I must thank everyone who has sent their good wishes re the pond , Unfortunately , the leak has proved to be much more serious than we first thought , it would have taken about 5 more weeks to repair , and it just wouldn't have been fair to the fish to keep them in temporary ponds until then . Sadly the fish went to a really good home yesterday , and we have deicided to fill the pond in . I shall really miss the fish , some we have had for over 12 years and were almost 24 inches long . I had named them all ( I know , stupid of me ) , and they all had characters of their own . They knew when it was feeding time, and one of them in particular would let us hand feed him . They really will be missed.

I don't know what has happened to the photographs , they have landed up all over the place. The beautiful quilted hanging at the top right hand is from the fabulous Dotty ( Yarn Floozies ) , she sent me the package in return for a shawl that I had knitted , what a great package .......... more cables for my knitpicks options plus needle tips , knitpicks sock needles size 1 , how did she know I have wanted some for ages ? and gorgeous blue wool , what do you think about the wall hanging ? Dotty quilted this herself for me , and it is far more beautiful in the flesh as it were....

The shawl for my pal in the International Scarf Exchange is complete and ready to send along with other goodes that I think she will like . I knitted this in cashmere from Richard at Colourmart , I dyed it a pretty terracotta colour ........hope she likes it .

I received my package from my Knitters Treats Exchange , my secret pal turned out to be Carissa of Confessions of a Mad Knitter , The wool is 50 % merino , 50 % silk and is laceweight , it is the softest ever, and I think that I will make my own version of the forest path stole , it will be light enough to knit in the summer ( if it ever comes ) .

It really is wonderful to log on to AOL and know that it is going to stay on, we have had quite a bit of re-wiring done in an effort to try to find out what was wrong , and then , suddenly one day it just decided to come back on , I am just happy it is back on and I can catch up with all of my friends out there .

We are having such trouble getting onto AOL, a connection , once got , lasts about five minutes , not long enough to down load photos . I have been busy with monkey socks , finishing off antique garments ( one was over 5 years old ) .

I heard the words that I never want to hear again last Sunday .. ' The pond has to be emptied ' .. 50.000 gallons of water later, the fish in temporary housing , the filter dug out , and the garden looking like an incompetent builders yard. Ladders, plastic sheeting , gravel , bricks , wheel barrows , hose pipes, you name it , I have tripped over it . The gin consumption in the evening has risen quite a bit as well, I am now elected as general factotum and labourer . It is pouring with rain now , far too wet to be outside , thanks be !
Will post photos of the horror as soon as AOL decides to behave .