garden stuff · general stuff

planting, tick

Do you ever get the feeling that you're travelling through life on an escalator going the wrong way and although you're working pretty hard you are just not making any progress? I'm sure you do as there can't be many of us who escape feeling swamped from time to time. I've certainly been feeling that way lately – for every bit of paperwork I fill in another drops through the letter box, for every blog post I catch up with another 2 appear in my blog reader, for every email I answer another 3 pop into my inbox… you get the picture I'm sure.

 

Chive

 

Not a lot was ticked off my to do list this weekend either. In fact the only tick was vegetable planting with help from Toby and we spent a lot of lovely time in the garden together yesterday (hence the pictures of the chives which were planted last year and are now in full and glorious bloom and attracting a lot of bees).

 

Bee

 

So far this year I've not sown as much as I had planned to. I did have grand vegetable planting plans but they've been scaled back to more manageable proportions and this weekend Toby and I just planted some beans and peas (a little late in the year but hopefully not too late to get a harvest).

 

Chives

 

We've also got earlier plantings of garlic, broccoli and lettuce which are coming up nicely.

 

Raisedbed

 

There are a few little seedlings too which should be ready to plant out soon and with any luck will give us some delicious onion squash in the autumn. Courgette and squash seeds are my favourite to grow. They look just like a childs drawing of a little sprout and they are pretty robust – which is a good thing when Toby is involved in the planting out!

 

Sprouts

 

So that's the news from the garden at the moment. In knitting news there is lots going on with pattern writing but nothing yet finished, just a big old tangle of sample bits – the result of testing out different yarns and tweaking bits and pieces. If you've emailed me for an E.T.A on the next pattern I'm afraid I can't give one yet but I am working on the sweaters, the sneakers and all of the other animals, so they are on the way.

This week is the week of Toby's annual school play so he goes to school from 4pm – 9.30pm which throws everything out of kilter in a big way. And hot on the heels of this week is the school half term break, so I won't be getting on top of my to do list anytime soon and my email backlog is already of embarrassing proportions – I really am sorry if you're waiting for a reply from me.

A couple of people emailed to ask about how I constructed the cushion cover – by the way thanks so much for all of the kind comments about the bench in the previous post. Here is a picture of the back.

 

Edge

 

012

 

The crochet top extends a little way underneath where I've sewn it to a rectangular piece of fabric and left one side open (held in place by saftey pins) incase I need to take the cover off to wash it. In terms of advice for fitting the crochet top I can't give much other than to make a top piece the same size as your foam pad and then make side pieces, checking the fit as you go. It was all a bit make-it-up-as-you-go-along but it seems to work and so far it is standing up well to daily Toby use.

Hope you have a good week, see you soon x

 

 

crafts & knitting

re-purposing

If you've visited with me before you may remember the tiled blanket that I started back at the beginning of 2013.

 

Blanket2

 

I had plans for it to become a throw for the ugly sofa but things had stalled a bit and by the end of last year it was only this big…

 

Blanket

 

Well it has now been given a new purpose in life and after a few weeks of intense hooking I've finished it and I'm so pleased that it is no longer a throw but something more practical. Before I show it to you though, I'll tell you the story of how it came to be the way it is now…

For quite some time now I have been in denial about the enormity of my woolly stash and it has been getting increasingly hard to tuck it all away out of sight and keep it tidy. A few weeks back it had reached critical mass and after tripping over one of my yarn-stuffed bags one too many times (and once he'd stopped swearing) H decided that something had to be done.

Thankfully he appreciates how happy wool and knitting makes me so he'd never give me a hard time for buying more, though he does roll his eyes every-time the postman delivers a squishy packet. Instead, being a very practical chap, he got out his tape measure, work bench and tools and after a couple of trips to the DIY store he had drawn up plans and assembled materials for a storage bench and some extra wall shelves.

After a week of sawing, hammering, painting and generally making sure everything was robust enough to withstand Toby jumping and climbing on it, he had finished and I had a lovely new storage bench that doubles as a seat at our table. There's loads of room within and I've vacuum bagged all of my intact skeins and balls so that they're safe and take up less space but even so it's already pretty full!

 

Bench3

The question then arose of what to put on the top to make it comfy. We ordered a made-to-measure foam pad and I was looking at fabric to make a cover but nothing inspired me until I spotted the tiled throw languishing in a basket. I thought it would make the perfect cover and now it's finished, it does!

 

Bench2

 

All of which leaves me a clear conscience in buying some lovely new yarn, so I have…

 

Littlegreysheep

 

Little Grey Sheep colour work skeins which are truly beautiful and just perfect for the little cotton rabbit jumpers that I'm pattern writing for.

And of course I've had to start another throw to cover the ugly sofa which I'm determind will one day be pretty, but more of that another time x

……………………………………….

PS: Ooops, I forgot to say in the previous post that I'm only at the Creative Sanctuary from 1 – 3pm this saturday (yarn shop day). I've now updated the details

 

crafts & knitting

Yarn shop day

I do love days which are designated as national woolly celebration days and happily we have a lovely one coming up later this week. It's part of the 'Love Your Yarn Shop' campaign from Let's Knit and Let's Get Crafting magazines.

 

Ysd

Yarn Shop Day is on Saturday May 3rd and up and down the country a multitude of local yarn shops are putting on lots of different events. You can find out more on the Let's Knit website where there is a map of yarn shops that have signed up. Lots of designers are involved too, popping into their local yarn shops to do demos and workshops. I'm thrilled to have been asked to be an ambassador and I'm going to be celebrating yarn shop day in my local – The Creative Sanctuary in Hertford (see above, this is the fabric side but there's plenty of yarn too) where I'll be demonstrating mattress stitch from 1pm – 3pm. I'll have lots of knitted bits that people can practice on and I'll also have some bunnies, foxes and elephants with me (the 'stars' of my patterns) so you can prod and poke them to see how they're stuffed and sewn and I'm happy to give advice on any aspect of my patterns or general tips on neatly finishing off knitted projects. If you're able to, do pop along and say Hello.

Whilst I've got you thinking woolly thoughts I'll also mention the Deramores Blog awards 2014 which is open until May 14th. There are 2 awards, one for the best undiscovered crochet blogger and one for the best undiscovered knitting blogger and there's a great array of prizes to be handed out by the talented panel of judges.

 

Deramores

 

Here is what you need to do in words from the Deramores website

"Wherever you are, youโ€™re eligible to enter. Taking part is easy! Be yourself and write a blog post that teaches a knitting or crochet related skill, or shares a top knitting or crochet related crafting tip to meet the theme of the awards; โ€˜Pass it onโ€™. So if you have a skill, share it, and if you swear by a particular way of doing things, pass on that knowledge through your blog."

If you have time pop over and take a look at the entries already submitted, there are some great posts to read through and some lovely tips (I especially like the idea from Kate at Just pootling and I now have luggage labels on my shopping list).

I'm really flattered to be included in Deramores list of blogs they love, especially as I'm in such estimable company.

 

Wishing you a happy yarn shop day on Saturday, I hope you have the chance to support your local yarn shop as we need to preserve our high street woolly treasures as well as enjoying the range that larger online suppliers can offer x