DISHCLOTHS

I haven't knitted much lately, but I had fun making these little dishcloths as a quick and easy project.  My inspiration was a handknitted dishcloth we have had in our kitchen for a long time that my husband brought home from Labour and Wait, a beautiful shop he visited on a business trip to London.  After finding a nice pattern online, I bought some very cheap yarns ($1.25-$3 a skein) that I ended up loving; Red Heart Eco-Ways Bamboo wool (55% bamboo, 45% wool) and The Original Sugar 'n Cream (100% cotton).  It was nice to see that it was possible to find a few quality yarns hidden within all of that horrible acrylic at big craft stores like Michael's.  A good thing to know!

UNCLE

I have read some very good books; adult books, kid's books, and some that defy either category. Uncle is definitely one of those books. The story (and subsequent stories) were first told to the children of Methodist minister, J.P. Martin, before he was persuaded to write them down for a larger audience in the 1960s and 70s.  They were hailed as modern classics of children's literature, and have been very popular in England ever since.  The book is beyond brilliant, very strange, and very, very funny. The main character, Uncle, is an elephant.  "He's immensely rich, and he's a B.A.  He dresses well, generally in a purple dressing gown, and often rides about on a traction engine, which he prefers to a car." He lives in a place called Homeward, a fortress described as being like "a hundred skyscrapers all joined together and surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge over it".  He brings in much income by renting out the top stories to many dwarfs.  "They pay rent to Uncle every Saturday.  It's only a farthing a week, but it amounts up when there are thousands of dwarfs."  Most of the book deals with Uncle's ongoing fight with his enemies, the Bads (who live in Badfort), led by the much-hated Beaver Hateman.  The best part of the book is its amazing parade of characters.  There's Jellytussle (being drop-kicked by Uncle in the picture above), "one of the most objectionable characters".  "He is covered with shaking jelly of a bluish color, and whenever he is about Uncle looks out for trouble."  There's also the shoes-obsessed Muncle; the incredibly short-tempered Maestro (who travels with a miniature lion who can make himself supernaturally heavy), and the carol-singing Respectable Horses.  I haven't read a book this enjoyable in awhile.  Very reminiscent of Roald Dahl.  Highly recommended.