ONE FINISHED GLOVE AND MOST DEFINITELY FINGERLESS

You know sometimes when things, however hard you try, don't go to plan?

Well, this week I've tried very hard to master the art of knitting these half-fingered gloves.

On Tuesday evening I finally finished the fourth finger.

On Wednesday morning I took another peek at my efforts - dreadful!

Without further ado, I grabbed the closest thing to hand, which just happened to be the kitchen scissors and with four quick snips, the unruly fingers were gone!

After some slight difficulty in picking up the stitches,( I was left with half a stitch in places) I managed to remedy my mess and by finishing the glove off with a few rows of rib, I'm quite pleased with the result.

Just the other one of the pair to do now!

FINGERLESS OR HALF- FINGER GLOVES, THAT IS THE QUESTION?

In my last post, I mentioned that my next project to make was gloves. I found a lovely pattern on www.ravelry.com  by Lucy Hague  entitled Hands of Blue. I think it is a really pretty design and I've enjoyed making them up as far as the knuckles. The trouble is this is the first time I've knitted gloves so have found that beyond that, it has been a little tricky. I decided to make a half finger pair at the beginning of the week but after stumbling with the first finger, I changed my mind and altered my plan to fingerless. By Thursday I'd changed my mind again and met the challenge of knitting the half finger pair. Currently I'm just about to knit my second finger and am still persevering. 

Although I have now got myself in rather a muddle with my row counting and rate myself with only a small chance of both gloves being the same size. It's a bit like my sock knitting scenario!

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A couple of pictures for you of some of the poppies in my front garden. I thought I'd better take them quick as the rain isn't being kind to them. 

It's strange, we moan that we need the rain and when we get it, we moan again!

There's no pleasing some!!

THE WEEK I GAINED A BLACKBIRD NEST AND A PARKING FINE, RESCUED A WINKLE, PHOTOGRAPHED AN ABUNDANCE OF POPPIES AND COMPLETED THE DEBBIE BLISS TEDDY BEAR ALL- IN- ONE SUIT!

I had to show you this photo I took in my garden of this little lady, I spied her by accident when I was weeding yesterday. I though at first that the nest was empty but was so pleased when I took a peek later and saw that the blackbird was nestled inside.

I've done various things this week. On Wednesday Kate and I took Charlotte and Jessica to Mersea Island. Mersea is only about half an hour from here so the ideal place to go if you want to play on the sand. I parked the car, bought a pay and display ticket and spent a few hours happily on the beach, digging holes, collecting seashells, drinking tea and eating ice cream - perfect!
Having had such a nice time, I didn't take kindly to finding a parking penalty notice slapped on my windscreen when we returned to the car. It was my fault, my ticket wasn't clearly displayed, but I had purchased it and if we had returned five minutes earlier at least I would have had the satisfaction of waving it under the Civil Enforcement Officer's nose!
As I write, I am challenging the penalty charge with great gusto but only because it's making me feel better, realistically I know that it will not be overturned!

It was later that same day whilst I was in the kitchen preparing dinner that Charlotte came in requesting a lettuce leave for her snail. She had been out in the garden since we'd returned home sorting through her bucket of shells. On closer inspection I quickly realised that the little head frantically popping in and out of the shell was not a snail but indeed a winkle. Once I'd explained what a winkle is, what it likes to eat and where it usually lives, it was agreed that we needed to return the winkle to the sea. So we found a small bucket to put it in (Charlotte had at first wanted to carry it in her hand but as it was so tiny,  I had visions of it being crushed before it even reached the sea), we set off on our short walk up to the river.
The tide was out, so no water just mud. Being the good Granny that I am, I climbed over the sea wall, down some slippery steps and placed the winkle in the mud under a clump of seaweed so it could float out on the next tide. Charlotte, still remains hopeful that the little winkle will make it back to Mersea Island. Bless her!

I took these photos at RHS Hyde Hall on Tuesday. I had a lovely time there with Miriam and Diane. Lots of chatter, a slow amble around the gardens and  a very nice lunch.

The display of poppies was beautiful, I think this is the best I've ever seen there. I've got loads growing in my front garden this year, all self-seeded, courtesy of the birds I would imagine. So far, only a few are in flower, but I'm hopeful that I too will have a colourful display.
Michael was eager to pull them all up about a month ago, he was convinced they were weeds. Really pleased he didn't.

To finish off this week  I have completed the Debbie Bliss all-in-one teddy bear outfit. I am really pleased with it and it has been finished just in time. Lindsey, my friend Maureen's daughter, is expecting her son in the next couple of weeks. I've knitted the second size so it'll fit the baby through the autumn/winter months.
I've found a lovely pattern on the internet for a pair of fingerless gloves so I'm going to give them a try for my next project. I'm hoping to use up some wool that I have left at the bottom of my knitting bag.

BAKING WITH MY GRANDDAUGHTERS!

On a Wednesday while my daughter in law goes to work I try to entertain my two little visitors. Quite often, when Charlotte comes out of school in the afternoon I take them swimming, but this week I thought it would be nice for them to come back here and bake a cake together. It's the first time I've let Jessica who's nearly 2 get that involved and she did very well. They both looked the part in their aprons, Charlotte's is the orange one, Jessica's the yellow. Jessica beat the eggs together with great gusto while Charlotte tackled the rest of the ingredients. After it was baked the cake unfortunately split, but I think that was due to the over zealous actions of my two little cooks whilst spreading the strawberry jam over the two sponges. However when it was sandwiched together with cream and strawberries in between and once they'd both doused it with a generous amount of icing sugar it looked good.
I understand it tasted very good too!
No, I didn't get to try it, they took it home to have after their tea!

The peonies are from my mum and dad's garden. You can just see the flowering plants out in the garden through the window but unfortunately these on the kitchen windowsill were blown down by the crazy wind that we've had this week. Peonies do not seem to like growing in my garden, in fact I've given up trying. Yet every year my mum gets such a wonderful display without fail. The large flower heads are stunning!

A RIGHT OLD FLAP!

I've certainly got myself in a "bit of a flap" this week.

It all started off on Monday when my flask of blackberry and nettle tea spilt in my bag and over my iphone. The phone gave out, so in desperation I popped it in the airing cupboard to dry out and it did! However, although the phone now works, the battery isn't doing as well as it could.

So, the moral of this story is - don't put your iphone in the airing cupboard to dry out and more importantly don't spill your drink over it in the first place!

Then came Tuesday. This was when I looked out into the garden and watched as the birds tugged at the linings of my hanging baskets and flew off with beaks full of the stuff for their nests.

I went outside to investigate further and to see if I could minimise the damage. Some, are worse than others but hopefully when the plants grow they will cover up the gaps. On looking at them I also realised that I had completely forgotten to plant any  fuchsias  in them. I  had been so pleased last weekend when I'd spent so little time in the nursery buying the plants. Obviously with no list to remind me either, things were forgotten. Thankfully Michael remedied the situation. He went back to the nursery yesterday and bought all of the fuchsias, so this afternoon my job is - rearranging the hanging baskets!!

On Thursday, I experienced a flap of a different kind. Why is it that when you are destined for a disaster it occurs somewhere where you wished it hadn't? and why at that very moment?

Funnily enough I can't say I was horrified, mortified or even embarrassed. 

There I was striding out of Tesco Express carrying my shopping back to the car when I felt this cold feeling on the back of my leg. On investigation I found that the leg of my trousers had split from the waistband, right down the back to just above my knee. The torn material was flapping around my leg so I threw the shopping in and I bundled myself back into the car in what I'd like to think was a split second (probably wasn't!). Then I just laughed!

Mind you if it had happened a few hours earlier I was invigilating a GCSE exam on my own, which could have been a little more tricky.

Anyway to finish my blog today, I thought I'd leave you with a photo of an azalea in my garden. It's looking absolutely beautiful today.

A WEEKEND OF GARDENING, KNITTING AND BOAT BUILDING!

Despite the fact that it's been a little chillier this weekend, we've managed to get jobs done in the garden and the garage. Those of you that read my blog this time last year will remember I had a difficult time  trying to get small plants through even smaller holes in the sides of my hanging baskets.

Today, I was much better organised and my plants were planted without a hitch!

Not all of the basket are for me, 2 are for my Mum, it's her birthday next weekend and 3 are for Kate.

The garage is still tidy, though Michael did manage to drop a piece of wood on his toes yesterday.
( I have been forbidden to put the photo of his toes on my blog. This I took, not because I have a fetish for mens' feet but because the bruising was so bad that I wanted to compare the photo with how the toes looked this morning. Thankfully another visit to A&E was not required, although they do look pretty gruesome!)

This afternoon, while I was planting, Michael suspended the boat in the garage to turn it over so he can work on the keel. It really now seems to be coming on at a pace, still not sure when it will be totally finished but I think it's looking good.

I'm now looking forward to a quiet evening and hopefully I'll put my feet up and get some knitting done. I'm still making the little teddy bear all in one suit but it now has 2 legs, all of the body and 1 sleeve completed. I'm getting there slowly!

HOW TIDY IS OUR GARAGE?

Yet another holiday weekend, this one starting of in style with the beautiful wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton. Glorious!

So why you may question have I added a very bizarre picture to highlight my weekend and not one of the royal couple. Well, this is our garage, actually the sign on the door says"Michael's Boat shed"

Generally, I only venture in there when I need to get my washing line out or get the odd bottle of wine.

This is Michael's domain. Whether things are hanging from the ceiling, the walls, hidden propped up behind something else or even left lying amongst the saw dust, he knows exactly where everything is. Or does he?

Kate exclaimed on Saturday that it was a right old mess and no wonder he'd fallen over in there and dislocated his little finger.The finger, on his left hand was actually pointing to the left. Nasty!

So, after enjoying such a lovely day on Friday, we spent 4hrs on Saturday at A&E.

At least he hadn't broken his arm which we first thought was a possibility.  

On Sunday despite being one handed Michael did this amazing job of clearing out the garage, while I did the garden, planting even more vegetables.

 How long it'll stay like it, I cannot say.

Monday was Kate's birthday and we'd booked a trip down the river to Osea Island and back for our family. It was so, so, windy! Thankfully the sun was shining for  most of the way, so it wasn't too cold but it was mighty difficult trying to eat our picnic that we'd taken with us.

We were on board the barge Hydrogen and it was great fun. The children loved it, especially Charlotte who was looking out for birds and whales through her binoculars. Even my mum and dad enjoyed it. 

Afterwards everyone came back here for tea and cake.

It was a really nice ending to our bank holiday weekend.