Catching up....again....

It always seems to me that I'm trying to catch up....ever have that feeling too?

We are now a week and a bit into the children's big holidays, and everything is passing-by even quicker than it was before.

But I figured rather than try and cover all the news, I will at least show you my latest finished shawl.

Der Querdenker  by Petra Neumann....translated into English from German (I think my next German pattern I should try in German, could make the knitting so much more of a challenge!)

The yarns were ones I had on my shelf (I was sorely tempted to splash out though!) the blue and the green were both bought in the Waterfront in Cape Town, both spun and dyed by Nurturing Fibres. The Pink was a bought from Perran Yarns left over from a previous make,,.,,,and there's yet more still to make something else too!

This was a lovely shawl to make with a swing knitting short row technique that I had not done before. The technique made sense, was easy enough and actually to me, was a better way to do it than I've done previously (which was always a bit hit and miss).  All in all, a really nice project.  This is now packed up and winging its way across the pond to a lovely German teacher in America who helped me so much in my recent German exam......but that's another story!

Make-along #2

So two weeks and a bit into Crafts from the Cwtch's Make-along and I am making fairly good progress, I can't tell you how lovely it is to be knitting again....it seems like I've been away for years (which isn't true of course) but it's a happy reunion.  I've even managed to do some knitting-on-the-go, the best thing about doing a small project like this is I can chuck it in the car and hope that I'll find a spare few minutes  to fit some knitting in....and I have!

Der Querdenker

It isn't exactly the best choice of colours, and actually the photos don't really show them as they are....but I am enjoying the design and the colours work with it I think.  I wanted to show you my inspiration....when I first started with the blue and green, they so made me think of the bluebells, although try as I might, I have not managed, on many occasions, to capture the real deep blue I could see.  Anyway....the pink made me think of the pink campions as it started to work in.....

I'm enjoying this one....I'm also looking forward to doing another shawl as soon as this one is off the needles....I think I have certainly discovered my weakness.....I've always had a huge blanket obsession, but shawls are just mini-blankets right?  Comforting, warm, pretty and quicker to make than blankets.....what could be better?

knitting again!

I've been rather 'stuck' in a crochet rut recently, the offending article being a teeny-tiny baby blanket that should have been finished in a week, but actually ran to two months....ooooppppssss!

Anyway, the blanket is now hopefully, wrapped around its new owner....although, I am a little bothered that the weather has vastly improved since I started it!

So with blanket gone, I turned my attention to the yarn I bought in Cape Town....a multi-coloured dk with a lovely sheen....a bit fat chunky brightly coloured yarn....some pink banana yarn.....some deep green merino....

I seem to have caught a bug for knitting shawls at some stage, so I've been itching to break into the green lace-weight, looking for the opportunity, so when Sarah Crafts from the Cwtch  announced her make-along I was there!

So I've made a start, after much deliberation on Der Querdenker  I was tempted to download the pattern in German, but figured I may get myself into a real tangle.  The pattern uses a new-to-me method of doing short rows, swing-knitting, which I will let you know how I get on!

While I've only just begun, I am enjoying the colours so much, the blue yarn, is also one that came back from Cape Town last year when my well trained hubby bought me some back from his holiday.

I will be adding in another colour, but at the moment, it so reminds me of the bluebells in the garden.

After a grey and wet weekend (in which mein Mann decided to do his first trail run competition on the coast paths....28 miles later...wet, muddy and cold) today has been a pretty good Bank Holiday, so we got out with boys and dogs and did a 7-miler.

It has been busy, busy, busy around here....I have both my French and German open university courses finishing this month, with a final examiner assessment.  For the German, I have a live spoken assessment, that if I think about for too long, I start to feel queasy....learning a language is all very well and good....but actually speaking and being asked questions....a whole different ball game!

I've also been doing a huge amount of baking, unfortunately not for us all of the time.  I do love to cook, almost as much as I like to eat...

Anyway, one final picture of one of the puds I've made, lemon, mascarpone, frangipane and cherries....yum!