We've been on holiday to Cornwall with Stephen's parents, and took Finn with us for the first time. We've replaced our car, and bought a second small car for me, which is brilliant for the freedom it gives me, but somewhat of a stretch on our finances. I've driven to Newcastle in my new car, and helped dad get back on his feet after an unexpected 5 day stay in hospital, that has resulted in his chemo being cancelled, him starting on insulin, his pain medication being completely changed, and him starting on radiotherapy, but mostly it's a sign that he's suddenly much weaker than he was, and that's scary. I've had surgery on my knee, finally, and although it now feels better than it has in years, I'm not allowed to fully weight bear on it, which leaves Stephen having to be responsible for walking Finn, shopping, and preparing meals, not to mention keeping the house clean and tidy. I'm not allowed to drive either, which is beyond frustrating! Then on top of all of that, Stephen has a stinking cold, so I'm feeling super guilty for not being able to pull my weight, and next week I finally have my tribunal hearing for my PIP appeal.
I'm going to add a new section here, just because He's become such a huge part of my life, and he's so adorable, that I think Finn deserves his own mention every time I do an update!
Finn
Finn is an absolute joy! He does love his food though, and it's a constant effort not to give in to those pleading eyes! If we did, he'd be a little barrel by now, despite him being very active, and loving his tennis balls almost as much as he loves his food!
This photo was taken while on a day trip to Rufford Abbey with Stephen's parents, after we'd had a lovely explore of the gardens.
A few days ago, Finn turned 8 years old. Most people assume that he's still a puppy, because he's so playful and energetic though! We were visiting dad at the time, and Finn's favourite place when we're there is on my fold out bed. He had a fun day, wearing his new shiny silver collar, chasing his new ball as I gradually learned how to throw it using his new longer throwing device, and eating his "birthday cake" which was actually a really big dog biscuit with some sort of doggy friendly icing on the top. The bottle in the photo is "Pawsecco" and is actually a sort of herbal (non-alcoholic) drink made especially for pets, and even then, I gave it to him over the course of 3 days! He loves the cheesy biscuits too, but there's still plenty of those left!
In the evening, I took him for a 2 hour walk on the beach, where he thoroughly enjoyed splashing in the sea, chasing seagulls, and playing with his ball.
FO's
Back to the knitting!
I have only one finished object to show you, although there are a few other things that I've made. I've made a few sets of stitch markers as gifts for friends, and some felted penguins for my Etsy page, but I didn't think about photographing any of those things.
I made these socks, largely as a break from my main project over the last couple of months, which you'll see in my WIPs section. I'm finding that my hand knit socks are much more comfortable for dog walks than normal socks, so I'm making an effort to increase the number of pairs I can locate at any given time. I'm still missing at least 3 pairs that I've made in the past, and haven't seen in years though!
I had intended that these have contrasting toes and cuffs, but somehow ended up picking a yarn that matches the green in the main yarn so well, that unless you look closely, you can't tell that it's not part of the self-striping pattern.
As usual, these are made according to my own standard sock pattern, which I've yet to finish writing up. The yarns are Stylecraft Head Over Heels, in the colourway "Ingleborough" for the main part of the socks, and BFL sock yarn by Yorkshire Dales Yarns in one of the colours from my 2018 advent calendar for the toes and cuffs.
WIPs
This has been my main focus for the last couple of months. It's a sweater for myself. It looks really weird laid out on the floor like this, because the sleeves are only half length, and they're worked in ribbing, which makes them squish up and look tiny until they've been blocked, or unless they're being worn. Obviously, only one sleeve has been finished so far. I need a couple of hours guaranteed uninterrupted before I start the second sleeve, as I ended up stopping up way too late working the short-row shoulder cap of the first sleeve, because I hate stopping in the middle of working short rows!
I'm a little disappointed about the flashing/tonal striping that's happened on the body, especially around the waist shaping, as this has happened despite the fact that I was alternating skeins in order to reduce the chance of pooling of any kind. If I look closely enough, I can also see a subtle change in colour at the point I joined the final skein, even though all skeins were from the same dye lot, but it's only noticeable if you're looking for it.
I also think I should have made this a size smaller. There are 2 possible reasons for this, one being that I'm using a different fibre than suggested in the pattern, and therefore although I did swatch, and achieve gauge, it's possible that the difference in size is because wool stretches a lot more than linen. It could also be my own bias against myself, in that I always choose things that are too big, or have positive ease, because I believe myself to be fatter than I actually am. This could also explain why the most recent pair of trousers that I bought keep almost falling off. It won't be too much of a problem, it means I'll be able to wear this over other clothes, but I had hoped it would be a bit more fitted than it is.
The pattern for this is Sel Gris by Claudia Eisenkolb, and the yarn is Fyberspates Vivacious 4-ply in the colourway "Plum Imps".
I've called these my "hospital socks", as I cast them on when I was visiting dad in hospital, and took them with me when I was in for my own surgery. Basically I needed something that was more portable than a 3/4 finished sweater, and pretty brainless in case I was feeling groggy from the anaesthetic.
As it turned out, I needn't have worried about that, as I was given a spinal block, but no sedative, probably because I asked if I could watch the surgery. My surgeon was brilliant, because he explained everything that he was doing, and showed me the "loose body" that he removed from the joint, which made me swear, because it was much bigger than I expected! I don't know why, but I'd expected that much like when you have a stone in your shoe, and you think that it's the size of the moon, but it turns out to be barely bigger than a grain of sand, the fragment of bone and cartilage that had been causing me such immense pain for almost a year would be disappointingly small. I was wrong! I can see now exactly why it hurt so much!
Frustratingly though, it took 4 hours after arriving on the ward for my personal belongings, including my knitting, to be brought up from the secure storage room that they'd been kept in! I took advantage of that time, and the fact that I couldn't feel anything at all below my waist, so for the first time in years, I was in minimal pain, and I slept like a log for a couple of hours.
This project lives in my goth Japanese knot bag that Kelly gave me a few years ago, as most of my simple sock projects do, because it's perfectly sized for socks. Finn must have recognised this fact, because several times since I've come out of hospital he's picked this up, and brought it to me. He carries his tennis ball, or a random sock around because these things make him happy. Obviously he knows that my knitting makes me happy, so he's been making sure that I'm never without it while I'm recovering! In fact, once I deliberately dropped it for him, and asked him to take it to the sofa for me, while I made my way slowly on crutches, and he did it!
The pattern is my usual sock pattern, and the yarn is King Cole ZigZag in the colourway "Marine". I really like this colourway for brainless socks, as although there is a repeat in the self-striping pattern, it's generally so bright and busy that there's no need to worry about making the second sock match perfectly.
Stash Acquisition
I thought I was trying to be good with my stash purchases, but recording all of this lot, I can see that I've still suffered from my usual comfort shopping tendency over the last 2 months.
This arrived just after my last update, and after I'd posted it to instagram I forgot to save the photo (let's be honest, my borrowed phone, because I still haven't got around to getting my own fixed, keeps complaining that it's low on storage, and in response I delete anything that isn't a photo of the dog!) So I've had to screen shot the instagram post in order to have a photo of everything that was in the box to show you. The fairy is now in the garden, slowly being engulfed by a lavender bush, the metal jug is being used as a vase on the living room windowsill, and the candle has been burned half way through already!
In case you haven't already worked it out, this is my April Mythical Creatures yarn box by Homespun Wonders. The theme for April was "Woodland Pixie".
This box included a little something extra, because my friend Katie, who is half of the Homespun Wonders team, is incredibly lovely. She knew that I hadn't received anything for my first Mother's day as a mum with a furbaby (Mother's day is at the end of March in the UK), so inside my parcel was this candle:
Thank you Katie!
Much like the photo of my April Mythical Creatures box, I'd also deleted the photo of my April Knitcrate Sock crate. Again, I had to screenshot it from Instagram for this blog!
This yarn is block dyed, and the pattern that came with it looks fascinating, but I can't work out how the yarn knits up so that the colour changes align perfectly with the changes in the pattern. I'm looking forward to finding out how that works! This box also came with a sweet little unexpected tin of stitch markers.
Now the Homespun Wonders, and Knitcrate boxes are both accounted for in my monthly budget. Over and above those, I have a very small amount of disposable income before I'm cutting into my monthly food and/or travel budget. The items above would be just about allowable if they were the only extra items that I'd bought over a 2 month period...
I'd actually gone to Ring-a-Rosie's in the hope that they might have the new West Yorkshire Spinners colourways in stock, which due to a mix-up with ordering, were due to arrive the day after I went. But it's almost impossible to leave that shop without buying some of Barbara's beautiful hand-dyed yarn, plus some more commercial sock yarn for my current effort in stocking up on hand knit socks.
This is the colourway by West Yorkshire Spinners that I'd been hoping to buy at Ring-a-Rosie's. It's called "Wildflower", and as you can see, it's beautiful. The Loveliest Yarn Company had a serendipitous flash sale, so I picked up one of their badges that I've been wanting since Nottingham Yarn Expo last year, and of course, a nice sturdy tote bag.
James McIntosh is currently touring to promote his new book, Knit and Nibble, and I'd booked myself a ticket to see him at the local yarn store nearest to Stephen's house. Then typically, I finally received a date for my knee surgery, and it was the same day as the event at The Haberdashery. So one day when I was in Dinnington anyway, taking Finn to the groomers, I popped in to cancel my ticket so that someone else could go instead, and to buy a copy of his book. I'd intended to buy a copy on the day, and get him to sign it, so that expenditure was already accounted for, plus I got back the cost of my ticket, and I thought it would only be fair to give that money straight back to supporting my LYS by buying some more sock yarn. You may recognise one of those skeins too, as it's what I used to knit the socks that are my only finished object of the last 2 months.
Tea and cake are automatically budgeted for when taking Finn to the groomers, but especially when it's raining as heavily as it was that day!
Annoyingly, my surgery was then cancelled, and moved to a later date, but by then it was too late to re-book. I've recently learned that James will be at the Woolness festival in Newcastle in August, so I'm hoping to get to see him there, and perhaps still get him to sign my book.
Yes, you've guessed it, another photo stolen off instagram! You can tell this, because it's cropped part of the image off the side, so you can't see the bag of sweeties that always makes up part of a Homespun Wonders yarn box!
This is my May Mythical Creatures box from Homespun Wonders. The theme is "Phoenix". As usual, the photo just doesn't do justice to how beautiful the colours are.
Here is the Knitcrate Sock crate for May. The colourway is "Strawberry", and I'd expected it to be very pink, but actually it's more of a tonal red, and I like it much more than I thought I would. There's also a random orange pen, even the ink is orange!
Here's where I definitely go over budget :( In my defence, I hadn't intended on visiting Ring-a-Rosie's when I found myself right outside of it. I'd sat in Morrison's car park and decided to take a drive up the coast in my new car, just to have a few minutes of "me" time in the middle of a crazy stressful couple of weeks, realised that this drive would take me quite near to my favourite yarn shop, debated with myself if I should go, and decided not to. Then I found myself in the wrong lane on one of the many roundabouts on the coastal route, which lead to me taking the turn-off that leads straight to Ring-a-Rosie's, instead of to the sea front. However, having found myself on the road outside of the shop, I could have turned around and gone back, but I didn't. I parked up and went in.
I discovered that Barbara had intended on selling at Woolness, but now would not be able to, so all of the yarn that she'd begun dying up in preparation was now available in the shop. I had to use a lot of willpower not to leave with 4 times as much as this, but if I had, then I wouldn't have been able to afford the fuel necessary to get me back to Sheffield.
Finally, I returned home to find my June Mythical Creatures box sat in my nest. Oh! And something else that I need to show you, but I'd forgotten to photograph! It's dark outside right now, but I can use flash to get the photo. Give me a minute to hobble out there an take a picture.
Right, that's done. So, back to the yarn...
The theme for June is "Siren of the Sea". I was very impressed that my friend Becky managed to restrain herself from sending me spoilers before I came home! Every box is slightly different, but obviously the yarn is the same. Especially as it seems that my friends and I all seem to choose the sparkle sock base!
Penguins!
I wasn't sure that I'd have any penguins for this update, because despite what the weather may suggest it is summer time in Northern Europe. But if you try hard enough, you can find penguins at any time of the year!
This one was in a supermarket where I'd gone to pick up a few groceries. I chose the quietest aisle to walk down on my way to the checkout, which is the stationary and toys aisle. I walked past him to begin with, but some inner penguin sense must have tingled, because I turned back to look at the shelf and saw him sitting there among all the pandas and unicorns.
These were bought at the Gloucester services on the way back from Cornwall. They have a local independent produce store instead of the more usual M&S and WHSmith. There was a whole stand full of cards by Penguin Ink. My eye was caught by the spaniel prints initially, but when I realised the name of the designer, I knew there had to be some penguins in there somewhere! So I searched through a lot of cat and dog prints until I found these.
I don't often send "snail mail", but occasionally I think that it's a nice thing to do. When I do feel the need to, I have a varied selection of penguin related cards to send.
I had a bit of an insomnia induced internet shopping spree while we were in Cornwall. It wasn't as bad as it looks though. I'd been looking for a sweater sized project bag ever since I cast on a sweater, and by pure chance I found this one by Rectory Crafts, which is perfect in every way, including the fact that it was on sale much cheaper than I'd have expected to pay!
Every now and then I do a google search for "Knitting and Penguins" just to see what comes up. Usually there's a link to my blog somewhere on the first page, as well as the inevitable out of date article about knitting sweaters for Little Blue Penguins that were affected by an oil spill back in 2011. Sometimes something wonderful shows up, like this penguin in a knitted sweater pin badge by Whimsical Lush!
Here he is taking pride of place on the front of my handbag, along with several other knitting and penguin related badges. Including 3 button badges that were also bought during my holiday bout of insomnia from Colour Me Fun.
This is what I had to go outside to photograph! I finally have my own car, so I can finally personalise it with a cutesy bumper sticker of a fat penguin knitting a scarf! Please forgive the dirt smudges, but as I mentioned earlier it's been raining a lot, and I've been stuck in the house incapable of keeping a shiny white car nice and clean!
More Finn
Finally, just because you all need to see what it's like attempting to work with a cocker spaniel in your life:
And now, to bed!
Night Night my dears.
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