Haven't we been here before?

Just when we thought we'd had the last of the snow, back it came. They went to school; I went to work - we were all back by lunchtime. I wouldn't have wanted to leave it any longer. This was the "main road" in my village yesterday:



The Church:



and the back field:



Nothing to do but sit and knit.

The sock yarn blanket is up to 410 squares - I would say it is about a third done. My pair snuggled up under it:



More pictures:



(I think that might be upside down - some of you may wish to stand on your head for a proper look.)

Close-up of one of the squares:



(Right way up - stand normally now.)

I've also been knitting a Cabled Waistcoat (or "Vest"). A friend of mine asked if I would knit something for her. She then produced a small, dark image of a waistcoat. I have done the best I can to reproduce it.

A front:



The cable is the Celtic Plait from the Harmony "Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches"

The Back:



I know it looks quite small but it's 2 x 1 rib, so very stretchy. It also looks short; that is because there is a deep (like six inches deep) band of rib around the bottom of the garment.

The yarn had to be: aran weight; natural colour; 100% natural fibre and machine washable. I settled on Rowan Pure Wool Aran because it ticks all the boxes. I'm using 4.5mm needles and I used Knitware Design to give me an outline of the pattern but I changed it quite a bit because it's shorter, double-breasted, has a much longer collar, is much lower in front and has that band of ribbing round the bottom - just about the only thing that remains from the original is the armhole shaping.

I'm slightly stalled now because it's time to start the button holes on the other front and I want to get the buttons first. I haven't made it to the button shop yet - see first picture, above - but I'm hoping to get there this afternoon.

I leave you with a sunny back field: