Substitutions

Finally the blossom is out in the garden - only a bit late this year! These are all apple trees.

Anthea reported back on the new Lincolnshire LYS situation. The shop in Horncastle is called "Libertine" and has a fairly basic website. The shop itself stocks Noro and Debbie Bliss (I think the first Lincolnshire stockist of these two?) plus some other yarns and vintage things. It sounds very inviting, and Horncastle is a good place to spend a day wandering around exploring. Nic is hopefully going on a further reconnaissance mission later this week...

Anthea also found a shop called "Pastimes" in Brigg, selling lots of cheap yarn, including some lovely Twilley's Freedom Wool at £2.80 a ball.

Meanwhile, I've been pricing up subs, as I like the leaf throw in the latest (May) Simply Knitting (thinking of furnishing the new house!). It needs 36 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton, which even with 10% off at Angel Yarns comes to £118.44. OUCH.
But All Seasons knits up as DK weight and is 60% cotton/40% acrylic, so I'm thinking it should be fairly easy to sub. Texere has Kool Kotton, which is DK and 50% acrylic/50% cotton and has some nice colours too. It would also cost £28.75 for enough (25 balls) for the throw. Hmm. That'll be a difficult decision then... I also saw Kool Kotton for real in Boyes in Lincoln and the colours really are nice. However, I find the idea of knitting up 25/36 balls a bit frightening. There is a possibility the throw wouldn't be finished until three house moves further down the line.
However, a yarn diet has now been declared until I move. I don't want to move more than I really have to.

The wrist is better so I have started tentatively knitting again. But only for short periods of time and on a variety of projects (I realised last week that I didn't watch any TV, evidently TV is only something to be used as a background for knitting!)

My "jellybean" cushion (name invented by Yarnstorm, but the pattern is from Debbie Bliss' Home) has begun. Very slowly. Never done the whole different colours on one row thing before. It's a lot easier with proper bobbins to wind the yarn round, as I started out with chunks of loo roll middle with slots cut in the side! The yarn is the Drops alpaca, which Katarina sent me and I'm using 3mm needles. It's gorgeous yarn to knit with, very soft and cuddly.

As the arrival of New Nephew/Niece Sprog is now imminent I thought it was time to cast on for a little baby cardi set, using this pattern. I think it may be a translation as some of the instructions need reading twice! Below, believe it or not, is a sleeve, with the front out to the left and the back out to the right. The yarn is Lion Brand Magic Stripes sock yarn, on 2.5mm needles.

Oh, and although the wrist is now better, the tonsillitis has put in another appearance! My tonsils have had a very stern talking-to and told to stop this messing around at once. I've got a referral to ENT in the hope that the threat of removal will make them behave. If not, they're coming out! Meanwhile, I'm moving up the antibiotic hierarchy (which I'm not happy about cos I'd rather not take them at all!), the latest ones are bright yellow (is that better than bright red?) and my GP told me very earnestly that they cost the NHS nearly a £1 a tablet! So obviously I am single-handedly responsible for the NHS financial crisis... Er, and how many times have I paid the prescription charge and the actual medicine has cost the NHS LESS than the charge then?!?!