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I may not be the acclaimed Pink Panther Jewell thief extraordinaire, but my fellow blog readers I have found a jewel of a yarn that before it becomes impossible to buy and this may already be the case I have to share with you. It is Bugga, just look at the colours, look at the yardage, look at the materials merino, cashmere and nylon. It is unbelievably soft yet feels very strong and… its machine washable. What more could a girl want! Sanguine Gryphon updates on a Tuesday and I have to tell you the Wollmeise fans have found her, her Bugga updates disappear very, very quickly.

This colourway is Differential Grasshopper knitted up into Embedded Leaves. Its beautiful and I love it.

Well our hens think so.

The first egg of the year.

I remember the first year we kept chickens I learnt such a simple truth that it made me laugh heartily. One of the reasons that eggs must be a symbol of Easter (and I know there are religious reasons too) is that chickens are in full lay, we were inundated with Easter eggs that year, all hens were laying one egg a day and as we had various breeds of hens which lay different coloured eggs, it was very pretty. I’m not sure if we will repeat that this year as our ladies are so much older these days and although they lay well, they don’t lay every day.

And we have another signal that Easter is upon us.

Our Easter cacti have come into flower and are looking rather pretty. I am always surprised just how well my Easter cacti do, as to be absolutely frank they are terribly neglected once they stop flowering. I barely remember to give them a drink all winter, yet somehow, they always survive.

When I’m feeling low or tired or ill or all three together there are just a few things that can soothe me.

Firstly it has to be home made soup. This is ham, leek and pea soup. The ham hock was begged from the sliced meat counter of Waitrose for the princely sum of £1.73. It has been simmered for five hours and then the meat was taken off the bone. Lots of lovely homegrown leeks were gently fried in butter and added to the stock along with the yellow split peas. Its not quite ready yet, but it will be soon and then it will be in my tummy for lunch and I’m really looking forward to it.

Then just a few rows of something soft which is beautifully coloured soothes my tempered brow. I am a fickle knitter, I love my Lizard Ridge, I do. But (there’s always a but isn’t there) I need variety and this yarn has called to me from the very first day that it was placed in my stash. Its a sock yarn from fybrespates, I have three skeins of yarn from fybrespates bought at a show a long time ago. I don’t know why but they didn’t have labels on them and I’ve completely forgotten which was which. All I do know is that they are machine washable, this is a requirement of sock yarn that is not negotiable; and I remember asking.

The pattern is Show-off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell. Its an interesting pattern in the way the heel is turned. It would be perfect for a diabetic or other person with a sensitive foot as the turn leaves no edges and is smooth and soft. And if you just kitchened the toe instead of pulling the last few stitches together it would truly be a sock without seams.

And after that, well could there be anything that could match up to the previous two. Well yes there can. There can be good friends. Who without prying just give you a little fiber hug. Thank you Carie, I love them All. They are just so gorgeous, it was wonderful the way they tumbled out of the bag onto the table to reveal their full glory.

My hubby is a man of few words. But knowing I was feeling a little down he came home with these.

Aren’t they lovely.

Delivered to my bed by my very own trusty postman at just after seven this morning.

You can imagine my disappointment on Saturday to discover that Royal Mail had tried to deliver, but the long haired, cheesy footed teenage son that currently resides in bedroom no.2 did not hear the door knock or the four hounds that we own which would have been barking loud enough to wake the dead, to alert him that someone wished to gain the householders attention.

After sighing wistfully as I knit my last ball of Noro last night, hubby dashed to the post office in glacial conditions very early this morning just so my dreams could come true.

Thank you darling.

I’ve been given a random letter, thanks go to Linda My Letter is K and the idea is to blog about ten things you love beginning with your random letter. Here goes…

1. Kids.

Mine of course, other peoples are often quite obnoxious. I love my boys, I love that they are sometimes hard work, that they are not beige, that they have formed characters of there own. That they are free thinkers, that we argue about various issues, that they are willing to work hard to prove a point. And also that they are gentle and caring boys who will one day make fine men.

2. Kenilworth

There is a saying about these parts, its not a definite saying but it all runs along the same theme. Outsiders on marrying a Kenilworthian may be heard to mutter, “you can’t get them to move out of Kenilworth”. Its my home, I love it, I come from one of the oldest families which is well known and well respected. When I am away I miss it.

3. Knitting.

Need I say more, I know I haven’t been knitting for very long in the scheme off things but I love it. There is a part of me that bitterly regrets that I didn’t pick up this wonderful hobby sooner and I am deeply sad that I have missed out on all those knitting years. But on the other hand I am very grateful that I did take it up when there are so many wondrous yarns to choose from.

There are just so many aspects of knitting that I deeply love, from picking a pattern which can take months to choosing yarn. I am a very bad sleeper, I very rarely sleep through the night and knitting has been a good companion to me in the early hours when its too cold to get out of bed. I lie cosy in my bed and think about patterns that I would like to knit, what yarns and colours I would choose and how I might change a pattern. There are patterns that I think deeply about, Bayerische for example and I allow my imagination to work through them and slowly I am gaining confidence to start on such a pattern. I think about the warmth of wool and how life giving it is to cold and stiff joints, how soothing a woolly hot water bottle is and how wonderful a nice bright, thick and woolly blanket might be. How the right woolly hat can give a girl confidence and how colourful socks can brighten the day. I dream about future knitting and what I would love to knit, if I am lucky enough to be blessed with grandchildren..

I love knitting.

4. Know How

To define it, ‘The knowledge and skill required to do something correctly’.

I love that the Internet has opened so many doors to so many people including myself so that we can learn skills and know how.

I’ve always had the ability to find out what I wish to know to a level of knowledge that satisfies me. In other words I might not be able to lecturer about dog behaviour, but from reading many books I am able to read there language and am able to put over through body language what I require of them. I love that my husband has a very high level of know how and if he doesn’t know he will find out. I love that my boys are learning that know how and knowledge is a very powerful tool and are learning how to acquire the knowledge they need.

5. K9’s

Since I could walk I have had the very worrying habit of approaching all dogs, some of which were bigger than me to say hello. I always seemed to ignore the bit about having to ask first and would wander over without a care in the world. At the age of 8 I could correctly identify most of the breeds in the country. We never had a dog, my nan did though and I used to walk her dog (she had various dogs, all rescue, before rescue was fashionable) through out the year up and around the Abbey Fields, then through to the long walks around the back of the Castle. No matter how much I begged we never had a dog at home. Over the years I identified my one true love which was the Golden Retriever and when my boys were old enough so that they would be able to handle a bigger dog that wish became a reality. I will always have a dog in my life. They give me comfort and really do make great hot water bottles. I do believe you can tell the merit of a person by their dog, if you look at the dogs behaviour around that person you can see what there true colours are.

When Charlie was about 9 months old I had hurt my back triggered from an old injury that was playing up. I was in the bedroom and collapsed onto the floor, I was on my own in the house, the boys were at school. I managed to get to the bed but couldn’t find the strength because of the pain to get my arms and upper torso onto the bed. Charlie was with me, he squeezed himself into the small triangle between myself, the bed and the floor and pushed against me, which raised me up and I was then able to pull myself onto the bed. How did that dog know what I needed? But he did.

6. Kestrels

All British birds really. I love Kestrels and Hawks and I have been lucky enough to have seen Ospreys in the wild. I love watching birds hunt, I love how sharp and keen they become. Every fibre of there being is concentrated on catching supper which is how it should be. There beauty is undefinable.

7. Karats
(may be an American spelling)

You know what they say, Diamonds are a girls best friend. I love my diamonds, I don’t have enough of them but the few I have are treasured possessions and they make me smile when I look at them.

8. Kaleidoscopes

What list on K’s would be complete without Kaleidoscopes. I loved them as a child. I would spend hours gazing at the brightly coloured moving jewels.

9. Kneading
I love kneading bread, I love the feel of the bread coming to life underneath your hands. How the yeast, flour and water work together to form a warm and springy dough.

10. Kisses.

I love kisses. Silly sloppy kisses and baby kisses and puppy kisses and passionate take your breath away type kisses.

And I know I’ve had my ten, but there are Kittens and Kites and not forgetting Kitchener stitch!

Who wants a letter?

I’ve just started to lead up my piece. This is the most difficult stage as unlike knitting where if it doesn’t quite fit you can give a little tug this is not possible with glass. My tutor is still at the stage where she’s really not sure if I’m going to do this, me, well I know I’ll do it. I know I’ve had dire warnings all the way through that this was too complicated a piece for a beginner, but then who starts to knit socks when they are learning to knit..

At long last you get a view of the whole thing even if it is a bit jumbled up.

And aren’t hubby’s carrots fab. Not quite finished, he’s just cementing them in but they do look good.

it keeps me bound to my desires.

173 lot D completed.

226 lot A.
This sears your retinas. Just the thing to knit at the end of a long winter.

The strength of the spell increases day by day or should I say stitch by stitch as the colours unfold. I’m going to have really good fun with this project.

I have been dreaming about knitting this project for a long time, well since my knitting group and I knitted a baby blanket consisting of Lizard Ridge squares for one of our members. Which really when you think about things, must be nearly a year ago. Having finished my cardigan I was at a stage where I could think about what big project I wished to start next.

I was just fine tuning between two cardigans that I would like to knit, when photographs such as these.. Lizard Ridge Squares and More Lizard Ridge Squares came tumbling out of the ether. They are from my good friend Knitted Bear who was a coconspirator of the baby blanket and who I used to share a hearty and slightly deranged giggle with about the beautiful colours. Aren’t they beautiful. And I knew they were, but I still thought to myself that I could do with another cardi before a blanket.

And then, I was in a wool shop on Wednesday, I was just there to choose a button and that was all. To be absolutely honest, I was there on the Pretext of choosing a button, I was actually there trying to escape housework. As I wandered pausing gently to admire the yarns, I had this out of body experience. It started with colours before my eyes and then the colours became closer and brighter and you could feel the warmth and somehow softness of these colours. There were voices commenting about how pretty the yarn was and then suddenly a bag was thrust before me and I was on the way home with four balls of Kureyon Noro.

I found the pattern and cast on. There was a slight problem with this ball, there was a knot and a huge amount of turquoise on the inside of the ball, as I had started with the outside of the ball this was going to cause a problem. So I fudged it and just wound those bits off and may use them later.

This is 173 Lot D.