Restless Needles

At the gingerbread factory

2009-12-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

I spent the afternoon baking some gingerbread cookies . I haven't baked any for years , but used to make them often when the boys were young . It smelled wonderful in the house when these were in the oven . I think having a 14 month old grandson brought on the nostalgia for these cookies . They're done , but for the decorating which I'll do tomorrow . It's late in the day and I'm tired . In my current state these might not be all that pretty if I were to do it right away .

I have been doing some knitting , a scarf and a pair of socks are off the needles . Both are Christmas gifts . There will be photos on the next post .

The Christmas preparations are coming along , the shopping's done , just need to wrap it all up . The baking is done , just need to package up what's going out as gifts . The Christmas cards are almost done , I have the stamps so it's just a matter of sitting down and actually doing them . So after those are done with pretty much all that's left is the cleaning and then we can let the celebrations begin ! After which comes more cleaning ...

Home again.

2009-12-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

Actually , we've been back for a little over a week . Although it's nice to be back home with the family , getting back to winter is a b***h . We've had more than a foot of snow since we got home and the shovel has seen regular use . Uugh !

Mike and I had a wonderful week away . It was everything and more that I could have hoped for . We visited some beautiful places, met some wonderful people , relaxed and swam on the the beaches of the Cayman islands , snorkeled in Roatan , visited Mayan ruins on 2 of our stops . The ruins at Tulum Mexico were breathtaking beautiful , situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean . The ruins at Altun Ha in Belize were further inland , but equally amazing , surrounded by lush flora . My only complaint would be that we didn't have enough time to fully enjoy each place that we visited . A day is really only enough to give you a taste , however we now have some future destinations to plan for . Our guides were phenomenal , giving us fact filed but interesting tours of their respective countries . They were proud citizens of their homelands and wanted to give us a true picture of the people , the history and culture of the places that we visited .

Shipboard life was certainly the easy life to the nth degree .The food , the entertainment , the service was amazing . I've never been so spoiled , laughed so much and had so much fun ! Its been rough getting back to reality waiting for some one to prepare and plan the meals , do the laundry and clean the house , not happening ;-)) .

I've been baking up a storm , shopping for last minute Christmas gifts and just generally trying to get ready for the holidays . There's been very little knitting going on . I seem to have lost my knitting mojo , must have left it on the ship and its cruising the Caribbean . Thank heavens I didn't set myself a bunch of Christmas knitting . I have been reading in the evenings , I just finished the second of Steig Larssons Millenium trilogy . I loved it !!! The third and final one won't be released in Canada till late next year . Apparently its available in the UK , thanks for the heads up Monika , so I might see about trying to order it early in the new year . Would be a great birthday present , don't you think . I've just picked up Barbara Kingsolver's latest novel "The Lacuna " , she's got me hooked , and I've had a tough time choosing between baking for the holidays , knitting or reading . Reading has been winning a lot lately .

Anyway , that what's I've been up to ; hope you all have a good day !

PS , I uploaded a few photos of our trip on my flickr page , if anyone's interested .

I'm so excited !

2009-11-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's been crazy busy since my last post as I've been trying to clear the decks for our vacation . We're flying out tomorrow , very early and we'll be in Miami tomorrow afternoon . We'll be hooking up for dinner with my SIL Saturday evening . Sunday morning we're leaving for a week of sun and sand . I'm over the moon excited , it's been a while since Mike and I had a real vacation together . Everything's packed , including some knitting , and ready to go .

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend , catch you in December ....

New socks and a resolution (maybe )

2009-11-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

After battling a nasty bug last week , I finished the second of the Christmas knits this week . I was really down for the count , no energy and coughing so much my sides hurt, all attributed to a sinus and, can you believe it , an ear infection . My GP who was on duty at the clinic had a quiet chuckle , saying the insides of my ear resembled that of a child . Apparently it's rare for someone my age to get this, go figure . A round of antibiotics took care of the infection , but the cough still lingers . I can't figure out how I came to get this , but am extremely happy to be feeling much better . I have to be in shape for our trip on the 28 th . I was able to get the flu shot , so that's another good thing .

Back to the socks , these are for Dana , Emma's mom . I seem to have started a tradition of knitting Christmas socks for them . Dana loved last year's funky coloured socks , so I decided that this year I would mix it up and go more conservative . After some stash diving I discovered this yarn which was gifted to me by my father on one of his recent visits here from Austria . Perfect ! As usual the pattern (Waffle Rib ) comes from Sensational Knitted Socks . That pattern is a good match for self-striping sock yarn . I seem to have a lot of that kind yarn in my stash . It would appear that I went on a buying binge in my early my sock knitting days . The Internet has enabled me to expand my horizons and my stash with a greater variety of yarns .

As 2009 draws to a close I've made a resolution to knit up more of the stash before buying more yarn . Just because its been marinating in the closet for awhile and the temptations for newer , fresher yarns being ever present , doesn't make it less deserving of my attention . That being said and after looking on my ravelry projects page , I 'm finding that I have knitted mostly self-striping socks despite having so many other beautiful yarns of the non-striping variety . What gives ? Could it be that I'm in a rut ? Nah, not me ....

Christmas knitting...

2009-11-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

...is underway. Emma's socks are done , so that's one gift done . Do you think that they're bright enough ? The orange is even brighter in real life . I'm sure she won't have any trouble finding them in the morning .

Specs : Regia Crazy Color 6 ply sock yarn Knit on 2.5mm dpns . The pattern is the baby cable rib from my usual source "Sensational knitted Socks" .

We had a bit of a scare with Jessey this week .Casey and Chantal had to go to emergency at the hospital with him with the flu which quickly turned into pneumonia . He was tested for the swine flu and given antibiotics and Tamiflu which is an anti-viral . This came on so quickly it was scary . After lots of rest and fluids and with the help of the meds he's almost back to normal . I took care of him alot this week , so I'm a little worried that I might catch this too . I tend to catch a cold most winters which inevitaby ends up in my chest and a gives me no end of coughing fits . I get the flu shot every year so I haven't had the flu , just colds . I'll be able to get the H1N1 vaccine the week of the 16th of November . I've taken all the suggested precautions and am hoping to escape this nasty virus .

We've got real November type weather here these days , cool , grey and damp . So far no snow , unlike Halifax which got blasted yesterday . Waaaay too early for that ! To escape these miserable dark days Mike and I booked a one week cruise getaway . We're leaving on Nov. 28th and coming back on Dec. 6th . I can't wait to get some sun ! This is an kind of an early 35th wedding anniversary gift to ourselves . We're looking forward to a little alone time , if you catch my drift ;-)) .

The last of the baby sweaters

2009-11-03T04:14:00.000-08:00

At least for now ! I finished the sweater for Tara just in time for the baby shower on Sunday . The photo doesn't capture just how pretty the colour is ; it's a beautiful soft green called "Green Tea ". The yarn is Elann 's Superwash Bamboo , 65 % wool , 35 % bamboo . It was super to knit up and soft, soft , soft , perfect for a baby knit . I found some pretty buttons that remind me of those nougat candies , again you can't really see how pretty they are due to the washed out looking photos .

The Christmas knitting has begun . First up are some socks for Emma . I have lots of knits in mind but am taking it one project at a time . Whatever gets done , great , what doesn't there's always next year and birthdays coming up . I'm aiming for stress free holidays . I can hope can't I ?

Checking in !

2009-10-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Back in action after being missing for 10 days . I've been run off my feet . Jessey was sick , thankfully not the flu , but a nasty throat infection giving him a fever for a few days and just feeling generally miserable . I baby sat him so that Chantal wouldn't miss work . It was just as well that he stayed away from daycare , by Friday he was much better . Today he's back to normal . He also stayed with us Saturday until Sunday . His first overnight with me ! Casey and Chantal had a long planned weekend getaway . I'm having Jessey withdrawal today ...

My dad left for Austria on Saturday . I'd had the family and friends over for dinners a couple of nights last week on top of the baby sitting and we had a very nice belated birthday dinner for my father on Friday night . At least that was at a restaurant and I didn't have to cook . This was a shorter than normal visit and just seemed to fly by .

The sweaters for Dylan & Evan are finished. They're not matchy /matchy , but I'm happy with them . I've got sweater # 5 on the go right now . The deadline for that is Sunday , just in time for Tara's baby shower . I'd like to knit a matching hat , we'll see how it goes ...

One down , one to go

2009-10-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

And none too soon I might add. Dylan & Evan came home from the hospital on Monday . How's that for a Thanksgiving gift ! Everyone is doing well , but I bet with having two babies to feed ,

clothe and diaper , Susie and Fred have their hands full . Fortunately she's got a good support system with family and friends willing to help out .

I'm happy with how this sweater turned out . I knit it with Regia 6 ply sock yarn . I wasn't sure how the stripes would knit up . I knew that with being knit top down & the short row shaping , the stripes most likely wouldn't wouldn't match up . I had to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and go with the flow .

After this next one I have 2 more babies needing hand knits . Jeez Louise , people just have to stop all this making babies so that I can get some Christmas knitting done ! Mind you , if Max & Stef get on that train I'd be one happy Omi , just saying ...

The little monkey's birthday

2009-10-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Guess who turned one last Friday , October 9th ? Yup , that would be our Jessey . Here he is after Chantal helped him blow out his candle . He's not too sure what's going and why all these people are watching him . Just what is that brown thing on his tray and what should I do with it ? It didn't take too long for him to figure it all out , especially how yummy chocolate cake is . He got right into unwrapping his presents , not the presents themselves , but the wrapping paper & bows provided no end of fun for the little monkey .

I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by . It's been wonderful fun to watch him grow and change from an infant to a one year old little boy . He's bright , funny , a real live wire , which sometimes can be a challenge , he's got no end of personality and can make me laugh like no one else can . We love him to pieces !

Baby sweater # 2

2009-10-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sidney's sweater is finished , buttons sewn on and ready to be mailed to BC . I love this pattern , it's an easy top down raglan with the v-neck shaping coming from knitting short rows just after the cast on ribbing . So simple , so ingenious ! Another great idea was to knit the buttonholes on both sides . You can just switch the buttons for another baby.

Specs : Basic v-neck baby cardigan fom Cabin Fever Baby ' V ' no- sew knitting . The yarn is Sirdar Click acrylic/ wool DK . Needles were 3,25 & 4,00 mm circulars and dpns for the sleeves .

I really like this book it has some variations on the theme that are just adorable . I see lots of little sweaters being knit from the patterns on this book . In fact there's already another on the needles . Chantal's cousin Susie had her twins about a month ago . They're preemies and are still in hospital . It looks like they'll be ready to come home this month and they'll definitely need sweaters to keep them warm , don't you think !

Knitting

2009-09-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Life has a way of derailing the best of intentions . Regular blogging has been preempted yet again by baby sitting , birthday celebrations and yesterday a very special christening . There's just 2 more birthdays and then we'll be done till December . I'll have survived another birthday month with no major poundage gained !

Knitting has been going very well , no small thanks to the start of the new fall TV season . Some old favourites are back as well as a couple of new shows that look promising . "The Good Wife " with Juliana Margulies really stands out for me. I think she's a terrific actress and am glad to see her back to a regular show.

There's finally a photo of my shawl . I was so happy with this knit . The pattern was easy without being mind numbingly boring and the yarn lived up to my expectations . It was wonderful to work with , didn't break the bank and best of all the colour was exactly what I'd been looking for .

There's been some baby knits on my needles . I finished a cute little sweater and hat outfit , I can't post of photo quite yet because it's a surprise gift . I've knit a hat for Jessey , which didn't fit so that's going to another baby . I have a terrible time judging hat sizes for babies and inevitably end up ripping and re-knitting .

There is one almost finished knit I can show you . It's a sweater for Sidney , Shirley's latest grandchild , who just left for BC today . I'd started another sweater , but after having met Sidney in person , I didn't like it any more , so more ripping . I had this yarn in my stash , the perfect pattern and voila .... ! It just needs sleeves and buttons and should be in the mail by the end of the week if not sooner . I'm so loving it , hope his parents will too !

Jessey's morning with Omi

2009-09-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

Jessey is having a difficult time adjusting to daycare , so he's been spending most mornings with me . Mike took this video with his camera today . In the video you hear me speaking my rather rusty German . Chantal speaks French to him , Casey English , I speak a mish mash of all three.

I have to tell you that the bunny in the video was given to him by Shirley as a little easter gift . At the time he was terrified of it , now it 's one of his favourites . Some days he pushes that little button so many times that I can't get the tune out of my head .

\PS , sorry the video is so long , I couldn't fiqure out how to edit it ....

Getting back to normal

2009-09-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Things are finally settling down after a crazy summer of renovations and wedding preparations . Max & Stef 's wedding was just wonderful , the weather was gorgeous , bright and sunny and just warm enough to be comfortable . The bride & groom looked fabulous and were ecstatically happy to have all their family and friends there to wish them well . Jessey and Emma were perfect in their roles as flower girl and ring bearer .

The reception was such a blast with lots of good food and great music . They had a live band a DJ , both of whom were friends of the bride and groom . They did an amazing job, with something for all musical tastes, young and old alike . I don't remember the last time I danced so much .

Though the wedding was on Saturday Sept. 5th , the party started on the Thursday night with a rehearsal dinner /BBQ . We had family come in from the US, some of which stayed with us, so there was non stop entertaining . We hosted a BBQ on Sunday afternoon the the last of the festivities were on Tuesday evening with another party hosted by Stef's dad and step mom . The happy couple finally left on their honeymoon last Saturday morning . As I'm writing this they're probably sunning themselves on a beach in the Cayman Islands .

I managed to finish the shawl with time to spare . It was done and blocked about a week before the wedding . You can get a peek of it in the picture of Jessey on my lap in the church . None of the pictures we took with our camera were blog worthy so there will be another photo shoot soon .

More about what's on my needles as regular blogging resumes this week . Life is getting back to normal , but not for long as September is birthday month at our house . God help me and my waistline !

Spare time ?

2009-08-24T04:28:00.000-07:00

What's that ? That seems to have been the story around here for most of this summer . The renovations are finally completed , except for a couple of minor finishing touches . We have a brand new bathroom /laundry room downstairs . This room has been a pain in my side since we bought the house . It's an odd shaped room with a lot of wasted space ; the shower stall was so small and difficult to keep clean . This one is much bigger , still stuck in a corner , but at least you can move and with the tile , it's much easier to keep clean . I also have shelving for laundry supplies and another over the toilet for toiletries . There's new lighting , vanity and a tile floor . Can you tell how happy I am with this new room ! It was only 20 years in the making ...

All that's left is the big clean . With less than 2 weeks left to Max's wedding I'm starting to get butterflies in my tummy . We're having family from Maine staying with us over that weekend and we'll be hosting a birthday party / family reunion BBQ on Sunday the day after the wedding . Don't quite know how that happened . Anyways I'm really praying for good weather over Labour Day weekend !

If you 're wondering about the progress on the shawl , it's coming along . There's no point posting a photo as it looks pretty much the same only much longer . With last weeks' heat and humidity which left me feeling cranky and dead tired by the end of the day, I barely did any knitting . It's about 54 inches at this point . I'm guessing that around 72 inches will be a good length . I'll be having a look on Ravelry for guidelines for the finished dimensions later today. I'm trying to have it ready for blocking by the weekend .

And just because I love him so much and this is my blog , yet another picture of Jessey...

Summer

2009-08-11T02:58:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived . It's been hot & muggy the last couple of days , with some spectacular thunderstorms late in the day . Great pool weather ! The late summer flowers are blooming like crazy, the tomatoes in the garden are ripening with the added sunshine . We've enjoyed them in a meal a couple of times this week . Boy were they good , you can't beat that fresh from the garden taste ! I think we'll be expanding our garden next summer . This year we just didn't have the time to take care of a larger garden .

We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the renovations . The tiling is just about done , the painting is done and the new vanity and toilet are installed . Now it's just the lighting and vent , new doors , heater , mirror and window coverings . The shower door is supposed to come in early next week . Keeping fingers crossed that there's no more delays . I can't wait to get the washer and dryer back in place so I can catch up with the laundry . I've been doing a load here and there at Shirley's just to keep us in clean underwear and such .

Not much knitting going on here , too hot , too tired . What little knitting is getting done is on the shawl . The deadline looms ever closer . I've knit only another 6 inches or so since my last post . I'd better get a move on !

What was I thinking !

2009-08-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Did I say in my last post that I could clean less and knit more during our renovations ? Must of been dreaming in colour or had some funny stuff in my tea . Things have been progressing more slowly than we'd anticipated and by jeez if I gave up the "cleaning" altogether we'd be swimming in dirt . So much for that plan ...

I'm starting to worry a bit because the wedding is just a month away and there's still so much that needs to get done . Aside from that I can't get over the prices of construction materials , thank heavens we don't have to pay the labour costs as Max & Mike are doing it themselves and that we can claim some of the costs in the federal government home reno tax credit . Counting our blessings on that front .

When I have a chance I've been knitting on my shawl . That usually means at the crack of dawn with my first cup of tea . I can't believe it , but a couple of times I actually fell asleep with my knitting in my hands when I was knitting in front of the TV in the evening . This is the progress so far , the last time I measured I'd knit about 31 inches . I've still got yarn left on this ball then , I 'll have to wind up the rest . I'm sure I should get about 60+ inches before I run out . That should be adequate to get a decent sized stole after blocking . The socks are on hold till this is done .

I have to end this post with a pic of our little guy . He's been over to the house a couple of times lately . He's so close to walking on his own . Here he is grabbing onto my legs , wanting me to walk with him . Who could resist that face !? We're still looking for his off button , he's such a lively character ...

Whew , what a week ...

2009-07-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

but all's well that ends well ! Mike and I survived the dog & house sitting . Alaska and Zeus are back to normal , no more poopy dogs and messes to clean up . Thank heavens !

The tile issue has been resolved so we can go full steam ahead with the bathroom renovations . I'm really anxious to get this done , it's a project long overdue . I'm not so anxious to have to deal with the mess of renovations and having the dirt and dust everywhere , but hey I can take a break from cleaning , might as well wait till it's all done . More knitting time maybe ?

Speaking of which here's the new socks in progress . It's not the best picture ; I took it under a cloudy overcast sky , but at least it's not raining . As you can see these will be another pair of toe up socks . This is a free pattern from Wendy Johnson called Nanner. I started out on two circular needles but the joins on one of the circs was a little rough , so switched to dpns . I'm alternating between knitting the shawl and these socks as the mood strikes me .

Now if only we could have a few sunny rain free days .That's not asking too much is it ?

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend !

Calgon ...

2009-07-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

....take me away ! These days life has been a lot like that old commercial . What I wouldn't give for a break from the busyness and the never ending rain . Long story short , Mike is retired (Yay ) , we had a surprise bridal shower for Stef on Saturday (happy bride to be , much laughter and good food ) , started some of the renos , then had a setback with tiles that are on back order till the end of next week (Max is back to work then so that really throws a wrench in the plans) . Then the icing on the cake , Max and Stef are away camping for a couple of days and we're dog sitting the pups (so far so good ) . Trouble is both of the dogs have a bad case of the runs . Don't know why , it's any body's guess , but I spent a good while cleaning up dog poo and disinfecting the house . NO FUN ! So there you have it , the good , bad and the downright ugly( or messy , stinky , take your pick) .

Despite all the busyness I'm still knitting . I've finished the Waving Lace socks and the Upstairs Shawl is coming along nicely . I've got 3 1/2 pattern repeats done . I'm really liking it so far . It's a simple knit , nothing flashy , but I'm sure the finished shawl will be beautiful .

There 's also a new sock on the needles . It IS the Summer of Socks after all . Thank God for knitting , picking up the knitting needles and focusing on the stitches and the project just drives all the cares and worries of the day away . Now if we could just get rid of the constant rain ....

Lazy...

2009-07-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Wish I could add .... "hazy , crazy days of summer " . Summer is just not happening here at all yet . We've had severe thunderstorms , wind, and cool rainy days . No change in sight for the foreseeable future . Oh well , c'est la vie !

I've been a really lazy blogger lately , but busy otherwise since I last checked in . Nothing spectacular just the usual run of the mill stuff . Bathroom renovations are starting so had to get most the supplies organized , choose tile, paint colours , etc . Had the family over for BBQs and brunch a couple of times. I also babysat Jessey a couple of times . I can't ever get enough of that little monkey !

Tomorrow is Mike's last day at work , can't believe how fast that came . He's got mixed emotions about it . He liked what he was doing , but things were changing , add to that the economic times , so he figured he might as well retire now while the package was on the table . Work wise , and otherwise also actually , we've been very fortunate . We're both looking forward to this next phase in our lives .

This is the new project on the needles . I received the order from The Loopy Ewe on Friday and cast on Saturday night. I think this colour is as close a match to my dress for the wedding as I can get . The shawl is called the Upstairs Shawl from WollSchnegge . The photo there doesn't do it justice I think . This and then this one caught my eye . I think that they're both stunning ! Finding a suitable yarn proved to be a challenge however. I looked high and low locally and finally got lucky online. I'll be busy knitting for the next little while . No time to be lazy ...

A new toy

2009-07-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

With Mike's impending retirement not too far away I could see a conflict of interests on the horizon with only one computer in the house . So to preempt that problem , Mama's got a brand spanking new laptop . I love , love , love it ! I love the portability , the little red mouse , ahh just everything about it . It works great , didn't break the bank and it's mine (mostly ) .

Lounging on the keyboard is my current sock in progress . It's Evelyn Clark's Waving Lace Socks . These socks have been a work in mind for forever it seems . Scouring the stash after finishing the toe ups I came across this ball of "Strumpfwolle " (generic term for sock yarn in German ) a gift from my Dad , and for some reason this pattern came to mind . I started out on dpns and not too far into the socks switched to 2 circulars . No one's more surprised than me , who'dda thought ! Loving the pattern and the yarn .

The weather here has been a mish mash , with some sun but thunderstorms and torrential rain later in the day . Canada Day was not a complete wash out . We had a low key celebration with the kids over for a BBQ . Thankfully the rain held off till after we'd eaten . Jessey had a dip in the pool , swallowed some water and like a natural spit it out and kept playing . He's so close to walking. I had to hold both of his hands and just walk and walk with him . He just wanted to explore . I think he's going to be hell on wheels when he gets to be mobile on his own . That child is curious about everything and has oodles of energy . I love him to pieces !

Anyway , wish you all a good weekend !

Happy Canada Day !

2009-07-01T07:34:00.001-07:00

Have a great Canada Day , with blue skies and good times !

A finished object !

2009-06-30T09:19:00.001-07:00

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth . I was just too busy to post . Add to that the fact that we actually had some summer like weather , which has all changed for this week . Rain , rain , and more rain for the next week .

These are the toe up socks that I started on June 1 st . I finally finished them yesterday , just in time to qualify for my various monthly KALs . After knitting these I've come to the conclusion that I'm more of a cuff down gal . That's not to say that I'll never knit another pair of toe ups , but it still seems to be the wrong way around for me . I learned a couple of new techniques , the Turkish cast on , Russian bind off and how to knit with 2 circulars . Knitting on the circs was actually the one thing that I really enjoyed . It didn't start out that way but I've started my July KAL socks on the circs. Go figure !

I've still got Isbel on hold . I just haven't been in the mood to tink back mohair /silk . Ive ordered some lacewight from the Loopy Ewe that looks like a better match colourwise for my dress for the wedding . Hoping it gets here soon as time is running short .

My morning chuckle

2009-06-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist sharing this . It certainly brought a smile to my face. Mike retires in 3 1/2 weeks . Could this be a taste of things to come ;-) ?

A Summer Sampler

2009-06-15T12:21:00.001-07:00

A summer Sampler
Originally uploaded by crzy4stchn

A few photos from a glorious weekend ! Family brunch ,a bike ride along a local trail , ended up with Jessey dipping his toes into the lake. Even took a dip in the pool to cool off . Cold , but refreshing !
Doesn't get any better !

Friday

2009-06-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

It seems like a week just zips by around here . One minute it's Monday and blink , it's Friday . Not that I lead such an eventful life , pretty ordinary actually, but the days are always full with one thing or another. Summer is slowly showing it's face , the temps are just a tiny bit warmer and the sun came out again today . Yippee !

There's not much knitting progress . I'm working on both Ishbel and the toe up socks in rotation . Ishbel is stalled right at the moment though . I'm having some trouble with the 2nd repeat of chart A , can't find my mistake , tinked it , knit it again , same thing , tinked again . So it's on hold till I'm clear minded enough to figure out what's wrong . Could be awhile ;-)) .

The socks are coming along swimmingly . I'm still ambivalent about the toe up process . Ditto for knitting on 2 circulars . The next challenge on these will be the bind off . Coming up soon , I'm further along than the photo shows .

Thanks to Monika sharing her tempting recipe for apricot cake I did some baking today . I sampled some with a cuppa tea , while it was still warm . Ohhhh, so good ! I just love apricots , fresh , dried , in a jam , in a cake , doesn't matter , they're my absolute favourite fruit ! I don't think the cake will last the weekend , between Mike and his sweet tooth and my love of apricots .

Anyway, off to have another cuppa and maybe knit outside for a bit , before I have to think about what's for supper . Apricot cake can be a meal , right ?

Have a good weekend !