So tedious

image from Clipart Library

I'm still plugging away at the baby blanket that Beverly asked me to make for her friend.  The main body of the blanket crocheted up pretty quickly but omg, the ruffles are taking forever and are so bloody tedious 😒 And, just to put the icing on the cake, I didn't order enough of the Oyster shade that I'm using for said ruffles ~ but did order way too much of the Sage 😕  I really will have to try to get to grips with how much extra yarn to order if I make a pattern larger!  Still, as I said in a previous post, at least this cotton yarn will be useful for future dishcloths 😉

I ordered a couple more balls of the Oyster last week and they arrived yesterday.  I made a start on sewing in the ends on the ruffles ~ another tedious task, my lovelies.  I'm about 3/4 of the way through the actual ruffles themselves, and have got about 2/3 of those ends sewn in.  I found myself getting really cheesed off with the task ~ and should have done what I usually do, i.e. sew in the ends as I go along 😏  

So I decided to have a break from the baby blanket ~ thankfully the baby isn't due until the end of February ~ and make a start on putting together the squares for the guest bedroom blanket.

I laid out all the squares to see how I was going to arrange them.  The photo, by the way, doesn't show the colours of the squares very accurately as the Pistachio shade looks a tad orange-y.  Mind you, it was very late afternoon when I took the photo so the light wasn't so good by then!  In the end I decided to just join them together in the order in which they were made.  I'm crocheting the squares together and it's actually going more quickly than I thought it would.  I've got six rows joined horizontally, so am halfway through the first part of the exercise.  Once I've got the remaining six rows attached, I'll turn it so that I can join the rows in the other direction.  Before I get that far, though, I think I'd better get that baby blanket finished!

Little words of wisdom

 

The joy of books

image from Clipart Library

Back in the day I was a voracious reader of fiction, but when I had the kids I sort of got out of the habit.  I would have the odd bout of reading, but the habit has never really returned like it was when I was young and for a long time I just couldn't be bothered to even pick a book to read.  A bit ironic, then, that my Kindle has 485 titles on it 😳  It's not entirely filled with fiction but I soon discovered that, for me, craft books are nowhere near as easy to use in a digital format as they are in a hard/softback edition!  I haven't purchased everything that's on there, I hasten to add ~ some were free downloads and a lot were very cheap, with some as little as 99p.

During the latter half of last year, though, I rediscovered my love of reading fiction and that enjoyment has stayed with me.  I've always been a fast reader so I got through quite a few books in those last few months of 2024, but it's still only made a little dent in my collection 😄  I did have a brief hiatus during the second half of December as there was lots to do to get the house half-decent for the family coming up and I found myself a wee bit too tired to concentrate on reading to be honest, but I got my nose stuck back into the 'ole Kindle after they went home.

I follow a few bloggers and had noticed that a number share what books they have been reading.  Every time I come across the latest book-sharing it always strikes me as a lovely idea, not least because it perhaps brings to the blog readers' attention books they might not have come across before.  When I got back into the familiar routine of reading fiction last year, it crossed my mind that I could share with you what I currently had my nose stuck into ~ of course, as you might have guessed my lovelies, I kept forgetting to do any such thing 😏

  Today, though, I was reading Ann's blog ~ Polyester Princess ~ and her post gave me a reminder to finally get myself organised!  I have now set up a page (in the list running across the top just below the blog header) to catalogue the books that I read during 2025.  It will just be a book list, although I may post occasionally about a book that I've particularly enjoyed ~ or not, as the case may be 😉

As you can see I've managed to read four books this month, although Another Man's Poison was started in December.  The three Ann Cleeves books are all on my Kindle, with the Ashley Weaver being a book that Adrian picked up when he was in the library recently as he thought I might enjoy it ~ it was okay but not as enjoyable as I thought it might be.  I'm about to start on what I think is the last in the George and Molly Palmer-Jones series, High Island Blues, on my Kindle then I shall move onto some "real" books I splurged on with Christmas money:

 Excuse the photo quality ~ I took them in the evening, and the plastic wrapping didn't help either!  I wouldn't normally buy "real" books as I don't have a lot of shelf space, but these were too tempting as they were considerably reduced 😄

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

 

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

 

War of attrition

image from Clipart Library

I've got gnats!  Well not me personally, you understand, it's my poor houseplants 😱 They are bloody annoying, as I'm sure you can imagine, and at the moment I am waging war with yellow sticky traps pushed into the pots.  It's incredible just how many of the buggers the traps are catching, with some plants being much more badly affected than others.  The plant with the biggest infestation is the ctenanthe division I took when I repotted Laura's plant last year ~ and funnily enough Beverly has had the same issues with the division I gave her, too.  I didn't notice any gnats when I was manhandling the original plant, so I am assuming they were lurking in the new compost 🤷

Methinks I will need to be a tad more proactive, though, to try to get rid of them completely.  I really don't fancy having to repot all the plants that I did recently, so after doing some internet research I'm now considering my options.  Diatomaceous earth seems to be a frequent recommendation, along with the sticky traps which I'm already using.  I'm actually very familiar with diatomaceous earth, as it was something that I used to help keep my chickens healthy back in the day.  Every time I cleaned out their house, I generously sprinkled the stuff around on the fresh bedding to help keep mites at bay.  It obviously worked as my girls never had any pests of any kind!  Remembering back, I also hurled about with gay abandon another product, called Stalosan, which was a pink (if I remember correctly), powdered, disinfectant ~ I rather liked the smell of it 😄

After my research, I think I have come up with a suitable plan of action.  The first step will be to tackle the plants that were repotted recently by replacing the top inch or so of compost.  Then spread a generous layer of diatomaceous earth over the fresh compost, and top with fine grit to make it more difficult for the gnats to reach the soil to lay their eggs.  I still have a fair few more plants to repot, so I think that I'll add some grit to the compost to make it a bit more free-draining.  I shall also try to remember to make the effort to water from the bottom of the pot where possible!

Wish me luck, and I'll let you know in due course how my "banish the fungus gnats" campaign is progressing 😉

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

 

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)  

Happy New Year!

image from Freepik

Happy New Year, my lovelies!  Wishing you all good things for 2025

😊