Keeping my head above water

It's been one of those weeks this week! I've had parent teacher meetings after school for three days, and it just saps my energy! I was very glad when the weekend arrived, just for a little 'me' time! Mr JK found this pot of mini daffodils down the garden yesterday. It's amazing to think how they have survived without any real TLC from us to bloom again this spring. They are now gracing the kitchen table and are a lovely reminder of longer days and warmer weather to come.

I had a lovely gift from a friend out in Blogland at the end of last week. Jenny won some yarn in a recent giveaway, and I loved her scarf so much, I offered her some more of the same yarn in different colourways. I was happy that it was going to a good home where it would get knitted, and Jenny promised to donate a little something to Cats Protection (Flo gave that the paws up!) So I was really intrigued to receive a well-wrapped parcel with the word 'fragile' written on it. Inside was a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, made from olives that Jenny herself had hand picked from the olive trees in her Italian 'casa' in Lazio, and crushed into oil in the local village mill. We are going to save it for our Italian cooking and salads, but couldn't resist having a taste with some freshly baked (by Mr JK) cheese and onion rolls. It was delicious! (Jenny, so far I have resisted the shortbread, but shall be taking it with us when we go to the Lake District in April. Thank you!)

I have finally got round to taking some photos of my finished Norwich City supporters 'Canaries' scarf. I do love the finished scarf, even if the knitting of it was pretty labour intensive. It gives a firm, almost woven effect. I used Malabrigo Worsted weight yarn, and it's buttery soft. I just hope I get a chance to wear it at a home match before the end of the season!

I have another pair of plain vanilla socks on the go, but haven't managed to take a photo yet. The Basketweave socks that I test knit for Anne Hanson have appeared on her blog, and if you pop over, you'll be able to see lots more of the fabulous photos that Snoopydog took for me.

I seem to be on a bit of a spinning rush at the moment. I loved spinning the Coast fibre so much that I couldn't wait to start on another braid of the same fibre. I've chosen the greenish one, and it's almost finished. This was how it looked earlier today. Don't look too closely at all the things in the background. This was taken in my 'craft' room, and it's just jam packed with boxes!! There's not even room to swing a cat! (Flo is mighty relieved at that!) Actually Flo is banned from that room when I'm spinning as she thinks the wheel is just one big cat toy!!

I've also bought small amounts of a number of British breed sheep to have a try at spinning them. I discovered HilltopCloud on Etsy who sells some really lovely British fibre. I have four different shades of British Shetland fibre, two shades of British BFL, two shades of North Ronaldsay and one shade of British Jacob to spin.

I really love this sheepy hat, and am wondering if I can spin the yarn to knit it! Then I'd be able to practise my colourwork too! I do like a challenge, so watch this space!! I'll be back next week, when I hope to be able to share with you the progress I've made on my 'wedding' stole, plus news of the Liebster blog award. Have  good week! xxx