February finally rolled round to its last day and I can't say I'm sad to see the end of it. The weather this month has been mostly rain and some of it has been very heavy and persistent. I was keeping count of the number of wet days but I stopped as it was too depressing. We have had some dry and sunny days along the way but they have been few and far between. On a positive note the snowdrops are whispering that spring will soon be here and there are some daffodils in flower in the garden. Driving to visit older daughter and family today I also saw several magnolia trees in flower. I'm hoping March will bring better weather.
Yesterday John and I went to the Marie Antoinette exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum in South Kensington, London. I haven't had a chance so far today to upload my photos from my camera so I tell you about the exhibition tomorrow or Tuesday.
This month I have been doing some knitting in the evening as I don't need to get the sewing machine out. I've been working later than usual and by the time I get home there is limited time for sewing. I completed a donation blanket to use up the yarn I had left over having made a blanket for my youngest grandson. I still haven't blocked this blanket so must do it this month.
I also started knitting a cardigan for myself. I'd bought the yarn a little while ago but had other knitting to finish. This is the back which I have since finished, but the picture is still on my camera. I love how the pattern is created by using the two balls and knitting two rows from ball A and then two rows from ball B. I also love the yarn as it is so soft.
My Chookshed challenge this month was to work on my quilted jacket. The last time I showed this I had completed the quilting and stitched the fronts to the back as shown in the photo. Since then I've had to alter the pattern slightly as the back was sticking out. It's now lying flat and I've added the sleeves. Again the photo is still on the camera.
We also visited the orchid festival at Kew this month. The flowers were so pretty.
My one monthly goal was to complete the last of the frog stitcheries which I almost did but I just run out of time. Not a problem. The challenge pushed me to put effort in to get them finished and that has been a great help. One more stitching session will see the last frog finished and then I'll start on the blocks.
I've also done some work on my dolls house, finishing the pavement and railings at the front of the house. I fitted the stair carpets and also finished the bed and made a duvet and two pillows for it. Progress is slow as I unfortunately have far too many projects on the go but it makes me happy to have lots of different things I can work on. I'm also owning up to starting two other projects. Both of these are to use up my yarn supply. The first one is a knitted project, the mitred blanket. These have been very popular over the last few years and I decided I would make one to use up yarn. All the squares are the same size, it's just the camera angle that make some look bigger. I love the way the square starts out straight and slowly becomes a square as you reduce stitches along the mitre.
The other project is to make a blanket from crocheted hexagons. I started this today and will try to make several hexagons each day over the month as in the UK this month is national crocheting month. I made these two earlier but I think I will add another round to them.
Now I need to check out the chookshed challenge number for March and download my photos. I also need to check out our plans for March. There are three family birthdays this month and I know John and I will be in somerset for his but I'm not sure what other plans we have this month.
Take care
Lyndsey
