Notes from the week

Edition eight

It’s time for another edition of Notes from the Week. I finally feel able to talk about my old dog Badger, who had major surgery around two and a half weeks ago. He was diagnosed with an adrenal tumour (a hormone secreting gland near the kidney) around 6 weeks ago, and needed surgery to remove the gland and tumour. The surgery is potentially quite risky, with some serious possible complications (including death) but I’m very happy to report he came through it all with very minimal side effects. We’re coming to the end of his recuperation time and from next week can hopefully start getting back to his normal exercise. I took him and Daisy to the beach yesterday, for the first time since all this started. It was lovely to see him back to his normal self. The photo below is from the day after his surgery, wearing his hilarious and adorable surgical shirt to cover the wound.

In the meantime, I’ve been racing ahead with my Heirloom Quilt cardigan. In the last Notes from the Week, I was debating what colour to make my squares, holding my yarn double with burgundy mohair at the time. Well, after some experimentation, I decided using a combination of white and burgundy mohair, held double with my thrifted tapestry yarn, would make the star design more obvious. I frogged my completed squares to use the yarn and now we’re cooking on gas. I’m doing some burgundy-on-white and some white-on-burgundy, basically tailoring the squares to the yarn I have available.

I’ve also been making some in-roads on my Hobbit robe. My aim had been to have this done by the end of March, which is very much wishful thinking. However, I have at least got it out of storage, assessed where I’m at, cut out and removed some pieces I’m not happy with, and replaced them with better fabrics, all from my wool stash bucket. I’m around 50% the way there with piecing so it’s slowly going in the right direction.

I haven’t really been experimenting much with my wardrobe recently, I’ve been in survival mode to be honest. Still, I managed to thrift a pair of brand new with tags Gap high waist, wide legged trousers, in this lovely brown twill fabric. This is a real style departure for me as a dedicated wearer-of-skinny-jeans, so I’ve only worn them out to one event so far. Otherwise I’ve been pottering in the house and my local area in the trews, whilst I work out how best to wear them. I took them up a couple of inches using wunderweb as an experiment with the length, and I think they could probably do with another inch of length removed. Still, I’m loving them so far! Let me know in the comments if you wear wide legged trews and if so, how do you style them?

Lastly, I finished a stress-knit whilst Badger was poorly; a ribbed beanie. Initially I knit this using a vintage pattern, but I didn’t enjoy the method used for the crown decreases. I switched to the PetiteKnit Hipster Hat at that point and her decreases worked a treat. I’ll probably just knit her pattern next time and not bother with my vintage pattern. I’m wearing it here with a very old scarf, knit in 2010 according to my Ravelry. My perfectionist, all-or-nothing-thinking brain doesn’t like that my hat and scarf don’t match but I’m trying to break myself out of that pattern!

Finally, my bestie sent me this delightful care package, consisting of some destash yarn and a book on jams and preserves. I’m very excited to grow more of my own produce over the coming years, and this book appears to cover more than just jams, there are recipes for making your own curry pastes and chutneys as well. No doubt I’ll report back here on my progress in time!