Royal Wedding: A Book Review

Sorry guys, I don't have any pretty new FOs to show you today.  I'm getting really, really close on that blanket.  I know it's been at 95% for ages, but I'm actually nearly done with sewing all the little pieces together and then I don't imagine the border will take me very long.  Little Kitty will get her new blankie very soon! 

I must admit that I'm not very close on the 4 (yeah) other projects I'm working on...Oh well.  You can check out my progress in the cool Ravelry widget I have going in the sidebar!

However, I do want to share some Royal Wedding geekery with you.  Now, I didn't get up at 5am to watch, but I did have a little viewing tea party with some friends.  We got dressed up, sipped champagne, and watched the new royal couple exchange vows in Westminster Abbey.  Now don't hate--I got to wear a pretty dress and use my wedding china that's been sitting in a box in my mother's attic for a year and a half.  Plus Kate and Pippa's dresses were totally drool-worthy.  There are pictures of our party somewhere, but I don't have them.  Sorry.

"What gives?" you must be saying.  "This is not knitting related!"  Wrong.  In my travels across the internet, I found this darling video of a knitted royal wedding party:

So cute.  I can't get over how adorable the queen and her little corgis are.  I had to find the patterns for these sweet little dolls.  And Lo, I found them.  This book by Fiona Goble arrived in my mailbox just last week:

 


I haven't knit any of the patterns yet, but even if you don't knit, this book is worth a read.  There are little stories and mini-biographies (okay, really mini) for each of the characters and in the back pocket is a cardboard cutout for recreating the scene on the balcony!  It has the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince Harry, corgis, the Archbishop of Canterbury, footmen, and of course, the Royal Couple. The instructions are more detailed than any other knitting pattern I've ever seen, complete with suggestions for embellishments, like flowers, sequins, and lace.

The only problem is that the book was written before the wedding took place, so if I do knit anything in there, I will have to make some costume adjustments and add Pippa and the grumpy bridesmaids!  I wouldn't say it's the best $12 I ever spent, but totally worth it--well written and utterly adorable!


House update: we're putting house hunting on the back burner for a little while.  My job isn't looking as secure as it could be, my car needs replacing, and we want to be able to pay for Walker's schooling out of pocket.  We'll still look for great opportunities, but until Walker gets his CPA (projected for January 2013), we aren't going to look very hard.  However, this does mean that yours truly gets a pretty new car.  I haven't made any solid decisions yet, but by my next post, I might have a nice new ride!

Something pretty for you next time, I promise!

Cheers,

-Allie