Part Two (life and a little knitting!)

I'm finally back with part two of the update. Back in January it was E's birthday, we didn't know what to get her so we decided on a junior keeper for the day experience at Howletts. Originally D was going to be her 'adult' for the day but he wasn't well enough so I got to go. It was a fantastic day and E absolutely loved it. Watching her with the animals and asking so many questions of our guide and all the keepers was wonderful. She got to feed the lemurs, make the elephants beds, have a look behind the scenes in the gorilla house and watch tigers being fed close up. I got quite emotional when we were watching the tigers, they are one of my favourite animals and I was close enough to reach out and touch thier fluffy tummies. It was only the sight of the huge teeth and claws that stopped me! Here are a few pictures, we took hundreds!






























































































D is feeling a lot better now and has started doing a gradual return to work. I'm hoping it goes alright, he is so up and down with his health that it worries me in case he doesn't cope and gets really ill again. On the other hand if all goes well and he ends up back at work full time we will need to sort out some childcare and that worries me too. It all makes for sleepless nights. I am distracting myself by planning my 40th birthday party. I am 40 on the 20th March and have booked a hall and disco for an eighties themed party. I'm going as Adam Ant and have hired a highwayman outfit. I am really looking forward to it as there are a lot of people coming that I haven't heard from in ages. I'll make sure some photos go up here so anyone reading can have a laugh.
I have a bit of knitting news too. I finished the seawool scarf from last months Yarn Forward magazine using the seasilk I bought back in January at the Posh meet. It is amazingly slinky and lovely. My only small niggle is that I wish I had made the scarf a bit bigger, I had enough yarn but followed the pattern instead of my instincts, even so its a very wearable scarf.





























I have also cracked the wheel! After my last post saying how we weren't getting on I tried using a different fibre and hey presto, it worked. I spun some BFL from Limegreenjelly and produced this lovely squooshy yarn.






















I managed to get some Posh Yarn roving in thier first ever sale of fibre and I couldn't wait to spin it up. This is called scotch mist and is falkland.






















Now I just have to find the ideal pattern to show them off and do them justice. I am thinking maybe some fingerless gloves in the Limegreenjelly and a hat in the Posh.
I had a trip with the beading group to the Bead Merchant for one of thier open days and it got my beading mojo going again. They had some swarovski rivolis in stock, which are like large, very sparkly sequins. I fell in love and had to have a couple. I had a play when I got home and made this ring. It can be used as scarf ring or worn as a ring. It is impossibly sparkly and I love it. Now if someone could just arrange for there to be an extra few hours in each day I could have time for all my hobbies!!