another week's gone by ...

Whew! where does the time go? I guess it's true, it flies when you're having fun. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were fun; exhausting, but fun. You may remember, I went off to look after granddaughter Ellie, suffering from chickenpox, so that mamma might return to work. Well, Ellie is delightful, even when ill. Now I know the last bit is bias on my part, but any undelightfulness was purely down to her feeling unwell or itchy - and I can relate to that, can't you? ;) So I did my best to counteract the unwellness, and we did stories, songs, play and little walks to feed the ducks. I trust and hope that chickenpox are not transferable to ducks, after all, they're not chickens, are they? And what about swans? On Wednesday there was a fine pair of swans, who left the ducks in no doubt who came first in the pecking order for stale bread. In fact they were so bold, I was a little worried about their pecking Ellie, who of course was fearless. But no harm done. And when the bread ran out, so did the swans, or rather, they sailed majestically and rather snootily on.

By Tuesday Ellie was well on the mend, and by Wednesday her spots had all scabbed, so I adjudged her no longer infectious and took her out out on the town. She was full of life and fun, "I'm no poser, but ..." viz.:

So today Ellie counts as my first beautiful thing!

My second is my knitting. I have finished the back of the Rowan Top:

I am really pleased with how this is looking. Half way up the front now, so am hoping to be wearing this very soon.

And my swatch for the Princess is finished too. The swatch was done in the same yarn I shall be using, i.e., gossamer CashSilk, although the colour here is white, and I shall be using viola. It knits up easily, at least on the bamboo needles, 2 mm, I am using, although it is quite slippy, so one does have to be careful. However, it blocks well, and shows up the patterns beautifully, and retains the benefit of both components, the warmth and softness of the cashmere AND the lustre of the silk:

This means that I can now start on the real thing. Because I want a square shawl, and because I can knit superfast on straight needles but not on circulars, I am changing its construction. However, I do not like sewing shawl pieces together, so I have devised a way of building it up, without using a circular needle OR sewing. I am going to start with enough points for one side, when. leaving the stitches on a pin, I shall knit that side up. Then I shall continue with the points for the second side, still attached to the first section. When I start to knit up the second side, I shall join it to the first side as I knit. The same thing for the third and fourth side, except that on the fourth side I shall be joining both sides, one to the third, and one to the first, grafting the edging. Finally, I shall knit in the centre using the same method as on the original shawl, because I also want the diagonal centre. Whew! Well, it's not as complicated as it sounds, so if you're not sure what's going on, watch this space!?!?;)

And my third beautiful thing? These wonderful books of Barbara Walker, which I arrived from Schoolhouse Press while I was away. Enough there to be going on with, that's for sure!! ;)

Off tomorrow to Westonbirt Arboretum for two days. Apparently the leaves are wonderful this year - probably because of the odd summer we have had, so you see there are compensations. It may not be New England, but it puts on a pretty good show. We intend to wander round soaking up its beauty, which will undoubtedly form part of my next post, together with pix. Have a fabulous w/e, especially the extra hour in bed tomorrow a.m. I guess that really does signal the end of whatever summer we have had, but that means we can start looking forward to the next one!! ;)