On Monday I went back to work following the Christmas break. I had a full two weeks off which was great. It gave me time to catch up with some jobs around the house, take some walks and do some sewing. I did have some work I really needed to complete before I went back to work but I didn't get all of it done. That meant that this week has been a case of constantly trying to catch up, which was annoying and tiring in equal measures. Thank goodness for the weekend!
Over the week I managed to get the baby blanket completed. I took the final photo before I blocked it but you can still see the pattern. I love this pattern and have knitted it quite a few times. My daughter chose the yarn from wool I had in my yarn stash. She is very happy with the colour and I cleared two and a half balls to complete the blanket. I still have a ball and a half of this yarn which I will probably use in a crocheted baby blanket. I'm hoping to use more of my stash of yarns and fabrics this year rather than buying more.
Whilst visiting our local hobby craft last week I came across this pattern for a baby sweater or cardigan and I bought the pattern.
I decided I wanted to knit the cardigan and having looked through my baby yarn stash I found some that was suitable and I had enough of to complete it. I should have read the instructions more carefully because I found that the sleeves were knitted using double ended needles. As a child I had watched my mother knit socks using this method but I have never tried it. I had some double ended needles that my mother had given me years ago and luckily they were the right size. I was able to cast on but then got in a bit of a muddle as I couldn't remember back through the years and visualise how my mother manipulated the needles. No problem I just went to YouTube. I don't know about you but I find it invaluable when I'm not sure how to do something. I watched the short video and away I went. The first sleeve was soon knitted.
This sleeve will now be connected to the cardigan when I've knitted up to the yoke. The sides and back are knitted in one flat piece and then you cast off stitches where the sleeves will be joined. I'm pleased I didn't just get a different pattern when I found out the sleeves were knitted on double ended needles. It took the first part of the first sleeve for me to feel comfortable with the technique. I know somewhere I have a sock pattern that my mother used to knit and I've seen some very pretty yarns for knitting socks and I feel I can see a some pretty socks in my future. Using double ended needles is another skill I've finally learnt and they make beautiful sleeves for baby jumpers without a thick seam in the sleeve.
Since the beginning of the year I've been trying to take a 30 minute walk everyday. It's easy when I'm on holiday but quite difficult on a work day. On Monday I took myself for a walk in the park which is across the road from where I work and I took two turns around the pond. The pond had large areas of ice on it which the coots and mallards were walking across.
Meanwhile the swans were happily swimming around where the ice had been broken. The two adult swans had 7 cygnets early in 2025 and they managed to raise all of them. The adults have lived on the pond for several years and have cygnets every year but until this year had never managed to raise all of them to young adulthood as unfortunately, foxes have usually taken some of the young.
The second adult swan and the other two cygnets were over in the swallower water.
I repeated my walk round the park on Wednesday lunch time. Although it was cold it was lovely to get out into the fresh air.
On Thursday I had an MRI of my heart. Following my surgery last year I had been having extra beats. They did a couple of investigations, echocardiogram and a 24 hour tape and decided I had a problem. They started me on a very low dose of a beta blocker and within two days the extra beats had stopped, my heart rate was back to my normal. Now they are running some additional tests to see if the problem is resolved. I think it is but I'm only the patient, so what would I know?
A more annoying problem this week was that my sewing machine is not working properly. It turns on OK but the touch screen isn't working properly so I can't change any of the settings. I think there is a loose connection and so the machine will have to go to the spa for a few days to be sorted out. I have a small sewing machine but that has also been playing up. I'm hoping it will work whilst my big machine is out of commission. Sewing machines seem to know when you have a lot of sewing that you want to get done. I think I may have to change the project I'm working on this month but this shouldn't be a problem as I have a couple of hand stitching projects I can work on instead.
I didn't make any new year resolutions because I never keep them longer than a couple of days. However I want to try some new things this year. John gave me a gold work kit for Christmas and I'm looking forward to starting it. I did a workshop on gold work several years ago and the piece we made was very small. Since the workshop was so long ago I have been watching some videos in preparation for starting. This got me thinking and my plan for the year is to try something new, maybe not every month but every now and again. I'm going to have a think about what I'd like to try and I'll get back to you with my ideas.
Somehow it has got very late so I'm off to bed. I'm hoping to get some sewing done tomorrow.
Take care
