Knitting again

I'm slowly getting back to normal after my operation. I can do basic things now like getting washed and dressed and light household duties, but I am unable to do heavy lifting and as I've just found out I can't chop up root vegetables for lunch, it's surprising how much pressure you have to apply to the task. So hubby was dragged away from the ironing( I can't do that  either, yippee) to tackle the veg. He's been fantastic these last few weeks taking care of everything, including the animals ( which he isn't keen on) and then going to work. So a big, big thankyou to him. Mustn't forget to say thankyou to Geo who has also helped in his own way by making the batter for the yorkshire puds for lunch.

I can now also manage a little light knitting, I'm so excited I have really missed my yarny projects. The problem now is that I have too many projects lined up as I've spent the last few weeks admiring other peoples handiwork on various blogs and knitting websites and I want them all now!

The picture above is my new scarf I'm working on with my new Alpaca wool. I've unashamedly copied the idea from Little cotton rabbits blog, the pattern can be found here. It's just an easy moss stitch pattern but that's all I wanted to get me back into it. I used a 4mm needle and cast on 31 stitches as my wool isn't a chuncky wool, but I think it looks ok. It's going to be really snuggly soft when it's finished. 

We had a real heavy hoar frost this morning so I ventured out into the garden to take a few shots. I don't clear the garden before winter as I like to leave the seed heads for the birds and also to get beautiful images like these when they are covered in ice crystals.

 

The garden seems so still and magical when it's frosty. The summer flowers I took photos off on my last post haven't made it, but I knew that would happen, still you can't have everything.

The chickens aren't keen on this cold weather. They look out of their cage on a morning and go back to bed, it's far too cold for them. When it's like this they get a nice warming bowl of porridge and extra corn as a treat. Matilda had run off at this point to the refuge of her nice cosy nest to lay today's eggy offering but Amber was happy to follow me round the garden pecking at the frozen ground hopefully.