SPRING SOCKS FOR OLD SNOOPS!

Well I may have been absent without leave last Sunday, but at least I do have a complete pair of socks to show you. It was my youngest daughter's 30th birthday, as well as it being Mother's Day, so I decided to jump in the car and zap down to London for the day. We spent a lovely few hours together, mooching around Islington's Upper Street (where she lives) and lunching at Balthazar Restaurant in Covent Garden, before returning to Upper Street for tea and cakes. A thoroughly lovely girly day!

Knitting progress has been very variable over the last few weeks, as school stuff has had to take priority and there has been lots of it! Nevertheless, this fine pair of socks for Old Snoops are hot off the needles this very afternoon. They enjoyed a photoshoot in the pale afternoon sunshine. I think they liked it! Old Snoops will rejoice at another pair of the very lovely handmade socks, in rather bright colours, that the dear Mrs Snoops has spent her time making for him;despite his previous resistance to any such things gracing his feet, he's now a firm convert! Well, that will need another yarn purchase then, in readiness for his next pair!

This pattern works beautifully with the self-striping yarns and produces a lovely snug fit, whilst still being a pretty mindless knit; ideal as a travelling companion, which these did indeed begin life as.

School finishes for the two-week Easter break on Friday and I can't wait to have little Sophie and Jess to stay for a few days, along with their parents and Scott the dog too, of course. Jess will be two years old on Monday 30th, so I expect we will eat cake. That makes me very happy!

After their departure, Old Snoops and I will be venturing up North to 'the cottage' for a week and hopefully we'll receive a visit from dear little Evie and her folks. She would like another hoodie, in grey and a size bigger! I have to say that grey doesn't make for the most exciting knit, but the Debbie Bliss pattern that I use for these hoodies is a quick and easy knit, so I'll just bite the bullet and rattle it out and hopefully get in done before we go. I shall deserve a really yummy skein of knitty goodness then, possibly in a lovely bright colour, to come with me 'up North'!  Socks! For me! Oh yes!

Look at these two little beauties that dropped through my letterbox this week. The Natural Dye Studio, one of favourite dyers, is sadly closing its doors in the next few weeks, so it seems only right to buy up a couple of these little beauties when they appear.

Both skeins are Godiva HT 4ply, a lovely 100% single spun merino. Above is the colour way 'Hawkridge' and below is 'Cloud Hill'. I just had to let these beauties come and live with me! You can see why, can't you?

I'll leave you with a sneaky Oscar photo that I took just now. He's snoring on the sofa, worn out after a long walk around the lake and a terrifically energetic dig in the reed beds.... twitching and letting out little tiny yelps  as he relives his funfilled day. Awww!