Crivens!

Or sock knitting with the Nac Mac Feegles. Creature and I sat on Tuesday afternoon and listened to 'Wee Free Men' by Terry Pratchett on audiobook.

We have 'A Hat Full of Sky' on tape which follows on from this one, but this is the first book that introduces us to the Nac Mac Feegle, who are a kind of Glaswegian pictsie, who mainly like fighting and drinking and have blue skin and red hair. What I just love about Terry Pratchett is that he always makes me laugh out loud, because he is so clever and subverts everything that other writers do. He takes commonly used phrases and turns them on their head, undermining the meaning and poking fun at the assumptions. He does have themes to the books, choosing an 'institution' from the real world and parodying it within the setting of the Discworld, like 'Going Postal' which takes on Royal Mail and has a magic sorting machine that spews out every letter that could ever have been written. Even when you become familiar with his style he still manages to surprise, and it becomes this familiarity that makes the books so enjoyable, with characters who you get to know turning up across the books.

Am doing a couple of pairs of bed socks for relatives across the pond. Dad is popping over to visit with his extended family (there are eight of them and five live in the US). This lovely yellow is for Auntie Iris. I think she's the eldest, and went to America after the war (that's World War Two). (The baby of the family, Uncle Doug, recently celebrated his 70th, I love knowing I have such a long lived family, it bodes well for old age.) The yarn is lambswool and silk and came from Kingcraig Fabrics.
The second pair in progress are for Uncle Dennis. He's like this version of my dad with an american accent, they are close in age and grew up together. The internet has been a huge boon for them as they now chat together on Skype all the time. Dad is flying next week so I have to get a move on, but both pairs are thick and chunky and done with double yarn so I should be finished by tomorrow.