. Remain the right size to fit into my wedding dress.
Huh. I should probably check that… But I sincerely doubt I can. FAIL.

7. Moisturise after showering.
I have missed doing this a couple of times, but I’m calling this one CURRENTLY BEING ACHIEVED because I do it 9 times out of 10. Well, maybe 8 times out of 10. Still a win!

Now on to the totals! As a recap, 2017 came in at:

• I read 23 books 
• I watched 67 films 
• I knitted 33 items 

So far in 2018 we’re at:

• I’ve read 36 books (plus 3 short stories) 
• I’ve watched 37 films 
• I’ve knitted 7 items

Absolutely smashing that book goal, but I'm a bit disappointed by the number of knitted things. I doubt that will go up by much by Christmas as I’ll be working on a complicated jumper and I’m going on holiday for a month!

*Quote from Dorothy Parker

“The man in black fled across the desert…”

“…and the gunslinger followed.”

Possibly one of the best opening lines of a book ever. Shame the rest of the series didn’t live up to its promise….

Well that’s possibly a bit harsh – it’s a good series, a very good series...but not a great series.

A Tower of Towers

Book 1 was good, book 2 was really good, book 3 was okay, book 4 was really dull, book 5 was really good, book 6 was really good, and book 7 was good.

The ending really let it down – no spoilers, but where was the promised show-down???

It is incredibly ambitious, let’s praise that up front. What other series can offer you gunslingers, killer robots, mutant monsters and time travel?

It’s detailed, it’s wide ranging, it doesn’t shy away from doing unexpected and brutal twists – which leave you shaken but so much more drawn into the narrative.

There are some amazing images, some beautiful characters and the series is littered with incredible ideas, but it just could have done so much more with them with a little more planning and editing. Not to mention a little less ‘up-my-own-arse megalomaniacal metafiction…

I know Mr King writes it as it comes rather than having a plot planned out, but you know what? That shows, and not in a good way. So much wasted potential, so many needless pages of bland garbage. Wizard and Glass was a particular low point for me (though I’ve spoken to others who disagree) as I couldn’t give two figs about the love story, and none of the other characters involved are developed. And it has little bearing on the rest of the series! I would say that Cuthbert and Alain deserved more but you what? I don’t know whether they do – I never got to know them past a few quirks (Cuthbert’s funny and Alain is deep. Full stop.).

Well worth reading, but I’m glad I borrowed them rather than bought them. I would recommend them to people but I doubt I’ll re-read at any point.

I’m glad I read them. I’m glad I went on that journey with those characters, but I don’t feel I’ll carry much of it with me, thankee sai.

*Quote from  Stephen King

“I am clever enough to know…”

“…that I am clever.” 

Although I do harbour some guilt for leaving my socks in the lurch (curse you, Second Sock Syndrome!) I am absolutely zipping through my Saco Stripes (Ravelry link here) vest top.

It’s surprising really, I’m trying to read a bunch of paperbacks so I can give them back to their right owners before I move (I know one box of books won’t make a huge difference, but it eases my sense of order).

So I needed to read 6 of the 7 Dark Tower books by Stephen King in just under a month. Didn’t think it was really doable, but I seem to be zipping through those as well!
So how I’m zipping through books and still finding time for knitting….well I seem to be creating time. Which makes a nice change.

In other news, prior to the desperate reading marathon (readathon?), I have been chugging along with baking. I have made:

• a lovely Victoria sponge (yes an easy one, but CB has told me repeatedly he doesn’t particularly like them…and he loved this one)
• a crumbly madeira cake (may have just slightly over-baked that one)

• cheesy biscuits (so good)
• rock cakes (that took me back to my childhood)
• CB made some crumbly apricot bars (which I have to repeat for, err, science…)

I’ve probably made other delicious things, but to be honest I’m constantly being so very fabulous it’s difficult to keep track of all of my many achievements!


*Quote from Mervyn Peake

“Everybody knows the war is over…”

“…Everybody knows the good guys lost.”

As you know I’ve been meaning to knit Confetti (Ravelry Link) by Veera Välimäkifor a while:

© Veera Välimäki

Using this wool:

Well I thought I’d be smart...and there was my downfall.

Using a strong colour against a light one, I was wary of the purple bleeding into the white once the top was blocked. To get around this/to check whether the wool would bleed, I washed the skein.

Initially I was pleased I did so, as some dye came out. I felt all pompous. And then I tried to dry the soaked skein.

It’s been a heatwave recently and I thought it would dry in no time. And the outside did! The inside however…. After a day or two in the sun, I had tried to unwind it on my drier (and gave up as it was BRAIN NUMBINGLY DULL. I think I then just got frustrated, pulled the middle of the skein out and pegged it directly to the washing line.

In some respects that worked. I mean, the wool dried.
But in other, much larger respects, it did not. I had a huge tangle of very fine yarn.

Ultimately, after an evening of winding, untangling and (sob!) a few tears and a few (okay, a lot) more swears, my wool is rewound. In multiple little chunks. It was either that or setting fire to the whole thing. 

But then when I cast on to make the top, I didn’t have nearly enough stitches to make a full circle on the needle. I checked – yup, I was using the recommended length. I shrugged, I used a smaller cable and – still didn’t fit. I could just about knit a round if I stretched every stitch and had really high tension on them all, but that is just not pleasant to work.

More tears, more swearing. Isn’t knitting supposed to be fun?

So cOmPleTeLy UnReLaTeD news, I’m now knitting a seamed top, Saco Stripes (Ravelry Link) by Pam Allen:

© Carrie Bostick Hoge

Using this wool:

Looks oddly familiar...

and things are going much better.

*Quote from Leonard Cohen

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure…”

“…and the intelligent are full of doubt." 

I’m not sure if I’ve talked about this before, but I hate change. Hate it. Even change for the better makes me super anxious and panicky.

My palms sweat, my heart rate increases, I obsess over tiny details and ruminate over decisions for long after I’ve made them.

I still debate whether leaving London was the right decision, and I’m constantly going back and forth over my current change. My logical brain says one thing, but the wiggly neurotic bits of my brain keep making me doubt myself.

“Sure you don’t like your current situation, but what if this change makes things worse?”

Advice tells you to write down what you’re anxious about, worst case scenario, and then assess whether it would really be so bad if that happened. You’re supposed to go: “The worst thing that can happen is I dislike my new job and have to get another!” and, because your worst case scenario isn’t so bad, your anxiety lessens.

But it isn’t so simple for me. Even if I come to a conclusion that the worst case scenario isn’t so bad, it still doesn’t stop my panic as the wiggly part of my brain doesn’t respond to logic. He just wants to tear me down, piece by piece.

I feel pressured. I feel as if I have too many things to do and decide and to finish and not enough time to do them. None of this is true – I have no things to do or finish, very few things to decide, and plenty of time in which to make those decisions.

I wish there was a magical solution to calm my brain, or silence the wiggly part of it.

Therapy, I guess.

*Quote from Bertrand Russell