Well, the first time I tried knitting a coral reef (as you do!) it didn't turn out too badly. So I thought I'd have another go. This weird looking shape is the beginnings of the thing.
The previous one I made was assembled by using a cane basket for a base, but I improvised this time with a cut up cereal box. I formed it into a shallow dish shape and covered that in bubble wrap. Then covered that in turquoise fabric.
This is the back of the base, with the fabric gathered up and roughly stitched in place, ready for the knitted coral to be attached. It'll all come right in the end, I'm sure, but at the moment it looks like bizarre. Anyway, on to other matters: I'm halfway through Steven Galloway's 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' which is making me ashamed of how patchy my knowledge of 20th century European history is. The destruction of Sarajevo made so little impact on me at the time, though it was hardly any distance away from England, just a short plane ride away. One of the good things about being in a book group is that it can introduce you to fiction you wouldn't normally pick up off the shelf. It's always good too to hear the range of views about a book - no two readers seem to react in the same way. I was scanning my bookshelves the other day, and there are so many books I want to re-read - from 'Wuthering Heights' to 'Jane Eyre', 'The Poisonwood Bible' (loved that!) and lots of Dickens and Austen, Judy Budnitz and Margaret Attwood. I really need to have a year when I don't buy any new books but just concentrate on the novels I already own. Maybe that could be my project for 2010?
