A mixed bag

Can anyone believe it would be possible to knit two pairs of woollen socks and have absolutely no recollection of doing so? While I possibly have a slight excuse – we have cleaned out and sold a house and relocated as well as coped with some major health changes in the interim -nonetheless I find it incredible that I could do this. Especially since these are the only socks I have knitted in my life. I know I have done no knitting since 2004 - I guess the socks were parcelled up with the rest of my unfinished knitting ( goodness knows what I can do with three almost finished jumpers that will no longer fit my grandsons.

Here is the first pair and maybe the other pair can be finished today.

Now I can't wait for winter – (it is still 33 degrees here, Centigrade)! These will be just the go for those early morning walks - soft woollen socks.

It is no wonder I try to keep my embroidery pieces small and to finish one piece before I start the next! A good idea but not always followed!

I really wanted to finish this hardanger sampler before the end of February but my wrist is playing up at the moment and it is impossible to stitch for more than an hour at a time.

There were no mishaps with the cutting of threads – something for which I am very thankful. The picots are definitely not the best – I do need practice. I should have taken Yvette Stanton’s advice. She suggested that one should practise on scrap cloth until perfect – however I decided that this was a practise sampler and, of course, fools rush in....... The instructions are good but I feel I am missing something. I would like to have an expert hold my hand until I acquired some skill but maybe practice will make perfect!

A second UFO has hit the dust!

The other finish is the mounting of a crossstitch picture, one of two that I stitched in 2000. The chart came from an Anna Burda. I stitched these, a sampler, a picture for my daughter and two birth samplers (also from Anna Burda) for my older granddaughters. The gifts were mounted and framed - however I had never managed to do anything with the other three until yesterday when I put this one in a frame.

** The order of the entries in this is dependent on the order of the photos - I originally had the socks at the end but somehow managed to lose the photograph and when it was reloaded it was at the beginning and I am not quite up to changing its position