ADDICTIVE CHEVRON!

Here's an update of what I've been making in the last week or so.

This chevron crochet design is definitely addictive. I think that this blanket that I'm making for Kate will grow quicker than I first thought. The yarn that I'm using, Drops Merino Extra Fine has a great feel to it but it does have an annoying feature. Each colour block that I've completed so far has had varying amounts of usage for each ball. The off white and the light grey have been completed in one ball with some excess, the dark grey, I only managed just three rows out of the four and the mustard, well, I would have had enough to complete the whole block but a join in the middle of the 4th row, halted that.
So I seem to be collecting quite a lot of oddments which I suppose is one of those things. I did give it a try and joined the yarn mid row but it just didn't look right and I knew the join was there. For me there wasn't any point continuing down that road.
I like Kate's colour choice and think it will look a very striking blanket when she's got it draped over her black sofa.

I made one of these waistcoats in a pale blue colour for a teeny tiny Jack but now teeny tiny Jack has grown into a little man he needs a much bigger size. I just loved this pattern from the word go, it's a Drops pattern and knitted in Drops Baby Merino. I bought the yarn as part of my "new baby" stash when my daughter in law found out she was expecting. Knitted on a circular needle the waistcoat didn't take long to knit up and the only seams are the ones on the shoulder so not a lot of sewing involved.
I'm looking forward to seeing him wear it.

DOING THINGS ON IMPULSE!

On Monday morning when we woke there was a chill in the air and I thought perhaps it was time to put my knitted blanket over the bottom of the bed ready for the colder nights approaching.
I changed the bedding, laid the blanket which has spent all summer folded on the bedroom chair over the bed and then my brain had a sudden thought and on impulse I pulled it off the bed again, dragged it downstairs, opened the washing machine door and plunged it in. My all singing and all dancing washing machine hasn't got a cold wash so I set it to a 30 degree quick wash and left it to get on with it's work.

You might be thinking at this stage that that's not much of a drama but, when I tell you, the yarn I used was hand wash only and this was it's first ever contact with any water, hot or cold you will probably think that my impulsiveness could do with some reining in.

I was so pleased with this blanket when I finished making it and it does look lovely on the bed but it does shed fibre and I thought the wash might help with this problem and better to do it now while we still have warmth in the sun.

When the cycle was finished I don't know how I managed to stay quite calm, as soon as I opened the machine door there was so much fluff flying around the kitchen and one look at the blanket within, well it looked like i'd felted it.

Anyway, not panicking - much! I took it outdoors where the fibres just filled the air and I managed to pull and stretch the blanket back to shape and hang it on the line.

The blanket has thankfully made it back on the bed and looks good. However, the yarn fibres are still caught up in the grass and in every nook and cranny imaginable indoors.

So today, I thought I'd try and hoover them up before I go outside this afternoon to have an afternoon of crochet - the chevron blanket is totally addictive! (pictures next time)

So why I started to do something else on impulse I'll never know but I thought I'd just wipe the paint work here and there and do some bending and stretching getting down to areas where only the little people who visit this house ever see.

Well, all I can say is they must think granny never does any cleaning!

Honestly, how much tea and coffee do we actually drip over the paintwork?

Finally, the job is done, it's 1pm. Lunch time is beckoning and I'm heading outside with my chevron blanket and a seat in the sun.

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine where ever you are!

FINISHED PROJECTS AND NEW CHALLENGES!

My two models, one of them being rather a wriggler, love their new dresses. I have to say a huge thank you to my friend Diane who was so patient with me and helped me all along the way from cutting out  the fabric to finishing.

I'm very pleased with them and I am now feeling much more confident using my sewing machine.

 Jolly good job really because I have new projects to make in the pipe line.

I've also finished this baby blanket this week. It's been sitting there waiting for the border to be crocheted for quite a few days. I think this was because I really wasn't sure if the off white border would look right but now I've done it, I really like it.

I hope the new parents like it too!

I do try to have fresh flowers in the house throughout the year but since the beginning of summer have resisted buying any as I've been picking my own sweet peas and dahlias.

Last Friday I was tempted by some lovely asters in M&S that filled 2 vases.

Then on Saturday my son in law gave me a lovely bunch of flowers as a thank you for darning two jumpers. 

(I know, I'm becoming a sewing geek!)
All of these flowers are still looking good today!

So on Tuesday when there was a knock on the door I couldn't believe it, more beautiful flowers.

A re shuffle of vases was a necessity!

This lovely arrangement was sent to us because my husband has been at work for 40 years.
Unbelievable!
Sorry for the cliche, but where has all that time gone!

Also this week, having been reading Heldasland's blog I decided to have a play at making a collage for a new banner for my blog. For me, doing something like this is a time consuming event. I start off having a little dabble here and a little dabble there and then before I know it an hour or two has passed and I have a revamped blog with a partially completed banner and then a mad rush to get out of the house to go and do the food shopping.
I shall leave it as it is for a while, I do quite like it.


Now to reveal my new challenge. I have been patiently waiting for this yarn delivery
but today it has finally arrived.

I'm joining the chevron craze, can't wait to start.
I'm making a new blanket for Kate's soon to be decorated lounge.
She wants it finished by tomorrow but we've had a compromise and agreed I'll finish it by christmas.
I shall be getting underway later today after I've done some tidying in the garden, my sweet peas sadly have finally stopped flowering!

Have a great weekend everyone!

IT ALL STARTED IN SEPTEMBER 1963

I can remember it all so well, my first day at school. 

When I was 5 going to any pre-school, nursery or playgroup was unheard of.

On that day when my mum waved goodbye at the classroom door, it was a very new bewildering experience for me and it was on that very day that I found my first friend.

Throughout all of my primary education Gaye and I were inseparable. Sometimes we loved each other and other times we fell out big time. I remember once when we both had to go to the headmaster's office because we'd been fighting in the playground for something or other.

We were both horrified as by this time we'd made up again and so were quite distraught when he gave us 50 lines each, saying how sorry we were and we would not fight again.

Unfortunately for me I didn't have my listening ears with me and couldn't remember what I had to write so I wrote 50 lines saying - I'm sorry I fighted with my friend.

That got me into even more trouble and more lines, oh when I look back, it does make me laugh!

When I was 11 my family moved away and my friendship with Gaye continued through our teenage years but sadly since then we have just kept in contact on birthdays and at christmas.

So fast forwarding all those years until today, another day in September.

Venue RHS Hyde

The gardens looked stunning!

Some of the newer beds and borders looked amazing

the different shades of green and

the late flowering sedums and the grasses were at their best.

Lunch was long and lingering.

The conversation, non stop.

Two friends, who met one September

enjoyed such a perfect day.

I don't know what you fink but I fink my spelling has really come on over the years!

A VERY OK KIND OF DAY!

 Today has been a very OK kind of day.

 My friend Diane came over this morning and she showed me how to insert the zips into the dresses I'm making for Charlotte & Jessica.

I'm really pleased that I managed to do both zips OK and now I just have a few finishing touches to make. If the summer sunshine is kind enough to return to us for September then the girls will  have something new to wear.

Even later in the year I know the girls will wear these with those little cardigans I made for them at Easter.

Dresses nearly ready for the girls and a new pair of socks for baby Jack that I finished last night.

I made these with some Drops Fabel yarn left over from the baby blanket (I still haven't crocheted the border!) and I think they've turned out slightly better than OK.

I'm really pleased with them!

Today also a parcel arrived, a gift from me to my husband.

What can it be, you may wonder?

It was very well wrapped, precious cargo!

Well my husband likes one and only one specific brown sauce with his Sunday breakfast.

Difficult to obtain from any normal retailer, since Sainsbury's stopped selling it, I would think at least 20 years ago if not more.

Since then Harrods used to sell it and I used to go there or have it sent in the post. Even friends would drop in there and bring him a bottle home on their day trips to London. More recently  a shop in Colchester  was our supplier but unfortunately they haven't been able to get it for a while either.

Then one night last week as I was perusing the iPad, I found it on this website.

The Asian Cookshop

Well, I thought best order in a supply that'll keep him going for a year or two (or three!).

Anyone else remember this one?

Colmans OK Sauce.

The way to my heart is generally some lovely flowers (or some beautiful sock yarn!)

the way to my husband's

Some very OK sauce!

THE TIGER THAT CAME TO TEA!

Firstly I must thank everyone for the lovely comments re my stay home vacation!

My tale for this week.

Last summer we had a ladies and little ladies trip to London to see We're Going on a Bear Hunt and because we enjoyed it so much we decided to go again this year.  

This time to see

The children were bubbling with excitement and we all had a spring in our step when we got off the tube train at Oxford Circus and set off down Regent Street.

It was only about 11am, and not overly busy. It was quite pleasant looking in the shop windows.

When we got to Hamleys, well, then we did have to deviate inside but as luck would have it, it was fairly quiet.  Charlotte and Jessica had a great time looking around and when we left none of us were overheated and gasping for fresh air. On our visits in the past the shop has been crowded and so busy.

We took Kate and Robert in there once when they were little and poor Kate became really hot and bothered and by the time we had reached the very top floor, she felt so sick. Though we rushed to get her outside we  didn't quite make it to the exit, in time.

I can guarantee every visit since, this memory always provokes a comment when we enter the shop and on this occasion, it was no different.

This time, it was Kate who said, " Do you remember when.......?"

Leaving Hamleys, with new colouring pens for Charlotte, those silly little wind up toys that do little tricks and make you laugh until they break, for Jessica and a Hamleys bear for Jack we headed to Piccadilly for our lunch in Jamies Italian.

The food there was pretty good and enjoyed by us all!

The Tiger Who Came to Tea at the Lyric Theatre was really good fun. It's only a little show, just on for an hour but as we found last year, such a great way of introducing young children to the theatre without them getting fidgety and bored.

Back outside for some fresh air we decided to go and see the poppies at the Tower of London. 

Charlotte and Jessica have been learning about the First World War and had taken part in our local parade with the brownies to mark its centenery. 

The poppies are amazing.

  

We couldn't start our journey home until we'd been re-energised with cups of tea and cake but finally we headed back to the train station having had, we all agreed, a wonderful day!

OUR STAY HOME VACATION PART 2

So our stay home vacation moved on through the week and on Wednesday we enjoyed a lovely lunch with my parents and later in the day and on Thursday morning as boat building resumed I caught up with some knitting.

A baby blanket that now just need it's crocheted border

and a pair of socks that I've started knitting for my Aunt who is in hospital and suffers with cold feet.

I found the yarn in my stash (Drops Delight) and the pattern is, as Drops patterns are at first, hard going on the mind.

Thursday afternoon saw us popping out for tea and cake but a trip to RHS Hyde Hall was more of a swim, tea and cake adventure. Especially when some kind soul picked up our large umbrella in the cafe and took it on a jaunt around the gardens leaving us to run back down to the entrance in the rain!

Did get it back though eventually, husband tracked down the people and swopped it for a Hyde Hall umbrella.

On Thursday evening our son's dog Simba arrived for a couple of days.

We thought it was going to take him a while to settle as

he took one look at our kitchen floor and decided, "I'm not walking on that!"

and took equal dislike to the hall flooring as well, deciding to perch on the stairs.

Eventually Michael managed to coax him out of the front door, around to the back garden, through the patio doors and into the lounge.

At bedtime we had to do everything in reverse and he slept on the landing 'till morning when, he followed me down the stairs, along the hallway, through the kitchen and out of the back door!!!

On Friday, as we had Simba with us we thought we'd go out on one of our favourite walks

along the sea wall to Goldhanger.

We did get caught in the rain but luckily we weren't too far from our destination and managed to get to the pub and enjoy our lunch on a table outside with the biggest umbrella we could find to shelter us.

Walking back home later, the sun shone and the tide was in.

Simba ran virtually all the way home and loved swimming in the river.

Nearing home, it was good to see this family of swans swimming down the river.

Simba went home to his own house yesterday and today the weather is being quite kind.
I've been sitting in the garden which is fairly sheltered from the breeze and taking in some sunshine.
I've finally got to grasp with this new sock pattern I'm knitting and I'm making some slow progress.
In another hour or so our son and daughter in law and grandchildren will be joining us for dinner.
Perfect!

Our stay home vacation has been different but enjoyed by us both.

Back to normal next week!