Pressies!

Well I did it! I persuaded Fee to wear the jacket of doom! But you can see how happy she was about it. Even down to the sad face drawn on the box.
Anyway, we took it to her Gran today. She seemed happy enough with it, so I hope it does the job for her.














This is the embroidery I did for my mother-in-law for Christmas, before framing.












And again after a family effort. Fee went and bought the frame, and Allister did the framing. I hope his Mum likes it!

We have the technology!

Finally we got a network! Note the use of the royal we. I was sent for the cable, and I got a network and internet access as if by magic!

I've been doing other things in the (long!) time since I last blogged. Fee and I took her Gran to the Hobbycrafts and Crafts for Scotland exhibition at the SECC in Glasgow in October. Oh what a bad idea! We went round the show saying I like that, I'll have that and came out with much heavier bags and lighter purses.
One of the stands was Spellbound beads, where I bought a few kits! I didn't do too well with the frosted fir tree, but maybe it only needs a bit of a tweak.




I did like the ariel tassel, and it turned out well I thought, so I did another one.












This one, I used the instructions as above, but bought other beads. This was on another expensive day out with Fee, when we braved the first day of a new shop at Glasgow Fort Shopping Park. Hobbycrafts have all kinds of everything! I thought I'd try a different colour, but ended up with a different size as well. This one is a bit bigger.













I also bought a snowflake kit, which worked out quite well too.

















I bought things to do patchwork, which are still in the bag waiting for some time to do them.

I bought an embroidery kit to do for my mother-in-law for Christmas. It's finished, but not yet framed. It will appear here when it's framed.

I also bought yarn to do a cardigan for my mother-in-law's birthday. Poor soul has her birthday on Christmas Eve. Fee does not like it, with a vengeance, but if feel really nasty I'll get her to model it for me to take a photo.

At last!

I've thrown Fee off the computer again to do this. I really must get some sort of networking system here. It's like a guerilla raid trying to get online! Reconnaissance - is she there? Is she nearby? Have I got time to rush in, blog etc and get back out before I'm assaulted from behind? Anyway, here I am.

I haven't been idle since last time. I've done 3 pairs of socks. One of them, for my mother in law, I handed over before I remembered to take photos. But she seemed to like them so I hope they are ok.

The next ones were a bit more of an undertaking. Long socks for big feet! Based on an idea Fee saw online - Monster socks- I gave it a go. It's short sections of the different sock yarns we had between us. If you look carefully you'll see socks that have already appeared here. Here they are modelled at Culloden battlefield the morning after I finished them.































These are done in Opal elements. Soon have no room in my sock drawer!

Long time again!

Forgot to put this in last time. Sock yarn (surprise surprise!) thatI boughtin Switzerland. And surprisingly, it's purple! It's in a long queue to be used though.










And this is the finished versionof the lace. Much shorter than the pattern, but I wanted a scarf, not a wrap. And I have lots of yarn left to make something else.










I haven't been idle though. Fee's socks are progressing nicely. One is finished, theother is more than a third up the leg. So far I haven't used the same yarn twice, and I suspect that I'll have unused ones at the end.Does this mean I'll have to knit another pair?

And for a bit of excitement. I was coming home from a conference (international, in Glasgow, British Blood Transfusion Society) yesterday. I was waiting to turn out of the road from the station when 2 fire engines went past. They had boards on the side that said they were from Easterhouse (Glasgow) and one was a heavy rescue unit. This of course made me think something was up, as Easterhouse is 20 odd miles away. They were heading in the general direction of home, so I was somewhat concerned. As I drove up the road to my house, I could see a helicopter hovering reasonably nearby. So of course when we could (having visitors) Fee checked the news and Internet, and found that a helicopter had crashed in woods near Lanark. Then it was in Jerviswood. Which is 2 or 3 miles from us as the crow flies, so the helicopter I saw was hovering over the crash site. I was going to the annual dinner of the BBTS last night, so I got updates from Fee on the situation. Apparently the crash was at 4.10, and I saw the fire engines at 4.35, so they must have been really moving along the M8 and A73!

Oh dear , it's been such a long time!

And in that time I haven't been idle!

We went to Switzerland on holiday, Fee blogged that. It was a good week!

Since my last post, the lace has undergone a reincarnation. I had another disaster with it, and ripped it all out. I started again, with a few sections less and on normal needles. It was rather long when I took it off the other needle, and since I wanted a scarf rather than a wrap, I cut it back a bit. It is now finished, but not yet blocked. Something to look forward to!

You can see different stitch markers this time too. Rather than use all of Fee's markers, I got some from knittiotherapy, also known as Sue. You maybe can't see them properly, but these are beautiful butterflies in different colours on golden wires and purple beads on silver wires. Some of them now in use in the socks below!
These socks were done to "test drive" a pattern from Sue. They turned out really well, very pretty socks and fairly easy to do, as long as you can count.
Different pictures because of the comments about them being small. They fit my feet!

I also knitted a pair of socks for a friend at work, but I forgot to take photos before I gave them to her. Opal yarn again, in orange, black and white.

































And talking of foot size. I upset Fee by saying that this looked like a clown foot. It was nasty on 2 counts, because she has no control over the size of her feet; and because she hates clowns!

Anyway, this is going to be a knee sock, using the leftover yarn from all the socks I have knitted, along with some from the balls I haven't started yetand some that Yorkie brought when she came to stay for a weekend.

Decisions, decisions

Made the decision though, and went for the silk laceweight. This is it after a few rows, full of stitch markers and section markers.










It's Faceted Gems and is progressing nicely. At least it was until this morning when Fee's Boyes needle separated! I thought the left hand bit had got a bit light, looked down and the point had come off, letting the end of the row slide off the rest of the needle. Fortunately it was only the last 16 or so stitches and I think I've rescued it. Was not happy at that moment!!!
This is a few rows and many hours on from the first picture.






Another pressie from one of Fee's friends, Sobe. Thanks Sobe. I haven't decided yet which sock pattern to use, but it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

Another pair of socks!

Finished these tonight, after starting them on Saturday after Woolfest.
Got the white silk/wool mix at Woolfest and did the first one by Sunday night.
Feel really nice on.
Now to finish the baby cardigan and decide which of my many new goodies to use next!

Woolfest!!!!

We went to Woolfest! And we just about did it right. As in if you can't close the boot of the car you haven't done it right!
This is an overview of what Fee and I bought. To see her share and more detail go to her blog.









I bought some Regia Silk Color a while ago, but when Fee bought a plain colour to go with it, something went wrong and I ended up with a burgundy instead of a red colour. So I bought this to go with the burgundy.















This is to go with the original ball!














Something subtle to spin!


















Some nice pink alpaca to knit with.


















And some baby alpaca to spin and knit.














I have lots of natural merino to spin, so this dye kit is to make it a bit different.

















I am in the middle of a baby cardigan in pink, white, yellow and orange. I hope these buttons will look good on it.












Got carried away here and bought some laceweight silk. Haven't quite decided what to knit with it.










Dyed merino and silk to spin.













More to spin, this time baby camel and silk.













And more dyed alpaca to spin.













Finally non-Woolfest. This is the tussah silk from previously. Fee skeined it for me. I didn't realise at first it was mine when she gave it to me!

Other pursuits

Last week the energetic ones cycled along the Forth and Clyde Canal, from Auchinstarry to Anniesland, at Lock 27. I was support crew, with the really hard job of driving between the 2 places to meet them for lunch. I had plenty of time to sit by the canal and knit while they cycled the 14 miles to me. After lunch in the restaurant at Lock 27 - imaginatively called Lock 27! - Fee and I drove on to Bowling, where the canal joins the River Clyde and then the sea. Allister still had the energy to cycle the 7 miles and arrived only a few minutes after us. This is Allister and me at the canal basin, a beautiful spot on a beautiful day.

As I said right at the start of this blog, I only came back to knitting in March. Before that I was doing a cross stitch picture. Didn't get very far with it as you can see, before I abandoned it for socks! Socks are easier to do in odd places. Eventually it will become the picture below. When I stop knitting socks.


























I have nearly finished spinning my Tussah silk. Now I have to decide what to knit with it.












Yet another thing I have tried. This was my Father's Day gift to my Dad. I was surprised and pleased at how realistic this turned out. Apart from the left eye, which is not too good, it seems to capture Connie.















This is specially for Yorkie. She was asking earlier if Allister had finished his water feature. Yes, here it is. When it's switched on water runs down the stone. Once again he's done a lovely job.

Mermaid socks in Trekking with bamboo. Really comfortable to wear.











Ready to try something different, I bought some silk fibre. This is Tussah silk in Summer Berries.












And natural mulberry silk. The plan is to blend this with the wool fibre from New Lanark Mills that I bought at Creative Stitches in Glasgow. Once the spining wheel is reassembled I'll attempt to spin them then knit something that I hope will be quite special.









Thank you to everyone who expressed such sympathy over Connie. Here she is in her favourite place, a field, last year. She lived out full time, as you can see from the muddy coat. At least then she was able to get down and roll then get back up again.

Sadness and success

I finished the second Anne sock last night, and passed it on to the chief grafter, who did her usual good job for me. I 'm pleased with the result, the stripes in the yarn seemed to almost match the sections of the pattern.
















That was the only good news of yesterday though. My beautiful and special horse Connie was put to sleep yesterday morning. She had been diagnosed with laminitis two and a half weeks before, and given the standard treatment, foam pads to support the soles of her feet and relieve the pain. After 2 days seemed to be making progress and the pads were removed. The vet had warned me that big horses were more at risk of serious consequences, simply because of the weight carried on the front feet. I already knew it was a serious condition, but the horses I knew of had sore feet and needed careful management. When I looked for more information, I found a study which showed that around 80% of cases made a reasonable recovery. But 20% didn't. At that time I didn't know where Connie would end up. In the worst case scenario the membranes holding the hoof to the inner structures of the foot (the laminae) die, and the hoof can actually fall off.
Anyway, a few days later she was in pain again, so I increased her dose of painkillers, then when that didn't help got the vet out again. He put the foam pads back on her feet, and she was instantly more comfortable. Another vet visit and she looked ok, but the vet felt the pads should stay on a bit longer. So after 9 or 10 days with the pads, the vet came back on Wednesday to check her out. Both the vet and myself were shocked by what we saw. Instead of the soles of her feet making a depression on each side of the frog ( the central soft structure in the foot) they were actually bulging out. This indicated that the worst had happened and the internal structures were sinking, confirmed by depressions round the top of the hoof. She put the pads back on and arranged to come back on Friday. If the condition had stabilised there was a chance to help Connie, if it had got worse there was only one option. And I don't need to tell you which way it went. When the vet examined Connie's feet the depressions had got worse, and there was a section of hoof which had started to detach from the skin. As soon as I saw that I knew what was going to happen.
The vet was brilliant with me. She explained what she would have to do, left me with Connie for a while, then did her best to make it easy for us both. The end was swift and peaceful, Connie just lay down and went to sleep. It must be the worst thing I have had to do so far.
Fee came with me, and she was fantastic too. It would have been much worse without her there, even though at first I wanted to spare this experience. She told many of her online contacts what had happened, and all of them sent virtual hugs and support. Thank you all, it is wonderful to know that all of you, whereever you are in the world, care. Even those with problems of your own. I really appreciate your concern, and send the same back to those who need it.

Oops I did it again!

What have I done? Oh dear! More sock yarn! With a little help from a friend (Susann in Germany, thank you for doing this), I bought an Opal selection pack and minis. Fee thought these were "soooo cute"!

I really must buy no more yarn for a long time now. I have enough to keep me going for weeks!






Once again my stash has been enhanced by the kindness of one of Fee's knitty contacts. Zanne in Michigan sent me this. Thank you Zanne, it's beautiful.










The socks I did with Sue's yarn are now finished. Fee made the hangers to show them off.












But they look better in their rightful place - on my feet! I have since worn them to work and found them comfortable and warm.


And once they were finished, I got back to the Anne socks. Number 1 of those is done, number 2 yet to be started. But you'll have to wait for the pair to see them properly!