Chicago

Hello there!  

Me and Master Clicky are back from a wonderful 10 days in Chicago with Mr Clicky.  It was so good to see him again, the last time being Christmas, when he came over here.

We spent most of our time just enjoying each other's company and relaxing, together.   

Obviously when confronted with an eight hour plane journey I took some sock knitting to keep me busy.

 When we arrived it was cold and windy but it was so great to see Mr Clicky again.  Our apartment is a 45 minute drive out of the city.  We'd arrived early afternoon local time although it seemed like evening to us.  I stayed awake for as long as I could but succumbed about 8.00pm only to wake up at 4.30am.   

We travelled north and crossed the border into Wisconsin to visit Lake Geneva.  It is a summer resort and all around the lake there are beautiful houses but it was so cold we didn't linger long!

I'm sure in summer it's really busy!

We wandered away from the windy lake and onto the main street, which was much more welcoming.

We awoke on 2 mornings to find snow!

As this was Master Clicky's first visit, we spent a day in the city.  We caught the train from Crystal Lake Station.

The railroads cross roads all the time, I'm not sure we would cope so well with that in the U.K.

Here it comes.

 We sat upstairs on the train, they are keen for you to keep your feet on the floor and not drop things on passengers below.

Somebody had left a Wall Street Journal so we had a read, it was a slimline version so you could read with annoying your fellow passengers.

The journey is a slow one, and a half hours compared to 45 minutes by car and when you emerge, you are hit by the noisy city. 

We walked along the river walk, when we were here in the summer this was heaving with people but now virtually deserted.

 We had to find coffee shops to warm us up, after a while we couldn't feel our faces!

 The mounted police were well wrapped up. 

 After a walk we came to our destination.  John Hancock Tower.  When it was built in 1968 it was the second tallest building in the world outside New York.  It is 100 floors high.

We went up to the 94th floor to 360 Chicago, the view was breathtaking.   I had been unsure about going up, but it was stunning and luckily I felt very safe!

Lake Michigan, I still think it looks like the sea.

Down!

The view back inland.

I spotted these cars parked on the roof of another skyscraper.  50? floors up.  How on earth did they get there?

We relaxed and took in the view.  Another day we'll be having a cocktail.

Back down to earth and we found a shop to buy Master Clicky a long sleeved t-shirt, he was cold!  We also came across a Lego shop so had to pop in.  A full sized Stormtrooper,

 and the Chicago skyline.

 We popped into a Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of tea and a warm up.  Master Clicky ate the coconut one ~ not for me! 

 As we walked back to the train station along the river walk, we had to shout at each other going under the bridges because the traffic noise was so loud. 

 The 'L' trains clatter along too. 

We spent the rest of our stay having lazy lie-ins,  knitting and running errands.  We also popped into Mr Clicky's office to say hello to his colleagues and went to Ikea and bought some furniture ~ a cardboard box is NOT a table. 

All too soon time was up and I went to the airport with a heavy heart.

We checked in, got two seats with a spare in the middle so no-one else would sit there and waited at the gate.  The crew and all the passengers were waiting but there was no sign of the plane.

Half an hour later it trundled into view.  Doesn't the weather look good?  Yes you've guessed it, freezing!

 We soon boarded and spread ourselves out over the three seats.  This being a BA flight I also got gin and tonic.  In fact I got another sneaky one later too, because my light was on while I was knitting ~ everyone else was asleep ~ and the flight attendant spotted me and got another.  Cheers!

Onto my second pair of socks.  I'll show you them another day.

Back home and the jet lag has really got to me this end.  For some reason at 5.00pm most evenings I have to have an hour's sleep.  Just as well it's still Easter holidays.

That's me for now, hope you had a great Easter........................Clicky Needles.

Easter

Hi Folks!

The Easter Holidays have arrived and not a moment too soon.  We've had a difficult, stressful term at school and I'm glad it's all over.   Tomorrow Master Clicky and me are off to Chicago to see Mr Clicky.  The bags are packed and we have an early start to get up to Heathrow.  We're away for ten days and we're very excited.  I'll try and blog from stateside.

I'll leave you with some lovely daffodils that my Mum and Dad gave me from their garden.

Have a great Easter...................Clicky Needles.

Mini Beast from the East

Hello folks.

Yes, it is back again.  The Beast from the East has dropped more snow on us, just when the birds were singing, the daffodils were just about to come out and everything was getting a bit warmer and well,  spring-like.  Now I like a snow day or two as much as the next man ~ we've had four, yes FOUR! this year but I'm all over it now.  The flipping' snow can GO AWAY.  

I've been working on the Wedding Present Blanket, this is the one for my teacher.  These are large granny squares of 11 rounds of colour and 3 rounds of cream.  I laid them all out on the floor and decided that it was looking a bit blue, I seem to have lots of shades from baby blue, to turquoise, to navy.  

I have some of the colours on display in my cube unit in the craft room and the bottom row caught my eye.

So I'm now trying to tone the blanket down with brown, beige, grey and white.  I'm pleased with this square so I shall try and put (at least) one of the colours in each new square I make.  The wedding is in August which seems like a long way away but I don't want to be finishing off the night before so I'm having a push now.

I've been out and brushed the snow off the car in anticipation of tomorrow's journey to work and it was really cold.  I'm hoping it will have melted by then but it might just freeze. *sigh*  

Have a good week, bye for now...........Clicky Needles.

Snow Days are Good for Knitting

Hello there.  

This part of the UK didn't escape the snow that fell last week.  We had two snow days off school and it carried on during the weekend.   I made sure the birds were well topped up with food and water.  The apples I put out even brought in two Field Fares for several days. 

Despite the fact that there were lots of apples to choose from they were scrapping with the Blackbirds over them.

The snow is still hanging around, this is a road on my way to work at the end of this week.

 Of course 4 snow days are a fabulous excuse for knitting.  I finished the back of my grey aran thing.  I was busy congratulating myself on a very neat neck and shoulder (if I do say so myself) went to do the other shoulder and then discovered I had too many stitches.  

Meh! I've pulled it all out and I'm starting again.

It is this pattern, an aran slipover which I wear and wear and wear so it makes sense to make it again.

When I started again last might I had a helpful dog snuggled up with me on the sofa, he was so tucked up I was finding it really uncomfortable to knit.

That's me for now, it's warmer this week so no snow!  

Have fun whatever you do..............Clicky Needles.

Tea Cosies

Hello folks.

It's been half term in these parts and I was persuaded by my colleagues to host afternoon tea, so we could get together and have a good gossip, which we don't seem to do properly at school.  I found some cups and plates in the charity shops in Stroud and in the same charity shop, a pack of tea towels with a couple of prints I really liked.  They were destined to be tea cosies.

I found this tutorial through Pinterest (where else?)  I used a really thick (2cm) wadding unlike the pattern ~ is is a tea cosy after all.  I had a bit of a fight with my machine where the wadding was so thick,  I ended trimming it off at the edges.  They won't win any prizes, a bit wonky in places, but on the whole I'm pleased.

I used a red tea towel out of the pack for one lining

 and a more muted brown tea towel to match the taupe pattern. 

 Here they are on the table.

We had a lovely time catching up with our family lives, something we don't tend to do at work.

I've also caught up with my London cousin and Mum and Dad who came for the day, and our builder has been back to finish off some bits and pieces to the build.  

It's been a bit nippy round here over the last week  or so, this was taken at 7.00am on Minchinhampton Common this week after I'd dropped Master Clicky at work.  That's snow!

I've also had a bit of a potter and clearing in the 'garden'.  It's still a bit of a building site but we're getting there.  I got the steps out and took a photo into the nesting box to check what was inside ~ there were definitely bees in it last summer.  Thankfully no honeycomb and I'm hoping that the blue tits return this summer, they didn't bother last year, I think they were disturbed by the building work.

Lastly my current project.  It's grey, it's Aran and it's growing.  A mindless piece of stocking stitch that's moving quickly.  I will tell you no more because I think it might be finished next time.

Well, that's me for now, have a super week......................Clicky Needles.

Art

Hello there.

I have been making things recently.

I have made a wreath to hang on the craft room door out of large pom-poms.  The wool for this is Rowan Big Wool Fusion, which was discontinued quite a few years ago.  It was very cheap and I bought some pink and blue.  The base was a Christmas wreath from the supermarket made of straw which I took the foliage off.   I made lots of pom-poms ~ I'm a bit obsessed at the moment ~ and glued them on the base.  I was planning to make this for Christmas, but better late than never.

Here it is on the door, when it's open I can admire it and when the door's shut I hope it conveys

 something about what lies within.

I've also had my crochet hook out and made lots of little hearts out of the many shades of Mariner double knit that I have.  I got my glue gun out again and had some fun.

My tiny heart bunting is now in pride of place in the craft room.

Whilst I was having a mooch around a local little town on Friday I came across some wrapping paper.  It really caught my eye, I love the bright colours so I snapped it up straight away.

 I've used to to replace this Wassily Kandinsky Concentric Circles print that has hung in our bedroom since we moved into this house ~ 18 years ago ~ and has faded so much over all that time.

I used the old print turned over and glued with a Pritt Stick, primary school style (around the outside and a cross through the middle) onto the wrapping paper.  I have to say I am very pleased with myself, although I did have a bit of a moment when I couldn't work out why the picture wasn't in the centre of the bed head where it is hung.  After puzzling for a while I realised that the bed had probably been moved.  Duh!

I quite often use wrapping paper or tissue paper for artwork.  This spotty tissue paper is in our kitchen

 and this Christmas Tree tissue paper is in the hall.  I love it so much it stays up all year.

Lastly I have finished sewing in the ends from the temperature blanket, I job I quite enjoy ~ I am aware some people think this weird ~ and I have lots more ends, soon to become another pom-pom.

Well that's me for now, as always have a lovely week.....Clicky Needles.