Got fur balls?

Then you can make cat crafts!



It is nearly two years since I opened my library blog, and at the time I imagined it would be full of book reviews and other posts of an erudite nature. Since then, however, I have spent a lot of time wandering about in the hills, visiting pubs and knitting woolly royals. Very little time has been devoted to anything of a bibliographic nature.

So, today I'm going to restore the gentle, bookish nature of my blog with this offering: Crafting with Cat Hair.

You can look inside it at Amazon.

Although at first this book might look, well, a bit bonkers, the advice seems sound. For example, under the heading of Supplies: I have a cat. What else do I need to craft with cat hair? Makes sense - presumably a cat, on its own, is not enough.

And, quite importantly: These crafts are not recommended for people with cat allergies.

There is a claim that "cats do not naturally produce any bad smells", which as someone who once shared a house with the very farty Milligan, I know to be not true - but I can't see that this would necessarily stop you producing any crafty objects with your cat.

At present I am busily knitting the Archangel Gabriel, so I won't be purchasing this book any time soon, but I would still recommend it to anyone who would like an indoors hobby for the winter months. Anyone who owns a cat, that is.

Hare & Hounds (9 & 10)

Not one but two Hare & Houndses yesterday!

Hare & Hounds (9)

This was the first one I've visited in Yorkshire. It is in Hebden Bridge, which involved a short but stiff walk up a hill to here:

(Photo by Humphrey Bolton, through Creative Commons.)

What a lovely friendly pub this is. I will be visiting it again, not least because I noticed they have a Sausage Saturday! Three locally sourced sausages every Saturday. That's got to be good. Outside the pub three handsome pigs were snuffling about happily.

I don't know if they've got anything to do with Sausage Saturday.

From there it was back down the hill, and then a lovely misty autumnal walk along the Rochdale Canal towpath to:

Hare & Hounds (10)

Todmorden.



Another warm and friendly pub. This photo is from its own website.

They were showing the Chelsea - Liverpool game on 3D telly. Two teams I couldn't give a rat's arse about, but seeing the other punters in their 3D specs added a rather nice retro touch to the occasion.

A top day out. In the evening I finished knitting the camel for my nativity scene, which only heightened my delight with the whole day.

Hare & Hounds (8)

It is hard to imagine that any Hare & Hounds I ever visit could possibly have a more glorious approach walk than this one.

Last Friday I did not go to work. Instead I took the day off and went for a walk. And what a beautiful day it was - immaculate, crisp, bright autumn weather. I started at Edale and followed the Pennine Way up Jacob's Ladder.


(photo by hoshisato)

On to Edale Cross, then across Kinderlow, down through Coldwell Clough to Hayfield, and then finally along the Sett Valley Trail, through the woods, to New Mills - to this, my eighth Hare & Hounds:


(photo from Google Streetview)

It was closed. Ten fucking miles, over hill and dale, I walked to get here and the bloody place wasn't even open. Friday, 4pm - you'd expect every pub in the country to be open, wouldn't you?

So instead of the pint I should've rewarded myself with, I sat in the tent, drank the last of my water and had a cigarette.

I have not been applying a rating system to the Hare & Hounds I've visited, but if I had this one would've scored a few points for the smoking tent, and also for the dog kennel by the front door. It's those little touches that help make a pub, even if it hasn't got the decency to be open.

Hare & Hounds (7)

This is where I went yesterday.



As usual, the photo has come from Google Streetview. At some point on this project I might just remember to take my own camera with me. Nine months into the year and the only time I've taken my camera with me the battery went flat before I'd snapped any Hare & Houndses, then I slipped crossing a stream, landed on my arse on a pointy rock and ended up with soggy undies and a massive bruise.

But I digress. This is the Hare & Hounds in Mill Brow. And everything about it was lovely! I visited it at about the halfway point on another walk starting at Middlewood, this time via the Macclesfield Canal. Yesterday was hot and sticky, so I sat on a bench at the front, sipping my pint and watching the horses mooching about on the hill opposite. Idyllic.

A day earlier, we were knocked out of the FA Cup, early and in an unflattering manner. Sometimes you need a beer.

Hare & Hounds (6)

Hasn't Number 6 been a long time coming?



After a good start my Hare & Hounds Project had lapsed somewhat.

Never mind. I am back on track, and yesterday I visited the above. It is the Hare & Hounds in Dooley Lane, Marple, and it was at roughly the halfway mark on a lovely early autumn walk from Middlewood to Marple. The photo was taken by the Google Streetview Jelly Baby - the weather was much nicer than this yesterday.

The whole walk was a cracker! As well as a refreshing pint in the Hare & Hounds and a walk in the woods, we visited the 16th century Chadkirk Chapel, with its lovely walled garden:


(Photo from Wikipedia, more info here.)

and this:


(Photo from Geograph.)

and umpteen locks on the Peak Forest Canal. Then we got tired so we sat down and drank more beer.

I love my life!

Tiny little teeth

I feel like someone or something with tiny little teeth is chewing on my earlobe. Maybe someone like this:


(Photo from here.)

It is not entirely unpleasant, but it is not right either.

Looting, Pillaging and Plundering

I was busy on Tuesday night, so didn't get to do any looting or rioting.

Last night I was tackling a mountain of ironing so again I missed out. And it was raining, so wouldn't have been bothered anyway.



Now, if you didn't live here you might think this country was beyond hope, but for every robbing scumbag there's someone ready to take the piss. More of the above here.

Elsewhere in town, the rioting was more subdued.


(from YouTube)