In the garden this week enjoying a bit of tidying up in the sunshine, I heard a buzzing coming from the garage wall. Imagine my delight when I saw not only bees but butterflies too.
I had no idea that ivy flowered or that it had its own quite distinctive and almost pleasant scent. In a week when there was a report of less flying insects it was rather nice to see this.
Have a great weekend.
Nearly time for my first cuddle with Baby J. I was able to finish the book I was knitting for him. I think we clearly established that babies need books from the very earliest days.
Front cover
Back cover
Snail- there was no picture for this so I had to google the magic roundabout to see how to form a snail. I added the antenna as there were none in the instructions.
Flower
My favourite pages with the sun.
Pattern from
Now which to make next?
Meantime on the needles just, a little matinée jacket for you know who, for Christmas. Talking of Christmas, which I love btw, have you joined a Secret Santa this year? I can highly recommend
And look I managed to add a widget for it. Sometimes I amaze myself. I shall probably need a lie down after this. I know anyone can add a widget , but I am not anyone, I am a blogger by trial and error.
Digressing. I love collecting together a goody parcel for my recipient, especially as it involves some lovely research across a bloggers posts to find out likes and dislikes!
Can I say thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussion last week on the Innocent Smoothie hats. Every comment for and against was put over in a reasonable and tolerant tone, proving that discussion without acrimony is possible. They had some in the Co-op on Monday. I felt honour bound to rescue one from a potential landfill site, and on reflection anything that gets a multi national corporation to give away even 25p to help old people has to be a good thing. Better than some fat cat getting a bigger bonus.
And it is purple.
So I have transformed my muddle of tiny granny squares into nine patch granny squares. This is how the centre of the blanket will look.
The designs come from the 200 crochet squares book we used in the CAL five years ago. Can’t believe it is five years ago. Then my crochet skills were very rusty. It took hours to make one square, now they fairly fly off the hook. The choice of squares for the blanket also comes from the book, but I changed the colours and used gray on the edges of each, to make the final join look better. I hope. These colours are so far out of my normal range it’s not true. I just don’t do orange or green.I think they look ok.
So that is me for this week. How about you? How’s the crafting going? Do you do handmade presents at Christmas. I know two of you don’t do Christmas at all, and give gifts right through the year. Well so do I come to think of it… but Christmas giving is a bit special. Over to you for the natter then.
Be Happy,
Cathyx
My sort of Muddle.
Please leave a link in the comments below to your Muddle.
Next weeks prompt is Paint.
Happy Snapping.
Time again to share the lovely things that can be made from scraps. I am using leftover balls of yarn to make a little book for Baby J. Can’t start too early with books to my mind.
Front cover , followed by some of the pages
I just had to add a chimney!
Not a cockerel Claire, but the sun!
Three more motifs to go, should be done by Knit and Natter Friday.
Meantime do check out Kate’s post for lots more scrappy projects. I particularly like Kate’s green block this time round.
The Snail of Happiness re- blogged a post about the Smoothie Innocent campaign of little hats for Age UK, whereby they donate 25p for every smoothie bought wearing a hand knitted wooly hat. Last year I made some hats you may recall and I wondered whether it would have been simpler and easier to just give the money, and I think the consensus was that it did raise money and raised awareness of Age UK. This year a further point was added to the debate,- what happens to the hats afterwards , do they go into landfill and does the acrylic content of the yarn add to pollution. You can read the Snail’s post here https://thesnailofhappiness.com/2017/10/09/not-so-innocent-little-hats/.
Sorry word press is not playing ball with the links this morning.
Now of course all of the above is true. In my innocence I thought people would keep the hats for dolls or send them back for use again next year. Maybe that’s just me..
This year the campaign to knit for them passed me by completely. However last Friday found me in York at the station in need of lunch. So I went to WH Smith and choose a sandwich( egg and cress, ‘cos I know someone will want to know which I choose), and thence to find a beverage. nestling amongst extortionate bottled water and so-called fruit drinks were half a dozen Innocent Smoothies wearing little wooly hats. THEY MADE ME SMILE. So I bought one, and enjoyed my ad hoc picnic, whilst chatting to a lady who was catching a train to Nottingham to stay with her son and to see a musical, before he drove her home on Sunday, and we wondered at a girl taking several selfies of herself on York station under a sign saying Welcome to York.
Back home it was still making me smile and not for one second did I consider putting my hat in the bin. I found a home for it on my window cill on top of this.
Round the back it still has on its label which tells you about the Age Concern campaign to promote the health of older people in Winter.
So not all hats go into land fill. Some hats become the star of a blog post. And this hat makes me smile every time I see it, and I am officially a OAP, even if I don’t really think of myself that way.
Of course this hat doesn’t help older, even older people than me keep warm, but this blanket I have started to crochet, may.
Is it just me or is there something in the October air that says ever so subtly, c r o c h e t a b l a n k e t.
Seems to happen every year.
Meantime YIPPEE, THREE CHEERS, HURRAH, HAPPY DANCE, RUNNING ROUND IN CIRCLES, DON’T KNOW WHERE TO PUT MYSELF, TAHDAH!
Nana for a fourth time to this little chap
Hence forward to be known as Baby J with my middle son , his Daddy Mr J.
So proud! So happy! He was late, and I have been like the proverbial cat on hot bricks for a month ( my babes were all early, so I start the grand child anticipation early too).
We will be hitting the motorways later this month. Can’t wait for my first cuddle.
Precious little knitting this week. I now have a heap of bits
to be turned into something super cute.
Ok time for me to come down to earth and go supermarket shopping. Groan. Normally a Saturday job, but this weekend it’s the Pickering war weekend, at which our little town gets turned into a theme park for 60,000 people. We shall be heading for the hills, metaphor for out for the day away from the hoards who dress up in uniforms, sport medals to which they are not entitled, but the worst are the women who wear dead things round their necks.
So, what is everyone else up to craft wise this weekend? Where do you stand on the Innocent Smoothie hats, or even on the tourist plagues that spoil the very thing they come to enjoy?
Have a great weekend, whatever you do, And Be Happy. I know I am..
Wild Daffodil helped me choose the subject for the prompt this week as I didn’t have a clue. So here he is
My lovely lion.
Next week’s prompt is Muddle, virtually any room in the house would do for this!
Please leave a link to your Regal picture in the comments.
Happy Snapping!
September was another busy month. I think it must have been , because I am a week into October before I have got round to thinking of this post. Let’s just take stock of the 17 goals for 2017 I set myself.
17 swims- just one this month, total now 14. Getting there.
16 hour long walks- achieved already.
15 books read from the heap by the bed- none this month, total still 13
13 cards made. Yes three this month, including this one. Total is 12. Getting there.
12 posts about Yorkshire villages- none this month, total is 4. Not getting there.
11 days out- achieved
10 new things tried- with the Faulty Towers dining experience , some research on the Adele Shaw hospital and the Repair Cafe adding three to the previous total of 9, I have got there. Achieved in September. This is the one I am most pleased with, taking myself just outside my comfort zone.
9 crochet/ knitting projects. Already achieved
8 other craft projects- I made some pressed flower cards, pressed some more flowers, and splashed a lot of paint around, then bined the result of my painting. However that adds two more , making a total of 3. Not getting there.
7 sewing projects- already achieved. However I thought you might like to see the Flamingo skirt on a model. Photo by Mrs T.
Too big, but on, and looking just like a skirt.
6 Non fiction books read still at 5, but I am learning How to read like a Professor still and I spent a lovely afternoon choosing 24 poems from this book, for my U3A poetry group. My turn in October. I had so much fun, I choose another 24 ready for my next turn, sometime in 2018!
5 family history questions answered. I spent as you know some time researching the woollen industry in the 1800s, and I now know what a cloth dresser did, which was my ancestors occupation.
Picture from a Shire booklet I bought. A cloth dresser takes the woven cloth and with those shears sort out the final appearance of the cloth. Not easy and skilled.
So that makes three- Getting there.
4 good sort outs- achieved already, although one needs doing again! Whoops
3 Interesting things found- achieved
2 picnics consumed
1 boat ride-0
0 craft purchases. well it seemed a good idea back in January!
Not too bad, but could do better on some. How are you doing with your goals for this year?
Still 1/4 of the year to go!
nanacathy2
