Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny at Small Things for yarn along this week.

Thank goodness my family don’t rely on me to keep them warm with hand knits, because we would be very cold!  I have hardly knitted at all lately.  I am kind of cheating with what I am showing you tonight.  In my last yarn along post, I was helping my daughter Scarlett knit a square for her teacher’s baby blanket.  Each child from Scarlett’s class knitted a square that was then sewn into the blanket.  It looked gorgeous and I was able to snap a photo of her teacher holding it up after they presented it to her at her send off.  I can’t take credit for the sewing up of it, however the square that is second down from the lefthand corner is Scarlett’s.

As for reading.  I finished The Other Hand (or Little Bee, as it would be know in the US) by Chris Cleave.  What a book.  It made me laugh, cry, cringe, feel sad, and feel sick to my stomach as it was quite graphic at times.  Although that said, the language was like a work of art.  It was so beautifully written. Without spoiling the book, it’s based on a Nigerian girl, Little Bee, who meets Sarah and her husband Andrew, while they were in Nigeria on holiday. An incident occurs which reunites Little Bee, with Sarah down the track.  Together they help each other through their past and present situations.
The book is written from the perspectives of each character.

I could quote so many passages from the book, but I would probably end up re-writing the whole thing.  So I will restrain myself and only quote a few.  The first one is from the opening page of the book.

Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.  Everyone would be please to see my coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit with the man from the corner shop instead – but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun or drinking a cold Coca Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again.  Little Bee

Horror is your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it.  For me and the other girls from my village, horror is a disease and we are sick with it.  Little Bee

That is how we lived, happily and without hope. I was very young then, and I did not miss having a future because I did not know I was entitled to one.  Little Bee

I can’t wait to see what you talented women have crafting.  Don’t forget to check out a giveaway I have going at the moment too.  It’s for a Christmas stocking, handmade by me.  Here is the link. It’s open until next Monday 21st November.

Jacinta x