Monday 11 April

Just popping in for a short-ish post. The Easter holidays have arrived, and with that the juggling act of amusing children and trying to get work done has started. I normally try to work half days on the days I work from home in order to ease the pressure somewhat, but this holiday I've already got a week off to go to Holland and didn't want to take any more time off. I. and N. are getting to the stage where they often get on with their own things while we're at home anyway, so I thought I'd try and see how I got on with working all my hours, but then spread about a bit more. It's hard work and doesn't leave much room for getting out and about, but at least this way we get to spend some time together. And in the meantime they are learning to get on with a few chores too - can't be a bad thing!

Lots of progress on the building the last couple of weeks.

The gable ends are up and some of the sheets of plywood have gone up as well - mostly to strengthen the structure in preparation for the main beam which will run from one end to the other (almost 12 m long!).

The cat's still enjoying a spot of acrobatics

Progress was slightly hindered by B. having a knee injury. Not quite sure what's going on - he goes skiing on a dry-ski slope once or twice a week and has had a few tumbles lately. On Saturday his knee swelled up like a melon. When he started feeling odd with it, I took him to A&E (it really did look quite frightening), but when we got there, he said it had started to feel a bit better so we didn't actually go in. Over the weekend the swelling began to subside and he could bend his leg again on Sunday morning. Very odd - I think he's just overdone it, he thinks he had an infection.

Cairn hat is finished, so's the first mitten, with ends still needing to be woven in. I had to reknit the last few rows as the mitten was too long. Just cast on for number 2 this afternoon. We've had a week of glorious sunshine and it felt odd to be knitting mittens whilst sitting outside in the sunshine getting a tan, but our weekend in Wales is coming up and 25 miles on a tractor without cab can be very chilly... I think they'll come in useful!

First though I have 3 days with I. and two of her friends in Holland to look forward to. I haven't been to Holland since November and it's been too long - I'm counting the days as eagerly as the girls are!