It's here........

......... at last! The much anticipated Yarn Forward magazine arrived this morning.

I haven't had much time to look at it yet, but there are some interesting articles, quite a bit on socks and a charming baby Kimono. I can see a long session with a cup of coffee, once Steven is fed.

The conservatory build is progressing with the minimum of disruption, although access to the computer has been limited. Hopefully, construction on the top should start on Monday.

I was told to keep off the wet concrete (goes without saying). When I returned from a visit to the wheelchair clinic with Steven I found this.......
......a row of prints leading to and from the back door! Too small to be any of the builders, further investigation proved it was a neighbour who was looking through the kitchen window to see if I was in! Although she swore the concrete was dry.

Out with the old.......

.........in with the new, hopefully. Yes, tomorrow work is starting to replace this.......

with a brand new conservatory, twice the size, and rotproof!

The main problem I'm going to face is that my computer room is on the right and to get to it I shall have to take a flying leap from the kitchen door, in the centre, to the door on the right. I shall probably be faced with a large hole especially while the foundations are being dug. This means I may not be able to use the computer for a while. My washing machine is also in this area, so no washing will be done.

Now Steven is getting some respite care, I'm managing to get out more. Yesterday, my mother and I spent the afternoon at Wightwick Manor, a national trust property in Wolverhampton. It is a late Victorian house and a shrine to William Morris. Very OTT but somehow it works.

The gardens were not at their best, despite the early spring, as nothing much was flowering except the wisteria.

Farewell Rose

Today our Beatties' Knit-Chat group said goodbye to Rose, our leader and mentor. She is off to pastures new at RKM wools in Shrewsbury and I'm sure some of us will be keeping in touch.

Yuca's children had joined us as it was school holidays, her daughter already knits and her son kept us entertained with 'cats cradle'.

Easter Flowers

Not much completed knitting to report, lots OTNs but not finished.

So here are some treats from the garden.

The Pulsatillas (Pasque Flowers) always make a good show at Easter. I originally had red and blue varieties too, but they disappeared and left only the white, which seeds happily in the gravel.

These pale blue Muscari (Grape Hyacinths) are not as prolific as their darker relatives unfortunately, and are multiplying very slowly.

Most of these are growing close to the house and are likely to be trampled when work starts on the conservatory, so I think I shall have to pot them up until work is finished.

NEC

On Thursday I was at the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC Birmingham. I got the impression that there was rather more knitting content than last time. Of course, I broke my yarn diet, with a modest stash enhancement ............

The Alpaca sock yarn, from Web of Wool was particularly yummy.

Edited for Steph - The unlabelled yarn is from Riverside Spinning, handdyed merino . The man selling this had no website, he said he only sells at shows. It was very reasonably priced and he also had mohair.

I stopped briefly to say hello to Yvonne, Fred et al, but I was with my cousin who is mainly a cross stitcher and had a different agenda, so we moved on. I did take along a knitted Teddy, who has been languishing under Steven's bed for several years, to join Shaun the Sheep's PickKnit. I didn't contribute towards the Knitted Garden, but thought I should donate something this time.