yarn

Stardustshoes is having a giveaway of some really beautiful yarn and these handmade bags. Go over and have a look!

red

My amaryllis is celebrating red nose day.

I have frogged and re-knitted the sleeves of the tiny baby vest. Now all it needs is a ribbon threaded through the eyelets around the neck. Will it be blue or pink??

Phew! thank goodness its Friday. And payday too. I have a horrible deadline at work in 2 weeks which is taking all my brain-power. Roll on the end of March.

I spend all day at work helping people, busting a gut and apologising if something is half an hour late. Today I asked someone at head office for a small bit of information. He didn't reply, just sent an email to a colleague complaining about me, and copied me in!!! Enough ranting, I'm going to get a glass of wine.

auricula

Spring is coming, and my Auricula is flowering. I have been looking out for more of these in the garden centres around here but they seem to be quite rare. I love the contrast of colours in the flowers. They look like they are made of wax. I finished a tiny knitted baby-vest in white cotton this weekend. No pictures because I'm pretty sure I have to redo the sleeves even though I sewed it up already. The pattern says decrease over several rows towards the tops of the sleeves. That can't be right can it? I checked the pattern several times but I think I have to redo them anyway or the vest will cut off the baby's blood supply to its arms.

pants

This morning I bent down to tie my shoes and my trousers split. Unfortunately I didn't notice until I was at work. I would have been less embarrassed if I hadn't been wearing bright purple pants. So I have spent the day walking backwards out of rooms and letting people past me on the stairs. The nice young man who sits opposite me drew a smiley face winking and stuck it on the partition. Oh god. This little chap is brightening up the geranium on my dining table. I am trying to resist putting plants outside. Some days are quite warm but then suddenly it gets cold overnight, frosty even down here on the coast. Its probably just about time to start planting seeds under cover though so I might get going on that at the weekend. Broad beans - yum!

cross-stitch

Or to be more accurate: books about cross-stitch. I havent made anything from these beautiful La Croix et La Maniere books yet, just looked at the pictures. I saw them on Linnet ages ago but the postage from Japan is too much, so I eventually ordered them direct from the author (Monique Lyonnet)! And she signed them for me too. I have some pale grey/blue linen which is going to be ideal for a small stitched object.... need to look at the pictures one more time before I decide.

pancakes

Maybe I should take some pictures of knitting from a bit further away! This is the beginning of Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. The yarn is pure wool and quite scratchy and thin. Hopefully it will soften up a bit.

My mum has come to stay for the weekend and brought lemon pancakes from Waitrose. Yum.

three on friday

We went to a cafe after work. Beer/white wine for the grown-ups, icecream with chocolate sauce for the birthday girl. Izzy wore her new blue cotton cardigan with four tiny sparkly flower buttons . . its a perfect fit.

Saturday was the first warmish day this year. A good excuse to get down the allotment and start digging. We dug up our raspberry canes from the old allotment, trekked round to the new one with the plants in a wheelbarrow and planted them again. Hopefully they will thrive away from all the couch grass. Keeping fingers crossed.