Monday 14 November 2016

Busy Being Retired

Ten weeks into my husband's retirement and we have settled into a lovely routine.  We potter around the house and garden, go for long country walks and watch a lot of sport on television.

We've been enjoying plenty of walks along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.  The canal is 127 miles long and this year there have been celebrations to mark 200 years since its completion.

Burscough


Lydiate
It really is a beautiful and peaceful place for a stroll.

And besides all this loveliness, I'm finding lots of time for knitting.

The past six weeks have flown by in terms of my knitting projects.  I've been joining in with a stranded knitting KAL with one of the groups I belong to on Ravelry.  I've put links to the relevant Ravelry project pages for each project.  Since chatting to you last time, and sharing my Fair Isle cardigan, I've completed my first ever pair of Fair Isle socks.




I can't believe I have put off knitting colourwork socks for so long, because I enjoyed knitting these so much.  I'm now busy browsing all the colour work sock patterns on Ravelry and I can't wait to start another pair.

I've also completed this cute Bumblebee Hat.


I was inspired by one of the other knitters from the Ravelry group to make this pattern.  She had had issues with the size of the hat, so I reconfigured it to match my favourite hat recipe, keeping the charts from the original pattern.




It was such a joy to knit and I couldn't put it down once I started.

So a very productive six weeks in terms of stash-busting.  For the four projects I finished for the KAL, I used 532g and 35 different colours in total, all in 4 ply weight.  Very satisfying.


And if that isn't enough, I knitted up a shawl with the Cuddlebums yarn I bought at Yarndale in September this year.




I love the little pops of colour in the pink background.  I used a favourite knitting pattern (it's free on Ravelry) called Age of Brass and Steam.  It's simple but very effective.

Lastly, I've been at the sewing machine again.  This time I made a simple skirt.




I used the skirt sections of my favourite Simplicity 2444 dress pattern and added a waistband.  I'm very happy with the fit and will be making more skirts like this in the future.  I would have liked to have shown you a picture of me wearing the skirt but to be honest, I don't trust my husband's photography skills!

I've recently bought two lots of new dress fabric and one lot of skirt fabric, however, I'm in the middle of decorating one of the bedrooms so crafty projects may have to take a backseat until the decorating is out of the way.  So until next time, I'm off to my pasting table to get suitable sticky.  Enjoy your week.

10 comments:

  1. I'm glad you are all enjoying your retirement and are able to do lots of crafty things, your makes are stunning as usual!!

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  2. You have so much Fair Isle patience - gorgeous skirt too.

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  3. Those socks are fantastic and the hat is super cute!!!

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  4. Beautiful finishes !! Nice to know that you have settled into a happy and creative retirement life:)

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  5. So glad that you have managed to establish a lovely routine with your husband after his retirement. The key is to keep things interesting, those walks will be good for body and soul. As always Janet stunning knitting projects I am in awe of your skills. Take care.

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  6. I love those socks. They look just great. How great to have lots of time to spend together.

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  7. I LOVE your Fair Isle knitting! You live in such a beautiful place. What lovely walks you and your husband are able to enjoy. (How romantic!)Your blog is inspiring. I always enjoy your photos and the latest news from you.

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  8. Canal walks are nice and peaceful aren't they ? Our local one is the Trent and Mersey. We had a nice dinner at the Mercia Marina last Friday.Got to make the most of the few hours of daylight now, Janet. Love all the strand work and that skirt hangs really nicely.

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  9. I just found your blog and am enjoying looking at all your wonderful fair isle, so lovely. Looking forward to seeing what you make next.
    Enjoy your retirement, it is awesome isn't it?
    Cheers!
    Janet

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