Today is a perfect, rainy, stay in the house sewing day. Or even a clean the house a bit day.

What I would really like to be doing is starting to sew my Liverpool tunic, which I managed to get cut out last night.

But it is not to be.

It is nose to the grindstone time.

But at least I have tea and cake to soften the blow.

Helen

I just realized that my sewing class is starting up again tonight. This is a dressmaking class that I’ve taken off and on for the last, ooh 16 years or so I guess. I tend not to go in the wintertime anymore, because I hate going out on cold snowy nights and we get a lot of them here, but once spring comes around I sign up again.

The class is held in the local secondary school, with a wonderful teacher, who does a fabulous job at making sure that everything we make sits just right. Lucie is a seamstress turned needlework teacher and is one of the nicest people you could imagine – her classes are always full of laughter and everyone feels at home. I tell everyone that they are absolutely the best place to go if you want to integrate into the local community. There are usually about 12 of us – ranging in age from 16 to 82 and most of us have been off and on regulars for donkey’s years. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone again.

Of course this means that I need a project, so….tada here it is…

Amy Butler’s Liverpool Tunic in yummy delicious Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabric in my absolute favourite colour combo, both of which I brought back from Texas last autumn.

And for those of you following the latest sock saga..

I have ripped out a couple of times and the pattern can no longer be described as anything other than my own. The challenge will come when I have to make a second sock to match the first as everything is firmly in my head but hasn’t made it to paper! I guess I’m either in a rut or nothing else comes close to my usual heel pattern!

Anyway, I’m getting there – wherever there turns out to be!

Helen

Finally tomorrow I’m allowed to run. Only ten minutes at first, but that’s a start. I’ll be on the trails again and that’s the main thing. The picture above isn’t me, it’s Paula Radcliffe.  I sometimes imagine I’m her when I’m out running, especially during races when I need to get my head down and just push. She’s an amazing athlete.

Unfortunately after my unwanted hiatus from the running scene I probably weigh twice as much as Paula, but as I’m also nearly twice her age I guess that’s OK. I never did manage to push myself to get into the swimming pool and swim long (and very boring) laps, nor did my bike make it out of the shed. So it will be back to the drawing board for me, but usually my fitness comes back fairly quickly. We’ll see.

I can’t wait to see my running buddies again. I lost so much of my social life when I injured my knee, so it will be great to catch up on what everyone has been up to in my absence. We have met up a couple of times  recently, but it’s not the same as hours of chatting on the trails.

And the knee? Well it isn’t really right yet. I still have pain when I get up in the morning or after sitting for a long time. I’m pretty sure that the torn ligament isn’t 100%, but I don’t have any pain from the bone bruise. So I’ll be listening to my body and taking it very gently.

I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there…and I can’t wait!!

Helen

I knew it had to happen. The weather forecast said snow for Easter. The skiers didn’t care, but those of us who are now into spring mode certainly did.

So I took advantage of living where I do, bundled 2 of the teenagers into the Mini and we fled south to Lake Como on a quest for warmth, sunshine, Italian food and maybe even George Clooney. We managed everything except for the latter, which is probably just as well as I nearly hyperventilated when we encountered Hakan Yakin (a well-known, but now retired Swiss footballer), and the children wouldn’t have coped with the embarrassment of a George sighting…..maybe next time though 😉

The weather wasn’t perfect – two big thunderstorms left clouds in their wake, but we had a lovely couple of days just mooching, eating ice-creams and pasta and juggling with assorted languages. We stayed at minimal expense in a Grand Hotel in Cadenabbia, left over I assume from the days of the Grand Tour, and only a stone’s throw from the ferry to Bellagio. Bellagio dates from the Middle Ages and is an absolute delight.

It’s amazing how sometimes a couple of days away leaves you feeling like you’ve had a whole holiday.

I’m making a note to engage in such rash acts more often!

Happy Easter!

Helen

Priscilla’s Dream Socks (Priscilla Gibson-Roberts) knitted in Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon

It came to me in a blinding flash yesterday. The socks that I’ve been diddling around with for a couple of days inbetween all the other things going on, need to be finished and on the west coast of Canada in a little under three weeks.

splutter…..and as the Swiss and Germans would say ‘wie bitte?’ – which loosely translates as ‘how in a month of Sundays do you think that’s realistically going to happen?’

OK, I know my SIL wouldn’t know if something else arrived for her birthday, but somehow these very socks are lodged very firmly in my mind as HER BIRTHDAY PRESENT, so I feel morally obliged to give it a go. Actually I think I may have even theoretically planned them for last year and ended up pushing them to now. It’s time folks, it really is…

Are you with me?

Here goes (drum roll)…

I’ll keep you posted.

Helen