Where was I? Oh yes, good week... Thursday was the start of the fortnight of Potter, and what a start it was! The new film was fantastic in my opinion, such a good job of fitting a bloody huge novel into under two-and-a-half hours. (OotP is probably my favourite of the books - or jointly with Azkaban - though all the reviews I've seen seem to insist on calling it the most "miserable and bloated" of them all. Tsk!) Naturally things had to be dropped or changed (films and books are two very different media after all), but by god was it a very elegant adaptation IMHO and I'm more than happy that David Yates has signed up for Half-Blood Prince. Can't wait to see it again... and again!
Yesterday Scott and I went to a booksigning with Jasper Fford in Sheffield; I haven't read any of his books myself, but Scott's a big fan. Standing in the queue, I saw a girl knitting and reading at the same time and was deeply in awe. I wish I could do that, it would be the perfect solution to my knit/read balance conundrum. I felt very humbled by comparison, working as I was on my simple granny squares:
This really is about the limit of my crochet skills. I truth, I'm to scared to learn anymore in case my knitting knowledge gets accidental dislodged in the process and that would be tragic. My current square count is nine and since I'm aiming for about 150 I guess there's still a fair way to go. I have found them to be great for working on when I just have a few spare minutes, though.
This week I've also cast-on my shawl for the Spun Stitches KAL. I've been a bad blogger recently; since I mentioned my intent to join this KAL a little while ago I have left all the work I've done on it unreported. Bad Laura, no, er, biscuit! I decided on natural black/dark brown Sheltland fibre in the end, which my dad brought me as a gift for my degree results. I've spun up a fair bit so far and yesterday started work on the Luna Moth Shawl. My handspun is approximately DK weight, and though I was a little worried it was too inconsistent it seems to be knitting up okay. This is both my first project with handspun and my first real attempt at lace so I'm not expecting miracles (a lot of cursing would be more accurate), but so far I'm having fun.
And just to save the big, exciting news til last, I HAVE A SPINNING WHEEL! Or rather, I've brought a sinning wheel, since I won't be able to collect it until the beginning of August, a wait that I'm sure would drive me mad it it wasn't for Deathly Hallows next week to distract me. My wheel is an Ashford Traditional placed on eBay, along with various other spinning goodies, by a lady would is having to give up spinning due to poor health, which made me sad to hear. I'm glad I'll be able to give the wheel a loving home. I'm paying for it with some money my grandma left me in her will and hope to do her proud. She was a very crafty, creative lady who I still miss very much.
