Everyone has come home. While we still have a week of school vacation left and I’ll be slogging my way through the washing mountain for some time to come, it’s good to be home.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel and see new things and have new experiences. Deep down though, I guess I’m a homebody. It’s so nice to sleep in my own bed again, have all my things around me, and just feel settled. I love being at home. I love the cosiness. I love the fact that I can just let out a big sigh and be me….and if I want to I can just shut the door, listen to the radio and sew or knit or read or whatever. I love having my own space.

We won’t go into the fact that I’ll be doing laundry till the cows come home and that there’s a whole lot of chaos that has to be tackled sometime. The garden turned into a jungle while I was away, but, guess what? It’s raining too hard today to be able to do anything about it! Now isn’t that a shame!

Before the children were up this morning I managed to finish the toe of the second Giotto sock. Here are the socks in all their glory. Lovely pattern  (by Anna Bell), but a tad fiddly. They turned out really pretty though. I love the lime green!

Can you believe I have only half of one Appunto sock to go and then I will have finished all my knitting UFOs! I wish the same could be said for the quilting pile!

Have a good start to the week!

Helen

I’ve had a lovely time away in the mountains with my husband and today all my children have come home from French camp, very tired, but happy and healthy.

It makes me realize how lucky I am. I’m so fortunate to live in a beautiful country that is safe and functioning, my children are healthy and I don’t need to worry about them every minute of every day.

It all got me to thinking about how little I do for those who are less fortunate than I am.

A year or so ago I read Tim Butcher’s amazing book about his travels in the Congo, Blood River. Since then I’ve read a couple of other books about the situation in that huge country. Did you know that the Congo is the worst place in the world to be a woman? Rape, murder, attacks with machetes, child abduction…they are all common. I mean really common. Hundreds of thousands of women in the Congo have lost everything, really everything. I knew the situation was bad, but I hadn’t realized until recently quite how bad things are, particularly for the women of the Congo.

This week Alissa is supporting actionkivu.org on her blog. She’s trying to raise $15,000 which Action Kivu  will use to teach women to sew, so that they can support their families and also to pay for children to be able to go to school. You might want to step by. She even has prizes for contributors. It’s something really worthwhile. So if you have a moment….

Helen

Here is the proof that I’m still knitting….and also that I really do have willpower. (OK, it was made easier by the fact that I only brought these orphan sock projects with me and left all the good, new, exciting stuff at home!).

So, here they are…

Heel: Giotto by Anna Bell in lime green Soja by Lana Grossa, which is a tricky little number, but it is possible to do it in front of the TV as long as you don’t mind missing chunks of whatever you’re watching. I absolutely adore the picot edging on the top of these socks, so cute and so clever and actually deceptively easy! Positively the most girls socks I’ve ever knitted!

Toe: Appunto in pinky purple yarn, both from Three Irish Girls. Involves constant chart-reading and I can only manage it while listening to something non-challenging on the radio. It took me several attempts (again) to get the toe started, but I’m pleased as punch that it worked eventually. It’s always good to keep the little grey cells ticking over!

These are my last two unfinished knitting projects and I’m polishing my halo as I write!!

Helen

View over the Lutersee to the Gemsstock in Canton Uri, Switzerland. The middle glacier is where we ski in winter.

Wishing you a peaceful day too! (But less blisters!)

Helen

Today we were out and about in the Ticino again – making the most of amazing Swiss public transport…

…the cable car to take us up the mountain

…and the post bus to bring us home

It was noisy out on the Alp today with the clanging of hundreds of cow bells. I love the Swiss cows. This little lady is playing coy.

The weather was perfect, with views to match, a picnic in the sunshine on the alp with wild strawberries and heidelberries (a type of wild blueberry) for desert.

More blueberries while waiting for the bus back to Airolo….crustatina al mirtilli….yum!

This is the life! (Normal knitting and quilting service will be resumed shortly!!)

Helen