Handmade Christmas

Hi everyone - hope you are all getting into the festive spirit!

Well I have had an interesting few weeks to say the least.........

Firstly I lost my job........... although I can honestly say this was not really unexpected or necessarily unwelcome - although I had hoped to hang on to my job until February what with Christmas expenses and all, plus the fact we are moving house again and there are many costs associated with that!

However, having worked full-time  for around 25+ years, I have to say, that although I was looking forward to being at home, the reality of not having a set routine and not having my 'own' money is coming a bit hard.

But having said all that, its time for me to look for new adventures and try and find out what I can do that I truly love.  I am going to try and do some freelance HR work to buffer up the coffers a bit whilst I decide what to do.

Now OF COURSE I would like this to involve Knitting and crafting in some way, shape or form..... I have dabbled into pattern design of course and I love this, but its not the easy option, Designers work incredibly hard and I think I would have to approach this by thinking about it as just doing what I love rather than thinking that it will bring me any cash in!

Another option would be to look at becoming an online yarn shop serving the Middle East - as we do not have anything local and the cost of shipping to the UAE is expensive whether you use Shop and Ship or direct shipping.  Of course for this I would probably need to get a UAE National Sponsor, or set myself up in one of the Free Zones in the UAE, but it something worth thinking about.

Bearing this in mind of course is that at some point we will come back to the UK!! Given the problems we are having with getting the UK to treat Flo as a citizen and not a foreign student, it might be within the next couple of years so that Fred can have 3 years 'proper' residence before he starts University.

Anyway - putting those conundrums aside for a moment, and with a reduced budget, I am looking at doing some more Handmade gifts for Christmas! Although at the moment, I seem to have managed to  make one gift and one 'gift to self'!!  However inspired by Kirsty Allsops #HandmadeChristmas I am getting ready to give gifts which come from the heart rather than the Mall!

So for Florence I have made Christmas Socks in the Straycat Socks Joyeux Noel Self Striping colour way.  Wow this Straycat Socks yarn is great!  I was enabled with this by @sunnydayzdxb (who is really Claire) and I also bought the 'Candy Cane Twist' and 'Are We There Yet' colour ways - destined to fill my sock drawer at a later date.  You can see these great colours below......

For Flo's socks I did the afterthough heels, although I did them toe up.  She has quite small dinky feet so they did not take too much time and I think she's going to be very happy with those whilst she is here over Christmas and also once she gets back to Bath.

Then of course the West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas special sock yarn - Holly Berry - has been all over Instagram and Twitter - so I just had to have some of course! (along with Ethel the Brit Yarn bag OF COURSE!) and as ever the lovely Isla from Brit Yarn provided fantastic service and sent my goodies to Flo who brought them over with her when she came for the F1!

These socks just flew off the needles (and at the moment my favourite needles are the Knit Pro Zings 2.75mm with 100cm fixed cable for magic looping.....)

Again I did the afterthought heel, but this time I did them cuff down because I wanted them a little bit longer and actually the ball of yarn is so generous that I could have almost made them over the knee!
I adore them and will be wearing them on Christmas morning - even if it means having to turn the air conditioning on...........


Finally I have had a nasty reminder that my kidney function is very poor and perhaps I sometimes I take the  fact that I am so lucky to have a kidney transplant for granted!  I had a 'sore' foot which got worse and worse until I was literally crawling round on my hands and knees, because to even put my foot on the floor gave me excrutiating pain.  Now I have a high pain threshold, but for even me, the pain was so dreadful that it brought me to tears!  A trip to A&E told me it was Gout and my uric acid was twice the amount it should be....... So I spent our trip to the Abu Dhabi F1, on crutches, wincing in pain, unable to drive my visitors around and feeling generally miserable.  To add insult to injury, the anti inflammatory drugs gave me terrible stomach cramps!  So I have turned to alternative methods and have found the cherries are a natural remedy to dissolve the crystals which form in you joints - who knew!!!  With that and the fact that I now need to follow a 90% vegetarian diet with very little (or no) meat and alcohol, you could say that the last few weeks have definitely been a catalyst for change for me!

The Summertide Shawl

Hi everyone and I hope you have had a productive few weeks!

I thought I would share my finished Summertide Shawl with you today.

This shawl is a design by the lovely Helen Stewart of A Curious Handmade, which she designed as a mystery knit along.  I do like mystery knit alongs, although a couple of times in the past I have been disappointed because people who have the time and knit very fast, have posted their finished objects when I am half way through! However this group of lovely Knitter's took heed of Helen's plea to keep social media sharing to a minimum so as to not give the game away and I managed to finish it without having seen a photo to spoil the fun!

Helen announced the winners of the KAL prizes last week on Periscope and so I feel safe enough now to write about it!!

I wanted to knit from stash and the requirement was for two colours.  I really agonised about the choice because actually I don't have too much sock yarn in my stash!! (Or at least I didn't until my recent trip to A Yarn Story!!).  So I decided to chose a Dubai Knits skein from the lovely Jocelyn which I had fallen in love with a few years ago - a beautiful pale mint colourway in a silk blend and something very different in a skein from Ripplescrafts which I bought last year on our trip to Scotland (see my previous blog post HERE) which is a deep blue with the most gorgeous tweedy 'nups'!

I was not 100% sure that they would complement each other, but nothing ventured, nothing gained right?

I waited patiently for the first clue, and I duly cast on in the evening of 17th September!

The first clue section of the of the shawl was garter stitch and I decided to start with the Dubai Knits yarn and was not disappointed! Not only is the colour gorgeous but the silk blend made the garter fabric super soft with a gorgeous drape. Jocelyn has not dyed this colourway since mine and I have already told her she needs to do more of this - it's just lovely for shawls!

The second clue arrived and this was still to be in the first colour.  However we moved into lace and this clue took some concentration! I took the shawl with me to the UK on my trip to Bath and managed to finish this lace section in the hotel on the night before my early morning flight back to the desert. By this time I was a little behind schedule but decided there was no way that working full time and travelling to the UK in the middle of the KAL would make me an early finisher so I took that pressure off myself!

When I got back to the UK I started to work on the next clue and changed to the Ripplescrafts yarn.  This was a complete contrast to the first yarn, but in a really good way! Stitch definition was great and I soon realised that the contrast in the yarn did in fact work very well! Again the lace needed some concentration but I began to motor through and really enjoyed knitting right to the end!

The shawl is a live,y size - medium sized I would say, which is going to make it extremely useful now that the weather in Abu Dhabi is finally cooling down!

Although I have been listening to Helen's podcast for a long while now, I had never knit one of her patterns (shame on me!) but I would thoroughly recommend them! Her instructions are super clear and I love the fact that she writes everything in a table and let's you know how far you have knit with her percentage system. In fact although I usually use a chart to knit lace shawls - this time I used the written instructions!

The whole experience has been a delight and I look forward to he next one Helen!!

Find Helen at Curious Handmade - she appeared you may remember in my Top Ten Podcasts post a while ago!!

Bigger on The Inside!

Last week I finally finished my 'Bigger on the Inside' shawl.

As you might know from previous posts - we are huge Dr Who fans in this household and since the 'new' series began back with the 9th Doctor - the lovely Christopher Ecclestone - we have not missed an episode!

Fred and I have been along to the Dr Who exhibition when it was in London, we have also made the Tardis for a school project on 'Time Machines' and Fred went to school dressed at the 11th Doctor - Matt Smith - for his 'film and TV star day'!!

We even own an inflatable Dalek!!

Fred as Matt Smith, various Dr Who themed Birthday gifts, Inflatable Dalek and home made Tardis for a school project!!

So was it any surprise at all that I wanted to knit the 'Bigger on the Inside Shawl' by Kate Atherley??

The pattern is available on Knitty.com and after looking through the projects on Ravelry I decided to work with the Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in the Winter Night colourway.

I have to admit I had started the shawl once before in lace weight and it was a disaster!  The lace section had completed confounded me and I frogged it!  However this time it was a lot easier in fingering weight yarn and whilst you still needs to have your wits about you whilst doing the lace section, it did make for much easier knitting.

I took it with me on our first trip to the UK this year and spend a lovely few days on the Kent coast in quirky Dungeness and made some good progress!

A gorgeous spot for knitting!

After the lace section however I got hooked up with other projects and finally I picked up the project in September, wanting to finish it for the new series!  However that was not to be!

I finally got it finished last week.  Its a lot of knitting but the little Tardis' (Tardii??) were interesting to knit and the yarn was very easy to knit with so the last part flew along!

Lace section

The shawl is subtle enough to wear without anyone screaming 'Dr Who Weirdo!' at me! I did wear it to the Abu Dhabi Gaming Convention on Friday last week - just before our drama which resulted in Fred having to have his appendix out!! Because of that we did not get any photos sadly - but will try again as soon as Fred is better and can hold the camera up!!

So if you are a Dr Who Nerd like me - give it a go - its very cute!


Read more detail on my Ravelry Project page Geronimo!

Woolly Hat Day 2015

Happy Woolly Hat Day Everyone!!

Wooly Hat Day is part of Wool Week and is supported by the Campaign for Wool.

Its also a time to raise money for charity and the Mission for Seafarers is looking for donations.  Its easy to do in the UK as per the below banner!!

In celebration of the day I have put together a collage of my own woolly hat collection!!

In the centre middle is my own Lordship Lane Hat which can be found here on Ravelry - Lordship Lane Hat and Scarf - its a free pattern but if you would like to donate to the Wooly Hat charities perhaps you could text to Wool 11 as the note above!

Anyway its as usual too hot here in Abu Dhabi to wear a woolly hat so I will be donating without wearing!!

Enjoy your weekend!!

From top left:

Slable
Lordship Lane Hat and Scarf
Liquorice
Rikke
Fenimore
Felicity
Wurm
Goomba
Barley

Top Ten Sock Knitting Patterns for Socktober

If you are a knitter and not been abducted by Aliens then I am sure you will have heard of Socktober!! I am knitting some gorgeous new socks for me as part of the celebrations, but I thought I would give you my top ten picks of patterns available on Ravelry which might tempt you to start a pair of socks or even given we are already a few days into the month - you might want inspiration for a second pair??? (Ever the optimist I know!)

Top Ten Knitting Patterns for Socks

1.  Seed Pods by Louise Tilbrook:

Well of course these are number one!  This is my pattern of choice for my Socktober efforts!  I am finally using my treasured Skein of Buffy Toughie by the sadly lamented and missed Juno Fibre Arts. Loving the pattern so far and very well written - well done Louise!! Available for £2.50 on Ravelry.

Find Seed Pods here on Ravelry

WIP on my Seed Pods in Juno Fibre Arts Buffy Toughie

2.  Rye by Tincanknits

If you are a newbie to socks this HAS to be the pattern to start you.  Its fabulously written - there is no way you can go wrong and its FREE - what's not to like!  I love them, they are quick, simple and there are instructions for all sorts of sizes!  Do a pair for each member of the family!

Find Rye Socks here on Ravelry

My Rye Socks in Plucky Knitter Yarn

Such a lovely easy pattern

3.  Elgin by Clare Devine

In my queue - these just look the most comfy socks that ever lived!!!  AND they look a quick knit too!! A paid for pattern £3.50 on Ravelry.

Find Elgin Socks  here on Ravelry

4.  Monkey by Cookie A

Where would a top 10 list of socks be without Monkeys - again these are on my queue and saved for when I have given up work and have more time to concentrate!!! This pattern is still available for free via Knitty.com but if you want a bigger range of sizes there is a $6.00 version on Ravelry.

Find Monkey socks here on Ravelry

5.  Muddy Daffodils by Clare Devine

Clare makes it into the list again at number 5 - the best pair of yellow socks I have ever seen! The pattern for these yellow beauties is £3.50 on Ravelry.

Find Muddy Daffodils here on Ravelry

6.  Fish Lips Kiss Heel Socks by Sox Therapist

There are many different types of heel around - and I definitely want to try the Fish Lips Kiss Heel - if only for the name!!  The pattern is a steal at $1.00 on Ravelry!

Find Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks here on Ravelry

7.  Afterthought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman

Again another different type of heel I want to try - its pretty popular and similar to the Fish Lips Kiss, perhaps a little more sturdy.  And the great news is that this is a FREE pattern on Ravelry.

Find Afterthought Heel socks here on Ravelry

And then try these at your peril...... well it IS nearly Halloween after all..........



8. Pair-A-Normal Socks by Barry Scates

I'm not too good a colour work and whilst these are only black and white - they look way to complicated to me!!! These are another fabulous free pattern on Knitty.com!

Find Pair A Normal sock on Ravelry here

9.  Elf Shoes by Pamela Wynne

I admit it, I secretly really really want to knit these - and yes they are probably classed as shoes or slippers but they could also be classed as socks..yes??  Even better news is that this is also a FREE pattern on Ravelry.

Find Elf Shoes here on Ravelry

10.  Cowasocky by Leslie Comstock

These somehow just seem so wrong.......but so right......  FREEEEEZIAN (get it??) pattern again on Ravelry!

Find Cowasocky here on Ravelry

Hope you enjoyed that quick romp around my current faves - would love to hear what your favourite Socktober patterns are??

Leaving the Nest to Feather the new one!!

There have been a few articles in the press in the last few weeks about kids leaving home and going off to University both from the 'Freshers Flu' point of view and the 'What are we going to do without the Kids' angle! Of course I still have a relatively small person (aged 11 if that counts as small!) but my eldest has now officially left home for the big wide world! But yes I can relate to the feelings of emptiness and the inevitable change that a child moving away means, and in my case she's thousands of miles away - I'm not sure if that makes it harder or not..................I'm still getting my head around that one!

The first wrench was 3 weeks ago when she left Abu Dhabi for the last time (well the last time as a resident anyway!) and I was surprised at how emotional I felt about that, seeing her off at the airport at 5.30am on another hot and sultry morning in the desert. She could not understand it - 'Mum, you will see me in 2 weeks, what's the fuss?' - well the fuss is that everytime I closed my eyes I saw a toddler with swathes of long dark hair with huge brown eyes, with unbelieveably long lashes, saying 'Can I have a hug Mummy before we watch Teletubbies?' and that was the tough part - my little girl has officially Grown Up!

So the intervening 2 weeks went pretty slowly for me until I sat down on the British Airways 1.45am red eye flight back to Heathrow to move her into Uni! 7 Hours later I picked up the hire car (little white manual VW Polo - which I kept stalling because I am so used to driving an automatic – (yep I am an Expat Brat!) drove to Sevenoaks to pick her up from my sister-in-laws house and we set off for Bath!

I absolutely adore Bath - as you may know from previous posts, I am a History Nerd and therefore the city ticks all the boxes there could possibly be for me - I'll be honest I could camp out indefinitely in the The Fashion Museum with a copy of Northanger Abbey to read over and over again - picking out those 'ironic' bits that my English Literature teacher at school was obsessed with! We spent the first couple of days at Ikea and Primark (hate them both because they are 'fast' - but budget requirements meant they were the only option) and we managed to get everything we needed for her (well at least we thought we had everything until our Skype call yesterday.......Toilet Brush!!!!!!!!)

Naturally I had to pack all the hand knits - and yes I wore them all!!!

How could anyone not love this architecture!

Flo had never actually been to the University Campus, having had her interview over Skype so we both had a great shock when we arrived on Saturday to do the final registrations - such a stunning location, helped by gorgeous weather - which I am reliably informed is not always so lovely, I had obviously packed some sun to share. Her Halls are in another part of Bath, a short bus ride away and Sunday was spent moving her in. Bath Spa University - details here.

As you would expect - more gorgeous architecture at Bath Spa University

Traditional parkland planting - probably by one of the Georgian Landscape Designers - definitely need to research!

I love the mix of traditional and modern

I was shocked at the amount of 'Stuff' being packed into quite small rooms by some of the students! Flo and I are both advocates of the 'less is more' school of thought and I introduced her to the Konmarie form of folding t shirts to fit neatly into drawers. Took us a couple of hours and we were pleased with our work and I even managed to put fairy lights up for her whilst the rest of her flatmates were still wading through their cardboard boxes! Then it was time to go - time to leave her with her new friends - time to let go!

BUT........ there is always a silver lining to every cloud and even though the sound of the BA theme as we landed in Abu Dhabi the next day sent me into tears............... I did have a fab time in the UK and there was always the yarn................there IS always the yarn................ 

So, where to start..... I had made an online order at Tangled Yarn because I completely fell for the Wingu Shawl by Claire Devine. This was a very serendipitous moment because I had just posted an old photo of Sperm Whale watching in New Zealand (still one of the greatest moments of my life) and can you believe the colours Claire used for the shawl were an almost exact match to the colours of the photo! So I was straight onto the Tangled Yarns site to order! Well as these things happen (well they happen to me anyway) I then saw the packs for the Pwani Shawl by Claire and I fell for the 'On the Shore' colourway which are browns and creams - so into the basket they went! I hastily called Flo and told her to expect them in the UK and to pack them carefully when they arrived! On our first night in Bath she casually threw the parcel at me, which was a lot lighter than I expected! However I was delighted when I saw the yarn - Light Fingering - a very apt name and with the light and open patterns Claire has created these are going to be ideal for desert wear!

Able and Ivy Kit in the 'On the Shore' Colourway

Coast Colourway for the Wingu shawl

 I have not been into a yarn store since January when I had made a rushed purchase of some Debbie Bliss cotton in Tunbridge Wells so I was really looking forward to going to a 'proper' indie shop! A Yarn Story in Bath was my LYS of choice so we headed up there on Saturday afternoon! The shop was full of lovely ladies learning to drop spin and I happily squished and stroked and 4 skeins of beautiful yarn became mine!!

How beautiful are these!!!

Firstly were these beauties from Townhouse Yarns in Ireland.

This skein is the Grafton 4 ply which is 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon.  It feels like clouds of marshmallow due to the Cashmere!  There are 400m in this 100g skein called Cherry Cola!!

The next skein is Camden Tweed which is 85% Superwash Merino and 15% Donegal Nep.  Again 400m in a 100g Skein.  Colourway is Troi and its a real 'Duck Egg' Blue!

I was super excited to finally purchase some The Uncommon Threadyarn.  So many podcasters (ear burning you A Playful Day!!) have raved about this yarn but I have never seen, let alone bought a skein, so I am super happy with this! Its a Singleton which is 100% Superwash Merino with a whopping 415m!  This may become a shawl because I need more grey shawls in my life!

Last but by no means least is this 'Skein of Awesome'!!!!

Just look at this beauty!!  This is from Life in the Long Grass  another Irish supplier and its 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon and if the Uncommon Thread skein was long - how about 425m!!

The custom colourway is simply stunning with pinks and creams, lilacs and purples!

And the name ...... Confused Hydrangea ... genius!!!



So now if I am able to claim via third party (i.e. Flo), my new LYS is A Yarn Story, 128 Walcot Street , Bath - go get yourself some Confused Hydrangea - you won't be sorry!!!

The Life of a Sweater

Hello again and yes its been a while since I posted anything on the blog!  We have had a rather hectic summer which included going back the UK for a fabulous wedding and then coming back to the sandpit for a few weeks before jetting (well that was a loooong story!) off to Bali for what is likely to be our last family holiday together since Flo will be leaving the UAE and heading home to the UK to attend Bath University!  I am so proud of her, she's going to study International Education - she'll make a fab teacher - nothing at all to do with her being extremely bossy (nope nothing at all!)

Anyway I think I will leave my travels to another blog post as this time I want to concentrate on the story of my Gemini sweater!

For this particular project the inspiration was most definitely the yarn!  As you well know I am a big fan of podcasts (they keep me sane during my horrific journey into work every day!) and I was really drawn to a yarn mentioned by the lovely Louise from Knit British - the Lyonesse Yarn by Blacker .

This yarn seemed to sing to me given its 50% Corriedale and 50% Linen - this could actually be something I could wear here in Abu Dhabi!  So with plenty of social media encouragement (you guys are such enablers!!!) I went ahead and ordered from the newly established Brit Yarn and asked Isla to send to my brother's address so that I could collect it when I went back to the UK.

I ordered 7 skeins in the Ruby colourway and was so excited to open them when I got home!

Beautifully presented with a lovely stitch marker and message from Isla!

The Gemini pattern is a lovely T-shirt pattern from Knitty Spring Summer 2012 and I think was the perfect pattern for this yarn as it calls for a linen blend!  I of course checked out Ravelry and there are some lovely projects!  What I particularly liked was the fact that it suited all shapes and sizes and for me thats a big plus - I often fall for patterns modelled on a beautiful size 10 with skinny arms which does not really translate to my size 14 with arms more akin to tree trunks!!!

The pattern is written really well and the sweater really is a breeze to knit. Before we went on holiday, work was as usual manic and I am usually out at work for 11 hours a day so progress can be slow due to lack of time and exhaustion :)  I think I probably could have finished it in a couple of weeks if work had not got into the way!! Oh and yes I did a swatch!!!!!

I loved the shape and pattern of the neck - its designed so that you can wear it with the pattern at the front or the back - stroke of genius!

Spot the colour co-ordinated stitch marker which I used to mark the front!

So I was almost half way down the body when we went to Bali and I decided not to take it with me because by now it was quite heavy!  The weather in Bali is always on the humid side and I thought it was probably not the best project to take.  In hindsight, given that my husband sat in a cocktail induced stupor on my knitting bag and broke the needles of the project I DID take - it would probably have been better to have packed it!!

I am back to the UK at the end of September for a few days and I foolishly thought it would be great to finish this and take it - until Flo pointed out that end of September in the UK is probably going to be cold and people will point and laugh!!  Anyway I have been so happy with the project that I have now finished it!

I had one minor slip up - binding off the 1x1 ribbing...... I bound off as normal but it was way too tight so I went back and undid it all and re-bound of using Jeny's stretchy bind off as demonstrated by Cat Bordi HERE and this was much much better!

The yarn surprisingly bled a lot during soaking which was odd since there was no transfer onto my hands when I washed it!  Anyway with a few rinses and a rolling in my special blocking towel ( freebie which came with some Paul Smith aftershave!!!), a light pinning and out into the 45 degree heat to dry!  The only time in which the heat in an Abu Dhabi summer is useful is when drying knitwear!!!

I have to say that this is one of the sweaters I think I will get the most wear from.  It fits like a dream - and I am renowned for making things which don't quite fit!!!!  The colour is lovely and the drape is nice, although still retains quite a bit of structure.  I took some indoor pics when it was dry and they are more indicative of the colour - its a definite Ruby, but with a faded feel!  I think the photos below are a little bit light - its pretty much the same colour as the original yarn. Overall I would give the pattern and the yarn a 10/10.

Recently I have been inspired by Helen of Curious Handmade's project to have a more handmade wardrobe in her Wardrobe Challenge and this I think is definitely my first contribution!

Front Detail

Back Detail

Some Knitting Content!!

Well hello again!

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!