Much as we love bookshops, they need more than love to keep going. A bookshop can be the centre of a whole community. Bookshops support authors; organize events. A thriving bookshop teaches the next generation that literacy matters. So don't just love your bookshop: actually buy books there.

It's official: gift knitting season has commenced! I've been itching to cast on another Clova vest since finishing my first iteration, and my sister said she would love one and I knew immediately I wanted to use this wonderful Heylor colourway of WYS The Croft yarn 🧶

buying books is a perverse act of hope. that i might find time to read yet another.

Taking a break from sock knitting to make some progress with my second Musselburgh hat 🧶 Plan is to have 2 contrast rims in some scrap yarn I have, with this beautifully soft Sysleriget Sock as the main body #ShowMeYourKnits #WIP

2nd sock finished! For now, a coordinating pair, but my plan is to knit another two with the other half of the Gusto Echoes yarn so that I have 2 pairs of matching socks 🧦

Zoë@readabilitea.bsky.social · 4w ago

These broken seed socks have tested me a lot more than I thought they would, but now I'm onto the second sock I've reached a flow state and I'm really liking how this Gusto Echoes yarn is peeping through 🧶

Couldn't resist a visit to Criminally Good Books in York yesterday, and came away with some excellent-sounding books recommended by Megan 💙📚⚡️

Train reading for a trip to York 📚💙

These broken seed socks have tested me a lot more than I thought they would, but now I'm onto the second sock I've reached a flow state and I'm really liking how this Gusto Echoes yarn is peeping through 🧶

If you want a big spectacular book-adaptation American movie about a reluctant clever hero on an impossible journey through weird places (which I do), Project Hail Mary is great.

There is a lot to say about the Nolan Odyssey movie. But one point that I think has not been emphasized enough is: this is a film about living in LA, as Nolan, my erstwhile British compatriot and age mate, has done for years. I gather it’s a strange place.

I went to see The Odyssey at the weekend, do you think you can tell based on my currently reading pile? 💙📚

Hot Greek Summer/July Hopefuls/the books that made it into my bag before I left for the journey South. I'm clearly in a bit of a phase.. 📚💙

less looksmaxxing more booksmaxxing

Unfortunately, a stunned Paris is how they all got into this whole mess to begin with

Pop Crave@popcrave.com · 3mo ago

‘The Odyssey’ women Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, and Charlize Theron stun in Paris.

I've been listening to How Queer Bookshops Changed the World. It's fascinating. A very interesting section about a feminist bookshop in Minneapolis called the Amazon Bookshop Collective which ended up in a legal battle with Jeff. Jeff's lawyers were basically homophobic during the case. Nice.

waking up and reading about the results of the locals and feeling very

It's socks week for #ShowMeYourKnits 🧶🧦 I've not made a pair of socks since tackling the kilt socks, and it's been even longer since I made a pair for myself. It's finally time to use the skein of yarn I bought the day before I left the Netherlands (nearly 3 years ago!)

just for the record "death of the author" means "the author doesnt have total control over the meaning of their own art" not "its okay to give money to hitler if you liked his paintings as a child"

A man asked me last night what publishing needs to do for literary fiction to begin appealing to men again. I said, as nicely as I could, that, with over 2,000 books published every Tuesday, of which many would appeal to men, it’s not a publishing problem, it’s a men problem.

I have had an absolutely rotten day but I've just remembered past me pre-ordered 52 Weeks of Sweaters and I get to pick it up tomorrow ❤️🧶

The 2026 #WomensPrize for Non-Fiction longlist is here💜 Which book will you be picking up first? #WomensPrizeforNonFiction

Thrilled with this brioche blanket I've knit for my friend! I used the Purl Soho Pocketful of Posy pattern with Cascade 220 worsted yarn and it is brilliantly squishy and cosy. Hopefully the recipient likes it when I give it to her later today! 🧶

Oo my current WIP makes for a perfect post for #ShowMeYourKnits 🧶 I'm working on my first ever garment for myself! A See My Vest knitted with chunky yarn leftover from previous projects. I chose the greyscale colour scheme out of necessity, but I'm actually really liking how it's coming together 😊

essentially repeating @jamesdaustin.bsky.social's point that people say they want a nice high street and yet aren't using their high street, in order to add: people need to also actively choose to spend more in brick and mortar shops than they would online, even if it feels unfair!

John Harris@johnharris1969.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Latest from me, on an eternally overlooked, sniffed-at issue that is politically huge www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Yeah, I’m a romance reader, and I like romance because it’s a bit like being on a roller coaster: you know where it’s going, but you’re gonna have fun on the ride.

@midnight-eyes.bsky.social · 9mo ago

All of the above plus: because it's a romantic fiction book, there's a known Happily Ever After (or at least Happy For Now). As much difficulty as our MMCs face, there will be some kind of happy resolution!

I say this often but it bears repeating: if you make your money from creating art then you NEED to find an art or craft where you just do it for fun and don't try to be perfect or make any money from it, and when anyone tells you to monetise it you say 'No', because otherwise your soul will die.

Jay Hulme@jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Have needle. Have thread. Have scraps of paper. Have free will. Have made a notebook.

Very excited for the £70 order of Bird and Blend tea I've just placed to arrive 😋

I am of the opinion that all Boxing Day meals should include tomato chutney

We have designated today a day of reading I've gone around the house and collected a small pile of books I think I could reasonably finish before 2026 and would like to finish one of them, and N is committing himself to reading the entirety of This Way Up, having started it this morning 📚💙

Onto the 4th colour of the Pocketful of Posy blanket by Purl Soho that I'm making for a friend 🥰🎄🧶