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Tuesday 31 July 2012

Day Two of Annual Leave. I had a light bulb go on above my head a couple of hours ago. I was up at 5am with my partner and when he went out, I decided to sit in bed with the laptop and watch 'roundthetwist' podcast and do some knitting. Then I got up at 7am, wrote my Day One Annual Leave (see previous post) and since 8am I have been doing housework. Well that was not the light bulb moment, this was the light bulb moment.
It might not look much but the net curtain was not 'gathered enough' and has been bugging me for over a year. Instead of going out and buying a net curtain with the appropriate gathering, I decided to cut the bleeding thing in half and now 'VOILA' I have a perfectly gathered two piece. I am well pleased with it and I used two old hair bobbles to bring each one together at the bottom. Isn't that a light bulb moment and not a penny spent. I did clean the inside of the windows but not the outside because typical British weather, its peeing down and chilly after having such a lovely sunny day yesterday. I think HIM up there knew I wanted to wash my windows today and thought, lets make it rain to stop Sue from doing it. It did not deter me though, I washed the heavy curtains with a mega load of Surf laundry detergent and Comfort softener and put them straight back up whilst wet. I have left the small window open for a while and I have a lovely smell in the living room of the laundry detergent. (WHO NEEDS A PLUG IN). Anyway, I have still got lots of the day left (its only 10am as I write this) so have made a cup of coffee and enjoying a NICE biscuit. Here's a picture of Tammie to end the post on and I will catch up with more later.....
Annual leave starts here. Yep, Day One was yesterday and we went to Hadleigh Castle at Leigh on Sea. It was warm but with a refreshing breeze and the walking, oh my god, we did some walking.
This picture shows that we are at the top of one big mumma hill and when you get to the end you have to go over a 'stye' if thats the right spelling. Basically you climb up onto two steps (made out of wood), cock your leg over a a fence and then back down onto another two steps. Then there is an almighty hill to walk up that is so steep it gets your heart rate going. You then find this big beauty at the top with a perimeter wall that was dated back to the 16th century.
The views are quite breath taking, especially when you think your still in Essex. There were fields of hay stacks ready to be collected, a railway link called 'c2c' which goes all the way to Fenchurch Street in London. We noticed some people walking through a gate and thought we might be able to get to a much nearer train station but alas, nope. Instead we found a Salvation Army cafe up on top of another hill and they had toilets (yay for toilets) and we sat and had a well deserved ice cream. We had to walk all the way back to Leigh on Sea train station which seemed quicker going back and by the time we got to the train station, both me, my partner F and my little dog Tammie were quite knackered. When you come out of Leigh on Sea train station and do a right, there is a cute little fishing village with not a lot there but fresh fish huts. There's a gorgeous little beach and a nice pub, we sat in the garden and had a meal. (Quite pricey but the food was delicious). The pub is called 'The Crooked Billet' and my partner said that he read a book recently which involved the area we were in so it made interesting viewing of the sites.
Mind you, the area is pricey for eating out. One fish and chip shop wanted £7.50 per person (get outta here) and there was a cute little tea room too but they were even dearer than the chippy. By the time we got home it was around 4pm and we had a nap in the bedroom with Tammie curled up too and then my good god, I must have been made. I got the ironing board out and did some whilst my partner sat up and read his latest book. IRONING ON MY ANNUAL LEAVE ( yes I have gone mad ). Afterwards, we sat downstairs for a couple of hours with a cuppa and a snack and I started knitting on my own design of a project. Here is a glimpse.
Thats my crochet project bag that I made many moons ago and in front of it is my project I am knitting. Its in the round, with beads threaded onto Blue Faced Leicester Sock Yarn. I kind of wanted to have a go at designing something with beads so at the moment, I am 'winging' it with ideas as I go along. It's definitely going to be a scarf that you can wrap around your neck twice or have hanging but I am not sure how much depth its going to have. I am using size 4mm Knit Pro circulars and have 340 stitches on them. (yikes). After watching some mindless tv, we then totted up to bed by 10pm. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Tuesday 24 July 2012

I am winding down now. Got two weeks annual leave soon and can't wait. Really need a break from work.
I crocheted a Hugs & Kisses Pram blanket for a family member's baby due in September. I made 3 panels instead of the 6 to 8 panels. The pattern comes from a book called 'A Year of Afghans'. I was then asked to make a child's play pram set. I did this in a few evenings and its come out really well. I had to re-watch a youtube tutorial to remind myself on how to do the Catherine Wheel Stitch and it didnt take long to remember. I am now going to make a pillow to go with it and possibly, a little pram bag for the two year old to put her dolly nappy in.
I have stopped reading for a while, I just cant get into books at the moment. I love my crocheting even more so now, especially when someone has asked me to make something. I will get my knitting out again soon, I want to carry on with my own design cowl for the autumn. I have also been cooking a lot too and trying to keep the 3 stone off. I have so far, but its not easy. Other than it being extremely hot here and hoping the summer continues into my holidays.