Ishbel

This is a very short post (for once!). I just wanted to tell you that I have finally cast on for a lace pattern. I cast on my Ishbel last night and took it to Mary Clare's new evening knitting group. I managed to get this much done in two hours, whilst chatting.

The lambswool is proving to be very very nice indeed. Oh I'm so glad I have at least a kilo of this stuff.

Gratitude

Today I am trying to remind myself that life isn't as bad as I sometimes think. I am having problems with my health, after many months of less pain. The pain levels are nowhere near what they used to be, but because they higher than I have experienced recently, I am feeling pretty sorry for myself. So this blog is a list of all the things that make me smile at the moment.

Spring finally appears to have arrived in Leicester. We have daffodils...



.... tulips.....



... and happy cats in the sunshine.



I saw my lovely family at the weekend. I also gave away my Sweater Cat, but he went to a good home. Three year old Katie loved him and I am sure will get lots of pleasure from his company.

Last week I got a lovely present in the post. I got some stitch markers from Cliodhna on Ravelry.



Clidhna simply posted these stitch markers to me, because I spotted them on Ravelry and said how pretty I thought they were. They are very beautiful and I am tremendously grateful for this gift, as it reminded me that there are some truly generous people in the world who think nothing of passing on a gift to a stranger. If you want to get your own, very pretty, markers, they are sold here.

I am also very grateful my socks are looking quite good.



I am also very happy to be in the receipt of a book on baby booties, lent to me by my friend Angela, from my Borders knitting group. I am going to have such fun knitting things from this book.

So even though my pain is a bit worse than it has been recently, I just have to remember that life isn't all about the pain in my abdomen. Those few square inches of soreness do not have to rule my entire existence. There is a whole world out there, that is filled with things that make me happy. I just have to remind myself of that fact sometimes.

Visiting my LYS

Every Thursday afternoon I try to get to my LYS, Mary Clare, to attend a Knitting Group. I have grown really fond of the group members, though seemingly on the surface the only thing we have in common is knitting. These ladies are all older than me, have led totally different lives than mine, some have grown children others are still coping with the consequences of puberty in the teenage population, and others have none, but without fail, when I go the group I laugh my head off.

I love walking into my LYS and knowing that it is MY local yarn store. I know the owner Clare, her children often come into the shop, and I know that she she is always happy to chat when I go in. In fact a couple of weeks ago, I went in to get some extra yarn for a project that needed finishing urgently and ended up staying there all afternoon and chatting while I carried on with the project.

My love of this shop is positively evangelical and I try and drag all my crafty friends there whenever I can, I hope I have made several converts. In fact I know that I have because Clare tells me so! Yesterday I had a phone call from one of my best friends informing me that she was taking me out to lunch as she had taken the day off work. Of course in my role as friend I had to accompany her to the pub, it was my duty! My friend picked me up and we had a lovely lunch and I suggested that we popped into Mary Clare on the way home, as my friend has expressed an interest in going on a workshop. We went in, and spent probably 45 mins wandering around and chatting with Clare. I only bought one thing.



It's a fat quarter of lovely material I have had my eye on for some time. My chair in the knitting group often faces the wall of fabric that is in the shop. Opened out the material looks like this.



I intend to use it as a lining for my Sushi Bag. This was the only purchase made in our visit to the store and it cost a grand total of £2.25. However, Clare was friendly, helpful and we have even decided to make our Friday afternoon visit a regular event. We are going to go to Mary Clare to complete our UFOs, our Unfinished Objects. All crafters have them laying around the house. These are the projects that excited us once, but got cast aside for many reasons, be it Christmas or a brand new yarn. Some of our UFOs only need sewing up and others need much more work. My friend is a stitcher, not a knitter, but this group will be spanning the great craft divides.

This LYS is becoming my home away from home and the only thing I wish it had, was more comfortable chairs! Oh and by the way my friend went into the store today to book us both up for a Blackwork Workshop. It is her very early birthday present to me. I hope it will urge me to start stitching again, but I'm not holding my breath.

PS My postie brought me a bargain from Kemps today.



It is for my Milkweed Project contribution. So despite my loyalty to my LYS, I still cannot pass up a bargain. Dragging my friends there to spend money, just assuages my guilt.

Playing Catch Up

Because I was away for a chunk of time at the weekend, and I've been feeling a bit ill (with a cold rather than the normal stuff) I have not done much knitting in the last week, so yesterday I had a bit of a session.

I managed to complete two whole scarves, a big chunk of another one and start my next kitty swap cat. Phew, it was an awful lot of stitching for one day but it was worth it. The two finished scarves are to be Christmas presents for my friends back home. They normally get something boring like a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates, so a scarf has to be an improvement. All three scarves are in the blue/purple spectrum but are radically different styles so I have to choose which one, will fit which friend's personality the best. That will be almost as much fun as the knitting of them. For those of you with Ravelry, here are the project links Scarf 1 and Scarf 2, as I don't want to show them out here in the public where the recipients may see them (unlikely but possible). I am also a lot further along with this scarf. I hope to finish this final scarf by the end of the week.

I feel I can share the picture of the Kitty Swap cat, which is made from the pattern by Elizabeth Jarvis, better known as BettyKnitter on Ravelry. The pattern is for a Swapsie Cat but I think mine is going to look a lot different from the original because of the mad yarn I am using.



This yarn was in my bag of loot from the Harrogate Show. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my next Kitty Swap because it is so unusual. It made me think of Pumpkin who kept me company in York, though it is a mite fluffier, and a smidgeon yellower. So this Kitty Swap will be named after my companion in York, he is to be a Pumpkin Puss.



I think when he is stuffed and sewn up he will be fab, there is just something about fluffy wool that always makes me smile.

I have my Knitting Group at Mary Clare this afternoon, I must decide which project to take. I think it may be Pumpkin Puss, because do like to share unusual things.