a crochet fix...

Thought the crochet fans amongst you would like a peep at my latest 'acquisition'. I probably should have started a project like this way back in January so I could be wearing one of these light and airy garments round about now... but crochet is so much quicker than knitting right?

I swore I would never crochet clothing items. I think I may have said that about knitted jumpers too and I have knitted a fair few of those. It's obviously something I need to try and get out of my system.

Note to Patons Graphic Designers; using Brushstroke typeface (yuk) in white on a busy background is not user-friendly (see bottom right on my photo). Had you slipped in a 50% tint behind the text and used a darker colour to print 'knit and crochet' it would have been much more visible.

So I have a pattern booklet with not 12 crochet patterns as I was expecting but only 5. Since I can also knit I'm not too disappointed, though I can't imagine picking up the needles and knitting a garment in DK anytime soon.

Just to make up for my scathing comments to Patons (lol), here are a few details in case you're tempted by the cover photo too...

The book is Patons Book No 3800

There are 12 styles from size XXS to XL

Five crochet patterns as follows: Lace top or vest (2 patterns), short sleeve top, top worked in rounds, edge to edge vest

Seven knitting patterns as follows: Fitted lace yoke sweater, rib lace vest or cardigan (2 patterns), lace cardigan or tunic (2 patterns), fitted sweater, sweater worked sideways

Note: when Patons say 'vest' they mean 'waistcoat'

Easy to Intermediate skill levels

They all use Mirage DK which is 50% bamboo and 50% cotton and comes in 50g balls. It has a long colour change effect and there are 6 colourways to choose from: exotic, bright blue mix, soft pink mix, purple mix, soft blue mix and jamaica mix

(my pic shows ten balls of soft blue mix)

I'm most tempted to make the top in rounds but the lace vest is in the running too. Decisions decisions.

today...

Today I...

made orange jelly at 8am (for the children and the big child I'm married to)

failed to get the grass stains out of J's cricket whites

bought my boy a black bento box (Star Wars lunch bags are no longer cool)

wasn't in the mood for crochet so I sorted out my crochet magazines instead, marking all future possibilities with post-its

ordered a pattern book and yarn (oops wasn't going to buy yarn this year, but trust me I needed 10 balls to go with the pattern book and my supplies don't contain batches of ten anything; that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

had a nice chat with a good friend

bought a great second hand book for £1 (Eating for Good Health)

made a scrumptious sunflower and herb dip (from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen)

wore a skin-tight t-shirt (haven't done that for a while)

bought a gooseberry bush...

Yes it was a funny old day.

soda bread...

How can something so perfectly formed and bread-like taste so absolutely disgusting? Blergh! Mr H and I did a little experimental cooking today (a lotta that going on round here at the moment!).

This fab looking soda bread was none other than Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe. I think it is safe to say that brown rice flour does not make a good substitution for gf plain flour. GF or not I can't have white flour so if anyone knows of a foolproof alternative please let me know. (Buckwheat flour makes equally disgusting cakes).

Three of us braved this bread and three of us ran to the bin to spit it out. It's nasty! I doubt the birds would even touch it.

first match of the season...

Hooray! A match was played at last... Matches cancelled: at least 5, matches played: 1. My boy is happy. He took a cracking wicket and bowled a maiden over. Not bad since he only bowled two overs (an U11 club match). Rubbish photo I'm afraid. Child protection and all that... I didn't zoom in for that reason and the light was beginning to go. J is the lanky one who appears to be all legs, just left of the boy bending down.

It was a gloriously sunny evening but soon began to get chilly. E, who always moans about coming with us, enjoyed a two hour session on the swings with her headphones on. She said it was soooo relaxing. I shall shove her out of the back door towards our own garden swing next time she needs to chill out.

On another note, I've decided that posting every few days just doesn't feel right to me. I like the rhythm of posting daily. So I shall endeavour to post daily once more.

scenery for the soul...

I'm lucky to be married to someone who understands my need for hills and coastal scenery from time to time. Today was one of those 'times' so we headed for the hills. Yes there are a few in Lincolnshire; the Lincolnshire Wolds. I was mighty relieved to find they existed when I first moved here.

It was just the three of us with *J* at a friend's for the day. *E* enjoys scenery with headphones on these days so it felt like just the two of us for the journey. It was a pleasantly warm 17 degrees when we set off with t-shirts and sunglasses on.

Mr H joked that we were driving away from the sunny weather, and indeed it did look grey ahead. I was the eternal optimist of the day and said that it would probably blow over by the time we got there. So we found ourselves driving through Tennyson country enjoying the rolling hills, fields of bright yellow rape, coppery swathes of beech trees... and then the temperature started dropping, and dropping and we were suddenly driving through hail that was falling fast enough to create a sheet of white (I didn't dare open the car window for a photo!). It was 3 degrees and looked like deepest darkest winter.

Luckily it went away as quickly as it came and the temperature rose to a pleasant level just as we stopped off at a small market town for one of these...

No, not for me unfortunately. *E* scoffed this little lot. Green tea is pleasant but not quite in the same league. They were truly testing my dedication to my new regime by having bacon sandwiches too. Not remotely tempted. Nope.



thankful...

I've been deep in thought these last few days. Getting a sense of perspective. I've also been quite busy... doing a lot of the small jobs that were on my mind over the last few weeks. Not being well for quite some years meant being skilled in the art of doing a little each day in order to achieve or complete a bigger task. So, potting on some sunflowers was just a small part of making the garden a little more colourful this year. Filling one bag of old clothes for charity was just a small part of getting our bedroom ready for decorating, and so on.

The job that was most satisfying was finally getting round to filling a large empty multi-frame with family photographs. The photo above is of my ultra cool brother and his equally cool girlfriend walking back from an incredibly long walk through fields and woodlands on a holiday in Kent a few years ago. In fact the children look about 9 and 6, so roughly 6 years ago. It was one of those lovely warm evenings (probably afternoon when we set off) and the only thing we took with us was an ordnance survey map. Naturally some of the paths had been untrodden for years and were vague. Naturally we had to find sticks just the right size and straightness to walk with, and naturally it felt just great to be out in the kind of countryside I grew up in (in neighbouring Sussex), doing just what we used to do as kids. Simple pleasures.

This photo captures the carefree atmosphere perfectly, when I look at it I can almost smell that air.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust



new ripple blanket...or rug?

Starting a new crochet project is a bit like scratching an itch I've decided! I've been wanting to get rid of my cheap, acrylic yarn stash for a while now and with a little time to ponder just lately I came up with the idea of using multiple strands and a biggish hook to make some kind of rug or blanket. I haven't made a rug before so it's new territory for me. I reckoned that if this ripple design using three strands of dk came out nice and thick I would use it as a rug and if it not then it would become a nice warm blanket... trouble is it feels as though it could be either at the moment. It's certainly warm under foot and it's warm across my lap too. I'll decide when it's a bit further on!

If you are already familiar with ripples - this is a 135 chain foundation row, 7dc to the peak, 3dc in same stitch, 7dc to the valley, skip 2, and so on. On the last bit of the row, 6dc, skip1, 1dc. ch1 for turning. To change colours I just cut one colour and introduced one new colour each time. Three strands of dk seems to work comfortably on an 8mm hook... and the wool is disappearing fast!