Easter holiday slowdown

My kids have been off school and nursery for the past couple of weeks for the Easter holidays, and while it's been lovely having them around, going for days out and generally spending time in each other's company, I think we're all getting to the stage where we're excited for the return to routine. While the kids are off I don't generally get much time for knitting paperwork, but I do still get knitting done -  before the end of term I purposefully got three patterns to the stage where all I had to do was knit them so I had something I could work on easily and nothing would stagnate. As a result, this week I have been working almost exclusively on the sleeves of small children's jumpers (stocking stitch is as much as I can manage while supervising children!), and now I fancy a bit more variety!

Sleeves

Needles vs. days out. The needles lost

So next week I will be clearing the toys from my desk and spending a few solid hours moving things along, doing some pattern layout, getting a pattern to my tech editor, charting some lace and some intarsia and generally getting back into the swing of things. Long may the enthusiasm continue!

Socks in five days!

After I posted on Saturday, the bank holiday weekend continued to be a bit damp. We did manage to get out at least once (to a chick hunt at the botanical garden; we walked round the whole ten hectare site, even though it rained throughout - it turns out hunting chicks is very motivational!), but otherwise entertained ourselves at home. We also ate our way through plenty of Easter eggs and had fun having an Easter egg hunt in the garden.

While I had plenty of time for knitting, I didn't quite get my socks finished by the end of the weekend (I did try to do some dressmaking too, which used up more time than I had anticipated; it always does). I finally cast them off yesterday evening, with just two tiny scraps of yarn to spare. They're a tiny bit shorter than I would usually make socks, but by under an inch and I am really pleased with them. I might even make concurrent socks again as I liked casting them off back to back. The yarn was from Cuddlebums and is really soft. Everything about these socks is a delight!

Another thing I was excited about this weekend is Bank Holiday TV. Doctor Who returned on Saturday evening, and while I haven't enjoyed the past couple of series (I didn't feel any chemistry between Clara Oswald and Peter Capaldi's Doctor) I was excited for a new series with a new assistant. And I loved it. It started with a charm that had been missing for a while, and the 'monster' genuinely had me scared (as ever with Doctor Who, it is always the monsters based on innocuous things (this time it was water) that give me shivers; the Weeping Angels are my all-time favourite). I like the new assistant, and she and the Doctor seem to gel well, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

I am a huge fan of the rebooted Robot Wars, having said that I didn't want to watch it when it stated last year (I didn't watch it as a child), then falling in love with it. The teams are so passionate about their robots and about the competition, as well as being an excellent starting point for discussions about engineering with our five year old. I had thought the final would be aired last week, but apparently the golf was more important, but the Robot Wars final did make excellent viewing while we are our Easter Sunday roast dinner (and the team I had been supporting from the start of last series won, hooray!).

The other thing I am really enjoying on TV at the minute is Top Gear. After the last, disastrous series with Chris Evans (which I gave up watching after a couple of episodes), I was a little trepidatious about the new series, but I've found it very entertaining. The new mix of presenters is friendly and fun, and the guests have been amazing (David Tennant, James McAvoy and Tamsin Greig have been highlights, especially the banter between Tamsin and Matt Le Blanc, who worked together on Episodes, which is another favourite of mine). All in all, excellent bank holiday TV!

Hope you had an excellent Easter weekend and that the return to work wasn't too much of a shock to the system.

********

There's still time to purchase my Knit Night Collection of toe up socks with 10% discount using the code KNITNIGHT and the KAL is in full swing over in my Ravelry group. It would be lovely if you could join us.

The joys of a bank holiday weekend

In the U.K. Good Friday and Easter Monday are classed as bank holidays, which means many people get a four day weekend. Most of the time I give myself Sundays off from knitting work, but I decided that this weekend I would take the whole four days off, and I am having a lovely time doing things with my family. But for me, time off never means no knitting, and this weekend I am knitting away on a Cuddlebums sock set that was sold as an Easter Sock KAL. The set contains 50g of variegated yarn and a 20g mini skeins for the heels and toes, as well as a few little extra goodies (a chocolate bunny and some stitch markers).

I have large feet and know that 70g is going to be pushing it, so this is my first pair of socks to be knitted concurrently (two sets of needles, one sock on each set). I wound the ball into two centre pull balls, and am knitting one sock from the outside and the other from the inside. I have got into a bit of a tangle a couple of times, but am enjoying it, and the colours are amazing! How far do you think I'll manage to get by the end of Monday? I'm really hoping I can get the whole lot done...

I'm not just knitting this weekend. Yesterday was spent at soft play (along with the rest of Durham - it was a bit cold and miserable!), along with some hot cross bun baking (with chocolate chips to appease the five year old), and I managed to finish off a couple of project bags that have been on the to do list for ages! We're just back from the supermarket to buy food for tomorrow (all but the smallest shops are shut on Easter Sunday), and the eggs for the egg hunt (I almost left that too late - we have the only eggs Sainsbury's had that would be easy to hide; a foot tall Lindt egg would be a little conspicuous, and less than ideal as I had promised we could each find 3-4 eggs). I'm hoping the weather tomorrow is better so we can get out and about.

Hot cross buns!

Project bags

Egg hunt eggs 

What's everyone else up to this bank holiday weekend?

A week in the life: 19th March 2017

This week I have mostly been... a bit poorly. Nothing major, 'just' a sore throat, but enough that I've been going to bed a couple of hours earlier than planned, and getting up as late as I can get away with. And as a result the days have been shorter and I feel like I haven't got a huge amount done. Not nothing though, here's what I have achieved!

Working in a sunny spot

There has been sunshine! And while I did have work to do so couldn't go out and revel in it too much (it's still not warm, in spite of the sunshine), I did manage to find a sunny corner to do some work in one morning this week, which was lovely. I also treated myself to some new pens; my favourites are cheap Bic biros, and I was delighted to find a pack containing pink, purple, green and blue ones. No more notes in boring colours for me!

Pink socks and A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second

My pink socks have been on and off the needles several times, but I think this time they are right. I'm now knitting them one at a time as knitting two at a time was affecting my gauge. The colour is wonderfully uplifting, but this is as much progress as I've made on these socks this week as I haven't finished writing the pattern, so some rounds require more brain power than my brain has seemed capable of this week. I really hope to finish the pair next week.

I am on to the second book in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series, and while I'm enjoying them I am not getting through them as fast as I thought I might. This may be a rare occasion when I liked the film (TV series) better than the book. The TV series is more fleshed out, while the book is very much the bare bones. I will read them all, but might be on a bit of break as soon as I've finished the second.

Swatcher's block. Cake cures everything, right?

Thursday was when my throat was at its worst, so while I tried to do some work at home - swatching - it just wasn't working. I decided to call it a day and went for a walk instead. As is often the case, a bit of fresh air made a huge difference, and I sat in a coffee shop for a bit knitting a swatch that did what I wanted it to, while eating a delicious bakewell tart.

Hot cross buns are always a winner

I know hot cross buns are available all year, but I only ever buy them around Easter. They're one of my favourite breakfast foods, especially when toasted. I'm sure I'll be enjoying plenty more of these over the next few weeks. At home when I was little we used to make hot cross  every Good Friday, and I think I might reinstate that tradition this year; nothing smells better than freshly baked bread.

Splish splash!

The weather this week has been a bit of a mish-mash, but my youngest was delighted when our walk to the shops on Saturday involved a fair portion of muddy puddles to splash in! These wellies have been a delight, and get many admirers while we're out and about; this weekend was their final outing as they're getting rather snug. We bought some new Paw Patrol ones, but they're just not as good.

Anyone for lemon cake(s)?

We had guests yesterday, so I picked up some cake while I was at the shops. Apparently I had lemons on my mind as there was definitely a theme! The lemon fondant fancies are my favourites and I always make sure I pick up at least one box while they're available. I am still baffled as to why Mr Kipling don't have three lemon ones in a regular box; the strawberry ones are just weird!

Homemade lemon drizzle cake

The lemons became a lemon drizzle cake, which is one of my favourites. I always use the recipe from Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell (I've just looked it up and it might be out of print. Boo.). I know several of my friends have bought copies on my recommendation, and I haven't had any complaints yet...

Monogamous knitting makes things grow faster, apparently

Yesterday I decided to work solely on my Sockmatician Sockalong socks as I want to get them off the needles. I went from the toe to the heel yesterday; apparently working on one item at a time means you actually feel like you're achieving something. Maybe I should do that more often!

What have you been up to this week?