Only A Week To Go

As you can see, the lovely Laura is almost finished. Just the collar and sewing up to! I heard from Rowan - a paragraph was missing from the pattern - and the front has no buttonholes at all as it messes up the very lovely ribbing which you can in the photo. As the yarn is super-bulky you just slip the button through a gap. So easy peasy in the end. Apparently Rowan had tried emailing me but their emails got bounced back. Seems like my firewall is working maybe too well.....Never mind, we got there in the end.

I've been faffing about trying to decide what project to start next. Part of the problem of course is that the new Rowan mag is out on the 1st Feb with 2 new yarns and accompanying booklets. Which of course will no doubt contain projects I'll want to make. So the idea was to make a quick knit that might be finished by the time the mag drops through my door.

Nice idea, but just didn't work. I did actually start a little halterneck summer top but got fed up after a few rows. It just wasn't happening so I frogged it. Then Elspeth started talking to me and after finding a fab bargain on Ebay for 4 balls of my favourite yarn Calmer for £12 plus postage, it was obvious it was meant for Elspeth. Only problem of course is that its a lace pattern. Which will take longer than a week for sure. And of course the minor problem that I cannot in any shape or form, read a knitting chart. Not forgetting that I also HATE lace knitting unless it involves no shaping at all then at least I can easily spot a mistake.

Knitting sends me into a trance so I rarely knit in the day, and the thought of having to concentrate on Elspeth turned me cold, so I decided to make it in good old stocking stitch. Which will suit me far better as I'm not really a delicate lace type of gal. So far she's going along nicely with the back complete, though now I regret not making something chunkier. Jumping straight from 12mm needles to 5mm ones is not to be recommended. I still feel like I'm knitting with toothpicks and that each row is taking just forever. But hey, I've started so I'll finish ;) And isn't she just a gorgeous colour?



I think she'll be perfect for holiday. Which reminds me that when I was looking through our jab records to work out if we needed any more for our trip to Langkawi in May, I was surprised to realise it was 10 years ago, in 1996, that I went on my first longhaul vacation to Kenya. It wast truly amazing. I remember it perfectly even now.

A weeks safari followed by 2 weeks on the beach recovering. I travelled on my own and so began the yearly ritual of jetting off each year somewhere exotic. The year after I went to Thailand for 3 weeks, followed by the Maldives, etc. etc. I just love travelling on my own - there is nothing quite like it. Of course I've gone with my DH for years now, but boy did I enjoy my independent travelling years. So to whet your appetite, here are a few pics from Kenya.....they're already on my computer as I printed them for an exhibition at a company I used to work for. I took hundreds of photos while on safari and still love looking through them all. You just cannot explain what it is like to be there. It really does have to be seen to be believed.