Recuperation

I'm at home at the moment, recovering from an operation on 10th January. I have been recovering well and my energy is starting to return now, but I still have a few more weeks off work to go.
While I have been resting I have managed to knit and crochet, and I have finished the crochet blanket I was working on last year.

And I've also finished a hoody, with a stripe pattern that I based on a number of other sweaters I have seen around this winter.

As part of my recuperation, I am aiming to go for a walk most days (weather permitting, which has not often been the case these last few weeks!). Yesterday Braveheart and I went out to walk along the Wey Navigation to see how water levels had been affected by the rainfall.
The footpath to the weir was quite wet, and the "lake" that you can see to the left is usually a field with horses in it.

The water on the path was not too deep, so with a bit of care we managed to get through it.

The weir race was higher and faster than I have ever seen it

The water level was high, but the towpath was not flooded and we managed to make our way along it to the road.

It was pretty muddy though!

Apple Blossom

A few weeks ago the Braeburn apple tree burst into flower, followed a week or so later by the other two apple trees. This is the first year they have had significant amounts of blossom, and if all the flowers were to be pollinated the branches would probably break off under the weight of the apples. This week there has been strong wind and rain, so yesterday I was looking gloomily out of the window at apple blossom petals blowing across the garden. But today has been sunnier and warmer, and I saw two bees on the blossom, so I am really hoping to get a few apples this year.

The trees look beautiful, I love the colours of apple blossom.

 















The first early potatoes are growing well now, we had to put cloches over them and fleece them up for a week or so at the end of April, as there were a few sharp frosts.

These tulips on the patio were a birthday gift from DS last October.











I have also finished knitting this doily, which I started in November I think, with an idea of it being finished by Christmas. I'm really pleased with it and can see it on my festive table this year and for years to come.

Easter

This weekend it is still cold, but dry and bright. I'm really in need of a break as I have been so busy at work since February, so today I enjoyed getting out into the garden and weeding. Braveheart planted the first early potatoes yesterday. I think we are going to put some fleece over the bed in case they come up and get frost bitten.

Tomorrow we are going walking with DS and his GF and then coming back to lamb slow cooked with new potatoes and cabbage and carrots from the garden. Mmmm!

I've started on the first sleeve of Driftwood and am reading some of the recent bargains I have downloaded from amazon. It's been very relaxing so far, and lovely to get outside each day, even if it is so cold I can only manage a couple of hours!

And I finished my beret which is bright and warm.

Spring Just Around the Corner

Since last posting, the seeds I sowed have started to come up and are doing well. The potatoes are still in the utility room as it has been so cold and wet! We are determined to plant them over the Easter weekend.

I have knitted some fingerless gloves using the Elisabeth Beverley merino I bought at Unravel, and I am making good progress with Driftwood.

Driftwood is easy to knit but rather dull, and it seems quite endless! So I have treated myself to this little beret knitted in Mochi Plus, by Annette Petavy - Grenobloise. I am using the colourway Brandied Apricots.

Unravel and Sowing Seeds

As I said in my last post, I went to Unravel in Farnham a couple of weeks ago. It was a great day, there was so much to see and I met up with some friends, too! I just had to take a photo of this sheep which was at the bottom of the stairs.

I had a shopping list and I pretty much stuck to it. I bought some Easyknits yarn to make the shawl  La Vie En Rayures, some Elisabeth Beverley plant dyed merino to make fingerless gloves and a cowl, and some balls of Ecological wool just because I liked it.

I've since designed a crochet blanket using the Eco wool, so I need to swatch a bit more to find out how many crochet squares I can get from one ball, so I know how much to buy. It's so soft!

Last weekend I washed all my seed trays and propagators in dilute Jeyes fluid, because it's time to sow seeds for summer vegetables and bedding plants. I sowed tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, marigolds and Russian Campion, and they are all in the lounge under propagators. The tomatoes, sweet peas, marigolds and campion have all germinated now - and it has been snowing today! It's hard to believe it is Spring. I love growing from seed, it's such a miracle watching the seedlings grow and I feel so proud when I am picking pounds of tomatoes that I grew them all from seed.

We also bought some First Early seed potatoes and they are chitting in trays in the utility room. The bed has to be dug over and they should go out in a couple of weeks. I've never done first earlies before, so we will have to watch out for frost and fleece them up if necessary.

Still Winter!

After a few days of mild temperatures and bright sunshine, today it is snowing again.
Luckily I have finished my Log Cabin Shawl, so I am warm as toast.

Tomorrow I am going to Unravel. This will be my fourth year at this delightful event and I am looking forward to it. Last year it was so mild that people were eating and drinking outside in the sunshine, but that isn't going to happen this year! I don't have many plans for purchases, but I would like to get some hand painted sock yarn and a toning plain colour to crochet La Vie en Rayures.

I've made some raspberry muffins to share as I hope to meet up with a few friends.

Is it Spring Yet?

Today it looks like Spring outside, as the sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky. But outside it is cold! I've put two washloads on the line, though, as there is sun and a nice breeze, so I think things might dry quite well.

I've washed the recycled skeins I  unravelled last weekend and they are drying:

I've found this pattern,  Old Forge, which I think might look lovely in the recycled yarn, paired with a bright aran for the centre.

And finally, I'm on the last strip of the Log Cabin Shawl, after which I just need to add a border. I'm loving it so far!

Recycling

Nearly 20 years ago now I was staying in the village of Ambleside, in the Lake District, when I found  a little wool shop, now sadly defunct. It had some lovely, natural grey-brown Blue-Faced Leicester in an aran weight, and I bought some to make this sweater (the one on the right):

Well, twenty  years ago it was pretty fashionable ;)

I started knitting the sweater and I finished the back. Then I stopped knitting for a while and it was five years later, if I remember correctly, that I picked it up again and knitted the front and one sleeve. I started the second sleeve - disaster! I ran out of yarn. After some searching on the internet (no Ravelry in those days) I found a supplier of the same brand of yarn, but they did not have the same colour. They sent me a shade card and I chose a contrasting yarn which I used to make stripes on the remaining sleeve, the collar and sew up the sweater. What was I thinking of!

Well, it didn't look great, and I was not very careful about finishing in those days either, and the collar didn't lie properly and the sweater was very very heavy and really too warm, and, long story short, I never wore it.

I recently found it at the back of the wardrobe and I knew I was never going to wear it, but I still loved the yarn so I decided to unravel it and recycle the yarn.

I got started last weekend. Here's the sweater after I had removed the collar and the first sleeve. You can see how bad the striped sleeve looks. Plus there is a mistake in the front left cable.

I skeined up the yarn from the collar and the first sleeve using my niddy noddy and it looked like this!

Like poodle wool and incredibly sproingy.

The next step is to continue unravelling the sweater and to soak and dry the skeins. Once they are all processed then I have to decide what to make with them. Something I have noticed as I have been unravelling is that the yarn is quite soft and has a halo. I don't think it is ideally suited to cables as it softens them and they don't pop as much as they should.

One possible use for the yarn is to make a Girasole Blanket. I've wanted to make one of these for a long time. I think it would be soft and warm and would show off the yarn beautifully. On the other hand I still have a yearning to make it into something I can wear.
To be continued...

Knitting Update

I completed the handspun scarf on Monday and blocked it. Then I had to wait until today to have enough daylight to take a decent photograph. I really like it, and it is light and warm, too.

I've also made progress on my Log Cabin Shawl

I am using a pack of Jamieson's Spindrift which I bought one year at Ally Pally, and some left over sock yarn. The thin stripes are in a mixture of Trekking XXL and Crazy Zauberball. It's fun to knit.

A Burns Night to Remember

Last night, as it was Burns Night, we planned to have haggis, neeps and tatties for dinner and a wee dram, as one does. I'd had a very frustrating day at work during which I achieved less than nothing, so I was looking forward to getting home, getting the housework out of the way and having dinner.

Braveheart went out at 4pm to pick up Littlest and I started my housework. At 4.10 pm I received a phone call to say the car had broken down about 100 m along the road and could I go and get Littlest. I couldn't believe it. There was obviously some potent frustrating energy in the air which was going to prevent me from completing anything. 

So I stopped cleaning, grabbed my coat and bag and went to get Littlest. Once we got back we walked along the road to where BH's car was stopped in a not very convenient place. We tried to push the car back off the roadside and out of the way and succeeded to some extent but there was an upward slope and we were not strong enough to push the car right up. 

BH then had the idea that we try to push the car out onto the busy road in the middle of the rush hour,  do a U turn to get it facing in the other direction,  then push it back towards  home and then across the busy road into our driveway. Littlest (14), who has never driven a car, would steer while we pushed. It was immediately clear that this was not a great idea. 

So Braveheart called the RAC. They said it would be 3 hours so we all went back home in the warm and I got on with my cleaning which I did in fact finish. After that things got better as the RAC called after only one hour and said they were almost there. BH went off to meet them and in the end the RAC man took the car to the garage and dropped BH off at home on his way back, so I didn't have to go out and I used the time to prepare the vegetables for dinner. 

So we got our haggis, neeps and tatties, which was delicious, and boy, did I need that dram!

In the meantime I have been working away at my candy colours scarf and here is what it looks like now:

Not much more to do!

Snow!

It's not much, about 15cm, but I really love snow so woohoo!
The garden looks mysterious, cold and serene under its coating of snow. There are unexplained animal footprints hinting at an unknown night world which we normally see no traces of.

Indoors my candy colours scarf is quite a lot longer, but the ball of yarn still has plenty to go! So I've started a new project, a modular shawl.

It's so addictive. Just one more block! I'm trying not to neglect the candy colours scarf, though, as I would like to get it finished this month. I have a few too many WIPs at the moment...

Candy Colours

I'm knitting this simple lace scarf out of handspun which I have had in my stash for a good four years.   I am mainly knitting it in lamplight because of the time of year, which means that I can see it is pink but not any subtle variances in the colours. Today I looked at it in daylight and was amazed to see all the shades which were emerging. I think it's going to be lovely.

Worth the Wait

I started this cardigan, the Must Have Cardigan, in May 2009. I finished the back and started the sleeves by the end of that summer, and then we moved, and I didn't touch it for the whole of 2010. I restarted it this year in March and finished it at the weekend. I love it!

The buttons are from The Textile Garden, I bought them at the Ravelry Day in Coventry in 2009.

Jam Today

After a few weeks of collecting strawberries and trying to eat them all on my muesli of a morning, we had a huge glut, and I made 5lb of jam. We have also made strawberry pavlova and I still have some left to eat on my muesli, although they are nearly all finished now.

That doesn't matter though because.....

the raspberries are ripening! I'm still eating those on my muesli and I don't know if I'll get jam out of them, but it would be pretty cool if I did.

We've also been harvesting plenty of courgettes and sugar snap peas, which are delicious.

We also have some beautiful flowers - potatoes and runner beans:

The herb and salad beds are flourishing and we have salad leaves and wild rocket, coriander, parsley and chives.

Last weekend we picked 8.5 pints of elderflowers and we now have 5 gallons of elderflower, lemon and raisin wine fermenting in a big plastic bin. It's not very photogenic though!

I've even found the time to knit, and I've started a new project, a cardigan in DROPS Safran (a 100% fingering weight cotton). It seems perfect for the current weather, cool and fresh. It has a body in wave pattern (feather and fan) with a top and sleeves in garter stitch.

First Fruits

I have one and a half pounds of strawberries in the fridge now, and yesterday we had our first baby courgettes, yum!

Nearly the entire vegetable garden is now draped in nets, to protect the raspberries and strawberries against the birds and to protect the raised bed against cat attack grrrr!

Look at the size of the potatoes! They are like little trees LOL. The broad beans are in flower now and the peas too, so I confidently expect more crops to follow in the next few weeks. The tomatoes and chillies are doing pretty well, too.

Even the flowerbed has some colour in it now, although it's a long way from what I want it to look like. I'll be planting some new plants, bulbs and seeds in the autumn.

I've actually taken an afternoon off from gardening and am doing some knitting today

These socks are knitted in beautiful madelinetosh merino sock yarn, which I received in a birthday swap last year, in a colour called logwood. It is a semisolid in shades of lavender, lilac and dark blue, which reminds me of lavender flowers. The pattern is Evelyn Clark's Raindrop Lace Socks. I'm determined to finish the first sock before doing anything else.