Sock yarn blanket

I'm still not back up 100% health yet, this thing is taking such a long time to shift!  Although I have managed to cough and sniff through a week back at work.  While I was confined to the sofa I managed to add to my sock yarn leftovers blanket.  I've now added another 20 squares to it.

It uses all the wee leftover balls of yarn leftover from knitting a pair of socks.  Each square uses 6g of yarn so doesn't need much yarn at all.  It's a simple basket weave stitch of K4, P4 over 28 stitches.   This is a very long term project, I've no idea how big it will become or how long it will take. But I love making something lovely and practical from materials that aren't really useful for anything on their own.  And as sock yarn is 95% wool it is rather cosy as a lap blanket already :-)

The weather here is still truly awful.  Cold, wet and windy with some frost and snow thrown in for good measure.  The garden is still very soggy so nothing much is happening out there. 

Although today I noticed that my snowdrops have started to pop up.

And my crocuses are trying despite the rampaging chickens munching on them!! 

Yesterday my new job share partner came in for a 'keep in touch' day.  We spent the morning talking and planning how we're going to make it work and she taught the class in the afternoon while I did some report writing.  I think we'll be able to work well together. I was pleased that she was impressed by my organisation of the class and the dreaded paperwork.  (OH is always amused at how tidy my classroom is while my house is a tip!!)

I'm already starting to look forward to the reduction in my working hours after Easter.  It's all official now so I'll be off every Monday :-) and I'll work 3 days one week and 4 days the next.  It's only for one term so with careful money management I should be ok.  I never spend all of my income so I've been able to save a goodly amount to continue work on my house while I'm earning less.