May Blossom, shiny treats and Magpies.

Happy May everyone. To those of you living in same hemisphere as this Magpie you will know that in true UK fashion summer has arrived bringing with it hail, frost and a little sleet. However we’ve had a couple of bright cold days and on one of them toddled off to Batsford Arboretum in the Cotswolds. There were two main reasons for this ( bear with me, there is a knitting connection ). One being there is a stunning Japanese garden and the blossom is in bloom. The second ( and to my mind much more important reason) being the chance to show off my finished Mabel’s Sister cardigan- I adore it. It was a delight to knit, the pattern was by Fiona Alice for Loop and as regular readers know I got my wings on some of Emily Foden’s ( Viola Emily ) organic merino, this yarn is sumptuous. The cover pic shows a ladybird helping with blocking. This shows me & the blossom 😊

Other knitty news see’s me still in splinting post hand surgery in January, my surgeon reminds me that ‘I know ‘ it’s a twelve month rehab to hopefully get to a good 70% function, I however am not renowned for my patience ( especially as we’ve yet to do it all over again on the other hand and wrist – what joy ). However my hand therapist is very agreeable to physio the knitting magpie way and I’m skipping along with a couple of projects. What I found with Mabel is that I cope well with slip n slide knitting but less so with rib for some reason. Therefore a couple of projects are in hibernation and I’m currently working on the Ninilchik Swoncho by Catlain Turner ( boylandknitworks ) which is fab. I’ve decided instead of beating myself up over acquiring a dress size due to surgery & steroids ( plus a little cheese & olives ) I’m going to chill out my look to a less structured one to prevent constantly breathing in! Caitlin’s Swoncho is in a heavier dk yarn than I’ve used but as it was a US yarn not available in the UK off I went hunting for substitutes. I loved her colour palate and found an excellent alternative from Rowan in their felted tweed dk. It’s about 25% finer so I played about with needles and it’s working up a treat:

The second pic shows Caitlin’s version plus the cake I made for Easter ( hence the need for a Swoncho 😁).

The other project I’ve started is from the new edition of Making Magazine and is a sweater called Shifting Sands. Due to the cable I can only work on it in short bursts but am so far pleased with it. I’d been looking for an excuse to try out the new Devonia yarn from John Arbon textiles based in Devon and this was it. I ordered it in the Broken Flower colourway and it is stunning. It’s a lighter dk so perfect for cooler summer evenings. The delightful stitch markers I’m currently obsessed with on the pic are from Fripperies and Bibelots and called ringO’s, the join is covered by the beads so no snagging ( any companies/ items mentioned are none affiliated, just things I’ve bought, like and want to share with you ).

RingO’s in the battenburg colourway cos it’s important to match your project colours plus the star ball bauble row markers also from frip n bib.

Shifting sands, the lovely yarn and my new splint….

Broken Flower in Devonia dk from John Arbon textiles.

Well that’s probably enough waffle from me so I’m off to do a little more on my Shifting Sands. Wishing you all a happy crafty May.

Love Magpie 😘