January

January is coming to an end, and it's been a funny sort of month.  Usually I find January a month of hope and optimism - a time to dream and plan.  This year, it's felt tired and directionless - maybe it's the influence of the weather, it's another wet and very windy day here.

I've tried to simply my knitting projects, disciplining myself to concentrate on the one immediately in front of me.  This month it has been my Fair Isle cardigan using leftovers.  I set myself the task of completing it by the end of the month, certainly possible but I'm growing weary of working of it.  It's certainly looking colourful though isn't it.

My embroidery squares are coming along nicely.  I've completed 21 now, but I'm setting myself a punishing schedule, of 4 /5 squares a week.  Again, I've reached a point where enthusiasm has left me.

I need a new project, a new diversion, an adventure, something to liven me up, get the blood pumping.

Picture from Oprah.com

So this afternoon, I'm NOT going to carry on with the Fair Isle knitting, or embroider another square, as I had planned.  Instead, I'm going to give myself an energy boost and dream up a new adventure.

Before then, I've got to brave the elements as I have a dentist appointment, BUT when I get back home!  The sky's the limit, I'm going to dream BIG!

I hope you all have more energy than me, and if you have any to spare, please send it my way.

Time for London

I seem to be playing a game of catch up at the moment.  There aren't enough days in the week lately.  This is because we've been away from home the last few weekends, so I'm not in my usual routine - not that I'm complaining, it's good to get out and about.

Last weekend we had a lovely trip down to London on the train to stay with Eve.  It was the first time we had seen her since her move there at the end of August so it was wonderful to be reunited.  She's settled in nicely into her flat and is enjoying her work.  It's so good to know she is happy - what more could any parent want.

Eve's flat is not far from the Tower of London, so we had a wander down to the river and explored the area.

It was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to more visits and more exploring.

Craft-wise, I've now completed another two squares as part of my embroidery project.

Creating the clock face was fun, it's lightly padded to make it 3D.

I can embroider time but I need to find a way of creating more time!

I've just completed one of the shawls I was knitting but there are no photos yet - I'll save them for another post.  Until then, I hope all is well with you.  Bye for now.

A Busy but Unorganized Sort of Week

You wouldn't think that the simple task of packing up Eve's belongings to load into the car to take to London could take so long.  Eve is now in London, she went by train on Thursday with enough stuff to last for a few days.  All the rest of her belongings are still in Liverpool waiting to be driven down.

So I have spent the last few days, sorting, packing and loading up her stuff.

There was a time when I thought it wasn't going to fit into our small car - but I did manage it.  I think a love of jigsaw puzzles helped me to fit everything in and some super vacuum bags that compressed all the bedding and towels down to a manageable size.

So we're ready for the off, to drive down to London so that we can reunite Eve with her belongings.

I feel that I haven't caught up with myself this week, there seems to be a lot of unfinished business.  Knitting and crocheting have been neglected and it's been difficult to find time to blog.

I'm hoping that next week will be different.  I'm definitely planning on being organised next week!  I have serious plans for September.

In the meantime, I'm feeling very indifferent to my current knitting project.  It's the Dancing Bees shawl.

Each section of the pattern represents something different.  The first section is the bees in the hive.

The second section is the honeycomb of the hive.

The third section is the bees a outside the hive.

The fourth section is lavender flowers.

And the fifth section is a trellis.

The final section will be the border which is more flowers.

I'm just not liking the different sections, I don't think they flow into each other very well.  The lavender section doesn't do anything for me.  The shawl is also very large, far larger than I would need, and that was after doing a reduced number of repeats.

I may give the border a try and see how it looks, but I've a feeling this shawl is heading for the frog pond.  We'll see!  What do you think?

One of Those Days

The loss of my camera has put me out of sorts the last few days.  I don't know why it should but I don't seem to be able to get myself organised.

Thankfully, my darling husband has now picked up a lovely new camera for me.  Same make as the last one but a more up-to-date model.  I should be back on form again soon.

On Thursday, I had planned on a day out to Chester, as part of my birthday treat days.  I arrived at the train station, bought my ticket, and then found out that the train had been cancelled and subsequent trains were subject to delay!  Then it started pouring down with rain!

I got a refund on my ticket and went home - I thought I'd have a leisurely day at home instead.

Half an hour after returning home the rain stopped and it started to brighten up!  I then spent the next two hours cursing myself for giving into the weather so easily.

But you can't sit around feeling sorry for yourself and I needed to go to the bank, so I thought a walk would do me good.  It's a mile walk to the bank branch - a nice brisk energetic walk to blow away the cobwebs.  As soon as I arrived at the bank it started to pour with rain again!  I had a miserable walk back that didn't feel in the least bit brisk or energetic, just soggy!

Nothing for it but to grab a crochet hook and some zingy colours of yarn and make something to cheer me up.

So this is what I made, a lovely juicy-coloured liner for a basket that I can use for my works-in-progress.

I used Stylecraft Special DK in Pomegranate, Saffron, Cloud Blue, Turquoise and Shrimp.

I love the colour combination - it really cheered me up.

Now I have a jolly new basket for my WIPs and I still have a trip to Chester to look forward to - I'm going this coming week, whatever the weather!

Distracting Distractions

I find myself easily distracted these days.  I know I have a cardigan to knit and a dress to sew, but everything else is so appealing.

I was supposed to be defrosting the freezer.  I thought I'd fit in a bit of cleaning.  Whilst plugging in the vacuum cleaner, I remembered  I wanted to photograph the fat quarters I bought in Hobbycraft (yesterday's post).

I wanted to style them nicely (I'm trying to improve my photography skills) so I thought I'd include a pretty doily.

I went in search of a doily, not just any doily, one that would be right for the photo.  I have a lot of crochet doilies, mostly made by me, and I thought, maybe I should reorganise them all better in the drawer where they are kept.  I took them all out and at the bottom of the drawer I found a crocheted rectangular tray cloth I must have made way back when, probably in the 1970s.

It's quite a nice design, but rectangles aren't my favourite shape.  Then I thought, maybe I could  re-crochet this and make it into a square shape instead (still not my favourite shape but better than rectangles).

So I started calculating stitches and examining the construction.  But then the doorbell rang.  My lovely next-door neighbour had picked some plums from her garden for me.  What a delight!

So it's out with the cookery books and what shall I make with the plums.  Meanwhile the freezer is busy defrosting it's ice all over the kitchen floor and the cleaning isn't doing itself.

If my husband asks, I'm multi-tasking, just between you and me, I think I'm a little distracted.

Sheffield Here She Comes...

Yesterday was moving day for Grace.

They should have given us a hire van with elastic walls because we could have done with squeezing in a bit more.

Look at all this lovely space in the new flat.

Now filled with all Grace's stuff (thankfully no longer in our dining room).  I was too polite to take any photos of the pile of boxes and bags now filling her spare bedroom!

A very successful move - oops apart from forgetting to take the cutlery!

There is still a significant amount of "stuff" to be moved.  We're off for a visit one day next week so we can load up the car and take this with us.  Hopefully I can then get back in control - so much to do, so much started and not finished, so much promised and still to do.  I suppose life would be very boring if I was actually in control all the time!

Where Has the Floor Gone?

First, Grace came back with a significant amount of STUFF (see the post, here).

Then Eve came back and her STUFF was dumped in the dining room.

I've tidied most of that away, but then... the next instalment of Grace's STUFF arrived.

I've lost the floor in the dining room - and the worrying thing is - there is still more STUFF to come!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

Wonderful Weekend

I was chatting to my next door neighbour this morning and she was telling me all about how time consuming her work is and what she had to get done around the house - she's always running around, very busy.  It makes me wonder why I always feel that I never have enough time. I don't go out to work - I get to stay at home all day - my daughters are grown up and mostly independent - so where is all the time going?  I'll have to sit down and work that one out!

I do know that lately all the time is being spent on preparing for birthdays- in particular Eve's 18th next weekend - and I'm so looking forward to it.  I've been so busy planning surprises for Eve's birthday that I almost forgot my own birthday on Friday!  Needless to say my darling family made me feel very special.  I've had a wonderful weekend.

Grace crocheted me some lovely bracelets, which you can see on her blog, here.  I received lots of lovely gifts and surprises.

And we had a delicious cake.

A big thank you to my family for making it special.

The Twelve Knits of Christmas Part 1

So much to do to get ready for Christmas - I said last year (I say it every year) that I would be more organised this year but with one thing and another it hasn't happened.  So I have my usual situation of over ambitious plans and a shortage of time!

Anyway - I am making progress on my Twelve Knits of Christmas - I have completed the first four items - admittedly they are the easiest and quickest to make but at least it's progress. 

So we have a partridge (not in a pear tree!)...

A turtle dove....

A french hen...

And a calling bird...

They are fun to make and easy patterns to follow.  The book is called the Twelve Knits of Christmas and it's by Fiona Goble. 

Five gold rings will be very quick but the milk maid, piper and drummer are going to slow me down!

Celebrations

Eve and I went to the cinema yesterday to see The Three Muskateers.

Despite the fact that the critics seem to dislike the film, we thought it was great fun.  We really enjoyed it - escapist, funny and action-packed. 

The reason for our trip was by way of a celebration. 

After eight anxious weeks, yesterday I was given the all clear regarding lumps in my breast.  The mammogram, ultrasound scan and biospies had all proved inconclusive, so two weeks ago I had to have an operation to remove the lumps for further testing.  Thankfully, it's all over now and I can put it all behind me. 

My heart goes out to anyone else going through this awful uncertainty.  The feeling of not being in control of your life is so stressful and upsetting. 

So today life gets back to normal - I'm in the driving seat again - and I need to get on with my knitting!