Some finished socks and a WIP.

Hello All.

It seems like an age since I actually finished anything that wasn't a blanket but I have some socks to show.  The socks are looking all the better for some fabby sock blockers I got with a crochet magazine a few months back.  The magazine was ok but not great, but the sock blockers well worth buying it for.  I've been looking for blockers for some time, coveted some wooden ones but not got round to buying anything.  These are metal coat hanger style and do the job admirably.

Mr first pair to show are made in Drops Fabel in the guacamole colourway.  These, as it turns out, are a mismatched pair because each ball was wound in the opposite direction.  

Next, we have a perfectly matched pair ~ sometimes they just need to be, you know? ~ made in Rico Superba Pop, more yarn out of the stash.

And lastly on the sock front, the pair that I cast on last summer.  Every third row is stranded and I used them as my experimental Continental Knitting Project.  I've got that sussed now.  Again the yarn is Drops Fabel, a lime green ball and a coloured version too, more from the stash.  I'm really pleased with these and am thinking of another Fair Isle type pattern so I can practise my new skills.

I have just hooked on this little baby blanket for the school's head whose baby is due in the next two weeks.  It's only 60cm wide so I'm whipping through it quite quickly.  I don't know the sex of the baby so I'm just going for colourful.

The colours in fact, are quite close to a teapot I found on a Vintage stall in Stroud on Friday.  I also picked up these two very pretty blue patterned plates and was very pleased with myself.

I will be taking the blanket with me to Bristol tomorrow.  Master Clicky came off his push bike last week and hit a dry stone wall with two front teeth, taking one incissor ~ at the front ~ off to gum level, the next one slightly longer.  He phoned me but carried on to work and they then got me to pick him up.  ( I could show you a picture here but I won't!) He was in a fair bit of shock and we dashed off an emergency dental appointment where the nerves were removed and the teeth were filled to stop any more pain.  We have to go to a specialist in Bristol to have some implants put in before our dentist can add some crowns.  The appointment will take one and a half hours so I will be occupied with crochet.  I hope it will be ok for him.

The weather has gone very autumnal lately, the first day of term this week welcomed our children back with solid rain, we could have done without that.  We swapped our classrooms around at the end of last term so the children keep walking to the wrong rooms, we're all trying to get used to the new layout.  

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

Boston

Me and Mr Clicky had a lovely weekend in Boston.  As predicted it rained, an awful lot.  After a two hour plane journey we took a short bus trip and the subway into Boston.   The subway came up under this building, the old Massachusetts State House.  

We got caught in a rainstorm on the way to the hotel,  when we arrived we were soaked through to the skin, so much so that the receptionist took one look at us, disappeared and fetched us towels to dry ourselves, and ungraded our room.  I warmed my toes up in the slippers and then we found a Primark and bought anoraks although I had to resign myself to wet toes as I only had flip-flops.

As you can see from the pictures it was a very dull and wet weekend.  Boston is a fairly small city which I really enjoyed after the size and noise of Chicago.  The office blocks were not very tall, but this one still disappeared in cloud.

Never seen this before, so I had to snap a pic.

We wandered around the city and down to the Atlantic, which smelt really salty

there were tall ships.

Some of the harbour front has been re-developed, these apartments looked directly out to sea.  

The building on the left is the Institute of Contemporary Art but we didn't visit.

We stayed here for a while watching planes landing at the airport on the other side of the bay, can you see it in the distance?  Always a bit hairy landing over the sea I think.

We also came across the Northern Avenue Bridge.

A swing bridge that looked quite forlorn facing out to sea.

When we got the other side it had flashing lights and a sign that said NO PEDESTRIAN ACCESS WHEN LIGHTS ARE FLASHING.  Clearly there was a story here, so we checked it out when we got back to the hotel.  It was built in 1908, used by cars until 1999 and pedestrians until December 2014 when it was closed altogether because it was unsafe.  At the moment there are plans for development, the current mayor has pledged $46 million for this.  

The next we day we went to Boston Common which is the oldest park in the U.S. dating back to 1634, it is 50 acres in total.  

We wandered on and through and found a graveyard with no other than Samuel Adams residing.

And we carried on back down to the harbour to take a Duck Boat tour.  These are modelled on the WW2 amphibious landing craft used by the troops.  They are newly made I hasten to add.

After we admitted to our fellow passengers that we were British, a few boos there, the tour took us around some of the city sights we hadn't seen.  This is Boston State House.

Our guide told us lots more about Boston that we didn't know and then we came to the best bit of the tour, driving straight into the Charles River.  It was a strange sensation but we were soon chugging up the river.

Another Duck Boat in the water.

The tour gave us another view of Boston and was definitely worth it.

We left the hotel and got to the airport to find that our plane had been delayed for 3 hours.  We found the Admiral's Club ~ which I could use as Mr Clicky is a member ~ and settled down with snacks and a nice gin.  Mr Clicky got a bit bored, and you all know what I did, yes, knitted socks.

I had another week in Chicago with Mr Clicky and then travelled back to the U.K. to find the weather had broken and cooled down a bit.  

I'm back to school tomorrow and the kids are in Tuesday, those lovely relaxing days by the pool, a dim and distant memory.  Wish me luck!

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

A Bit of Crochet

Hello all!

Here we go, the crochet project I was talking about in my last post.  I bought the yarn and pattern for scarf at Wonderwool back in April and thought that I’d bring it for a holiday project.  The yarn is buttery soft merino sock 4py.

As soon as I’d made a few stars, I thought that I might try and make a top.

And here it is, nearly a Ta-Dah.

 Obviously there are an awful lot of ends to sew in and when I get home it will put a border around the neck and arms to stabilise them, I have used every last piece of yarn up.  I think I've got some 4ply back home that will do the job.

Mr Clicky and me are off to Boston for the weekend so I've started a sock to keep me busy on the flight, only two hours but you've gotta fill it somehow.  It's a morning flight so we're up at 4.30am.  The weather forecast is not looking good however, rain is  predicted and I haven't anything suitable to wear. 

Wish me luck............Clicky Needles.

Relaxing

Hello Folks.

Firstly, thank you for your lovely comments about the wedding blanket, my teacher (the bride) loved it too.  So did her fiance and she sent me photo of him wrapped up in it, sleeping!  

I am having a lovely relaxing time here in Chicago.  Mr Clicky leaves for work early so I lie around in bed for a bit, and then have breakfast on the little balcony of our apartment.

The pool doesn't open until 10am so there's no rush,  when I get there I have it virtually to myself because most of the residents are at work.  I have been reading, crocheting, listening to podcasts and a bit of dozing too.  When Mr Clicky gets home he comes down to join me for a bit.  He worries that I am bored on my own.  I am most definitely not, rather getting properly relaxed with no responsibilities whatsoever.

We have been out and about too.  We popped out to our local Movie Theater to see Mamma Mia.  It had fully reclining seats, something I've not come across before.  Other movie goers were carrying blankets, I soon discovered why, it was quite chilly with the air conditioning.  The film itself was ok, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one.

We have also visited the Chicago Botanic Garden. It is 385 acres of parkland and separate garden areas and greenhouses to explore all set around lakes.  As it was 36 degrees Celsius (97 Fahrenheit) we found the shade from the trees as we walked around.

There were lots of water features in various gardens.

The lake around the Japanese island.


There were several greenhouses with some fierce looking cactus.

I'm not sure the banana needed to be in the greenhouse it was so hot.

The plant was huge.  The bananas on the top looking like they needed a bit more time to ripen fully.

We both liked the white garden it had some ideas I might use at home. 

This hibiscus was spectacular, the flowers are the size of plates.


We spent three hours here and it could have been longer.

On the way back home we popped into Ikea.  Never a good idea on a Saturday whichever country you are in, but we gritted our teeth, fought the crowds and made our purchases.

Mr Clicky has been using this box as a table, I had got rid of similar 'tables' when I visited at Easter but this one had snuck back in.

We picked up a Kallax unit, doesn't that look better?

Remember the hibiscus?  We liked it so much that when we found one similar in a local nursery we bought it.  I put it in a pot with a beautiful purple flowered pennisetum and thyme in a rather eclectic mix.  The pennisetum is lovely and soft and the thyme gives off lovely scent.  It is sitting on the balcony and I can't resist running my fingers through the seed heads.

Well, that's me for now, I have a crochet project on the go which I am very excited about so more about that next time.

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