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Monday 21 July 2014

Stormy weather

Yep, it's been humid, completely and utterly energy draining humid and what's worse than that?  Sitting in my office at work for eight hours with no window, air conditioning or a decent cooling system that won't blow my papers off the desk.  Anyway, I promised I won't moan anymore other than THANK GOD we have had some storms.  We even had thunder, lightening and a heavy downpour of rain which always reminds me of the weather we use to get in the 80's during the summer holidays.  I remember bone trembling thunder and lightening and Mum having the front door open to see it all.  Now of course, it doesn't scare me, I quite like to hear it, to smell that breeze of fresh air blowing around and the colour's in the sky from the clouds.

Oh well, enough about English weather and onto my projects.  I have finished the Opal Sock's and am left with about 50g of yarn so I think I will make a sock blanket (we will see).  I did start a pair of fingerless mitts but I have got so many and unless someone says to me 'Sue, can you knit me a pair of mits' I might as well just collect a stash of sock yarn for now.  Here are the socks ............

 
All I have to do now is sew in the ends and then they are ready for the winter.  They are so warm and cosy and could be house socks or bed socks or even boot socks. 

I have also started a Christmas project which is quite a basic pattern but so eye catching.  It's a Granny Square Blanket from this book called 'Crochet, The Complete Step by Step Guide' .......

It' just plain squares with a white border and the colours are a solid mixture of soft summer colours.  The pattern says 84 squares for a single bed and doing only 5 rounds per square but I am doing 8 rounds before I do the white borders because I want it to fit a double size bed.  I will aim to do 100 squares which is a bit daunting but if I can finish the Primrose Afghan in three months doing 600 little flowers, I'm sure doing 100 granny squares would be a doddle!  

I actually started using the Primrose Afghan the weekend. It was sitting on the shelf in the back bedroom and even though it's too hot for a duvet, I do like my bed to look nice and inviting after a stressful day so I stripped the bed, put clean covers on, laid the primrose afghan on top and folded the duvet back a bit.  It look's so inviting!


Tammie was a bit unsure when she jumped up onto the bed (I wonder if dog's can see bright colours), she actually laid down on the folded back bit of the duvet for a while before she tentively walked onto the flowers.  Mind you, it was kicked back after a while because it's so humid at night.  

I don't have any latest photo's of the park at the moment, I have been walking through as normal every day and there's been quite a few occasions where I could have easily just sat there and stayed there for ages instead of going to work.  But a girl has to earn her pennies so I carried on walking whilst moaning and groaning about what the day has ahead for me.   The water level at the park's lake has dropped an incredible amount and it goes to show you how hot it has been. I thought the heavy rain may have helped it but not at all.  The baby coot's are not babies now, they are as big as their parent's and are running up to the railings to get the food most of the time (even though the parent's are still hunting around for them with a beak full of food that the baby coot just pinches).

The local school's are all packing up for the summer holidays which means there wont be as much noise on my busy road.  The traffic almost halves when the kid's are not at school and even the park in the morning's is not as noisy with youth's from the local secondary school.  

Oh well, that's it for now I'm afraid.  I have gone a bit quiet on here lately and it's not cause I am getting bored or anything, I am just being like a robot at the moment, trying to keep busy and coping with one day at a time.  I try not to think about tomorrow much because it make's my nerves bad and causes me sleepless nights so I try to get through the day at work, walk Tam, get ready for bed by 7pm and do some crochet or knitting till I fall asleep.  (Let's face it, the tv lately is absolute rubbish).

Have a good week and I hope to post on here again some time soon......




Sunday 13 July 2014

Blooming Garden




These were taken yesterday (Saturday) and the garden is blooming lovely.  It was quite cold in the morning and was threatening rain but by mid morning it got really humid and warm. Frank popped round and he cut the grass for me and then we relaxed for a while before popping out to local shops to get Tammie's chicken that she has to have.

I have been knitting another pair of socks but this time they are for me.  I am using the Opal Sock Yarn which cost £9.50 a ball and I can honestly say it is well worth it.  I am on my second sock, I have knitted a provisional cast on toe up, done the instep, done the sweet tomato heel and am now doing the ankle and cuff.  I still have around 50g left so got enough for gloves or another pair of socks.  I am debating whether to start a sock blanket in self striping yarn's as I get leftovers but am thinking shall I do mitred squares (no), strips of stripes (maybe) or a corner to corner square (not sure).   They are certainly going to be winter socks because they feel so warm on. Here's a picture...


Oh well, that's it for now. There's still no change here and am still not feeling right, so I guess I just have to take each day as it comes and hope I can cope with it all.  Have a good week and I will leave you with a photo of my best friend....




Tuesday 8 July 2014

Craft frenzy

Hi, sorry it's been a while since I wrote on here.  Been going through a lot of crap at the moment and I haven't felt very sociable.  We all get like that I suppose and I go quiet at times and all I have been doing is crafting....a lot.  I am back to being like a robot again, work, dog and then crafts, day in, day out and here is what I have been making...



The blue socks are from Wendy D Johnsons, Socks from the Toe Up book and it involves a provisional cast on with a crochet chain.  I really do like this technique and i finished these socks within a few days and gave them to Ma as a gift.  She really liked them.  

The first photo is of the same toe up socks using Opal Sock Yarn which was £9.50 a ball and I thought it was really expensive but to be honest, it is definetely a sock yarn.  They seem hard wearing, stitch formation is tight and they are soft.  I did do something differently though, I decided to do a Sweet Tomato Heel which was designed by Cat Bhordi.  I had a look on youtube and came across it and it's so easy to do.  There's no wrapping of stitches, no picking up gusset stitches and there is definetely no holes either in the heel.  I would recommend this heel and toe techniques to anyone who has a little experience of a sock formation because they fit lovely.

Finally, about two weeks ago I needed to get out of the house and get some solitude and I walked through my park with Tammie and I walk past this tree every day and never really stood under the protective branches, so I walked over to it and it sounds strange and no I didn't hug the tree, I just touched it.  I felt protected, it sounds weird but the minute I walked underneath the branches,  I felt hugged.   I took some photo's whilst Tammie was having a sniff around and I just stood there.  It was so peaceful and promised myself I will do that again.




That's it for now....hope everyone is good and enjoying the summer.  Personally, I will be glad when this year is over.  Take care xxx