November

"So dull and dark are the November days.
The lazy mist high up the evening curled,
And now the morn quite hides in smoke and haze;
The place we occupy seems all the world."- John Clare, November

The trick or treaters have been and gone, with the final farewell from the cutest little witch (aged about two) who was still waving me bye bye over her Mum's shoulder as she headed down the road. The leftover cakes have been eaten or passed on to colleagues; October is over and we're into the last nine weeks of the year.

Despite it being really rather mild at the moment, the leaves have almost all dropped, and the rain battering into the windows on Sunday morning and soaking us around the umbrella as we hustled to church under a darkening sky send clear indicators that we are getting to the hibernating time of year.

This last weekend was all about the place I occupy; I managed to stretch the food out to avoid a trip to Sainsburys until this evening (mostly with the cunning application of cake it must be said), and apart from cooking up a steamy fug in the kitchen for a while, and attending to the bare minimum of housework (that would be the laundry that got an extra 'rinse' through being out on the line Saturday night), I've been tucked up with quilts and yarn and friends. Friends who deliberately misinterpret the point of trick or treating and arrived with gummy bears no less!

The finished mittens, whilst blocked, are only just dry so they have to wait for another day for FO pictures, but I have been working on something a little bit larger than my feet for once - it's almost a jumper.

This is the almost finished back of Guiseley from the latest Rowan magazine. I'm quite surprise I haven't fallen over from the shock of actually knitting myself something out of the current Rowan. Usually I come back to Rowan patterns at least three years after they were published by which time the colours, if not the yarn itself, are long discontinued.



This isn't the colour from the book, it's a soft blue grey called Scree, but it is Cocoon; my new love. The way I feel about this yarn at the moment, I really wouldn't mind if I only ever knitted Cocoon jumpers from now on - it's soft and smooshy, without even a hint of an itch, and warm and cozy all at the same time. Did I mention hibernation?

Ravelry doesn't have any pictures of the finished pattern yet so I'll have to try to describe for anyone that doesn't have a book to hand - its a tunic-style top, with 'cap' sleeves, made by picking up and knitting a tube of ribbing from each arm hole and the front has a v-neck with a ribbed collar. I've added a couple of inches to the length to make sure that it gets to the top of my thighs - it's all a little bit of guess work so we'll see whether it's a hit or a total disaster.


For now I'm just enjoying the knitting and the pretty stitch definition.

And just to keep those memories fresh until Spring - a parting view of Upton House gardens in its final blaze of glory.