All Change Please

Well, here we are in the second month of 2012 already! Doesn't time fly!

I've found recently that I have come back to my blog in order to look something up, and do you know, every time I do so I realise how much I've missed blogging and how remiss I have become. 

So, it's time to start again, I think. For one thing, I have more time to blog now as I retired from work at the end of 2011. It came as a great surprise to me that I should want to retire early after some 38 years of nursing, but once the decision had been made I could barely wait. And almost six weeks in I'm not missing things at all! People yes, but not the work. 

There is so much knitting to show you that I haven't done, but it's all on Ravelry so maybe that's the place to leave it and we'll start with 2012.

So far this year I have completed a pair of toe-up socks for my son-in-law, knitted leaves and loomed flowers for a friend's forthcoming wedding, knitted and felted a pair of slippers, knitted a pair of vanilla socks and also a dishcloth for a swap. Quite a variety to start the year!

Hopefully, you won't have to wait so long for another update :-)

The Most Special of Days

May 21st was my daughter's wedding day. It was an amazing day from start to finish, and I hope the photos will speak for themselves. Much happiness was had by all. Enjoy............




 

 

It was the most perfect of days from start to finish :-)

Hitchhiker 2

Now then, I don't think this pattern is going to go the way of the FCS, but this is my second Hitchhiker scarf.......

It's a birthday present for a friend. I'm hoping they are "her" colours, I think they are having done a litle stalking on Ravelry. The yarn is sadly now discontinued, being from The Knittery, but fortunately I still have a couple of skeins stashed away.

Not quite 42 "teeth" on this one. I increased the needle size to 4.5mm which probably has something to do with it as overall it's bigger.

I'm sorry that I don't always have time to reply to everyone's lovely comments, but I do appreciate them. I'm also sorry that I don't have as much time to visit my favourite blogs as I used to. I'm studying for a COPD diploma and have been working on my first piece of coursework. And there are also only 10 days to go until DD's wedding............................................................... :-)

A Forest Full of Canopies ;-)

I remarked on Ravelry the other day that I really ought to buy another copy of this lovely pattern ;-) I've given up counting how many I've knitted it, but you know they are all so different it never really seems as though I am knitting the same thing..................

None of these is in my possession any more, as ever, they have gone to say "get well soon" or "thank you for having me" or something of that ilk.

So, here are 4 FCS's, not in any particular order, knitted using a variety of yarns and all rather different.

First up is one that was knitted with around 70g of Old Maiden Aunt merino yarn # Dreich.

This one using Fiddlesticks Country Silk # Desert Sand

This one using Artesano Inca Cloud. I particularly like this one. It was difficult to photograph the colour accurately though.



And finally this one, using yarn from the Unique Sheep # Hobbiton.

I don't just knit these of course ;-) Next week I'll show you what I'm up to at the moment. 

And once again, thank you to everyone for entering my competition. I am so pleased that I have returned to my blog. I may not blog as prolifically as I used to or respond to everyone's comments, but I do appreciate them all.

The Marathon Man

3 hours 5 minutes 17 seconds

This was the time in which DS ran the London Marathom this weekend. We are so proud of him. It was not an easy run as the weather was very warm, but it was a personal best time for him which is a great achievement.

We managed to see DS three times during the race. First of all we headed down to Surrey Quays, where amazingly we bumped into friends from home, then on the Canary Wharf and finally to Westminster before meeting him at Horseguards. Here are a few photos of the day.

A wonderful effort by so many people.

And finally, the lovely PixieMum has received her prize. How fitting that her daughter should have taken part in the marathon too. And just to show what a small world it is, we discovered that we have a mutual knitting friend. Awesome!

And the Winner is........

PixieMum! Thank you so much to everyone who entered my little competition. I allocated you all a number this morning, and just entered the relevant information into a random number generater and voila!


Random Integer Generator


Here are your random numbers:



15

Timestamp: 2011-04-01 12:01:21 UTC

Thank you to everyone who commented, and encouraging me back to blogland. PixieMum, I'll just go and leave a post on your blog and ask you to email me. Well done!

Life, The Universe and Everything........

..... or a Hitchhiker scarf ;-)

Mine has 42 teeth so it's a proper Hitchhiker, and I must say that I am really pleased with it. I used exactly one skein of Sweet Feet from Artist's Pallette Yarns # Sweet Pea which was a colourway from the 2009 Socktopus sock club. I bought a second skein of this, and currently have a pair of Monkeys on the go, although I have a distinct case of SSS.

The bamboo gives a wonderful drape.

I used size 8 Aero needles. It's lovely to have finished something that I really like!

Don't forgt my bloggiversary competion is still on the go for another week until March 31st!

Under the Sea

More holiday photos, and all self-explanatory. The Red Sea is awash with coral and marine life, and it's stunning.

All taken from the jetty here

Although we were a bit taken aback by this

Mind you, it's not all marine life!

More photos to follow!