Stormy.

We had an incredible storm last night. The wind was ferocious and while Moomin and I struggled to pull the tarp over our hay bales, we almost took off as the tarp filled with air like a parachute. I'd like to say it was fun, but I was very grumpy and swore a fair bit! I finally lashed the tarp to pallets under the bales and used a sort of crochet stitch through the eyelets with hay twine. It worked and Moomin and I came in for a cold beer. It's so funny to think of her as an adult now, but when she pops open a couple of beers for us, it brings it home :D

While the wind built itself into a frenzy, I sat and cracked on with the next sock. This one is flying by but even so I'm needing to refer to Youtube for a couple of tips. My pattern is quite simple, but seems to assume I know how to pick up stitches properly. I looked at this tutorial for shaping the heel and then learnt the proper method for picking up stitches in the tutorial for shaping the gusset. Well, It was an inspiration and if you could see how I originally picked up stitches you would either laugh a lot or feel very sorry for me :D 

I'm knitting properly now and loving it so much. It's incredible that a series of tiny loops made in wool can create such a lovely garment. If the stitches are created in the right direction as in shaping the gusset, you get a lovely patten along the sock, if not, as in my earliest attempt, you get a messy decrease that looks bloody awful! I have a couple of new projects lined up for when I finish the socks and I think that's spurring me on to finish. I even have more sock wool waiting to be transformed!!!

The weather today is very subdued, most definitely the calm after the storm! All ponies are accounted for and the two greys, Merlin and Bo, look a good bit cleaner as I sneakily rubbed a bit of shampoo in their manes and tails before the rain started!

Thank you all for your kind comments. I'm still feeling a bit rough, but that's probably because of all the tarp wrangling. I'm typing from my bed in the company of the two dogs and Bambam. For the sake of animal care, I'll stay here a bit longer because they clearly need me to ;)