. . . writing a letter on this birdie notepaper from Lucy May Schofield
. . . the peonies, which are at a satisfyingly blousy stage. . .
. . . tea at Falko in Gullane. . .
Tom’s home cooking, including this tasty pear and blueberry cake. . .
(from Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries)
. . . walking like a loon to tire myself – around my local park, at Crammond, through the Botanics, along the beach at North Berwick . . .
(getting about on sand with a crutch and leg brace is no fun, I tell ya)
. . . and finishing MINI MANU! There shall be modeled shots this weekend (thankyou, Freya) but here is a peek in the meantime – check out the mini pocket!
Working on this pattern has been really very interesting – I’ve thought a lot more about kids’ body proportions; about arm widths and yoke depths; about what needed scaling down and adjusting from the adult-dimensioned original. The sizing will run from newborn to 10 year old, with relevant proportions scaled appropriately up the range. My sample is worked in the 18 month size and I am really rather pleased with it. The yarn is an angora/ merino blend from Orkney Angora, which is incredibly soft and delicious to knit with. I’ve made some headway with the pattern over the past couple of days, and hope to make it available soon.
all of which should tell you that yes, I GOT SOME SLEEP. HOO-FOOKIN-RAH!!!
KDD & Co 
Hi from Canada eh! I just found your beautiful blog from Simply knitting magazine. I have now added you to my favs!! Looking forward to reading about your adventures. Cheers Lulu
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Why didn’t I visit here yesterday? I spent hours looking through Ravelry for a pattern for a sweater for my 4 yr old niece. I got to thinking I would like it to be gathered around the top like your Manu! I’ll be waiting for your Mini Manu pattern!
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Pear and blueberry you say? How nice that sounds, and the new kids knit looks and sounds great, yes babies and kids are a different shape to us iolder folk. Kate, I love hearing you speak through your blog and designs,
I have known several people who experienced strokes, thank you for tling your story, it really helps
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At the risk of appearing shallow, Nice outfit! Have just found out my brother-in-law is expecting twins at the age of 45 at the end of a stressful year involving a major operation to remove a tumour and proton therapy to finish it off. That pattern may come in handy! Hope the sun keeps shining this weekend x
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beautiful photos. Can’t wait to see the pattern…
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What a beautiful life you have! I am inspired now. I think I’ll start with a cup of tea …
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Kate, you slay me with the peony photos. They are the belle of the garden, aren’t they? So glad you are up and in the world (as well as down with the head on the pillow).
PS. Thanks for posting the Manu correction via Ravelry. Duly noted! You get a gold star for customer service and a hug as a bonus.
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Isn’t it great when life starts to turn a corner. Keep enjoying it!
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Hooray for sleep! And for time at the beach!
Mini Manu looks so lovely. Those buttons are just too perfect!
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Hey, I’ve got that same teapot ! The little lid knob popped off, and my fella drilled a hole in it and with stainless nut and bolt, secured a little porcelain knob. I think you look Fookin Great on the beach with your usual pizzaz style. Looking good indeed. Keep walking, and taking photographs for us all to drink in with our tea (my kettle is boiling), as we think of knitting your next brilliant design.
Love to You, Jen from MtVeeder
ps I noticed there’s another Jen here, so I’m going back to specifying)
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Omgoodness you were in North Berwick. My mum lives there. That gave me chills. That’s my beloved beach… you’re doing so well. The wind can be fierce there.
I love the peek at you’re new project. Beautiful colour, delicious looking wool.
Take carex
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Love the dress/skirt you are wearing on the beach a North Berwick, you look almost victorian.
Keep well, don’t over do the exercise
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Love the dress/sjkirt you are wearing on the beach a North Berwick, you look almost victorian.
Keep well, don’t over do the exercise
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Oooooh mini pockets, mini pockets!!!!!!!!!
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YAY SLEEP!!!
keep healin’, lady.
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OOh what gorgeous looking yarn – makes me want to snuggle it! Glad you got some sleep; mine has been lots better, but if I overdo it the restlessness/wakefulness starts all over again. You’d think: get very tired = sleep will come naturally, but not in the case of an SAH…. The brain doesn’t like getting over-tired. You must have found just the right amount of exertion to sleep well – long may it continue :)
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The Mini-Manu looks unbelievably cute! Looking forward to the pattern, it looks like a must-have!
Good to hear you got some sleep! Here’s to many more nights of it!
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So pleased that you’ve managed a bit of kip.
I was coincidentally thinking of making that pear and blueberry cake myself – good to get a thumbs up on it.
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oooo, a Mini-Manu!! I have a little girl (or two) in my life who will be very happy to wear one.
Sleep is the best stuff EVER. I’m glad it’s coming more easily to you.
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Sleep is one of my favourite things. I could just have some right now, actually, as a little mid-morning treat..? Hmmm, might not get away with it in the office. Looking forward to the Mini Manu pattern!
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That mini manu looks lovely. Wonder if I can persuade my daughter (9 years old today) to consider wearing something that hasn’t got a hood and that hasn’t been handed down from her brothers. The girly pink phase was so short-lived.
Heard on Woman’s Hour this morning a piece about plait wearing and immediately thought of you. It is, of course, available on listen again.
Best wishes,
Joan
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Oh my, you look so stylish on the beach there. Love the look of mini Manu. And as for that cake …
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Hooray for sleep! And Hooray for mini manu. I am going to make a little one for my daughter and a big one for me while she is too small to object to being dressed like her mother and before she is big enough to just steal mine.
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Mini Manu looks adorable! :)
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Just bought the grown up Manu pattern and printed it. I’l likely have to get my daughter to help me as it looks very challenging but WONDERFUL! I also printed the pear and blueberry recipe. I know I can mange that.
So glad you are resting, walking, pacing yourself. You do look terrific!
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Such a warm post, full of the marvelous necessities of life (including a man who can bake for you). A Manu for a newborn would be the dearest little thing. This lovely design truly spans all ages. You do look wonderful!
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Your mini Manu is certain to be just as big a winner as the original! I was thinking of you while wearing my new Manu in the glorious Spring evening, my husband kindly taking photos for Ravelry. I can still only go abt 2 miles and think of you often–spurs me on. Your photography is inspiring. Such wealth of color and details. This is always an enjoyable place to visit.
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Sleep is so under-rated! And so is blueberry pear cake, wow, if that doesn’t lift one’s spirits… Yum. I didn’t know Tom had such cooking talent. Glad things are looking more up!
Virginia
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That mini-Manu looks so cute! I wish someone will knit one for me :)
I am always inspired by your beautiful photos, Kate. It is surely not about the tool itself, but I am always tempted to get a better camera for myself when I see your posts…
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Cant wait to see the Mini Manu…great to hear you got some sleep!
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How coincidental that I’m reading The Unbearable Lightness of Scones which mentions Gullane! So glad you’re getting around well and getting some sleep!
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GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise him.
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happy sleep. good news. checking in with regularity and wonder at your chutzpa.
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Oh I can’t wait for mini Manu! I also design patterns – mostly sewn garments but some knitting – and I have read a lot about child development in the physical sense. I also have 2 kids (and 4 neices) to observe and the way they grow is quite extraordinary. It is not at all an even process, and a real challenge to get size graduations right. Combined with the reality that size and shape variations amongst kids can be vast. I always try to include lots of info about finished garment size and size of model (positive and negative ease) plus tips on lengthening and shortening.
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Youpie! I’m so looking forward the mini-manu! If I have some courage, I’ll make one for my daughter and one for me, I just love (too much?!) the mother-daughter matches…
Thank you!
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the glimpses of the mini manu make me wish a had a little girl of my own for whom to knit one. (my own little girls turned into grown women when i was momentarily distracted.)
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Love the daisies and the wee pocket on the mini-manu. Can’t wait to see it modeled
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You look wonderful, and I’m so envious of your peonies. My bush gets only one blossom per year.
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Ah sleep, it’s a wonderful thing! The cardigan looks gorgeous, I’m looking out for stylish patterns for little girls now some of my friends kids are growing out of the baby stage, and shock horror, having their own opinions about clothes.
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I am impressed you wrote these patterns, congratulations”
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Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Sounds like your MoJo is back with you. What a relief for you. And what a joy for me, and all of us who read your blog and hold you in a corner of our collective hearts.
Warmly
Tilla
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congrats on the sleep and the walking and the sweater! my friend liz has a little girl on the way that it should be perfect for!
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Love those little daisy buttons against the gray. That is one perfect peony you captured. L
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Wonderful list and glad to hear you’ve got some sleep! The mini-pocket is almost too cute for words, but I might steal HOO-FOOKIN-RAH for my permanent collection… :-)
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Ah, sleep. Blessed sleep. Would love to meet it one day! So glad you were able to sleep. Lovely pictures (cake is making me hungry), but esp. love the Mini-Manu.
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Just finished Manu, so perfectly proportioned and hangs beautifullyl, I have a four year old ready for a mini. Keep up the good work.
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Hooray for some of the greatest stuff in life! What beautiful stationary, it must be a pleasure to write and receive notes on it and I can’t wait to see the new pattern. I’ve been trying to find a used copy of Waiting for Godot but so far the only place I’ve seen it used is on the shelf in my boss’s office. I haven’t borrowed it from him yet but one more used book store and I will resort to his copy!
Hoping your week continues to inspire you!
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Hi Margaret
Try Amazon second hand – copies from the exorbitant sum of 1p!
Tilla
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HOO-FOOKIN-RAH indeed! So glad to hear you got some sleep. And that Pear & Blueberry Cake looks de-fookin-licious!
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LOL
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It looks absolutely beautiful. I am so glad that you are well enough to be back in the saddle knitting-wise. I keep looking at my grown up manu pattern and wondering what yarn to go for – I find colour choices particularly difficult, and although I was leaning towards a pale grey I now find myself tempted by your green. Just been offered a lift to Get Knitted tomorrow, so green it may be.
Also just wanted to say how moving I found your archive of letters and gifts sent to you whilst you were in hospital. I found it via another blog – Rus in Urbis. Sad to say I didn’t manage more than a get well comment on your blog, good to see that others were not only more proactive but also so imaginative and thoughtful.
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Is there anything better than a good night’s sleep? I think not! Thanks for all the lovely photos.
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Wonderful to get some sleep, and I love the peony, the beach, the color of mini-manu.
Just home from a good walk myself.
Sending you love,
Chesley
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Yay ….. mini-manu!! Looking forward to it, Kate. Now all I need is a mini-person to knit it for – all my god-children are too big!
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