I finished the boat neck sweater finally, after several stops and starts while doing other things, like reading books and doing some gardening now that the weather is beginning to improve, just a little.
I committed a cardinal sin in not first knitting a gauge/tension square, and the Peter Pan Darling Fleck DK seems to knit up more like chunky. Also I should have used smaller needles, so the result is a sweater that is longer and rather loose, good to wear with pants though. The Darling Fleck is a chenille and looks and feels more like a velvety fabric than an ordinary knit, it is very soft and cuddly warm. I think once I have typed out the complete instructions I might just start knitting another, but do a swatch first this time, and use smaller needles. I wore the sweater today and it was admired and commented on by several people, so it can't be too bad!
Books
I've read two books recently, one by my favourite author Elizabeth Chadwick, 'The Greatest Knight' a story about William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, a 12th Century Knight who served four kings and was a man of real integrity. Elizabeth has a fantastic way of weaving stories around real people and events. She always keeps me hooked, the house could fall down around my ears and I probably wouldn't notice! The sequel to this one is called 'The Scarlet Lion.'
The second book was 'Wolfskin' by Juliet Marillier. It is the first time I have read one of her books, and it also kept me glued, I didn't want to put it down, so now I need to go find the sequel 'Foxmask' - Wolfskin is the tale of a young Viking warrior - Eyvind, who is among the first ship load of Viking settlers to reach the Orkney Islands, they come under a chieftain called Ulf who intends to settle in friendship with the islanders, but due to the ambitions of the Ulf's younger brother Somerled, murder and mayhem follow and Somerled sets himself up as King of the Island, it is up to Eyvind and Nessa, an Orkney Princess, to put a stop to Somerled's reign of terror.
Now I would like to go visit the Orkney Islands, see the Standing Stones and some of the special places she mentioned that really do exist. Juliet Marillier has a fan club on Facebook.
About three weeks ago my computer was attacked by 14 Trojans and 6 virus's, a friend cleaned up my hard drive for me but I am still unable to connect with the Internet so I'm borrowing my DH's computer for this.
Also due to a pain problem, now hopefully going away, I have spent more time reading than knitting, it helped take my mind off the problem. I love historical novels, especially those by Elizabeth Chadwick, she writes about real people and events, weaving a wonderful story around them. I also like adventure and have just finished Nicholas Evans book 'The Smoke Jumpers' - he is also the author of 'The Horse Whisperer' among others. I was in tears several times whilst reading the The Smoke Jumpers.
When I finally regained my ambition to knit I started on a pair of Chalice Lace Socks in Claudia's hand painted yarn, Seashells, I wanted to do a seashell pattern but didn't care for the one I tried out and ended up choosing the Chalice pattern instead, but was very happy with the result.
Then I started another pair with Lorna's Laces Seaside yarn and chose the Fishtail pattern. The yarn has a natural striping effect which is on the soles, but the Fishtail pattern changed the striping to a speckled and textured effect which I really like. The yarn was a gift and once I had started I realised there were two different dyelots, so I actually have two odd socks, but I don't care, I love them.
I had also started a pair for my DH Jim, in brown 'Whiskey' - it has a slight blue fleck in it, and as it is a fairly dark shade of brown I chose to do a plain 3 knit, 3 purl rib, I'm about two inches above the heel flap right now.
I haven't taken any photo's of the finished pairs yet but as soon as I can get them onto my computer, then transferred to a disc and then onto Flickr, I will add them.
I have bought two of Alice Starmore's books via Amazon, 'Sweaters for Men' and 'The Celtic Collection' - next month I will send for her 'Fishermens Sweaters' book. In October the book containing the St. Brigid pattern is to be re-published, so I hope to buy that one too, I certainly can't afford the present outrageous prices of the second hand copies.
Now that my pain problem is under control we have started playing Petanque on Sunday afternoons again, and in May will probably play on Wednesday evenings too. We treated ourselves to an early wedding anniversary present (April Fools Day!) and bought ourselves a set of steel boules. Our aim seems to have improved with them!!
One of the Petanque club members is a sheep farmer, he offered me another fleece, a beautiful Jacob this time. He has a flock of Jacobs and lots of lovely little lambs, they were all bedded on thick straw and looked so clean and cute, some had tiny budding horns.
I still have the four other fleeces to wash as well, so I hope my back behaves...!
