bad week/good week

Last week was one of those that had a lot of things that could go wrong go wrong and I don't mean spectacular catastrophes, just many minor incidents. I'm really beginning to feel grown up now; making decisions that affect not just myself but others too - it's very daunting.

Things did start looking up by the end of it. I received yet more birthday presents (told you it was great to be back home!) from B + J. Considering the week I had, the timing couldn't have been better.

I have been knitting furiously. Finished a pair of socks and moved on to ... a pair of socks! this time for the boy. He likes it already.

'tis strange not knitting whenever I fancy; restricting such an innocuous (albeit addictive) pastime to after hours seems a little rude of the non-knitting world. In my case it's probably for the best - there isn't a lot I can do satisfactorily while knitting.

'shrooms

these little (and not so little) guys just keep popping up EVERYWHERE!

celebrating love

{Cellarium, Fountains Abbey}

the one after the weather trip

Hello again! Am I glad to be home and well rested. I've had an 11 day ordeal of 14 hour workdays, very little sleep in a 7' x 7' bedroom with no window, 2 bunk beds and 2 roommates. I had a killer headache throughout the first 5 days and there was just no shifting it.

I suppose I should be grateful that the food was acceptable and my allergies did not kick in. We even managed to escape the dreaded midges until the penultimate day.

On the up-side, I learnt a whole lot about forecasting the weather, which means that from now on I'll be a lot more forgiving of Paul the weather man when he gets it wrong. I did meet some good people - always a bonus - and learnt I could be a little more out-going. That is a work in progress.

Speaking of which, I got absolutely no knitting done whilst away. I cast-on for socks during the ferry ride there and didn't look in my project bag again till the ferry ride back!

You know it's a brutal week when I can't sneak in a little knitting.

Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to improve my computer programming skills (it's gonna be very useful), then I'll knit those socks, and crochet a scarf using the Manos from my ill-fated Manos jacket. Quilting has been relegated to the benches.

amethyst

My carousel socks are done and I'm deciding on my next project.

{Spiral Eyelet Socks knit in Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 - amethyst}

It will have to be socks again because I must make some headway into my sock stash and socks are the perfect project to travel with. The next pair will have to be a non-migrating pattern though; the last pair was a migrating pattern knit on DPN's and as is typical of

me + DPN's ≠ identical socks!

Fortunately they go perfectly well with my non-identical feet. There was a little yarn left over so I knit-up these little bootees in no time.

{Saartje's Booties}

Shortly, the girls will arrive for an evening of knitting accompanied by pineapple crumble, ice-cream, tea and biscuits.

mini domes

It's been wet here lately. These little guys were captured on my return from the continental market in town.