Happy New Year!

I know it has been an age since I posted last and I can only apologise. I haven't given up on you and I will be back again as often as I can but life here is completely topsy turvy. We managed to get my sister home for Christmas but her future plans are still in debate and I am working as hard as I can to produce a plan to give her a secure future that we are a part of. I can't say much more at the moment as things are still under court control and I don't want to put any plans in a compromising position - I know you will understand.

 I can however show you what a lovely Secret Santa parcel I received and say a huge thank you for the contents. Everything was me to a 'T' and I am so grateful for all the thought that went into it.

The yarn was my perfect colour and entitled withering bluebell it reflects just how I am feeling! The mittens will be keeping me warm on my early morning taxi service to the station - Lottie failed her driving test in December so I am still on active duty and I can't wait for her to take it again!

And finally and quick picture of my amazing Ted bear - he is still going strong and despite his various issues is a happy and loving doggie. Sadly his sister Della who lived with Dave's folks passed away on the 30th of December.

                                      

I promise to try and be a bit more active here in blog land but I have been really struggling with my energy levels recently - I guess that the prolonged lack of sleep has begun to take a permanent toll on me (16 months of getting up at 2am is quite a time) even the easiest of tasks is taking me longer to complete and some days it is all I can manage to keep going, my poor knitting has suffered dreadfully! At least the daylight hours will start to increase again and fingers crossed I will be perky again in no time.

Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year, with much love  - Sarah

Light the fire!

It has been a while since I last posted here as things have been crazy and sometimes ugly and I thought it better to keep my thoughts to myself for the time being. The fight with Social services is something you would not believe and I thank you all for thinking and praying for us as we work through this dark time.

You may recall that I wrote about a shawl of unusual construction I was working on for Anni - well the preview of that design is now available for all to see here:  Lamorna Cove

Also on the needles is the lace weight test / sample of this years mystery knit a long, it is a really lovely pattern and I am going to have to be persuaded to part with it to be honest! See how well it goes with my glasses?

I have only got a few rows to go and then it will need to be packed up and posted off back home again. It has been a lovely knit and I look forward to being able to share the finished picture but not until all the clues have been released. 

Once this is off my needles I shall be clicking away at my half of the BFF Cowl which I have started work on but have plenty left to do. It is a lovely pattern once you get your head around the construction of the folded edge and I am really excited to see how the other piece of the cowl is worked, once both parts are done the swap can take place and all will be revealed......

The weather here has taken a turn for the dark and chilly side and the stove has been burning brightly every evening - just a small comfort in the turn of the seasons but one that makes me feel just a little better about life.

I hope that your fires are burning brightly and all is well! Sxx

New Routines!

The summer has passed in a bit of a blur here so once Lottie had her apprenticeship place the next thing seemed to be results and her 18th Birthday. She got 2C's and a D (English, Physics and Maths) which would have been enough to get her into the Uni of her choice if she had wanted to go. Work started in earnest on Monday of this week and we have to drive to the station for the 8.30 train and then pick her up again at 6.45pm. Hopefully she will be able to drive herself to the station soon but in the meantime it provides some good practice time for her behind the wheel.

Speaking of wheels I have been emptying some of my bobbins of the remnants of spun yarn that needed plying. The left overs I had were the ends of fibre that I had spun into uneven lengths on the bobbin meaning that when I had been doing a 2 ply yarn one bobbin had more on it than another. I plucked up the courage to ply from a centre pull ball using both ends to give the 2 plies needed. I was a bit worried as I had heard that this could be a tricky thing to do but as it was only  partial bobbins I thought it was worth a try! It
worked quite successfully and you can see the bobbin end yarns are the skinny skeins next to the full size ones plus my lovely assistant ( I am not sure why there is a green stripe in the photo - I don't have any green on my carpet).

I have now finished off my colour affection shawl - it was such an easy knit and I really enjoyed it. 

I have also  made progress on the Rams and Yowes blanket and a couple of my sushi shawls - it would seem that this summer has been all about making progress rather than starting new projects! 

Hopefully there should be more spinning soon as I have discovered that my bobbins from the 'traditional' fit the freedom flyer on my new 'Joy' so I have lots more bobbins spare than I first thought!

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend! Sxx

Long overdue!

I know it has been a while since I blogged but really I have had nothing good to share with you until now.

Ted is happily still here to the amazement and joy of all of us although we have had a couple of rough patches he is still happy and not in pain and more than that he just wants to be here!

I haven't mentioned it but my Autistic sister is going through a nightmare time with Social services and we are having an almighty battle to try and get her to be allowed home again sadly court hearing number 3 will be in November and I am just praying for a miracle to happen for her. I can't really say too much but it is the worst thing ever!

Happily though I can say that Lottie has been offered an apprenticeship in digital marketing over in Liverpool. It will be a bit of a commute but will give her experience and a qualification whilst she earns a little bit as well. In this climate I think that can only be seen as a positive out come for her. Ironically she has also just been asked back to a second interview for another one she applied for but we think that a bird in the hand is worth more than 2 in the bush so to speak.

On the knitting front I am almost done with a shawl for Anni which is quite unusual in construction. I think it will be released later in the year and I will keep you posted on that.

Perhaps at this point you might want to sit down because I have actually finished something, other than commission projects that is! You may remember that last summer at my lowest point I was sent an unfinished shawl by Dee from Posh yarn in a lovely chocolate brown alpaca? Well finally it is finished! It is the biggest shawl I have ever knitted and I can't even begin to express what it means to me. It has kept me company through some tough times and although I have only worked on it intermittently I have felt its presence when I needed it most. It was with very mixed emotions that I grafted the edging together, happy that it was done and I had a beautiful shawl but sad that the process had come to an end.

You can see why I look at this shawl and think of my precious boy can't you? I don't really know why I love Pi shawls so much as they take so long to make a really good sized one but I can't help thinking that they are my favourite shape to knit ever and I have tried a good many!

Hopefully I shall be finishing a few more UFO's soon and I will be back to share them with you all, Sxx

On a more cheery note...

Oops sorry about that it seems I was having a bad week last week! Occasionally the tiredness overwhelms me and I come out all cross and grumpy!

This week it is all about a deadline scarf and I shall be knitting like mad to get it finished. It is a slippery alpaca / bamboo mix and it took the trusty knitpics needles to keep it under control. Sadly I can't share it with you yet but I will once I am able. More soon, Sx

May is flying!

I am finding it really hard to blog at the moment as life is pretty much a cope with each day as it happens kind of thing. Ted is plodding along in his happy and contented kind of existence and I seem to just do whatever it takes to keep him that way. Lottie is working hard but finding that A levels are very stressful right now and wishing that the next 4 weeks would be over and done with soon.

I have several projects on the needles but this is my current favourite:

It is the Chameleon shawl and right now the simple garter stitch is just what is needed while I watch TV at night.

Before I pop off and leave you in peace I wanted to share a quick link with you. I love the work that this lady does and one day I hope to be able to own some of it, she is based in my favourite county - Norfolk and I love those little ceramic hens so much! potterjotter.blogspot

Big bag, little bag, cardboard box!

Hmm, seems like I have begun a collection without realising it - you might recall my post about my hexibag and little dumpling bag well I also really wanted another little bag which is as yet unnamed but looks like this:

When it arrived I immediately filled it with a sushi shawl as I had one that needed a home to carry it about in but I had one more project that wouldn't fit into anything (you might remember Dee's unloved shawl) which had been stuffed into a basket for lack of a home.

I emailed Marianne to ask if she could make me a bigger version of the nameless pouch as I felt that it would be perfect for this project and this is what she made for me:

I believe that it may be called the Fluff bucket as that was what I termed it and I think it stuck? I called it this because as I opened the tissue wrapped package my first thought was wow this is a big bucket! As I opened it up I noticed the word Fluff was stitched on the pocket and so Fluff bucket it was. It holds Dee's unloved shawl beautifully and sits at the side of the Sofa so that I can pick it up and do a few rows of the edging in between other projects on the go. Speaking of which I have a finished shawl (don't pass out with surprise they do get finished eventually) it is the Mar Menor shawl I cast on at the beginning of March. Sadly I had to looses a few rows of the stocking stitch before the last pattern part and still I ran out of yarn on the cast off. Fortunately I had a similar colour way in the sock yarn stash and I had already started to have more stitches between  the beaded picos - my tension is not normally that far off Anni's so I wonder if either mine or her skein was wrong on the yardage front (I have had that happen before with Arucania yarn). But most importantly it is finished and blocked.

Lastly I thought I would share with you the contents of my cardboard box - it arrived on Tuesday and put a hold on the rest of the day whilst I played with it. What do you think?

I still have to sell my Old Ashford traditional but didn't want to miss out on the chance to get the new one whilst it was on offer! I have some hand spun yarns to show you but I think they will have to wait a while before I show you.

Have a lovely Easter and I will be back again soon I hope. Sxx