Special yarn

Remember this?

And this?

And this? 

Well now I have this! 

I cannot tell you how excited and honoured I am to have a ball of yarn in a colourway that I have created. I absolutely love it and can't wait to share more photos with you as soon as I'm allowed to! In the meantime, you'll just have to make do with this little tease! xxx

Happy socks means happy feet

I have a thing about rainbows. They are beautiful and have that promise of something a little magical. I have a thing about rainbow yarn too! I looked at my stash on Ravelry for confirmation of that and this is what I found...

I'm sure there's more! This, dear reader, is most likely just the tip of the rainbow iceberg! I just don't seem to be able to resist the lure of all those lovely colours in one skein of yarn. Whilst I wouldn't wear a rainbow jumper, having happy rainbow feet is quite a different matter. So it was a rainbow skein (well, a rainbow cake actually) that I picked out when I wanted something to knit on a recent bus trip. You may recall I blogged about it here. 

These socks were one of my chosen projects to accompany me to Greece and I had plenty of beach knitting time. 

I was quite impressed with my stripe-matching skills too! There's usually a bit of guesswork going on, or I'm often not too precious about having matchy matchy socks. But it all just seemed to work out fine.

These have been given away as a present and made their new owner very happy. Do you have a particular colourway of yarn that you're always drawn to? xxx

Good for the soul

I did it! I made it to Greece! Despite a stressful journey out, where the travel gods were clearly testing my resolve (I ended up being on standby for the flight and had to plead for a ticket, and then it wasn't certain that my case had travelled with me!), I spent a week on my own in our special place on  the Greek island of Kos. During the week, I was able to remember so many wonderful, happy times spent there with Mr JK, and I felt his closeness the whole time I was there. Of course there were a few wobbles, especially when people were being super-kind to me because of what had happened. I spent the days on the beach with my knitting and kindle and was incredibly lazy. I ate at  the same two tavernas each day - one at lunch time where I could sit at a table overlooking the beach and indulge in some delicious salads, and in the evening, at our favourite taverna where I was looked after so well by Nikos. He was very concerned for my welfare and gave me extra wine and dessert each day. The Greeks are so warm and friendly, that I felt at home eating there and being on my own wasn't nearly such a big deal for me as I'd imagined it would be. There were things I found hard - going for walks to feed the cats (although I still did feed the harbour cats), sitting on the balcony of the apartment and enjoying a drink before going out for  the evening and then going to a bar on my own after dinner for a drink (I didn't manage to do that one the whole week.) But I am very, very pleased that I made the decision to go back to Kos as it helped me to focus on both the past and the future and I do feel strangely at peace at the moment. Someone commented on one of my Instagram posts that grief is a lifelong companion and you have to make your peace with it. This week has definitely helped me on that journey. Enjoy some photos of my week and I'll be back soon to share some finished socks with you. xxx

Little steps

By the time you read this, I should be in Greece. Mr JK and I loved going to Kos; it felt like our second home. We went back to the same little village every year and it was just like going home. I couldn't face going back there last summer but have decided to be brave and spend a week there over half term on my own. Hopefully I will make it onto the flight - I say hopefully as I have bottled out of doing a few things at the last minute. But I have plenty of knitting packed, along with my kindle, some audio books and cat food for the local kitties. As well as all of those things, I have my heart full of so many years of happy memories of wonderful times spent with my lovely Mr JK that I hope it will be enough to give me a good time. Wish me luck! xxx

Our first trip to Kos together, not yet Mr and Mrs JK

And our last xxx

Stitches to inspire

Still having the attention span of a gnat and the inability to concentrate on knitting or crochet projects for any length of time, I have found sewing to be a bit of a light in a dark tunnel and a boost to my creative spirits. I'm able to plan something out and make it in a day which gives me a boost and a sense of having achieved something, rather than feeling guilty about yet another unfinished project left languishing in a bag. Two birthdays provided the perfect opportunity for a little creative stitchery, making cushions intended to inspire the recipients. I added sequin stars, fixed by beads, as an extra bit of birthday sparkle. Free motion stitching is so much fun - you don't have to be super-neat because the odd wobble adds a bit of character to your sewing. That's what I tell myself anyway! My sewing hero is Poppy Treffry - her work is so much fun and I would give anything to be able to take part in one of her classes. One day, fingers crossed! xxx

Sock time lapse

A bus trip to Bath and back this weekend meant there was a lot of knitting time, so it was the perfect excuse to stash dive for yarn and cast on a new sock. (Yarn is The Knitting Goddess 4ply BFL and nylon self striping Experimental Rainbow.)


Saturday 09:04 - Norwich Bus Station

10:45 - joining the M11 near Cambridge

11:41 - making our way through Stratford, London

12:59 - grabbing a bite to eat at Cafe Nero, by Victoria Bus Station

Sunday 07:49 - outside Bath Abbey on my way to the bus station

07:54 - admiring the view towards Pultney Bridge

09:25 - a little bit of heel flap love somewhere on the M4

19:38 - home again with Flo taking her usual spot xxx