Hibernating

I'm back. I haven't been around for a while because frankly the last few months haven't been good. My mum has been ill and needed surgery over the summer and that combined with my twins starting senior school has left me seriously stressed out and not able to cope very well.

I'm relying on my crafting to keep me sane and on track and to this end I have decided to gather up all my WIPs and knuckle down to finishing them before I start any major new projects. I'm also determined to do some stash busting. The house is bursting at the seams with wool and some of it has been sitting around for years! It's time to knuckle down and get some of it used up so I'm furtling through all my cupboards and finding all the things that need finishing and sorting out some projects that will suit what stash yarn is around right now. My new year's resolution is to declutter and simplify my life as all this complication is just too much to handle.

I'm Still Knitting - honest!

I am still knitting but quite frankly I have way too many projects started and just not got the impetus to finish any of them. I'm better if I start something small and quick because I just don't get to the end else.

I have finished something though. The Sea Wool Scarf pattern from Yarn Forward. I've become a bit of an addict to this magazine and now they have bought out a crochet magazine as well, I am in yarnaholic heaven. The Sea Wool Scarf was made with some Nova Socks wool that I had in my stash. I love this yarn but every time I tried to make something with it it just didn't feel right so I ended up frogging it. A good yarn needs a good pattern and I finally found it with this one. It's just a gorgeous scarf and I'm loving it.

The pictures don't quite do the colour variations justice though.

Finally - I'm back

Yes, once more back and blogging. Crikey it has been a while. I didn't think it had been that long but obviously it has. Never mind, here I am and determined to be a bit more visible now.

Last year did go very pear shaped. I never quite got into the swing of things after being so ill over December and January and frankly the whole thing was a struggle. Summer just raced by, my youngest son started school, I had an Open University exam to work for and my father in law was seriously ill and in hospital for months. In a way I was quite glad when Christmas and New Year came round so I could wave goodbye to the old and make a fresh start. Things seem to be picking up now. My father in law is back home, I'm starting a new Open University course and my youngest son seems to have settled into school without any problems. February is with us and things seem to be ok. I'm still knitting and crocheting of course and I still have my cats Merry and Pippin keeping an eye on me. Not that I think those lazy cats have kept me on the straight and narrow so far.

I've started a new knitting passion - socks. These were my very first attempt at knitting a pair of socks. Unfortunately, due to inexperience, I knitted a pair in a size considerably bigger than I needed so they are huge. I also ran out of wool before I finished them so they are incomplete. I'm not too concerned about it as it was an exercise in learning how to knit socks on a circular needle so I've learned a great deal from making them. I shall frog them and re-knit in the smaller size as I do like the pattern.





These are my latest socks