Sick Day

People have been dropping like flies at work over the last few weeks and I rather smugly felt like I was fit and healthy, but a bit of a cough turned out to be covid after all. The advice is very ambiguous these days, but I messaged work to say I was staying home. So I got up early anyway and sat in the garden while it was still cool and worked on my sprog blanket. Did I mention the sprog? Grandsprog number two is due in December so I am making a miniature version of the blanket I made for mum and dad five years ago:

I hoped to spot a leaf cutter bee who have been busy in the garden but only a lovely honey bee came back and forth to the lavender flowers:

White poppies are loving the heat and seem to curl their petals up at night to sleep:

I removed the Cabbage White eggs that I found on my Daubenton Kale (from the Backyard Larder) (which I thought I had posted about, but it seems not) and some tiny caterpillars on the other kale, but then I spotted this lovely Holly Blue, which is much more welcome:

Something else had obviously been visiting the garden because I found several folded leaves on the physocarpus opulifolius; I peeped inside this one to find a little caterpillar:

And, I assume, some other kind of bug is ensconced in this curled leaf on one of the fuchsia plants that appears to have been sealed with a piece of petal:

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the cucamelon plant is taking over:

It turns out my colleagues don't mind about me having an infectious disease so, since I am not actually ill, I'm going back to work tomorrow.

Stay safe. Be kind. Try not to cough on people.

100 Days - Long term projects (day 77)

 I wrote about pistachios way back at Day 2 and I am pleased to say I found a use for the buckets of shells that we have accumulated over the year.

When we moved to Prestage Street I started making a pouffe out of random left over yarn. Like many projects it was abandoned in favour of more interesting things.

At some point I searched for suggestion for what to do with the pistachio shells and came across the idea to use them like beanbag filling.

They are covered in salt so I washed them in a big tub and then dried them in the yard (this is just one of four batches):

and then sewed some fabric bags to try and keep them in shape (time will tell how this works out):

Last night I finally put the whole thing together. The top and sides were one piece then a separate circle for the base. I bought a thick piece of foam to add on the top after Toby commented that it would be a bit lumpy (from Manchester Foam who will cut any thickness to any size for you). By the bins a month or two ago I found some abandoned kitchen units and removed one of the back pieces of hardboard and cut a circle to make a solid base. Then I crocheted on the circle base with double thickness yarn. It weights a ton but is pretty comfy. It's only taken me two years to finish.

And sometimes we do quick projects. Monkey picked up a set of the cutest cookie cutters when we went to Ikea recently. Using this BBC Mary Berry recipe we rustled up some moose cookies:

Stay safe. See you tomorrow.

#100DaysToOffload

100 Days - will my post come today part 2 (75th day)

 

I wrote back in April about the stress that the mail system has been under during the current pandemic. Things have not got any better. This is my payslip that arrived this morning. It was supposed to be delivered last Thursday. Mail and packets are piling up on some walks. A warden from some old people's flats came in yesterday claiming they had not had post for a fortnight. This was not the case but I could only apologise and be honest about the struggles, and tell her that they would probably only get deliveries a couple of times a week. So, people of Britain, please bear with us. I am sorry if your birthday cards don't arrive on time. Know that all the posties are doing their utmost to get the work done. We have both agency staff and a couple of Christmas temps in our office (never had Christmas temps before) but the increased workload of Christmas shopping is only going to make it worse. If you are sending gifts, cards or something important try and allow a couple of extra days to allow for the fact that walks are not going out every day. And don't give your postie a hard time about it. Thanks.

(This is not official Royal Mail advice, please see the RM coronavirus page for info.)

In better news I finished Michelle and Clive's sofa blanket and rode over to Salford on Saturday morning and had a doorstep cup of tea and lovely chat with her. 

Going to Dunk's for a cuppa now. 

Stay safe. See you tomorrow.

#100DaysToOffload

100 Days - seventy two: sneak peek

 

Little sneak peek at the sofa blanket I am making for my oldest friend Michelle (oldest as in known the longest, not that she's old) who got married last month. I watched her ceremony on facebook while I was at work. Between customers I managed to see the 'I will' and the kiss and the sign the register bits and miss all the hymns. Her hubby looks nice, I hope I get to meet him some time. Bloody lockdown spoiling the nice bits of everyone's lives. On the plus side Claire now has a complete chain for her house sale/purchase and we are going to make a start on balcony blankets so we can sit out in the sea breeze and look at the beautiful sea.

#100DaysToOffload

Projects old and new

Back in September last year we went to Yarndale and I bought this lovely merino yarn from Woosheeps to knit a Nori dress. Unfortunately I completely miscalculated how much yarn I needed so it is only a  top, but I still absolutely love it. I changed the pattern quite a bit, stopping the increases at the armpits because it was beginning to flare out too much. The partly crocheted top sat in the corner of the living room for some months while other projects too precedence, but I finally finished it just in time for the hot weather. Note to self ... keep a nice summer shawl around when you go out because my shoulders are not used to being exposed to the sunshine.

The socks have been my project at Dunk's. I like to leave my stuff lying around so he remembers to invite me over for cake. They are made with the Undercover Otter yarn that we bought in Amsterdam back in November. I am doing a few hexipuffs with the leftover nugget.

My 'jumper of a million ends' however only took a month to knit. This silly first photo shows all the dangling ends, which I have no intention of sewing in. 

I am so pleased with the finished object. 

I love the random stripes and it is wonderfully cosy. It reminds me of why I loved the yarn and am I looking forward to getting a lot of wear from it this autumn. Dunk's blanket is my main current project, but no sneak peeks, he has to wait until it's done.

Growing and making things part five-ish

Quite by accident, although I had made a list of a few yarn shops, we came across 'Stephen and Penelope's', a delightful little shop on Nieuwe Hoogstraat. They have the most fabulous selection of hand dyed yarn from all over the world. I wanted something local however so I bought some Undercover Otter (what a brilliant name, would love to know the story behind that). The little ones are for very expensive hexipuffs and the big hank for some random project I will give due consideration to.

I came home and set too with a vengeance to finish a few projects. My 'Lost in Time' shawl is now done. I can't seem to get a photo that shows the colour very well, but you get the idea. 

The Nori dress is making excellent progress, 

but only because I ran out of yarn for the Lilliana blanket that will be a present for mum and dad. This is a little sneak peek because I know mum comes and reads my blog sometimes 

(look away now mum):

The tomato plants in the porch were slowly giving up the ghost. I have continued to pick the tomatoes as they ripened over the last few weeks so I plucked these remaining fruits and then put the plants in the recycle bin. It has been a very satisfying exercise to grow them and I will start earlier next year. I think I just about covered the cost of the plants.

All the yarn

Today we took a trip to Yarndale and looked at, and stroked, all the yarn. It took us many, many hours. We admired the needle felting, cooed over the angora bunny, sniffed the unwashed fleece and were complemented on our knitted garments. Then we had some tea. Then we stroked more yarn. There was much debate over whether baby yak or baby alpaca is softer. Opinion remains divided on the subject. We tried to keep track of the stands we planned to return to after our perusal of the entire show, but things never work out as planned. 


I bought some Angus gradient yarn from WooSheeps, to make a Nori dress:

And some Silk Cloud recycled sari silk yarn from La La With Love:

Many, many fabulous yarn shops are out there, and this was a wonderful way to find some new ones, often people spinning and dying their own, here are some that we visited: midwinter yarns, FeltStudioUK, Cat and Sparrow, Pook GB, Tall Yarns (who also do wonderful linen clothing), Blacker Yarns, Fig Tree Yarns, Easyknits, Whistlebare, Injabulo (handwoven baskets and bowls from recycled wire).

Meanwhile back at home projects have been coming along, some more speedily than others.

My Lost in Time shawl is finally making progress, having stalled due to bad stitch counting:

I knit a 'Five Hour Baby Cardigan' in about five hours, and a little hat in about two. These are for a colleague at work who is expecting a baby later this year:

And Claire's grannie square blanket has been completed and dispatched. I was completely thrilled with how beautiful it is; it was meant to be a birthday present but I couldn't wait to give it to her. 

Growing and Making things post

I planted the tomatoes about eight weeks ago now; they have reached the ceiling of the porch (well the big one has):

There are lots of flowers ... and lots of fruits:

They have been joined by a courgette plant and a squash plant; lots of flowers, no fruits yet:

The basil on the kitchen window sill has been joined by a chilli plant, that has sprouted these lovely delicate white flowers:

The avocado pit is coming along well. I have managed to sprout these before but they have usually withered and died once the plant was six inches or so. I have been following these helpful instructions. It did take about six or seven weeks for the root to grow and may take a few more before we get a sprout, the advice is to be patient:

In the garden the apples

and pears are all relishing the sunshine:

I finished my Shalom cardigan in time for Jo and Jan's wedding in May, though it still lacks a button. It is made in Noro Ginga that I bought in the sale from Black Sheep Wools. It is a lovely simple pattern, I have made one previously as a present for mum:

Still working on the grannie squares, more than 100 so far, out of 144:

Still working on the hexipuffs. Monkey has also been making one a day for a while now and I am guessing we are approaching the 400 mark. The pink one with PW on is stuffed with gleaned sheep wool collected on our walk on the Pennine Way. I have a couple of others labelled L and P stuffed with wool collected in the Lake District and Peak District respectively:

Works in Progress

Stuff going on at home at the moment, besides worrying about the outcome of the election.

Tomato plants from Unicorn potted up in the porch (which is something like a greenhouse much of the summer), in three year old home made compost. I have only been intending to do this for the entire time we have lived here, so six years later I get around to it:

Three weeks later they are looking pretty good. I kept the sign from the NHS protest we went to back in March, and it has come in very handy as a plant support. 

Crochet blanket for Claire is coming along well, over half way towards my 144 granny square target.  I sorted the yarn stash and gave the project its own box.

And a trip to town with the girls yielded a lovely wicker basket in which I have hidden my Turkish Coat project. I have done bits of it occasionally but the mammoth task of hand quilting the pieces turned it from a labour of love into just a labour. I need new impetus to renew my enthusiasm.

Julie had a stash clear out and gave me some yarn, partly to encourage my crochet ambitions, and she started me on the Lost in Time shawl. I have combined it with some leftover from my Still Light Tunic. It is slow going but is going to be beautiful.

Biannual snooze on the sofa day

Life potters on, we read, and make stuff, and occasionally go to work. I took a brief break from the crochet granny squares (which are coming along pretty well),

to make a pair of socks,

and then another Shalom cardigan. 

I made one for mum quite a few years ago, and decided that an upcoming family wedding was an excellent excuse to make on for myself to go with my yellow Gudrun dress. Unfortunately I didn't order enough yarn ... oh what a pity, another visit to Black Sheep will be necessary.

Tomorrow sees Monkey and I settling down on the sofa for the Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. We have been partaking in this for several years, and although we invariably do have a nap at some point we have cake and snacks to sustain us through the wee small hours. It feels wrong that we need an excuse to just read all day.