Nayu's Craft Time #55 Thank you, new needles, new projects, books and a cat

These have very little to do with the topics of this post, other than if I ever get oodles of money I really want an alpaca! Or at least to rent one, if that's possible. They make good yarn, and are excellent chicken guardians (which is part of my 'oodles of money' wishlist).

Hi all! I was going to start with 'good afternoon' but it's not going be afternoon for everyone, so thought my chosen greeting fitted better. As promised yesterday I have some gorgeous knitting needles to show you (in case you didn't already know, new knitting needles/crochet hooks/definitely yarn create a warm gooey feeling which has me fangirl squee-ing with delight (usually mentally, unless I'm alone and then I squee away out loud ^o^) 

I do have one more thing to squee about with you - my viewing stats have gone up! They've gone above 30 (that was a good day), have spiked to 100 and currently averaging around 50. Thank you for stopping by - it means a lot a I'm starting out on this crochet (& a bit of knitting) adventure. 

Right, on with what I've been almost drooling over.  Ta-da! 

Very small at 6 inches (15.5mm) - the 'average' needle & all the ones I have is double this. They look good on the hearth.

Aren't they gorgeous? If I rated them as I do my reviews on Nayu's Reading Corner, they would be 10/10E, missing off the being excellent because one of the needles is lighter than its partner. Other than that they are perfect. 

Tucked neatly in their simple & effective packaging

Huge thanks goes to The Little Knitting Company who I happily stumbled upon and who I hope to use for if I have a needle mishap/need more short needles in different sizes. They sell plenty of other yarn related accessories and yarn itself. Do check them out if you love yarn craft/know someone who does.  

As promised I'm going to give you a project update - no pics, as I'm not refusing to show this one until it's finished (to surprise the recipient). I can say I have un-attached all the crochet squares from each other. The next stage is to unravel and wind the few squares made from the newer yarn into balls ready to create mini borders around the original colour squares. Will definitely keep you posted on the progress! 

Nothing too easy!

 Other projects, well, now I have the correct sized hooks & knitting needles I can try out a new bootie pattern. I am leaning towards experimenting with lace motifs like these ones. I'm fully expecting that it could be a bit of a disaster in the beginning, but I promise to share progress pics of this project with when I have them. 

I spent most of today unattaching the crochet squares between reading. I love books! I'm reading a particularly thrilling magical retelling of Beauty and the Beast which is intriguing and absolutely hilarious (Isabelle is quite a character), so don't want to put that down once I pick it up. 

The cover is ok, the story is ACE!

 The other book is one which will probably get finished today. It's the full story of Sarah Alderson, a young adult and adult fiction writer who has travelled the world for a few years, mostly in Bali, with her husband and young daughter. I've exchanged a few emails and tweets with Sarah, who is a brilliant writer and in some respects a little like me. 

She did the 'crazy' thing of leaving a stable job and venturing off into the unknown just because she could. While not leaving the UK (sadly my health restricts my desire to travel) I was in my job for the same number of years as Sarah, I love the M&S Vege Percy Pig sweets (she loves the non-vege ones) (although prefer Colin the Caterpillar butterflies), 

Double yum!

and we have similar attitudes to going for whatever takes our fancy. It's hair raising in places, often hilarious, sometimes a little too blush worthy but then so too are a fair amount of books I read, and insightful about the reality of life anywhere, which has both positive and negative aspects. I know I'm going to be re-reading this a lot, and desperately waiting for it to come out in audiobook (it's only just been published). I'll review it full soon, but I think you get the gist of it! 

 

Time to head off to write up some book reviews - I'll leave you with the furry lump who has taken residence on my legs right now and who would definitely object to an alpaca or two.