Before moving up to Assynt I had not used a public library for a number of years.  If I needed a book, I bought it.  However when we moved up here we realised the mobile library that came around every three weeks was going to be very important to us.  Andy, our mobile librarian, is exceptionally helpful, and will happily reserve books you need or want, and is also happy to make suggestions of books we may want to read.  This week, when I went in to return my books and to pick up "French Girl Knits" which I'd had on reserve, Andy surprised me with a further 4 books which he'd put aside for me as ones which may be of interest.  So instead of coming away with one knitting book, I came away with five.  As some will know there is no easier way to gladden this particular knitter's heart than to give her knitting books to look through. So three cheers for Andy the mobile librarian.  Public service at it's best.

But back to French Girl Knits - it's a lovely book.  However I borrowed it for one pattern only - Veronique.   I've started this in some of my own dyed yarn - the alpaca/silk/cashmere blend.  So far so good!  I love Rowan's Kidsilk Haze (the recommended yarn) but I really wanted to use my own yarn. As you can see, I've not got too far with it yet.  The cast on took a bit of thought, but once I got my head around the concept it was easy enough.

veronique

We had another brush with a public servant last week.  Our MP, John Thurso, contacted us towards the end of last year welcoming us to the area.  The fairly standard letter went on to say that he would welcome hearing from us if we had any concerns that we felt he could help with.  Stevan, taking him at his word, wrote back!  Not because we had anything that we felt John Thurso could help us with directly, but more about his concerns about some of the directions being taken by the UK Government, and how he hoped the Lib Dem party would oppose some of the proposals being put forward by government that would further restrict our personal liberties.  We didn't really expect to hear back, but to our surprise we received a personal e-mail from him, saying he would love to meet us and chat over the issues Stevan had raised.  So last week we got a call from his secretary saying he was in our area, and could we meet him.  Naturally we agreed, and so we spent a very pleasant and interesting hour chatting various issues over with him.  There were a few issues where our views couldn't quite agree (nuclear energy being one), but that's only to be expected.  We talked quite a bit about why he gave up his seat in the House of Lords to become an MP, and the thought that has remained with me all week is that he is a fantastic example of what a public servant should be - open, direct, willing to go out of his way to meet his constituants, and a thoroughly pleasant person to boot.  So amidst all the negativity surrounding MP's at the moment, three cheers from me for a decent man who is a politician.