March at Lost in a Book

March at Lost in a Book

So, its march and the snow is falling, and I have a strong urge to hibernate...

And it's not even the sort of snow that looks pretty and you can go out and play in, it just keeps melting and making everything sopping wet - but hey - it's the perfect weather for choosing a book in my little online bookshop - I even have one about snow! It's at the back of the shop, past all the cats and sheep who're sheltering from the snow...

 

Author banging on about books... again :)

The best way to encourage your child to read is to read to them from an early age.

Picture books are a great start to reading, and are often aimed at multiple age groups, so have a look around, you'll probably be surprised how much you enjoy them too, and if you enjoy them, that is going to come across as you read them aloud.

The cat lovers among you will find lots to chuckle at in Basil and the Flappy Thing - I wonder if your cat calls you the Feed-Mes and leads you a merry dance with the cat flap... 

There's even a book for adults hidden among the kids books - see if you can find it. Its a true story about how I became Outnumbered by Cats - there's a few more truths in there than there probably should be... but hey - everyone has found themselves hissing back at their cat at some point right...?

...so how did that happen?

I started off lost in a book and rummaging for words, so how did that lead to rummaging in wool, and in danger pf getting lost under a pile of wool, fabrics and ingredients?

So - the wool started when I decided to merchandise my books, and make some characters from  the books to display on my table at book signings. The sheep were the first - people love sheep, and it's not just the children who want to take one home, I get adults who find them irresistible too...

 Then came  the cats - no not the real ones who became the stars of my latest book Outnumbered by Cats - and were the inspiration for Basil and The Flappy Thing came from - no, I mean the little knitted Basil's who are new to my stock this Christmas...

...and are now causing a wool crisis as I'm rapidly running out of ginger wool, and can't find any more.

Then there's fabrics for busy books

 - and as fast as I can use bits up, I seem to run out of something else...

As for the ingredients - well that's just a family Christmas sneaking up on me, and all the ingredients waiting in an overloaded pantry to be turned into a traditional Christmas.

So this afternoon I'm escaping the craziness and going to play with books - my stock of books is going down, last week I opened a new box of Doodle Mayhem, and this week I need to break open a new box of But I'm Not Sleepy - still my bestseller.

The real cats might just get a new box to play with...

New sheep - wool crisis averted

The emergency wool trip turned up a new wool  - and here is the resulting sheep, slightly different, but different is good in handcrafted...  

So here is the first of the new flock:

So now all I have to do is turn the rest of this ball of wool into a flock of sheep in time for Saturday when I'm booked in at the Guildhall in York's city centre for a Christmas craft and gift fair.