The fruits of my labours....

After a frosty, -6°C start on Tuesday morning Becca and I finally got going on constructing my raised beds in our back garden. We did one and dug the holes for 2 more. I made another by myself later that afternoon. This afternoon I completed the third and then managed to do the forth, with help from Graeme. It was a lot of effort but I am really pleased with the results. It isn't until you step back that you realise quite how sloping this area of the garden is. I'm really looking forward to being able to plant some vegetables in neat rows in a few weeks time.

I also managed to finish and block the Fleur Cardigan from Miss Bea's Colours, which I've been knitting in Jeager Extra Fine Merino DK for my goddaughter, Millie. I like the way the flower pattern looked after blocking. I was a bit worried it was just going to end up looking a complete mess at first.

I've really enjoyed my half term holiday. Last day tomorrow, then back to work. At least we're now half way through the academic year.

Not my FO

Yesterday G and I met up with my parents in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which is somewhere in between our two houses. My mum brought me this lovely jumper she'd knitted from Twilley's Freedom Spirit. She knitted it for herself but it turned out to be too short in the body. Sometimes being short is useful.

We had a really good day, apart from what was possibly the worst Sunday dinner I've ever had in a pub. It was the Castle Tavern in the market place. Disgusting soup, horrible yorkshire pud, dry, overcooked vegetables. I don't recommend it. We really enjoyed seeing Richmond itself. I don't really remember anything about last time we went, when I was a child.

Sheepy Art by MacKenzie Thorpe

Happy Is Life, Sun On My Back

Winter Romance

A Good Morning Kiss

High On The Land

Sheep In Love

Sheltering

There's a hole in my sock......

Dear Dina, dear Dina....

I unballed this pair of socks this morning to find this! I was shocked. They seemed fine last time I wore them but somehow this happening while they were being washed and dried and I never even noticed till now. This may seem totally insignificant to most people but I haven't been knitting socks that long, and this is the first time any of my socks has developed a hole. I have a feeling this is going to be the first of many holes that will be appearing over the next few months. Fortunately I still have this yarn for this pair somewhere so I will be repairing this at the weekend.

Is it time to come out of hibernation?

I've been on a course today in Durham which finished at 3pm. I was driving home in the sunshine and I started to feel cheerful. When I got home it was still light and I went out into the garden and looked at the shoots that have grown from the bulbs my mum and I planted in October. It feels warmer. The possibility that it might not be cold, dark and rainy forever suddenly seems believable. I can't wait for the Spring and Summer.

Thinking

I managed to restrain myself from working too much this weekend and had a rather pleasant time visiting the coast with Pinkphish and meeting up with my friend Jackie. I also had chance to do some more spinning using the rainbow merino roving I bought from Wingham.

I finished the two thinking dresses I was knitting in different colours. The pattern is from Miss Bea's Colours by Louisa Harding and the yarn is Rowan All Seasons Cotton. For some reason the blue one turned out about an inch shorter than the pink one. I think I followed the pattern the same. I suppose that's what you get when you knit a lot when you're tired.

I wish I'd taken some pictures at the coast because the sea was quite rough. So rough in fact that we actually saw some people surfing instead of just bobbing up and down in the water, which is all you really normally see.

I can't wait for the end of term now. Only two weeks to go.