I'm still around!

An age since I posted last - been surviving the first week back at school and things have been ok. I've survived teaching the Nursery and am allowing myself to feel not just hope, but optimism about the new Leadership Team. All good stuff! as a colleague would say.

Little knitting done this week. I've been working on a longstanding sock as a warm up for SockWars and have started and ripped out a scarf for myself three times. I have also got my International Scarf Exchange pal's details and have the yarn and pattern in mind.

A friend from work has had her baby - 4 weeks early, which is inconvenient, as I was giving myself 4 weeks to knit a baby gift. So, it's a pattern search this morning. I'm still favouring this:



The other evening J and I watched a dragonfly emerge from it's pupa (if dragonflies pupate) and fly around the garden trying its wings. We had a near miss as one of our local neighbourhood hawks swooped down and nearly got it, but having survived it retired to the safety of a prickly berberis to dry off.
This picture is the best I could manage without scaring it away with a flash.



I love the flowers that start to appear in the early autum: chrysanthemums (the favourite of many a Y6 spelling test) and dahlias:



This sea holly is a later flowering variety with tiny flowers. I love all the shades of blue, grey and silver in them.



We bought this miniature agapantus at the Gateshead flower show.