Try and try again ...

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When I got in from work last Wednesday there was a much awaited parcel sat on the kitchen table...

my new book from Juju Loop's !

I had been so excited about receiving this and it did not disappoint. 

It has several truly beautiful wrap patterns in it ... and the layout 

and photo's in the book make it a real feast to look at.

I think if I hadn't already decided on the wrap I have chosen to make I

 would have uhmed and ahhed for some time over which one to pick.

The colours and yarns they have chosen are quite gorgeous.

But this one it is...

the Prairie Shawl.

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My yarn was already chosen and bought ...

time to get started.

 That all sounds so simple and straight forward doesn't it .... 

...and then I looked at the pattern !

Oh man .... I think the pattern totals 5 pages with 5 charts, and written instructions as well.

I looked at it for a bit and then shut the book.

I then looked at it again a few minutes later, 

strangely it looked much the same and hadn't got any easier.

Add to that the fact that I haven't knitted anything for several years

 and it suddenly all seemed a little overwhelming.

However, the NEED for me to have this beautiful wrap far outweighed any further 

doubts and having told myself that I am an intelligent woman and it really would be 

very silly to let myself be beaten by this and that it is, after

 all, simply just stitches written down I looked at the pattern again. 

I cast on 246 stitches, 

very strange after crocheting for so long now with just the 1 stitch, 

and made a start...

...I made that same start three times altogether...

and it has to be said there was fair bit of huffing and puffing and a small 

amount of rather choice language thrown in for good measure.

But, after 3 evenings of working on it this is how far I have got ...

... it's a start and I am SO happy that I persevered because I really feel quite proud of myself now.

Admittedly there's a long way to go but I won't be giving up any time soon.

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The other really, really exciting thing that happened this weekend was that a friend and I took the train to London to go and see Warhorse at The National Theatre in Drury Lane.

We had been given the tickets as Christmas presents and it was such a treat to have something all booked up and planned, all we needed to do was to get ourselves there.

We got to London for around 4pm and had a little mooch around Covent Garden, stopping for something to eat before heading off to the Theatre.

I have wanted to see this production for so long and even more so since seeing the film, as I couldn't imagine how such a complex story could be converted to be a stage play.

I had seen the horse puppets several times on the television and was quite transfixed with how real they looked, never still for a minute and with all the perfect mannerisms of a horse, from twitching ears and flicking tail to all the little snorts and whinnying, and stomping of hooves.

To say it was a triumph doesn't even begin to describe it.

It was compassionate and real, intense and brutal and utterly, utterly breath taking.

 I am still thinking about it constantly.

 It was impossible to not believe that the horses were real .

And most of all, with it all having taken place 100 years ago this year it was so poignant.

One million horses were taken from Britain to France during the war, with only 62,000 returning.

However hard we try I think we will never be able to truly know what it must have been like.

Needless to say, if you get the chance to see this production don't hesitate for a minute.

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