Internet love

What's the best way to say, omigosh somebody gave me a blog award?

How about... somebody gave me a blog award!  The lovely Hazel, of Hazel's Crochet nominated me!  How supremely flattering!

The award goes to a blog you love that has less than 200 followers, and once you receive the award, you then need to give it to 5 people you deem worthy.

I've been madly clicking away trying to find the origins of this pwn award.  Apparently 'Liebster' means 'Dearest' in German (thanks Sweet Williams). 

It was REALLY hard to choose who to pass this onto (I'm pretty addicted to blogs...).  Without further ado I am pleased to pass this award to the following blogs which I love to read:

1. Useless Beauty Designs - I get uber excited everytime I see a new post from Susie from UBD.  She writes about her life with such humour it's difficult not to be enamoured;
2. Tea and Craft - You know that feeling you get when you think you've found a cyber kindred spirit?  With every post from Lisa from T&C I think, oh I like that stuff tooooo.  She is much more crafty than me though!!;
3. Sweet Little Stitches - Lynne from SLS is a crochet master, with every creation she shows off, my amazement increases;
4. Master of a Thousand Things - Certainly a master of both crochet and knitting, Tink makes lovely things and is very gracious with answers should you have any questions!
5. From now till then and in between - Jarka makes really lovely things, and also says lovely things.  I always love visiting her blog!

So there we have it!  GO VISIT THESE AWESOME BLOGS NOW!!!

S.W.A.K.
~Tan

Ginger!

via

I personally like everything about ginger.  My dad is ginger.  Unfortunately, none of his children are :(  Boo!  I'm hoping that if I have children the ginger gene will somehow rear its bright orange head.   I love ginger tea, crystallized ginger and if course, gingerbread.

Christmas for me means gingerbread!  It's the only reason I will visit Starbucks, because during the Christmas period they have gingerbread latte!  

This is my favourite recipe for making gingerbread men, which I found ages ago on the back of some packet or other, so I'm going to share it.

Gingerbread Men Cookies

120g unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup golden syrup
1 egg
2 1/2 cups SR flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 drops vanilla essence
1 tsp bicarb soda

Cream the butter and sugar, add the egg, golden syrup and essence.  Add the sifted flour, spices and bicarb.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 mins.  Then roll out and cut away!  I also put the cut out men in the freezer for 10 min before they went into the oven, but these like to puff up a lot in any case!  Bake for 6 minutes or until golden at 180 C.

I do a pretty basic glace icing, and decorate them fairly simply.  They look very homemade :D

*NOM*

I really want to try a gingerbread house this year, but it look like a lot of effort.  If I make one I will definitely share!!

FO! Pressies!

How good are pressies?  Pretty darn good!  Our family doesn't do presents anymore, just for the littlies, and A and I just tell each other what we want because we are that exciting.

But we had a secret santa at work and it was soooo much fun!  And it was so awesome to see all the pressies under the tree! 

I made my present for my recipient.  These are little ornaments for your tree, made with felt, embroider the name on, stuff and wa-lah!  Cute little stocking mice.  (I had to include a couple of pictures of The Kitten's shenanigans too!)



The Kitten loves bags.  Too bad that my craft stuff is in there. 

I also made my recipient's child this hat that I showed off as a wip on Wednesday.  Only 2 days worth of train trips, and I love the funky stripes.

(ignore that messy joining in the first row)

And because everybody's doing it, I thought I'd show off my christmas tree.  I will spare you the 'Oh Christmas Tree...' or 'Its beginning to look a lot like...' post title though!!

A and I don't usually bother with a tree, because it's just the two of us, but this year we made the effort, and it just puts me in a good mood, looking at the tree.  It's a cheap and nasty plastic one, with mostly cheap and nasty decos.  Our theme is silver and teal, but not everything is matchy matchy.  (There's my benny hill christmas pudding which I posted an awesome video of here.  Best christmas paraphernalia ever!)


If you do not have disco balls on your tree, your christmas is ruined!!

And a few more shenanigans from The Kitten:

Oh hai only looking.... *NOM*

More FOs at Tamis Amis!

WIP! Blue and green should never be seen..

I can't find the origin to that saying.  Apparently it might be 'red and green should never be seen' but I hadn't heard that one before!

So, my WIP I'm showing this week is a quickie little hat I am whipping up for a friend's son.  He's 18 months, so hopefully I get the sizing right.  I have no children to test it on so I am going by what this website says.


Action commuter shot.

The pattern is Cheri Hat.  Easy peasy, what you see here is the result of three train rides, so only an hour and a half of work.  I'm not cutting the yarn for each stripe, but just pulling it up from the last row.  It's on the underside so I'm sure it will be fine.  I'm using this bamboo/cotton yarn, which is ridiculously splitty but lovely and soft and perfect for a littlies head.

I haven't made many hats.  What's wrong with me?  They're so quick and easy!  I think I need to get a bit more hatty in the future!

I'm still progressing my with the CITY WATCH AUDIO BOOK CHALLENGE!  (Part 1 here, Part 2 here).  Now onto Book 3:  Feet of Clay.  I'm finding this a weaker story than the first two books.  Still enjoyable, but I'm not engaging as much as I usually do.  Though Carrot's loveable isn't he?  Very much looking forward to getting onto the second half of this challenge.. there are some good stories in there!!

The City Watch Audio Book Challenge.  Progress:  Book 3 - Feet of Clay. 

Quick quote from Feet of Clay:
'It's time to-'
'Prod buttock, sir?' said Carrot, hurriedly.
'Close,' said Vimes, taking a deep drag and blowing out a smoke ring, 'but no cigar.'

Hehe.

Make sure you check out more WIPs at Tami's Amis and Yarn Along at Small Things!

FO! The whole tooth

ahahaha I'm so punny.

My FO's are so few and far between :(  Though I have many WIPs at the moment so they should emerge from the chrysalis of WIP-hood into the wonder of FO-ness soon.  I hope.

This one was a real quickie.  A friend recently had her wisdom teeth out, so I made this for her as a kind of welcome-back-to-work-hope-you-feel-better type gift.

Attempt 1.  I thought I'd be clever and fudge the pattern a bit.   I made it bigger and when it came time to divide for the root I ch 4 or so across so it wouldn't pinch it toghether.  That, together with the too big safety eyes and terrible embroidery, resulted in something I wouldnt be proud to give to anyone.


boooo hissss ugly tooth.  you have no place as a gift.

So, this one now belongs to The Kitten.

take that ugly toof!

Attempt 2.  I followed the pattern for the larger size this time.  I opted out of the safety eyes, and attempted to embroider some anime esq eyes.  I think it's a slightly better result, but eh!  It might have been cuter if I just made the itty bitty one.  Oh wells!


o hai!

My friend was happy, althought it is sitting on her desk UPSIDE DOWN and looks like a rabbit. Like this:

Mosey on down to Tami's Amis for, I'm sure, more impressive FOs than mine!!

WIP - Poe-tay-toe?

Hiya.  As usual, many more WIPs for me than Fins... I've started two more things this week. 

Numero one.  I've been getting my amigurumi on.  Woo!  I won't tell you what it is yet.. can you guess?

I've been told it looks like a potato.  Hence the title to my post, which reminds me of this LOTR scene. Well, it didnt really happen like that but you get my gist. 

via (Also, all you whovians out there, have you seen this cool pic of Space Gandalf? hehe)

Numero two. My mother had this brainwaive of making the three grandchildren (my nieces) a little cardi each for chrissy.  I've been trying to teach her to crochet, but she is quite absent minded and doesn't like following patterns.  So I've been told I need to make three of these by Christmas.  Below is progress on the first one, I think I have about 5 rows to go, and only a couple of hours work.  Easy Peasy!  The pattern is Urban Girl Cropped Cardi.  I'm using Carnival Soft 8ply, just an acrylic, but look at the size of the ball it comes it!! Aieeee!  I have to carry this mother on the train!

An onto the CITY WATCH AUDIO BOOK CHALLENGE!  (Part 1 here)  I am now onto book 2:  Men at Arms.  I believe I have only read this once, so it is lovely to go over it again.  I'm really terrible with books, after finishing one I forget the detail right away.  I am generally only left with an impression of whether or not I liked the book, and a couple of images that really stuck with me. In this case it's largely Carrot and Angua.  There isn't as much Vimes as in Guards Guards, but its still very good to see how he is developed.  And of course Sybil.  Love Sybil. 



The City Watch Audio Book Challenge.  Progress:  Book 2 - Men at Arms.

And finally, here's a cool Pratchett flowchart I found on Pinterest!  A handy little tool if you're interested in Discworld and don't know where to start!  Because of this list I found out that I'd missed the short stories!  Shameful, I know.  You can read Theatre of Cruelty here, it has a funny exchange between Carrot and Death.  Perhaps I will re-read the Death books next...


linky

Remember to stop by Tami's Amis and Yarn Along for more yarny and literary delights!

WIP Wednesday

Helloooooooo!

I haven't felt like blogging lately.  It's all a bit too hard sometimes, isn't it?

But there has been crochet, there has been knitting and there has been reading and listening to some very good books.  So now I can't put off sharing anymore!

I finally got around to putting some of my summer garden granny squares together.  And by putting together, I mean making some new squares to join up the completed squares using the 'join as you go' method.  I made a bunch of these squares in a flurry of excitement way back when I first taught myself to crochet A YEAR AGO.  Then I got bored and they went into hibernation. 

I'm fairly certain my tension has changed, can you see the wobbly edges of my first block in the bottom right there?  Oh well, hopefully in the scheme of the entire blanket it will all be ok.  Whatev!

What are granny squares for other than tormenting your cat?

I am also very near completion on my Different Lines.  I still have ends to weave in and it needs to be blocked, so it is still technically a WIP.  It's lovely and squishy, but it came out wayyyy smaller than it's supposed to be.  I used 8ply rather than 4ply, so that's probably part of my problem.  I thought using a heavier weight yarn and larger needles would give me a larger item though?  Hmm a lot to learn I have. 

Still, it's my first ever knit!  Very proud of myself indeed!  Here are some crappy evening pictures.

I finished Pratchett's latest book, Snuff, in what seemed the blink of an eye. It was AWESOME!  Here is a wonderful review, which puts my sentiments across more eloqunetly than I ever could! 

If you have frequented my Wednesday posts of late you will know I've had a bit of a love affair with the Skulduggery Pleasant books.  And they are lovely: good storeys, good characters.  But Mr Pratchett, oh I apologise for putting you out of my mind for so long!  Sure, Derek Landy is a decent writer, but Terry Pratchett blows him out of the water, he is a Master.  His books are so clever.  Awesomely snappy diaglogue, very witty and supremely loveable characters, and you pick up something different every time you read them.  It am amazed, if also saddened, that Pratchett can still deliver such material considering his battle with Alheimer's.

Snuff is a Vimes (or to use his full name and title... His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh, Commaner Sir Samuel Vimes..Blackboard Monitor) / City Watch book, my favourite Discworld storyline, so I was more than pleased.   So pleased in fact, that I have decided to go back to the very beginning of the Watch and re-live all of it in lovely audio book glory.  I have set myself the CITY WATCH AUDIO BOOK CHALLENGE!  Which really just involves listening to all the City Watch books in order.  :D

Guards Guards is up first.  I've read this one at least 3 times, and now I get to listen to it.  It is read by Nigel Planer, who has even done one of the voices as Neil from the Young Ones!  Though, his Vimes sounds like he has a cold.  I love the start of Vimes' relationship with Lady Ramkin, and the introduction of Carrot, the banter between Colon and Nobby, the dragons, and the tongue in cheek jokes about what you are supposed to expect with royalty and kings.   Love this book, one of my all time faves. 

The City Watch Audio Book Challenge.  Progress:  Book 1 - Guards Guards

If you don't have any Pratchett in your life, ye gods what is wrong with you?  Remedy that immediately!!

More WIPs over at Tami's Amis, and Yarn along with Ginny at Small Things.

My christmas paraphernalia is better than yours

I don't actually love christmas a whole bunch, mostly because family gatherings stress me out.  And it's all so materialistic.  And I don't really do presents except for the littlies, and the other half, because he likes stuff a lot.

But there are some things I like.  Like the food and the stuff.  Christmas stuff can be very cool.  I like to decorate the place to look christmassy, you know, with sparkles.  I like christmas crackers.  I recently picked up some cool stuff that I had to show off.

Number one, probably the best christmas toy you will ever see.  The reasons why this is better than anything you own are:

1. It has legs.
2. It has no face.
3. You press the button and it walks around to music.
4. The music it walks around to is Yakety Sax (better known as the crazy running around music from BENNY HILL!!). 
5. It actually pauses in time with the music. 

Watch this video.  It will be the best 29 seconds of your day, guaranteed. 

I can't even begin to describe the reasons why I love this item. It's a plushie.  It has legs BUT NO FACE!  BENNY HILL MUSIC!!  To whomever came up with this astoundingly christmassy concept, I salute you sir, you have my lifelong respect.

Oh hai, Merry Christmas!

Freddo advent calendar.  These things are extremely hard to find, and I am super happy that I managed to pick one up this year.  It matters not that you can buy a packet of 20 assorted freddos for under $5, while Cadbury sell this little sucker for $14.  I bought this baby for my office.  So in December I will get a lovely little chocolate treat every afternoon (and two on Mondays and Fridays!), while I merrily count down to Christmas.  Take me for a ride any day.

nom nom nom

My newest christmas tree ornament.  Who else grew up watching the awesome stop-motion classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?  My favorite part of christmas was getting to watch all of the awesome Rankin/Bass christmas shows.  Rudolph was my favorite.  One of this year's Hallmark Keepsake ornaments was this cutie.  Absolutely couldn't resist.

As an aside, how hilarious are Hallmark Keepsakes?  Who out there has the Wicked Witch of the West, Darth Vader, the Two Mousekateers or Indiana Jones on their tree?  Don't get me wrong, I love Spiderman, Darth Vader, Tom and Jerry and Harrison Ford as much as the next person... but on your christmas tree?  Hmmm that being said, this is adorable!!

na na na na na na christmas!!!

I generally don't like to spend money on myself.  I will ummmm and aaaahhhh about spending $20 on a top for myself, but I will impulse buy a $20 tree ornament without a moment's thought.  What is wrong with me! 

Just getting into the christmas spirit I suppose....

(I found a much better way to keep track of stuff I like, and that I like to share.   PINTEREST!  Ok, not new, but very neat (and addictive).  If you need an invite let me know!)

WIP Wednesday, and coming full circle

I don't participate in WIP Wednesday all that often because I frankly don't make much P by every Wednesday. 

Although, I do like looking back to see my projects grow.  I even feel quite chuffed with myself.

These last few weeks, I have had only small amounts of quality time with my yarn.  Usually about 30 minutes during the morning commute, and a bit on the weekends.  That being said, here's my latest.

Crochet:  Stepping Stones Cardi
Totally mindless crochet.  I'm about 1.5 balls in (keeing in mind that the bwm yarn I am using comes in 200g balls).  I totally thought it was going to be too big and was dreading the prospect of frogging 484 metres of work... but when you get to the bit where you divide the work for the arm holes, it magically becomes the right size.  The armholes still seem a bit wide at the moment, but I reserve my final judgment until completion.


Black is so hard to photograph.  You get the gist though.

Knitting:  Different Lines I think I've made good progress with this project.  I've taught myself continental style, which I'm finding tons easier.  I now feel like I have control, whereas before all those loops were much more unruly.  How ugly are the back of colour changes though?  Ugh.  I am starting to run out of space on my circulars, so will have to wait until the longer set I have ordered in the mail get to me. I'm hoping I have enough yarn.  I'm making this in 8ply rather than the 4ply specified in the pattern.  I'm interested to see how this will effect the overall size of the piece, this being my first proper knitting project (because the evil scarf doesnt count).


garter garter garter

 Yarn Along
In one of my first posts when I began participating in yarn along, I was reading the 6th Skulduggery Pleasant book.  Then I went back to the start of the series and listened to the audio books all the previous books in the series.  So by coming full circle, I mean that as at today I have finished listening to Death Bringer.  It was read by a different person again which is super annoying.  Though it was nice to re-experience all 6 books in quick succession.  My mind is like a sieve, and I forget half of the things that happen in a book as soon as I put it down.  All I am generally left with is a vague impression of whether I liked it or not.  So, re-reading all these books has been like reading them for the first time! 

The sparrow flies south for the winter.

My favorite thing about this book is the banter between Skulduggery and Valkyrie.  And the dialogue throughout the whole thing is so engaging.  There are a couple of scenes which are just so cute and sweet.  When you read these books, you can really picture how the movie would look.  However, as much as I'd love to see these awesome characters on the big screen, I'm quite sure they'd get it wrong. 

And for your enjoyment, a few of my favorite quotes from this installment:

• Skulduggery: For future reference this is my serious face. (It's funny because he has no face!  LOL)
• Skulduggery: Are you in awe of me?
• Skulduggery (about Valkyrie): My loyal and trustworthy combat accessory
• Skulduggery: I cross the place where my heart use to be and hope to be deader than I already am.
• Skulduggery: Look at the face I don't have and tell me if it looks like I care.  (Again, he has no face!!)
• Gordon Edgley: ...a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a cardigan.
• Skulduggery: Embrace your inner lunatic, fun times guaranteed.

So now that I am done re-reading (or listening to) SP, I am moving on.  Look what I found over the weekend! 


SQUEEEEEE!! (Alongside my failed attempt at taking a pretty yarn-along picture!)

I feel like a bad bad Pratchett fan though... I didn't even know when this baby was coming out!  It was only because I was having a browse through the bookstore (one of the very few left...) for something else... and it was my boyfriend who spied it!  My boyfriend who doesn't even like to read... at least he knows how much I love Pratchett.  And it's a Vimes book!  My favorite character!  Can't wait for the train ride home to crack this puppy open!!

As per usual, more WIPs at Tami's Amis and Yarn Along at Small Things.

Too many WIPs?

Can you ever truly ever have too many WIPs?  I tell myself no so I don't feel guilty about starting two new things in recent weeks. 

I'm feeling extremely different about knitting than I was a couple of weeks ago when I shared my frustration about this scarf.  

I've made some progress but it's super slow going.  I don't enjoy working on it so I only knit maybe 3 or 4 rows at a time.  I think many commenters were correct in their opinion that this yarn is not friendly, especially for a beginner.  This one is going to be in semi-hibernation for a while.

I got some new toys, and really wanted to try them out, so I cast on a new project.  And to my surprise, I don't hate knitting!  How nice are bamboo needles?  Very nice!!  The set I bought, although cheap, are smooth, lightweight and just pleasant to use.  Who knew??  Because they were so cheap I'm slightly paranoid that the tubes will fall off though.  

Pick up sticks anyone?

My new knitting project is Different Lines in some el-cheapo wool that I picked up from Spotties.  Probably not as el-cheapo as it could have been... but you know that feeling when you are desperate to start a new project and need the yarn now now now and don't have the patience to wait for much more reasonably priced and better quality yarn in the post?  That's how I felt on Sunday. 

I'm about 6 rows away from changing colour.  Then I need to learn W&T!  I must admit, I am really enjoying learning a new skill. Garter stitch is so nice too - I'm amazed at how springy it is!

I am heavily inspired by this version, however mine will be a combo of two shades of grey and red instead of pink (Spotties did not have an acceptable shade of pink).  Here's my plan. 



That's right, check out my awesome MS Paint skillz.

My circulars are only 60cm long.  Do you think they will be long enough? 

And of course, crochet!  Nevermind crochet, you are my first love!  I started a new crochet project recently too... an actual garment!  I thought it was time for a challenge (because 3036 beads wasn't challenging enough!).  I'm making a Stepping Stones Cardigan.  It's worked top down in what is called a 'spiked single crochet' stitch.  I quite like the pattern, even though it's going to be a very dense cardigan, and it may end up with power shoulders.  I'm using some 8ply cotton from bendigo woollen mills. 

I'm still listening to Skulduggery Pleasant.  (You can still get the ebook of the first installment for free here!) I'm on book 5 now, Mortal Coil.  The last two books have droned on a bit, and there's just not enough Skulduggery in them, which is disappointing.  A couple of high points include when Fletcher meets Valkyrie's dad (I'm a big Desmond fan) and when she has her heart removed and is using Necormancy while dead.  Whoa. 

How is it magic?  In a magicky way.

One humungous disappointment with the audio book is that Harper Collins did the ol' switcheroo and changed the narrator!  Rupert Degas read books 1-4 and he was brilliant.  Although now that I'm 95% of the way through the book I barely can tell, and I think Brian Bowles (cant even find him on the internet!) does a great job mimicking Degas, however, sometimes Skulduggery sounds like Sean Connery!  And on more than one occasion he reads with the wrong voice, so, for example, Sanguine has Shudder's voice!  WTF!!  Degas is far far superior in so many ways.  Degas IS Skulduggery.  *sigh*

As an aside, I LURVE how the Irish pronounce "idiot' - eejit.  LOL

Anyway, Tami's Amis for more WIPs and Yarn Along at Small Things for some more grown up books :)

FO! 3036

Wow.  It's over.  What a marathon.  Final bead count.... drum roll please.....
3036!!!

Seriously, I did a double take after I added it all up...

My very technical 'back of an envelope' method of calculating.

The remaining beads at the bottom.

 Stats: Ravelled here.

Yarn:  Circulo Yarns - Clea, which I won in a blog comp over at Punto Reves.  Thank you Natalia!!

Measurement:
Unblocked measured 143cm (~56") x 62cm (~24") (130cm (~51") x 52cm (~20") before the edging)

Wet blocked to ~178cm (70") x ~89cm (35") as instructed in the pattern.

I blocked this by soaking for about an hour first in warm water with a bit of detergent, then rinsing well in warm water, rolling up in a towel to absorb the extra water and finally stretching the hell out of it and pinning it to some cardboard covered with towels.

Many beads gave their lives in the blocking of this shawl.

Before blocking, scrooched up.

Last time I demonstrated my blocking prowess, a couple of eagle eyed commenters spied my ninja turtle towel I use for blocking, despite the fact that it was wrong side up.  Here it is in all its glory!  

The Kitten approves of this highly valuable retro artefact.

Other fun facts:
This took me 62 days to make, most of it done during my commute to and from work.  That's about 15m (~ 50') and about 50 beads a day!!  Row 7 of the border was probably the most painful, I added a beat to every sc, dc and tr. 

"Design Feature"  (read: mistake....)

I'm pretty annoyed at myself as I made a similar mistake that I did last time.  The spine was straight thist ime, but for some reason, when it came time to make the border, I didn't have the right amount of shells and 5-ch spaces.  The edging is made up of a large motif and a small motif, and because the number of pattern repeats wasn't right, I had to fudge it to get the motifs to work.  It's not noticeable, just annoying.  There was no way I was going to frog and re-do those beads because if it!

Anyways, I love my shawl, and I think I'm addicted to crocheting lace (just trying to settle on a pattern for the leftover yarn from the wedding shawl... leaning towards the South Bay Shawlette)

And now onto the pretty pictures!

Before and after!

Trying to casually look at the river while my sister takes photos, hoping no one from work also on their lunch break sees me and judges my impromptu photo shoot.

Thanks for stopping by.  Check out more FOs at Tami's Amis!

Planning

How awesome is Ravelry?  It's all been said before, but I still can't get over the way you can check out a pattern, and easily navigate to the different yarns people have used, and the way you can search other raveller's yarn stashes as well! 

Now that I'm a knitter, a whole new (and extensive), side of Ravelry has opened up to me... knitting patterns!

Here are some things I'm thinking about making, once I finish off my current project.  I'm a super beginner though, so not sure if any of these are appropriate.

The Thinking of you scarf.  I was half thinking of using my zauberball, but I think this must be done in red.  I might just try this in my favourite acrylic, as I'm still learning.  I hadn't seen this scarf before Tink showed hers off, and totally fell in love!  She has also said some encouraging words making me think that I could do it!

via

Again, thinking of uses for my zauberball, I'm considering Stripe Study or Different Lines.  I keep seeing these patterns done over and over, and they always look so effective (like this one, this one, this one, this one, this one and this one).  I think they're just garter stitch too?  I think I can manage that.  I also have some Teksrena Knitting Yarn in rainbow, which would loook super cool with grey, white or black lines breaking up the colour.


via here and here

I also love the Textured Shawl Recipe.  It seems pretty simple, and I would learn a few new stitches in the process I'm sure.  Not sure what yarn to use though.

via

Decisions decisions!  I'll wait until my new set of 14 circular knitting needles arrives.  Hopefully they suit the job at hand! 

Do you ever feel anxious because there's so much you want to do, and you know you can do it, but you just don't have the time?  Now I've made my little list I feel a bit better.  But when will I get the time to do it? 

Shameless...(and WIP)

Is it shameless to promote something you love? Maybe, maybe not. 

A few of my posts of late have been about Skulduggery Pleasant.  I friggin' love that skeleton.  I'm proud to say that I've even roped a good friend of mine into listening to the audio books.  She's become so obsessed in fact that she is listening to it while at work.  At work people!  So if you haven't already, seriously, find this book and read it now now NOW NOW NOW!

The Golden God (ie author Derek Landy) has just posted about a new competition called "Friend Get Friend".  I'm not exactly sure if I am doing this correctly.  Mr Landy tells me to post a 'status update' including the cover and THIS LINK.  It's worth a look - the first book - the first entire book - available in ebook format for download!  GO GO GO GO GO!

So my friends, here is my slightly shameless competition entry *embarassed grin*

Click for freebies!!!

The comp is to celebrate the re-release of the first book with a shiny new cover by Tom Percival.  OMG SP and VC in colour!  Very cool. 

I'm still making my way through the audio books... Am about 20 minutes off finishing book 3, then onward and upward to book 4!  Can't wait for the train trip home tonight!  (Sorry Mr Landy sir, I just cannot listen to it at work, I am far too responsible)


Skulduggery: 

"You're still upset about that time I made you explode, aren't you? I can tell."

Fact:  there is an episode of Doctor Who called 'The Faceless Ones'.  [fangirl spiel ends here]

Want more books?  Pop on over to Small Things for this week's Yarn Allong!!

And just so I can participate in Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday, a hasty blackberry picture of my WIP:

FIVE ROWS TO GO!!  The next time you see this sucker will be on an FO Friday!  Probably not this Friday though :( 

I'm in the middle of a bit of a crisis though... I'm nearly out of beads!  A good friend of mine, my crochet padawan, thinks she has some in the same colour.  We have set up a meet for a bead delivery tomorrow, it's very elaborate, a specific time and place has been arranged. 

On the subject of learning to crochet, my friend sent me this email, which I thought was hilarious.  Now why didn't Neo download master crochet skills? 

Thanks for stopping by!!