Bodies from the Library, Shetland Wool Week and Dean Street Press

A round up of three free things. The new Shetland Wool Wook hat pattern is now available. Wilma Malcolmson is carrying on as wool week patron so this is a second opportunity to admire her really inspired colour blending. There is a face book group dedicated to knitting this hat which is really helpful if you're new to Fair Isle techniques, knitting in the round, or all of it. It's a really good pattern to take as a template for your own experimentations, a great place to start if Fair Isle is new to you, and a fun thing to be involved in.

This years pattern is called Da Crofter's Kep, and can be downloaded Here. It's worth looking at some of the other things in the Wool Week shop too - the annuals are an excellent mix of patterns and articles, they also feature projects suitable for every skill level - so don't be put off if you're an absolute beginner - and things which I find I want to knit. Which is not the case with every pattern book I pick up. 

The Bodies from the Library conference is back this year in Zoom form. I'll miss going to the British Library for it with all the chance meetings and conversations that brings (along with biscuits in individual packets, really not very good tea and coffee from dispensers, and the book buying opportunities) but being able to watch for free with good tea or coffee, excellent biscuits and the ability to order books as I listen is a very attractive prospect. It starts at 1.30 on the 15th of May, there will be breaks, and registration details are Here.

Finally it took me long enough to start realizing just how generous Dean Street Press are with ebooks, if you keep an eye on their website and Twitter there are weekly offers of something interesting you can download for free, as well as all the other things they're doing. This press is a gem for anyone interested in Golden Age Crime - and beyond. The occasional free eBook is just the cherry on top and a bonus for anyone feeling the pinch. 

I have been buying books now that bookshops are actually open again, but as I'm still job hunting it's been very restrained - A Copy of Maria Dahvana Headley's new translation of Beowulf, and Mark Diacono's Herb book. I made a really satisfying Pineapple and Sage upside down cake from the latter, and am enjoying reading the book possibly even more than I'm enjoying eating the cake - which is a lot. It's enough shopping for now, and I wasn't short of things to read before, but it really has been a pleasure to be able to go back into a bookshop and just browse for a bit. Tomorrow I might go and see what the Charity shops near the university have and just be pleased to have a reason to walk across town (the enough shopping for now statement is clearly already exposed as a bit of a fib).