Spring fresh

Spring fresh leaves today around the local lakes. Such vibrant colours. Also lots of very annoying flies, making it necessary to talk without opening your mouth. This was one time I wished I had my mask on!

Slight excitement has entered our home, Mr Macron has announced opening of the borders at the beginning of June.  Now we just have to see what conditions he and Boris place on our travels.  Not getting our hopes up too much...

Another weekend is here, this is a three day one, not that it makes any difference to us. No plans as yet. It’s Farmers Market again, it comes round quickly, so we will walk in and collect some bread and vegetables, maybe a plant or two.  Whatever you are doing enjoy yourselves xx

You get two today

 

Just released my shawl from its pins. Very happy with that cast off edge now! Details of the shawl on yesterday’s post (28 April)

Paxton Pits Nature Reserve

Today we took ourselves off for a new walk. Paxton Pits Nature Reserve is fairly local to us, a 13 mile car ride away. We planned a walking route before we left home which took in some of the reserve trails and the Ouse Valley Way. 

It was a most enjoyable walk and apart from near the end which takes you alongside the existing gravel extraction work, traffic free.  

Once the remaining gravel extraction is completed the area will be turned back over to wetlands and wildlife.  Our local area as you may have realised is big on aggregate extraction but at least we do have some amazing places to walk once they are done.

This is definitely somewhere we will visit again, maybe walking in the opposite direction along the Ouse Valley Way, I’ll plan a route.

Knitting news

My latest finish is currently blocking after a soak, so I thought I’d do you some close up pictures of the different stitch patterns I used. They all feature slipped stitches, with three of them a variation on the honeycomb stitch. I don’t know off hand the name of the stitch in the third photo but it was from a sweater pattern I knitted for the older boys years ago. 

I worked an increase on the right side rows into the third stitch to get the shaping and did a three stitch garter border each side. For the cast off I cast on three stitches and did a knit-on border to match. In hindsight I should have ended with the garter stitch panel before casting off as it’s fairly wavy, so I’m trying to block it so it won’t curl over. I’m guessing it won’t matter too much as it’s just for me and I can live with the imperfections!!

All about the Z.........

I just cast on a scarf, the pattern if you can call it one -  is called Zick Zack - here’s the pattern

cast on multiples of 12 - 

K5 K2tog K4 KFB repeat to end of row. Continue as set til it’s as long as you want.  

I have cast on 72 stitches on 3mm needles with King Cole Zig Zag (4ply self stripes) in colourway Kaleidoscope.  If you want to use plain yarn then you can work your own stripe pattern or do it plain.  Would work with any yarn thickness just adjust needle and cast on accordingly. Have fun, will post some pictures when I have enough knitted.

See what I mean lots of Z’s

Time just slipping

- Flowers from Sunday’s walk

- Market day in St Ives 

- Worn out looking Heron!

April 27th already. Where did April go? Hard to believe that it is May at the weekend. 

What have we been doing since last I wrote. Not that much I’m afraid, that’s any different to normal, or what counts as normal these days. 

Of course we have walked, Sunday 8.6 miles, Monday 3.6 miles and today 4.9 miles. 

Market day and met Rachel for coffee and a chat on Monday after she had been to the dentist. 

Manda came for tea and chat this afternoon, we sat and froze and eyed the sky for rain. We’d had a few drops earlier but finally got a reasonable amount around 5pm. The garden looks perkier for it.

We were sad to see today that the lower river swans nest had been raided and her eggs smashed. She wasn’t at the nest site when we walked by firstly, but was there on our return looking very dejected, picking at bits of twig around her nest. We felt so bad for her.  Whether she will try another clutch of eggs remains to be seen. Top river swan is still sitting, her nest isn’t quite so accessible. 

I finished a shawl I’ve been working on for a while this evening, which I will block and photograph tomorrow at some point.  I’m now down to just one work in progress which is the ten stitch blanket I started a few weeks ago and no hurry for that, so I’m in the market for a new project but currently undecided what to make. 

The news is depressing, no movement on overseas travel and so we wait. Like everyone we just want a change of scene whether it be in France or if not, then the UK.

Both our girls have birthdays this week. Rebecca’s was yesterday and Rachel tomorrow, she has the afternoon off so we are meeting her for a birthday drink in town. Hoping for a better day than today but it’s not looking promising right now and as everything has to happen outside it could be wet!