Some Knitting At Last.

Hello!

I am still here, in one piece.  

Life seems to have been rushing along at a pace, one blink of the eye and it's nearly the end of September.  Things have been hectic at school and the only thing I'm fit for in the evenings is a gin and tonic. 

I have finished my Reversible Sock Yarn Hat.

It was cast on provisionally, one side completed and then the other.

I had chosen the maroon yarn for the second side to complement the first and intended to make it plain.  The second side however was boring me silly so I added the blue stripey oddment.

Strange how stripes seem to make knitting go quicker, before I knew it I was done.

I've also finished the crochet 'Lucy Bag'.

 I went the whole hog and added buttons to the flowers.  It's not lined yet, I need to find some fabric.

 With these projects finished off, I was looking for the next challenge.  

I had lovely array of Rowan Felted Tweed, which came to me 

via my friend Romain's sort out.

I could picture what I wanted to make, a stripey cardi.   "Ooooooo" my work colleagues would say, as I swanned around, "that's beautiful."  I would smile smugly  and reply "It's Merino and Alpaca." My little knitty world would be happy.

Unfortunately I have been unable to find the perfect pattern.  

I can see it in my head.

A 'flappy' cardi, no buttons, maybe some pockets, but despite much prevaricating and searching through Ravelry and the like, I still can't find it.

So, the Felted Tweed has gone back into the stash.

I've had two more failed cast-ons (tension, bah!) but, finally I'm going for Abalone which is a waistcoat.

It's knitted in one piece and then grafted together on the shoulders.

For this I'm using some British Breeds Jacob Grey Aran. Possibly not as luxurious as the Silk/Merino yarn which the pattern suggests, but this yarn has been in my stash for nearly 4 years, so I'm pleased to be using it.

The aran has a pleasantly 'sheepy' smell and although it is a little course, I think it's going to be really warm, so useful in the Autumn days we're currently experiencing. 

So all in all Happy Days. 

 My ankle is still hurting but at least I can get shoes on now and looking on the bright side, it's only 3 weeks until half term.   Woot!

As always, have fun and keep smiling.

Byee...............Clicky Needles.

Pete Reed, Olympic Hero

Hello there!

I'm giddy with excitement right now because Mr Clicky, me and DS have just been into Stroud to see Pete Reed the gold winning Olympian.  He was in the Coxless Fours Rowing Team and won gold.

He came out of The Subscription Rooms

 and got onto the open top bus, complete with outriders and a samba band.

 I cheered loudly, much to DS' embarrassment.  His Mum and girlfriend sat down next to him looked very proud.

I really enjoyed the Paralympics and Olympics, the athletes were so inspiring.  I watched whenever I could, so to see Pete and his medal was fabulous.

Back to school last week, it was lovely to see the kids again  ~ but how tiring!  We went on a trip to the Black Country Living Museum as our 'Wow' which gets our Victorians topic rolling.  

The sunrise that morning was beautiful. 

The children had a great time learning about life 'in the olden days' and went into houses, down the mine and experienced what a school would have been like.  I however, had a less fun as I fell off a kerb and twisted my ankle. Ouch! 

I got it x-rayed the next day, luckily it wasn't broken.  The advice was 'to elevate' which was just what I did.  I elevated my foot on my steamer chair in the sunshine.  I've been hobbling around ever since, but the swelling is going down now.

My knitting mojo seems to have deserted me a bit but I have got my squares finished and sent for August.

My gardening mojo has also evaporated but I think has a lot to do with the weather.  The red germaniums in my lovely stone trough are about the only thing looking good at the moment.    

Unfortunately you can't see them right now as they have a fridge freezer plonked in front of them waiting for collection.  Yes, our fridge freezer decided to pack up on Saturday night. *Sigh*  Luckily we didn't have to go on a mad eating fest, we do have another freezer in the garage.    Mr Clicky and me went after work one night and bought another one to be delivered tomorrow, thank goodness.

So that's about it for now I think, I've got lots of blogs to catch on so I'll settle down with a cup of tea.

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

Four Girls in a Truck

Hello There!

I've had another quick hop over to France, with B and her mum and mum-in-law in B's truck.  We got lots of bemused looks from as we piled out and even more when we had to help the Mummies back in ~ it's surprisingly high.

We were camping again in our bargain tent which was cosy warm and very dry, despite downpours.

You can read what we got up to here.

We had a meal in a restaurant opposite the lovely chateau at La Clayette.

All in all a successful trip, although there was a slightly sticky moment when I was driving on the motorway and B asked "How are we for fuel?"  I looked down and we were on empty, I hadn't been taking much notice.  We turned off the air con and radio and hoped for the best.  Luckily we managed to get to the next service station with the fuel light on.  B gave me thunderous looks and tutted a lot.

I carried on with my Beach Stripe Surf Blanket when I wasn't driving.  I'm very pleased with progress so far.

I seem to have got a bit fed up with knitting at the moment, the little green cardi has been flung into the naughty corner and I only want to crochet my blanket.  I love making blankets, I like the idea of having something practical which will last a lifetime.

These blankets were made by my Great Aunt Daisy, the pinker one was mine and the darker one for my brother.  They are (ahem) roughly 35 years old and still looking good.

I grew up surrounded by knitters and crocheters.  My Mum taught me to knit and her two sisters were knitters too.  On my Dad's side my Gran taught me how to crochet Granny Squares and Auntie Daisy used let me join in with making the squares for our blankets.  She used to do the yarn over rows and I used to do the purl and knit rows.  I must have been under 10 at the time.  The yarn came from jumpers they got from jumble sales and was washed, unravelled and wound around chair backs to get the kinks out.  Auntie Daisy used to knit at amazing speeds, she once managed to produce a cricket jumper for my brother (6 foot tall even in his school days) the day before term started because he'd just remembered he need one.

My Mum gave me nuggets of wisdom which I still follow today:

Never knot your yarn, join at a row end.

Never use bent needles;  these were the days of steel needles.

Don't finish for the day in the middle of a row, you'll make a hole.

I used to make jumpers when I was around 18 in the days of batwings in the 1980's, and then things started to tail off.  When Mr Clicky and me got married and had the children I made baby jumpers and then as they got bigger things tailed off again.  No time to knit.  Now they are teenagers and I've returned with a vengeance, I seem to have come full circle making blankets again.  

I thought you might like to see the progress of my Phoenix Friendship Blanket.

Looking good I think.

Right! I must go and hang some washing out as there seems to a bit of sun today, instead of the usual rain.

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

Knitting and Crochet

Hello All.

Back to the important things in life.  

Knitting and Crochet.

I have completed some things over the last few weeks.

This crochet bunting was for The Phoenix Summer Swap. 

 The swap was to the value of £5.00, so some bunting seemed to fit the bill.  I added some smellies and chocolate to the parcel too.

The parcel I received.  The crochet doggy makes me laugh.

My Ravellenic Socks were finished in the closing ceremony.  These became a trial towards the end and it's entirely possible that one leg is shorter than the other.  I'm not sure why they became a chore, I wonder if it is because there was a deadline.  Deadlines for me, take the pleasure away.  I am totally capable of knitting a pair of socks in a couple of days ~ less if the family don't want feeding~ but these glared at me from their bag and I didn't want to do them.

Anyhoo, all finished now, in the drawer waiting for cold weather.

Talking of the weather, it's been hot and sticky, not much sun with many rainy downpours.

I've started a 'Lucy Bag' using Rowan All Seasons Cotton which my friend Romain gave me. 

 It is aran weight so crochets up quickly.  I wasn't happy about the colour joins, you can see them on the base of the bag.

For the sides of the bag I'm joining for the new colour in any place on the round rather than at the start.  This gives I think a much better finish.

Funnily enough Fiona at KnitKnotKnatUK  has just completed a wonderfully bright bag.  Pop over and have a look.  I have actually met her in real life.  She's a proper person, not just virtual.  Through her I've come across some lovely blogs which I've popped into my side bar.  The first one being Miss Magpie Makes, she lives on the South Coast ~ lucky thing ~ and she makes beautiful things, just look at the blanket on her front page.  The second being Cozy Things, anyone who yarnbombs their own back yard has respect from me.  She also has a made a lovely Beach Stripe Surf Blanket. One look and I was smitten.

I had planned to make a blanket with the colours from this Cath Kidston Tesco bag.  I started it but it wasn't doing it for me, so it's been unravelled.

I started a Beach Stripe Surf Blanket instead.  I've pulled out that acrylic that was left over from my Summer Granny Blanket,  hooked on (?) and I'm off.

Five stripes done so far.

One of the stripes is beige.  I wouldn't usually be using beige, but as it turns out it's not too bad.

I even considered white at one point but that turned out to be a mistake.

 The sharp eyed among you might notice that the blanket had been photographed on my steamer chair.  Yesterday it was actually sunny although the day started like this, muggy and hot. 

 The big orb in the sky broke through about lunch time and I took the opportunity to have some hooky time.  DD was spending the day with her BF and DS was cycling in the woods and leaping around like a lunatic on the neighbours' trampoline.  It was lovely and quiet.  Bliss.

DS arrived back with his socks looking like this "The grass next to the trampoline had been cut" and later on that evening a cold sore appeared on my lip.  For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.  *Sigh*

If you have any tips for the socks, other than throw them away, let me know.

Righto, I'm off now.

Have fun...................Clicky Needles.

Oh I forgot!  The french house blog has started.  That was fast wasn't it?   I amaze myself sometimes.
http://lapetitemaisondesbonamis.blogspot.co.uk/

Our Trip to France Part 2

Hello All.

If you've got to know me over the past few years you'll know when I promise 'Part 2 tomorrow' it's not going to be tomorrow.  It's Wednesday today and Part 1 was Sunday but there you go.

  Today it's pelting it down with rain and very dingy, so I've no excuse not to get on.  I've opened all the curtains wide in an effort to get a bit more light in but it's not really happening.

  Meh!

Here's some of the sights we saw the other week.

This magnificent chateau is at La Clayette. This picture was taken from the campsite, we had a very pleasant evening stroll around the lake.

 I think I like Burgundy so much because it is quite agricultural which takes me back to my childhood.  Tractors and combines were all over the place, hard at work harvesting.  There are lots of Charolais cattle, which are a bit too muscular for me ~ not a pretty as some English ones ~ but a nice bit of beef anyhow.

 La Clayette was having a Show Jumping Event and this horse and jockey sculpture was on a roundabout at the edge of town.

 We came across some interesting insects.

This blue butterfly was really difficult to photograph, every time I got near he flew away.

 A damsel fly on the tent guy rope.

 A lovely lizard on our front gate.  

'Our gate' still can't quite believe the house is ours!

 DS had fun playing with the grasshoppers.

And his best discovery, this amazing spider.  The spider stayed there for several days, I wouldn't mess with him, how about you?

We visited La Maire (The Mayor) of Montmelard in his office behind the war memorial, to introduce ourselves and to check if we needed planning permission the work we're wanting to do.

Thankfully B has been doing Conversational French evening classes, I could just make out what he was saying but she did marvellously well and chatted away to him.  He did look hopefully at us and ask when we would be finished.  I did my best Gallic shrug.

 

So a last few hours of de-spidering and sweeping and we were off.

On the return trip we stopped for a picnic lunch at an Aire, a motorway rest stop with a toilet.

There are vineyards all around.

The driving was uneventful as we were guided along by Cyril the Sheep but by the time we were in Northern France up ahead was looking a bit dark.

Oh yes.

The sun tried to put in an appearance, but only made things worse.

Although the rainbow was nice.

 Back onto the train to arrive before we left. 

 Left 10.00pm arrived 9.30pm.

Maybe Dr Who should just ride the tunnel to time travel. 

 So there we are.

I'm going to start a new blog up to chart the progress on the house who knows when that will be? 

You know what I'm like.............

Have fun.

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

P.S. It's now so dark I'm having to put the lights on. *sigh*