Feeling rubbish

Hands up - who hasn't had a seasonal cold this week and if not, how have you escaped? I've been feeling so sorry for myself these last two nights, I've gone to bed early with a book - something I haven't done for a while.

I'm about as slow a reader as a knitter - how I got through my English degree, I'll never know - not helped by the fact that I keep dozing off, but I'm really enjoying The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. Not the most light-hearted of subjects, it's about a nine-year-old boy who finds his father has been sent by the "Fury" to head a concentration camp and about him trying to understanding what he's seeing and why his father is involved.

It's reminding me of my recent involvement in the production of a digital archive of papers on Displaced Persons after WWII which was completely heart-wrenching - correspondence from people trying to find if their relatives were alive or dead, finding out which country they'd be relocated to and even when they'd get out of the camps - the last DP camp closed in 1957, which I found quite shocking.

Maybe I should stick to the yarnery and knitting of an evening!

Some brand new DK and Aran weight yarn arrived this morning. There's DK superwash merino, DK alpaca/merino and Aran BFL. All gorgeous stuff.


I'm thinking of dyeing up these thicker weights in standard colourways in jumper quantities - most likely semi-solid or random colourways in the same tone and am open to suggestions - plums, browns, greys, blues, greens?

And speaking of undyed yarn, look what the lovely Yvette brought me on Friday:

Handspun by herself - Wensleydale plied with silk. The photo doesn't do it justice.