Snowflake

Progress has been painfully slow.  I can't seem to find the time to sit down and knit for many hours at a time, so I'm still on the second sleeve.  It looks like this sweater will not be finished in time for this winter, but maybe next.  I hadn't anticipated that it would take so many months to complete. 

Once the sleeve is finished, I still have the collar to knit....

The last few weeks have been brutal, with storm after storm.  My back can't take any more digging out.  Little wonder that I can't find time to knit.

Homesickness

LEARNING TO LOVE YOU

(ODE TO THE YORKSHIRE MOORS)

Your large expanses form a contrast 

To the stark white sky onto which you open yourself.

You are the chair of an exclusive club,

Seat of the heavens, 

Home to wild horses, to Cathy and Heathcliff, 

Dog walkers, writers, and early risers. 

You are beautiful, but unforgiving. 

It takes effort to reach your heart, 

Tearing the clothes from my hot skin 

Only to clutch them tightly again 

As the cooling sweat raises goosebumps. 

Instead of braving the gradients

I was content to grow restless in the valley, 

Awaiting my escape into the big busy world. 

But despite myself, I miss you.

I miss the unforgiving wilderness 

And the wind shocking the pink into my cheeks. 

You're wild and wily –

You got deep under my skin. 

And like a nagging, itching feeling, 

You're calling me home.

Poppy Turner

The longer that I am away from home, the more homesick I become.  Poppy's beautiful poem transported me straight back to the Yorkshire Moors.  I did brave the gradients and walked over many moors and dales when I lived in Yorkshire.  They got deep under my skin.

They are definitely calling me home...

Love

For Valentine's Day this weekend: homemade custard creams from a recipe in Feast by Nigella Lawson.  Far superior to the shop-bought versions and highly recommended.