it's good to be home ...

got back yesterday, after struggling through mammoth traffic jam on M6 - apparently due to a festival - hmm. luckily for me, Peter was driving at that point, as my left (ie, clutch) leg still doesn't like stop-start driving. unlucky for him though, he was shattered, so i drove to London after the congestion had eased. did manage to get 3 parts round the edge of my sampler shawl though, so not all bad!


Lake District and hotel perfick!! will post some pix tomorrow. right now just too tired after spending all day catching up on phd. still, did get to see round Hill Top Farm, home of Beatrix Potter, and buy some (more!) books, including a lovely one of her illustrations. she really was the most remarkable woman, far beyond her children's books, however wonderful.


anyone who wants more info should look here and here and here. (and please don't mention Renee Zellweger in my hearing!)


oh, and we also went to Dove Cottage to pay homage to Wordsworth, see here. can't manage a picture tonight, but here's Benjamin Bunny, to keep you going ;)

close-ups of sampler

i have posted some close-ups of the sampler patterns for anyone who would like to put names to them. they can be seen here. the patterns and names are taken from Heirloom Knitting, starting at the beg of ch. 3, patterns. i think it will be interesting to see how these compare with the blocked version later.

it's already tuesday, and i'm still running behind ...

spent a lovely long w/e with Peter's daughter and her lovely child, altho i suspect latter at 14 would object to being so called. they have a house in deepest countryside near Hereford, with chickens and ducks. the sun shone, the birds sang, and i did little but eat (incl new laid eggs!), drink and knit. we went to a car boot sale, which was a new thing for me. i could not but marvel at the things that were produced, purchased, and then resold in this strange world of ours. did pick up a lovely cakestand for a mere £2, then some of our favourite soap for only £1. people have been known to pick up real stunners and make 000s of pounds, but my impression was that most sellers are much savvier than that now.

since then, many plans for knitting. my sampler is now at the point of doing edgings. i am working my way through the patterns in Sharon Miller's Heirloom Knitting, to get a better feel for how lace knitting/knitted lace really works. i desperately want to become more original in my work, much as i love knitting other people's beautiful designs, and working samplers seems to be the way to go. it is good to knit simply to see what happens, rather than with the pressure of producing an acceptable finished garment, altho that is good too. but this way i feel i can just knit freely, and watch how things turn out. the idea is that eventually i shall bring this experience to bear on my own designs, watch this space.

in the meantime i have put up pictures of the sampler in progress. i feel it looks a bit scruffy, but then even the wedding ring shawl looked like an old dishrag until i washed and blocked it. tomorrow i shall try to put some pictures of the detail up on Flickr, for anyone who might find that interesting. ttfn ;)