Temptation.....and a new toy!

I do try not to be tempted by all the luscious yarns sold by Wool Warehouse, really I do, but sometimes their offers are just impossible to resist like the one that came along recently for Caron "cake" yarns.....and I confess that I didn't even attempt to say no 😏   

This is Angel Cakes in Seasalt, an Aran weight which is 40% acrylic/60% cotton and comes in 250g cakes.  It's lovely and squishy 😊 

The other three shades are all Ripple Cakes, which is double knit in 100% cotton and 240g; this shade is Mauve Glow.....

English Lavender.....

and finally Summer Rain, which I like so much that I've ordered extra cakes to make a cardigan for myself!

I haven't quite decided what to make with the other cakes but am edging towards a blanket, again just for me for a change 😉  Both yarns were £6.99 per cake, having originally been priced at £13.99, so you can see why I tempted 😄   

And finally, here's my new "toy" ~ a Wool Jeanie.  I've been looking at getting one for a while and thought I might as well go ahead when I succumbed to the Caron yarns LOL  Because my yarn had already been started and I pull from the inside, it did start to look somewhat like a deflating pear as the skein got smaller!  I've since been using it on a new skein and it works very nicely indeed, so I'm pleased with my new toy 😊 

Little words of wisdom

 

Ooooh.....lucky Sharon ~ very lucky!

You may remember that I went mad last year and bought 15 dahlia plants from Marshalls when they were on sale.....

I was thrilled that 14 of the 15 survived, and they produced some lovely blooms.  I was full of good intentions to cosset said dahlias, fully intending to lift the tubers come autumn and tuck them away in the greenhouse for the winter.....

alas, however, I left them in their pots outside for all those wet and cold months 😞 I finally got tired of seeing the mess every time I looked out of the kitchen window and took the first pot into the greenhouse to empty it out.  I tipped out the cold and very wet compost, fully expecting to find a nasty slimy mess of disintegrated tubers ~ boy, was I in for a shock!

  Despite the harsh treatment the poor plants had suffered, almost all the tubers in every one of the 14 pots were firm and unblemished 😮 I only had to pull off three or four squishy tubers in total from all the plants ~ amazing, right? I decided that the best thing would be to temporarily repot each plant in a smaller pot and because I still wasn't convinced they would survive, I simply reused the compost they had already been in.  I figured that way I wouldn't be wasting fresh compost if they didn't make it 😉    

To give them some shelter, I put the pots in the arbour seat to help the compost dry out and hoped for the best.  I'm very pleased to report that so far 7 or 8 of the 14 are already sending out new shoots.  I will pot them on into larger pots when the plants are bigger.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will all come through ~ I will keep you posted in due course.  This coming autumn, all the survivors will be lifted and stored in the greenhouse over winter 😄    

Moving out to the front garden for a moment, I'm pleased to report that the starlings have taken up residence in the wall again this year.  They have been very busy, back and forth with beaks full of nesting materials. 

And here's Miss Bluebell, who lives a few doors down from us, in one of her favourite bird-watching spots in our garden!

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)   

Busy, busy, busy...

image from Clipart Library

The rhythm of the garden has finally reached me and I've been out there most days these last few weeks or so 👏 I've certainly been sleeping well, going to bed much earlier than I usually do.....consequently, of course, I've also been getting up much earlier too, although some of that is probably because dawn is arriving so early now 😉 

 

All the beds and borders are in dire need of tidying up but I thought it prudent to start with the kitchen garden veggie beds.....not least because all the remaining plug plants from my Marshalls order will be winging their way to me very soon, and I will need to get them planted out asap 😏

This was the worst bed out of the four but even so it didn't really take me too long once I got stuck in, and the strawberry and asparagus beds were very quick and easy to tidy up.  Sometimes thinking about doing something is worse than actually getting on with the flippin job 😕

These three low beds had soft fruit in them: blackberries Tiny Black in the square bed on the right, with raspberries (Summer Lovers Patio Red and Patio Gold) and Funberries in pots on the other two beds.  Adrian was never happy with the net cages he made for these beds, so was highly delighted when I told him I was thinking of moving the fruit so I could use the beds as part of my veggie crops rotation!  I tell ya, that was a proper red letter day 'cos usually when I utter those immortal words "I've been thinking..." all he does is groan 😄

Anyhoo, although the photo above doesn't show it, all the beds have now been weeded and three of the four large beds have been restrung ready for this year's plantings in my favourite square foot method.  I didn't bother stringing the strawberry bed this year as the plants are now nicely established in their own spaces.  I've also now got potatoes planted in half of the bed to the left of the strawberries.  Still lots to be done but I think I've made a pretty good start 😊

Little words of wisdom

 

Happy International Tea Day!

 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)   

Little words of wisdom

 

Oh, the shame 😳

This time last year I had a pristine greenhouse, but by the end of the season.....

it was a shameful mess😒

So I spent the weekend sorting out and clearing up in there.....

finally getting it finished yesterday.  I rearranged some of the shelves as I had to make room for the tools, etc, I use when I'm working out in the garden.  They had previously all been dumped in the porch but as we're hoping to finally have it rebuilt some time this year, I thought it best to find new homes for all those little bits and pieces.  I may eventually move the garden tools out to the shed but it too is in need of a major clear-out/tidy up exercise so they will have to stay put in the greenhouse for now 😉

This year's plug plants are starting to arrive from Marshalls, which was an added incentive to get the greenhouse sorted out!  It was lovely to pot on the plants which have arrived ~ I'd forgotten just how nice it is my little greenhouse, and I think Froggie was pleased to see his domain all spick and span once again 😊

Now I just have to gird my loins to tackle the garden😮

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

A Make-a-Month 2023: April

Finally ~ the gift blanket!

 

Finally ~ the gift blanket!

I've felt like that three times already in recent months, and blanket number four will soon be finished too ~ it's a good feeling to have 👏 

As I mentioned back in November, I bought this selection of yarns from Wool Warehouse as I didn't have the colours I wanted to use in my stash.  I know, right ~ looking at the size of said stash it hardly seems possible, does it 😄

All the time I was plodding away on the using-up-the-oddments blankets, these zingy bags of colour were calling my name!  I was very good, though, and just carried on.....not least because I already have three or four WIPs lurking in the guest bedroom patiently awaiting my attention😏

Finally, though, I was able to make a start on the gift blanket and as you can see, once again I used my tried-and-tested favourite chevron pattern from The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket.  Whilst I kept the length the same as in the pattern, I made it almost half as wide again ~ it really is a very large blanket!  And trust me, it started to get a tad cumbersome to manoeuvre by the time I was about two-thirds of the way through ~ mind you, it did keep me nice and cosy so that was a welcome bonus 😉

As you can see I used a lot of different colours in this blanket, 20 altogether.  I wanted to create something reminiscent of the myriad shades of autumn leaves.  I am pretty pleased with how it's turned out ~ I think the the colour scheme has a somewhat art deco-ish look to it.  I used Stylecraft Special DK, my usual go-to yarn for blankets; it's ideal as it's soft, machine washable and hardwearing, everything you want in a blanket really.

The colours I used for the chevron stripes are: Jaffa, Saffron, Gingerbread, Walnut, Dandelion, Dark Brown, Spice, Bottle, Mustard, Copper, Sunshine, Khaki, Tomato, Meadow, Gold, Green, Clementine, Grass Green, and Greengage.  To finish off, the simple border was my usual three rows of half treble crochet (US half double crochet) for which I used the shade Camel.

I made it as a gift for my very dear friend, Olive, who I only get to see a couple of times a year now that we've moved up here ~ she seemed very pleased with it, thankfully!  Hopefully it will remind her that I still cherish our friendship, even though we no longer live across the road from each other 😊   

A Make-a-Month 2023: March

A new stitch

 

A new stitch

This has certainly been very much the case these past few months but I am starting to feel the call of working on other stuff, like the garden for instance.  Methinks crochet is on the cards to be relegated to the evening for a while 😉

During my "where's my mojo gone" hiatus, though, I fell in love with a new-to-me-stitch: the interlocking block stitch.  Marion, of Wool Thread Paint fame, made the most beautiful blanket: The Blair Atholl Blanket.  I fell in love with it straight away and as soon as the pattern was available, I snapped it up!  The trouble was, of course, that I had a) promised myself to use up as much of the leftover yarn odd 'n' sods as possible (hence the two new sofa blankets) and b) I had that gift blanket to get done.    

So a compromise was needed....and I tried out the stitch on a couple of dishcloths 😄  I was able to use up a bit more of my cotton yarn stash, so that was a plus!  It's such a simple stitch and creates a lovely "fabric" effect, which I really like.  

I've still got a fair amount of cotton yarn in my stash, so there's plenty for dishcloths for a good while yet!

And in my defence, I feel I should point out that some members of the current dishcloth collective are starting to look a little tatty, so they will soon be joining the cleaning cloth group who hang out in a bucket in the cupboard-under-the-sink😉

A Make-a-Month 2023: February

Still stash-busting!

 

Still stash-busting!

As I mentioned on Monday, despite my lack of posts I have actually been working through the infamous yarn stash 😉 Before I made a start on the new gift blanket, I thought I'd use up the oddments of yarn that there wasn't enough of to follow a specific pattern.  In the end, I had just enough to make a couple of blankets, which I didn't feel were suitable for gifting as they are such a mish-mash of odds 'n' sods.  We now have two new blankets for our sofa, though, so I am still a very happy bunny 👏

I started this one last October (!) but got a bit bored making the solid colour granny squares, so decided to complete it with sections of granny stripes top and bottom.  I finished it with a simple border of three rounds of half-trebles (US half double crochet).  Personally I don't think it's a particularly attractive blanket but at least it helped to use up those oddments LOL  

When the not-so-pretty blanket was done, I decided to plough on with the oddments before starting the new project, this time making a granny rectangle.  As with the previous blanket, it was finished with three rounds of half trebles.  If I'd had a little more yarn I would have done an extra round or two but I used it all up, even using most of my scrap yarn ball!  I actually rather like this blanket 😊

The little bit of leftover yarn is now the beginning of a new scrap yarn ball ~ I simply join my scraps together with a Russian knot.  I can't remember where I first came across the technique but here's a link to a tutorial on Dora Does if you don't know how to do it.

I finished the new gift project, so photos to come in another post 😊 I'm also on the home straight now with a second "new project" so will be sharing that with you soon too 😄

Little words of wisdom

 

Yup, I'm still here!

Well the "couple of weeks" break I decided to take at the end of last year went on for rather longer than I originally planned.....closer to six months, in fact 😲

In truth the longer I haven't been posting the harder it's been to restart; I must admit that I thought long and hard about simply closing the blog altogether.  I guess I don't really have any excuses for not keeping up with the blog, although there has been a fair bit of family "stuff" (i.e. illness) going on which has, naturally, been worrying.  I just completely lost my blogging mojo, to be honest.

Actually I think it would be fair to say that I've been trying to find my mojo in other areas of my life, too, over the last 6 or 7 months.  Just about the only thing I've consistently kept up with is crocheting.  Other than that, I've simply had a gigantic case of "I just can't be bothered" 😔     

Still, here I am trying yet again so let's see if I manage to post more than once every six months or so this time, eh 😄 

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)  

Little words of wisdom