cosy crochet afternoon...

When the sunny forecast failed to materialise this morning I speeded up my housework. Think Usain Bolt with a hoover. I shelved any thoughts of gardening as it's just so soggy out there at the moment. Instead I took all my WIP's through to the sunlounge, made a cup of tea and took over the entire space for the afternoon. Well that was the plan... and you know what happens to the best laid plans.

A text from Mr H to say that he had finished in London early and was already on the train home. Oh well, I had a nice hour while it lasted. I finished all the zig zag rows on the 'me' blanket and started the edging. The edging is following the 'make it up as you go along' method. I'm glad this was only a 'lapghan' (small blanket in English) because I've learnt a few valuable lessons along the way and will share those in a future post.

Part of the housework this morning involved a little feng shui. It's amazing how the wrong layout of chairs, sofa's and flat surfaces can inhibit my creativity. It also affects how we act as a family.

With this new layout; two sofa's opposite each other and the trunk in the middle (it was just an L-shape before with the trunk tucked away down the side of the sofa) I am already joined by Mr H and his iPad and *J* with his homework. *E*, who specialises in leaving small things all over the house is sure to come along any minute now, swing her legs over the end of the sofa, empty her pockets onto the trunk and tell me about her awful day at school.

Go on, try a bit of feng shui!

hello archie...

Awwwww! How cute is he? An eight week old cocker spaniel. Archie belongs to my Uncle and Aunt which makes him second cousins with Harvey! Yeah I know they're dogs but why not?

Important message for Uncle and Aunt: we'll babysit, anytime, yes I know 200 miles is a long way to go for a babysitter but...anytime, anytime.

Harvey can't wait to meet him!

in praise of pomelo's...



It's nice to know that you can get to the big old four - o in life and not know what a pomelo is. At twenty I thought I'd know all I needed to know by the time I was forty. How wrong can you be?!

Mr H is a bit of a 'foodie' as they call them now. He has as many cook books as I have knitting books (I'm working on the crochet side of things). He loves markets that sell weird and wonderful things from far off lands. Leicester is one of his favourites if he's working in that neck of the woods. He loves to chat to the stallholders and find out about such things.

I'm not such a fan of markets, or market banter but some of the new discoveries are worth hanging about and kicking my heels for. Just recently he picked up this honey pomelo and was told it was 'a chinese orange, just like orange in taste, but sweeter'. The stall holder had obviously never tried one.

It's lucky we all like grapefruit. It tastes just like one bit slightly less bitter. In fact I have looked it up and learnt that a grapefruit is a hybrid of a pomelo and an orange. I should have put something in the photo for scale purposes. If you're not familiar with this fruit - it's the size of a gala melon, roughly. Enough to feed four...

...and enough pith left over to feel another family of four. The pith is very thick.

Markets just got more interesting.

World Book Day...

For a good looking kid, my boy sure does make a good nerd! I had my reservations about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books when he first started reading them; not exactly proper literature, but he's a reluctant reader when there's other things on offer... like sport or PS3.

Every year this dressing up day costs a fortune. This year we managed to get by with just orange hair dye (£4), punched out sunglasses (£2) and nerdy patterned socks (£1.50). Freckles courtesy of Berol felt pens. Checked shirt and American baseball t-shirt he already owned. Slightly too short jeans? Not a problem I told him, all your jeans are too short because you grow faster than I can buy them.

On the subject of books, this time last year I was on a reading binge and had read 22 books in as many weeks. My reading habit ebbs and flows; at the moment it's slow!

crochet 1976 style...

I found this book on a clearance shelf at an Antiques Centre quite a while ago. It was a steal for £1. Published in 1976 the fashion shots in particular are comically dated. I was just a knitter at the time so I didn't even bother reading the crochet section.

This morning the word 'crochet' on my shelf of knitting books caught my eye, and being the organised person that I am (or would like to be) I realised that this book should now be among my crochet books, since I have largely abandoned knitting and can't get enough crochet inspiration.

They really knew how to make clear and concise craft books in those days, I don't even have to get my reading specs out to get the instructions in focus! The clothes may have dated but the colours of this bag wouldn't look out of place in a crochet magazine today.

Though the language may need updating if they were to reissue this book. I don't think the word 'counterpane' is used so much these days.

...and what we all know as a ripple was probably known as chevrons or zig zags back then. It's quite a comprehensive section and includes irish crochet, aran crochet, lace crochet, tunisian crochet, edgings, fastenings, you name it!

Meanwhile my granny zig zag continues to grow...

It would be even further on if I hadn't had to unravel 5 rows! Yes 5 whole rows! I guess that was something to do with crocheting in a hotel room with 3 other people, a dog and a television distracting me - I crocheted a treble cluster into a space I was supposed to skip. I'm being a lot more careful about that now!

superquick, superchunky cowl...

I didn't have to bribe *E* to model the cowl in the end... but I am one cowl down, as she announced 'this cowl is so warm and cosy, I'm claiming it!' We have been slow to catch on to the cowl craze but I plan to make up for lost time. There's more superchunky calling me from the wool cupboard!

The yarn above is Paton's Fab Big (shade 02352) which comes in a 200g ball with a pattern for a knitted loop scarf on the ball band (it takes just one 200g ball to complete this pattern). At about £4-£5 per ball you could have one in every colour in the range and not break the bank!
Using a 15mm crochet hook I started with a foundation chain of 38 stitches. After joining, I alternated between dc rows and treble rows (sc and dc in us terms). At the end of each round I slip stitched to join and used a chain of 1 for a dc (sc) row and a chain of 3 for a treble (dc) row. I carried on until the wool ran out, trying it on now and then to make sure it was working out ok.

There's enough height to this cowl to pull up over your nose if you so wish - which is what I had in mind for those nippy dog walks. I wanted it fairly snug to the neck but you could adjust this by using a longer or shorter foundation chain.

Beginners who don't like joining into the round could easily crochet this as a flat rectangle and whip stitch it together afterwards; it's what I would have done not so long ago.

re...

repurposing



reclining

returning



The sun is out and I've managed to get all our washing processed. The dog has been wading up and down the beck all morning as he is prone to do the minute the sun comes out. The tractors have ploughed the back field. One wet dog plus freshly ploughed field equals... well words fail me.

I've been chucking out dead flowers, saving the pussy willow stems and dried out roses and rose buds. I don't really go in for pot pourri but with a generous sprinkling of Crabtree and Evelyn room spray this seemed to be a good way to upcycle something that still has lovely deep red, pink and yellow hues.

The cat is unimpressed with the state of the dog. He smells like the bottom of a stagnant pond and looks like he was pulled out of one. Despite his best efforts I am still a dog person rather than a cat one, but this morning I thought she looked rather cute curled up in the warmth of the sunlounge so I 'instagrammed' her!

Still on the subject of wildlife, our ducks have returned! We can't be sure whether it's the same pair every year but they usually appear round about March and sometime later we'll have a whole raft of ducklings! Sadly, the pair start off with about 12 or so and by the time they are on their way they usually have about 5 or less. Foxes perhaps? Actually the photo needs some explanation... the ducks are the tiny blobs on the top of the grassy bank - I didn't want to get any closer because they looked peaceful snoozing in the sun!

After all the washing and housework this morning I did a little reclining myself (before the peace was totally shattered by the return of two fast growing children who say 'mum?' far too often). Yes, I reclined with crochet hook in hand and the most chunkiest of chunky wools (ok superchunky then) and whipped up a cowl in less than an hour. More about that later - I need to bribe one of the children into modelling it for me!