As usual life has been a round of ups and downs but I am happy to be sitting at my Mac again this morning! We got up early and went down to the beach! Now of course I live very close to the beach but so rarely go because I have always got other 'chores' to do! But today was different - today I decided to make the most of what I have on my doorstep (for which I pay a premium in rent I might add!!!) Oh what a revelation - at 7am its glorious, just warm enough before the searing heat of an Abu Dhabi day at the end of May sends you inside running for the air con! The fish were out in abundance and swam around our feet and we watched the Grey Herons getting their fill for breakfast (although Freddie is never too happy when he sees the reality of the food chain!). I swam and read my book and then we rushed back home before our feet burnt on the sand!
I went through a bit of a quiet side on the knitting front, but am happy to say that I have some knitting news to share with you!
My Hitofude is slowly coming along - have taken a little break from that for gift knitting as you will see - I still love it and hope to have it finished for our trip back to the UK at the end of June..... Still looks a bit small but I am praying that blocking will allow it to fit my 'sturdy' arms into it!!
Then for some gift knitting!! I have never made a Rebecca Danger monster before so I thought this would be an ideal little gift for a colleague who is shortly going off on maternity leave. For her last baby I made a cute hat and matching socks out of Sirdar Stripes - so this time I kept with the Sirdar Stripes theme and made Kevin the Monster. He's very cute and I am very pleased with him - as she was when she opened the wrappings! I love the feeling when people appreciate what you make for them - its true, giving is so much more rewarding that receiving (although don't tell Keith that - I am not quite ready for him to give up on the very few and far between gifts I get nowadays!!!!).
Finally - as another gift I am making a baby blanket for my good friend who went through a truly horrific time with her first pregnancy - resulting in her losing the baby at 21 weeks. Having lost a first child myself I know how absolutely terrible it is and that you think you will never go on to have a baby and remain unhappy for the rest of your life - luckily for me and now for her things have turned out well!
This little baby blanket is of a similar design to my Lantern Shawl (which is currently unavailable on Ravelry because I need to fix a few things - sorry folks!) - but I have made it slightly less 'holey' so that its a little bit warmer! I had a good reaction on Instagram so I will be writing that up as a pattern just as soon as I have finished it! Knitting up in Plucky Knitter Worsted (I am slowly but surely using my stash of Plucky up!! - there is a lot of it, even though its gorgeous!)
Im about a third of the way through at the moment so I will update you on progress......
Well thats about it for now! I have just made an order from Knit Picks for some yarn to make the 'Bigger on the Inside' shawl - which I have wanted to make for ages - I am missing Doctor Who at the moment so hopefully that will help with the separation anxiety!
Oh and Roscoe the puppy is growing by the moment!! He did unravel my Hap Shawl - but then I wasn't very happy with how it was turning out so perhaps that was for the best - so until next time here he is in happy mood!
