Thursday, October 02, 2008

Exchanging, knitting and life

The past two weeks have been filled with a few ups and downs. Getting the downs out the way first, well there was telling my boss that the job trial was not working out. However it did have the upside of the people working there telling me that they were disappointed that I wouldn't be staying and telling my boss that I am good at my job. So that was really great to hear. The major thing that happened was that my aunt died sort of suddenly. My mum is one of 11 children orginally. Her youngest sister died as a young child but all the rest of them have been fit and fairly well until recently when my mum's oldest sister developed some heart problems. She ended up in hospital and seemed to be doing well, then she very suddenly became very ill and died. The funeral was just over a week ago and was a little surreal as my aunt was a Roman Catholic nun. She spent most of her life in Nigeria so part of the service had Nigeria hymns. In recent years, she worked in several Glasgow parishes so as a consequence, the mass was said by 6 priests plus the Archbishop and with around 30 or so nuns in attendence. At times my Aunt had expressed the occasional doubt about the life she had chosen so it was lovely to see how many people she had touched during her life. Quite a lot of my extended family attended the service too so it was lovely to catch up with lots of my family plus I got to meet the family's newest member - a little baby called Jack who was born on the 6th of September this year and is my mum's first great great nephew.

On to other things. Since my last post I've heard that an exchange I sent has been received plus I've also received an exhange.

I sent this to Suzanne as part of the SBEBB biscornu exchange. Its the Sunflower biscornu by Helga Mandl.

Biscornu for Suzanne

I received this from Becky in a personal Halloween exchange. Its the Halloween needleroll by Shepherds bush.

Halloween exchange from Becky

I've been on holiday from work for the past 10 days and I've been trying to finish up a few of my many WIPs. First up I finished a scarf which has been lingering on the needles for a while.

Bertie scarf

And then this afternoon, I finished the pair of scoks that I cast on at the Iknit day. The pattern is Monkey by CookieA once again and the yarn is Shelridge farm soft touch ultra. I am a little addicted to the Monkey sock pattern I think.

Iknit monkey socks

Last night I finished knitting a cardigan/jacket but its currently drying off after a little blocking so I should have pictures over the weekend. The weather has turned colder this week so its the perfect time for finishing lots of knitting.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous scarf!!! Are there beads on the scarf? Cute biscornu too!

Joyus said...

Those socks are just fab. The more I see your sock finishes the more tempted I am to start knitting!

The scarf is beautiful too :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about your aunt Paula. Love the socks and the scarf, very pretty.

Karoline said...

The socks and the scarf are great Paula I'm going to have to look out that sock pattern.

Flavaknits said...

Sorry to hear about your Aunt , she appears to have lived a very full life. Your scarf is gorgeous, the colour and beading are just beautiful.

Anne S said...

So sorry to hear about your Aunt's passing - it sounds like she was an incredible woman :) Love the exchanges - both the biscornu and the needleroll. And great knitting, as always :)

Sonda said...

Sorry to hear of your Aunt's passing...it sounds like the funeral was of some comfort, knowing she was well loved by many. Those socks are beautiful, as is the stitching, of course.

stitchersanon said...

Hi, I hope you dont mind me following your blog, I am in Ireland and I know all about rain. I am sorry about the loss of your aunt, but on a happier note, your works are fantastic. I am really impressed and am almost tempted to try and knit socks..they look so lovely and warm and still bright and cheeful!

Best wishes
Gaynor
http://melifeandotherstuff.blogspot.com/

Karin said...

Sorry to hear about the loss of your aunt. You have some great exchange pieces.

Margie said...

I am very sorry to hear of the loss of your aunt.

You do some beautiful work with your stitching & knitting.

I left you a little something on my blog.

XXX,
Margie

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear your sad news, hun. On the upside, your knitting and stitching is absolutely wonderful. I'm glad you've taken some time to crack on with your wips, something I really, really have to do! Thanks for the inspiration! xx

MysteryKnitter said...

I am sad to hear about your Aunt.

I admire your knitting skills, though.