Stripes and Hexagons

Such awful weather we are having recently, but perfect for snuggling up on the sofa, cup of tea close by and a new crochet project to keep me busy. This stripey gorgeousness is a baby blanket for some good friends of ours whose baby is due in exactly a month's time. They decided not to find out what they are having so a multi coloured blanket was in order. What better than to have lots of bright stripes - stripes that are quick and simple to crochet, no pattern to remember just backwards and forwards, remembering to change the colour every three rows. I am loving making this blanket and will be sad to see it go, it definitely cheers me up during these dull grey and rainy days.

I have been using Rico Creative Cotton which I have not used before but I love it. I bought it from Cucumber Patch who are selling it at the bargain price of £1.75 per 50g ball. Their service is fantastic too, the yarn arrived in super quick time. As you can see, I have used quite a few colours, some bright and some dark. I had to buy a couple more balls of darker colours as the blanket was starting to look a little too bright for my liking and the navy and purple seem to ground the other colours. These photos don't really show the real life colours of these blankets, something to do with lack of light around here. I'll try to get some sunshine shots of this blanket before I give it away.

The pattern I have used for this is the Bella Dia Vintage Stripe blanket. I've used this pattern before for another baby blanket but this time, instead of trebles I am half trebling my way along these stripes, which gives a more close knit finish. Also, if you decide to use this pattern, only do the two trebles into the last stitch if you are changing the colour for the next row.

As you can see from the above photo, I have some white yarn too which is going to be a border around the stripes. I was inspired by this blanket. I love the way it has pale and dark colours as well as the brights, all surrounded by a crisp white border. This blanket is sure going to be difficult to give away. Just as well I have some of the wool left over, not much though - maybe enough for a small lap blanket or another blanket for Gerard!
  

I have been persevering with the hexagons but it's tough going. I just don't like the stopping and starting every few minutes. I am contemplating making some half hexagons (if that's possible) to make straight edges down two of the sides and rippling off the remaining two zig zag edges. Does anyone know if this would be possible or am I creating more work for myself? I have set this project to one side for now, until I finish the baby blanket anyway.

I do like these colours together though - completely unexpected how well they all look close up.

Right, my husband has just plonked a cup of tea down next to me and I have one coloured stripe left to crochet on the baby blanket before I embark on the border, so I'd better get going. x

Hong Kong Food

Let's just say we indulged in quite a lot of food whilst in Hong Kong - well, we were on holiday afterall. Not so many photos of the food we ate, but lots of photos nonetheless. Above is a photo of fish hanging off roadworks barriers - yes, the fish hang from anywhere and everywhere. Here's another example...

A pole sticking out from behind an advertising hoarding, with two fish hanging from it. Just the two. Also, this poster is advertising dragon boat racing and my sister realised that this is a photo of the dragon boat race that she and her husband took part in last year!

Here's a photo of a shop that actually sells the fish that hang up on any horizontal pole available. The fish are bagged up (cellophane at the top, paper at the bottom covering the fish head and scary stary eyes!) and hung again from horizontal poles in the shop. In all of these shops that we saw (some sold dried foods including shark fins and birds nests) we saw lots of shop assistants sat around waiting, looking bored and absolutely no customers. Not sure what was going on?

We were walking between the markets (Goldfish, Bird and Flower) when we saw this lady with her cart. She was roasting chestnuts etc, they smelt delicious.
 

We really enjoyed our buffet lunch at the Jumbo Top Deck floating restaurant. Lots of luxury boats and yachts to gawp at on our little boat journey over to the restaurant, whilst gazing at the tall buildings surrounding the harbour.

Whilst visiting Cheung Chau Island (which was a bizarre experience due to the sheer amount of peope there) we saw this suckling roast pig being biked off to the dinner table - a corrugated cardboard jacket and singed tail were the order of the day. We only realised when we got to Cheung Chau that this is the destination of all the locals on a National holiday... and it was a National holiday that particular day. I think the sheer amount of people added to the overall enjoyment and wonderment of the day.

A local lady in Cheung Chau with her chickens! They look like the classic rubber chicken in this photo but they are actually real. And I want her hat.
 

There is a Cheung Chau bun festival in April/May which we just missed, but they were getting ready for it - these are the buns which are placed on tall bamboo scaffolding towers/structures - the buns at the top are the luckiest. The locals climb the towers to try to grab the top most bun.
 

One of our final meals in Hong Kong was at a Thai restaurant, on the edge of a beach and overlooking Ocean Park, a theme park and zoo which we had visited that day. We could see the lights and hear the screams from the rides across the bay whilst sipping on a margarita and tucking into red or green thai curry and lots of other delicious dishes. E is not a big fan of spicy food so we ordered her some shrimp and pineapple rice with cashew nuts - this is what turned up on the dinner table! It did taste surprisingly good too.

And as is always the case after having a few days break from cooking day in day out, I have got creative in the kitchen again and have tried cooking three new meals since we got back. I really dislike cooking everyday but have added some new recipes to the usual meals that we have - no bad thing.

Will be back soon with some crochet news, if I manage to load the photos successfully - has taken me four days to get these ones on here - is it just me or do other people have trouble loading photos - my computer seems to time out after a couple of minutes???  xxx

Back from Hong Kong

Yes, we're back (have been for a week now) and only just got my blogging act together after spending ages trawling through hundreds of photos trying to decide which few to choose so I don't bore you all! Also, have had major problems loading these photos on - not sure if it's my laptop or blogger that is playing up. We had the most amazing time and saw so much that I am quite sure we would not have encountered if we hadn't had the two most incredible tour guides with us, aka my lovely sister and brother in law. Lots of aching leg muscles from walking everywhere and lots of eating and drinking too so hopefully everything evened out nicely (my clothes still fit, in other words).

Our first full day in Hong Kong was spent wandering around the park in the middle of the city. So beautiful and a refreshing change from all the buildings crammed in together. It was quite apparent that the locals love plants and flowers as there were so many pots and tubs dotted around in the least expected places.

At the park we saw these gorgeous turtles/terrapins, we even saw one which was about the size of a 50 pence piece. You can tell I was missing my tortoises already as we spent quite some time looking at these little fellas.

On the first day we also had a bit of a mishap. F is lacking in suitable summer shoes so we only took her trainers and crocs and said that we would find a shop to buy her some sandals. We were on an escalator in the underground when all of a sudden the escalator stopped. It turned out that F's croc got sucked into the side of the step and that's what caused it. We all had a go at trying to pull the croc out and this is what it looked like. There was not a mark on F's foot and she was completely unfazed by this episode but I suddenly remembered a horror story on the radio from a few months ago where a child who was wearing wellies had to have their lower leg amputated because of something like this happening. It turned me cold just thinking about it. We quickly popped into a local shoe shop and bought some sturdy walking sandals and from then on, F was very careful on the escalators. It was only after all this happened that I noticed that some of the escalators had green footprints painted onto the steps to show where to put your feet and they also had pictures of sandals and flipflops warning people to be careful wearing rubber soled shoes. So relieved she was unharmed. Please make sure your kids are standing sensibly on the escalator with feet well away from the sides when they are wearing these kinds of shoes.
 

We got a great view of the city from The Peak, even if it was a bit foggy. There was a mist/fog over the city for most of the days we were out there but we did get some gorgeous sunshine aswell as a spectacular thunderstorm too.
 

I was not expecting Hong Kong to be so hilly, I just assumed it would be flat. Hence the aching leg muscles!

Another day we went to the Goldfish market (yes you read that right), the Bird market and the Flower market. Hong Kongers sure do love their pets, especially dogs. We sat eating some lunch in Stanley and watched for near enough an hour as a lady posed with her dog whilst her boyfriend took photos - by the end they had a crowd of people watching and also wanting to pose for photos with the dog. It was a lovely golden retriever but still, really?!
 

One of my favourite days there was a trip to Jumbo Top Deck, a floating buffet style restaurant. We basically grazed on food for over four hours whilst we had our glasses topped up again and again with bubbly. There was so much yummy food to choose from and F was very pleased to see sushi and baked beans, both of which she indulged in! E enjoyed what was on offer on the dessert table, especially when I said she could have whatever she wanted.

On our last day, we visited the aviary in the park and saw some incredible birds, which I have no decent photos of. But here is a Birds Nest Fern growing in the aviary, and now I know why it is called that. It was huge and so healthy looking, unlike any of the Birds Nest Ferns I have ever looked after. It was kind of bizarre seeing all these house plants that you can buy in M&S growing in the ground outside.

More photos soon, don't worry I have restricted them to just a few, and may have to restrict them even further if I have any more problems loading them on!  Hope you all had lovely Easter holidays too. x

Unpacking the garden

It really did feel like I was unpacking the garden this week - getting the garden furniture out, raking up the remainder of the Autumn leaves and weeding, weeding, weeding. The lawn has been mown a couple of times, we have had four BBQs (yes 4, in March, like that's ever going to happen again!) and the kids have been out on the swings and playing games until dark. The blossom is out on all the trees (this one is our neighbours - it's beautiful), such a lovely view.

We bought a stainless steel kitchen trolley from Ikea last year which we are using as extra worktop space for the BBQ. I still haven't made the cushion covers for these chairs yet. Ho hum.

Some grape hyacinths which are nestled in amongst the many bluebells which are due to flower within the next few weeks.  I think the previous owners loved blue flowers.

Luckily, I haven't managed to kill the rhubarb. I hope I get a bit more than last year, there was only enough for one crumble! The gooseberry bushs are covered in leaves and flowers, I am hoping for a better gooseberry crop too.

I weeded the weed border. Yes, you read that right. There were some weeds growing that the tortoises can't eat so I weeded all of those ones out, just leaving the weeds they are allowed and the vast array of bluebells (which they aren't allowed but I don't want to dig up as they are so pretty). It just means that picking the weeds is a bit easier now and there is more space for further weeds that I have growing in other untended parts of the garden - believe me, there are many weeds in our garden.

This is how the new lawn is looking. So glad we planted it last year and not this year as we have a hosepipe ban coming into force in April. I weeded the border along the fence in manageable 30-60 minute sessions. It was mainly pulling up ivy as opposed to weeding but it is nice and clear now, all ready for the tayberries and blackcurrants to do their thing.

There are lots of bluebells in this border too.

Whilst I have been mooching around the garden finding more and more jobs to keep me occupied, Gerard has been playing a spot of Swingball.
 

He loves sitting under the slide, waiting to pounce on the next person to walk past.

We are off on holiday soon, going to visit my sister and brother in law in Hong Kong. Really really really excited, can't wait to see them and can't wait to explore Hong Kong. Blogging will be a bit quiet over the next couple of weeks but I am sure there will be plenty to talk about when we get back. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter. xxx

A perfect weekend

Remember I told you about a crochet/sewing project last week which had to be completed for the weekend? I have been planning this project for quite a while, it took time to find the right yarn (good old charity shop came up trumps with some just off white yarn - it had to be off white, not white or cream which proved quite difficult to find). I used my knitted and crocheted flowers book and tested out a few different flowers to see which would be the right one. Above is the flower I chose and I crocheted 38 of them using a 1.5mm crochet hook. Lots of ends to sew in!

Then I sewed 6 tiny glass beads on each one - that took the best part of a day to do. Next I had to make a waistband and sew the flowers on - another day taken doing this. Definitely a labour of love. And the project was almost complete - just the final finishing touches, sewing on buttons and attaching to the dress (made by the lovely lady who made my wedding dress).

This dress was worn by my eldest two years ago with a pearl waistband but my youngest wanted it to be slightly different for her special day.

Her First Holy Communion day. She really did look beautiful and had the best time with 40 of her school friends all taking their first communion at the local church. A party tea in the church hall then back to our house for champagne, nibbles and cake...

Chocolate cake, as requested by the special girl.

We had a fantastic day but boy were we all exhausted come Monday!

So that's another crochet project completed. Still working on and off on the chevron garden blanket, I wonder if it will be finished before the summer is over. I have really lost interest in it but I will try hard to get back on track as really, there is only a little bit left to go before it's done.

I've been out in the garden again over the past couple of days, digging up yet more mandrakes. Can't wait til it's all cleared and ready to turf. The kids are getting quite excited too as it means they will have double the amount of lawn to play on. Roll on summer.

NOT SURE WHY THESE TWO POSTS ARE HERE - I WAS MESSING AROUND WITH LABELS AND THEY MOVED. CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO MOVE THEM BACK SO HERE THEY WILL STAY.

Mollie Makes Blanket pattern

I've had a couple of requests for the pattern for these squares. I looked very carefully at the Mollie Makes blanket and worked out roughly how to do them. I didn't bother looking for a pattern online as the blanket looked very vintage and I wasn't certain there would be anyone out there with the pattern written up.

However, I have since discovered that this lovely lady has sourced the pattern and it is on her blog. So that saves me time trying to discover where I left my little post it note with the handwritten instructions on, that only I would understand!

Have fun with whatever craft project you are working on this weekend. xx

Hexagon Fun

I spent most of last week not crocheting. It was difficult. I couldn't decide what I wanted to make with the wool that I had. I was quite out of sorts that week, it really bothered me that I couldn't crochet as I didn't want to make something that wasn't right and waste the yarn that I had bought. I had originally meant to use this yarn (the milk protein cotton) to make a ripple/chevron. But when I tried out a few different patterns, it just didn't seem to work. I have concluded that for the ripple blanket I want to make, I need a thicker yarn or to use two strands at once. That idea was therefore shelved as I have no funds to start buying more yarn.

I needed a new project and I began a meandering search on blogs, flickr and pinterest, trying to muster up some inspiration. Then I saw an image of some hexagon patterned fabric and thought I could just make some small one colour hexagons and see how it looked.

I used this pattern, which I found searching Google for crochet hexagon pattern images. I think it works perfectly as a one colour hexagon and is a lovely size - about 2.5 inches wide.

These little guys are joined as you go and only take 8 minutes a piece to make. Just perfect for the odd bit of crochet here and there. The blanket has grown to over double the above size since taking these photos on Friday. A fair bit of crochet was done over the weekend in the sunshine, cup of tea to hand, kids playing in the garden. Bliss.

I bought three 50g balls of the chocolate brown yarn to tone down the brightness of the orange and pink. I think it's just about doing the job nicely. E has claimed this blanket already, draping it over her lap during the evening whilst watching a bit of tv. I'm not entirely sure how big this blanket will get and what kind of border it will have, but I am going to wing it and see what happens. I'm just enjoying making it, it feels right for the wool I am using so I'm quite happily going with the flow. So so nice to be crocheting again. I think it's safe to say I am well and truly addicted.

We have had the most gorgeous weather over the past few days so I have spent a great deal of time in the garden, pottering about, mainly pulling out weeds and ivy and tidying the place up a bit. Big plans for this year (many left over from last year, ahem), lots to sort out in order to make the garden more manageable. Will dedicate another post to this subject as I have quite a few photos. We've done so much to the garden but there's still plenty to do before it's looking more like our kind of space.

Gerard has been having the time of his life out in the sunshine. He has managed to scare off all the local cats so he finally has his garden all to himself. I've never seen a cat rolling around in dusty dirt like a lion before but that is top of Gerard's list of favourite things to do. He's also quite partial to hiding in the undergrowth for a little nap. :) Tearing around like a maniac and getting supremely over excited when one of us goes out into the garden is also a popular pastime. Sometimes I wonder whether he thinks he's a dog.  The tortoises are also enjoying the sunshine, their appetite has improved greatly as they are spending more time wandering around in their enclosure. So much to enjoy at this time of year, it's great to be able to get out in the garden again. Hope you are enjoying your outside space too. xx