All wound up

Hello there! The mug pretty much sums up my week! Oh how I'd love to be able to spend more time knitting, but work keeps getting in the way! Mr JK bought me the Belgian bun for lunch today to cheer me up, and rather yummy it was too! I spotted the mug when we were on holiday in Cornwall in May, and needless to say, as well as buying one for myself, I also got one for my dear friend Snoopydog! I know that if I like something, she will too! Great when you're present-shopping!

How has your week been? As I said, school is still Hard Work! My class are going to be good fun, but they are what I would call individuals, and don't really 'do' working together at the moment. We did have great excitement this week when the Round Britain Cycle Race went right past our school. Needless to say, we all stood outside and cheered them on. They went by in a blur, literally! I tried to take some photos, but my little camera just isn't up to the job! Take a look and you'll see what I mean!

I've been having to spend a lot of time in the evenings planning and preparing work, and that's eaten into my knitting time! My poor little brain can't cope with anything complicated, so it's been a plain sock for me if I've had the odd moment. Yet again, I'm using a Trekking yarn, and the colours are fabulous. I know that Michael is going to love them. After the last pair I gave him, he sent me a lovely card, saying....

'My sock drawer explodes into a myriad of colours every time I open it - such fun!'

so I know that they'll be appreciated.

I've also picked up my Katerina shawl this week. I made great headway with it back in May, but it's been hidden away in a project bag ever since we got home. I only have the main 4 row repeating lace pattern to do, and it is actually dead easy. I have to do 40 repeats, so am trying to do one repeat every day to try and get it finished. Total as I write - 5/40! Keep checking back to see how I get on. I'm aiming to have it finished by half term. We shall see!

I popped down to Norwich yesterday to do a bit of shopping, and also to see Snoopydog. She has very kindly passed on lots of Year 4 resources which should make my life a lot easier! I gave her the mug, which she loved (Mr Snoopydog just rolled his eyes!!) We spent a pleasant time chatting and catching up, as we hadn't had a chance since KnitNation. I took along some skeins of yarn to wind on Snoops' ballwinder. I wanted to make some pretty yarncakes! Hmmmmmmmmm! The least said about that the better! This is the little lot I was hoping to wind (and I did have sooooooooooo much fun rifling through my stash to choose!)

We sat outside in the sun, with Oscar the dog keeping us company. Skein one went pretty smoothly. Skein two somehow got tangled, and we ended up winding the last quarter from the other end, and then back onto the yarn cake! Skein three - well, I'm not sure that I even want to go there! It was the lovely skein of Handmaiden Casbah sock yarn I received from Cathy in Canada. The first quarter went fine, and then there was a tangle! I don't understand how it can happen, but happen it did! We ended up winding the rest of the skein from the other end (although not straightforward, as it had to be passed under a loop of yarn each round!) to make a ball.

It should then have been plain sailing, winding from the ball onto the yarn winder to make the lovely yarn cake. I must have taken my eye off the job for a couple of seconds, or maybe I just got a bit too enthusiastic with the winder. Anyway, the yarn got tangled up in the mechanism, and the only solution was to cut it!!!!!!!! Several rude words were uttered, and I decided not to push my luck winding the Wollmeise yarn! I'll do it by hand! Seriously though, if anyone has any experience of ball winders and swifts, I'd love to know if this is a regular occurrence, did I do something wrong (is there a right end and a wrong end to start winding from?) or was I just unlucky? I had been thinking of asking Mr JK to buy me a ball winder and swift for Christmas, but now I'm not so sure. Here are the end products of our labours (I say 'our' because I really couldn't have managed without Snoopydog!)

The yarncakes on the left are the Koigu yarn that Erin kindly gave me at KnitNation - I'm going to make a spiral scarf with it. And on the right is the delicious Casbah (the shade is Blackberry.) I think that I might make a Travelling Woman shawl with it. Oscar kept us company, although he'd much rather have been running around the garden! Even though I'm not a doggy person at all, I have to admit that he is rather gorgeous! He's perfected the art of looking cute in photos!

It's been a bit of a dismal day here on the North Norfolk coast - rainy and a definite nip in the air. The leaves on our copper beech tree are rapidly falling, and the spiders are seeking sanctuary in the house. I'm not great with our 8 legged friends, and Mr JK is even worse, so I was somewhat alarmed when what I can only describe as a first cousin once removed to a tarantula scuttled across the floor. Henrycat didn't even bat an eyelid - his spider-chasing days are long gone! I had to trap it in a glass, and then release it outside. GULP! It did brighten up slightly late afternoon, and Mr JK was able to collect some goodies from the garden. We are still inundated with tomatoes, and the rapsberries are ripening a few at a time - enough for me to have some on my porridge every morning! While we were outside, a lone spitfire plane flew low overhead to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. It was a spine-tingling moment.

I shall leave you with a photo of Henrycat - he insisted, after seeing Oscar, that he should also appear! Have a good week, whatever you're doing. See you soon! xx