Squeezing it in

Small daughter breaks up for her school Easter holidays today.  I’m very much looking forward to two weeks without school runs, but I do find myself always doing the same thing just before a holiday – trying to squeeze in everything I need to do into the week before so that I’m not thinking about it whilst small daughter is around.  Sometimes it’s just because everything can be slower (and often very expensive!) with a co-pilot around, especially any kind of shopping, and sometimes it’s because I want to do things by myself or know that small daughter won’t enjoy coming with me.

I know she’d have enjoyed coming to Skipton with me yesterday, especially if Lucy’s Little People had been around, but they were all at school as well so Lucy and I were able to enjoy our time together in peace.  Well, not much peace as we don’t stop chatting (apart from when we’re eating cake!) but there was no “Muuu-uumm”-ing going on in the background.

Oh look – is that a certain cat nip sock?  I think it might be!  That’s something else I’m squeezing in this week – I want to get these socks finished as I know that once the holidays begin it will be easy to get distracted.  I’m on the home straight now so they shouldn’t take much longer.  I’m already thinking of my next project … the tutorial socks I’m working on need to be finished so that the tutorial is all ready for May but I keep looking at the yarn I bought at Edinburgh and I’m itching to cast some of that on too.  What a lovely decision to have to make!

Typically, as I drove over the borders from Cheshire to Lancashire to Yorkshire on my way to Skipton, the fields were full of sheep with gambolling lambs, but by the time I was able to pull over to take photos none of the sheep were feeling in the least bit photogenic and this is the best I could do.  All of the sheep are out of the shot, no doubt laughing at me, and you’ll have to take my word for it that they really were there.  It’s funny, but I see lambs now and I just think of how many woolly things their fleeces will create!

It’s been lovely to see spring flowers appearing when I’ve been out and about this week.  All of a sudden, it’s as if the earth has woken up and almost overnight the trees have changed from skeletal outlines to showing off a fuzz of green as they grow their new leaves.

We’ve seen an abundance of wild flowers – these are wood anemones – closed up and waiting for the sunshine on one side of the path …

Little white faces upturned on the other side …

It fascinates me that plants will turn towards the light – I’m used to seeing it with my seedlings on the windowsill, but even in the garden the flowers will turn to follow the sun.  Sunny primroses …

lesser celandines …

and cowslips.  I don’t remember seeing quite so many of these out last year, but it might just be that I have forgotten.  Time passes so quickly, sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago that spring was last here.  All of these flowers are yellow too, have you noticed?  I wondered why that might be and one suggestion that a Google search offered is that insects are attracted to white and yellow so these early flowers are just making the most of their short flowering time whilst the bees are waking up too.

I do love the soft, silky catkins (pussy willow) on the willow trees but I like them when they open out into these fuzzy bottle brushes too.  There’s been so much to see just lately!

With the time passing so quickly, I need to tell you that Yarn Shop Day is hurtling towards us.  It’s on Saturday 6 May this year and I’m going to be at Christine’s Wool Shop in Bournville (the retail store belonging to CityKnits), so do come along and show off your socks or come and ask questions if you’re stuck.  I’m going to be bringing copies of Super Socks and I’ll also bring my needle samples so that if you’re new to sock knitting, you can try out the different types of needles before you make a decision on which one to use.  I’ll post more details a bit nearer the time, but for now, put the date on your calendar!

Finally, I’ve got some exciting news about Super Socks … it’s now available directly from me here through the blog.  Buying from Amazon doesn’t suit everybody and until now, it’s only been at Yarndale or from a few yarn shops that the book has been on sale, so I’m really pleased to be able to tell you that I am now able to provide signed copies (assuming you can read my scrawly writing 🙂 ).  You can find them on the Super Socks page (click the link, or the picture below, or it’s listed on the tab bar at the top of this page).

We’ve got visitors coming for the weekend so I’ve got a few more things to squeeze in before they arrive – I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a fabulous break if you’re also on school holidays from today!

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18 Responses

  1. Amy at love made my home says:

    Hope you have a lovely weekend and that the book sales continue to do well!

  2. The Knitting Cross Stitcher says:

    Love your sock.My first ever ball of WYS yarn is this colour combination,I am excited to knit with it.
    Your book has been invaluable in teaching me how to knit my first pair of socks.I am enjoying myself very much,sock no.4 on my circulars:)
    Lovely pictures,I hope you have a good Easter

    • Winwick Mum says:

      You're going to love knitting with the WYS yarn, Lesley, and it just gets nicer the more you wash and wear it too. I'm so pleased the tutorials have helped – here's to many more socks! xx

  3. Lenore says:

    Hi Christine, I am trying to order your book but when I link to PayPal my order isn't evident. I use PayPal often so I'm not sure what is happening. the link takes me to the page but my order isn't there. Cheers Lenore

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Hmm. I'm not sure why that would be – if I click the link it shows up with the PayPal screen so I don't know why it wasn't working for you. It could be the time of night – I know that sometimes if I try to do things late at night they don't always go through so perhaps you could try again? If it still doesn't work, drop me an email at winwickmum[at]gmail.com and we'll sort something else out 🙂 xx

  4. suzyjune says:

    I have already purchased your book from Amazon, but wish I had waited to purchase a signed copy from you 🙂 Thanks for all the great patterns and for allowing us to have a peek into your everyday life 🙂

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Thanks for buying the book! If you're ever going to be somewhere where I am (such as the Yarn Shop Day event or Yarndale), just bring it along and I'll always sign it for you 🙂 xx

  5. AnnieOBTextiles says:

    I would never have attempted socks without your lovely book Christine and they are such bliss to wear. I'm pretty slow mainly due to all the other projects I seem to have on the go but the cat nip yarn is on my 'need list' (That's 1 step higher than 'want list')! Enjoy Easter and the school break.

  6. selina says:

    wonderful news about your books being able to sell from here, for some of us postage from Amazon is horrendous. will have to check it out sometime in the future though as i keep buying yarn specials from my favourite mill. hehehe
    enjoy your weekend
    thanx for sharing

    • Winwick Mum says:

      I think postage can be pretty hefty from wherever you are sometimes which is a shame, but I've tried to find the best option. Amazon will still suit lots of people, especially if there are other things in their orders but at least there's another option now! xx

  7. Sarah Sparkles says:

    I adore the pink stripey socks you're working on. I have yarn envy – lol

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Sarah, you would LOVE this yarn and I'm pretty certain you can get it in the States so it's worth looking out for 🙂 xx

  8. Anonymous says:

    I'm so excited waiting for your book! It's going to be a challeging experience because I've never knitted socks before… Irune

    • Winwick Mum says:

      Your book is on it's way so hopefully you won't have too long to wait before you can start – thanks for buying it! xx

  9. Judyk2310 says:

    Save me a copy of your book that I can buy at Yarndale!!!

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