Just over a month ago I was spinning a beautiful braid of Wensleydale fibre from The Thylacine’s November fibre club, and I’m happy to say that I’ve finished. Being a longwool (and a Google image search will make the meaning of that term abundantly plain) it has a lovely sheen and a good deal of strength. It’s not as soft as a shorter fibre like merino, but it’s very hard-wearing. I haven’t the faintest idea what I’ll make with it, but am quite happy to admire the skeins for now.

Where I live it’s getting darker, colder and snowier—just the setting for curling up with a book and a hot drink. The brains behind the advertisements for Carte Noire (an instant coffee, two words which should never exist in the same sentence) think so too. They’ve got Dominic West, Greg Wise and Dan Stevens to sit and read book extracts of ten to fifteen minutes in length. If you can ignore the occasional soft-focus shots of coffee mugs and focus on a) the wonderful prose and b) the lovely men reading them, I think you’ll enjoy these little videos. I know I did. Here is the link; I recommend Dominic West’s reading of a certain infamous scene from Pride and Prejudice in particular.