I've Rippled it all Up!!!!!!!

Hello!

I'm very excited today.

I'VE FINISHED MY RIPPLE!!!!!

I started it in March last year, when I managed to cut a small piece off my finger and knitting wasn't an option. All of my oddments have now gone.

(Well mostly.)

They've been turned into this.

Ta-Dah!!!!!!!

More views.

I'm so, so, so happy with finishing.

It's very bright and cheery.

There are bits of projects in every stripe, a Clapotis I made ages ago in some Alpaca, the silver on the border, leftovers from a scarf a made for my friend B, another stripe leftovers from a pair of gloves. When I look at it, it makes me smile with the memories of past projects. A feast for the eyes!

The main yarn is Stylecraft Life DK which in itself was leftovers from another ripple I made for a colleague's baby. Here it is.

So, has this finishing made me put down my crochet hook I hear you ask? No. It's made me realise how much I like a bit of hookyness so I got some more (cheap) acrylic and...............

....I'm making little granny squares!

Little piles of hooky colour.

I've also managed ~ at last ~ to get the border on my latest shawl to lie flat. It took an iron and some steam but I got there in the end.

A single ball of King Cole Riot, I bought it because I loved the colours. I'll get the pattern written up soon.

As the weather forecast for today was wind and rain (and it is) I spent yesterday pottering around in the garden. With the recent rain and warmth everything, including weeds is growing at a rate of knots. I had a dig around and added our own compost.

Some lovelies I came across.

A centaurea with a bumble bee.

An allium about to burst into bloom. These are the football sized alliums, that produce the lovely seed heads.

An astrantia ~ I've got red and white ones of these,

and a double flowered clematis.

Well that's me about done for today.

I'm going to work squares for this month as May is creeping away from me.

Have a good week.........Clicky Needles.

All moved!

Hello all!

A fairly quick post from me today ~ the ironing is beckoning. :-(

At last moving has finished ~ we packed up the last two classrooms at school on Friday they've been carpeted and we unpacked them today (Sunday).

Life still isn't completely back to normal but maybe soon.

I had a wander around the garden this evening and snapped all of these Aquilega (Grannies Bonnets). They seed wherever they fancy, cross with each other and produce a super display.

I think my favourite is the pale blue and white one.

I finished off my crochet bag and lined the strap with grosgrain ribbon to stop it stretching so much. I started this in July 2009 and then just forgot it. Anyhoo all done now, it's a bit like a Tardis ~ so much room inside.

I'm very excited at the prospect that my Ripple it all Up blanket is NEARLY DONE!!!!!! I've had a bit of a push on it of late and I'm now putting the border on. I'll give you a little peak but you'll have to wait for the big Ta-Dah.

The last thing to show you a little ball of yarn.

I dropped into my LYS for chat with Lucy and came out having had the chat with this too. Called Jawoll Magic it's sock yarn with a bit of a halo in lovely colours. It seemed to want to come home with me so there we are.

It was DD's 16th Birthday on Tuesday and DS's 12th Birthday on Wednesday and

she had her Prom last week ~ the limo they went in was very posh ~ she starts GCSE's tomorrow so we've all got fingers crossed. (Maybe more scarily, she has now officially left school).

Must go now, to do that ironing.

Hope you have a great week.........Clicky Needles.

Hello Everyone

What a rubbish blogger I've been.

Not sure why I missed last week - it was a bank holiday weekend and I was in lazy mode.

Anyhoo, I'm fine and things are ticking along nicely.

The 1st of May saw me, DD and her BF up at 4.15 am so she could morris dance the first day of summer in much like we did last year.

When we arrived on Painswick Beacon it was dark as the lights at a Tesco prove. It had also been raining.

The dancing started, the rain stopped .......

.................. and sure enough the sun rose. The dancing was followed by a bleary eyed breakfast.

Those trellis that DS made are now in pride of place on the front of the house. The postie can now stop walking on the clematis as they lie on the path.

The garden has been looking lovely, I really like the way this perennial wallflower goes from pale lilac to dark purple.

A very blousy poppy.

These pictures were taken last weekend, over the last few days we've had thunderstorms and lots of rain. Goodness, did we need it? The grass was looking parched and the ground got really hard.

Knitting wise I've treated myself this week. This book contains 202 different cable patterns!

I've been making one of the Phoenix Friendship Blanket Squares a cable pattern and I'm running out of combinations! I won't run out again! It is a lovely book with clear illustrations, charted and written instructions.

Talking of squares, here are the two I made for April's swap.

These are the ones I received.

I saw this whilst in the magazine section the other day. A fairly new mag called Simply Homemade with lots of different crafts in. I'm not sure I'll get it again but I do like the ribbons and buttons.

I got a lovely parcel the other day. Sent by my friend B, she had been to Les Creisiers for a few days and visited the Plassard Factory shop. B had a rummage around in the bargain bin and found four of these balls. Quite chunky ~ I think a scarf or maybe gloves. What a super surprise!

I have been knitting ~ a small glimpse of (another) shawl which is blocking at the moment, so I'll give you a proper look next time.

My blue crochet cotton bag is nearly finished ~ just need to put the lining in the handle.

The new extension at school in very nearly finished, and we've been hard at work removing everything from two of the classrooms on Friday (there's four classrooms in total), so new carpets could be laid. Today (Sunday) has been spent putting all the furniture, books etc back in. Next Friday and Sunday will be a repeat performance with the other two classrooms and then maybe, just maybe, life will be back to normal.

Righto time to go, have a great week....................................

Clicky Needles.

1st Bloggyversary !!!!!!!!

Hello Bloggy Friends!

I can’t quite believe that it has been one whole year since I started to blog!!!! Where does time go? I’m not entirely sure.

I’ve been reflecting on the new ‘friends’ I’ve ‘met’ in blogland. If they’ve not posted for a while I wonder how they are, are they ill, are things not so good or are they just on holiday? I do try to let you in on my week’s happenings on a Sunday but, of course, things come up and it’s not always possible, I wonder if you are thinking the same about me?

The blogosphere is pretty amazing. To be connected to people all around the world in a click is fabby. I’ve had a look at my blog’s stats, I’ve had visits from all around the world and I’m going to list all the countries! Brazil, Columbia, Thailand, Lithuania, Sweden, Greece, UK, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Brunei, USA, Russia, Germany, Belize, Finland and Denmark.

I’m bowled over by this and can’t quite get my head around it. One lucky soul is using an i-pad to surf, I am DEAD jealous whoever you are!

I hope you find my musings entertaining, when I started I sent my friend an e-mail saying ‘If you are interested in my boring, mundane life here’s a link’. What blogging has done is made me think about day-to-day things in a different way and without doubt, look at the local area and world with fresh eyes. My camera is always by my side and I find myself composing posts as I drive or put the washing in the machine. My photography skills have definitely got better, I understand the need for good light and look a lot more closely on how to frame and compose pictures.

I would encourage anybody to start a blog about anything, everybody has interesting things to say and there is always someone around to listen!

I’ve probably rambled on for long enough now, I’d like to say a HUGE

T ~ H ~ A ~ N ~ K Y ~ O ~ U !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to everyone who pops in whether you leave comments or not.

A mosaic of the some of my favourite pictures from the past year.

Byeeeeeeeeeee..................Clicky Needles x

A Very Good Friday

What a day!

The sun was blazing down again and Mr Clicky Needles joined me in the Favourite Place ~ actually we spent most of the day there, listening to the radio having a snooze and chatting away.

On Thursday I stopped by at our local builders merchant and bought some wood for some new trellising. We set DS on the job and he sawed and drilled and screwed together and made not one, not two but three trellis. He made a really good job of them. I hope to show you them attached to a wall soon!

I finished sewing up my blue bolero. I don't mind sewing things up, I love the feeling of satisfaction when a project is nearly over, as I sew I think of what will be next.

I wore it to knitting group today and they were very nice about it, although I'm not entirely sure about the back ~ I think it needs to be a bit more fitted.

You remember the seeds I was planting?

Well, here are some climbing french beans on their way up.

Other gardeny things.

For Teresa, the 'pond' ~ not a real pond as I explained before but just a tin bath sunk into the ground it's about 60cm or 2 foot deep, enough for the wildlife. The local birds have been using it all day for drinking from.

I've just transferred the hostas to here, splitting some of the others from the hosta/ferny bed. In the background are bluebells and the gunnera is starting to unfurl those wonderful big leaves.

The cherry tree gives a nice bit of shade, all the blossom has gone and it's now in full leaf.

In another corner are these white bluebells (whitebells?) ~ I'm not sure where they came from ~ I don't remember putting them in.

The classic combination of forget-me-nots and cowslips ~ the cowslips are determined to take over the lawn as well, so I cut around them.

Well, we've got more unseasonably hot weather forecast so relaxing is definitely the best idea!

Have a great Easter Weekend.

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

Oh what a lovely day.

Hello everyone.

I'm really pretty chilled and content at the moment, brought on by the wonderful sunshine and Easter Holidays. It struck me today whilst I was lying in my Favourite Place in my bikini (it's ok the neighbours can't see me) slathered in sunscreen (yes it was that hot!) that I've never shown you the whole garden. Close-ups of flowers yes, but not the whole thing.

Well I think I know you all well enough by now, so here are two pictures taken from upstairs. You can see my Favourite Place with my Ripple it All Up Blanket which has grown of late. To the left is the bubble pool and the red thing is a real buoy which was a present from our neighbours' when they holidayed in Cornwall.

The sound of running water can really transport you anywhere, such a lovely noise to have a doze to!

Our garden is North facing which is not always great, but it means that the hosta/ferny area in the bottom right of this picture does flourish. In the top corner is the 'pond' which at the moment has loads of tadpoles, frogs and a pair of newts.

From this height of course, flowers aren't showing up that well, only the apple trees which are breaking into blossom.

When we moved into our then new house 11 years ago the garden was nothing but earth. We removed 4 skip loads of stones and builders rubbish.

There you go, a quick tour of the garden!

Mr Clicky Needles and DS were away last weekend in Devon on a rugby weekend with other teams from the south, as far apart as Hove and South Wales! DS' team came back with a bowl which they were very proud of and DS also came back with these rather impressive stud marks on his arm!

Me and DD on the other hand went to Cribbs Causeway at Bristol looking for a prom dress for her. Sadly we didn't find a dress but there is a John Lewis at Cribbs so obviously the yarn department needed a visit. On having a quick rummage through the bargain shelf I found these two balls of Rowan Wool Cotton which are going to be turning into April's squares for the Phoenix Friendship Blanket. One will definitely have cables on ~ at the moment I'm not sure about the other.

I was trying to add the the Ripple Blanket today but the weather defeated me and it was just to hot. A thought sprang to mind and I remembered this crochet cotton bag that I'd started but not finished. It just ran out of steam I think. I guess we all have projects like that, they just get put somewhere and forgotten. My place for this is under a table next to the sofa, out of sight, out of mind. Anyhoo I started this TWO summers ago, on a 5 hour plane flight and hadn't got going on it again. It's going great guns now .................so watch this space.

I've finished my blue cotton bolero which is blocking right now. Yaay!

I've also got a bit more dyeing done, these are the blanks I got at Wonderwool the other week. ALL of them are beautifully soft.

Alpaca Sock Yarn.

Blue Faced Leicester Aran, not everyones choice of colour I know but DS wanted it done in Camouflage!

Two skeins of laceweight, 100 per cent organic merino.

Hopefully I'll be getting some of these in my shop soon.

I can't quite believe I've got up to 41 followers! It is great to have so many people popping by and I love comments that you leave so thank you very much!

Well, with hot weather predicted tomorrow I bet you know where I will be found, trying not to fall asleep.

Look after yourselves and as always, have fun.............

Clicky Needles.

Sock Ta-Dah!

Hello all!

As I'd hoped my socks are finished.

I'm really pleased at how they turned out, and even more chuffed because I used my own yarn! They wouldn't match but somehow I don't mind. They're bright and cheerful and nice.

Those new Knit Pros helped and of course, I've been using a new Lego stitch marker. I love these and they make me smile.

As I predicted DS wanted them all for himself and has started to make himself something so he can use one too. We cast on for this which will be a creature of some sort. It'll be knitted in the round and filled with beans and stuffing. DS has no problem with knitting in the round he is actually very good at it. I cast on and got it going and he pulls it out every now and then and does a few rounds.

The yarn is left over from his socks that we made together last year.

I've been pottering in and out doors this week ~ which is most enjoyable. I got all these seeds on a recent visit to the local garden centre, so yesterday I started to plant some of them. As usual I got more than I need, but never mind, I'm hopeful for a fruitful harvest.

DS wanted to make some bread this week, so we got some yeast and followed the instructions on the packet. From this......

to this...........

......to this. It was declared 'nice' by the family and we will be making some more I think.

Righto ~ I'm off to mow the lawn, all this warm weather and a bit of rain is making the grass grow so quickly.

As always, have a great week..................................byeeeeeeeeeeee..Clicky Needles.