Storage

Spotted this yesterday, drastically reduced in a sale.........

Ideal storage for WIPs, magazines and other necessities of life..................

Steven has been unwell in school today, although he seems bright enough since he got home. Hope he's not brewing something up for the holiday.

Garden

I had the pleasure today of welcoming Nigel and Jane Hanson who come each spring to prune and put my garden in order.

They designed and built the garden about eleven years ago, one very hot summer.

Their own garden, the Willows, Trysull, near Wolverhampton is wonderful and well worth a visit if you're in the area on one of their open days.

Needless to say my garden is looking much less overgrown since their visit...............

............... and hopefully I shall have more time to tend it this year.

Off to Beatties today for Knit Chat after missing two weeks with Steven at home for the Easter holidays. He's returned to school now so back to normal, although a Bank Holiday and extra days off are looming on the horizon.

Forms

This is what I should have been doing today, filling in a heap of boring but important forms for Steven to claim the benefits he is entitled to...........

..........and this is what I actually achieved, the start of another sweater for Steven which is not essential and hopefully won't be needed until next winter, but I was keen to see how the pattern came out. It is very different from the last sweater I made in Limbo Mexico. I have 98 stitches on the needle, less would make deeper stripes.

Knitting is so much more satisfying than form filling.

Jacket.......

......... for Steven completed. This started as 'Jack' sweater from Rowan Junior. After I completed the back, I realised I had made a mistake in the stitch pattern. Each repeat should have covered 20 rows and I had only 6. So much tighter cables, I don't know why I didn't realise. Rather than frog the back, I decided to make the rest to match. I then decided a jacket would be more useful than a sweater so divided the front, added front bands and buttons. I used Sirdar Denim Tweed DK which is lovely and soft and machine washable, essential for Steven's clothes.

Here it is modelled by the recipient.

Yesterday I sent off my contribution to the Lutsk Orphanage appeal. I've always enjoyed knitting for children and when I worked in Residential Nurseries years ago, knitted constantly for the children.

Camellia

Something seems to be happening in the garden at last thank goodness, this winter seems to have lasted for ever. My camellia only has one flower open so far, as it is in a shady spot, but my neighbour's has put on a magnificent show, so I've 'borrowed' it for the photo.

As you can see, the large tree in the background is showing no sign of leaves yet.

The knitting for http://orphanknittingchallenge.blogspot.com/ is continuing. I'm really enjoying knitting small things which can be completed in an evening or two. Anything for Steven is taking longer than I have the patience for at the moment and garments for myself seem never to be finished. This is what I've completed in the last week.

Completed this week...........

............for the Lutsk Orphanage Challenge .

The yarns are leftovers from other projects, and charity shop finds. I'm hoping to get a few more items completed before the deadline in May.

Workshop

Spent an interesting morning attending a Knitting Workshop run by Debbie Abrahams in Wolverhampton Beatties. Eight of us learned the intricacies of Fairisle and were far more knowledgable at the end than when we started.

Here's Debbie, second from right and below three more industrious knitters.

Our project was to knit a fairisle bag, this is my progress so far but I had to leave early so will have to complete it at home. The yarn is Rowan Handknit Cotton.


Many thanks to Debbie, Rose, Beatties' Rowan consultant and to the catering staff for providing us with a delicious lunch.