My year in books

I've used Goodreads for keeping track of the books I read for years and at the start of each New Year I set myself a reading challenge.  I set the challenge for 50 books last year and achieved that, some books were better than others, but that's the way it goes.  This year I've set my challenge to read 60 books over the year, If I make it, great, If I don't that's ok too.  

I know some people see the Goodreads reading challenge as competition, people trying to read more than someone else.  Well that might be the case for some but for me It's a bit of fun, I set myself challenges and goals for many things in life so why should reading be any different.

My challenge, my rules. Some might choose not to include short stories or Audible books in their challenge, I include both, If I listen to an audio book I'm as invested as I would be holding the book version, in fact I would argue that there are certain books that are better in audio, of course it helps if you get a good narrator.

  

I love the stats that Goodreads give you at the end of the year, this is my year in Books 2024.

My 50 books equates to 18,428 pages

My shortest book was When We Were Friends by Jane Green (44 pages)

My longest book was 11.22.63 by Steven King (740 pages)

Average book length was 368 pages

Of the books I read -

Reminders of Him by Coleen Hover was the most shelved book, 2,730,722 people also shelved it.

Glide by Alison Jean Lester was the least shelved book, 61 also people shelved it

My average star rating was 3.2

The Women, by Kristin Hannah was the highest rated book (4.60) 

I've been a member of a book group held at our local library for the past couple of years and the books are really very hit and miss.  This year I only read five of our choices, the best one by far was Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson, everyone enjoyed it and there was a good discussion afterwards.  Everyone agreed that Glide was an awful book, started off well and then went nowhere.  I inwardly groaned when we were given the Dawn French book, I've only ever read one of her's before and it was terrible, Because of You was very slightly better but so unbelievable and forced, we were in agreement that it was full of holes. 

In Memoriam, A Terrible Kindness, That Bonesetter Woman and The Women were by far the best books I read in 2024 and well worth reading if you haven't already.

Some years ago I started to read Jodi Taylor's The Chronicles of St Mary's series, she has added more books since then so this year I decided I wanted to re-read the series so I ended my year of reading with the short story of how it all began.

I've already picked a few titles to start my reading year off and in the latter months of 2024 I re-discovered my kindle so some of my reading will be books I've downloaded, although my preference is still for a physical book.  

What about you?  how did your reading year look?  Do you set yourself challenges or is that not your thing.

-X-

My year in projects 2024

 As we wait to ring in the New Year I thought I'd look back and see what I made during 2024, I'm always surprised at the number of things I finish, It never feel that many until I see them all together.

  My last two makes of December were my Christmas socks knitted using the Fairy Lights colourway from West Yorkshire Spinners.  I used the Crunkled pattern by Kay Jones.

The second finish in December was the Arne & Carlos Christmas stocking.

This was offered as a free pattern during November, I didn't join in until the middle of November but it was easy to catch up as once the toe was knit you were only required to knit six rows per day.

There were a few first for me while knitting this, first time trying toe up, first time putting in a forethought heel and first time knitting colourway!  There were some things I didn't/don't like, I found picking up the stitches for the heel from the waste yarn easier than I thought it would be, but I don't like how the heel looks when it's knitted, that could well be my fault, but I think it looks messy.  I didn't like starting at the toe, I found it very fiddly so won't be trying that again anytime soon.  The colourwork I found easier than I imagined it would be, my tension might be off in parts but for a first attempt I'm happy 😀 I used Sirdar Country Classic yarn in place of the recommended and found it lovely to knit with.

So here are all my finishes, knitted and stitched for 2024

There should have been one more stitched finish on this last day of the month, my Stick6 piece.  Unfortunately I just didn't have the time to get it finished but I'm hoping that it will be finished in a week or two, It's my own fault for choosing a larger project for the last two months of the year!!

As I mentioned before, this Christmas hasn't been the best and I haven't got much pleasure from our decorations like I usually do, I didn't even put everything out this time and everything apart from the tree has been put away this afternoon, the tree will come down on Sunday as we are still enjoying the lights on these darker days.  We have also had the pleasure of seeing my Christmas cactus putting on it's best show in years.

I also have a smaller plant, a cutting from this one, which is in bud at the moment.  Looks like the information I read about putting them in a cooler place and in darkness for 6-8 hours a day for around eight weeks was spot on😁

*************

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on my blog this past year, It means a lot to know that there are still people out there who take the time to do that when life is so busy.

Oh, before I forget, Jules asked if the stollen I made was difficult, no Jules, it's really easy.  I will share the recipe on the ' Recipes' tab under my header photo in the next few days so you can pick it up from there if you want to give it a go.

Happy New Year to you all, let's hope it's a good one.

-X-

Boxing Day, post Christmas rest

 I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Day and perhaps enjoying a rest today.  Stevie and Darren cooked an wonderful Christmas dinner, It was a treat to have a meal cooked for me, that doesn't happen very often, lol.  There was just the four of us, Jenny James and the boys stayed at home as did Joanne Bonnie and Jacob.  Gavin was picking Bonnie and Jacob up late afternoon so it was better for them to spend some time at home.

I didn't purchase any advent calendars this year but I did make my own yarny advent from my own mini skein stash.  I'd bought an empty advent calendar from Hobbycraft a couple of years ago and decided to fill it with 5g minis this year and open one each day of December and knit them into my mitred square blanket.

Well that didn't go as planned because I was either too busy or too tired to do much crafting in the lead up to Christmas.  Five extra squares was all I managed!  Perhaps now things have calmed down I'll be able to get a few more squares added before the end of the month.

My centre decreases are forming a 'v' shape in the middle, I think you can just make that out in the photo.  Once I've completed two more rows the blanket will be equal, (if that makes sense), I'll have to see if it will be big enough at that point.  It's been on the go for a few years so I would like to call it 'done' soon.

I've been for my hip x-ray this morning, It wasn't busy, I was in and out within half an hour, the results should be with my GP in around a week, but with Bank Holidays I think It might be a bit longer.  I've been a bit better the last few days then this morning I was in more pain again so have had the ice pack on and taken some co-codamol, I'' go for a walk later because I think that helps.

I finally got round to making the stollen when we came back from the hospital, It's still cooling so I shall have a slice with a cuppa later, Mark doesn't like it but the girls will be round tomorrow and I'm sure they will be taking some back with them.

-X-

Merry Christmas

 I had planned on another post before Christmas but time got away from me.  Preparations have gone right to the wire this year, I only got round to wrapping the last of the presents late this afternoon and I haven't had time to make the stollen cake I usually make for the girls.

Other happenings have been taking all my thoughts and have sapped a lot of the joy from this Christmas, everyone is ok, there is just some sadness at the moment.  Perhaps I'll share at some point in the future, but not now.

My youngest daughter and son in law are cooking tomorrow so after we have done the rounds of visiting all the grandchildren to see what Santa has left them and to take them what he left them at Nanny and Grandads house, me and Mark will be heading to Stevie and Darren's house for dinner.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and say that I hope you enjoy the day tomorrow, however you are celebrating and I will try and pop back in to share the last of my finishes for the year before the end of the month.

See you soon

-X-

Last stitching meet-up of 2024

 Saturday was our last Birmingham Stitchers meet up of the year, the cafe had honored the booking that Hilary and Sue made a while ago and reserved a table for us, so we were all able to sit together this last time.  We stayed longer than usual, 10 -4pm rather than our usual 12 - 3pm.  I took Mary Margaret along again and managed to get her skirt finished and her legs stitched.  You would have thought in that time I would have got more stitching done, what can I say, I'm a slow stitcher.

No photos because I've shared photos of the inside of the cafe we meet up in recently, (I will say though that on Saturday it was bloomin freezing in there!)  Here how Mary Margaret Is looking now.

I'm not enjoying this on the scroll frame, next time I pick her up I might take it off and use a nurge frame.

This weekend there was a Christmas Wool Show held at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham, I didn't buy an advance ticket as I was undecided until this morning.  So glad I made the effort, it was a lovely show, not too busy and lots of people that I hadn't heard of before.  This is the first time this year at a wool show and of course I didn't really need anything but you never come away empty handed from these events do you?

I don't think I went overboard.  The Moonlight Fibre Christmas yarn and the WYS Christmas yarn will be wrapped up and put away to open when I start knitting Christmas socks in 2025.  The same with the snowman project bag, isn't he cute?  I don't usually buy project bags, some of them can be quite expensive but this one from Jibbyroosews was a good buy at £9.50, and It's a decent size.  I've been thinking of keeping a record of my knitting for future reference so picked up a Knitters Journal from Under The Olive Tree, again a good price.  The Christmas cracker is from Pickle-Lily, I believe there is a mini skein inside, plus It can be re-used another year.  All in all a good day out, I will definitely go to this one again next year If they do it.

So a busy but lovely weekend, and I needed it, I didn't go out of the house for four days last week after last Saturday's outing, my hip and butt cheek was painful and I just felt meh, but then by Thursday I forced myself to go to the shopping centre as there were some things I needed to get, thankfully it was much quieter and I managed to get everything I needed to.  While I was there I called into the pharmacist to ask if there was anything else I could throw at this pain, I'm just sick of taking co-codamol, and surely long term that's not good anyway.  She recommended a diclofenac gel and touch wood, (tapping my head here), that, along with some lavender essential oil in the bath water, the purchase of a knee pillow, for spine support and some exercises I found online, I am finally in less pain, yayyyy.  I might even be able to go for a decent walk this week.

I've got a couple of things to get done this week and then I'll be all sorted for Christmas except for the wrapping.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well, are you all organised or do you still have things to do?

-X-

A Christmas treat

I went out with my girls yesterday for a Christmas afternoon tea treat.  It's not often that we can all spend some time together as they are often busy with work and children so it was nice to spend an hour or so chatting and of course eating cake.

We chose a cute little tea room not too far away, none of us had been before but the reviews were good and the menu sounded lovely.

To start the was a cheese charcuterie board

Followed by the main event.

Stevie had a vegan version as she has recently been advised to be as dairy free as possible, while our tea looked and tasted lovely the vegan choice was a little disappointing.  They were aware of the none dairy request at the time of booking and appeared very accommodating on the phone saying that all their cakes were baked in house so it wasn't a problem, but that's not what they served. 

Another sore point was that they had no decaff coffee, not very good for a cafe really. 

But as I said, the rest of the tea was very nice, none of us managed to eat it all and took home what we couldn't eat, me and Mark will be having what I bought back for tea today.

Storm Darragh blew in over-night on Friday so Saturday was wet and very windy all day.  Driving to our afternoon tea was a bit scary, we saw a few trees that had come down and power cables swinging wildly, lots of debris and mini floods, thankfully not many cars on the road.  Joanne's power went out just before she set off and a tree had come down in her street, by the time she got home again another four trees had come down, so now her street isn't passable from either direction, and today she is still without power with people being told It may not be on until later tonight and a total of eleven trees have now come down.  Nice lot of fire wood for anyone who wants to collect :-)

We got off lightly, the only damage in our garden is a fence panel blown out and things knocked over, the wind has done us a favour and blown the rest of the leaves off the grass and to the top end of the garden, that'll make collecting them easier, when I'm able to get out there 😊  It's still windy and wet but not as bad as yesterday but there will be a lot of clearing up everywhere over the next week or so.

Hope you are safe and dry where you are and not suffered too much storm damage.

-X-

The countdown has begun

December 1st seems to come around faster and faster each year!  I usually like give the house a good clean and put my decorations up on the 1st but for the last few weeks I've been so busy trying to get the decorating done on the hall that It didn't happen yesterday, well except for giving the bedroom a deep clean and putting the Christmas bedding on, the rest will have to be done over the coming week.

The papering and painting in the hall has been taking up a lot of time and my hip and butt cheek, (sorry to be frank, lol) are still giving me some gyp, some days I've been in so much pain I've been close to tears.  I thought my visits to the chiropractor were doing some good, but now I feel like I'm wasting my money, I've tried heat, cold, various rubbing ointments and pain killers but nothing is getting rid of it.  We have a physiotherapist at our doctors and I've got an appointment for this coming Thursday, hopefully they will be able to shed some light on what's causing the pain and suggest some exercises, I've been like this for over two months now so I'll try anything!  Sciatica was dismissed but doctor google suggests that it could be just that, apparently the pain/ burning sensation does not necessarily extend down the leg.  Fingers crossed I get some relief soon because I'm like a bear with a sore head most of the time and not very good company.

Anyway, enough moaning.  There have been a couple of outings recently to cheer me up, It was our monthly Birmingham Stitchers meet up a couple of weeks ago, it was the Saturday that storm Bert hit so the day was very dark, wet and windy.

Outside the Library of Birmingham opposite the cafe where we meet they have a pop up ice rink and a ferris wheel, there were some braving the weather to ride the wheel and the two other rides, I was just happy to watch them while I waited for my bus home.

The cafe was once a bank, built in 1933 it was the headquarters of the Birmingham Municipal Bank, a savings bank which was created by Lorn Neville Chamberlain for the workers of the city.  The bank closed in 1998 and the building was vacant until it was purchased by the University of Birmingham in 2017 with the aim of repurposing the space for both the University and community.  The Exchange opened in 2021 and in addition to the cafe there is event space, meeting rooms and outdoor courtyard and roof terrace.

It's a lovely open space with plenty of light, perfect for stitching.

I took Margaret Mary along with me again and did get a good bit of stitching done this time.

I did hope that I might be able to get a finish on this by the end of the year, and If I just concentrated on this one thing I could probably do it, but December is a busy month so I'm being realistic and saying that It will most likely be the end of January, and that's ok.

 After the disappointment of my Bristol Christmas Market trip a few weeks ago we had an outing to Worcester Christmas Market, It's been about six years since we visited last and remembering how busy it was on the weekend that time we decided to go on Thursday with daughter's no's. 1 and 3.   We had a wonderful day out, the things on offer were good quality, there was also a craft market in both the Town Hall and the Cathedral, both with amazing sellers.  It was the first day of the market and although there were still a lot of people around we were still able to see what the stalls were offering without all the pushing and shoving, and we enjoyed a lovely pub lunch too.

The stairs and landing carpet was fitted yesterday, thank goodness, I was fed up having to try and avoid treading on the gripper rods! Also the last of the two radiators were replaced.  The radiator guy didn't finish until gone five and by the time I'd cleaned up the mess (such a mess!) it was late so I had an early night.  I put my Christmas tree up while the carpet fitter was here but no decorations yet, just the lights.  I'll get it trimmed in the next couple of days.

I wanted to try and post a bit more leading up to Christmas so I'll hopefully be back in a few days and share some of the things I've been working on.

-X-