I'm back (for now)

Very very sad news on the family front, but I am conscious that this is first and foremost a knitting and crafts blog, not my personal journal, so I don't want to talk about it too much. The only thing I do want to say is that I was very touched by all the kind and sympathetic comments from blog readers, some from by now quite familiar people and others from people not quite so familiar but just as thoughtful and kind. Thank you, all of you - your best wishes, thoughts, and prayers were much appreciated and helped me during those difficult weeks. I usually reply to every comment left on this blog (as long as I can find an email address somewhere), and I will reply to all your comments individually, but it may take me a while...

For now, I am going to show you some knitting, because really, this is what this blog is all about, isn't it? Knitting has been a great help, actually; it's been good to be able to remain busy with my hands, so I have done quite a bit of knitting recently.

First of all, I have finished my Socktoberfest sock (yes, yes, I am aware that it is now mid-November, but at least I didn't succumb to second-sock-syndrom!). I haven't bothered washing and blocking them yet, but I don't think it matters too much:

They fit well and are very comfortable. I have been wearing them all day today!

Then, I started My So-Called Scarf (link to the pattern is in the bar on the right) to use up my two skeins of Manos del Uruguay, part of the Honeymoon stash, bought in New England this August:

I'm about half-way through the second skein, and I am getting a bit bored with it. I like the stitch pattern (a kind of herring bone?!), although I think I would have preferred the scarf to be a bit wider than it is. Then again, since I have no way of getting hold of more Manos anytime soon I couldn't really go and change the pattern, because the way it is looking now is that with the width as it is it will just about be long enough to be comfortable, using 2 skeins... In any case, I get bored with scarves, so I can't wait to get this one off the needles.

I also managed to finally find my way to the Post Office to check my PO Box and look what I found there - my Knitty Board Holiday Secret Pal had sent me two little parcels:

What you see is one ball of Noro Kureyon in a colourway ranging from pink to purple to red to orange to blue and green. It's lovely! The grey stuff in the plastic bag is Angora fibre, apparently from my pal's own bunny!! Isn't that fabulous? I've never spun Angora before, so I'm looking forward to having a go. There were also two tea sachets - peppermint (which is a favourite!) and orange spice black tea, which sounds very intriguing, as well as two knitting themed cards which I think may be handmade and look very pretty. Thank you, Holiday Pal, this was a lovely surprise and cheered me up quite a bit. :)

Today I also managed to finally wash and block the separate parts of my IK Greek Pullover. Not much to look at, but we all know how well black photographs:

I still haven't managed to get hold of any chiffon, which is no real surprise, considering that I haven't been able to even go to a supermarket in the last two weeks, but I have decided to just sew the parts together for now so I can wear it. I can always add the chiffon later when I get the chance to get to a fabric shop.

And finally, do you recognise this:

Yes, it's the Cashmere sock yarn that I bought at the Ally Pally and that turned out to be completely tangled. It took me weeks to wind it all up into a ball, but it's finally done...

And now I will attempt to read some blogs - I'm glad to be back.