A Pirate and His Wench (and booking through thursday)

This sock monkey is going to my best friend although she doesn't know it yet. She doesn't actually know I have been making them as I haven't seen her in a while. We have both been busy with work and attempts to meet up have had to be cancelled for various reasons. I thought I would make her one of these as a surprise. Since I don't know when I will get to see her next I am thinking of sending it out to her. It's always nice to get a parcel you aren't expecting and I hope she will like her/him. For some strange reason the socks were a little wider than all the other pairs I have used. So when I had finished it looked a little on the plump side compared to all the others which is why I pictured it in the cake tin.

This one was specially requested although he doesn't have a name yet (I have already named him Pete but his new owner may call him something different). I decided to picture him here with his wench. The reason only one eye is showing is that he is wearing an eye patch. Under that pitch I stitched a grey cross where his eye should be. You can't see too well but he also has a knitted sword (I used a straw to stuff it), a little green parrot (was taken from a pattern in a book belonging to my mum and was originally designed as a sparrow) and a gold hoop earring (I bought those rather than made). I also knitted a little red sash to hold his sword and a red bandanna. When he isn't with Barbie here is can be found looking for treasure or drinking rum.

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments. I really do appreciate them. Lili, I am glad that you liked Madleen Ross. I liked your post on her. Crazeeforbooks, thanks for the link. I love the look of that book. I will have to look it up. The escaped prisoner monkey was for someone I worked with who left to join the police. I am afraid all other projects have been left to the side. I keep getting more requests for sock monkeys. I am making one for my mum at the moment (she already has a name and a story). I have another to make and send away to a friend and two others have requested them.

Booking Through Thursday

What with yesterday being the Fourth of July and all, I’m feeling a little patriotic, and so have a simple question:What, in your opinion, is the (mythical) Great American Novel? At least to date. A “classic,” or a current one–either would be fine. Mark Twain? J.D. Salinger? F. Scott Fitzgerald? Stephen King? Laura Ingalls Wilder?
It doesn’t have to be your favorite book, mind you. “Citizen Kane” may be the “best” film, and I concede its merits, but it’s not my favorite. You don’t have to love something to know that it’s good.
Now, I know that not all of you are American–but you can play, too! What I want from you is to know what you consider to the best novel of YOUR country. It might be someone the rest of us haven’t heard of and, frankly, I think we’d all like to get some new authors to read.

This is a hard one. What do I consider to be the greatest book of my country? The obvious answer to that would be Shakespeare. His works are probably the most well known and the most influential. There have been so many takes on all of his books. Authors, playwrights, film and television writers are still influenced by him. I think most people would chose Macbeth out of all of his plays. For me though it has to be Romeo and Juliet. It was the first one of his plays that I actually enjoyed studying at school (Merchant of Venice was the first one I studied and I didn't like it at all). I think part of my enjoyment of it was that growing up I had always loved the musical "West Side Story" which was an interpretation of the play. Later I also enjoyed the 1996 film "Romeo and Juliet". Sad to say I have yet to see it in a theatre or even the ballet, both of which I would love to see. Is it the best loved? If you were to follow the Big Read then sadly no that would be Lord Of the Rings (I still believe that had more to do with the films released at the time). However, I would bet that there are very few people who have not at least heard of Shakespeare of Romeo and Juliet (excluding Brain from BB8 of course).

Of course I am from Scotland and there are many famous Scottish writers too. Sadly my knowledge on Scottish literature isn't that great (something I have always meant to rectify). However one author I very much enjoyed studying at school was the poet Robert Burns. My favourite poem was Tam O'Shanter. I loved the humour in it. Again there are few people who wouldn't have heard of Robert Burns (few in Scotland anyway, I would hope). We even celebrate his birthday on 25th January. It's traditional to have a Burns Supper of Haggis, Neeps and tatties (something I can live without eating) during this you recite poems and then follow it up with a Kailey. You are even encouraged to recite something of your own on these occasions. The seniors at my school took part in these events and it was always fun. The students were left to do most of the reciting and a boy had to write an ode to the lassies whilst a girl would give a reply from the lassies. Could be very funny if done right.

Lili, a graphic novel is a novel written in the form of a comic book. There are a lot of very popular ones out there and there have been films based on them. Sin City is probably the most well known and there are plans to write a film based on the Preacher graphic novels. I plan on writing a post on these at some point as I have only got into them.