A Few Timely Updates

I realised that I haven't shown you any of my finished items lately (although you can see them by clicking on the Flickr slideshow at the side of my blog) so here are a few things that have been finished recently:

A pair of plain ordinary socks knitted in Opal Prisma, terracotta colourway

A little baby jacket knitted in Novita Marine DK for a friend's new baby boy

A fusion knit cardigan knitted in Hayfield Authentic Cotton Rich DK

in a beautiful, pale terracotta shade

These three finished items have something in comon - they are all knitted using yarn that has been received as part of a swap of some sort, either Karma swap or straight yarn swap. I think that a good proportion of my yarn stash is beginning to share that common factor!

I'm now working on a chevron lace crochet cardigan that I'm working from the top down. It's a real first for for as not only have I never crocheted a garment top down before, I've never CROCHETED a garment before! It's turning out extremely well and I only have a few more repeats to work at the bottom of the bodice before it's done.

I'm also working on a pair of bright, primary coloured socks for Dan to take camping in a few weeks time. I'm up to the heel of the second sock so they should be finished in a few days too.

The summer WIPs are soon to be hibernated though because there's no point in finishing off summer knitwear just as the Autumn mists start to roll in is there?

A Very Green Day

I've had a very green day today :)

I've dried three loads of washing outside and saved electricity because I haven't used the tumble dryer (I never use the tumbler when I can dry washing by any other way though), I walked to the post office instead of using the car when I went to post some woolly parcels, and I've recycled three lots of yarn to other people via the Karma forums. The recycling of yarn with added karma is a fabulous idea and I urge you all to try it :)

We had a very green day yesterday too, taking two overgrown trees and an old fence that was really a health and safety hazard down to the recycling skips in the city where my parents live. The trees were terribly overgrown and Dad is so old and frail now that he is unable to chop them down, and the fence had fallen down several years ago. There's lots more to do in my parents' garden, but it's a start! Next time I promise I'll take some photos!!

ANTS!

We were away for the weekend in the caravan in the Peak District, helping my dad to celebrate his 80th birthday and had a lovely time.... we came home and I put some washing into the washing machine. When the wash cycle ended and I was taking the washing out of the machine to dry on the lin outside, I noticed there were several ants by the side of the washer; they seemed to be crawling from under the kick panel at the bottom of the sink in the utility room.

Now we've had ants under the back door step for a while, but they've also migrated to patio and near to the front door. A quick shout to Mr Melody who started to swat them as best he could. And then.... he pulled the kick panel off the sink unit.... and there were hundreds of ants. Small ones, big ones with wings... crawling out of the hole around the drain pipe

I really don't like ants and it made me feel sick but strangely fascinated... I couldn't help Mr M at all :(


Luckily Mr M managed to swat almost all of them (goodness knows how he did it) and squirted them with ant powder, but I can't get the thought out of my head and I've been itching all afternoon.

Someone tell me it's not just us!

Blaze

I finally managed to finish my Blaze jacket off this week. I was unhappy that the sleeves looked far too long after finishing and so I gave it my usual handwash and dry flat treatment. I was also able to seam press it because I had used a cotton yarn:

You can still see that the sleeves are a touch too long; next time I knit this jacket I'll knit the sleeves an inch shorter and possibly decrease a couple of stitches around the back neck band.

I knitted Blaze in Patons 100% Cotton DK in the Pomegranate shade on 4mm Brittany Birch needles; I left off the pockets and I made a few minor modifications when shaping the neckline.

As I was sewing Blaze together I thoght that it would only be fit to wear in the caravan as a throw-on cardie in the evenings. I have, however, worn Blaze with a pair of smart trousers and a smart white top and it looked great! So it's been promoted to my 'good' knitteds pile rather than my 'scruffy' knitteds pile!

And Finally - a close up of Blaze's fully-fashioned goodness:

Hay Fever?

My nose is absolutely streaming and I feel under the weather.... I don't think I'll be working tomorrow if I feel like this!

Mr M Back in Town

Mr M is back from his foreign travels and has unloaded his suitcase into the washing basket.
And it's raining :(

Camping ShakeDown

You may remember that we bought a brand new caravan back at Easter time and I'm happy to report that we have just returned from our very first camping holiday with said 'van. We probably had the best family holiday we've ever had and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Yes, it rained some of the time, and yes, the weather was cool because we were up in the Welsh mountains, but it just means that we all need lots of camping jumpers, hoodies and socks for next time!

We arrived and Mr M reversed the caravan into the pitch with little or no difficulty whatsoever (the joys of having driven a truck in his younger years!) and we put up the awning easily:

We stayed in a beautiful part of North Wales where there were trees, wildlife and wild flowers:

And had the added benefit of being within travelling distance of Stash of Chester....

Much to my surprise, Mr M insisted that I called into Colinette on the way home as we literally drove straight past the door! You can understand that it would have been rude not to buy something as I was forcibly pushed in through the door whilst the boys had sandwiches and drinks in the caravan on the car park...

And the best thing about leaving and coming back home? We're going back to spend our two weeks holiday there in the summer!