Chuckleicious

Another glorious sunny start to the day, which just got steadily better. Fran's socks are finished, wrapped and in her birthday bag.

Of course it was Knit and natter at Debs shop this afternoon so I cast on another sock to take with me.A single one this time as I am using a ball of  Regia Pairfect, in the excitingly named colourway 17122.

This is a centre pull ball and is designed to knit a perfectly matching pair of socks. There are sections of yellow waste yarn to indicate starting points for each sock. Time will tell.

The SO came with me today, he has put in a lot of hard work and had earned an afternoon off. He brought his knitting loom and spent a couple of hours working away, when he wasn't eating biscuits and drinking tea that is, not forgetting chatting to Debs and the other knitters. The biscuits were delicious, a selection of various chocolatey ones and some very buttery shortbread.

Much chatting, Oodles of Knitting and heaps of laughing was the order of the day. The SO just sunk into the group and was chuckling along with the rest of us. There was lots of tales of our children,s antics and one of the group entertained us royally with the things one of her boys gets up to.

We have had a request to knit blankets for Angel Babies from hospitals in Wales and Scotland. We were unanimous in signing up for this and Deb,s suppliers have offered free yarn.

I will be stash diving after dinner to find something in a pale colour. These need to be a minimum of 25" square so I will be using the C2C crochet pattern for one.

Ben was pleased to see us back, had a quick fuss and then ran into the kitchen and stood in front of the fridge waiting for his dinner. We were back late as we went into Ammanford for a couple of things.

I didn't even look at any yarn.

We did have an ice cream from the wonderful chocolate shop in Llandeilo though. 

Salad for dinner, without the impossible quiche.

I better start chopping as the evening is almost upon us and I still aim to have a little time in the garden.

                      TTFN                                              Pam

Just a quickie

A busy morning, again, 3 loads of washing!! How can 2 people produce so much?

A little bit of gardening, mainly taking some strawberry plants in containers and a potted Magnolia Stellata to Jess, I don't have room for all the runners that I potted up last year and they will soon form a good sized bed for Jess, and I don't have a square inch for the Magnolia and it is desperate to get out of the pot and into some soil.

I found a new recipe for Chickpea curry in my Vegan with a vengeance book and started making it to the recipe, it didn't last long as I started looking in the fridge and found other things to add to it.
Then I made the base for an impossible quiche, I will finish that off later and it will make dinner for tomorrow with some salad and probably a couple of lunches as well.

My Howgate Wonder apple tree has been dispatched and will be here by Wednesday. That will be my fruit garden/orchard done, much as I would like more there is no space left. The lemon and the fig will be greenhouse plants from now as their outside space has been taken over.
I may put a couple of Kumquats in there later, depending on space, I do have strawberries planted for an earlier crop and they are staying kum quot may. (sorry about that it just popped out) 

I am off to the local library this afternoon for the new Knit and Natter group so had to get a head start this morning.

I am off now to get my knitting ready and have a quick wash and brush up.

                          TTFN                                          Pam

A Day in the Life....

Yesterday was almost a perfect day for me, the sun shone and there was enough of a breeze to stop me from overheating. 
I went to the garden centre and found all the plants that were on my list, and used a voucher. deep Joy.

I spent lots of time in the garden, without working too hard.

Whie clearing a sadly weedy patch I found this gem.

Mt apple trees are in full bloom and are busy with bees of all shapes and sizes.

The new shrubs are planted and mulched, they look a bit like currants in a cheap bun right now but will soon grow together. There is a Weigela Variegata, a Philadelphus Snowflake, a Cytisus Aprcot Gem, a Ceanothus  Blue Mound and in the front an Erysimum Winter Passion. These should give me colour and fragrance for much of the year, at least the part when I am likely to be outside.

(I also found an apple tree, a Bramley, which is in the ground. I know that I said that a Howgate Wonder was on my wish list, well I have one of those being delivered later in the week. Woo Hoo.)

The structure behind them is a screen for my hedgehog house ,I have started to train a bramble over it for protection and shelter. The rhubarb in the foreground will be moved this Autumn, into one of the raised beds and I will find a low growing shrub to take its place.

This is my standard Ilex, a female,there is one berry left and a smothering of flowers opening up. Because it is so windy here I have it in a pot but will be finding a sheltered spot for it in the garden for planting this Autumn.

And now for some knitting and a conundrum.

These are the latest pair of socks, the colours match right up to the start of the heel flap. Then they go haywire, I am knitting them in tandem, as usual, but one ball of yarn has just gone into a different colour rotation. Both balls are the same dye and batch number, they are both on the same brand and size needles. There are no knotted joins anywhere, I am stumped but not about to frog anything out. 
These are for Francesca and pattern matching does not figure in her vocabulary. It just BUGS the life out of me.

I will get them finished and tucked away in her birthday bag and forget about them.

Today will be a gentle day, a little time out in the garden, some bark needs moving from the car, it smells like a pine forest in there. 
I have a fence to put up during the week so will collate all the materials for that.

Ben had a long walk this morning as I was daydreaming, then we met a young Springer Spaniel, called Gypsy, who decided that Ben was worthy of affection and then that my pocket was a good place to climb into.

20 minutes later we resumed our walk home. 

I have a load of washing almost ready to go out and then I think that I will strip the sofa of throws and cushion covers.

Perhaps I might make a cuppa as well. Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone.

                       TTFN                                           Pam

A nit(less)wit

Off I went to the hospital,knowing very well that there would be lots of, "just wait over there" and plenty of "just take a seat while I check this" not to mention "we are not quite ready for you, please wait until we call you".

And I Forgot My Knitting. 

I could have spit I was so annoyed with myself.

2 whole hours lost, yes I timed it, never to be had again.

That's the body of a sock, or the hand of a mitten or even half a hat.

Put it behind me and let it go.

Now I have to wait for the results, I will have my knitting for that though.

Tomorrow is love your local yarn shop, or something along those lines. I hope to go over to see Debs.

There is a slight problem though, she is offering 10% off all yarn for the day.

I have soooo much that I dare not buy any more, there really is no room in the house.I even have 2 drawers full in Francesca,s room and some under her bed.

I spent some time in the garden when I got back today, nothing heavy, just some gentle weeding and a bit of planning. A corner has been cleared of some overgrown and very leggy plants. I will be putting a Howgate Wonder Apple tree there, if I can find one that is.

Then in front of the hedgehog house there will be a gap when the dead Cherry tree comes out. To shelter the little house I plan on planting a group of shrubs, a Philadelphus and a Weigela and something else, undecided as yet. Whatever I get it will probably be scented.
After 3 years I finally feel that the garden is mine, there is nothing left from before except the lawn, and most of that has gone. 
I will only grow salad stuff and fruit from now on, my rhubarb has done well this year, and is still going great guns and all the fruit trees are setting fruit. The Jostaberry is smothered in fruit and the gooseberries are looking promising, as for the strawberries, they are smothered in flowers and the sound of bees buzzing around almost drowns out the road noise.

I have set first early potatoes in bags and some of those long banana shallots round one of the raised beds, the herbs will stay and possibly some Nantes carrots in pots. I have set some climbing Blue Lake French Beans, just enough for 1 wigwam frame and that will be it.

I have a voucher for Wyevale so will head there first thing tomorrow and then see how the day pans out.

That's all for now, I have a pair of socks  that need some attention tonight.

                    TTFN                                               Pam

24th August 2016

If anyone fancies running up a simple drawstring bag go to my blog post on that date and you will find a picture heavy "how to". The post was in response to someone who asked for a pattern, and being of a lazy persuasion I thought that it was the easiest way to answer the request.

I have made many bags of many sizes in just that way, I have used up scraps in patchwork for some. Sometimes I just want to sew and bags are always handy to have around. I found my stash of zips when tidying recently so will soon be making a variety of zippered pouches/bags. There may well be another giveaway on the cards, I have a stack of scraps that I would like to use up. In truth I want the space back that is full of boxes of colour coded fabric scraps and precut squares and strips.

It is going to be another garden day, I have to toddle off and vote first and will combine that with Ben,s first walk. he is lying next to my feet making little grumbly noises as we are normally out by this time.

I was about to get ready to go when I was stopped by those magic words, " would you like a cuppa" I accepted with grace. It would have been rude not to.

Now my cup is drained I really must get going, it will be hot later so I want an early start.

                             TTFN                                              Pam

Happy days

The Flax sweater is ready for the sleeves, I am very pleased with it and will be putting some time into it tomorrow.

The new socks are a bit bigger than this now, I took them to knit and natter yesterday. I didn't get much done there as Ivy was interested in having a good look round. (I did an hour on them later in the day.) We went outside to have a good at the new window display and I have to 'fess up to leaving with the yarn and pattern for an Ivy sized cardigan. I also realised that the Flax pattern goes down to her size as well, and I have some yarn in the stash that will suit her colouring.

It may sound a bit iffy to plan an Aran weight jumper in May but this is the UK and we could have a cold snap at any time during the year.

We  had a good afternoon in the wool shop and I hope to get over on Saturday as it is Love your yarn shop day. I did a bit of baking and took some samples with me, all vegan, and they went down well.

Lots of time has been spent in the garden and I hope that it continues for a few more days.

I am off to the hospital on Friday for more x rays, they found a shadow on my right lung hopefully it was just the end of an infection and will be clear this time.

There is some concern about one of my heart valves and undoubtedly  I will be back for more tests for that in due course.

I took some cuttings from my gooseberry bushes over a year ago and 3 of them have made sturdy bushes, small as yet but they are now in the garden. I love gooseberry jam, to see the green berries turn pink is almost magic.

The sock loom has arrived and the dvd will be played over the weekend and the playtime will commence.

A cup of tea has magically appeared beside me so I am going to bid you all goodnight and enjoy it.

                         TTFN                                            Pam

Of Course it Did.

Rain, that is, it is a Bank Holiday so it has to rain, it must be the Law as it mostly does in the UK.
Ben doesn't care, he got the first 2 walks in the dry spells and it is quite warm.
I don't care, I have knitting and sewing on the go and today,s chores are done.
The SO doesn't care, he has completed his latest model and has a new game on his phone to do battle with....waste of time in my book but hey ho each to their own, and it does no harm to anybody.

We had planned to be in the garden if the rain stayed away but there is time in the rest of the week.

Knit and Natter tomorrow, and next Saturday is Yarn Shop Day so I expect to be in Llandeilo for a little while at least. (spell check thinks that I am going to lowlander!!)

The Flax sweater body will be finished today and the sleeve stitches picked up. I want to put a little work into the Snowflake as well.
 I also have the yarn and pattern ready for a pair of socks to cast on for Francesca,s birthday bag. The yarn is a Fabel print in pinks, yellow, creams, and some blue, the colour number is 903 and has been earmarked for Fran since buying it.
The pattern is a new release today, called "To Love and to Cherish" by Ellie Jones and is free on ravelry. It was written to help celebrate her upcoming Wedding, next weekend!
 It is very pretty and she is running a Kal in which it could figure. pop along to her You Tube channel, Craft House Magic and have a look.  
She is a very talented Crafter and she is from Norfolk to boot. Her wedding dress is amazing and all hand made by Ellie.

Dinner tonight is being prepped and cooked by the SO, exiting stuff I love cooking but it is great to be cooked for occasionally.

He is a very talented cook and does spend lots of time in the kitchen. Most of our meals are a joint effort and we keep our eyes open for new ingredients when ever we are out and about.

I don't think that I will be buying yarn for some time. Not only is every inch of storage space full to overflowing but I have 7 project bags lined up. Each has pattern and yarn, some have the needles as well.
 The first one is ready for tonight, Fran's socks, I want a small project for tomorrow, the Flax is huge and the Snowflake pattern too intense for group knitting.

You saw the Wonderwool haul and that is only a small part of the full stash. It,s a bit scary to tell the truth, I probably have a years knitting there.

But Deb,s has some lovely yarn in her shop........Nuff Said.


I am off to my sewing now and then a little knitting while my dinner is being cooked, how lush is that.

              TTFN                                                          Pam