Rainy days and Monday's...

I haven't been watching the televised news and weather lately but I'm sensing that this British Summer must be heading for the record books as the wettest for some time. It is holding up our repair work on the workshop roof; every time M gets a free afternoon due to a job finishing earlier than expected (or someone not showing up for their court appearance) he comes home hoping to take the rotten old roof off and get started on attaching the new one. This can't be done in heavy rain.

M had a whole day free this week but the forecast was grim and the skies were dark and ominous, so we did the only sensible thing and headed for the coast! I mainly associate the seaside with winter walks with a dog, since that's what we used to do when we lived near the coast in Sussex. As a family I don't think we ever spent a day on a beach in the summer. I don't think I've ever spent such a wet day at the beach as our visit to Cleethorpes though! Oh wow, it was seriously chucking it down!

We found a quirky cafe for a large coffee while we waited for a break in the rain, the break didn't come. So we moved swiftly between charity shops while I picked up a few paperbacks. Finally a short break in the rain meant we could take advantage of the bargains that are only to be had in a town like Cleethorpes; dog beds for £4 each! Springer Spaniel sized too! I usually buy old woollen blankets from charity shops for them but these come with comfy padding and at £4 we can chuck them when they get too mucky.

Taking home a bundle of rock for the kids was essential even though they are now 15 and 18 years old. Also essential is eating a cone of chips under a chip shop canopy while it carries on chucking it down like there's no tomorrow. Although I was dressed for the weather, M wasn't so we had to miss out on the walk along the promenade. He thought I was joking when I suggested that. I wasn't. At least we laughed a lot. Something I very much needed to do.

So today, guess what? Yep, it's raining again! I have managed to mow the front and back lawns, cut the front hedge back so that we can get to the caravan more easily, jet wash the caravan (it was turning green) and get the mower, hedge trimmer and jet washer all back inside my shed before the heavens opened. My knee is in pretty bad shape now but it was worth it to actually get something done rather than putting it off because it might rain.

I feel I have earned the right to sit down and do a spot of crochet now. The blue/greyish square is the CAL week eleven design. Not a big fan. It seems kind of unstable and flimsy compared to the other squares but hopefully it will hold up to being sewn in with them. At least it is a fairly simple square and works up quickly. This is the unblocked one and I have another on the blocking board.

I'm still a bit restless with the blanket as my main crochet project every day so I've been dabbling with some new textures/stitches. I came across a photo of something that looked like honeycomb and decided to try and replicate it since the photo wasn't linked to a crochet site unfortunately. Eventually I googled likely names for this stitch and found some instructions under the search 'crocheted textured wave stitch'. It's just slip stitches and half trebles and a pattern repeat of four rows. I've started a hat using this stitch and the side to side method I used a lot for my batch of Christmas hats. It's fairly slow even in Aran weight yarn with a 5.5mm hook but worth it for something slightly different. If it turns out to be a good fit for an average adult head I will attempt to write the pattern down. It's about time I put some free patterns in my side bar!