Monday? Already?

Lots of nesting activity in the garden recently.  This jackdaw arrived on the fence with a piece of newspaper . . .

. . . which he proceeded to pull to shreds before flying off with it.  Something to read whilst incubating eggs?

I'm sure time is on fast-forward at the moment.  It certainly seems that way.  We're skipping through the weeks and months with alarming speed and I would quite like for life just to slow down a bit.  No?  Ah well, just a dream I guess.  

We cleared and sorted lots of bagged donations on Friday - it's always satisfying if we manage to make headway into the huge pile of boxes and bags.  And the time certainly flies by.

I need to mention, very briefly, the knitting I was so thrilled about last time.  Having knitted up over two 100g-balls, I became a little concerned about the sizing.  Bearing in mind I had very, very carefully knitted up a tension square, as per the instructions, and made some alterations to the number of stitches I cast on.  (I had even enlisted N's help to ensure my calculations were correct!)  Something had gone very much amiss.  The jumper was knitting up way too big and the only solution was to unpick the whole lot.  *Sigh*  In fact, lots of *sighs*.  I was so enjoying the knitting, and now I'm back to square one with it.  

However, I did have some sewing to keep me occupied over the weekend.  I'm making a special cushion for some special people, and having bought a 22" square pad, I found out that what I actually needed was an 18" one.  A bit of cropping was required.  That was not a problem.  What was a bit of a faff was squeezing the hollow-fibre filling back into the cover.  It expands, you see, and there did seem to be an awful lot of it.  Perseverence was the key, I discovered.

We've been back to rain the last three days, and cold enough for me to need a jumper again.  The only glimpse of sun today was as it set this evening.

Through the window . . . and the raindrops!

N and I are taking a break for a few days.   We're looking forward to a little R&R, good fresh food and pleasant walks by the sea.  We'll be back, rested and refreshed and ready for a busy few weeks.