Crochet Step by Step by Sally Harding

I've been searching for a decent British crochet bible for a while as although there are excellent American ones the terminology is different, but I think I've finally found it.  I haven't used any of the patterns in this yet so I can't vouch for them but when I do I will add to this review.

The book opens with a section on tools and materials: yarns including unusual yarns such as wire, string, fabric and plastic bags.  A chart of yarn sizes and recommended hook sizes giving conversions between US and UK sizes and instructions on how to read a yarn ball band, perfect for the bewildered beginner faced with all those beautiful tempting yarn choices.  

Next the techniques section beginning with the basics: how to hold the hook, yarn and make your slip knot and foundation chain.  Then it moves on to working the crochet stitches and how to count stitches, rows and how to begin and end rows, how to make foundation (magic) rings, to fasten off and darn in ends.  A chart of basic stitch symbols, abbrevations and relative heights is given and the instructions for fabrics using each of the basic crochet stitches given in symbol format to get the reader used to reading crochet symbols.

Then the more complex stitches: working into the spaces between stitches; working into the front and back of stitches; shells; bobbles; clusters and popcorns.  There are labelled photographs here with useful help here on how to look at your work and identify the different parts of it to count stitches and rows.

Next comes a section on following stitch patterns, giving a sample stitch pattern with step by step instuctions on how to use it.  After this comes an invaluable chart of terminology, abbreviations and crochet stitch symbols. 

This is followed by a section of simple texture patterns using the stitches learned so far.  Then openwork (lace, picot net and filet crochet)followed by a selections of openwork patterns, and colourwork (stripes, jacquard and intarsia) with patterns following.

The next section is on following commercial patterns. A sample commerical pattern is pictured and labelled up including advice on how to buy the right yarn.  There are tips on choosing garment sizes and patterns and instructions on how to make a tension swatch.

Increases and decreases come next, and then finishing details: creating edgings, buttons, blocking, seams, embellishments, embroidery, and fastenings.

Then a section on circular crochet, tubes and flat circles, medallions (granny squares) and flowers. 

The final section is patterns which are pretty but as I say I haven't tried them yet. A book I will happily return to whenever I'm stuck, which will be often!

The Knitting Book by Vikki Haffenden and Frederica Patmore

First of all, I haven't used any of the patterns in this so I can't vouch for them.  However, this is the book I go to when I'm not sure of how to do something, and I have found it invaluable.  It follows a roughly chronological ordering from simple to complicated and from beginning to end of project.

The book opens with a section on tools and materials: yarns, what weights you use for what items, needles and other notions with handy conversion charts for US and UK sizings.  Great for anyone bewildered by the selection of terminology regarding yarns and notions you walk into in a wool shop.  Next comes a gallery of stitch patterns, pretty but perhaps a little intimidating for the beginner, though a good illustration of the range of uses knitting can be put to

Now comes the most helpful part of the book for me, the techniques.  The chapter moves gently beginning with how to make a slip knot and how to hold the yarn moving on to giving a range of cast ons and there is some, although not a lot, of indication of the uses of the different cast ons.  A much better book on cast ons and offs (bind offs in USA terminology) for particular projects is [[ASIN:1603427244 Cast On, Bind Off]] but this gives you a good grounding and shows most cast ons that patterns indicate.  The same is true of the following cast-offs.

Next the stitches, knit, purl, basic stitches combining knits and purls: garter, stocking, rib.  Then joining in yarns and darning in ends, repairing, unpicking and picking up dropped stitches, something I still do after decades of knitting.

The next section is on following commercial patterns.  There is a useful chart of abbreviations, terminology and commonly used symbols and a specimen knitting chart labelled up with explanations including how to choose and buy the right amount of yarn.  Instructions are given on choosing the size of garment, altering patterns and making and measuring a tension swatch.

Increases and decreases of all kinds come next, yarn overs, knitting / purling into front and back of a single stitch, make ones, multiple increases, knit / purl two (or more) together, and the slip stitch decreases.  A chart for paired increases / decreases is given noting the direction of the slant, abbreviations and visibility, followed by a section on shaping using increases / decreases on the edge and in the centre of a piece.

Cables and twists comes next although these are very basic, with instructions for making i-cords.  Then lace knitting, just simple eyelets, and a few pages on colourwork, both fair-isle and intarsia.  The instructions for these are not extensive because there are more extensive patterns in the section at the end of the book

Next is a section on texture, struture and colour effects, ways of using the basic stitches to create puckers, clusters, smocking, pleats, entrelac ruffles and short rows.

Then a section on circular kitting, including mobius, tubular, helix, spiral and medallion using sets of double pointed needles and circular knitting needles

And then finishing details: picking up cast on/off edges, selvedges, buttonholes and button loops, pockets, hems, blocking, seams, steeks, fastenings, zips, embellishments (including bead and sequin knitting), bobbles, popcorns, embroidery, pompoms, tassels and fringes.

The final section is patterns which are pretty but as I say I haven't tried them yet.  First come the projects, then a library of stitch patterns including knit and purl patterns, increases and decreases, cables and twists, lace, colourwork, edgings, medallions, beads and sequins

I do use other books as well as this one but this is the one I return to when I can't remember how to do something

Fractured by Teri Terry

The second book in the Slated trilogy opens with Kyla shivering in the aftermath of the trauma of having attacked a man.  She was only defending herself, however, she has beaten him nearly to death and as a Slated it should not be possible.  Slated's are under 16s that have had their minds and personalities wiped, and they wear a device called a Levo that monitors their mood and if they show signs of agression render them unconsious, even kills them.  It began as a utopian idea, in the aftermath of civil unrest Slating was an alternative to execution.  But Kyla's memories are beginning to return, another things that is not supposed to happen.  There is a man with pale blue eyes at her school, he is supposed to be a teacher but isn't.  Kyla grieves for Ben, the boy she lost in Slated when he cut his Levo off and was last seen being dragged off by the Lorders, the martial police of this new world. Kyla begins to remember and her memories are fractured, of a girl called Rain, of a girl called Lucy, and what exactly was done to her.  She finds herself torn between the new family she has been assigned, her past and her sense of right and wrong. 

An enjoyable read, just don't expect too much from it.  Many of the themes aren't new, a dystopian world with lots of twists and turns, but it is a good ride.

Fire Spell by Laura Amy Schlitz

We open the book to find an old witch Cassandra dreaming of being burned alive.  She wakes remembering a man called Grisini who had told her the opal that gives her her magic would burn her alive.  She tries to smash the stone, then...

We shift to London in the autumn of 1860.  Clara is a upper class young girl hoping that Grisini the puppeteer will be allowed to come to her birthday party.  She lives in material wealth but abject emotional poverty, the only survivor of the cholera that took her 4 siblings including her twin brother.  Her mother's grief makes her home a haunted melancholy place, Clara has to be silent and never to be a child.

Lizzie-Rose and Parsefall are orphans, employed and sometimes fed by Grisini.  Parsefall is learning to play the puppets, Lizzie-Rose does the fetching and carrying.  Dirt poor and unloved they marvel at Clara's house as they bring the puppet stage in.  Paresefall has his mind on petty theivery, but Grisini has something much worse in mind and the children find themselves unwittingly caught up in his spell casting and ancient feud with Cassandra.

A lovely well written book, you can really feel the texture of London both from the viewpoint of Parsefall and Lizzie-Rose struggling to stay alive and Clara who has the money to pay road sweepers to clear the roads of horse dung for her should she step down from her carriage.  Schiltz conjures the cold, the filth, and the suspense as the narrative hurtles onward.  A great read for I would say 9-13 year olds.

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

Harkaway presents us with a hell that is left when the weapon to end all wars instead ends the world as we know it. Humanity in this future is confined to the Livable zone: a thin strip alongside the Jorgmund Pipe which sprays out a substance known as FOX. Outside this safe area there are horrors, people don't stay people, there are mutants, all the dark things we were afraid of in the forests of our imaginations. Our narrator rides with lifelong friend Gonzo and the rest of the crew of roughnecks known as the Haulage and HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Comapny of Exmoor County, corporate HQ the Nameless Bar. They are the troubleshooters of this new world and when the Jorgmund Pipe catastrophically explodes they are the ones sent into fix the breach. But something terrible happens to Gonzo and everything that we readers thought we knew gets turned on its head with a sickening lurch. Narration moves between the past, to life growing up with Gonzo in cosy Cricklewood Cove, school and finding peace with martial arts, across a glittering cast of characters moving across the post apocalyptic landscape of this new world to a terrible truth coiled at the heart of the Jorgmund Corporation. Bewitching and often confusing, but confused is where you should be cos then you start thinking

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Police Officer Peter Grant is doing sentry duty in Covent Garden in the aftermath of a body being found missing its head when he spots a possible witness, but as the short pale faced man steps into the light identifying himself as Nicolas Wallpenny it becomes clear that he is, in fact, transparent. Well trained PC that Grant is he continues with the interview and it becomes clear that Wallpenny's information is credible. Grant only speaks of his experience to fellow probationer (and unfulfilled love interest) Lesley May, but goes looking for Wallpenny for more information and it's then that he is asked what he's doing by Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale who responds to Grant's honest reply that he's looking for a ghost with interest. Nightingale turns out to head up a division of the Met that deals with the supernatural, but the joy of this book is that Grant is never more than a good well trained police officer so there is a strong thread of self deprecating humour throughout. The ideas are fascinating, a murderous spirit and personfications of the buried rivers of London, turf wars on a supernatural scale. There are similarities to writers such as Mieville and JK Rowling, tv staples such as X Files, Torchwood and Doctor Who, to Hot Fuzz and the graphic novel character Constantine but Aaronvitch writes about it all in a completely fresh way creating a world that whilst fantastical is still completely consonant with present day London and all its horrors, grime, wonder and human character.

The Pocket Scavenger by Keri Smith

I now spend my time looking at the ground for stuff.  This is a book version of the scavenger hunts you used to go on as a kid, with a bit of a twist.  You are given items to find and attach into the book and then invited to randomly select an alteration such as adding text or triangles.  It's been good fun, I'm 38 and am happily looking for things with my 9 year old who is as delighted as I am when we find something.  My only concern is hygeine and making sure in using this you didn't cut yourself.  It is also a bit American orientated, I think British rubbish is a bit different in quality.  It does make you look at the world differently, I now see all those bits and pieces in the gutters I would have ignored before.

Journey to the End of the World by Henning Mankell

15 year old Joel Gustafson lives with his lumberjack father Samuel in the far north of Sweden, so far north that it snows on his graduation day in June.  Joel cooks for his father, his mother Mummy Jenny left when he was only a baby.   Samuel and Joel spend hours poring over world maps together dreaming of this time Joel will be old enough to leave school and sign on as a sailor, and they can sail away from the cold north together.  But then a letter for Samuel arrives telling him where Mummy Jenny is and the pair take an overnight train journey south to Stockholm to find her.  Joel's life begins to shift and change, Joel is coming of age, Samuel is ageing and the docks and the ships and sea are close at hand.

At first I found the writing in this story quite stilted and alien but by the end I was fully engaged.  Mankell's story of a boy stepping out into the world and the aching sadness of the narrative is slow burning but memorable.

The Long Shadow by Mark Mills

13 year old Ben Makepeace watches his friend Jacob Hogg sledge a dangerous corner and come careering off into a field of wickedly sharp saplings.  As he runs down the hill to the body lying still  he is briefly convinced Jacob is dead but as he opens his eyes and smiles Ben is both relieved and angry.

31 years on Ben is an unsuccessful screenwriter trying to be there for his 13 year old son Toby as his ex wife Madeleine moves on with her life with new partner Lionel, and keep his head above water.  His agent calls to say billionaire Victor Sheldon has expressed an interest in Ben's screenplay and wants to meet him at his country pile, Stoneham House near Oxford.  Victor turns out to be Jacob, the boy who took up the world of high finance and immense fortune that both Jacob and Ben were groomed for as schoolboys at Dean House boarding school.  Victor offers Ben space at Stoneham House to finish his screenplay.  Ben meets and begins to fall for sculptor Mo, he plays cricket with the local villagers, Toby comes to stay and meets Victor's son Marcio, and after helping Victor out with the purchase of a vintage speedboat Ben is rewarded with the offer of a lifetime.  But doubts begin to creep in as small events expose cracks in the rich beauty of the surface of Victor's life and Ben finds himself facing a past in which a single misunderstanding has blighted a life.

My only reason for not giving this 5 stars was the predictability, however, it is beautifully written, a sad story about what man a childhood can create if the child is not loved and cherished.

Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction by Ian Stewart

Although this is a Very Short Introduction book it is not a beginner's book, I found many of the concepts difficult to follow and understand as they require a fairly high level understanding of mathematical theory: algebra, quadratic equations, string theory, game theory.  However, although I was a little lost at times I was able to understand enough to get a flavour of how symmetry functions across a wide range of disciplines: chemistry, biology and geometry, from the structure of atoms in elements and planet in galaxies to Rubik's cubes, sand dune formation and the running gait of animals.  Written by an expert who sees clearly how the concepts formed in high mathematics have an application in every aspect of our lives.

The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth

Forsyth meanders delightfully through the English language in a completely idiosyncratic and entertaining way, a perfect book for anyone who goes to look up a word in a dictionary and, like me, gets completely sidetracked by the other interesting words on the way.  The English language with all its idioms and history is a byzantine thing and Forsyth is a delighted child in a candy shop of words.

The Tessellations File by Chris de Cordova

The majority of this book is a set of 40 black and white line drawings of tessalations increasing in complexity which are free to photocopy and useful for parents and teachers alike.

However, at the beginning there is an excellent 8 page introduction by de Cordova on tessellations, how they work and how to extend the basics to create tessellations of your own, along with a short bibliography.  Good if you're a bit mystified by the maths of the whole thing.

Pretty Girl Thirteen by Liz Coley

Angie Chapman is walking to the front door of her house.  Which is a little odd because the last thing she remembers is being in the woods at Guide Camp and the sight of a strangers eyes.  There is a plastic bag in her hand and she is wearing clothes she would never choose.  A strange ring on her finger, fingers that look odd, and scars on her wrists.  As she unlocks her front door to let herself in and calls out her mother hurtles hysterically down the stairs to meet her.  And Angie's nightmare begins.  She isn't 13 any more, she's 16 and the past 3 years have been simply lost to her.

Angie faces the trauma of medical examinations, police questioning and finally returning to high school and the friends who are 3 years older than she remembers them.  Psychiatrist Dr Grant is employed to help with Angie's amnesia and it emerges that she is suffering dissociative identity disorder: her self has fractured into separate personalities who developed to protect Angie from her ordeal but are not yet ready to communicate with her.

An absolutely gripping thriller that had me telling my family to go away so I could finish it and I was sad to finish it, really the highest praise I could give a book.

Highland Landforms by Robert Price

An authorititive short introduction to the underlying geology of the Scottish Highlands from the Grampians in the south north to Shetland and Orkney and east to St Kilda. 

Price begins with an chapter on the current shape of the land indicating the highest points and the differences between the water cycle (movement of water from the sea to the land and back to the sea) under glacial and non-glacial systems.  He then moves to the current geology of the area mapping the different rocks with an explanation of the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.  Next there is an extensive chapter on the effects of glaciation on the area, before individual chapters on the Grampians, the north-central Highlands, the Ancient Foreland (far west coast and Outer Hebrides / Western Isles), the North-East Highlands (Caithness), Orkney and Shetland and lastly Arran, the Inner Hebrides and St Kilda.  A chapter on coastal landforms follows next, of great importance within the area as the rise and fall of land due to weight of ice has created extensive raised beaches, abandoned forms such as cliffs and stacks as well as the Machair.

Finally there is a brief discussion of the land as resource, the different uses it is placed to by people and how geology plays a part in their use of it.

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Taleb's book can be distilled into the single idea he gives in the conclusion: 'Everything gains or loses from volatility.  Fragility is what loses from volatility and uncertainty'.  There are things that are fragile, such as a tea cup, fragile because it breaks if you drop it.  Then there are things that are robust, like a skyscraper that can resist earthquakes.  And Taleb proposes a third category, things that actually benefit and grow from shocks and uncertainty, such as the human skeleton which strengthens when the stress of manual labour is placed upon it.  

His book expands on this theme through medicine, society and, most of all, Taleb's field of expertise, economics and the stock market.  He proposes a new way of looking at pretty much everything that I found enlightening and inspiring, and also daunting as our current economic structure is a fragile one.  Taleb's writing although opaque at times is beautifully crafted and structured.


A book that was hard work as I am not a natural numbers person, but so worth the effort.

Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen

A book that restored my faith in reading in general and comics in particular

Clark Kent (not that one) is an ordinary midwest teenager living in small town Kansas in a world just like ours.  Superman exists as a comic character and cultural myth but humans are just that, there are no superpowers.  Clark's parents thought it would be cute to call him Clark, so for every birthday he gets Superman paraphanelia and every day is tormented at school.  His crush on girl next door Cassie is unrequited and high school is torturous. 

So to find peace of mind Clark takes himself off hiking in the hills at weekends.  Until the night he wakes up sleeping several feet off the ground and realises he can fly. The public wants to know who he is, the governement want to literally take him to pieces and people need him to save them, but he still just wants a quiet life. 

The pacing and artwork of this story is just beautiful, narration bubbles are in the style of scraps of manual typewriting, Clark needs to use something tangible and not hackable to record his story but it also speaks of an attachment to the visceral and traditional.  There are intermittent old style Superman comic panels with their high bright Warholesque colours and thick black lines which contrast with the subdued colour palatte and watercolour style renderings of Clark's story. 

It is just a beautifully put together story arc, an absolute pleasure, artistically and narratively satisfying, a rare thing.

The Dark Judges by John Wagner and Alan Grant (Judge Dredd)

The Dark Judges is a collection of the 2000AD magazine stories in which the four Dark Judges appear: Mortis, Death, Fear and Fire.  Their nemesis in the futuristic postapocalyptic metropolis of MegaCity One, psychic Judge Cassandra Anderson.  They have come from Deadworld, a dimension in which it was judged that since some humans are responsible for crime all humans have a criminal propensity and therefore must be executed. 

The joy of Wagner and Grant's writing is, as ever, their satirical contemporary references combined with Bolland, Ewins, Robinson and Smith's artwork.  Good fun

Slated by Teri Terry

Kyla is on her way out of New London Hospital to a new family.  Her memories and personality have been wiped clean.  She is a blank slate with no knowledge of the past that caused her to have her mind wiped, and whether it was voluntary or forced on her.  What she does know is that this is her last chance.  Attached to her wrist is her Levo, a device that measures her mood and renders her unconscious, even dead, if she becomes angry or agitated.

Kyla goes to school with her new sister Amy and tries desperately to adjust to life in a stratified society where Slateds are outcasts.  She makes a friend in Ben, also a Slated. But something is wrong, Kyla finds anger rising up inside her and her Levo unreactive.  Dreams and surfacing memories plague her, and even her new mum and dad are not what they seem.

Fast paced with a warm heart and thriller storyline.  The Slated idea is a natural extension of what most teens feel, that they do not fit in the world they inhabit.  A good read.