Almost September?

Its back to school tomorrow & for the first time since forever (well 1994) its just Mr J & me to go back to school as son & heir is established in his gap year job. Tomorrow will no doubt be a mixture of 'well done' ,as our GCSE results were 6% better than the previous best & 1% above target, and 'do better' 'cos.............. that's the way education is in England & Wales at the moment. It will be a busy term, even if the men from the ministry don't come to call (we do expect Ofsted at sometime this year!). My job as been 're-defined' ... read made bigger/same pay, but at least it is a permanent post again after the uncertainty of the last two years following re-organisation.

Enough of that. It really feels like the beginning of Autumn with a heavy mist this morning & real changes in some of the trees as Moss & I enjoyed a walk around Swinsty Reservoir yesterday morning. Mr J & S&H ran 9 & some miles around two reservoirs plus some more. But they are in training for the 'Great North Run' in October!

So with a look forward to September on the knitting front, the Ravelry Sock Knitters Anonymous starts again with a challenge that is Orange socks or Cookie A design or a Mystery sock. I will knit a mystery sock but September will be a time for soothing knitting not challenging projects with tighter timelines. I think I will go for another pair of no-purl Monkeys in Orange! Two out of three aint bad? The yarn is very orange! The 'rule' is 75% orange & either of these little citrus delights from Knitting Goddess easily meet this! Not sure which one I will use though. Whadythink?

Currently on the hot needles is this little cardi (not so little, but she will grow into it!) for Nellie. The pattern is Tater's Cotton cardi. Its not knitted in cotton, but wool, Patons Fairytale colour 4 Me DK to be exact & its lovely yarn. I am planning some adaptions to the pattern, maybe to the edging & I don't think it will have ties but a popper & a crochet flower fastening. There should be enough yarn to knit a Tam, also with a little flower decoration. I am not a huge fan of the 'knot & string' art for whole things but for decoration it could do the job. I found this You Tube tutorial (via Ravelry of course).

I have still to finish Mr J's 'Colours of the Hebrides' socks, but as this is the second sock they are nearly done. A couple of car rides will finish them!

Other 'hot' wip (as opposed to almost hibernating) is a Woodland Shawl. Its lovely. I ordered extra yarn. It wasn't in stock. I found some in the UK (last skein in UK) on ebay. It came. It was WAY OUT as a match. I knitted some Cranford Mitts from it, whilst waiting for an order to come in from Eat, Sleep, Knit in yarn heaven (USA!). This was where the first two skeins came from. It arrived on Friday. It matches! Btw, Cranford Mitts is a lovely pattern to knit.

We had a wonderful long weekend last week (Bank Holiday) as my Mum, Dad, Sister & Brother in Law came to stay for 4 days. My sister is a knitter. She was knitting these. They are Nereid gloves. She gave them to me! Sisters are great!