It's Spring

OK I'm back.... life took over for a while, work was stressful, not much knitting got done and I was ill for a while but I'm alive and kicking now and actually feeling alot better than I usually do!

So now, instead of buring the candle at both ends, I'm burning one end intensly !!!

I have a new interest : hiking/walking. This I came up with while looking for a suitable summer holiday. I like the idea of chilling out (with something lacy to knit on my lap) by a gorgeous swimming pool in a luxurious hotel. However, the luxury of it all has been taken out of it thanks to my work trips to Tunisia and also I can't justify the cost of it to knit by a pool... so I got to thinking I would like a healthy holiday where I can get a healthy tan and get fitter. So I got on the website of the UCPA, this is like a club which offers sport themed holidays for single people. Instead of booking the summer holiday directly I decided to test out the system and also check I really like hiking for long periods of time, so I booked a 5 day trip end of April in the Calanques near Marseille. It's an area in France I've never been to and I've heard it's beautiful, so I'll take my camera with me and have fun !

So, one thing leading to another, I found out that a book was coming out on the 12th March (see, this subject is recent!) on Reims, the town itself. It's a book by the FFR (Fédération Française de Randonnée) which describes 18 walks/hikes around the town and the small towns surrounding Reims (suburbs ?!). On Saturday, I went to a sports shop and bought a pair of hiking shoes/boots and the proper socks to go with them. In April, I'm going to buy some shorts for the trip and probably some appropriate shirts... I'm very ill equipped for this new activity, for skiing I have everything, for the hiking not much yet! Yesterday, I did Nr 2 of the Reims book and it was fun: a total of 9 km because I walked in from home adding 6 kms. I actually looked at the cathedral for once and since it was sunny, it looked nice and pretty. I had my camera with me but the battery wasn't charged... I forgot to charge it after the ski trip last weekend...

The ski trip I went on: A long weekend, departure on the Thursday after work, night train, skiing on the Friday all day, lunch in a restaurant at the bottom of the slopes... Friday and Saturday were really sunny days and very warm, on Sunday it snowed so not so nice for skiing. A great trip and completly different from last year's.

On the knitting front, my project at the moment is a cardigan in a nice modern orange which will suit my brown skirts and trousers. It's from Phildar's Special Twenty Winter 07/08:

Mine looked like this a few weeks ago:

I started with the half fronts. They are now finished and looking good. Now, I'm knitting the first sleeve.

Sockwise, nothing much happening lately in the little knitting time I've had.

Also, I've never talked about this but I subscribed to "Tricot Facile" and am also knitting the squares for a plaid. I've got 47 issues of instructions and am knitting the 7th square !!!! Ooops!

Mission for this afternoon: finish the seventh square, finish the sleeve
Problem is: I also feel like taking my lovely new hiking shoes out for their second spin... it's sunny out.