FO: chevron blanket

Tis done, finally. Finished, washed and dried and ready for use. The second FO of 2012 - which is rather pathetic, but there we are. All I can say in my defence is: work.

As my first crocheted item, ever,  I'm really pleased. It took about 12 balls of cotton yarn, and has made a nice dent in the stash. There is no pink or purple left, only blue. So, I have started the blue blanket, cos that itch still needs to be scratched!

Girl sized

It's not quite finished, but I think she likes it.

Wipping things up...

As usual, Lent is invoking some attempts at self-improvement. The most notable of these is a change in diet - giving up dairy products and gluten as an experiment to see if that helps some low-level health problems. Interestingly the most noticeable benefit has been a returning sense of smell, which all but disappeared after the jelly bean was born. My husband found it incredible that I couldn't detect the different smells of our children. But now I can, and it's nice :)

The crafting self-improvement going on here is all about the WIPs. I'm not casting on anything new, and trying to finish something: anything! There have just been too few FOs this year for my liking (can it really only be one thing that I've finished? Yikes).

The chevron blanket is growing nicely, and has gobbled up oodles and oodles of yarn. Even though the blanket is a bit narrower than I intended (note to self: next time allow for the chevrons/ripples when measuring the foundation chain against the bed), each stripe is one ball of yarn. As there is only one more ball of pink yarn left after the one currently being worked, I am only planning to add another couple of stripes to the length. I may yet put a few rows of DC along the edge of the blanket to finish it off. Or I may not. It has proved to be a nice project - perfect for sitting on the sofa while watching a rugby match, and easy to put down at any moment to soothe a bumped head, supply drinks or snacks to small people or otherwise adjudicate in some filial dispute. The jelly bean already identifies it as her blanket, and likes to snuggle under it on my lap.

The next blanket (oh yes, it is already in the planning) will ripple in blue, and demolish the rest of the cotton yarns in the stash. As for those birthday socks, sock two is crawling towards the toe - I managed a few rounds at the weekend when I was at the hairdresser. If they aren't finished before the blanket, they will be next on the list, and then good old Deli will have to come out of the knitting bag for those three miles of knitted trim to be applied...

Booty

It's been a hard week all round. One of those ones in which the list of things to be done is mountainous and the time in which to do them is nothing short of minuscule. To whit, there was some huffing and puffing and some exceedingly long days and nights getting it all done. Who knew that marking 84 reports would take soooooo long?
Actually, if I'd stopped to think about it at all I would have realised that just writing the mark sheet for each one would entail several hours of work, but there we are. They were all done in the end.....
Anyway, this weekend is mostly about relaxing. Hairs were cut this afternoon, and tomorrow I've got a 60 min massage to look forward to.
I was a wee bit early for the hairdresser today, so I had a quick browse in the charity shop across the road. I got lucky, and came home with three books for the children, including this - one of my absolute favourites from my childhood.  Can't wait to read it all again, and introduce Milly Molly Mandy to my children.

This little piggy....

The sun is shining, the washing is washing, and I'm just about to mark 80 reports! But at least I've got this to make me smile...

Quilts and things

The light is coming back. Mornings are no longer dim, but bright. On Thursday the brightness was such that I dressed myself in bright clothes: a bright green skirt, a white top, a coral cardigan. It felt like spring.

I was at a conference that day, and knowing I would be spending some time listening, I took some knitting to keep my hands busy. The second of those birthday socks got some attention, and progressed from heel flap to mid-foot. I even managed to do a bit more last night, on my way to see The Descendants with a friend. It was good  - although perhaps not as funny as I was expecting - and featured a number of beautiful quilts. My fingers are itching a bit. I've got a few quilting projects in mind, and need to find some tima and space to start sewing again. At the moment my teaching commitments mean that most evenings have some work shoe horned into them. By Easter that will all be behind me and I'll be able to get on. With. Things. Can't wait for that...