Awesome Gadget

I am most decidedly NOT a gadget person. My mobile phone is so old that my 14 year old niece dubbed it a "brick" . It has a black and white screen and only does text and phone calls!!!!!!

However, for my birthday I received an IPod Touch. Of course I am very late to the party since I daresay great swathes of children in the UK own such a thing and take it totally for granted. However, it has entertained me mightily for several weeks now.

There are still many areas on it that I've not explored. However, I get rather a childish thrill from surfing the net whilst stirring my rissotto. I also have some cool apps on it including both sewing and knitting apps. I can't really say how good the sewing app is as I've not really put it through its paces, though at first glance it seems to be mainly aimed at quilters. However, I also have Knitminder which I am starting to use to track my yarn and knitting projects. I still haven't photographed all the yarns but I've got the most recent ones and the ones that are currently being used for projects, onto the app. Its extremely easy to use. I started with the free "Lite" version but that doesn't store nearly enough information so I bought, for a very reasonable fee, the full version.

I am currently finding it difficult to navigate the app store as there seems to be so many apps out there and I think there must be more sewing apps out there that I've not found yet. Does anyone have any suggestions for good ones?

I have also got Skype, and still can't get over the way I can see someone so clearly, who is so far away from me (at least I can when the connection allows for decent video).

And last night, downloaded the Kindle app, not really expecting it to be easy to read on such a small screen. This app is totally amazing, easy to use, easy to read and I was able to download a number of free books. All are out of copyright, but there are some fantastic classics which I've never read, plus some works I've never heard of which are absolute gems. I have a fascination with American culture and social history and have downloaded a fantastic book of letters called Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. The descriptions of the landscape and the difficult life she led in early 1900's Utah, are utterly enthralling. She was an amazingly brave, resourceful and courageous woman. All I need to do now is work out how to keep the books I really love and want to re-read on my main computer and only have one or two on the IPod. since I can see me amassing quite a stash of EBooks and I don't want to fill the entire IPod with books.

I recently discussed Kindle's with someone and asked why one would get such a thing when there is a library full of hard copy books in most towns. A library which, if not used, will wither and die. I do feel strongly about keeping libraries alive and would never abandon my habit of getting as many books as I can carry out of the library every three weeks. But the Kindle books will be a nice little supplement to that. I shall wander off into my corner, eating my words as I go.