PHEW!

Hello All.

Well, the same as most of the rest of the UK it had been hot and sunny in these parts.  I don't think it can have rained for a month.  The grass and verges are turning brown and it looks more like The Med than Britain.  England didn't win the World Cup but they did really well and made us proud which was nearly as good as winning and I had France in the sweepstake so that's fine too.

As you know my garden isn't up to much at the moment but I have two roses that are looking quite good but as you can see from the pictures they are looking like they need some water.   This lovely pink one is called Geoff Hamilton, a name from the past for you, and has a lovely scent.

This is a nondescript climber that I got in a sale at the garden centre many years ago.  It climbs up high and flowers there too ~ I know I need to prune it properly ~ so I've always though it was an apricot colour when I've looked at it high up.  It also has a lovely scent and turns out it has a pink tinge to it when it starts to fade, a bit of a surprise.

I've been hard at work on the blanket, Teresa commented that I must really love the couple that are getting married to put all the work in.  She is the teacher I work with and yes, we do have a good relationship ~ I guess you need that with a bunch of 5 years old to contain ~ although for me, things become a chore and less of a pleasure if I have a date to finish by.  With this in mind I set myself up in the garden with a nice cool drink to sew the ends in.  I found a BBC podcast called Home Front, a dramatisation of how it would have been for families left behind in England in World War One.  I am totally hooked and the ends seemed to take care of themselves.

Before I knew it the job was finished.

I've laid them out on the kitchen floor and tweaked the squares so colours do not clash too much, and now I need to attach them.  Nearly done!

Well that's me for now, it rained for about a minute as I was typing this but now the sun is out again.  I will be watering tonight.

Have a great week................Clicky Needles.

Cement and Crochet

Hello there.

The last few weeks have been hectic and school has got into the manic stage.  We've had trips galore, practises for the school production ~ The Lion King, stepped it up this year, ~ sports day is next week.  The heat is not helping.

Master Clicky and I have been working on the garden.  We have been hard landscaping.  It's called that because it's been hard, nothing to do with the materials.  Most recently we've been mixing cement, well, I say we, Master Clicky has been doing that.  He grumbled that we had no cement mixer but when you're 19 it is easy!

I've laid out the wedding present blanket square on the bed to see how many more I need to do, five as it turns out.  I have three and a bit weeks to get this finished.  The wedding is in August but I will be away visiting Mr Clicky in Chicago so I need to get it done by the end of term.  Master Clicky took me out to Sunday lunch at a local pub today and was happy for me sit sewing in ends while we nattered, so that's some pesky sewing-in done.

On Friday I took Miss Clicky and her man to Heathrow as they are also visiting Mr Clicky and then going onto New York.  I was not too impressed with getting up at 2.30am to get them to the airport on time, but it was easy driving both ways.  Luckily I wasn't needed in work so I went back to bed when I got home.

Miss Clicky's rabbit ~ Thumper ~ has come to stay while they are away, he has settled in nicely.  He is doing lots of lying around in the sun although he needs to moult the rest of his winter coat!

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

Peonies

Hello there.

Peonies are looking magnificent right now.  I just love them, don't you?  These are my next-door neighbour's, a stunning white, double flowered variety.  Their little girl wanted her Dad to pick one for her hair.  I wouldn't mind one of these stuck behind my ear either.

The one in my own garden is a little more modest.  It was given to me by my knitting pal Romain. Well, actually she gave me three, one pink, one white and one red.  When we had our building work done, I tried to dig everything up to save it from a digger being driven over it but when the work was finished it appeared I only had managed to salvage the white one.  

It has rewarded me with a single flower this year. 

I've got a vase full of these pink beauties too.  I picked them up this week with my supermarket shop, they stand in the middle of my kitchen island and every now and then I get the most delicate whiff of scent.

 Talking of gardens, I am currently trying to get ours into some semblance of order.  Right now it looks like this, part left over building site, part scrubland, with a few plants clinging onto life.

 What's the nice way of putting it?   It has potential.  This is not nice to see and as the back of the house now has glass all the way along it we can see it all.

I've had some chunky sleepers delivered, they came the other Saturday morning.  I heard the truck whilst I was in bed drinking tea, and went to answer the door in my dressing gown.  The delivery driver told me to 'watch from the window,' and sent me back inside.  The plan is to use the sleepers to make raised beds and deal with the levels we have in the garden. 

Progress is slow, partly due to the stones that lurk underneath the topsoil and partly due to Master Clicky's cricket obession which means his weekends are mostly spent at the cricket club.  Whilst I can lug sleepers about and cut them, it's a job for two rather than one.   

That's about me for now, I have worked out I should be making three blocks a week for the Wedding Present Blanket I am making for my teacher, this week I've only done two, so already behind my target.  

I'd better get my skates on...........
Have a great week............Clicky Needles.

2017 Temperature Blanket Ta-Dah!

Hello there!

At last, a ta-dah!  I don't seem to have done one for ages now.  The temperature blanket I made has been nearly finished since January. I had popped it away just for the edging to be finished and promptly forgot about it.

If you haven't come across a temperature blanket before it's really easy.  Record the average temperature every day and make a square accordingly.  Some people make stripes, I went for simple Granny Squares.  I added white in the middle for snow, blue for rain and yellow for sun.

Mine started on the 12th January 2017 ~ bottom right in the picture with a temperature of 2 degrees and snow.

It finished on 7th January 2018 ~ top left with a temperature of 2 degrees and no snow. 

 I used a weather app to find the average temperature wherever I happened to be.

In 2017 (where I was) we had only had two days of zero degrees and the highest that I recorded was the 31st June when it got to 31 degrees. 

I have really enjoyed the whole process, it made me think a lot more about what's going on around me. I've also enjoyed colouring dots with my Sharpies.  

Unfortunately I ran out of red for 20-23 degrees and had to match it the best I could.  

If you're feeling inspired why not head on over to Pinterest where there are some beautiful examples. I really like the striped ones but for me, one square a day was more manageable.

I'm now working five days instead of four until the end of the summer term so I have to squeeze even more into the weekends, no catching up on missed TV on a Friday.  Master Clicky and me are trying to get some hard landscaping done in the garden but as he's plays cricket both days of the weekend usually, it's a bit tricky!  

Have a great week, I'm off to catch up with your blogs now. 
Bye for now..............Clicky Needles.

What a Lovely Weekend.

Hello there.

What a lovely weekend that was.  

Mr Clicky and I watched the wedding on both sides of the Atlantic over a WhatsApp video call.  The coverage for him had a minute or so delay but that was fine.  We chatted just as we would if we were sat next to each other.   Mr Clicky being ex-RAF loves a military band and some marching, although the RAF marching was terrible!  Some one will be scrubbing floors with a toothbrush for weeks! 

The faces of Meghan and Harry said it all, just a couple very much in love, it shone out of them.  There were touching moments all the way through, one of the best ones for me didn’t involve the happy couple but Mike and Zara Tindall.  At the end of the service he touched her on her very pregnant tummy in a really tender way.  Apparently she had just told him she needed the toilet!

Whilst watching I crocheted more squares for my Wedding Present Blanket.  I'm really pleased with the progress so far.

Today the weather has been glorious.  I have been digging in the garden ~ no photos it's only turned over earth ~ although I did get very hot and sweaty.  There is not much happening in the garden at the moment; my hawthorn tree is flowering, it is so pretty, although the thorns less nice.  Hopefully over the next few weeks Master Clicky and I will be giving the garden a makeover.

The weather is set to stay good over this week, so don't forget the suncream.

Have a great week.......Clicky Needles.

Sunny Days

Hello Folks!

Well, the weather in the last few weeks has changed for the better and people have been coming out into their gardens and dusting off their barbecues.  I went to buy a new watering can in the local diy store over the bank holiday, to find the whole of the town there and not a watering can in sight!  

I found a bistro table and chairs to fit our new little patio made recently by our builder.   It’s the same colour (yes orange!) as the accent colour in our new extension making the two blend well.

Previously we had planted shrubs in this corner which had grown large and I had forgotten how bright and sunny it is.  I’ve also added solar lights so we can sit out there on a warm spring evening.

The extension is proving to be a lovely place and I am finding unexpected shafts of sunlight coming through the velux windows as the sun gets higher in the sky.

The dog has been enjoying the sun also, there's nothing he likes more than snuffling through the uncut verges on his walks.

Do you remember that I lost my crochet hook?  Well I was flipping my mattress the other day and found it, wedged between the slats and the frame of the bed!  No wonder I couldn't find it! 

That's me for now,  I'll be back with some crochet news next time.

See you soon..................Clicky Needles.

Test with the iPad

Hello there.

I am having a test post using the iPad.  I came across a brilliant tip from Christina at a colourful life the other day on how to add photos to a blog post with blogger.  I had tried and tried several years ago to make this work but gave up out of sheer anger ~ I do love my iPad but sometimes........... Christina obviously has a lot more perseverance than me.  Anyhoo here I am trying out her tip.  Looks like it works!  

Thanks so much Christina!

Here’s some tulips from my garden, which is about the only thing looking nice at the moment.  Me and Master Clicky hope to remedy that this weekend.  4 whole days where I don’t need to get up at 5.45am.  Bliss!  Have a great weekend. ..........Clicky Needles