A happily creative 2008 to all!

I hope you have all had a creative start to this new year.

The orchid shown above was given to me as a Christmas present by one of my pupils. A truly delightful, and much appreciated thought. I love flowers.

This holiday from school has been a very creative one for me. I've been very busy with the Band-Robin. The stitching is now getting close to completion. I started the Ice Queen cowl, but have now ripped that back since I really wasn't happy with the way I had knit the pattern. It really wasn't quite right. So I shall start that again once I have got the stitching completed for the Band-Robin. (Photos for this will have to wait until after the sampler has found its way on to the next participant.)

I have also ripped back the Naive socks which I had also started knitting. The wool I was using, although wonderful to knit with, was really too dark to show off the subtle cabling of the design. The yarn will be great for a plainer pair of socks.

The other day I bought myself three huge balls of aran weight yarn (400g x 3!). Its not such an expensive purchase since the yarn is a mix of acrylic and wool. I needed some bright colours to lift my mood. The red is destined for a cardigan and the blue for a warm cowl to go with my blue jacket on windy days. Yes, I do have a scarf. But this is such a nuisance when it is windy, since I really can't keep it warmly and comfortably round my neck.

Amongst all this activity, I completed Hazel. Yes, it is too cold here in the Northern Hemisphere, to wear it just now. I really enjoyed making it though. The cables are such fun to do. I have plans for a cardigan/jacket to go with it.

I also decided this week, to sort out my fabric stash. I'd had to live with such a lot of it blocking access to a cupboard for rather too many months. The cupboard housed my collection of books and a number of other textile bits and pieces. So I spent a useful day sorting it all out. The books now reside in a bookcase in my workroom, just where I can use them. Wonderful! The pile of fabric has also gone, it is now sitting inside a large box in my cupboard and the fancier fabrics also sorted into the relevant drawers and shelves in my workroom. All my stash of fleecy fabric is together at last, sitting on the shelf under my sewing table. I have plans for a couple of new jackets.............

Amongst it all I found this

An unfinished aran jumper that I had completely forgotten all about. I must have left it partly because I was using metal needles at the time. I find I can no longer use these - they make my wrist and fingers ache far too much. Nowadays I use the reinforced plastic needles or bamboo. So much nicer. Now, I am not certain whether to rip this back and use the yarn for something else, or to finish it. I shall wait for a few days. I don't wear jumpers very often, so I could turn the design into a cardigan...................... but a jumper is so cosy when going out on a walk...........

Have fun!