Poll Results

So the poll results were unanimous, my stitching budget is now to be set to £10-15 a month only so I will post progress on whether I have managed to stick to it or not, and what I spent my budget on! I'll start the budget from August 20th.

Still struggling on with my Cross Stitch Challenge and unfortunately due to a backlog of round robins, I have so far done zero stitching for my rotation or on any of my UFOs. Have started my first piece for a Somebunny to Love round robin, and I chose to do a design called Handpicked with love, as you can see the picture is lovely and I'm really enjoyed stitching with all the yellow colours. My progress so far:

I am very pleased with how it's looking, although I have a long way to go to get it finished and posted by August 30th. I was pleased that I also had all the threads but two, so this didn't cost me loads to stitch.The design is being stitched on really lovely aida fabric which has butterflies in the background, I've only ever stitched on plain aida fabric. I better get on with my stitching...I have a deadline to meet!

Socks, Socks and more Socks!

I'm afraid it has happened again, I have brought yet another sock book, 'Toe-up socks for everybody' by Wendy D. Johnson.

I have her other book as well and love both of them! I want to knit all the designs (still haven't), so I think a toe-up sock project may well be on the cards for my next project.

I did need this book though, it is a neccessary component to me, my life and my knitting. There are wonderful projects for cable, lace and colour work and I'm having a hard time trying to decide which design to knit first!

A roll in the Hay

Just to update, the cross stitching challenge is no go right now! Suddenly got sidetracked by my knitting and all my cross stitching round robins, but hope to start the rotations properly by next week. I have been organising all my threads, and have finally put all my DMC threads on stitch bows, all numbered and ordered, and entered onto an excel spreadsheet so I can check what I have and stop buying duplicates!!!

I have a KAL on ravelry for some socks called 'A roll in the Hay' from the knitting book The Joy of Sox by Linda Kopp, if anyone would like to join the KAL it is in the JOS group here. I have only done a little progress so far, but I am really pleased with how it is looking. These are some photos of the yarn I am using which is Regia Silk 4ply which I LOVE!

I had a few problems along the way, it's a hard pattern compared to just plain knitting socks which I usually do, but I think I will be really proud when I finally finish them, also I'm not allergic to this wool, so it's the first time I will be able to wear a pair of socks that I actually made!

I have been reading loads lately and finished another book Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine, which was another fab read, so I will review it soon, but right now I'm on Candor which promises to be a good one. I discovered the magic of Goodreads today...and signed up so I was busy adding books to my 'shelves' and scouting out books for my reading list. If you love reading then this is definitely the site for you.

On Craftbubble, I have joined yet another round robin themed Autumn, so I need to find some suitable charts to stitch for it so any suggestions are very welcome, they need to be 4x4". I hope I haven't lost my stitching bug, but I am finding my current round robin project really hard going, really I just to get on with it, finish it and post it, so I'm off to make myself do some of it and will post progress.

The Hunger Games

So I have finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and I am IMPRESSED! It is a young adult book but I think an adult would thoroughly enjoy this book also. It is a dystopian novel, where parts of North America have been divided into 12 districts each specializing in a different resource, and closely controlled by the Capitol.

Each year the Capitol holds the hunger games to remind the districts in Panem of their place and to warn them that the rebellion started by the now destroyed district 13 will not be tolerated. Since then the hunger games act as penance for the former district's rebellion, each year children aged between 12 and 18 have they names put into a lot, with two tributes from each district chosen to fight it out in the hunger games. The story follows Katniss Everdeen a strong and admirable character who lives in district 12 the coal district. I was gripped by her intriguing story from the start and by the end felt like I knew her inside out.

It has been a long time since I have enjoyed a book as much as this one, I had the wonderful feeling of literally not wanting to stop reading, and became so engrossed with Katniss and her world, something I have not had since reading the Harry Potter books.

The Hunger Games is one of those books where everything is believable, the Capitol, Panem and the gruesome games themselves. I would recommend this to EVERYONE, and would warn potential readers to not be put off by it's gory premise and arguably rubbish front cover, it is neither gory nor rubbish just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

I was so pleased to discover that it is part of a trilogy, and after putting everything on hold and racing to the end I was astounded by the lack of resolution at the end of the book, and needed, yes needed to start reading the next book instantly...I was so worried about what was going to happen next! Needless to say I have now purchased the second in the trilogy, with the safe knowledge that the final installment to The Hunger Games is due later in August.

Let the 74th Hunger Games begin!