This week has been all about the crochet, bookended by two different markets. Last Sunday was Copped Hall’s Family Apple Day and yesterday was the London Welsh Centre’s Autumn Market.
Copped Hall events happen outside in a tree-lined avenue leading down towards the walled garden. Luckily we had sides for the gazebo this year and the weather was sunny if a bit chilly at times. It’s so lovely to see regular faces, though I need more Doctor Who things according to one customer!
They were two very different events – Copped Hall doesn’t charge a fee but asks for a suggested donation of 10% of your takings, whereas I felt a bit of impostor at the Welsh market surrounded by potters, award winning food producers and so on. Driftwood Designs had the stall on one side of me, and they have actual shops in Aberystwyth and Aberaeron (and a strong presence on my family’s Christmas trees).
On our other side was Badcubed, who makes the most amazing stained glass-style art using aluminium drinks cans (including commissions) and who was not above accosting passing people carrying interesting cans and asking them to bring them back when they’d finished. Thing 2 spotted someone with a beautiful cider can which turned out to be Hansh Cider from Llaethlliw near Aberaeron. The can is redesigned every time there’s a new addition to the family, adding dogs, small children and so on as the family grows.
Ben, Badcubed himself, is an ADHD-fuelled creative (his words), and never makes the same thing twice – all his pieces have names and stories. He gave Thing 2 a wave piece at the end of the day, a gorgeous heart shape created from Monster cans. She hugged it to her all the way home, and wouldn’t put it down until it had a safe place in the living room. Despite leaving Brecon at 4.30am to drive up to London in time for the event he was on full energy all day, chatting to all the people who were drawn to his stall – and there were a LOT.
My stall is more of a stealth attractor – people glance at it and then do a double take. Yesterday it was split into two sections: autumn and Christmas. I love watching people walk by as you can almost see the moment their brain tells them what they’ve seen …’huh, crochet…hang on, did I just see a crocheted jammy dodger/pea pod/sprout/chilli pepper??’ Yes, yes you did.
And now you’re coming back to have another look…and you’re going to need a bigger Christmas tree.
The nine pigs in blankets sold quite quickly, as did the little harvest mice and pickled pumpkins/ghosts and as fast as I could make a Chris Mouse it sold. I tested a mouse in a Christmas blanket too, and may make a few more of them as they’re very cute. Some people take ages to decide which pig or mouse they want to adopt as the faces are never quite the same! I wonder if I can do pickled sprouts for Christmas?
When I finally got a wander round later in the day I bought some Welsh Rum & Black Jam from Black Mountains Preserves, and some hot sauces from Chilli of the Valley as Thing 2 (my helper at both events) kept nagging me. This included Merthyrstershire Sauce as my Beloved is a big fan of Worcestershire Sauce, and making something Welsh can only improve it…
Mental notes from the event – more red Christmas jumpers, more pigs, more Chris Mouses, more peapods, more mini puddings, stop being lazy and embroider the house details on your toadstools, more barrel cacti….so much! And next year, go for the bigger table…
Another thing I really enjoy about these events is the conversations – I’m always crocheting behind the stall as I’m not very good at sitting still, and this opens up chats with other crafters, or people who want to learn, and people who whip their WIP (work in progress) out of their bag to show me. As with live interpretation, you become approachable when you’re doing something seen as ‘domestic’. Even if they don’t buy anything you’ve had a good natter about things you like.
The next stalls are December, but please do contact me if you want to order. Always happy to crochet.
Not the Central Line, which caused me no end of problems on Wednesday
A wander back to the new office from Exmouth Market – Clerkenwell is full of funny little streets and quirks. There are a lot of clocks about too, as the area used to have a lot of clock and watchmakers.
Crispy autumn things
Coffee with TT2 and GT2 after the Welsh market
Booking tickets for a night at Sadlers Wells East to see Ebony Scrooge with Things 1 and 2 in December – something to look forward to
Well, that’s it from me – I’m going to do NOTHING today*
Same time next week,
Kirsty x
*well, maybe some crochet….
What I’ve been reading
A Trick of the Light/Still Life/A Fatal Grace/The Cruellest Month – Louise Penny
MIdwinter of the Spirit/A Crown of Lights/The Cure of Souls – Phil Rickman (Audible)
This weekend I am back in the Shire, hanging out with the girl cousins (well, most of them) and slowly stewing myself in the hot tub out on the deck. We’re back at Forest Holidays in Berry Hill, near Coleford – my first proper boyfriend lived round the corner from here and our first date (27 years ago) was at Coleford cinema to see Buster, starring Phil Collins.
A night walk on Friday let us see scores of stars away from towns, a shooting star and the International Space Station zooming across the sky. No wild boars or deer, but lots of tawny owls shrieking.
Two walks on Saturday morning yielded a whole lot of interesting mushrooms and toadstools, as well as a fairy door trail. I kept wandering off the path to peer at treetrunks covered in tiny fungi, narrowly avoiding the acorns plunging down from the trees. They were crashing through the canopy and hitting hard enough to bounce. The afternoon was rainy and the breeze kicked up towards the evening, but the sun came out.
On Saturday afternoon we went to Plates and Shakers for tapas: check out the menus and see if you can decipher what’s in the cocktails, because we couldn’t. We’d booked a table for six, but they only had one for five (but squeezed a group of seven in later, so hmmm) so we squidged up on squashy sofas and drank cava and ate tapas.
Saturday evening was all about cocktails, cake and cheese, celebrating Hev’s birthday in style. Today we’re off to the Saracen’s Head in Symonds Yat for Sunday lunch and then reality must reinsert itself on Tuesday. We’re now planning our next adventure, which may or may not involve ABBA. It’s so lovely having a bunch of people I’ve known all my life to spend time with!
Things making me happy this week
Pumpkins 🎃 – trying to make these tiny pumpkins the right size to go in the small jars I bought has been a bit trial and error but I think I’ve cracked it now. The lovely nail techs at the Nail Bar in Harlow were very taken with them (I was in for a pedicure. Manicures don’t stand up to excessive crocheting)
Being able to go into the office and see people! No tube strikes this week.
Things 2 (with Thing 3 as sous chef) making dinner on Wednesday – Korean Fried Chicken, which was amazing. The worst part of adulting is having to think about dinner Every. Single. Night.
Buying my first Christmas present. Now I must ensure the safe place I put it in is one I can remember.
A long walk in the Forest last Sunday in glorious solitude, to High Beach and back via Copped Hall.
The Merlin Bird App – better than BirdNet. We heard a spotted flycatcher!
This morning if the weather behaves I will head for Symonds Yat Rock to admire the view!
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Wild Hares and Hummingbirds – Stephen Moss
Clown Town – Mick Herron
Amongst Our Weapons/Stone and Sky – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)
Last Sunday Thing 2 and I took another trip to the cinema, this time to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – my choice of film as the original is one of my favourite 80s movies. I was wary of it being a sequel for the sake of it (see the latest and hopefully final instalment of Bill & Ted for an example of this. Actually…don’t see it, it’s bloody awful, take my word for it instead). I’m happy that she wants to spend time with me even though she’s almost 16 (in 16 days, as she has just reminded me), and also we wander over to TT1’s afterwards and see the ever-growing family.
It was great. A cameo from Danny De Vito, reappearances from some familiar characters in bit parts – in bits, in fact – as well as (of course) Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara from the original cast. Jenna Ortega put in a great turn as Lydia Deetz’s daughter who’s taken second place to ghosts her whole life. Justin Theroux as a would-be stepdad was revolting. Michael Keaton, as the bio-exorcist being stalked by his soul-sucking ex, was on top form – but then isn’t he always? No story spoilers, but do go and see it.
I love a good 80s movie, and although some of them are a bit problematic in these enlightened days, I’m still introducing the kids to them when they pop up on the streaming channels. We’re drifting into the 90s a bit now, with Billy Elliot a recent watch, but mostly I’ve been sticking to my own teen favourites. So, in no particular order, here they are…
The Princess Bride. The greatest film ever. No arguments.
Say Anything. Featuring John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler, best known for standing in the rain playing Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes at Ione Skye’s window. Stalking by any other name, but I LOVE it.
Pretty in Pink. I still think she should have ended up with Duckie like in the book, and her prom dress was the ugliest dress EVER. But this was peak Andrew McCarthy…
…and so was Weekend at Bernie’s. One of the funniest films ever made. Wildly inappropriate. I still cry with laughter.
Reckless. Oh heavens, Aidan Quinn as a teen rebel. Be still my beating heart.
Ghostbusters. Giant marshmallow man. Sigourney Weaver. Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd.
The Outsiders. Brat Pack heaven*, based on an amazing book by S.E.Hinton that makes me cry every time. So does the film.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Matthew Broderick in cheeky mode, Mia Sara in gorgeous mode, and Jennifer Grey in pissed off big sister mode
Dirty Dancing. Nobody puts baby in a corner. Great soundtrack and Jennifer Grey again, and *that* speech in Johnny’s cabin. Swoon.
Labyrinth. David Bowie and Muppet monsters. Win-win.
Batteries Not Included. Community spirit and a really cute baby alien.
Stand By Me. One of the best Stephen King adaptations ever, beautifully done – one of his novellas, starring a very young River Phoenix.
The Blues Brothers. Carrie Fisher’s finest moment. Dan Ackroyd. Aretha. Endlessly quotable lines.
The Lost Boys, Pretty Woman, The Breakfast Club, Time Bandits, Field of Dreams, Heathers., The Goonies, Footloose, Big….so many.
*You may spot that apart from #7 there is no Tom Cruise in this list. I loathe Tom Cruise, even more than I loathe Jim Carrey and Ricky Gervaise. This means that there will be no Top Gun or Legend on this list. Ever. Despite Tim Curry’s appearance in the latter. Tim Curry also gets an honourable mention as The Grand Wizard in The Worst Witch(also starring Diana Rigg as Miss Hardbroom – perfect!).
A sunny walk this morning to the farm and across the hare field – no hares today, but lots of deer and some autumn calves. I did a bit of jogging and a bit of walking, and my knees and achilles seem to have survived which is nice!
On Tuesday I took part in audio description training run by Mind’s Eye – so interesting and useful, and it really made us all think differently.
Taking a break from making tiny Christmas Mice – making crochet gingerbread men and starting a baby blanket too
Series three of Heartstopper – this really keeps the feel of the graphic novels
Tiny pumpkins. I am tempted to paint them.
My beloved made me some excellent display boxes for my Copped Hall Apple Day stall next week, and Thing 2 and I started making props for Christmas displays.
Being given a rheumatology appointment well within the twelve weeks – six weeks since referral, in fact. Less pleasing was the ‘aging’ bit but at least it’s osteo and not rheumatoid. I think.
Well, where did it go? This week has been very rainy – indeed, torrential at times – and there’s been a definite chill in the air in the mornings and evenings. I was even forced to wear socks while working at home on Friday which seems a step too far after last week’s warm sunshine. I’ve swapped the cats so Ted and Bailey are the upstairs ones this week, as they’re pretty much guaranteed to lie on me at night and keep my feet warm. The downside of this is opening my eyes of a morning to find the pair of them glaring at me, especially if I’ve had the temerity to sleep in past 5.30am and their breakfast is late. Teddy, in particular, likes to tap-dance on my ribs to encourage me to wake up.
In the usual manner of things, of course, I can’t find the jacket that’s been hanging around all summer, and it’s still not quite cool enough for a coat. It’s also dark when I get to the bus stop in the mornings. It does mean we can look forward to crispy autumn and winter swims soon, and Thing 2 and I had fun popping conkers on the way home this afternoon. She brought me a pocketful of conkers from a walk the other day, knowing how much I love their shiny, silky shells.
I love autumn, it may be my favourite time of year, with the forest showing off its best colours – even London’s street trees get their chance to shed crunchy plane leaves all over the place, at least until the street sweepers turn up. There’s tiny pumpkins in the garden and squirrels are parkouring around the place collecting acorns and burying them so they’ll pop up as little oak saplings all over the garden next year. We* have transplanted enough of these into pots to make a small portable forest.
Christmas crafting – making gingerbread men and yet more tiny mice
Afternoon at Jill’s for her annual Macmillan tea party. I left before the gin was cracked open…
Colleagues who recommend good books, and library ordering systems
Another cross stitch finish and a StayPuft Marshmallow Man
My job – working in an organisation genuinely committed to EDI and understanding barriers to access both internally and externally. Kindness and respect go a very long way.
Today I am off for a morning swim, and then Thing 2 and I are off to the cinema to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – I was in charge of tickets and she’s on snacks, and then we’re going to go and see TT1 and the family. And then she’s in charge of dinner, hurray!
This week is new washing machine week, as Repairman 2 wrote it off. Currently when it goes into spin it sounds like its filled with cats and rocks, neither of which should be included in laundry.
Same time next week, then?
What I’ve been reading:
Murder at the Monastery – Rev. Richard Coles
The Island God – Sarah Painter
We Are All Made Of Glue – Marina Lewycka
Tricky Twenty-Two – Janet Evanovich (Audible – and a lot of live Eddie Izzard)
Apparently it is only 29 days until Thing 2’s birthday. She is the most organised child when present-giving occasions are looming, providing all about her with wishlists ranked out of ten. These are regularly updated via Google Docs, when she remembers that she really, really wanted some black flared leggings or some obscure Japanese snackfood. One year she put a cake mix on her list to make sure she got the right cake. I think she feels slightly cheated that she has an autumn birthday so all her present opportunities are squashed up at the end of the year, bless her. Welcome to my October, everyone: a daily countdown to B-Day. At least it keeps her mind off Christmas.
Speaking of October…
Autumn is definitely peeking its head over the horizon, with some spectacular thunderstorms rumbling around the place and cooler mornings. I took myself out for a walk this morning and while the trees are still green the rosehips are glowing and the blackberries are almost over. Seedpods are replacing flowers and the fields are being ploughed in, resulting in clay platforms on your trainers where the footpaths have disappeared. I was an inch taller by the time I got to the flood meadow.
I also took the opportunity for a sneaky peek into one of our local pillboxes, which sits aloof in the middle of a field near the airfield. It’s in pretty good nick and the local farmer seems to be furnishing it with a carpet of old tyres for some reason. Thanks to the airfield, which began as a Royal Flying Corps base in 1917 and then played a crucial part of the Battle of Britain, we have a good collection of military bits and bobs around the village but this is the only pillbox not badly overgrown. There was a mushroom pillbox on my walk too and at the top of the hill behind the house the old Victorian Redoubt boasts a couple of Allen-Williams turrets, also from WW2, which protected the radio station there.
Other things making me happy this week:
Launching the schools campaign for National Illustration Day
Banana and Malteser cake – my signature dish, according to the kids
The weather being cool enough for crocheting the Hydrangea blanket I’ve been working on for two years
Crocodile stitch trees on the tube
Same time next week?
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Racing the Light – Robert Crais
Soul Music – Terry Pratchett (Audible)
The Lost Apothecary – Sarah Penner
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain – John O’Farrell
The Fine Art of Invisible Detection – Robert Goddard
You know, I’m tired. I’m really, really tired. And fed up. And angry (though regular readers will have spotted that this is becoming a far more frequent state of mind for me). And resigned. And sad. And all sorts of other emotions that are probably common to a lot of us right now.
On Thursday, we entered Lockdown: The Sequel here in England. Wales and NI very sensibly started their ‘firebreaks’ a couple of weeks ago, before half term so the kids were off school anyway. The trouble is, like many sequels, this one just doesn’t seem to be quite as good as the first – I mean, it’s not as bad as High School Musical 3, but it’s still a bit rubbish.
The kids are still in school, for a start, which means that they’re mixing with their friends: admittedly within their bubbles but, logistically, this means that in a multi-form entry school those bubbles can have just under 100 children in. Those children may have siblings in other bubbles, so no bubbles are sealed. They also have parents and carers, who may still be working – some in schools, with other bubbles – and using public transport and things. But apparently it’s fine because those children aren’t allowed to see each other outside school, and we have all got the message that Covid-19 is only contagious in your house or garden, or where no money is changing hands or being made.
I get to go to work three days a week in this lockdown, because there is work that’s impossible for me to do from home: assessing and decanting thousands of handling collection objects, for example, and packing up the office ready for the move. I didn’t go in on Thursday but from what I hear from those who did, there was little difference in transport and travel. When I do go in, I’ll follow the guidelines: social distancing as far as possible on the tube and in the museum, wearing a face covering properly, washing my hands frequently and so on. I’ll carry on travelling outside peak times – I’m in the office at 6.30am and leave at lunchtime, logging back in at home to finish my day and picking up Thing 3 from school so he’s not going to childcare.
I will follow the guidelines, not because I trust our government or because I like to do what everyone else does, but because in 2020 so far I have missed my niece’s first confirmation, my sister’s 40th birthday, my family holiday, going to live music events and author talks, and being able to see my London sister with the kids. I’ve missed my culture and cocktail afternoons with my best friend. I’ve missed pink-wine-fuelled Chinese meals with the Pink Ladies gang. I’ve missed my own birthday barbecue. Things One and Two couldn’t have proper birthday celebrations. I’ve missed impromptu Friday afternoons in the pub garden. I’ve missed sneaky weekday lunches with colleagues and walks round Victoria Park to see the dogs and ducks. I’ve missed my stepdaughters and grandson being around the house whenever they want. I haven’t seen my parents or the Irish contingent in more than two years, and I miss them. My dad is going to be 80 in February and I’d really, really like to be there.
In the grand scheme of Covid-19, I’ve been very lucky: no one in my family has been hospitalised. None of my friends have either, though many of my friends are nurses and they have lost friends and colleagues. I’ve been able to swim outdoors regularly (though that was cancelled this weekend). I live in the countryside with a lovely garden, so I have outdoor space. I’ve had an unexpected six months with my children, which has been wonderful. Christmas will happen, whatever the red-tops are saying about ‘saving’ it: it’s never been about the parties for me. It might look a bit different this year, but it’ll still happen.
But I’d like to believe there’s an end to this, and until an effective vaccine is in place that’s not going to happen. So until then I will wear the face covering to protect other people, and I will wash my hands, and I won’t hug my friends even though this year we have needed hugs more than ever. And I expect I’ll carry on being angry, and tired, and sad. But it won’t be forever.
Onto more cheerful things…
This week hasn’t been all bad, really. I’ve fitted in a fair bit of making, including finishing the Marble Floor cross stitch design that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. I decided to include rainbow colours, as they have become a bit of a symbol for 2020 and the museum has also collected a lot of Lockdown Rainbows for a display that was due to open at the V&A this month. I’ve also included a phrase which comes from Ren & Stimpy but has become a bit of a catchphrase at work. It needs a bit of an iron, but I think its turned out OK – the geometry feels quite elegant, and I really like the effect of the colours across the middle. I used 18 count ivory aida fabric and DMC threads – two strands for the black (310) and one for the colours (from left to right: 666, 740, 973, 907, 3845, 336, 333). You can find the basic chart here if you’d like to make your own.
I have also been making progress on the Hydrangea blanket: the colours are muted and lovely, and the pattern is simple and repetitive but effective.
I really must sew in the ends.
On the tube I am making socks from one of this month’s crochet magazines. I frogged the first attempt as they were too big, but the second attempt is coming up better! I’m using a Cygnet Yarns wool-rich patterned sock yarn in shades of pink and purple.
One good thing about not swimming this morning was going out for a walk through the very misty woods. We sensibly wore wellies and stayed off the paths a lot, as they are quite churned up after the very soggy October we had. There’s some beautiful fungi in the woods again – you can see a Fly Agaric in the cover photo this week that I spotted up near the fishing lake yesterday, and today’s spots are below. I have no idea what they are but I love the autumnal colours (and don’t plan to pick or eat them!).
It would be remiss not to mention the best news of the international week, which of course is the American presidency: I am more excited about Kamala Harris than Biden, but mostly I’m just happy for my US friends and colleagues. I’ll never forget going into work the morning after Trump was elected and finding my American colleague devastated and googling how to renounce her American citizenship.
My plan for the rest of the day is to finally bind the Bento Box quilt after backing it yesterday, and then settling down with cross stitch and Midsomer Murders. We are watching recorded episodes at the moment and the adverts really give you a sense of who is watching ITV3 of an afternoon – mobility aids, life insurance for the over 50s, charity appeals, and conservatory blinds. Still, it’s always entertaining to see just how bonkers the murders can get! It really is a guilty pleasure, and good company on a crafty afternoon. Thing One is now getting into it as well.
See you on the other side of week 34, when I promise my normal cheery service will be resumed. Everyone is entitled to an off day.
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Now you see them (The Brighton Mysteries) – Elly Griffiths
The Spook Who Spoke Again (Falco) – Lindsey Davis
Nemesis (Falco) and The Ides of April (Flavia Albia) – Lindsey Davis (Audible)
Well, this has been a pretty miserable month so far for those of us working in the museum sector. Last week the V&A announced redundancies as part of the ‘recovery programme’, and this week the Museum of London followed suit. They aren’t the first by any means, and they won’t be the last: the Museums Association have a redundancy tracker on their site which this morning stands at just under 3,000 across the UK. Thank heavens for the unions – if you aren’t in one, join now.
These initial phases overwhelmingly affect the front of house, retail and visitor experience teams: the most diverse, the lowest paid, the ones who were on the front line longest at the start of lockdown, and the ones who were first to come back when we reopened.
You know, the ones who greet you on arrival, help you around the museum, take your payment in the shop. The ones who interact with you and share their vast knowledge: not just about exhibits and displays, but where the best places are for lunch with your fractious kids, what there is for you to do, and what else you might like to see.
And they are so versatile and talented: they research objects for ‘objects in focus’ talks, based on their own passions and interests. They develop and lead family and public tours. They tell stories. They run activities. They manage school groups in their hundreds, juggling the ones who are late for their sessions with the ones who came too early, and they mop up the ones who’ve been stuck in traffic. Spare pants for a damp child? Somewhere to empty the sick bucket? No problem.
Outside their museum jobs they are artists, illustrators, poets, designers of all types, PhD students, writers, jewellery makers, textile artists. Those beautiful props and puppets that support the stories you bring your kids to? Chances are they made those.
Some are hoping that the VE role is the first step onto the museum learning ladder, and some of my favourite colleagues over the years have started here. They are the ones who have the greatest understanding of the visitors for whom they are programming content, and who are the most outward facing.
We understand that these are strange and difficult times and the choice is to shed staff or potentially face the closure of museums across the country, possibly permanently. This week the Culture Recovery Fund announced lifeline grants awarded to smaller organisations – up to a million pounds – which will make a huge difference to their survival. I was really pleased that the Epping Ongar Railway, in my village, is one of the recipients.
It seems particularly insensitive, therefore, for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to announce this week that MPs would be receiving a £3,360 pay rise next year ‘in line with growth in public sector pay’. It will be interesting to see if other public sector workers – nurses, police, fireman, culture and heritage workers, street cleaners etc – are awarded rises at the same scale. I don’t think I’ll put money on it.
Seeking comfort in the familiar
Its been suggested that people with anxiety disorders or depression seek comfort in rewatching familiar films or TV series. You know what’s going to happen and you don’t need to process any new information: which, this year, when we have had so much to take in, has been particularly important. My version of this is re-reading books, and probably explains why I can only listen on Audible to books I have already read!
So this week I have been thinking about books from my childhood that I still go back to now.
I’m going to start with the wonderful Dido Twite books by Joan Aiken. Officially this series starts with The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, but I was introduced to them with Black Hearts in Battersea. These have elements of steampunk, mystery, adventure, the Arthurian legend and more. I was really pleased to discover a few years ago that there were some later books in the series that I hadn’t read. Joan Aiken also wrote magical short stories – I loved the collection A Necklace of Raindrops, illustrated by Jan Pienkowski.
The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. There’s eight of these in the original canon, and some that were published posthumously which were based on her diaries. Highly romanticised ‘autobiography’, these books follow Laura and her family from the little house in the Big Woods (Wisconsin) to the wilds of Dakota, through to her marriage to Almanzo Wilder and their move to Missouri. I introduced Thing 1 to these books when she was in primary school, and she loved them too.
The Railway Children by E.Nesbit. First serialised in 1905, this story dealt with some quite adult themes for the period – the imprisonment of the children’s father for spying, Russian dissidents – and I cry every single time I read it. Don’t even get me started on the film – I love both versions. The Psammead books are great too (Five Children and It, for example), as is The Book of Dragons.
The Anne books by L.M. Montgomery. Starting with Anne of Green Gables and finishing with Rilla of Ingleside when our disaster-prone, red-headed heroine is all grown up and sensible, I love them all. So do my youngest sister and my niece, and I have started reading them to Thing 2 when she feels the need for a bedtime story.
The Moomin books by Tove Jansson. Thing 2 is named after the author. Moomins are small, hippo-like creatures who inhabit Moominvalley. The Moominhouse is always open to wanderers and people in need – mischievous Little My, who gets left behind by the Mymble who just has too many children; Thingummy and Bob, who find the Hobgoblin’s treasure; free-spirited Snufkin; the Hemulen; the Snork and the Snorkmaiden. Moominmamma’s heart and handbag are big enough for everyone.
Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence. Arthurian legend brought into 1960s/70s England and Wales. Magic and legend. Good versus evil. Don’t watch the film, not even Christopher Eccleston could save it.
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. I do love the way magic appears in the real world – whether that’s fairies at the bottom of the garden, or the urban fantasy that I love now, I like the idea that there’s more to the world than we can see. I recommend The Owl Service by the same author, too.
The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea. Pidge accidentally releases an evil serpent from a book, and he and his sister end up involved in a battle between good and evil. There’s lots of help from Celtic mythological characters, it’s funny and touching and I really, really wish the author hadn’t died before finishing the sequel.
The Sword in the Stone by T.H.White. More Arthurian legend. This is the first part of The Once and Future King set, and it’s the one most people are familiar with from the wonderful Disney adaptation. The story of The Wart, an orphan looked after by Sir Ector and bullied by his foster brother Kay, this is the early days of King Arthur, before he pulls the sword from the stone. The rest of the books are pretty wonderful too.
Honourable mentions go to The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories, Charlotte’s Web by E.B.White, C.S.Lewis’s Narnia books, the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome, the Green Knowe stories by Lucy M. Boston, Stig of the Dump by Clive King (and more – oh, so many more!)
There, that’s made me feel much more cheerful!
Jumper weather
I finished the crochet cardigan this week, and I LOVE it. It’s so cosy and warm, and the alpaca in the yarn makes it very soft. It’s oversized so I can fit layers underneath, and I can see this getting a whole lot of wear this winter. Thing 1 kindly modelled it for me, even though she protested as it wasn’t Goth enough.
The (Corona)Virus Shawl is also complete, using three balls of Drops Fabel – it’s not huge, so will be more of a scarf. What am I going to do in queues now?
I have started a stashbuster blanket for my new portable project – tiny (three round) granny squares in DK, using up leftover yarn from a couple of other blankets. I’m going for a patchwork effect this time, with lots of bright colours. My Coast blanket has another couple of rows – it just needs to be a foot or so longer, I think. The trouble with making giant blankets is that you get so toasty that you need a nap…
As you can see from the link, the Coast blanket is by Lucy at Attic 24 who designs the most gorgeous colourways and blanket patterns. It’s a shame to keep them in the house, really, so I am tempted to make one of her bags to carry around.
Tiny magic
Thing 2 has been going out for walks this week with some of her friends and their dog – she’s growing up and is enjoying being a bit more independent. Yesterday they were out with other friends so she went for a walk with me instead. Her only stipulation was that it had to be a muddy walk, so we duly donned wellies and headed off in search of puddles.
Tree hearts
We ended up by the rope swing after tramping through the fields, and after a bit of play we wandered back through the woods. Thing 2 spotted some hearts in the trees while I was looking at textures, and then we started seeing lots of tiny things – tree fungi, mushrooms and moss that we enjoyed taking close-up photos of.
It was lovely to have some time with her. We crunched through leaves, looked under fallen branches and she even wanted to hold my hand occasionally….
This morning the intrepid Perimenopausal Posse headed off to Redricks for our second week of winter swimming – 11.8 degrees in the water, and sunny. Colder but less rainy than last week which really made a difference! Apparently we should be practising with cold showers in between swims….ha!
So that was week 29. I wonder what week 30 has in store?
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading
A Song for the Dark Times (Rebus) – Ian Rankin
The Postscript Murders (D.S. Harbinder Kaur) – Elly Griffiths
The Accusers/Scandal Takes a Holiday (Falco) – Lindsey Davis (Audible)
What Kirsty did next 