Getting back into the swing of things

Goodness, is it a week since I last posted? Where has the time gone? I've had quite a productive week, knittingwise. I have been knitting my Rene sweater, and have now finished the back! It's quite a heavyweight knit - you almost feel like you've done a workout after an hour or two's knitting, as it's quite heavy on the needles, and there's lots of changing between knit and purl stitches, not to mention remembering which way the cables are going. But Rene and I are now well and truly reacquainted, and I'm even thinking of casting on both sleeves at the same time, so I can get them both done! I still haven't decided whether I'm going to make the sweater or cardigan version. I shall leave making that decision until the sleeves are done! Here's the back anyway.

I've also finished another pair of plain vanilla socks, this time for my friend Zena's Mum! I just did a stashdive and came up with some yarn I'd bought on a trip to Bremen. The self patterning yarns are such fun to knit. I like watching the pattern develop.

I've been on the hunt for some fun buttons for my knitting club to use on their friendship bracelets. The Buttonshack had a nice selection, and their service was very good too. Here's a selection of some of the buttons I bought.

I've had two squishy parcels in the post this week. The photo on the left shows a skein of Exmoor Blueface and British Bluefaced Leicester yarn, from the Britsh Wool Club at the Natural Dye Studio. The yarn on the right is the last installment of yarn from the Fall in Full Color club. This is handspun!! I can't even begin to contemplate how long it must have taken to spin all that yarn! Now I'm curious to see the project. Not long to wait, as the pattern will be released on Tuesday.

Thank you to all of you who left comments on my last post, and became followers. I think I'm now up to 117!! I used a random number generator, and the winning comments were ...........

Number 27 is Denise and number 17 is Jenny. I will message you both on Ravelry, and hopefully we will be able to sort out the yarn!

It's a chilly day here, the fire is lit and there is a casserole bubbling away in the slowcooker! So I can't show you what's for dinner today. But I will share with you last Sunday's extremely yummy meal - mince and dumplings! Mmmmmmmmmmm! It was so, so tasty. The recipe came from the Hairy Bikers Pie book, and the mince tasted just the way my Mum used to make it. Mr JK made it of course. He is such a dab hand in the kitchen! Have a good week and keep warm! xxx