The down side of country life.

I dont often write about personal things here but this issue is annoying me and making me laugh all at the same time. Its like a comedy of errors I swear it is! So grab a cuppa and "are you sitting comfortably....then I shall begin"

Last Thursday we had a knock at the door, it was a member of staff from the estate who are our landlords, we were told that they would be fixing the road tomorrow so could we please refrain from using the road???? Errr no I cant actually, its our only road of access and I have three trips to and from the school each day. The person looked a bit taken aback and asked if I could just limit use then. I wasnt totally happy about just how short notice this had been but what could I do....nothing really so I thought I would just have to suffer it. The next day came and went, no work done, and the weekend came and went.....no work done. Then yesterday, completely out of the blue they started and they just happened to start at 2:30pm.....half an hour before I had to pick up kids!! I had no choice but to ask politely if they could let me out and would I be able to get back in, the guys let me out but told me I couldnt get back in! Great...its only my house afterall!!! So I had to dump the car halfway home and walk myself and kids up the now sticky road doing my best to stick to the sides but still we both got our shoes covered in tar.

Today its raining so I thought that they wouldnt be doing the road HA! They appeared just as I left to pick up the little ones from nursery. Now here is the part that started me laughing, I am still not sure if its because I found it funny or if it was my marbles leaving the building. When we tried to get back the road was blocked....this time its a phone company and GUESS what they are doing. YUP they are DIGGING the road up...right where the road lot just fixed it!

Now I love my house, we are lucky to live in such a beautiful place but in this day and age how hard would it be for the estate to call and say all this was happening, or even put a letter in the post! Having got a lift through a field by a very kindly guy in the rain it turns out the road guys are furious about us using the road and the volume of traffic, I can understand that too, all it would have taken is for better communication to all of us...and maybe even doing something clever like waiting until next week when the kids are off and when I can afford to not be using the car. SIGH

Shetland Shorty FO

Here it is, my first official finished knitted GARMENT, I am thrilled to bits with this top and so pleased that its something I will get a lot of wear and enjoyment from. The pattern is SHETLAND SHORTY from the new summer knitty (click the pattern name to take you there). The pattern is very well written and a joy to work from, the stitch pattern is easy but not boring and there is minimal making up. The shoulders are bound off using three needle bind off, I havent used this technique before but loved the result in looks and feel, then there was the smallest amount of sewing required at the base of the sleeves and some ends to weave in and that was it, ready to wear!!

I used wollmeise sock yarn and knit a size medium, I only needed one skien to make this so that made this quite a bargain. I had 20g left over too so no scary "will I finish" moments.

I know there were dissussions on ravelry about this top and some others in knitty and if they were suitable for anybody other than super skinny minis, well I aint no skinny and I think this top is perfect if you are on the curvier side, it makes the most of those curves I think. So I say go for it people, try this top, you will be very pleasantly surprised :)