Beads, dyes, and new shoes!

First up - the Beaded Jewellery day course!
It was fab. There were 6 of us plus the teacher, and I wasn't the oldest. ;-)

We could choose from the bead selection there and shown how to make various types of necklaces and earrings. These are mine, and I'm quite pleased with them.

I've given the earrings to my SIL as I don't tend to wear dangly earrings much - they just get tangled in my hair. The necklaces have been claimed by both of my DDs of course, but I may have to borrow them back now and again.

I have plans for some other necklaces to use up some of my bead stash now, so I can make ones to match my various work outfits.

Secondly - the yarn dyeing. I managed to get time to do some this week - wahay!

I dyed 3 skeins of sock yarn with Kool-Aid reds, yellows, and oranges - not the best photo but you get the idea.

Finally the new shoes! Flip flops of course considering our new home location. I wore them on the beach this afternoon, and they're very comfy ;-)

I have to include a link to my favourite song atm too - "New Shoes" by Paolo Nutini - a fab happy tune. :-)

Other events

Feeling sad today - I found out this morning that my brother and his partner have lost their expected baby. They went for the first scan this morning (at 12 weeks) to find that the foetus had died at around 9.5 weeks according to the measurements.

Obviously this little one was not meant to be, but it takes a while to get your head around it. They do have a lovely little son already who is almost 2 years old, and I'm sure they'll be fine after a while. In the meantime we're sending them lots of virtual hugs and loving wishes to help them along.

High on sunshine

Oh I love sunny weather. It was great today being able to get back from work and diving into my shorts & T-shirt to soak up the last warm rays of the afternoon. Bliss!

Look - I found some beads for the croppped aran lace cardigan! I wasn't sure if they'd be the right colour/size/weight/etc as I got them from ebay rather than seeing them beforehand, but I'm thrilled as they're perfect.

I just need to sew them on now :-)

The Hedera sock is progressing nicely. I'm now on to the straight part of the foot, so not long to go now.

My workmates are not sure what to think of me - nobody has seen anyone knitting a sock before apparently!

I get to sit in the car and knit a few rounds before I go into my fitness classes too; I need to get there early to get a parking space so it's the perfect opportunity. :-)

Time flies when you're having fun!

Phew! Where have the last 10 days gone?

This week we’ve had DH’s parents staying with us; they are planning to move down here as soon as their house has sold. We've had lots of beach outings and picnics, making the most of the brillliant Easter weather which has just broken.

I’m getting excited about the Beaded Jewellery course now – less than 2 weeks to go! I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve had very little time to do much knitting, but I have nearly completed the Cropped Aran Lace Cardigan.

I just have to graft the small gaps under the arms and sew in the ends, then it’s all down to the beads.

I need 14 machine washable reasonable weight (but not heavy) beads with holes going side to side, so I can sew them on to the hemline points (shown here) to stop them flipping up. Time to find out the bead stash!

Oh yes, and as you can see from this close-up of the sleeve, it all needs a light blocking to open up those lovely lace patterns.

The first Hedera sock now has a heel flap and is progressing nicely along the foot. The Cherry Tree Hill yarn is lovely - soft and squishy with fab colours.

We'll see how they wash as I've heard sometimes there can be colour bleeding.

As soon as I’d finished knitting the cardigan, I started on the bargain cotton/viscose blend yarn from Lidl.

I’d found the perfect pattern for the yarn in an old copy of Rebecca knitting magazine – the issue with the Apricot cardigan in that I so adore (yes of course it’s on my To-Do list!). The top is knit in the round from the neck down and is pretty simple.

Unfortunately the German to English translation is not so brilliant, and 20-odd rounds into the design I found that I’ve been working too many increases in each alternate round – since round number 2. Ho hum. Into the frog pond – actually stuffed in a plastic bag in my storage pouffe in the lounge until I can face frogging it.

Better carry on with those socks!

Time to use some energy

Just as I was getting into a routine of updating this blog twice weekly, life gets in the way. But not in a bad way. We've had 2 lots of friends visiting Cornwall this week as the children are on Easter holiday from school.

So we've been very busy meeting up with them; DH has taken the girls swimming with their friends whilst I've been at work, then we've been visiting various family-friendly local pubs in the evenings. It's been lovely to see them all, but I'm glad we can still stay here in Cornwall after the holidays instead of going back.

As for the fitness classes I mentioned last time, I've signed up and been straight from work to "Bums and Tums" and the "Swiss Ball Workout" - which I can't stop calling the "Swiss Cheese" workout - can you see where my focus is?!

I can feel the effects of both classes - mainly in my torso and legs, which is great as it must be doing something.

Our fitness class teacher, Helen, is a lovely (and very fit!) lady who makes the classes good fun. She's told us we can eat plenty of chocolate this Easter weekend. I don't know whether she's saying we don't have to feel guilty as we're working out, or just guaranteeing plenty of customers for the forthcoming classes.. Either way I actually enjoyed both classes and I'm not the oldest or biggest there, so I feel better about that.

Another thing which has caught my eye is a one-day course in Beaded Jewellery at the local college on Saturday 28th April - which I have enrolled on!
I've been messing about with beads since last autumn when I had a go at making beaded stitch markers, so I'm really looking forward to it – but I wonder if I'll be the oldest one there..?!

On the knitting front, I'm now into the hem edging and cast-off for the cropped aran lace cardigan; not long to go there and we should have a FO - yippee!

The first Hedera sock in the work-lunch-break project has now reached the heel flap; I have to be careful with this as I could easily become totally engrossed and wildly over-run my allocated lunch break time..

Anyway, I hope everyone has a lovely chocolaticious Easter weekend; it looks like we may even get good weather which is very non-British for a bank holiday period. We're hoping to make the most of it on the beach - after we've eaten the Easter eggs that is.