Before finishing Rob’s green sweater I started a cream coloured one for him using Aran thickness wool. It is not an Aran sweater but is one I designed several years ago which uses different cable stitches. This is the back of the garment.

There are three different cable stitches used, with panels of single moss stitch between. The central panel uses double plaited cable which is worked over 18 stitches.

The two smaller panels of cable to either side are single plaited cable worked over 6 stitches.

The cable nearest to the side seam of the sweater is link cable and worked over 12 stitches.

It is one of my favourite designs to work although it needs concentration while working the pattern.

Since I last posted here I’ve been busy knitting, either starting or finishing items. The first thing completed was Rob’s new sweater He was able to start wearing it more than a month ago and it washes beautifully. It was a free pattern with a dropped shoulderline and round neck which was provided by Berroco and named Andoa.

As the neckband on the original pattern was very loose and ill fitting I amended the pattern so it is a better fit. This is the completed garment after amending the pattern.

A variety of different stitches were used in this design and this picture shows the detail of the stitches used – basket stitch, granite stitch and garter stitch. As the flash did not operate on my camera for this picture it is not the true colour of the sweater but worth posting for the clarity of detail.

When this had been sewn together the next item started was a cabled sweater, again for Rob, the pattern for which I designed many years ago.

Finished at last! I’m pleased I unpicked the “prototype” as the modified version is closer to what he wanted and is a lot lighter in weight. This time I decided to make it with set in rather than raglan sleeves.

The back and sleeves are worked in stocking stitch with knit 1 purl 1 rib as an edging. The neckband is doubled over and sewn in place.

There are two panels of “tree of life” stitch, one on each side of the jumper, running from the hem to the top of the front shoulders.

The pattern panels use a traditional Aran stitch which brings good luck to the wearer, according to traditional meanings.

This has been a busy and satisfying week and all my Christmas preparations are made so I now have time to play.

I am very pleased with the jacket I crocheted earlier in the year which has a vee neck and edge to edge front.

The stitch used is an four row repeating pattern.

The back view shows the overall design more clearly and sleeves are set in rather than raglan.

A plain edging completes it.

These have been a busy few weeks doing other things.

It has taken two further cortisone injections in the fingers of my right hand to get most of the movement back in them. If I overuse that hand it seizes up so I need to rest it for a while and then it goes back to almost normal. I now have no lasting pain in either hand and can again do simple tasks like lifting crockery without dropping and breaking the plates, holding a hairbrush and grasping various household tools – all of which means I am again independent. It has been very frustrating having to remain idle for long periods during the healing process.

Because I now can, I have also spent time working in the garden. When we moved to this house the garden was a wasteland but is gradually becoming a place of beauty.

My pride and joy is a passionflower which has covered two fence panels at the bottom of the garden and has had eight and ten blooms on it each day throughout the summer.

There are more photos to be taken and then uploaded here as I have completed a crochet jacket for myself and now started a sweater for my husband. The sweater I started for my son has been unpicked and reknitted. When I had completed the front I realised that, while it would have been wonderfully warm for a Scottish fisherman, it was far too thick for the few days of (so called) winter in Texas! So it had to go.

I’m hoping to take those picture and place them on here within the next few days.

At last, here are the pictures of the gingerbread men.

It was great fun making them and was also helpful in improving co-ordination in my hands and strengthening my wrists. The basic knitted shape was small enough to need working under constant tension (good for strenthening the wrists) and embroidering the features required careful stitching.

Now it is time to get back to the rest of my knitting and crochet that has been put aside for awhile.

It is ages since I last brought this up to date as it is taking longer than I’d hoped to get the suppleness back in my left wrist. I am able to manage most things now but handicrafts have been difficult to cope with over the last eight weeks

I started knitting again a couple of weeks ago and am gradually building up the strength in my wrists by doing a little more each day. I’ve managed to finish the front of my son’s sweater but have put it to one side for the moment as it is not comfortable to support the weight of such a garment while I try to knit. It will probably be ready for Christmas and not for his birthday, as I originally had hoped.

I have become involved in a fun project making knitted gingerbread men for a charity project. So far there are three of them and I hope to add more over the next few days. Pictures will follow!

This has been a very busy month. In January I had a successful repair operation on the carpal tunnel in my right wrist and last month my left wrist was also repaired. It has meant interrupting my favourite pastime for a good, and very necessary, cause. My right wrist has healed and the left one is also healing quickly and well.

Before the last operation I had started knitting a new sweater for my son. As the last one I made for him was knitted in Aran weight he asked for a thinner one for more moderate weather. The front is knitted in three parts with the central panel in a cable design and the side panels worked in a variation of fisherman’s rib.

It is designed with a raglan sleeve and the shaping is fully fashioned. This time I bought a pattern instead of designing my own.

The central panel has a background of reverse stocking stitch and is a quite intricate “rope cable” design.

When the sweater is completed the sleeves will be in fisherman’s rib with a single rope twist cable running from the cuff to the neckband. The back is knitted in fisherman’s rib.

It is seldom that I work on just one project at a time. When I need a change from one type of handicraft it is refreshing to simply pick up and continue with something completely different. While making the crocheted pram cover I started knitting a jumper for myself in a pastel green, double knitting yarn. This is the completed jumper.

It is one of my favourite designs and I have used it several times before, adjusting the size as I have grown to match my years. What I like most is the contrast between the plain body of the jumper and the lace sleeves and yoke. This is a detail of the lace, moss stitch and cable panels on the yoke.

The sleeves are the most intricate part of the jumper. They are shaped from cuff to armhole by increasing the number of stitches on the needle to ensure a snug fit. The extra stitches are worked as additional panels thereby keeping the pattern correct and matching the fancy panels on the yoke.

When a friend saw the original lace moebius she fell in love with it as a garment, so I promised to knit one for her as well. As I had researched various lace stitches and knitted test swatches in the meantime, she had a variety of patterns from which to select. This is the stitch she chose.

This was a more difficult stitch to work because every row was a different combination of stitches which made it easy to lose your place, unless you gave it total concentration. I think the finished garment was worth that extra care.