Giveaway! A box of Robotness!

Suitable for gents too!

My blogoversary has come round for a second time, and that means a giveaway. Well, actually, I've missed it by a week or so but the wait was necessary because I have made one of the items. I've put together a small collection of things. If you enjoy the stuff I talk about on this blog, you're going to like this prize.



What's up for grabs?

To start with, there is a hat. Handknitted by me to a 1940s pattern reproduced in A Stitch In Time Volume 2, this beret is made of Excelana, pure British wool from the Exmoor Blueface sheep. Never mind my ropy photography, see Theodora modelling an identical beret in the book. It's in cream, claret, pink and mint, and is very pretty. (I was pleased to realise I had enough yarn left over to make myself one too!)

Then there is a book, Puzzle For Inspector West, and a couple of fridge magnets.

I've got quite a stack of the Inspector West books, and find them a sort of half-way house between Dixon of Dock Green and Ed McBain, touching on both British cosiness and American hard-boiled fiction. John Creasey wrote over 600 novels and founded the Crime Writers' Association, but he's not so well known today. This book was printed in 1963, and has a marvellously lurid cover. (I have a copy of my own too, you won't be depriving me of part of my collection.)

The magnets are just fun, I love old posters and couldn't resist these, especially Home Front Woollies. I've got some of these of my own, too.

The brooch and tie pin represent the steamy side of the Robot. The brooch is brass with a bright red crystal in and is modern. The pin is a curiosity: a genuine cold war Soviet nuclear scientist's lapel pin. I bought it from Arfon Jones, who told me (I hope I'm remembering this correctly) that scientists would wear them to conferences to show what area they worked in.

So, there you have it: a box of robotness. To be in with a chance of winning, leave a comment. For a second chance, tweet about it and leave another comment to let me know you've tweeted.