WIP Wednesday.

 Current progress on my hiberknitalong Woven Chevrons wrap. 

This is actually a really simple pattern and easily memorised, however, I am easily distracted by interesting things on TV and have been known to get my increases and decreases the wrong way round !

I have been knitting on this pretty much solo since the cast on party on  Boxing day. I have dabbled with a pair of socks and a cardigan that is almost finished but I just want to knit on this so everything else has been put aside. I do need to do a test swatch for another knit along project so may have to break away from this one evening. Not that I normally swatch but as its a bog project I don't want to ruin it by having a bad gauge...

This coming year is all about knitting what I want not knitting what  I feel pressured to knit, knitting is for pleasure and if  want to knit on multiple projects over the year I will, and if I want to cast on more projects I will... my only restriction is not to buy more yarn.... I have enough for a number of years knitting...

The in-between.

Here we are at the in-between. That time during Christmas and new year where things seem to hover, not quite knowing whether to stay in the Christmas moment or start to move forward towards new year.

It was made easier for me as I am back to work today, so that moving forward things happened without me having to make that decision. To be honest I would have liked a few more days of rest and relaxation reading and knitting under the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree!

My thoughts are turning to the new year, but I'm reluctant to make any plans  due to the current Corona virus situation. All external plans are on hold and new plans relate to the reading of books and starting new knitting projects. My goal this year is to learn how to do colorwork sweaters.

My current read is 

Absolutely loved the series and couldn't wait for series 3 so bought the book. I have spent a few happy hours lost in this book.

I also was gifted some books for Christmas so as well as my rather large ' to read' pile I know have these

2021 will definitely be a year of reading.

I also cast on a new project on boxing day, my very first Stephen West project, his Hiberknitalong

I had some gift money to use so did splash out and buy a yarn kit

Glorious colours and it is so soft to knit with.

The hiberknitaong had 2 projects to choose from a crescent shawl 

Photo from Stephen west's project page

or a triangular shawl

Photo from Stephen West's project page

I chose the triangular shawl, Woven Chevrons.

A couple of minor errors but really loving it. The pattern repeat is quiet easy when you ' get it'  and could be classed as a TV knit. It is really rather soothing to knit and definitely a great project for these dark days.

Despite spending many hours inside, were in Tier 3.... I have managed to get out for some walks

quite cold and breezy but just what you need to blow the cobwebs away.

We've had no snow here, sad, as I actually love snow. but it is really rather cold.

I'm hoping to get out again next weekend as these dark days and having to work don't give me enough daylight to get out anywhere for a decent walk. 

So for now I shall enjoy the in-between being snug and cosy at home.

Happy Christmas.

wishing you all a very happy Christmas.

Knitting.

 It feels like I haven't stopped this week. Have been busy with work and getting ready for our small cosy Christmas.

There has been lots of knitting, I have astounded myself. I have actually finished 2 projects that were started this month.

I absolutely love these socks, it was so hard to part with them, but they are all wrapped and have been gifted to the recipient. These socks wee a joy to knit and have bought back a love of colour. There will definitely be more of these knit next year.

Then I finished my advent cowl, I was loving this knit so much I just cracked on and didn't wait to open each little yarn window daily.

Loved the colour surprises and knit with colours I possible wouldn't have chosen but like the socks it has reignited my colour palette.

In other news all parcels have arrived in time for Christmas, I only have my immediate families gifts to wrap and some little gifts for my great nieces to deliver and I am done.

My only concern now is picking up the fresh food items and hubs has assured me he will go tomorrow and pick it all up. Hoping that people haven't been out panic buying and there will still be stuff left to but. I do have frozen sprouts in though so am safe if we cant find fresh, I do love a sprout!

Flying by.

Time is flying by, here we are at Wednesday already. Thought I'd best drop by in case you thought I'd given up blogging already !

Work is BUSY this week, a lot of the external  people that  I work with are staring their Christmas break on Friday, lucky things. Hence this week is all about BUSY. 

I haven't done much other than work and knit, I have finished my rainbow socks and they are fab. My advent stripe cowl is also coming along nicely and I'm now knitting day 19 so am well ahead of my self. Hopefully I will get to show you those in my next post. 

Need to dash have to go drop photocopying off to my niece for her college work and hubs has ordered a takeaway for a treat! yummmm

Catching up..

Blimey, Friday whizzed by, it was one of those crazy Fridays where you have to go full pelt in the hope you can get your work done. I didn't stop and worked over my hrs, but it had a successful outcome from great multi agency team working , a nice way to end the week. I much prefer to be busy.

Both the boys were working late so Hubs and I had a mini date night at home, he cooked me dinner and supplied the wine, he's a keeper. We had a relaxed night at home watching shite TV but it was just what I needed.

Yesterday was a housework and sorting type of day. My office set up was starting to irritate my back so I had a good old swap about again, and moved my screens. lets see how it goes this week. Hubs has had problems with his back for a while and is currently having a course of Chiropractic sessions. His aunt, who had the same issue ,recommended a back massager and said she would treat him to one. I gave it a go yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. It really does give your back a good old massage. This may well be of use to me after 8 hours of sitting at a blooming desk 5 days per week.

Please excuse the chair, its very old and worn, but of sentimental value, Hubs mom used to sit in this when she came to visit and my dad used it when he came home from hospital earlier this year, and died sat in this very chair. I desperately want it re upholstered, its very comfy in an upright way !

Today was food shop day, is it just me or is anyone else running out of menu ideas? Working from home and having to think about 3 meals a day for 4 people for a whole week is proving a problem... Especially as we all like different food. Hubs is doing the bulk of the cooking now he's a house husband so at least I don't have to cook everyday, he actually likes cooking, I do cook a few times a week to give him a break. Todays offering from me is a Cottage pie, have told the boys the next roast will be on Christmas day. 

Later on  I'm hoping to turn the heel on the 2nd gift sock so I can get it finished this week. I may have bought some more yarn for another gift sock set, I know its pushing it, but have gone for DK weight so I may just get there. Why I leave it to the last minute I don't know....

Planning ahead.

 One of my goals for 2021 is to learn how to do colour work /Fairisle knitting. I have a whole load of Fairisle sweaters in my ' to knit' list but just haven't got the nerve to cast them on!

A while back I saw a knit a long where you get help with learning colorwork, so I signed up. It's for the Joining Bees and things cardigan. 

Photo from grubbgirls on the pattern project page on Ravelry.

How fab is that? I love everything about it, the colours, the design but it scares the s*** out of me ! But I will give it a darned good go and hopefully finish up with something wearable.

Enthused by the whole Fairisle thingy I grabbed a copy of  Mary Jane Mucklestones new book,  Fairisle Weekend. 

I saw this on The grocery girls podcast  and was tempted to buy it. I bought it from Tribe Yarns and am really pleased I did. Its a beautiful book, the photography is great and the selection of projects to knit for a weekend on Shetland is  brilliant. I may actually want to knit them all.

WIP Wednesday.

 Can you believe I have found my knitting mojo !

I was overwhelmed by WIPS and stash, so something had to give. Yet another destash was done, I only kept sweater quantities or yarns highlighted for specific projects, everything else had to go. I still need to do some sorting in my office to organise the stash boxes but it feels good to start minimising my stash. (I may have bought a kit yesterday for a knit along, will show and tell when it arrives)

As none of my WIPS were making me happy, some colour was called for, see my post on 05/12/20  . Well what can I say, the socks are flying off the needles and I am loving knitting them

This little beauty will be finished tonight and then its onto sock 2. They make me so happy I will have to knit a pair for myself. ( I have more rainbow yarn)

The other project I am knitting on is this one

The Litmus Cowl.

A great project for using your mini skeins. These skeins were from an  advent calendar by Norah George Yarns,  The theme was The Secret Garden, one of my favourite films and the remake is just fab. I really didn't know what to do with them and given I was in a  knitting flunk I wanted something quick and easy to do each day. (The grey yarn was from my stash) This is a great pattern , I'm loving the daily knit, its just about right and great TV / relaxing knitting. I'm actually one day ahead as I don't want to have to knit the last bit on Christmas eve as I am working and have loads of stuff to do around working hours. 

These 2 projects are brining me great joy , other WIPS are on hold, there is no urgency to get any of them finished and luckily I have organised a WIP  box in my office .

Monday.

 Another quiet day working from home yesterday. 

I'm finding it tough 9 months in. It's quite a lonely experience. I'm grateful that my family all still live at home so there is always someone downstairs that I can pop down and talk too. If not I think I'd go mad. I never thought I'd say this but I am looking forward to going back to the office, maybe not everyday though.

Yesterday evening was fat club via ZOOM, (slimming world). I joined in the first lockdown as it was offered free to NHS staff. I've not been totally on plan, but I've not put weight on during the pandemic and have actually managed to lose a stone/ 14lb over that period. Pretty good seeing as I have food on tap due to working from home. Given I've been a member since April  I really should have lost a  little bit more, some of the members are doing great, but for me, not putting on weight and still going to class is a bonus. 

I finished the evening knitting as always, have turned the heel on the socks and knitted todays advent yarn so my advent cowl is on track.

And that's it, just a normal if boring day...

Progress.

 Yesterday was very much a normal Sunday. 

Dropped Junior to work, did the weekly shop, cooked Sunday lunch and relaxed, nothing exciting to write home about there.

What I did do though was knit

These socks make me happy, they are a joy to knit. Just a simple plain sock pattern, but the colours are  fab. I wanted to knit the whole rainbow but got to the heel and didn't quite make it as they were slightly longer as it it was. I am hoping I can get these finished ready for gifting soon . 

This little colour burst was exactly what I needed to get my knitting mojo back. 

TA DA !

 Christmas has arrived.

I'll admit I was sceptical when the husband dragged this in. A 6ft beast of a tree. But he knew what he was doing, a few snips here and there and it was up.  Having a real tree was something I never had growing up, we always had one of those fake tinsel trees, but hubs is a real tree man, so ever since we've been together its been a real one.

This years tree decorating was pretty quiet, the boys, now in their 20's really dont want to get involved, but humoured their mum by hanging a few baubles and then went back to doing their own thing. Not wanting to give up this moment of Christmas Joy I made hubs watch The Christmas Chronicles 2 movie with me ! We may be in our 50's but you cant beat a Christmas movie....

A lovely evening was had and the Christmas cheer that was missing on Friday night was certainly present last night, I may actually be getting a little Christmas excitement building !

Creativity.

I blooming love Grayson Perry. I've been to a few of his exhibitions and love his ceramics and textiles. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I find him really inspiring.

During the first lockdown his art club programme was a real pick me up, art by everyday people all having the same experience. I found the peoples story's interesting and their differing styles of art inspiring. 

Last night, after a rather sad jaunt into town for date night,  no Christmas cheer to be found, although I did manage to get the last few presents on my list, we came home to watch the follow up programme.  So sad that with all the work that went into setting up the exhibition of work from the series, another  lockdown came into play. I'm hoping that at some point I will be able to travel up to see it.

Recently I have felt very uninspired, no crafting mojo to be found. The programme last night got me thinking and asking why? Other than I currently live a very boring hermit life. What I realised was that I have lost my creative space. For those of you who may have read my old blog you may remember my Pink den. A little space all for me to escape the male hormones, 1 hubby, 2 adult sons, that surround me daily. It was my little peace of heaven. 

Covid bought home working, and due to the nature of my job, sitting at my dining table with everyone milling around wasn't really appropriate. Therefore my little pink den, AKA the box bedroom was reassigned to become a working office. Everything was streamlined and packed into boxes. In cam a desk and cabinet's and work took over. About 4 months in I was going stir crazy so the room was repainted in calming colours with a coastal theme. Really great atmosphere for working but not so for my creativity apparently. Sadly the home working seems like it will be in place for a few more months to come so I'm not quite sure  how to create a creative space for me. 

So in need of something to do, and mindful of a friends subtle request for some handknit socks, I went  stash diving. I knew it had to be colourful, both friend and I need colour in our lives right now, and low and behold I found a rainbow....

These are going to make a fab pair of stripy rainbow socks and will be a joy to knit. 

Lets hope this colour burst inspires me.

Happy Friday.

Happy Friday.

This has been one long slow week. I shouldn't grumble I am normally rushed off my feet at work. I think quiet weeks when home working are the worst for me. I'm used to working as part of a huge team of people in a busy office, even when I am out on Hospital sites its normally with colleagues, so these quiet days at home can be quite lonely. I am not one of these people who can have the radio on whilst I work, I am easily distracted! I am grateful for these quiet days though as I have managed to catch up with loads of boring admin....

Pre Covid my office base was in the centre of the city, on a Friday, if Hubs was off he would come and meet me from work and we would have a ' date night'. Well, tonight  we are going on a date night! We are in tier 3, so no pubs or restaurants, but St Nicholas Market has their street food market tonight, so we thought we would venture out, as long as the weather doesn't decide to turn nasty. It's weird and scary as I have become a Covid Hermit, but quite exciting to be going out to do something different. I love St Nicks market and if you are ever in or near Bristol its well worth a look around.

Reflecting.

 Good Morning Blogland, its a dreary wet and grey day here, but its a work day so I'm snug and cosy in my home office ( box room). A positive start to the day as all my work systems are working so I can get straight in and on with some work. But First I thought id start my new habit of blogging daily!

I didn't get around to doing much last night, I find that the short days and working from home seem to have taken my mojo away, by the time I finish its dark, the curtains are drawn and the sofa calls. Its strange but when I was working outside in the real world, I had a commute home, dinner to make when I got in and then prep for the next day. Now, I just walk downstairs, Hubs does dinner as he has been made redundant, and I do all my work prep before I finish for the day. So I'm left with a void of time to fill.  

Last night Google photos popped up a yearly reminder for me, This time last year we had just arrived in New York ! it seems a lifetime away. I spent a while looking through the photo's and thinking how lucky we were to get that in just as Covid was starting to rear its head. I think one of the biggest tings I have missed this year is travel. But its a small price to pay for being safe and keeping others safe.

NewYork 2019.

Hello again.

What can I say, I miss blogging. 

This year has been tough, I didn't feel like I had anything to blog about.( I still don't to be honest !) I was getting more uncomfortable having too much personal info out there, as were my family, and despite making my old blog private, couldn't get my posts off of Bloglovin. (Worked that one out now). So I went and left the world of blogging.

 Fast forward a few months and here I am setting up a new fresh blog. Absolutely no idea where it will head, how long it will last or what I'm going to write about, its a bit of a work in progress. You may well just get me rambling on about nothing in particular, my life is actually quite boring. One thing this year has taught me is to embrace the boring and be thankful for each and everyday. So that's what I am going to do.

Today I am thankful that a coronavirus vaccination programme is about to start, my family remain healthy and I still have a job!

Lundy 2018, one of my happy places.

Bloglovin.

 <a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/20760087/?claim=4tsuetaggv3">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Another sneaky night away.

 Making the most of the sunshine we decided to slip away in the van again.

Found a fab little farm for a spot of wild camping.. no showers just compost loo's , but for a night I can cope without a shower.

It was a great little find, Wookey Farm.  Just under an hour away from home. Spotlessly clean, loads of space to socially distance and a working organic goat farm... it was bliss, although very cold at night.

 

We had a great 24 hours away, some friends joined us , we hadn't seen them since February, they also have a camper, they are totally self sufficient in their van so didn't have to use any shared facilities. 

We ate, we drank we chatted, we watched the night sky wrapped in blankets around the fire. It was pure bliss. 

WIP Wednesday.

Not much knitting happening here this week.  Seem to have fallen out of love with most of my projects.

But they need to get done or ripped, I have projects waiting in the wings.

So thsi week was another random pull out a bag and knit week. 

First up was this

Mineral wrap. 

I bought this kit from Purl Soho during my new York trip last year, and actually love it. It had fallen to the bottom of my WIP box and had completely forgotten about it. This is an ideal TV knit. Rows and rows of stocking stitch, and the yarn is glorious, even though one is laceweight, hence the little yarn pouches to stop them tangling. I'm glad I found this project again.

Then I pulled out this one

Pure Joy

Bought this year during my Cornish break from stitches and cream in Falmouth. Again I really enjoyed knitting on this and another great TV project.

And finally the last bag to be pulled out this week

Plain vanilla socks, generic pattern from memory, using yarn no 2 son bought me for my birthday this year.  I only have the roe to Kitchener and then they will be done. 

Quite looking forward to seeing what I pull out this week now.

Weekend.

Had a quiet weekend doing bits and bobs. Nothing exciting, just a chance to do stuff. 

Saturday saw me downsize the dining table. We went from a big long oblong table to a small round table, it does extended to sit 6. The males were not happy, they like to dump stuff on it. I was happy because now they cant!

Saturday evening we went to our friends for a socially distanced home made curry. It was rather nice, ate too much but really enjoyed it. Home by 10pm.

Sunday was a do what I fancy day. I visited my sister and caught up. Then home and made a carrot cake

I managed to get my fibre off of the wheel

So I could start another spin.

Absolutely gorgeous fluff to spin. This came from Spin Jones. I love her stuff. I am thinking that this will be a pair of boot toppers for my wellies.

managed to spin the first 50g whilst sat in the garden enjoyed the sunny day.

Come the evening it felt like a read your book kind of Sunday night, so that's exactly what I did.

Amazon link

Halfway through, its ok, normal Cornish chic lit romance. Haven't binge read it so its not brilliant but its ok and will enjoy reading till the end.

Now Autumn is here I can feel my reading taste changing, will be interesting to see what I read next. Mind you I do have the next one of these in the to read pile..... 

Fresh flowers Friday.

 I am so glad it’s Friday. This has been 1 busy week and hubs has been away as well. I am knackered. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend. 

Today was Freddie’s Flower day

I love fresh flowers, I treat myself generally every other week. These flowers will last about 2 weeks, in about a day or two they will start to bloom. It’s such a joy to wake up to fresh flowers. It’s my little treat to me for getting through another week at work. 

WIP Wednesday.

I have so many projects on the go it's starting to get me down, and there are far  too many projects I want to cast on.

This week has been all about picking up any of the WIP bags and just knitting on them for the evening. I have to be honest, none of them are calling to me. My own fault for letting them lay in Hotel WIP for months on end. I have fallen out of love with some of them.

Here are the ones I have actively worked on:

My Ocean fade sweater, I actually like this a lot. I managed to finish the second sleeve so all I have to do is the neck band and its done.

This has been on the needles for such a long time, hubs bought me the yarn for a gift so really need to get it done. Its the Inner peace shawl.  I think when its had a good blocking it will be quite pretty, just need to get it done.

Plain vanilla socks, no 2 son bought me the yarn for my birthday. I am almost there with these socks.

My knitting goal for this week is to focus on these three as they are so close to coming off the needles.