Palindrome

The repair job on the aran hat is completed and it is as good as new now. I decided to unravel the scarf as although the Irish Hiking Scarf is a lovely pattern I was a little unhappy with the one sided cables. My friend Sylvia suggested that I try the Palindrome scarf as this has cables on either side. I have put the link to this scarf in my blog title. This was the pattern that I had remembered from Ravelry but not bookmarked which is why I decided on the Irish Hiking scarf when I couldn't find this pattern. Apparently Palindrome comes from a line that reads the same backwards and forwards. I am liking the look of this scarf and it is genius how it looks cabled on both sides of the scarf and yet is so simple to make.I have added extra stitches to the scarf as the pattern is only 4.5" wide as set on the pattern which is a bit narrow for a guy's scarf. I have added an extra 24 sts to get the width that I require.

The other photo is of some birthday presents that I got on Sunday from Sylvia and Kath who are fellow Knitting Noras. Kath dyed and possibly spun the lovely merino sock wool. She knows that I have a passion for bright colours so these colours are just so me. Kath sells some of her wool on Etsy. Look out for Six Swans. This colour is called Carnivale but I am not sure if this colour is still available. I will be making this wool into socks for myself just as soon as Christmas is over. The travel angel will go in my purse. I was given an angel brooch by a very good friend of mine from New York and I wore it every day until one day I lost it so it is nice to have another angel to watch over me.

My catalogue of disasters is continuing. I woke up this morning and thankfully decided to have a cup of coffee before I took my shower and got dressed. Whilst in the kitchen the central heating boiler switched itself on and then I heard the sound of running water. I went into the utility room and water was pouring from the bottom of the wall boiler all over the floor. I turned everything off and rang my usual builder handyman but he was already in Clitheroe even at 8am. He gave me the name of a plumber and he arrived a short while ago. He will have to replace a part in the boiler. He had left another job to come to me as he thought that the water was still running and so has had to return to that job. Hopefully he will be come back later today with a new pressure valve and I will have to rely on my Calor gas heater for warmth until he returns. I have dug out my big fleece jacket. I will have to knit a bit faster today to generate a bit of warmth. Luckily today is not as cold as it was yesterday. I am just so thankful that I was in the house when this happened and could quickly turn everything off. Can you imagine the mess that I would come home to if it had happened yesterday when I was out shopping.

I continue to have minor disasters besides snipping my hat ribbing. This week I have managed to break off almost every nail that I had been growing. I don't mind them breaking so much as where they break. They break so low down the finger nail bed and are painful. I had been congratulating myself on how long I had managed to grow them since I have been on my calcium tablets and then one by one they snap off. Guess it's short nails again for Christmas.

Time for coffee and time to light the Calor gas fire before I get any colder. My back and knees ache so much if they get too cold so I have to keep the house at a certain temperature. No doubt the smoke alarm will start cheeping soon as the temperature on the upstairs landing drops.