Book: The forest of hands and teeth - Carrie Ryan

I came across this book via a sample first chapter picked up in a bookshop. The combination of the cover image and the title were really appealing. I didn't know this was considered a young adult novel. (Not that that would have stopped me). I also didn't know it was a zombie book, although it didn't take too long to figure out.

I liked the way that it was an slightly uncommon take on a zombie story. It is set several generations after a virus has decimated the population leaving only isolated enclaves of uninfected people.

However, I was quite disappointed with this book. Even though it's fairly short there would have been room to do a lot more if there was less of the overwrought and unconvincing romance aspect. For me it teetered just on the edge of what it should have been: dark, creepy, and even a bit inspiring with a message of following your dreams, and not settling for what others tell you you should want. The main character, Mary, verged on being a Mary Sue with her naivete and all the boys revolving around her. Ok that's a little harsh, but I found the romances that the novel is built around unconvincing and that didn't leave much else. It was an interesting set-up, an isolated village surrounded by fences to keep the Unconsecrated (clearly zombies) out; a small society strictly controlled by the Sisterhood. Mary is trapped in this tight place by the death of her parents and her brother's rejection, leaving her with nowhere to go except the Sisterhood (and only in an inferior and ill-trusted position there). I would have been interested in a story where Mary challenges the status quo, drawing out why the sisterhood run things this way and some of the secrets they're keeping. Instead she just wants to escape (understandably).

The latter half of the story I think owed more to zombie movies, with a small group surviving on the forest paths and in another, abandoned village, and some fighting and killing of the Unconsecrated; I got bored and just wondered where it was all going. There were a lot of questions unanswered; I gather the book is being made into a movie and there are clear opportunities for a sequel. That's all well and good, but a novel, especially a debut novel, should still stand alone as a good satisfying story; for me this one didn't.

Shout out for the London girl

Remember my sister's drawings? Three of them can currently be found at the Canberra School of Art Gallery as part of Momentum, the 18th Tamworth fibre textile biennial. It's on til 1 August.

A friend and I walked over at lunch time earlier this week. He had already been to the show once - apparently he walked around the room making a mental note to tell me about it as I would really like it, and was greatly amused when he finally came to the name Demelza Sherwood.


Oops, I forgot to take down the name of the artist who designed these fabrics. There were several of those clothing-shaped cutout viewers. We liked them.

Edited to add: It's Gum Blossum, 2007, by Penny Malone.
You can see and read about all of the works on the Tamworth Regional Gallery's site.

It's really worth seeing this show, not only because of my talented sister's work but there is such a wonderful variety of textile art, including some really fascinating knitted pieces. I particularly loved Alana Clifton-Cunningham's Second Skin series (there's a picture of a similar piece here).

Enemy of beige

Once I had pointed it out, that beigy bland pod started to bother me. Maybe I was influenced by reading Pamela Stephenson's biography of Billy Connolly last week. He famously hates beige and 'beige people'. I really enjoyed the book, and it certainly didn't hurt that Pamela quoted plenty of Billy's humour throughout. I've often claimed he's the only standup comedian I'd be likely to go and see (though I haven't) - I usually find standup comedy very uncomfortable.

On Monday I grabbed the bland pod off the desk and stuffed it in my bag as I headed out for a lunch break. I ducked into Lincraft, chose some embroidery thread in a bright orange and bright purple (very Billy colours), picked up some needles and a pair of tiny folding scissors (these can live in my handbag from now on), and went to a cafe to do some embellishing.

I seem to have had an urge to embroider things for quite a while, helped along very recently by discovering Mr X Stitch who highlights fascinating needlework of all types.

Unfortunately, I don't actually know much about embroidery. And I jumped right in without making any kind of plan. It was like doodling. There are no photos here because the results don't look any good. So far. I think I'll add another lunch hour or two of doodling and see where that gets me!

Another little sister gets a dress - finally

I've been waiting to post this for weeks and weeks, while trying to find a time to see baby A and her family. (Several things got in the way, mostly not wanting to pass various germs back or forth at certain points.) I was finally able to see them today, and a good time was had by all. She did throw up on me but she didn't cry - I call that a win!

It was also good because I could assure myself that the dress is going to fit, and have some growing room. And just because it was a gift finally given, and received. If you've ever hand-made a gift, or even agonised over a gift purchase, you might be familiar with that mild anxiety that builds up over time until the transfer is made, and you see it's well-received.

I used the Little Sister's Dress pattern again. The other one, made for my niece, was in cotton, this uses 4ply baby wool. The white with navy speckles (I just love how it knitted up, in spite of the noticeable differences in the amount of speckles between balls from the same dyelot) is Cleckheaton Merino Bambino, and the navy stripes in the yoke and hem are Patons Dreamtime.

I started out intending to have several wide stripes of a pinkish red all down the dress, bordered by narrow navy stripes. Just one or two stripes into this plan, my sister convinced me there would be far too much going on, and the end result might be a wild little dress that wouldn't 'go' with much. I was happy to admit the stripes weren't working for me - it was turning out to be a sailor-suit look, which might be cute but not the more girly look I was going for. (Even though adding that pink-red colour was my attempt to make it more girly. It's funny how these things go.) She suggested making the rest of the dress below the yoke just in the speckled stuff and then embellish it after the fact with something a little unexpected.

On the other hand, my other sister loved the sailor dress aesthetic and asked if it would be possible for me to make it in an adult size.

The pink circles are crocheted and felted then sewn onto the dress. One has a rudimentary embroidered 'A', continuing the monogram theme for baby gear.

Daily grind

It's a drab, cold week and during the day I am wishing I was at home making things instead of at work. I keep a few reminders around me. Sometimes there are some pears around my workstation too.

Almost two years ago I sent Donna Lee a felted pot and she's since said that she keeps it on her desk at work, which I think is where I got the idea.

Two of these could perhaps be called 'seconds' - the blue tray is not firmly felted (one of the strands of yarn was not very willing) and the beigy one was a bit bland on its own. It was part of this set - I made four in order to pick the three that worked best, and this was the one that didn't make it.

Mini sugar bowl

In a favourite cafe a few weeks ago I saw a delightful white ceramic sugar bowl with red spots. I wanted to make it in felt. This one is too tiny to really capture the original (cute wasn't really what I was going for). However, it was a very useful experiment: though I've done tiny bits of pre-felting embroidery before, this was a test of adding larger spots of colour. I just did satin stitch on the knitted fabric. I suppose I could have tried harder to make all the spots the same size, but I quite like them that way.

Book: After Dark - Haruki Murakami

I was inspired to read his books quite suddenly. Tora FrØseth was right into a Murakami craze as I discovered her blog (at the time I discovered the pattern for the Little Sister's Dress) and her jumping-up-and-down excitement just seemed to transfer almost directly to me.

I first read 'What I talk about when I talk about running' because the library coughed it up first. It's a kind of memoir with a specific theme, and I enjoyed it, being a bit of a runner, not like Murakami though who runs a marathon every year and has done an ultramarathon once. But of course it was the fiction I was really after.

After Dark is a very short novel, taking place over the course of one long night. I loved the surreal elements which made me think of a David Lynch film. In spite of these bits, however, it's actually overall a fairly simply told story. Not a lot happens, but I think it does capture a turning point in three people's lives. I enjoyed it and am still keen to read more of his books.

It's recommended, if you don't mind a bit of surreality. If you've read it I'd love to hear what you think.

cooler than the street

I did finish my cowl neck top. That 'hopeful, getting it done mode' actually got me through the majority of the reknitting quickly. Then something more urgent distracted me and it sat around again with just a few rows to go. It didn't seem to matter any more as it was getting colder and I was originally hoping this would work as a summer top, though I always knew it might need a layer underneath.

I have worn it out in the world once - like this, with the grey 3/4 sleeved t shirt underneath. I'm not sure I will be able to wear it without a top underneath - freshly washed it's ok with the right bra, but the fabric stretches pretty quickly with wear and I think ends up sagging too much under the arms.

I don't love how high it sits on the neck at the sides/back - it feels a little tight there and I would prefer for it to overlap the t-shirt rather than leaving that gap.



So, I have some thoughts on the pattern. It's an unusual design - it's actually almost a straight tube with two holes in the back.

When you put it on the extra fabric from the back of the tube falls forward and adds to what's at the front, making the cowl. I suspect this simple formula works on some bodies better than others, and perhaps relies on certain ratios of body dimensions. I made a small size (adjusted for the different gauge) based on my small bust, and I think the cowl worked out quite well - though I really couldn't have it drooping any lower. However, further down the body I had to do some short rows across the back, as it was clearly coming out much shorter than the front (and it still is, a little, though it's hitched up slightly on my belt in the above picture).

As I described in the previous post, it never needed any waist shaping and I had to increase madly to avoid it being too clingy. I put this down to having a small bust relative to the rest of me, my chest and shoulders are not especially narrow, which might also explain the back riding up.

Another modification (this one planned from the start) was to make the back t-strap a few stitches wider, partly because I thought it would look better and also for better bra coverage.

Oh yeah, and what about the flashing (ziz zag patterns) that the variegated Cleckheaton bamboo is doing? I don't mind it. I wouldn't have thought I would go for that on a top, but I think in these muted colours it looks ok and the photo might exaggerate the effect a bit.

Perhaps this will be remembered as my blue period?

Another project that's been around a long time. Probably longer than the blanket, which was started last winter.

This is the Tofutsies sock yarn Donna Lee sent me in 2007. I can't remember when I started these socks but for various reasons, they have taken a long time. I know it's not because I didn't enjoy knitting them. I loved watching the colours emerge. They just tended to be the simple carry-around project which kept getting put on the backburner by more urgent things.

I finished the first sock last summer. So now when I put them on they feel a bit short - it's cold and I want a bit more ankle coverage. That's fine though. Even though this yarn has quite a bit of wool in it, along with cotton, soysilk, and chitin, it feels primarily cottony to me, so I was hoping I would be able to wear these in the in-between seasons. I seem to only be able to wear wool socks when it's quite cold. My feet certainly feel the cold but also heat up very rapidly sometimes.

I love the way these turned out, especially the stripes and the way they widened on the upper part of the sock (due to the instep increases, I suspect). They have a sort of speckly look which is hard to capture in the photos. It's due, I think - just a guess - to some of the fibres taking up the dye more than others, so with all the colours there's a pale version plied with the stronger version.

These were done the way all my socks are: toe up, short row heel, no particular numbers, just made to fit.

Not such a yarn snob

I made a blanket and I am ridiculously pleased by it. OK, it's a lap blanket.

It's a bit daggy and was always going to be that way. I had this fuzzy blue stuff (Lang Arté, picked out of a specials bin at Lincraft several years ago) that I originally thought could be a quick spidery shawl. When I finally tried it I didn't like it knit alone, as it was somewhat fragile and stretchy. So I combined it with leftovers of a nice cottony-feeling acrylic (Elle Pure Gold) which I originally bought for a baby blanket for a no-wool family. Then I incorporated sections of some Euro-novelty stuff - also from Lincraft years ago - they had these bags with about eight different 'luxury' novelty yarns. This was before Lincraft had so many of its own branded product and they sold a lot of European imports. And there is a narrow purple stripe which is Cleckheaton Taboo, I think.

I should have separated the two different coloured sections in the middle, I think. But given that this was made with no planning and no counting of rows, generally brought out between projects or on those particularly brain-fried nights, I think it looks all right. If I had had enough of the Arté and the dark blue Pure Gold to do the whole thing with just those, it would actually look a bit like the type of bouclé throw rug you can buy for your couch.

In any case it is very warm and cosy, and doesn't show dog hair.