Thursday 11 May 2017

Harvey



Well this week has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Harvey went out on Sunday evening for his nightly roam around the neighbourhood. And never came back. For the past few days we have been knocking on doors, putting up posters and walking around the surrounding streets to find him. One sighting by someone in the neighbourhood led me to make a new feline friend:



A beautiful orange cat but not Harvey.

It was getting to the point that we had to start considering that Harvey might not come back. But then.... 
Today the little girl downstairs asked us why our cat was now living in the tree outside. Children are wonderfully observant unlike adults! 

High, high up in the fir tree in the front communal garden was Harvey! He doesn't miaow or at least very rarely and so hadn't made a sound as we walk underneath the tree everyday never thinking to look up. Can you spot him in the photo below?


How about in the next one?


We are so relieved! Unfortunately though he has to stay in the tree one more night as the RSPCA didn't have a free officer tonight and the fire brigade don't rescue cats without the RSPCA present. He is so high up that normal ladders don't reach anywhere near him. Its currently raining and I wish Harvey could be in the warm with us. Hopefully tomorrow will see him home and dry! 








Friday 5 May 2017

LOCAL YARN SHOP DAY!!



This Saturday see the return of the hugely popular Local Yarn Shop Day! Created by Let's Knit magazine, its aim is to encourage knitters, crocheters and all other yarn based crafters to head out and support their local yarn shop. A lot of shops are hosting designers, new patterns, yarns and there may even be cake at some of them, yum! 

To find out what is happening in the yarn shops near you, Let's Knit have created a handy interactive map. Simply put in your postcode and away you go! Link here

As I am now back near London, I am hopefully going to be wandering around a few shops so will keep you updated. 

Where are you going to visit this Saturday? :)

April Summary



April was a mixed month for knitting. After the general upheaval of a very last minute change of my entire dissertation plus an exam, my needles were ignored for a lot of the month. However, despite that I finished one sock and am nearly done with another one! As you might notice yet again, they aren't exactly matching!


The original arrival of the wonderful West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Tequila Sunrise and Rum Surprise.


The finished Easy Cable Sock by Winwick Mum. I reviewed this pattern before (here) and have really enjoyed the whole knit. Its leads you step by step and is a nice pattern for the newbie sock knitter who wants to try something just a little bit more challenging than a vanilla sock.































After the cabling success, I decided to go back to a quick vanilla sock which was easy to knit on my daily commute. However, ever since I started knitting socks a whole 3 and a half months ago (basically expert level now right?) the right side of each heel looks perfect and the left always looks rubbish! I picked up a stitch in each corner and decreased each side. The only difference is the type of decrease. K2TOG is fine but the SSK seems to be making a run for it. Going to have to figure out how to fix this before I knit any more socks, especially if I want to try patterned socks! 

Any suggestions? Help! 

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Away from the big smoke aka last alpine trip of the year



Sometimes its nice to get away from the city and to surround yourself with great scenery, long walks and lovely company. Last weekend I hosted a group of students from my university alpine club of which I am secretary. Our original booking in Somerset fell through, which seems to be a running theme for that particular hiking hut! So instead I invited everyone down to Chichester to see a new part of the country.


I don't think any of them had been to this part of the UK before so it was a delight to show it off. We walked from Chichester to West Wittering on Friday through beautiful fields like the one above and only one small stretch of scarily busy road. The less said the better about that road...

It was slightly more grey on the Sunday but we still headed out to the South Downs Way for a small loop walk of around 8km. The other half of the group did a longer route with a pub stop along the way. Sounded tough....



We saw bluebell woods.



Baby cows (ok calves but baby cows sound cuter).



And more very yellow fields although from further away. I'm guessing its rapeseed? 


Our group looking slightly damp!

Monday was our easy day with a little jaunt around Arundel.





A stop for lunch



And then 20 metres later, a stop for creme tea. Yum! 





This was the last trip of the academic year and my last as secretary of the club. It has been a great year for the club and I am very proud to have been part of it. It was a wonderful weekend and I look forward to many more! 


London Craft Week 3-7 May



I was browsing the internet today when I came across an event in London that I haven't heard of before. I don't know if I've been living under a rock or if this is a new thing but this week London is hosting The London Craft Week. Its a series of events happening from today until Sunday in a diverse range of crafts from leatherwork to ceramics to knitting to upcycling. The events are a mix of demonstrations and workshops. I'm stuck in Essex on placement this week but hopefully will be able to see a few things over the weekend. 

If you're in London, definitely check it out! And let me know what you see in the comments section below! 

www.londoncraftweek.com