ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END...

 

The Easter holidays have been and almost gone! The two weeks have been a very welcome chance to unwind, relax, meet up with family and knit! We spent the second week in North Yorkshire and although the weather was not the finest, we had a lovely time. Oscar did too!

These gorgeous foot warmers were started as travelling socks on the long journey northwards, but the beautifully bright self-striping yarn made for pretty addictive knitting. The pair were completed in record time!

I started this little cardigan for Evie's new brother or sister, due to be born in May and managed to complete on the journey homewards on last Friday. Here it sits awaiting seaming. It might have to wait patiently, as it's a job I hate!

This morning, the final day of the holidays,  dawned bright and sunny with a stunning clear blue sky, which was very welcome relief after the cold and rain of yesterday. The beach it had to be! We were up, ready and gone by 9.30 a.m. and on the beach after a speedy cup of coffee. Holkham, on the North Norfolk coast has to be one of the most beautiful of beaches anywhere. In fact, it IS the most beautiful! 

To avoid the cardigan seaming job, I started a cute sweater for the new baby too. I hope he or she is going to like my thoughtfully chosen 'spring greens' colour! I'm not so sure my daughter will ;-)

We stopped off for a bite of lunch at Blickling Hall, before heading homewards just as the clouds began to roll in.

All in all, a lovely Easter break!

SUMMER FUN....

It's been a really lovely summer holiday, with good weather more often than not and plenty of trips, visits and visitors to keep us busy. As promised, here are a few shots from our time in Pickering and the surrounding area. We had beautiful weather and lots of little people to have fun with for the first week and then peace and quiet for the second. It was a lovely, lovely chunk of family time and time of relaxation and leisure. Priceless!

All too soon, the start of the new school year looms with a new class, a whole host of new challenges and exciting projects to resource and plan. I've made a point of sitting in the sun to knit this morning, as my head starts to be filled with 'school stuff'. I started a little cotton hooded card for Evie at the start of the summer, but have done very little on it. My aim is to complete it by next weekend!

It's a very simple knit, requiring no brain power which is just perfect! The colour is a much softer and lighter shade than my photo implies. I tried several times to get a better colour match but with no success. The back and one front are complete, so it's a possible time scale for completion.

AN EASTER HOLIDAY WELL SPENT.....

Well hello my lovelies! It feels a little bit like 'long time no see', but it really has only been a couple of weeks. A couple of rather busy weeks, in a variety of different ways. The last week of term was crazy, as usual. Then last week we had our son and daughter-in-law, along with Sophie, little Jess and Scott the dog to stay for several days.

There were two celebrations during their stay, Jess's second birthday and our 37th wedding anniversary. We played in the park and took a trip to the coast and had fun on the boating lake. The wind was determined to send us home, but we are made of hardier stuff and stuck it out!

Our wedding anniversary falls on April Fool's day each year and this year you could have been forgiven for thinking that one of us had played a Fool's Day trick. We gave each other the same card!!!!! Not sure what that says about us!

This week, we are up in North Yorkshire. For most of the Easter weekend we were accompanied by our elder daughter and her husband, along with sweet little Evie; who kept us fully entertained with her great sense of fun and joie de vivre. She really is a delight!

So here we are over halfway through the holiday fortnight. We still have a few more days here in Yorkshire, leaving on Friday to travel to Manchester for a couple of nights with the grandkids again and ultimately arriving home on Sunday..... hopefully with time to spare to get schoolwork done.

I think it will be fair to say that this has been an Easter Holiday well spent!

GREETINGS FROM NORTH YORKSHIRE!

Good evening! We are enjoying a peaceful and relaxing week here in North Yorkshire, but I thought I would just pop in to say 'hello', being as we had surprise visitors for the day today.

 Little Sophie and her folks, including Scott, of course, came to see us.  Oscar was VERY excited! Sophie is wearing the little jacket I made for her a while ago. It's had lots of wear!

 We enjoyed a delicious pub Sunday lunch together and have then spent hours in the beautiful Dalby Forest. Needless to say, Mr Snoops and I are now in need of a relaxing evening at the cottage. So that's good news as it means I have time to talk to you, whilst he catches up on today's London Marathon goings on. The elder Miss Snoopydog's boyfriend and his sister successfully completed the course for the second year running. Alas the younger Miss Snoops was injured, but was able to defer her place for next year.

I packed a selection of knitting projects to bring up with me, but so far have managed very little knitting time. I have my 'Spriteling', with a few more rows completed but not enough to make it worth a showing this week, the 'Lilac Pool Socks' with no further progress and Sophie's little jacket with no more progress.

 However, I have restarted the 'Cinder Block Socks' using a plain dye yarn. They do look so much better. I'm using some Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin in the colourway 'Sabrina'. The stitch definition is excellent and the pattern well accentuated.

That's about it on the knitting front. The weather has been so lovely, that we have been out and about for most of our stay, so far. Long may it continue, as I just love the warm Spring sunshine and new growth. I'll leave you with a few more shots of our stay, so far......

We're having a great time! Hope you have a good week too!

FUN TIMES ........

 

 Hello there! We came back from Pickering on Friday to find our Magnolia tree had begun to flower. It's so beautiful.


Can't believe it's Sunday evening again and two glorious weeks of Easter holidays have come to an end. It's back to school tomorrow :(. I've had a really lovely two weeks, pottering, knitting, crocheting, holidaying, dog walking, enjoying family, countryside, sunshine, good food and ale. Can't expect it to go on forever, but it would be nice! It's been relaxed and stress free; good for the soul!

• So, here's the knitting........

This is the first of my 'Rainbow' socks. The yarn is leftover from the little Rainbow baby jacket. There's a link to the pattern in my last post. The Trekking XXL yarn is gorgeous to work with and the pattern very easy to memorise.

 The second sock may take a little longer to cast on and  complete as I don't have any more long car journeys planned until the summer. Captive knitting time!

'Special Baby' is due to make her appearance next month and I still have the 'Special Ripple Blanket' to complete. Sue,  from 'Mrs Twins' asked me how it was getting on, a couple of weeks ago. Well, this weekend, on return from Pickering I suddenly realised how much there still was to do! HELP! Luckily, the sun has been shining and the garden has beckoned. Jobs done, sun out, .......

• ........ here's the crochet!

It's about two thirds complete now and then there will be all those ends to sew in. I did start off  doing them as I went along, but needless to say, it didn't last long.

I am hoping to complete it by next Sunday evening! I have to crochet at a rate of at least two stripes each evening hmmmmm!

• Here's the countryside..... Pickering, in North Yorkshire...

We visited Castle Howard and spent the day in the beautiful grounds.

Oscar had a great time too....

In fact, it's been a really, really lovely two weeks. Not long until the summer!

Let's hope for a sunny week :)