Literary heroines

I've been musing about the books I read as a child. It's my neice's 8th birthday soon and she loves reading but seems to be stuck on the drivel that is the rainbow fairy series. OK, I haven't read any of the rainbow series but her mum is sick of it. The only time she was excited about it was when we saw a girl on the tube in Japan reading Japanese rainbow fairy drivel. Whilst I'm keen to encourage my neice to read, I'd like her to branch out so, on the recommendation of some ravelers, bought Earwig and the Witch.

I didn't realise it would be hardback, and it's such a lovely presentation that I couldn't resist reading it myself.  The writing is big and there are wonderful illustrations and it's about a young girl who can make people do everything she wants to do. It's a great book but I hope it doesn't give my neice too many naught ideas.

If Earwig and the Witch is pitched too young, then the next book I ordered may be pitched a little high but I hope she enjoys a more challenging read.

I also bought The Name of This Book is Secret, which has an 11 year old girl as its heroine.  She's interesting, smart, tough, brave, kind, makes mistakes and learns to say sorry and how to lie to her mother.  When she's older, I'll introduce her to The Hunger Games and later The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, although it's hard to imagine that point in the future when those books will be suitable.  I'm sure it will come round far too quickly.

I'm not sure how many role models I read when I was young and I know there were dreadful ones in the films I watched.  Save me prince this and rescue me prince that. Suprisingly, Enid Blyton may have created the best characters, from the Five Find Outers series to the Adventure series to the almost identikit Secret Seven mysteries.  The Naughtiest Girl at School was probably the most interesting.  I remember wading through all the Willard Price books at the local library and by the end being rather disappointed there were no female characters.  I read Fellowship of the Ring when I was 9 and I think it was the first book I'd read where a main character died.  I remember so vividly the image of Boromir with arrows in his chest, while sitting in Mrs Adams's classroom.  There weren't really any girls in that, either, although a couple of Elves dropped by briefly.


As an adult, there are many more books where the woman is in the driving seat, but they're often uninspiring too. I did read a whole book this weekend with one of my favourite heroines, Deaadlocked.  Sure, it's about vampires, werewolves and southern fried food, but when you get past the supernatural side of it, Sookie is a strong woman.  She goes through a lot of crazy troubles and is often alone in her world, but still she gets out of bed every day and pastes a smile on her face. She doesn't let people push her around, earns a living, occasionally shots people but only ever in self-defence, and at least once in my life, I've found a way to keep going by asking myself What Would Sookie Stackhouse Do?

FO Simplicity Cardigan

Simplicity, she be finished.  I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, but I blocked it a few days ago, concentrating particularly on the back as that was very curled up.  I ran out of yarn before the sleeves were finished but that was okay as they're meant to only be 3/4 length anyway.

A trap we all fall into

Like many knitters before me, I decided to knit on both sleeves of my cardigan from the same tiny ball of yarn. I was living in London when I first heard of this technique and I laughed in horrow in the face of the knitter who suggested it. Realising it wasn't a joke, I just looked horrified instead.

A seed must have been sown, as instead of splitting my remaining yarn into two little balls on this project, I merrily worked on both sleeves at once, slowly creating a big tangle.  At first, it was just a case of the yarn ball unravelling slightly but then progress halted last night.

So I spent a very happy afternoon watching Bert and Dickie, a tail of Olympic triumph, while unwinding the tangle.  I really wanted to finish this before the opening ceremony tonight, so I can allow myself to cast on something new during it. I don't think I really joined a team in the Ravelympics Ravellenic Games but I like the idea of knitting something new in two weeks.

Some progress shots

 I added some hooks and eyes to my Honey cardigan so it does up most of the way down and it's much more wearable now. It's still very difficult to take a self portrait wearing it though.

 I finished my Ishbel Japan Scarf a long time ago too.  I've not been wearing it recently though as I'm wearing a pashmina to keep warm. The Ishbel is a bit more decorative than super warm.

When I was in Japan, I finished the body of the Simplicity cardigan.  It seems shorter now it's been cast off but blocking should fix that. I had an accident with the yarn and dropped it in the road in the dark, then wrapped it around my legs a few times.  Fortunately, nothing unravelled and my friend rewound the ball for me. I need to do the sleeves next.

Simple knitting

I've separated out the sleeve stitches and now it's acres of stocking stitch to finish the front and back.  The yarn has some nice variation and there are increases at the end of each row so there is some interest.  I quite like this kind of knitting, I can do it on the train or in front of the tv.  There are approximately one billion stitches though so each row takes a while.  I managed a few rows on Sunday morning, in a mildly hungover state, accompanied by three tiny cups of tea.  My room in the new blocks at the college I went to in Oxford, was ensuite and very comfortable but the teacup was super tiny and held about one mouthful at a time. Next, time I'll pack a mug!

Turn it up to 11

My lovely squooshy yarn arrived from the yarn yard today.  It is gorgeous! It was a bit much first thing this morning as I had a supreme tiredness hangover and my eyes were really sore.  The colours of the yarn were a lot brighter than I expected.   The pink had definitely been turned up to 11!  It is 50:50 merino and silk and has a lovely sheen. It makes me think of sweets and ballet dancers and lipstick.  The purple is 100% merino, 750m to 150grams.  It's a heavy lace weight, only a little finer than the sock yarn so seems like a good compromise for me.  I have only finished one shawl in lace weight, for my mum's 50th birthday present, and then it went AWOL.  I've started another shawl since but the pattern doesn't seem to be at all memorisable so I only seem to do a few rows at a time.  I like to knit in front of the tv and I definitely wouldn't enjoy either the program or the knitting if I tried it with that shawl. I'd like to cast on the patterns that I queued but I'll have to wait until my project for Let's Knit is finished.  It's well under way and quite relaxing which is what I need tonight. I'm watching Alfie (Jude Law) to keep me company.