17 May

Today is Norway's National Day which is a big deal in Norway, so 'Gratulerer med dagen' to any Norwegians. We don't usually celebrate. It feels weird to me to celebrate when we are living in England. Simon and the girls have only experienced 17 May once. We went to Norway a few years and I think the girls enjoyed the celebrations. We watched the big parade in Oslo were marching bands were playing and school kids were waving flags. Having grown up in England the girls weren't used to that kind of parades at all. English (or British) don't really celebrate their national day. I guess for the English it would be St Georges Day and I've no idea when that even is and I've lived here over half my life now.

I played in a marching band when I was a teenager and on 17 May we used to start at 6am and march around and play leading various parades throughout the day until mid afternoon. There were no parades at 6am, but we used to march around to wake people up. I used to enjoy 17 May a lot but it was rather exhausting being on your feet all day especially as i played a barytone which is a big horn (and heavy). 

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I've been resurrecting some old knits lately as I had a gap between deadlines. This shawl was cast aside about a year ago. I've no idea why as I'm loving it again. It's knitted in Dreamy Lace, has beads and LOTS of charts. I have re-done the charts in my new charting software making them much easier to read. 

 This shawl is knitted in two halves. I'm on the second half now and I blocked the first half out before just to check the size and here's a sneak peek of it. It's not the best pic, I really struggled getting any decent pics of it and it's only a small detail of the beginning.

 I had a particular motif I wanted to use in a new Silky Camel Lace shawl. I found the perfect beads and cast on while we were away at Easter and it just didn't work. So I abandoned my initial idea and went with something completely different. Today I pinned it out to check I was happy as i didn't swatch for this new design before casting on. I love it.

Silky Camel Lace is gorgeous to knit with and I found the perfect beads in The Bead Room in Totnes. Only problem is I don't think I've bought enough so I'm hoping I'll be able to get some.

 Another shawl I started ages ago and which has been hibernating for months is seeing some action. I originally planned to use 200gr for this shawl but after I've used up about 60gr of the first skein I decided 100gr would be enough. So I ripped back to 50gr to start the second half of the shawl. I'm loving knitting on it. It's my easy, 'take along' project. It has a lacy beaded edging but the pattern is so easy to follow and I don't have to read the charts. I'm hoping I'll be able to finish it while we are away in Oxfordshire this weekend. I'm so close.

Another quick and easy crescent shape shawl came off the needles last weekend. I've knitted it for a friend but I need to photograph it for the pattern before I give it to her and I want to knit some matching handwarmers too. I'm hoping to block it tonight.

I'm hoping to publish all or at least some of these designs in June. I have an idea for a themed collection but I'm quickly running out of time.

I'm leaving for Oxfordshire tomorrow. On Saturday I'm teaching at Purlescence. I'm looking forward to teaching there again. Before we leave tomorrow I'm hoping to get the Lace Lovers Club may parcels in the post. They're a week later than I'd planned so I have some apologising to do to the club members. Only problem is some of the yarn is still not dry. I'm hoping they'll love the yarn and the pattern so much it'll make up for the parcels being late. Want to join the fun? You can sign up now for the July to September Lace Lovers Club.

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at a local lake, Sibleyback Lake. Simon and his Dad have decided to keep a dinghy there for the summer so I expect we'll be spending a lot of time there. It was sunny but very cold.

I sat and chatted with Simon's Mum and knitted and took the dogs for a walk around the lake which has a foot path all the way around. I only walked about 1/4 of the path though.

 I also tried to get some pics of the boat but this is the best I managed.