The Magic of May

"May comes sweet and complete in every detail.
Along every lane and hedgerow bank
spring a thousand small and seldom
considered things - Nature's embroidery,
to finish off her festal robe to perfection...
Such hedgerows in May are everybody's garden..."
-Written by Flora Thompson in A Country Calender.

May is indeed a busy time of the year for the gardeners. So I have been busy as well. Everything is growing so quickly now. Especially the weeds. But everything is still under control. I have been really busy planting out my veggies now. From beans and peas to Brassica's (for the first time) Will have to see if I manage to keep the cabbage flies and caterpillars away. Have put netting so it should do the job.  During the weekend I finally completed my cowl.  This cowl was in remembrance to Vanessa Cabban. You can read more about the cowl here if you haven't read my post on it. Monday morning was still a bit cold so I wore my cowl but soon was warm in it as it is knitted in round and is twice the thickness of a normal scarf/cowl. This cowl is just perfect for those Autumn days in the garden. I can see myself wearing this a lot. Jobs in the garden for this week is complete and had to make myself a simple quick lunch. Perfect to sit outside and enjoy the May sunshine.

Hope you have been enjoying the sunshine too during the magical days of May x

Sunshine, Rain and Frost...

In between sunshine, rain and frost
I have been knitting.
Knitting my cowl - Vanessa Cabban Cowl KAL. A project started by a wonderful knitter and Designer Christina Wall from 'A Knitters Life'.
This has been one addictive project just not for me but all the ladies knitting along this cowl with Christina Wall.
It has been real joy, but not looking forward to tackling all those loose ends. But needs to be done.
Everything has started growing in the garden too and I am spending more time slowly in the garden. I have started feeling springy.
After breakfast on mothers day went to town with the girls as Olivia needed few things and this was the only day free for this. Later on the girls made the most delicious biscuits for me and the beautiful Eeyore card which I took with me in my potting shed.
Tea, homemade biscuits and my Fair Isle knitting. This was heaven to me.
Going back to my knitting I am still not sure whether to make one or two loop cowl. So far I have reached for making it one loop cowl.

Fair Isle Knitting

 Sorry, its a bit late but better now than never.

 Do you remember last year before Christmas I mentioned to you about my new obsession Fair Isle Knitting?

 I told you I would show you my new book on Fair Isle Knitting.

Well, here it is.

Yes it is a very nice book with lots of clear instructions which guides you through the techniques. And all these beautiful yarns are from Jamieson's Shetland.

Waiting for me, so they can be knitted into something cosy and warm.

 But before I could start something for me again I had to knit for little Emily first.

She just likes pink and purple. *Sighhhh*

We went to the yarn shop together and she choose these two shades of pink. Its Alpaca Tweed, lovely soft yarn. The heart pattern is from the above mentioned book. Of course, Emily loves hearts and its just ready in time for her to wear tomorrow - Valentines Day!

But for now she was not ready to model the sweater for me.' No I don't want to' is that what she says and pulls her hands like that when she doesn't want something. Bless her.

 The back is not too bad but yes I still need a lot of practice. I am addicted to fair isle knitting.

It is such a relief to finish a project and I am trying very hard this year not to have too many WIPs. Now that's tough. At least Emily's sweater is ready. It is slightly wider but that is because I did this without any pattern except the Fair Isle pattern. But better than being too tight I guess.

Now then! What's this basket full of yarn for?

Okay, sorry but I have to tell you a bit of this story now. Just before Christmas I read on  'Hen House Blog' about the tragic death of a very talented Artist 'Vanessa Cabban' from the blog 'Do you mind if I knit?'. Even though at that time I didn't know about Vanessa Cabban or her blog. 'http://henhousehomemade.blogspot.co.uk/'  blog post on her touched me and I started reading Vanessa Cabban blog during the Christmas holiday. How sad to have lost such a talented Artist and even more sad that I came to know about her, and her blog work; only after her death.

The other thing was that I joined Ravelry sometime last year, but never really used it until now. Recently I got into it again and as I started looking for some Fair Isle project for me. Then surprisingly came across a 'Knit Along Cowl' project and it said Remembering Vanessa Cowl Kal. It is a mystery KAL which started Feb 6, 2015 and anyone can join in the "A Knitter's Life" Ravelry Group under the thread, "Remembering Vanessa Cowl Kal" This is a cowl to remember the life and work of the lovely knitter, artist, illustrator, sculpter, gardner who passed away Dec17, 2014.
So I joined the group, aswell with many others, and choose some DK yarn from my cupboard for this cowl. It is a great project for using all those left over yarns from other projects.

Thank you Christina Wall from A Knitters Life to start this project x