Under the Weather and Under the Blanket

Hello.

I've been a bit under the weather this week.  A headache and not much energy.  I've not been to work and spent most of my time under my nearly finished blanket.

Sometimes a bit of hooky but most of the time dozing.

DS joined me at one point too.

This is of course the back.  I'm not showing you the front until it is all done.  I can't wait to show it to you.

I've lots of reading blogs to catch up on and I'll do a 'proper' post on Sunday.

Have fun.

Bye for now...............Clicky Needles.

Spots and Stripes

Hello All!

Half term has arrived and time for a rest.

My DS and DD had an inset on Friday so we all had a nice lie-in.

Just as well because on Thursday night it was doing this.

Mr Clicky Needles took the 4 wheel drive to work and left his car.

As you can see, it wasn't actually that bad.

It was however, very icy and that evening the temperature was dropping to -4 degrees according to DS' weather station.

It's warming up now though, with drip, drip, dripping of melting snow.

Speaking of dripping I have a story to tell.

About 6 months ago the kitchen tap started to drip, it was a bit annoying.  We took ourselves down to the local DIY store.  

We got a washer. Easy. 

 We tried to change the washer. 

Not easy.

Gave up for a bit.

Dripping got worse.

Tried again, still no joy.  

We had by now, laid on the floor with heads in the unit, cursed the small space and decided plumbing is rubbish.

 The tap was now unscrewed and it hung in a strange manner out of the hole in the sink.

Oh well, at least we could still use it.

Tried again.

Nope.

Considered a calling a plumber.

Decided to give up on the washer and get a whole new tap.

Tried to remove 'push-to-fit' fixings.

Nothing.

Swore.  Still didn't work.

Oh well, at least it still works.

Yesterday Mr CN decided we WOULD do it.

Lay on floor head under sink.

Cursed plumbing and small spaces.

He pulled I pushed, I pulled he pushed.......and eventually it came off.

Waaayyyyy!

And so I would like to present our new working tap 

WITH NO DRIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I was so happy I decided to run down the street naked, stopped only by the look of sheer horror on DS' face.

And now onto stripes.  With the chilly weather this week the staff at school have been wearing extra wooly things.

I had my camera so I went snapping.

They didn't mind, they know of my wooly idiosyncrasies.

And the spots? a new teapot I got from Amazon.  It goes very nicely with a spotty mug.

My blanket crocheting together is going well.  As I suspected Mr CN and the Dyson didn't like squares everywhere, so I struck upon this idea.  I laid them all out and then threaded the squares on a bit of yarn through the centre hole. When I need the next I just slip it off. 
 Nearly a Ta-Dah!

 Lastly some lovely Drops Nepal a soft Alpaca/Wool mix.  This is part of my Christmas Present from Mr CN but it had been out of stock.  I do have a pattern in mind but I'm going to keep you on tenterhooks.
 I will get the blanket finished first. 

A long post today, sorry for that.

Hope it's getting warmer where you are (if you need it!)

As always have fun.....................................Clicky Needles.

Squares Finished!

Hi there!

Thanks for your lovely comments about the Scavenger Hunt, it's been great fun trying to interpret the things.  I've also found some great new blogs too.

I see I've got up to 70 followers which is fantastic!  

Thanks to everyone for popping in.

Well, that snow that I was hoping for last week didn't come although school was shut on Monday!  There was a power failure and it was dark and absolutely freezing, so I did have a peaceful day all by myself, pottering around the house doing things.

On Friday I took the yarn I dyed into Miju Wools in Gloucester.

My bagful of sock yarn.

75% Blue Faced Leicester and 25% Nylon.

Some squishy soft laceweight.

Extra Fine Merino 70% and 30% Silk.

 It was bitterly cold in Gloucester, as in the whole of the UK.   We had snow yesterday afternoon and evening.  DS played outside, but me and Mr Clicky Needles got tucked up in front of the fire and watched the Rugby Internationals.  I sewed in some ends at the same time.

Much better!

No sign of the snow now though, it came and went.

I am very pleased to announce that I have finished all of the squares for my Summer Granny.

Waaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!

 I've decided to join the squares by crocheting through the back loop.  Good Attic 24 tutorial here.

It's surprisingly difficult to not get similar colours next to each other whilst joining and I need all the squares laid out to make it easier.  I'll have to put the squares away though as I suspect that Mr CN and the Dyson will find the living floor covered in squares all week annoying.

So that's about it for this week.

As always have fun....................Clicky Needles.

January Mosaic

January Mosaic

A distinct orangey theme. 

Liebster Blog Award

I was very pleased a few weeks back to be awarded the Liebster Blog Award by Stocki.

I now need to pass the award on to 5 other bloggers with under 200 followers.

I've been thinking for some time about this one and I would like to pass the award onto::

1.  Christine of Christine65  She makes some really beautiful things, have a look at her 2011 review.

2. Jill at doodlywhatsits.  To my shame I've only just found Jill is a blogger.  She has a similar taste to me in knitting and is real ale lover too!

3. Northern Monkey.  Beautiful knits and very exciting news of a baby on the way.

The above are all fellow Phoenix Forum Members.

4.  Chez Penny. Tales of a craft and second hand shop in Le Dorate, Haute Vienne, France.  Wish I lived closer!

5.  The Really Big Dream Blog.  Some friends also living in France who run a fabulous Gite called Les Cresiers.  J has recently taken up knitting.

So there we are.  I'd like to thank Stocki for awarding it to me and I have to thank my family's patience with me when I blog.

"Mum, can I..........."

"No, I'm blogging........"

I love reading other's blogs for all the wonderful inspiration they give and hope you enjoy reading mine.

Thanks again.........Clicky Needles.

P.S. I wanted to add Country Girl and Life on the East Coast to my list.  She's the person who introduced me to the Photo Scavenger Hunt.  She's also just obtained a VW Camper and is going to renovate it, so I'm very much looking forward to the progress of that.  I can't add her as she has over 200 followers so she's getting a special mention here.