Noro striped scarf

My much photographed Noro scarf. I am still not happy with these pics, I don't seem to be able to capture the true colours, but it is the best I can do.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on Alexander and Kristin's wedding. The weekend passed so quickly and now I am home again and back into the routine of "samedayness", I am enjoying recollecting some of those special moments in Hamilton with the family, and having a chuckle over some of those moments !

Happily ever after

And they lived happily ever after. Those are the endings I only wanted to hear when I was a child listening to bedtime stories.

Our youngest son had a magical wedding day exchanging vows and rings with his beloved and we are wishing them many days of happiness and living life full to the brim ( and spilling over) with each other.

Our three little granddaughters in the picture behaved surprisingly well, all things considered.

And they lived happily ever after !

A Noro Scarf

I found some Noro silk garden yarn the other day ( when I was cleaning out my studio) and I thought it would make a nice scarf like this one. I am a little disappointed with the photos ..the colours are so much brighter than what you are seeing !

The scarf has a couple more hours of knitting to be done and then it is finished, so I will endeavour to take more photos in another light, next week.

On a rather more exciting note...our son Alexander is getting married on Saturday ( Anzac Day) in Hamilton, so no more knitting for me today. I am off to pack our bags...........more on this topic later.

Today

Sitting in the Autumn sunshine quilting Melissa's quilt. Drinking more than one cup of tea, and listening to Paul Simon's Surprise. I especially like the song Father and Daughter.

I couldn't find Wartime Prayers ( another of my favorites) on youtube, but I did find James Taylor singing Wonderful World with Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel and Carly Simon....... umm, I'm having a good day today, hope you are too!

A woven blanket

I invested some time this week in finishing my blanket on the loom, and realised that I had started warping up for this almost a year ago...thinking that I would have it finished and on the sofa a few weeks later, hah, little did I know it would take me twelve months.

I am a beginner weaver and I came across lots of little problems with this one. It is the largest blanket I have made and is another double weave, ( the same colours and wool as the one I made last year for Alexander). All the problems and the many metres of wool that it took in the making, has put me off making another one like it for a while.

For now though I am pretty thrilled to have it finished. It is drying doubled over on the washing line. I washed it very carefully in "softly"and it has "fulled nicely.

The yarns I used were again from Touch yarns...soft merino/mohair boucle.

Slouchy Cardigan

Last year for my birthday, my Mum gave me some money to buy some beautiful wool to make myself a sweater. I chose Fleece Artist from Coloursong. A gorgeous handpainted yarn that is pure joy to knit with.

Today I put together the slouchy cardigan from the book Greetings from Knit Cafe.

Last night I sewed in the sleeves and as I was doing so, I thought to myself...hmmm, I wonder if my arms are going to fit comfortably into these. Then as I was sewing the left front, and the right front to the back, I had another thought...hmmm, this is looking rather small for me...I don't think it will be very "slouchy".

Then today my daughter arrived for lunch as I was sewing in the hood, and I thought .......hmmm, I wonder if I should see if it fits Tamsin first, before I attempt to try it on.

and I think perhaps it was meant to be for her all along. Goodbye green slouchy cardigan, we were not meant for each other after all !

Quilting Frenzy

Since I tidied my studio I have been on a quilting marathon. I decided that before I starting cutting into the fabrics for Phoebe's quilt, I should try and finish some of the other quilts that have been put aside over the last year or so.

So today I have Tristan and Sylvia's quilt stretched out on the kitchen table ...the sides of this quilt reach down to the floor, so I am thinking it will take some time to use all those pins up.!

Time for Tomatoes and a Tidy up

This morning I am making Passata......a sieved tomatoe puree. The tomatoes are a gift from our garden. It is giving me zucchinis, celery, rocket, parsley, celery and onions...all that I need for a good pasta sauce, and I can barely keep up with the harvest. The walnuts are ready for picking too, and the colours around me are delicious reds and ambers. We are in the middle of Autumn and I am loving it.!

Yesterday I had a tidy up in my studio.

During the big clean up I found some gorgeous little Liberty 7" squares that I had forgotten I had and I immediately wanted to cut 1" hexagons, but I resisted (just).

Lately I have felt overwhelmed by all my intentions, plans and projects started and "things I have to do" , constantly feeling that I can never quite catch up, and there is never enough time. Then I happened upon a quote from Leonard Bernstein.." To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time."

There , how true is that !