Sunday evening catch up

I couldn't keep up with time last week. Now it is Sunday evening and I am totally exhausted, as exhausted I imagine one would be after running a marathon, or climbing Mont Blanc. I have done neither. I am emotionally exhausted, too. Being James' mum has been rather draining lately. As he gets older, his difficulty to retain information becomes more troublesome. It is a bit like Groundhog Day sometimes.

But the weather has been glorious and we enjoyed many hours outside, in the garden, in the woods, along the canal and river, on the front steps. The days are long. Last night Alistair and I walked home from a party at about 10:45 pm and I noticed that the horizon in the West was not completely dark yet. I love the Northern summers! It was half moon and Alistair explained that the invisible side of the moon was sleeping. I did offer that the relative position of sun and moon to each other was the real reason but he didn't believe me. At least the moon distracted him from the fact that I had taken him home from a great party far 'too early' * (his words, not mine).















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I have finally finished two stripy jumpers I have been working on since Christmas, or thereabouts. I have gone of knitting lately but I had promised James and Alistair knitted jumpers. I used a pattern called Tea with Jam and Bread by Heidi Kirmaier. That was the plan anyway and I stuck to the pattern halfway through the yoke. It is a top down in the round pattern, my favourite kind because it has no seams at all and requires very little purling. This particular pattern uses short rows to shape the back yoke, which is a great way to get a bit of extra length in the neck area. I love short rows! The yoke increases were a bit odd, the intervals between increases changed, which I didn't like. I guess it is designed to get a bit of extra yoke length without ending up with too many sleeve stitches but I didn't think it was necessary for the small sizes. I forgot to knit the pockets with James jumper and decided it would cause too much trouble adding them for Alistair's version. James loves orange and chose a really bright shade. It looks great with his ginger hair. Don't you love his hair? I do. Alistair opted for bright red. I alternated these colours with a stone grey for both jumpers. James wanted big stripes, Alistair small ones. I love stripes, there is something happy about stripy clothes. I am thinking that I need some happy stripy clothes myself.

I am watching Jack chase a piece of broccoli as if it was alive. It is hilarious.

Tomorrow, the weather is due to turn colder again. I hope the forecast changes as we move through the week. Sam has only one exam, chemistry on Wednesday. He loves 'study' leave and even does some studying. He also walks Jack, which is great. I am looking forward to my cycle ride to work. I have been watching swans build their nest. Last time I checked there were four eggs. They are not sitting on the eggs yet so maybe there are more to come. I'll share some photos next week.

Wishing you all a good week. I hope to have time to stop by and read your own posts, it has been a while. xx

* James stayed at home with Sam, Richard and Annie returned around 1 am, just in case you were wondering why Ali and I were out on our own.