THE COLOUR PINK!

I have something new on my needles this week. I'm all blued out waiting for my baby grandson to arrive and then my friend told me she is expecting a  baby granddaughter and I felt a pink frenzy coming on. I'm knitting this blanket in Drops Eskimo and if I'm honest I've just finished an identical blue one, all to be revealed sometime in the hopefully near future. The pattern was so easy, knitted up so quickly and the yarn is so soft. I had to knit another!

Continuing with my pink theme, I had to share this picture with you. I took it yesterday out in my garden, an ornamental cherry tree in blossom, (a little earlier than it would normally be!) with a clear blue sky. I squelched outside across the muddy grass and took the shot whilst pegging out some washing. 

When I was purchasing my pink Drops Eskimo, I also ordered these colours from their Muskat range to knit up a couple of summer cardigans for my granddaughters. Once they are completed I have decided that I am going to be more adventurous when choosing yarn. The trouble is Drops make such lovely yarn, a great choice of shades and it is so reasonably priced. Children grow so quickly therefore growing out of things fast. So on hindsight perhaps I'll stick to Drops for children knitting and choose something different just for ME!

A FEBRUARY BIRTHDAY

Every year without fail my Dad tells me that on the day I was born, there was a blizzard.

Also, he tells me, on the day I was born there was a train crash at Dagenham East railway station due to heavy fog and he couldn't get an ambulance to take my mum (and me!) to hospital.

I did actually look this up on the internet the other day and the accident occurred a couple of days before I was born, so I've assumed I took a little while to actually make my entrance.

February can be such a gloomy month to have a birthday.

It's usually cold, sometimes snowy, sometimes foggy and more often than not, pretty wet.

Shops are full of end of sale items, the things that you knew nobody would buy when they originally arrived on the shop floor many weeks ago.

My friend and I often comment when we go shopping, 

"who have they made this for?"

or

"who chose this colour combination?"

and we also often say,

"that's destined for the sale!"

At least the new spring ranges are coming into the shops which are screaming "buy me!"

But what's the point of doing that unless they come with matching galoshes.

However my February birthday was quite the opposite to gloomy.

A lovely meal out with my family and lots of nice little treats.

I have been given a new friend. This happy peacock who is currently sitting on my dining room table has been watching the rain out of the window since yesterday afternoon.

How can I put him outside?

He's to be a garden solar light but we've currently got no solar!

This lovely cup of grape hyacinths were given to me by my grand daughters. They are certainly cheering up the kitchen window sill.

And a very apt gift, a new knitting bag.

This is from Kelly Connor Designs 

Already full and in use.

All lovely gifts, to make me smile!
Have a great weekend!

A PROJECT FOR A RAINY WEDNESDAY!

I had finished my knitting and sewing projects yesterday evening and as I stood today in the kitchen  baking a sponge to pop in the freezer for my daughter in laws birthday I kept looking out of the rain splattered windows willing the postman to arrive.

Time is ticking on now and as we nearly enter February my grandson's birth is imminent.

Can I make and finish just one more thing for him ready for his arrival?

Well, as you can see the postman has just delivered my parcel of yarn from Wool Warehouse, Drops Eskimo. This is quite a chunky yarn so hopefully it will knit up quickly. I also treated myself to a new 10mm circular needle and double ended crochet hook.

I do think I should recycle some of my old needles but when I looked in my bag last night, lots of mine were originally my mum's and my friend's mum's and I just can't seem to part with them.

I've also got my mum's old patterns too, garments she used to knit for me and my children.

How can I part with those?

Are you the same?

Now as my house fills with the delicious smells of sponge cake I'm going to have an afternoon in front  of the tv with my new yarn, needles and pattern.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR!

I've come to the conclusion that trying to cast on 98 stitches, knit in the round on double pointed needles whilst reading the subtitles and watching "The Bridge" is, a step to far!

In the end last night, I had to make a choice. Either ignore the tv and concentrate on picking up at least 2 stitches that had dropped un-noticed off the needles or forgo the knitting completely and concentrate on the tv.

The Bridge won!

How could I miss out on the chance that Saga might actually forget herself and break into a glimmer of a smile?

If you haven't had a chance to see this drama yet, I do give it the thumbs up! 

Perhaps I like it so much because I feel the watching, the reading and the attempt at knitting all at the same time, is keeping my brain active and alert!

No subtitles with tonights tv, so hopefully I should be able to make the little baby hat quite easily.

We went out walking this morning, which was nice. Not far, just up into town and a walk through the park and alongside the river. It wasn't too cold and there were plenty of people out and about. 

We walked down to the end of the promenade where Byrhtnoth looks out over the water. The statue was placed here to commemorate the 991AD Battle of Maldon where he led the English against a Viking invasion.

Returning home for an afternoon of sewing hasn't quite gone to plan. Instead I've fiddled with the layout of my blog, got myself in a little bit of a muddle and the sewing machine has yet to have had it's cover removed.

This I need to remedy so I'm afraid my blog layout will have to be deemed "work in progress".

FINDING JUPITER!

Have you ever looked at Jupiter through a telescope?

Last night we took our grandchildren along to Abberton Reservoir Visitor Centre for a stargazing event. Charlotte in particular is very interested in stars and space, Jessica was more interested in finding aliens!!

Not knowing what to expect, we weren't quite dressed for the occasion.  Their mum and I both were wearing ugg boots and Michael had on his new, new shoes which replaced his other new shoes that had experienced a muddy end back in the summer on a visit to Mersea Island. As I  posted at the time.

The children had also come straight from an afternoon at the pantomime so……………..!

Anyway, not to be put off we set  off out of the visitor centre, along the path and took the short walk across the squelchy, muddy, wet grass to the telescopes, all pointing up to the clear, bright sparkly, sky.

We were so pleased that we went, Charlotte loved it and the guys there really took their time explaining what we were looking at. One of the things that we were really surprised by is that one of the stars that shines very bright is actually Jupiter and although we couldn't see it quite as clear as this picture, (obviously, this is not my photo, I found it on the internet this morning!)

 Charlotte on her 2nd round of the telescopes managed to see it  with pale orange lines around it.

After a warming hot chocolate we returned home, shoes very muddy but very pleased we had gone along there!

I've no photos of sewing or knitting this week, but that doesn't mean my projects have come to a halt.

I'm busy working away and thought I'd show you all the things I've made for the new baby when he arrives. 

Not long now!

A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION!

So do you step into every year with a new year resolution in mind?

Well mine this year is -

I SHALL SEW!

My husband's gift on christmas day was, a sewing machine!

I had mentioned to him a while back that I thought it would be handy to have one in the house, on standby and surprise surprise, he bought me one.

For those of you that know me, have you picked yourselves up of the floor yet?

Anyway, fabric has been purchased and I have been busy making a pattern and cutting out.

It's still laying on the dining room table now, I've not quite finished that stage as yet.

Anyway, all will be revealed as I hopefully progress further.

Also at this stage I haven't either read or watched the video instructions for the machine but, all in good time.

Christmas and new year has been a lovely long break for us. On the better days we've got out and about and on Thursday we went up to Ipswich for a walk around the dock and had lunch in a nice little restuarant called "Bistro on the Quay"

Like everyone we've experienced some really nasty weather this holiday but today when I popped outside in the garden I spied this hidden flower on a camellia. The bush has quite a few buds on it but whether they survive or get battered to pieces, who knows?

I thought, photo it quickly just in case.

The first bloom in my garden in 2014!

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR!

After spending a couple of days indoors, doing all the lovely festive things you do at Christmas, we were itching to get out and breathe in some fresh air.

Yesterday, we drove up to Aldeburgh and took in some sea air,  stretching our legs as we walked along the coast path to Thorpeness. 

There were many others joining us. Couples arm in arm, dog owners and their dogs and children trying out their new bicycles who were either very wobbly or just careering down the path.

As I walked I thought back to when our family were children and laughed to myself. To get our son to do the very same walk we would have had to lure him to Thorpeness with the promise of hot chocolate and a biscuit and lure him back to Aldeburgh with yet another promise of a packet of chips.

Yesterday all was very hectic but also all very happy.

There was a wonderful bright, cloudless sky and no cold wind to chill our ears and fingertips.

  We saw an abundance of geese flying above us while we walked and here on the Mere at Thorpeness the swans and ducks came close to the shore.

We walked up to see the windmill 

and the very famous "House in the Clouds"

which you can book for a holiday let,

(I wouldn't mind doing that before I'm too old to climb the stairs!)

As the afternoon began to fade we walked back into Aldeburgh.

(No photos, I'm afraid, I was too busy looking out for a table for late lunch - and very nice it was too!)

We just had time, to do a little sale therapy before returning home for tea.