A hat!

I finally got back to a little bit of knitting!
I had seen this pattern on Stephanie's blog, Hookin', Knittin' and Livin', and thought it looked fun and, more important, quick to knit. Then daughter, out of the blue, asked would I knit her a hat. Lickety split, I pulled out 2 balls of alpaca and began, before anything could intervene. The double strand was to (almost!) tie in with the yarn used in the pattern (I knew it was still slightly thinner, so I adjusted the number of stitches), but also, as she will be wearing it for rowing practice, I figured the extra warmth will come in useful during these winter months.

The colour doesn't look as good here as it actually is, but these days the motto is "just do it", because there are too many things intervening and if I wait until conditions are better, chances are it won't get done!

Back soon, hope you're all having a nice weekend!

Autumn

So much for doing a post each Saturday, that didn't work very well! Life has been incredibly busy, there are so many things that I had planned to blog about, and so on.
But here's a little glympse into a few things that have happened, all good!

Son was away at a Model United Nations gathering in London. He was very organised with his shirts and ties all laid out the night before.

And I can't understand how he got to be "MAN" size overnight! But he brought a Spiderman suit so there must have been some light-hearted activity, Hallowe'en related too!

We went to the band competition in Armagh, and won! It was a great day, so interesting to be back in Armagh, where the centre is exactly like it was when I was a child!
We've had a couple of concerts recently, which means that I've been practising lots. I'm becoming more relaxed (or less frazzled!) about playing in concerts; they're becoming a normal part of being in the band. We recently had an Annual Mass for deceased band members, and I was the only Horn who could play. Nervous moments, "how will I come in at the right time?" "nobody to follow or hide behind". And the conductor on the day is a principal horn player, also arranger of one of the pieces we were playing! Talk about pressure! Glad to say I survived and felt happy with my playing. So, another milestone crossed!

And finally, a picture from a recent Autumn walk in the park.  Hoping to get some more of this in the coming week.

And younger daughter got a wonderful award at her (former) school prizegiving. I blogged previously about the trouble at the school, and how it impacted badly on her and on her Leaving Cert. exams. We wondered if the school management would leave them out of the ceremony.
So we were surprised when she got a letter awarding her "Most helpful Prefect" .
Then a bigger award came. They present a Rose Bowl to the girl who makes the biggest contribution in her 6 years there, to school life. Students and Staff have a vote each and Zoe got that award!
 I am so proud of her, and when I saw the video of the presenter's speech about her various contributions in sport, charity events, debating, Model United Nations, President's Award, orchestra,  I was bowled over! She hasn't received the Rose Bowl yet, as her name is being engraved on it. Her name will also go on a Honours Board in the school hall.