Blankets and Throws to Knit by Debbie Abrahams

I've been wanting to create a knitted sampler quilt for some time but the issue has always been trying to figure out the number of stitches to cast on to get the same dimensions for each square.  Abrahams' book is just beautiful, a great range of squares using a number of techniques that can indeed be mixed and matched if using the same yarn.  As Abrahams is a Rowan designer yes the instructions for each are given for Rowan wools but tension is given for each making it easy to transfer to cheaper wool by creating a tension square and adjusting needle size.  I love the extras such as beads and sequins and how to use them.  At first the book can seem a bit confusing because the 'help' section is at the end  but instructions for intarsia to change colour, needle and yarn conversions and abbreviations are all there.

The Knitting Stitch Manual by Lesley Stansfield

A great stitch manual with 300 patterns divided into four sections: knit and purl stitches; cable stitches; lace and bobble stitches; and twist and other stitches.  Each pattern has a good photograph and chart with full instructions on how to use them in the introduction, so although it looks complicated it is actually straightforward and a good new skill to have.  It is really good but my only issue would be that there is no indication how you would work out the width of a worked piece.  Also, each pattern is numbered and I would like to know if any of the patterns have names, they are so evocative and have such a lovely history.

The Cat That Walked by Himself by Rudyard Kipling

A beautiful little hardback published by the British library, suitable for adults and for children both to be read to and to read, from about the age of 7 onwards.

Contains four of Kipling's Just So stories: 'The Cat that Walked by Himself', 'The Elephant's Child', 'How the Camel got his Hump' and 'How the Rhinoceros got his Skin'.  Each is accompanied by Kipling's original black and white illustrations with his self deprecting commentary, pictures which perfectly partner Kipling's lyrical mythical text. 

The Mysterious Benedict Society 3: The Prisoner's Dilemma

The four children comprising the Mysterious Benedict Society are back, daredevil Kate with her resourcefulness, cheerfulness and red bucket, Sticky with his capacious brain, Reynie and Constance, the hypeintelligent four year old.  Shut away in hiding from the brilliant Mr Benedict's dangerous genius brother Ledrophtha Curtain and his terrifying henchmen the Ten Men they are terribly bored, until Curtain attacks and they are thrown into another breakneck adventure.

Not, for me, quite as good as the first one due to the need to do a bit of explaining over the first few chapters, but still a great ride.

Books being read to our daughter

The Sisters Grimm Series


A great series about Daphne and Sabrina Grimm, the great great .... grandaughters of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the authors of the great Grimm's Fairy Tales. They come to live with their previously unknown grandmother in Ferryport Landing, a place where fairy tale characters, known as Everafters, are very much alive and real and trapped within the town by an enchantment that will not break until the last Grimm is dead. Cue mayhem, mysteries and a great deal of fun, and one of our favourite characters of all time, the fairy boy Puck, the self proclaimed trickster king. The hardbacks of each edition are beautiful, lovely illustrations, torn edges to the pages, looking like a great Grimm's edition

Book 1: The Fairy Tale Detectives
Sabrina and Daphne Grimm's parents have disappeared and Sabrina has negotiated them through a series of appalling foster homes, but now a crazy lady says she's their grandmother, but they don't have one, do they?

Book 2: The Unusual Suspects
The girls start school and plunge headfirst into a mystery when a teacher is found murdered

Book 3: The Problem Child
Red Riding Hood was driving clinically insane by the murder of her family by the Big Bad Wolf, and now she's escaped the asylum

Book 4: Once Upon A Crime
Location moves to New York City and the expatirate Everafter community, the hidden land of Faerie and some awkward truths about the girls' mother

Book 5: Magic and Other Misdemeanors
A number of magical items go missing and Sabrina and Daphne take on their first solo case

Book 6: Tales from the Hood
Mr Canis goes on trial for the Big Bad Wolf's crimes and the truth is to be found is in the mind of the clinically insane Red Riding Hood

Book 7: The Everafter War
Sabrina and Daphne's parents are awoken but there is no respite as reunions aren't happily ever afters and the leader of the Red Hand is finally revealed

Book 8: The Inside Story
Sabrina and Daphne pursue the Master through the bewildering pages of the Everafters' book of tales, stumbling through Oz and tale after tale in pursuit

http://sistersgrimm.com/newsite/index.html

The Future is Queer by Richard Labonte and Lawrence Schimel

A good collection of stories and one piece of graphic fiction by a variety of authors, all queer visions of the future for GLTBs.  As with all good science fiction, each story reflects on a different aspect of gay or lesbian society and issues such as identity by differentiation from the 'norm', self esteem and how a sense of self is refracted through the lens of sexuality.  Thought provoking and interesting.

The Ultimate Book of Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss

On the positive side Bliss' patterns are absoloutely beautiful and this book offers great value for money containing 50 of her favourite patterns for little people. However there are a number of problems with the book.

There are no indications of difficulty of each pattern, which would be of great help to a beginner so they don't take on a project that would be too much for them and become discouraged. Instructions are good but at times overly complicated, there are places where it would have been better to write out the full instructions rather than just ask the knitter to 'do the same as before'.

On some of the patterns, in particular the blankets, the finished object is beautifully presented cuddled around a baby but a more detailed picture of the components is missing, meaning that you would not know what each block that you are working on should end up looking like. This could have been remedied by a small picture next to each block.

The 'knitting basics' section has instructions that are confusing and unclear, for instance, the instructions on how to do a basic knit stitch have two diagrams that are exactly the same and even as an experienced knitter I found some of them difficult to follow.

Bliss always states requirements using her own yarn, which I can understand because of the financial advantage. However, they tend to be very expensive and there are plenty of very good baby yarns out there at a more economical price. However, the tension requirements do allow the patterns to be adapted accordingly.

This had the potential to be a much better book with a few simple adjustments.

Triumph of the City by Edward L Glaeser

A great book that really made me think about the relative physical and environmental costs of city and rural life, why cities came about across the globe, the rise of industry, and the social outcome that describes how a large population of people living close together can generate extreme productivity and new ideas.  It elegantly speaks about the human need as young adults to live in close proximity to each other, sparking exciting exchanges of ideas and invention but as they age and have families and children and then retire other needs come to the fore, good schooling, nice countryside and green spaces leading to suburbanisation.  Glaeser addresses the issues that both first and developing world cities face, slums, transportation, disease, water quality, congestion, green spaces, industry, work and housing costs.

Glaser's book is extremely informative on the taxation system of America which is very different from the British one.  Taxation on fuel which allows access to suburban areas is much higher and we have direct taxation via yearly statutory tax discs which pay for road upkeep, car users also have graduated insurance premiums which, along with congestion charging in some areas, do make road users think seriously about their usage.  I find the United States' low taxation on and high usage of such a finite resource as gasoline horrifying. Unlike America we don't have mortgage tax relief, but we do have a lot in common when it comes to suburbanising for a better quality of life. 

Here in Scotland suburban and urban are not so clear cut, apart from the central belt much of what Glaeser speaks about is slightly modified, the northern cities are smaller and surrounded by small towns which have good amenties and transport links as well as extreme rural areas where private vehicles are the only feasible method of transport.  However, we are similar in that even in these small towns transport links are still not good or cost effective enough to replace the affordability and convenience of having personal transport, especially over longer distances where rail travel is much more expensive than cars and buses are achingly slow.

There are a few problems with the text itself, with copy editing issues which were a bit annoying, and Glaeser does repeat himself at times, but generally I am grateful for a book which taught me so much.

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse AUDIO

A beautifully written story of a tragic past and present threaded together by a deck of tarot cards.  A contemporary american woman comes to France to research Debussy but in Paris and the mountainous countryside finds instead the answers to a century old mystery and the painful chronology of her own family history.  Good, but the great depictions of French fin de siecle society and a supernatural mystery are marred by repetitions of similie and some failures of form.

Edinburgh Unlocked
 
I was deeply impressed with this guidebook, there are websites where you can find out what's on for children in cities and towns but this colourful little guide is just so much better as it is both about children's activities and written for children themselves. 

For six different areas of Edinburgh, beginning with west and east central, you are invited to do something, for instance, Explore an Underground Street ... in Mary King's Close.  Each activity is given a double page spread which gives fascinating facts about the activity, top tips, jokes, other things to include in your visit, photo opportunities, and a 5 star sticker scoring section with gold stars included at the back of the book.  In the bottom right of each page is address information, dates and time, a coding system showing whether the place has a shop, is good for wet weather, and whether there are height restrictions and a pricing indicator from FREE through £(cheap as chips), and ££ (cheap as fish and chips) to £££ (not cheap at all).  At the end of the book are a set of top fives (top five places to swim, run around etc) and a parent page.

Completely recommended, everything you need for a holiday that allows you to stay within your budget and find the hidden free gems of Edinburgh.

The Amulet of Samarkand: A Bartimaeus Graphic Novel adapted by Jonathan Stroud & Andrew Donkin

This graphic novel adpatation of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimeus book is excellent.  Nathaniel is the young apprentice of a magician in a modern day London where the ruling class of politicians are replaced by magicians, and the underclass is those without magic.  Nathaniel is humiliated by Simon Lovelace, ruthless and powerful contemporary of his master and in order to take revenge summons the ancient djinn Bartimaeus.  Great plotting, great adpatation and wonderful artwork of the story of a young magician to rival Timothy Hunter.

Birthday by Meimu

These are three manga stories about Sadako from The Ring, revealing details about her background, her childhood years and the tragedy of her past.  Engaging and beautifully drawn, fast paced and achingly sad.

At Home by Bill Bryson (AUDIO)

A fascinating book set around a simple premice, going around a very ordinary house what is the history of each room.  Why do we paint our walls, what is the history of indoor plumbing and sanitation, kitchens and cooking, childcare and living rooms.  Bryson explores how the current structure of our houses is shaped by fundamental social and technological changes, telephones, television, costume and bed bugs.  A great story that really makes you think.