It has been far too long!

 It has been a long time since I had anything very much to say and I really don’t know if there is anyone out there anymore reading my thoughts but in case there is I am hoping to be back and blogging once again. Finally we have made Norfolk our permanent home, a dream that has been far too long to come to fruition! But here we are amid boxes and mess trying to rationalise which items we really need and those that we have more of than we will ever need. I don’t think I have ever felt this tired but the need to keep pushing forwards with the unpacking is huge and I am trying to pace myself. Hopefully there will be lots of knitting to share soon but in the meantime I share with you my fires past and present!

Hopefully I will be back soon with more interesting pictures.

Summer knitting

Recently I have been knitting away on my 'Little Tern blanket' which is the August part of 'A Year of Techniques' from AC knitwear and although it won't be finished by the end of the month I have really enjoyed the fact that this project has made me revisit my continental knitting style. Although I have regularly used the continental knit stitch technique I have previously found the Norwegian Purl stitch a slow and clunky stitch to work and I think this is due to the fact that previously I had practised this stitch using sock yarn and small needles. This blanket is done in the gorgeous Fyberspates Vivacious DK weight and has a lovely spring to it making it a real pleasure to use the whole continental knitting way throughout the blanket.

Perhaps you can see that the stitch changes are frequent so my traditional English way of knitting was very slow and laborious but sped up considerably when I switched to continental. I am much further along than this picture shows but I am happy to continue at my own pace enjoying the knitting as I go. 

Life here is still trundling along at it's own peculiar pace and is mostly just weeks of similar things happening interspersed with my knitting and crochet, hence I find that it has become more important to stretch myself by learning new things or growing current skills to new levels! My Gran once told me that you are never too old to learn new things and it is important to keep learning your whole life - something I always remembered but recently find myself knowing how important it is to make this happen.

I hope all is well in your corners of blogland and I will be back with more new skills soon!

Wedding Fever!

Well not fever really but thought I would quickly fill you in as Dave and I finally tied the knot after 16 years together. We got to say 'I do' in our favourite place by the sea!

Its wasn't apathy that prevented us doing this much earlier but consideration for Lottie. When we first got engaged she asked if she would be able to change her name so that she felt part of it all and after discussion we asked her dad if he would consider her becoming a double barrel name so she didn't loose either identity but was part of it all. He said no! Dave and I decided her feelings were important so we chose to wait. Now she is all grown up and in a home of her own we decided it was time for us to do what we wanted to do all along but with no ones feeling hurt along the way and the added bonus that she was our witness too on the day.

It wasn't a big or flashy wedding as we have both been married before and after all this time it is really just completing the journey we had begun so long ago but never the less it was a celebration of our journey together.

I couldn't have asked for a nicer wedding - it was just the loveliest happiest day ever and the sun shone down on us (it rained the day before and the day after) and we were so lucky to have a truly special day.

Sadly I didn't quite finish my shawl but I put a blue ribbon through the live stitches and wore it anyway, I am finishing it but thankfully at a slower pace now! A note to anyone else making a rectangular shawl - the knitted on edging takes longer than you might think! Despite several early morning knitting sessions 3 weeks was not enough time!

We were joined on the day by a very special couple of friends who took the most amazing pictures for us and made the whole day extra special, thank you both for being super fun!

Sadly we are back to reality now but the memories of that very special day by the sea will be with me always. It was so very precious to me and the love and happiness that we shared that day will stay warm and fuzzy inside me forever.

Mittens and blankets!

I have finished Lou's mittens that have been on the needles for quite some time and she was pleased to wear them:

Also finished is the skittles Blanket which is a joy to behold for the cheery colours and pleasure it gave me to crochet it:

 Currently I am working on the Hygge shawl which is a weekly crochet along but I am a little behind, a change of hook and getting over the first bobble week has allowed me to catch up a bit but I'm just plodding along at my own pace with this one.

I am also working on 'a Year of Techniques' and I have finished 2 pairs of Hycainthus mittens - these have flown off my needles as the helical stripes are really addictive knitting!

I am really looking forward to Aprils' instalment of this which should arrive tomorrow and involves a yarn I haven't used before which is 'cumulus' from Fyberspates. Hopefully I will be back soon to report on what it will become! 

New Year New Glasses

It has been a while since I was here last but life has been moving along at a pace, I seem to have Louise for more and more hours each month and it leaves little time for me to have anything exciting to share. I should have had my eyes tested last January but with everything going on they got forgotten about but got worse and worse as the months rolled by. Eventually they got bad enough to irritate me and I made an appointment ( there was a 2 month delay as they were booked up) and finally I got them checked out. Happily for me it is just age that has changed my prescription and I have now got new specs! I cannot begin to tell you how much better I can see - it is only now that I realise that it was sight preventing me from finishing some of my projects as it was too hard to read the stitches or the charts and instructions and they were put aside for easier things. Now I need to finished all of the things and it is exciting to pick them back up and rediscover the joy that was there all along! I am sharing this as a reminder to us all not to neglect our sight - it is too important!

This is one of the projects that eventually was put to one side because although it is a lovely DK weight yarn and I could easily see the stitches when I got to the border the instructions seemed to be confusing - it was just me and I have picked it back up again and there is no problem! Hopefully as I pick things up again will have more to share.

I hope all is well in your corners of blogland and I will aim to be back again soon!

Zodiac blanket

This is the zodiac blanket that was the 2015 last ever Natural Dye Studio blanket club which I made for Lottie  (my daughter) I finished sewing in the ends after she had moved so it was a little late but the last part wasn't released until December. I got a bit behind with my sewing in of the ends and should have been more disciplined about sewing them in each month but it's a mistake I won't be making again! I have more finished objects to share but thought I would start with this one as it was both a happy and sad project in so many ways, I know it is being loved and used as it sits on the sofa in the new house and hopefully is a cosy reminder of home.

Just over a year!

It has been just over a year since I posted last and as ever with me when things are not good I don't come out to play. 2015 was a difficult year from start to end with Dave working away several days a week for the first nine months of it. We got to the point where we couldn't bear it any longer and he tried to resign but the company decided they would tweek the office structure to fit us better but took so long to do it! Lottie also decided the time was right for her to buy a house of her own and by December she was completing her purchase and moved house the weekend before Christmas. Christmas was a seaside affair and we all enjoyed the time we had together but January took a very serious turn and life changed for us all. The 13th saw Dave and I sat in A & E as he didn't fell well at all with pains in his chest. He had been in Cambridgeshire for a meeting overnight but felt ill and decided to come straight home. I took him to hospital where they were super nice and did all kinds of tests on him - we thought they were going to send us home until the blood tests came back and they moved us straight back to ER and put him on drips and all kinds of tablets as he was having a heart attack. The next day he had stents fitted and was able to come home again at the weekend. The whole thing was a huge shock and the road to recovery has been a twisty little path. The main thing is he survived and although he is fit and well again things will different from now on. Following some recovery time Dave felt that he didn't want to return to the stressful role he held and decided that it really was time to resign and take stock of things. Life here is a bit different now and all of the jobs in the house that had been previously put off are now being crossed off the list one by one. Who knows what the future holds but you can bet there will be knitting and crochet in there somewhere as it is the one thing that has kept me sane(ish) through this last year. I will be back again soon with some of the things I have made this last year! S x

Hurrah!

Finally I have a new laptop and I can get on-line to blog easily again (I hope). I tried to have a go from my ipad but I couldn't get pictures up and what use is a blog without pictures? So here I am tinkering around and hoping I can get things to work how they should as there has been much crocheting going on quietly here in the background. The zodiac blanket has been my main focus this year and although the monthly parts have not been too onerous this year I have fallen a little behind as life with Lou can sometimes be a bit all consuming!

I thought I would test my new technology out with a quick picture of Bertie - here he is today sitting on the bed posing for a picture, he does love having his picture taken!

I hope to be back again very soon with more pictures and progress to share.

Blanket love!

I know it has been a very long time since I wrote anything on my blog and I can only apologise. Several things have caused blogging to be a problem, firstly Bertie chewed the cable to my laptop and as the battery is duff it has to be plugged into the mains to work. I now have a very dodgy replacement cable which uses an adapter that I am not very happy with so I only use it when I have to (hopefully a new laptop isn't too far away now) secondly I didn't actually have that much to say as my life is a bit of a mundane routine at the moment punctuated with blanket crochet which has been making slow progress! My kaleidoscope blanket is now up to October and I am fairly near to the end of that part but at the end of January the last Natural Dye Studio blanket club arrived and I was determined to keep up with it this time and complete last years at my own pace. The news arrived over Christmas that NDS is closing down this month and I was very upset, I know it sounds silly but there have been some pretty low points over the last few years and my NDS blankets have been a huge comfort to me both in the making and in the arrival of the packages so I was glad to be a part of this years Zodiac blanket. Lottie has said she would love this blanket so that is one of the reasons to need to keep up so she can have it as soon as it is done. Here is the finished February part, I just have to add on the march motifs now:

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and I will try and be back more often with my blanket news this year. S x

Barking mad!

It looks like life is still very much on the crazy side here but thankfully a bit of crochet saves the day! The first of October saw the end of July's part of the kaleidoscope blanket and the start of Augusts. It does seem to be a bit quicker at the moment but I believe it is down to the colours used in this months triangle. In many ways I will be sad to see this blanket finished as I have loved working with the bright colours but once it is done I can focus on finishing some of the others I have on the go.

As you can see Bertie insists on being in the picture every time, he has become a bit of a diva when I get the camera out! S x

Hooky hooky

I promised to share with you what I am working on currently so a quick run down so far:

The kaleidoscope blanket - nearly done with my July part but not quite yet so hang on in there for a picture!

Newly begun is my 'Great Escape shawl' and Bertie said I wasn't having a picture without him:

Also recently begun is my coastal ripple blanket - I ordered the yarn as a pick me up for when we returned from holiday as I know I need most distracting once everyone is back in the work day routine:

Once again Bertie plonked himself down so he could be part of the picture! I also have just cast on a pair of socks for Dave but there isn't much to show just yet so will be back with an update on those eventually! 

The chimney has just been swept for this year so settling down by the fire with a nice bit of hooky sounds like it won't be far away but for now I need to go and mow my lawn as the grass seems to be growing quite fast still! More soon, S x

September already!

August passed me by in another whirlwind of holiday and birthdays and here we are at the start of autumn! So what did I do to fill the time? Well I finished the June section of the Kaleidoscope blanket:

Bertie spent many happy hours stealing the yarn from my bag and tangling it up, he really does love this blanket!

Lottie's friend from work made me these lovely cupcakes for my birthday!

And we all had fun on the beach!

And here we are in September with the weather changing towards a cooler and darker time and I am looking back and thinking what a lovely summer we had! I seem to be having a huge dose of startitis so I will be back soon to show what I have on my needles and hooks! S x

Oops!

Where did the last few months go? Swallowed up in a whirl wind of chaos I am afraid to say as we had new bathrooms, a new lawn and a teething and growing puppy. I can't believe it has been that long though but here I am with more seaside pictures:

Dave and I sneaked off for a couple of days with Bertie ahead of a holiday trip with Lou, how much we manage to get her out and about will depend on how well the' Bertie factor' works! We have found that although Bertie is just a puppy he has a very special effect on Lou which seems to help her cope with things a little better. I have always believed that she would benefit from an assistance dog but the way life works currently it wouldn't be possible for her to have one, Bertie seems to be the next best thing. He is so patient with her and has been really good when we put him on 2 leads in order for her to 'walk' him so I am hopeful we could see small but significant progress in the future.

Its a dogs life:

Hopefully I will be back again soon! 

Where did the time go?

Sorry I have been so long again but I think that we bought a time shrinking object and not a puppy as the last 3 weeks have completely vanished with very little to show for them!

Bertie has been a busy boy though as we had a few days away at Easter and he enjoyed lots of new experiences such as 'walking' along the beach:

And visiting the pier:

Also a quick trip to the pub:

He has also been enjoying my kaleidoscope blanket, I am a little behind now as I have just finished my 'March' part:

Hopefully I will make some progress in catching up soon but I am a little distracted as you can see! More soon from us both x

Introducing Bertie!

Sorry to have been quiet again its just lots has been going on here in my corner of Cheshire including a bit of forward planning and some exciting news!

The forward planning is a new bathroom and seems to have taken ages to finally choose what we want but this is not being fitted until May so still time to get organised here. The exciting news will be the arrival of a new puppy called Bertie please say hello:

This is Bertie at 4 weeks old when we went across to Derbyshire to choose him. The following weekend we were at Crufts where Bertie's Dad won Best of Breed - we were so proud to be there knowing that little Bertie was his son, Harry is a lovely dog and I can't wait to see both he and Bertie's mum again when we go to collect Bertie at the weekend.

Hopefully you will forgive me for giving you doggie pictures for a few weeks instead of knitting but we are so excited after all that we went through with Ted to have something precious again to love. Ted is still thought of every day and he will be in my heart forever but a waggy tail is a wonderful thing and I can't wait to have one around again!

More soon, S x

Finally finished!

So here we have it I have finally finished my snawheid hat and my Southwold in the snow shawl! I have loved knitting both of these as they are both such lovely woolly yarns and they smell all sheepy. The hat I managed to get finished before we went away for the weekend but the shawl came with me as I was in the middle of the picot cast off, it seemed to take forever with that cast on 2 and then cast off 4 but the effect is really pretty. Thankfully I also took my baby cardigan with me too so I still had something to work on once that was finished and I have blocked them both now we are home again.

I meant to show you these earlier but somehow life got a bit busy again and I have been chasing my tail to catch up with myself, I hope to be back here again soon!

Nothing new!

I am not quite sure where last week disappeared to but I did have my sister staying with me so time does seem to go into a big black hole somewhere! I have made progress on all 3 of the current projects I am working on but nothing has come off the needles yet, I guess that the knitting goes into that black hole too!

I am almost finished with January's section of my crochet blanket with only the little filler holes to do. The February section shouldn't take as long as there aren't as many triangles for this round so hopefully I might have caught up by the end of the month but I will keep you posted!

Inspiration needed?

After my last post Barbara said she was looking for inspiration and it got me thinking about what I do when I 'need' a new project. To be clear here I don't ever have 'nothing on the needles', there are always projects that are lurking in the background waiting to be rediscovered and reloved or simply just finished off! Sometimes however I do find myself thinking that I really really need some new exciting thing to fill that void which has suddenly appeared for whatever reason, at this point I sign into Ravelry and start to rummage around. I know that we all use this website in different ways but for me when I come across a pattern I like I will add it to my favourites queue and this is my first point of rummaging around to see what grabs my attention. Something else I also do is look through my friends queue's and projects as they might have seen something that I haven't and it can lead to an exciting discovery! Occasionally I also see projects in thread conversations that grab my attention and by adding them to favourites they remind me to go back and take a second look. Usually by now something has caught my eye and I am beginning a new project but sometimes nothing quite hits the spot and I take a good hard look at the projects that are already begun but need more work and I pick one out and sit down to check where I left it and remind myself of the pattern. So either I have a project that I want to carry on working on or by working on it a bit more it brings to mind something else I thought about previously and was too busy to start!

This week as well as working on my hat and my shawl I have also been finishing off a baby cardigan! Now don't get all excited here it isn't for anyone you know - it is for Dave's boss in the USA. It isn't often I knit baby things as they don't really do much for me in terms enjoyment and I have no idea why as they are quite quick to do but there we have it. This is what I made:

It is the beyond puerperium cardigan and was knitted as a 3-6 month size. I have also knitted the Puerperium cardigan in the smallest size in the past for another of Dave's work friends and it is a really simple pattern to do but seems to be quite popular with the recipients! I have another one of these to knit for Dave's UK boss as his wife is also expecting soon! Hopefully all should be quiet on the baby front for a while after that and I can retreat to my happier knitting!

I hope that by next week I will have something off the needles to show you all but until then happy rummaging! S x

Somebody stop me........

Last week I had a dose of startitis which I haven't had in a good while so I must be feeling more like my old self again!

Firstly I cast on a hat, I made one over Christmas for a gift and I loved it so much I thought I could use one myself!

So I cast on another....

Next I cast on a shawl - something in the name called out to me and I knew I needed to make one. The yarn for this is really warm and woolly so just right for the cold at the moment.

It is called 'Southwold in the snow' and by now you should have guessed at my seaside obsession!  Although I haven't been to Southwold it is on my list of must visit soon places, my only worry is what might be left of the beach huts! I know how badly the beach huts in Cromer suffered in the December storm and many haven't made it past the pile of matchwood stage. Having said that the town has worked extremely hard to bounce back and the sun is still shining even though the weather is bitterly cold!

Sorry I felt the need for a real seaside picture at this point (taken at Christmas I might add).

So as I have been working on my 2 new projects I sat a pondering over my lack of progress on the kaleidoscope blanket and wondered just what it was that these new ones had that the blanket didn't? The blanket is bright and cheery and the colours just sing so why have I been drawn to the more muted colours of the other projects? My conclusion is that it isn't the colours it is the yarn as although the blanket is bright and lovely the yarn (it  is also 4 ply) is thinner and silkier and not woolly and warm! Given how cold and grey it is at the moment I can only assume that my mind / body feels the need to work with the warm woolly yarn and once again I am driven by the seasons for my knitting habits!

Hopefully next week I will have finished something to keep out this cold and moved back onto the cheery colours that make me smile! Sx

Kaleidoscope Blanket

Last week saw the arrival of the yarn for the January to March portion of my blanket and I shared with you the jewel colours which remind me so much of a tin of quality street. This week I have a little progress for you but not an amazing amount. Time was a bit restricted for me as my sister was staying with us all week so Mum and Dad could have a bit of a break.

This is where I am up to! After this 'round' of triangles is done there is another round and the rest of the little filler circles to add as well and then month 1 is complete. I am not expecting to receive the month 2 pattern until part way through February so I should have finished this months progress by then I hope!

I don't have a great deal of other progress to report on as I am sure you don't really want to hear about the mountain of washing I am working my way through today - I don't really know where it all appeared from suddenly as I thought I had actually got a grip of the mountain that had gathered previously! More soon, Sx