November in Norfolk

The last week has been busy but relaxing in a mad kind of way.

Last weekend my sister, BIL and nephew were in the UK for a few days, so I went to Mum and Dad's to see them. It was lovely to spend some time with them (don't know when it will happen again) and I also took all their birthday and Christmas presents. M loved his 'Take Along Thomas' toys - and there are more in the parcel for his Christmas present. M actually calls me 'Auntie Fred' and was more than happy to spend time with me. I did quite a lot of potty trips - the only accident was my fault!

Then on Tuesday, Dad took me to Peterborough where I caught a train to King's Lynn where MIL and FIL collected me. They were house / dog-sitting in Brancaster and we went to join them. Hubby's sister and her family were all staying nearby. We went for lots of walks on the beach with dogs and children and I did quite a lot of work on Samhain. This picture is from last Tuesday:

I think at this point, I was at the beginning of chart 2 (of five). I have now started chart 4, but this still only makes me 37% of the way through (I just made a spread sheet....).

I'm slightly disappointed that the beads aren't showing - I chose some that tone so well that they can't actually be seen. They may pop a bit when the shawl is blocked - we'll see.

I managed to pack the wrong crochet hook to go away - and there was no way that a 2mm hook was going to go through 8/0 beads. To start with I managed with a needle threader although it was very slow, but then I got into Wellingborough and bought another 0.6mm hook which is far preferable.

While we were away, we went to a 'Rare Breeds' farm. I'm not sure how 'rare' Alpaca are (perhaps just in the UK), but they were very cute. There were just the two of them in an enclosure with some sheep, but I'm afraid the sheep got no attention whatsoever!