Here today and gone tomorrow...

The more it
Snows-tiddley-pom
The more it
Goes-tiddley-pom
The more it
Goes-tiddley-pom
on
Snowing.

And Nobody
Knows-tiddley-pom,
How cold my
Toes-tiddley-pom
Are Growing.

It came, it came down fast, we slept, it melted, it melted fast. It is now sunny.

Four inches of snow just disappeared overnight. The weather forecast predicted all this of course, there are no surprises anymore.

...and so my crochet blanket for Jake grows.

Winter walks, step by step...

Step one: leave your perfectly good 4x4 car at home and take the just cleaned family car two miles up a dirt track with more pot holes than tarmac.

Step two: breathe in the arctic air and make pleasant remarks about the lovely trees (husband doesn't give a toss about trees because he is wearing totally inadequate footwear).

Step three: tell the dog that if he thinks you are taking your gloves off in this weather to throw a muddy stick he can think again, then throw it a hundred times anyway.

Step four: come across lovely footbridge with rope and think how nice this area will be in twenty years time when the thousands of new saplings have grown.

Step five: admire teasel heads and try and take an arty photograph of them (and fail miserably)

Step six: try taking arty photograph of afore mentioned bridge instead and blame the weather and low light levels for dull photo.

Step seven: get out of the way fast when dog finds suitably deep and muddy puddle to hurtle through.

Step eight: load stinking, shivering, soaking wet dog into boot of car and remark (with totally numb face) how lovely the walk and fresh air had been.

Correspondence from the cat...

Simplified granny hexagon...

I've had a pattern request for the colourful hexagons I was experimenting with recently. It's always nice to hear from blog readers. As a result I will now be attempting a written pattern! I have called it a simplified granny hexagon because there are quite a few variations out there and a lot of them seem to use 3dctogs or puff clusters. I have dispensed with that and used dc (us) or tr (uk) throughout. It is much easier to remember if you put it down for a week and come back to it!

Blogger for the iPad has improved considerably lately but I am still waiting patiently for more control over photo placement. Currently I can only place them after the text. I could get round this by doing multiple posts but that would be a bore to link back to, so I will just have to hope you can work out which pictures correspond to which bits of the pattern. It is fairly obvious because most rounds begin in a new colour. So here goes...

Using yarn and appropriate hook (I used DK with a 4mm hook)
I am using U.S. terminology simply because that was preferred by my lovely blog reader who requested the pattern.

1st colour: Start with a magic circle, ch 3, 11dc (U.S. terminology), slip stitch (ss) in 3rd st of initial 3ch, fasten off.

2nd colour: in any space between dc's - ch 3, dc in same space, 2dc in each space around (12 pairs of dc's) ss in top ch of initial 3 ch as before, fasten off.

3rd colour: ch3 (counts as first dc) 3dc in each space between pairs of dc's. ss as before, fasten off.

4th colour: ch3, * ss in 1st space between 3dc group, repeat from * to end, ending with a ss under the first 3ch made, ch3.

Shape hexagon as follows: corners are 3dc, 2ch, 3dc and 3dc in between each corner. Making sure that you work by placing hook under each ch3 made on previously made.

Looking at the photos should make things much clearer. I am not a professional pattern writer so don't hesitate to let me know if I have made a mistake somewhere.

If you don't like magic circle starts you can just as easily chain 3, 4 or 5 and join to make a circle, then dc into the circle 12 times.

If you already know how to join as you go this will obviously be undertaken in the final round. Be warned, it is quite fiddly with hexagons!

Splashing out...

I seem to have reacquainted myself with Sue Townsend just recently. Last read circa 1980 something; the brilliant Adrian Mole of course. I had a vague idea that more Adrian Mole had been written but didn't have a strong desire to read what he had been up to at the age of 39. I didn't want to spoil that little bit of childhood magic.

Quite where I have been while other books of hers have been published I have no idea but I was tempted by 'The Woman who went to Bed for a Year' I mean who hasn't thought of doing that from time to time? You haven't? Oh, just me then.

It was a welcome light read and a funny one just when I needed it (rotten cold and other stresses). I won't spoil the ending for those of you that haven't read it but I was sad when I put it down and wanted more of the Townsend magic and humour.

A quick trip to Oxfam books and I picked up two more. Most definitely not themes that I would normally choose; Number Ten and Queen Camilla. In other words, politics and the royal family; not really my cup of tea for book subjects. I am a little way into Number Ten and loving it.

Incidentally, I really must consider attire other than worn in jeans when I browse my local Oxfam book store. I was asked if I needed any help and I explained that I was looking for anything by Sue Townsend. The helpful woman (of mature years) said that if I found any books that I could not afford today they could put them to one side and I could pay for them another day. I felt so extravagant buying two books for £2 each!

A blanket for my little rock...

Goodness knows how many reincarnations this project has had before settling on a stripey blanket! There were thoughts of baby blankets (quick, satisfying project but no babies in sight!). There were thoughts of cushions (I have a fear of making cushion openings). Then I decided on a second lounge blanket, which it will be, but I am making it with Jake in mind. He really appreciates my blankets. The basket of aran wool (below) is what I need to use up. His favourite colour is red so there'll be a splash of that in it for him.

I started off with big squares in mind but due to wool calculations and boredom I have decided to do each square in two colours, so it will look more like stripes really. I am aiming for a single bed size. The current width is about half of that so I'll be making two huge strips, and joining them together.

I am using a stitch which seems to have several different names. Some call it baby blanket stitch, some call it ripple fan stitch. I think there are more variations too. It looks like it will take an age but it seems to work up quite quickly. I keep telling myself it isn't too girly for a boy. Just need to make sure the border is manly!

Mind you, the boy in question will be wearing a dress round about now and sporting a large handbag with shocking pink elbow length velvet gloves! They were given a short play, a list of parts and they had to quickly bag the part they wanted. J wanted a part with minimal lines and so quickly bagged the Queen's part before he realised it would require a dress! We are all still killing ourselves with laughter, especially since the last time he took part in a play he was a rock. Yep, your read that correctly; a rock. That was simply because he didn't want any lines at all. Progress, of a sort.

Big junk and tiny junk...

Just when I thought my cold/flu thing had gone it sneakily came back with a vengeance. My theory is that the flu capsules only put off the inevitable.

Other stressful things haven't helped this last week and my crochet mojo is even more lacking than before. I have settled on a project at last though; some rather large squares for another blanket. My last one (aran afghan) was quite a weighty thing in 63% wool and quite unsuitable for throwing in the washing machine. The current one has less wool content and is machine washable. Motivation has at last kicked in and I think this is largely due to how well used the existing one is.

Anyway, on to the subject of junk! M and I went for a browse in Horncastle this morning. The town is full of junk and antique shops, including an old church stuffed to the rafters. We weren't really looking for anything in particular except a certain woodworking tool that we probably had no chance of finding (needle in a haystack).

We usually just buy small and cheap things that are fun and we like, preferably useful though. Today was the exception and it took a while to convince M that we had stumbled upon the perfect bedside tables! They were labelled as small chests of drawers (M has no imagination when it comes to furniture!). A further problem is that we are not really ready for them because our bedroom is the last room to be decorated and currently holds a bit of excess junk from the space that will be knocked through for a kitchen this year. That's how second hand buying goes though. Buy it when you see it. M is still wondering whether £50 each for solid pine was a rip off. I think not! They weigh a tonne and won't fall apart any time soon.

Our second purchase was also a big lump of wood. A crudely carved or turned pot. M and I love it. E wasn't so sure about it. I think it will make a nice rustic utensil pot for the new kitchen.

...and finally the tiniest piece of junk, and I am so glad I spotted it while we were paying for the big junk. A piece of Rye pottery. Absolutely no idea what they sold it as in the first place, perhaps a trinket dish. It's a little piece of Sussex, a piece of home, I will definitely smile every time I look at it. The best pound I have spent lately!