Pizza at home

I'm from New York. Therefore, I like pizza. However, Stowmarket does not have a good pizza delivery place.

John took it upon himself to make me feel "at home" very early on after I moved to the UK. One of the first things he made was pizza. Which I liked, but didn't think it tasted exactly right. After lots of trial and error (I know, such a chore!) and yummy homemade pizzas, John discovered that the trick is to use "00" flour. And turn the oven up to max. And use pizza stones. And not overload the pizzas with toppings.

Success!

He makes the dough 24 hours ahead and lets it rest & ferment and bubble.

Then he kneads/rolls it out at the last minute.

And then I got distracted by the toppings and the eating and didn't take any more pictures!

Swiss Kitchen

Well. Who knew that so many of my blog readers were such evangelical Kindle fans? Ok, guys, you've converted me. Shiny. (Well, future Shiny...I'm still pondering).

And now for something completely different. 

This is one of my favorite things in our kitchen. It was my grandmother's, and when she bought it, she bought one for herself, one for my mom, and one for my aunt. All three of them always had them hanging in their kitchens, and it has always given me a real feeling of home. After we bought our house (and after my grandma died), my mom gave us "mine." It's not mine, really, it's Grandma's. Our family has always referred to it as "the Swiss kitchen" - I have no idea if they originally came from Switzerland but given the amount of travelling my grandparents did, it seems fairly likely!

Kindle debate (internal)

I'm confused. I'm reading Victoria Forester's novel, The Girl Who Could Fly (which always makes me think of the Kate Rusby album, The Girl Who Couldn't Fly), and the copyright lines in the front say "First published in the US in 2009."

Fine. But I added it to my book list as a result of a recommendation on Stephenie Meyer's website, and I've checked the dates in my archive and I read Breaking Dawn in early 2009. But when I tried to add it to my Amazon queue, it was listed as "out of print." But it's now here, and seems to be the first printing. WHAT?

Anyway, so far, so good. I'm still stalling on Wolf Hall - I feel like I should read it, but part of the problem is that it's so enormous I can't take it with me to work without using a bigger bag than my super-awesome Etsy messenger bag that my brother gave me (thanks, Ed!). It kind of makes me want a Kindle.

Pros:
-It's small! I can take it on trips to NY, trips to London, train trips, and commuting, without filling my suitcase with books. (Me? Fill a suitcase with books? But I need the one I've almost finished and the one that I'm reading next and the one after that and maybe one more for the plane ride home?)
-It's instant-gratification - when I want to read the next in a series (Twilight, Hunger Games, McCall Smith), I can do it right then.

Cons:
-I love free books. I get them from the library, read them, and give them back.
-I really only ever read one book at a time (except for you, Wolf Hall).
-When I finish a book that I actually own, my first impulse is to share it with someone. Mother-in-law, book-group buddies, my mom, choir pals, random other friends, etc. I tend not to see books for years at a time. They wend their way back eventually.
-It's expensive (compared to free, anyway). I'd have to buy the Kindle. Then I'd have to buy the books.
-Do I need another gadget? No!

As you can see from my list, the cons still outweigh the pros, at least in my calculations. Things that would tip the balance:
-A 2-week Kindle 'loan' program from the library (or Amazon, or whoever). Like Netflix. Done? Delete the book and you can have another one. I rarely reread books (and the ones I do, I buy so I can reread over and over and over), and I'm not precious about having a 'library' in the house (mostly because with the amount I read, we'd need a bigger house!)
-For Suffolk County Council to go mad with their cost-cutting and get rid of my Stowmarket Library. Although I will make trouble if they do...

Lazy weekend

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling like I wanted a proper breakfast. We had some extra eggs, so John made poached eggs for us while I fried some bacon and mushrooms. Mmmm. His new-and-improved egg-poaching method involves a shallow frying pan, a kettle of boiling water, a pinch of salt, and some vinegar. I've always been afraid to poach eggs - it seemed like such a lot of things could go wrong.

The method: boil the kettle, add some salt to the frying pan, with a low flame. When the kettle boils, pour the boiling water (slowly!) into the pan. Turn down so the pan is just simmering. Add a splash of vinegar. Crack the eggs on the side of the pan, and drop them in, gently. The smaller pan and shallower water will mean that they don't spread. NEATO!

Last weekend with Pav, we picked up my Christmas present from Wibbling Wools. A KnitPro Symfonie Interchangeable knitting needle set. LOVE it. I had seen the KnitPros on various websites, but I was not in love with the somewhat psychedelic rainbow-coloured wooden needles and didn't really want metal or acrylic ones. The Addi bamboo ones were SUPER expensive, which made me sad.

I was really excited when Wibbling Wools had this "special edition" set - the needles are rosewood and really beautiful. And they come in fancy box. They're slightly slippery, but I'll get used to them. I was getting really frustrated with never having quite the right needles for whatever project I was doing - now I don't have to worry about it. And apparently I can add more/thicker/thinner KnitPro needles in whatever material I like to the set - they'll all fit.

Oh, and we rented Ponyo this weekend. I really like Miyazaki's movies (except Howl's Moving Castle). However, Ponyo seemed a little weird. Maybe it was the dubbed American Disneyfied version (although I also generally quite like Disney, too), and I would have enjoyed it more with subtitles. Not sure. It seemed a little disjointed and slightly camp. Anyway, not one of my favorites - I won't be watching it again!

The Krispy Kreme fairy visits Bury St Edmunds

Well. Yesterday morning I got an email from a colleague who commutes up from London every day. He stopped on his way in at one of the Krispy Kreme shops in London, and bought two dozen donuts to bring to the office.

I would say that the definition of happiness on a Friday morning at around 9:30 (I start work at 8, so 9:30 is definitely mid-morning) is below. An Americano from my Aeropress, in the Kate [Rusby] & Doris mug, with an original glazed donut. Sigh.

Owls & Owlet

I love Kate Davies' patterns. Well-thought out, well written, and generally awesome. I was going to make her Mini-Manu for Gabi (I still am), but I got distracted when I found out that Gabi Loves Owls. Like, a whole lot. So, I made her an Owlet. Ravelled, here.

Sorry about the colours - I was impatient and wanted to send it off so I took pictures in the dark (Hello, England In January, when it's only light from 8:30am to 4pm and I work from 8 to 5). Plea to Gabi's Mommy: can you please send some pics of Ms. G in daylight in the sweater when it arrives? This is the actual yarn color:

Here it is with its big sister (my Owls sweater). LOVE.

Bye bye, little Owlet. Hope you like New York!

OMG, yarn!

Pav and her husband (Mr. Pav?) came to visit! All the way from Australia to Stowmarket (well, Bury St Edmunds, really).

I think this picture sums up the whole weekend rather well. Pav, with a Guinness, knitting in a pub. My Aspalls cyder in the foreground. Sigh. The impression we got from our assembled hangers-on (husbands, mostly), was that we were either talking about knitting, wool, or books, or were about to start. What? There are other things to talk about? Nah!

I picked them up in Stowmarket on Saturday, in the early afternoon. We went to Bury, grabbed some lunch, and then went for a walk in the Abbey Gardens. The boys decided to go investigate the pub situation, so Pav and I went to Wibbling Wools and wibbled for a while. And then went to the pub. And then stayed at the pub for dinner. And then I came home and hung out with the husband and read some more of Mockingjay (which was great), and went to sleep.

Then on Sunday, Team Pav and I went to Aldeburgh, "to the beach." Now, Team Pav live in Australia, near a beach with sand and sun and blue water. We had sun, but it was rocks & blue-ish-brown water all the way. And it was FREEZING! We saw the sun for the first time in days and days and days, though, which was great. I felt like a little mole, squinting at the light, trying to soak up as much vitamin D as possible while not freezing to death.

After the reaction from Pav when I mentioned that there was a Real Live Actual Historical Castle (aka Framlingham Castle) on the way home, we had to stop and see it. We didn't walk around on top of the walls, but we went on an extremely muddy circumnavigation of the keep. Squelch. Eew!

And then, because she's awesome, she brought me some hand-spun (by her own fair hands) skeins, to knit with. I think I might do a smallish cowl, or possibly a headband. There is a skein of alpaca, a skein of silk, and a skein with the two mixed together. The two with alpaca were dyed with tea. LOVE.

Pav & Mr. Pav are now continuing their circumnavigation of the globe - next stop, New York! (Jealous, since I had to go back to work today, which is markedly less fun than globetrotting or going on Adventures in Suffolk.) Have fun, guys!

Nautical quilt - finished!

All done! I finished the quilting earlier this week and was just waiting for enough light to take a picture. It's going to cross the Atlantic later this week to meet its new owner!

Before it goes, I took it on a short field trip to the beach for a photo shoot. I love the texture of the pebbles with the texture of the free-motion quilting.

Review: The Charming Quirks of Others

I came across an unread (GASP) Alexander McCall Smith on my travels across the internet, so I quickly remedied that and added The Charming Quirks of Others to my library queue.

I, um, read it in less than 24 hours. Granted, it was a 24 hour period in which I was valiantly battling a cold/sore throat combo and was tucked up in bed for most of it, but still.

Isabel Dalhousie was her usual pensive self, and while nothing really happened during the 200+ pages, it was a lovely book to enjoy under the duvet with a cup of tea. I love her random musings, especially that they tend to happen when she is conversing with others, much to their mystification.

As part of my convalescence, I had the Thai Curry Chicken soup from Waitrose (see this post). It was supremely restorative. I tend towards spicy foods when I have a cold - the hotter the better. It was a little bit gritty (maybe it was the spices?), but otherwise very tasty. And, unlike some other packaged soups, was just right for one serving. I find they are normally 600+ calories and more than one serving, but I finish them anyway and then feel too full.

(Picture is from my trip to RI in October - currently my desktop background).

Review: A Conspiracy of Kings

**We interrupt this blog posting for a short notice, for Kate's immune system.**

Attention, Kate's immune system. A friend who lives in Australia and is currently circumnavigating the globe is coming to visit StowmarKate this weekend. That tickly cold-y feeling WILL be gone by Saturday at approximately 11am, and you will NOT be bombarding said friend (or her lovely husband) with your Evil English Germs.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Right...on to the real stuff. This month's Waitrose Kitchen magazine featured some new soups that they have in the store - don't these look awesome? Mmmm. The only one missing, as far as I can see, is Matzoh ball soup. I shall buy one, slurp it, be disappointed (I tend not to like packaged soup), and let you all know how I suffered.

I needed a small break from Wolf Hall (which I'm now enjoying), so I read the final book in The Thief series, A Conspiracy Of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner. I liked the first one the best, but I thought this one was good. I realised, though, that I had interrupted medieval (well, Tudor) royal drama with medieval (ish, Fantasy-ized) royal  drama. Oops.

Nautical quilt - the process

One of my high school friends (from back from when having a baby was SUPER scary, rather than extremely awesome) is about to have a baby. I knew I would make a quilt for them...it was just a question of what.  Daddy is a submariner, and Mommy & I met on the first day of high school because she was wearing a t-shirt from a regatta that I had sailed in. So I went on the hunt for some nautical fabric.

I think you'll agree that this is perfect. (Thanks to my mom for the suggestion of the fabric store in Barrington, RI.)

I wasn't sure how to maximise the impact in a quilt - I definitely knew that I didn't want to cut it into strips like a normal fabric. After some Flickr-spiration, especially here and here, I decided to take the plunge and fussy-cut the boats. I ended up with one of everything (and two speedboats, oops). I spread them out on some white from my stash, like this. Which I quite liked.

But then, I decided that it was definitely too plain, especially since I had picked up some really cute red and orange fabric at the same store.

So I sashed all of the pictures with white, and experimented with laying them out in strips. Somehow the fussy-cuts were all pretty much the same size. A little rearrangement (see the two motorboats, next to each other? BAH!)

And we have this! I had originally tried to quilt it in waves, to echo the waves on the boat print, but the combination of two layers of batting and a layer of soft, thick Navy (haha) blue flannel on the back conspired against me and made evil bumpy rumples. I think that's the technical term, anyway. The squiggles look fairly nautical and are definitely my best free-motion quilting so far.

The quilting is all finished now, and I've sewn the binding on the front - I'm about halfway through hand-sewing it to the back. The original binding was supposed to be a plain red, but both John and I decided that we liked the orange from Stepson's Mom's Wedding Quilt better, and there was plenty left over.

To the soon-to-be-Mommy, I know your nursery colours are green and yellow, and I'm sorry....they didn't have any green and yellow boat fabric! (There is some yellow on the submarine's propeller - does that count?)

Recipe: Firehouse (aka Emergency) Brownies

I made a new-to-me brownie recipe on Christmas Eve. We were going over to a friend's house for supper, and I merrily offered to bring brownies. "I'll just whip some up," I said. "It'll be easy." Except that when I got home, there was NO BROWNIE MIX in the house. And the shops were closed. PANIC!

As you can see from the picture below, I did end up sorting it out. Phew. For some reason, I didn't want to use any of the recipes that I could find on the internet. I looked through my rather epic stack of cookbooks and found "Barbara Lauterbach's Firehouse Brownies," in Lora Brody's book The New England Table. I halved the recipe and left out the frosting and chocolate drizzle. My adaptations below.

Recipe: EMERGENCY brownies (aka Firehouse Brownies)
Makes a small-ish pan of brownies (about the same as 1 box of Betty Crocker brownie mix)

2oz dark chocolate (chopped)
4oz butter, in small pieces
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325F (165C), and grease your favorite brownie pan.

Melt the chocolate & butter in a double-boiler (or in the microwave).

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until foamy. Add the melted chocolate/butter, the vanilla, and the flour and salt, mixing until just combined.

Bake in the pan for 20-25 minutes, until the top is shiny.

Cool & eat!

I have it on good authority that these are better on the second day...

Review: The Distant Hours, Burlesque & Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Before the reviews start, a picture. Just because.

I think can say with near-certainty that I'm going to be the only person EVER to review these three in the same post.

First, I finished The Distant Hours (Kate Morton) just before Christmas. I didn't like it as much as her other two, and I imagine it will fade into the "miscellaneous England-in-Wartime novels" panorama in my brain. If you're at the airport and need something for the plane, pick it up. Otherwise, it's not going to be a tragedy to miss it.

Then, El Stepson was invited to the Ipswich panto (Jack and the Beanstalk) by a school friend, so John & I found ourselves with 3 hours to kill between 7 and 10pm on a random Thursday night. In Ipswich. With the car. Bizarrely, all the movies started either too early or too late, so we stopped by Cineworld to see what we could scrounge up. At 7:30, having posted The Boy to the panto, we threw ourselves at the mercy of the Cineworld ticket agent.

Criteria: (1) Must finish by 10. (2) Preferably not 3D, since it makes me queasy. (3) Not TOO far into the movie.

The ticket agent took this as a challenge. Her suggestion: "Burl-squee." "Um, you mean the one with Cher?" "Yup, Cher. It started 10 minutes ago." "PERFECT!"

As many of the other reviewers have said, it went with the "mash every cliche you can think of into the movie - it'll be great!!" school of thought. Christina Aguilera stole the show, Stanley Tucci was fabulous, dahling, and Cher managed to hold the whole thing together. VERY silly movie and not necessarily something I would have chosen, but it killed the allotted time slot very well.

Finally, the boys walked to Blockbuster yesterday afternoon and rented Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which we all really enjoyed. There was enough "POW" and "BLAM!" for the boys to enjoy themselves, with a very cute story that I thought was pretty funny. A little racy for a 13-year-old, but not too bad.

Mini-post: new awesome boots

My quest for non-evil, non-clompy, not too tall, not uncomfortable, non-fugly brown boots has come to a satisfactory conclusion.

Of the Dr Martens variety. I know, right? (They're called the "New Authentic Wedge Mid Calf Boot", colour "Bark Grizzly"). Product naming team at DM's, please sort yourselves out. Design team at DM's, EPIC win.

For the record, they are comfortable, squooshy, and according to the stepson, make me look like I just got off a horse. Fine with me!

Happy new year, all...hope you have good shoes to walk in for 2011!

On the shortest day

Well, I put this little chap up on the shelf a few weeks ago. And the weather seems to have followed his instructions, to the letter. Let it snow, then.

I'm not a huge fan of winter. Christmas in general stresses me out (I'm a buyer, so Christmas starts in March), I REALLY don't like the super-short days, and no matter how much I try to convince myself that I like curling up in on the couch with a blanket, reading my book, with a hot chocolate, I'd much rather it were summer and I could sit outside. 

I do, however, like the following: knitting, flannel pjs, piles of heavy duvets and quilts on the bed, Christmas music (Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Kate Rusby's Sweet Bells, Tori Amos' Midwinter Graces, and traditional English carols). I also like slippers, my Owls sweater, and scarves.

Ok, so maybe I don't HATE winter. Today, however, is Solstice, so while it's cold and dark and snowy (the true Bleak Midwinter), spring is coming! Not just yet, though.

I'm in the middle of the latest Kate Morton, The Distant Hours, and I like it. It feels a little over-long in places, but the story is good and I'm looking forward to the unravelling of the mystery. It must be soon - I'm on page 507! My reserved copy of Wolf Hall (I think I might be the only Book Geek on the planet who hasn't read it yet) arrived at the library and is waiting for me on the nightstand, so I will have something to curl up with between Christmas and the New Year.

Winter warmers

I read another Eva Ibbotson novel last week, The Morning Gift. I love her writing - it is so witty and entertaining. I don't feel like I read her books, so much as I go and live inside them for a while. When I googled her to see if she's working on any other books, I was heartbroken to see that she died (peacefully, at 85) back in October. There were obituaries in the Guardian, Telegraph, and the New York Times. I've read about 12 of her books, which means there aren't many left. I'm going to have to ration myself.

In other book news, Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm mentioned that she is going to be at Persephone Books for an open day on Tuesday 14th December. Oh, that I had a spare vacation day. Persephone WILL be on my To Visit list for the next time I'm in London. I love that they have gift recipient suggestions for various books in their catalogue, and I think the "a book every month for 6 months" is a fantastic present. Definitely going to keep that one in mind.

I bought this (wool? fiber? stuff?) to knit some scarves with at Halfpenny Home last weekend (I also found some amazing buttons for the Owlet sweater I'm knitting. It knits up in ruffles and looks adorable but is MADDENING to knit with. I like to be able to just plough ahead and knit without watching, but with this stuff I have to Look At Every Stitch, Closely. BAH. Maybe once it's knitted into a scarf I'll love it? I hope? Since I bought two balls (that's two scarves to knit, if you're counting), both intended to be Christmas presents, one destined for New Jersey? Maybe our house elf will knit it for me while I'm sleeping tonight.

Will, Evan & BORIS!

Phew. What a week. I worked Mon-Thurs last week (yes, they make Americans living in England work on Thanksgiving, as punishment for escaping), then took Friday off to meet up with my cousin (on his way home from study-abroad in Cape Town) and my high school friend (in town for a college buddy's wedding). Then, Saturday, I rang 3 (out of an attempted 4) quarter peals with my bell peeps, and then Sunday we had Stowmarket Thanksgiving. I need a nap.

We visited the Horus in his museum, then went and had very tasty (and warm) dim sum in Chinatown.

I met up with Evan after lunch - we started out at platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross station, sadly empty of all things Potterish.

We saw some Boris Bikes (I WANT one!)

We walked south through Covent Garden, then went to Trafalgar Square, and warmed up with tea in the crypt of St Martin in the Fields. The fourth plinth has a jumbo ship in a bottle - I thought it was really cool.

After tea, we walked across the river, catching this slightly blurry shot:

We ended up at the Tate Modern, where we saw Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds. SO gorgeous.

Review: HP7(1), A Separate Peace, Looking for Alaska

Apparently, all media over the last few weeks that I've consumed has been entirely focused on teenagers at boarding schools. Ok, so this is Southwold Church, not Hogwarts, but I thought it looked suitably atmospheric. It was FREEZING when we were there!

First, I read A Separate Peace, which was one of those books that all my friends in AP English were assigned (I was non-AP for mysterious reasons known only to the head of NRHS's English department at the time). Meh, I think. I wouldn't have minded reading it in high school, but I definitely didn't love it.

Second, I read Looking for Alaska, by John Green. Again with the moody teenagers at boarding school (this time in Alabama, though, not New Hampshire). I could see why parents might not want their kids reading it, but I also think it's the kind of book that could lead to engagingr discussions in a high school English classroom.

To finish, John and I saw the new Harry Potter movie (Deathly Hallows, part 1) with what seemed like half of Ipswich on Saturday night. I really enjoyed the movie, and thought that it captured the book perfectly. I'd forgotten quite a few of the plot points, since I've only read the book once, right when it first came out. I'm going to need to jump in to a reread, after I finish my new Kate Morton (the waiting list at the library was 100+ people so I caved and bought it).

more magical green shoes...and beer

While in Southwold, Ed and I went on the Adnams brewery tour. The last time he came to visit, we went on the Greene King tour, which couldn't have been more different. The size of the breweries, along with the very-old-fashioned GK and super-modern and automated Adnams, meant that we didn't really feel like we were duplicating anything. Obviously, making beer is a fairly standard process, but the two companies do it in entirely different ways. Mmm...beer.

We soaked up a little of the beer with fish & chips at a pub down near the docks. We'd been sent in search of Mrs T's Fish & Chips, which was closed for the season. Bummer. The food at the pub (The Harbour Inn) was good, but the service was terrible. I wouldn't want to be there on a crowded Saturday in the summer!

After walking all the way back to town (and working off some of the chips and beer), we stopped at DaddyLongLegs because I saw some AWESOME slippers in the window. My felt Keen slippers have died a slow and painful death, but John's Haflingers (bought at the same time) are still going strong. So, the perfect slippers, then: the love child of my Magical Green Shoes and John's Haflinger boiled wool clogs. Swoon.

Spurred on by my new slippers, I finished Wedding Quilt No. 1, the wedding present for the stepson's mum and soon-to-be stepdad. The sm. boy picked out the fabrics and the flickr-inspired design, and helped with laying out the design and the ironing. Success! It is custom-sized to cover all members of the newly created family when they're sitting on the couch, watching TV. (And yes, John is wearing my Crocs in that picture.)

 And the back (v. soft & warm blue flannel):

whirlwind tour

My brother came to visit - he spent about 48 hours in Suffolk, and we had a blast! We visited Lavenham, Bury, Southwold (and the Adnams brewery!), Dunwich, Woodbridge, and Ipswich. Phew. 

Recipe: Baked Apple a la Stowmarkate

I love baked apples. My mom always makes them in the oven, like my grandma did. That seems to take forever, though, and use a lot of energy for one little apple. 

So, my ingredients:

An apple (This one was a Bramley, but any cooker/eater will do. Sharper is better.)

Raisins

Cinnamon

Sugar

Butter

Your handy-dandy microwave

First, wash & core the apple. Don't worry about missing the middle a little bit, as long as you get most of the core out. Put the apple in a microwave-safe bowl (not on a plate...learned the hard way).

Then, fill the hole with raisins. I don't really measure, and it doesn't matter if they're stuck together - they'll be all nice and gooey when you're done.

On top of the raisins, sprinkle some cinnamon and a little bit of sugar. I only add sugar if the apple is a cooking apple - if it's an eater, you should be fine. Then add a small pat of butter on top, smooshing it down with the raisins as much as possible.

Microwave on high for about 2 1/2 minutes, but keep an eye on it. After about a minute and a half, the apple insides should start bubbling out through the top of the apple. I usually try and wait until quite a bit of apple has come out of the top - it stays in the bowl and makes a really yummy sauce mixed with the cinnamon and butter.

See? The raisins get cooked by the applesauce and the cinnamon and sugar get all mixed in as well. Careful, though - it's hot when it comes out of the microwave, and the apple innards stay hot for quite a while. Enjoy!

dark and light

It's starting to feel properly wintry. I've been wearing my new LLBean down jacket to work, with a hat and gloves (especially on the days when I have to walk to the train station), and today was the Owl Sweater's first outing. Of course, because it's insanely warm, I didn't wear a real jacket with it. Mmmm owl sweater.

It's also now starting to get dark around 3:30. Twilight hits around then, and it's seriously dark a few minutes after 4. This was a picture I took on a bike ride over the summer. All the fields are ploughed and muddy now - the golden wheat has long been harvested.

Here is the sm. boy, with my current quilt-in-progress. It has now been sandwiched and quilted (with blue polka-dotted flannel backing), and the binding has been sewn to the front. I think I need about another 2 1/2 hours of hand-sewing the binding to the back and I'll be all done! Oh, and in case you were wondering, the binding is ORANGE. Like, really, really orange. It all looks rather awesome. You can't see from this picture, but the squares reading as black are actually brown with orange and blue swirls on them. A few Amy Butlers, an Ikea (the green critters), the last scrap of the sheep print from PurlSoho, a tiny piece of leftover Liberty, and some really fun Michael Miller Groovy Guitars.

I also have a small announcement to make: I think I might be a yarn snob. I stumbled upon a new yarn store today, which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty. I eagerly hopped into the store, to discover that it was ALL acrylic. No, wait, there was one very small rack of exceedingly scratchy 100% wool. Who knits with this stuff? And why? When there's so much amazing yarn out there? Shudder.

One more appeal to the interwebs - in last month's Martha Stewart Living they featured several entryway coat racks. I LOVE this one, but it's there and I'm here.

I can't find anything even vaguely similar over here - they're all either really twee or really industrial. Suggestions, Brits?

looking up?

So this is where we've been lately. I'm not sure what exactly Husband is looking at in this picture (neighbor's mast, perhaps), but I like it. I like the flat, cold, English autumn light, too. Kanga is now all tucked in for the winter. There are a few more miscellaneous things that need attending to, but wind, rain, frost, and general weather are now no longer a worry. Phew.

I've had a rather disappointing fit of Being Slow With Books lately - it took me almost a month (a month!) to plough through the second Inkheart book, Inkspell. I enjoyed it, but it just seemed to put me to sleep when I tried to read it in the evenings, and not hold my interest during the day. I'll give it a bit before I read the next one.

I'm in the middle of the second of the Hunger Games books, and really enjoying it. It's zipping along, just like the first one. It's a perfect tucked-under-the-blankets book. I'm having a small bout of wishing I could read and sew/knit at the same time, as I have a quilt to bind (by hand) and I don't really feel like watching TV - I'd rather be reading. Any tips, let me know!