Easter Greetings

...and good news!
At last we have grant of probate, and hope to complete on Mum's bungalow on Wednesday ... 

We spent a few days at our favourite hotel in Lille, where I was able to get on with more of the 'lanterns' for my shawl

I have completed 54 of the 66 lanterns now - shown here in a plastic bag next to the Christmas Present I received  from eldest granddaughter ... who has just got engaged!

And now it's Easter - where did that time go?

Marching on ...

Just a quick update - still no probate but signs that it won't be much longer; hoping buyers are happy to wait another couple of weeks. 

In the meantime, I haven't touched the yarn I showed in the February post, because I've been seduced by Mystical Lanterns and show some of my motifs below: 

These were the first three and so each of the twelve colours has been used once. Then all the balls go back into a bag and get picked 'blind' to give a different selection for the next three 'lanterns'













And here are all twelve colours, plus the thirteenth, joining colour - the pale peachy one at top right

Also finished a pair of socks (as always, 2-at-a-time and toe-up) from this pattern - sock yarn bought in Lille last summer.

February falals

So as 2016 has well and truly begun, the 'Christmas card' post needs replacing...

Mum's bungalow is finally cleared, and we hope will soon be sold. The work on reprints continues, and so does the knitting and crochet - a recent trip to meet friends in Salisbury yielded a rather good value pack of different colours of yarn, so another blanket is in the offing:

Have done a test square - though not yet sure of the exact pattern I'll use - with some stash yarn...

Seasonal Greetings 2015/16

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year for 2016

Sorry to have been quiet here lately. My mother had a stroke at the end of July and has since died. I have been occupied in sorting her bungalow in the hope of getting it on the market in the New Year, which we are on course to do, as we should get probate some time in January. TMOH has been a tower of strength as always, but naturally the bulk of the work has fallen on my brother and me. 

This photo was taken by TMOH in Lyon, where we snatched a few days' holiday in September. The flowers are about 50 cm - nearly 2 ft - across!

More knitting ... and other things

Another several months have slipped by, and I sometimes think all I've done is knit .. and watch a bit of tennis on the box ... oh, and edit a couple more reprints. Life seems quite full at the moment despite this seeming inertia, so no apologies for the hiatus in blog posts. 

Instead, some pictures of what I have achieved!

The February title

The June title 

The blanket completed in June 

The April cat for an April baby

The June cat for the Cleeve weekend raffle

...and the bottom three of these 4 pairs of socks

So I haven't actually been idle!

And TMOH is much better now; thank you to everyone who has asked.

Kaffghan Blues

I've spent January trying to finish the Kaffe Fassett/Rowan Knit-along. I was up-to-date all along with the actual knitting, but events conspired against me during the sewing-up.  Then TMOH went for some tests. Nothing we didn't already know about showed up, but his reaction to one of the procedures was horrifying and could have even been life-threatening. This was compounded by the fact that he reacted badly to the antibiotic they gave him 'in case' he got an infection. Ten days on, he is on the mend, with a different antibiotic - he's had to stop another of his regular meds while on this, as it is contra-indicated! - but with one thing and another I have missed the deadline for Rowan's competition. All the sewing-up was finished last night - and if 31 Jan had been the deadline, as originally indicated, I might just have made it, but they made the deadline 30th, so no chance. And I have still to do a trim, so I can't with all honesty say it is finished yet.

But here it is in its current state...I have sewn all the ends in - the rogue piece of yarn peeking out from under the edge of the blanket is actually from a spare ball of wool under the sofa! [and the length on the arm of the sofa leads to the ball I'm working the trim with...]

Ravelry project page link 

And here it is with crochet edging on the spare bed.

All Good Wishes for Christmas and the New Year

I have been very remiss this year and not posted anything like as often as I should have - I will try to be a better girl next year. But we will be very busy [not in the Chalet School sense!] planning TMOH's 'Big Birthday' celebration for next August, so I don't know whether this will get fitted in. I have been busy knitting - according to the gadget on Ravelry, nearly 7 miles of yarn have gone through my fingers this year. 

You've seen the cardigan, jumper and cats already, but two blankets and most of the squares for another one have also been completed, and a goldfish called Solon [you can see some of the squares for the current blanket behind him].


All good wishes to everyone for Christmas 2014 and New Year 2015