I have to say, I am loving it! It’s a wonderful read, so much better than I had expected. First of all, I’ve had the ‘Unexpected Party’ chapter read to me a couple of times. First off, when I was five or so, my mother started reading it to me, but I don’t think we got very far. Then over the past nigh-on decade I have been with my fiancé we have started this book probably twice before. I love this chapter, I love the cloaks all hung on the pegs in the front hall. I’ve always found that such an easy image to conjure in my mind, and has stuck with me for a long time.

Now, I didn’t really expect all that much from Bilbo to begin with… I’m more familiar with Lord of the Rings – though, ashamedly, I’ve not read that either, which is why it is the book my fiancé and I are going to start on once we finish The Hobbit – in which Bilbo is quite old and seems quite frail. Not in The Hobbit though, in fact, my esteem of Hobbits has gone up exponentially from reading this. Bilbo is quick witted, clever, brave, stoic, loyal, honourable, and all round more awesome than I had ever expected.

The scene where Bilbo fights off all the spiders of Mirkwood really set it in my mind that this is one little Hobbit not to trifle with. He so bravely attacked those disgusting creatures, and didn’t think anything of it, himself. Earlier in the book too, when he got out of the Goblin infested caves, he knew he would go back for the Dwarves, but they would have left him back in there if not for Gandalf insisting they didn’t. Bilbo is more loyal to them, and it takes him saving their lives three times over before they truly start to appreciate the awesomeness that is Bilbo Baggins, of Bag-End, Underhill.

Reading this book has made my appreciation of Hobbits in general take off, and I thought they were kick ass in the first place! I’m even more happy to be playing one in LOTRO than I was before! I’m also loving all the traits I personally share with Hobbits, so that makes me really happy too.

Today I am going to link to a pattern of a knitted spider, so the awesome Hobbit in us all can kick it’s knitted ass…

I love to play computer games, but generally only the really good ones. I love to play LOTRO, and play a Minstrel with my fiancé’s Guardian and it is so much fun! We never seem to find much time for it though, so I am still a really low level. The highest I have ever gotten was level 35, and I can’t wait to get into the Mines of Moria! LOTRO is a game I am proud to play… unlike Faerie Solitaire which was a demo I downloaded from the Virgin Media site. I didn’t pay for it, that’s how I justify playing it for an hour… that’s how long the demo is, an hour of play, and in the span of about a day, I managed to rack up an hour on that silly game. It was sort of… no was completely mindless, so I don’t really know why I played it… I think just because I like faeries. And not stinking Disney Tinkerbell faeries, real earthy faeries like the ones you find in Brian Froud’s work.

Anyway, the reason I was on the site is because I want to get all those new digital TV channels. See, my fiancé and I bought a television a few months back that can supposedly pick these things up. No need for a set top box. What I didn’t realise, is that I would still need a satellite or digital aerial of some sort… I don’t really know what I need, exactly, in spite of trying to figure it out for the last few hours. I hope it isn’t a satellite, because I would need help if that was the case. I was hoping to be able to get all this stuff set up and surprise my fiancé with my ingenuity.

I think I need some sort of equipment to pick the channels up, and from what I am reading, I think that particular item could be a Eurovox. I have seen the boxes for those things in electronics stores, but didn’t pay much attention. It could also be a Dreambox, that might work the same way, but I am not sure. I am not as interested in Sky and all that kind of stuff, as I don’t want to pay for TV just yet, I just want the shiny new digital channels. I do want cable TV at some point, just focusing on the other side of it for the moment.

Anyway, my last meal is threatening to make a repeat show, so I am going to go lay down, but before I do… Today’s knitting pattern!!! All this talk of television got me to thinking of this pattern, the Mrs Darcy cardigan. It’s been such a long time since I saw Pride and Prejudice on TV, that was a fun series. Anyway, this is a really pretty pattern, have a go!