- oky_katie 11 Comments

Books that i have come into our house – August 2014 – the children edition

I really love books.

No really.

I probably buy a handful of books a week (including ebooks.)

My happy place is a bookshop, which makes Oxford an ideal place to live since we have the sprawling, multi venue Blackwells, with it’s Bond villain lair ‘The Norrington Room‘. Plus a live in a bit of the city that is full of charity shops and people who read a lot, which means that a lot of our children’s book are second hand and we have stumbled across some great books that way.

Anyway… I’ve been wanting to add a bigger book element to the blog, and so I thought I’d show you some of the books that pass through our front door each month. They won’t be ‘finger on the pulse’ brand new stories, but they will all be books that we love and which I would happily buy for someone else.

I’m still trying to work out how I want to link to the books. I’m reticent to just link to Amazon (even though that seems to be the blogger standard), mostly because I have stopped using their main site, and have just stuck to using the smaller sellers in the Amazon market place, as well as supporting local bookshops.  After reading various reports about how they treat their warehouse employees I decided that I couldn’t buy things that went through their warehouses any more. However I’m not sure that just posting the title, author and ISBN is enough?

Readers – what would you prefer?

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Off to Market by Elizabeth Dale (ISBN 978-1847804389) about a community of people who go off to market on the local bus, and a small boy’s compassion and cheerful spirit. This book made me smile and the illustrations bustle with life.

 

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A Street Through Time by Steve Noon (ISBN – 978-1409376446) My friend N recced this to me for my eldest, since her eldest was enjoying it and I agree that it’s a great over view book. Again, the illustrations are packed with drama and detail, and it’s a good over view of life in different time periods. After studying Vikings for much of this last year with FB and LR, it’s been useful for showing them what came before, and what came directly after. I can see us getting our own copy once this goes back to the library.

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Actual Size by Steve Jenkins (ISBN – 978-0547512914) i really like Steve Jenkins’ work (we also have bones and there is a Prehistoric version of Actual Size that I know will be a hit in our house.) This book show things the actual size that they are, which is great for allowing children to compare their physical selves with other animals. We spent a lot of time a gape while going through this book. 🙂

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I am blessed to have a BFF who is an educational librarian, (actually I’m very lucky she is my BFF for countless reasons. The librarian bit is only one small one. ) This means that visits sometimes include books she has picked up for us, all of which (seriously) have been excellent.

She brought Shaker Lane by Alice and Martin Provensen (ISBN – 074452234X) the last time she visited,  and it turned out to be a wonderfully simple but nuanced book about class and community.

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I want my hat back by Jon Klassen (ISBN – 978-1406338539) is another of her presents, and her first reading of the book to the children sticks in my mind, and is the basis of my readings of it now. 🙂 I love picture books that tell you the story without actually telling you a story.

 

So there you go. 🙂 Do you have any children’s book recs?

 

 

- oky_katie 3 Comments

New Pattern: Sand Dollar Dish Cloth

Sand Dollar Dish cloth

 

Sand Dollar Dish cloth

 

Sand Dollar Dish cloth

Sand Dollar Dish cloth
Sand Dollar Dish Cloth Pattern £1.50

 

This is the Sand Dollar Dish Cloth. I’ve been knitting and using these cloth for about a year and I’m still completely addicted to them. They use about half a 50g ball of DK cotton* so you can get a nicely matching pair from one ball, or just use up those bits and pieces of DK cotton that seem to collect in everyone’s stash.

There are knit from the outside in, which means that seem to speed up the more you knit them! No. More. Boring. Dishcloth. Knitting!

The trickiest bit is the cast on, and making sure the first row isn’t twisted. After that it’s a race to the end. 🙂 They’re perfect for carrying around in your bag, or car knitting, since the pattern is easy to read once you’ve established it. And the finished cloth is the ideal dish cloth or wash cloth size.

They have become my default dish cloth, as they are the perfect size for getting the washing up done, and when they need a thorough cleaning they machine wash and wear really well.

I hope you enjoy knitting them. I can’t wait to see what they look like!

 

 

 

 

*(I know! My first pattern that’s not free and it’s not even in OxfordKitchenYarns yarn!)

- oky_katie 2 Comments

Oliver and S Rollerskate Tunic

 

Oliver and S Rollerskate Tunic

After the Festival of Quilts last Saturday, I was itching to try out the Oliver and S Roller skate dress pattern I picked up. I couldn’t use any of the new fabric I bought because it was all drying on the line, and I wanted to check the size and fit before committing new shiny fabric to the pattern so I looked through the stash and found these two fabrics, plus an old shirt of W’s for the lining. The pattern came together really well, and it was the first time I’d done a notched neckline.

I’m really pleased with the final top, and LR has worn it twice an really likes it, even though it’s not a colour she would usually pick. So I’m calling it a success!

There are more of these in my future, I can see, and I’ll be picking up the bigger sized pattern too, since LR is going to size out in the next year or so.