Cardigardening

I realised that despite all my knitting over the last year and a half I had a distinct lack of cardigans. Jumpers overflowing, but very few cardies.

Well, that's not too hard to rectify...

February...

April...

And I also got around to buying and sewing in the zip for my hoodie jacket - I bought the yarn for this from a spinner/dyer on Lewis many many years ago (I guess the 1990s) when visiting my cousin Margaret and her husband Donald. Knitted the jacket last year. Zip only waited 9 months...

And possibly late April, more likely May:

Just finished blocking the body, first sleeve on the needles. I have no idea how this will turn out. I had 4.25 skeins left of this gorgeous Jaeger 4-ply silk that I got as an absolute bargain in 2011 and couldn't find a pattern I liked to use it. So I am making up my own...

I have also been busy in the garden. I finished weeding the LBE a couple of days ago - see April photo. And yesterday I started on the veggie patch. After my first abortive attempt when the weather gods sent down an onslaught of hail the moment my hands were covered in dirt I got back out an hour later and got in a good session.

This gives a good indication of the state it was in after a year of neglect due to last year's weather and my frozen shoulder. I actually got the next bed cleared as well by end of play yesterday evening.

Oh, and I have also bought some more yarn. 700g of organic merino aran. That was my allowed reward for knitting an extra mile over my 12 mile target of last year...

Same Old Same Old

So I haven't blogged in a while. Time moves on but nothing really new happens.

I am still playing scrabble. After doing very little study last year I had my most successful run of results ever. Winning the King's Cup and the Romanian Open, third place in Prague and second in Vienna. My scrabble budget is looking very healthy. Off to Marbella in a week's time with a couple of spare days for R&R. And I've started revising again. Hmm... maybe I should stick to a winning formula, but I guess my luck will run out at some point.

I have managed one short stint in the garden to do a bit of a tidy up. We have been promised that temperatures will pick up just about the time I go away...

But I have been knitting.... and knitting...

I reached my goal of a mile a month last year, and a mile+ more:

That's most but not all of my year's labour.

So far this year I have completed another pair of glittens, two lace-weight scarfs, one mohair wrap, two pairs of socks, one cardigan, two cushion covers to finish off some old chenille and one replacement right-hand glove for the one I lost in Vienna. Another 2.2 miles of yarn. And I am well on my on another cardigan - body done and about a third of the first sleeve.

And I haven't bought any yarn for over 15 months!!!

And this is what I have left...

Main stash:

Partials/Scraps: