Diagonal Crochet

I've been looking forward to showing you my new blanket and here it is. Quite a few months ago I saw a crochet blanket which had diagonal stripes and I was intrigued about how it was constructed. I made a mental note to look into it for future reference and then pushed it to the back of my mind. Up until I was wondering what to do with my Stylecraft stash. I was originally thinking of doing a ripple like this. Which I would still like to do. But I remembered the nagging thought of this diagonal pattern and learning a new crochet technique/pattern is always a nice challenge. So I searched around for the pattern and came across this blog which has an English tutorial. It took a little bit of working out but I got there in the end and was quick to get going on this blanket.
 

Action shot of me just starting out with this project. Each row is crocheted in alternate directions so you can see in the above photo that the olive green row has vertical crochet stitches and the orange row has horizontal stitches. By the time I completed the third row, I'd got the hang of the pattern and haven't looked back.

The sun's out - quick get some outdoor shots!

Another action shot - it's grown quite a bit over the past few days and I had so many Stylecraft colours in my stash to choose from.

Yep, haven't sewn one end in yet. Such a crochet rebel!

I took this photo yesterday and have added another three rows since then. I can't decide how big this blanket is going to be though. I have a tendency to make lap sized blankets rather than bed sized blankets but I get the feeling this is going to be a large lap blanket/single bed sized blanket. If that's the case, I may need to replenish the Stylecraft stash - shock horror.

I still want to make a ripple blanket though. Must finish this one and the hexagon blanket before I even contemplate a new project... x

Garden update

I certainly made the most of the amazing weather over the weekend, weeding the front garden and along the side of the decking. This kept me busy for a few hours and renewed my love of our garden. I am truly hoping that we get this garden into a beautiful state - well as beautiful as two non gardeners can do! (My lovely husband mowed the lawn on Friday after work, even though he was feeling unwell. By Saturday morning, he was confined to bed with aching muscles and flu like symptoms. He only went back to work today and has been feeling rotten over the last few days. Unfortunately F and I both woke up with sore throats and feeling bunged up so I am hoping we will not get the full blown version.)

 The above photo is of a rhododendron (I think) in the back garden, near the side of the garage and on the end of my new fruit border. This long straight border gets full sunshine pretty much all day and was once covered with ivy and shaded by a large and completely overgrown laurel bush. You may remember that it got chopped down last year on the spur of the moment by my husband whilst I was out! That sure was a surprise when I got home, I can tell you, but it looks so much better without the laurel.

Here's a very blurry photo of the gooseberries. They are about half size at the moment and me and F are currently trying to get rid of all the saw fly caterpillars that stripped the bushes of leaves last year. I am plucking them off and F is stamping on them. Believe me, she is very enthusiastic about her new role in the garden and runs out whenever I tell her it's time to go stamping. I have to remember to tell her to take her shoes off straight away when she comes back in!  She has also been enjoying some time on her own on the swing, sometimes singing, sometimes making up new games, always with a smile on her face.

Another shot of the fruit border. Last year when I was starting to clear the old veg patch, I found a lone strawberry plant which I potted up and hoped that a few strawberries might grow. I bought another strawberry plant on a whim to keep it company. Over the winter I noticed that some runners had grown and made a mental note to dig them up and replant them in the fruit border where they would get plenty of sun. Well, I did this at the weekend and found six runners from the two original plants. I have no idea whether I will get any fruit from the runners this year (have just googled it and it looks like I have done everything wrong, never mind!) but apparently I have got to pick the flowers off the runners this year if they get any so the plants have a chance to establish themselves.

The tayberries are growing nicely after being hacked back (again, probably at completely the wrong time of year) so not sure what's going to happen. But considering they were hiding behind lots of weeds up until last year, I am sure they will survive.

So that's the current situation in the garden, still lots more weeding and tidying up to do but I am on a roll so hopefully with the good weather forecast for the rest of this week, I will be able to put a few more hours of gardening in. We are also trying to source a cantilever parasol that tilts and is within our budget. On the very few days of sunshine and warmth last Summer, we really struggled to stay shaded as our decking is in full sunshine pretty much all day. Hopefully we will find one that is perfect for our needs and that we will actually have some sunshine this year to make it worthwhile buying.

I went on a charity shop run yesterday to see if I could get some more Harry Potter books for F. She started reading the first one this week after having such a great time at the Harry Potter studio tour. She is over half way through the book already so I thought I had better start buying the rest. I didn't find any but did get some books for E and this cat basket for Gerard. He doesn't really need a cat basket as he usually sleeps on the sofa or F's bed but I thought it would be nice to have in the kitchen. He hasn't sat in it yet and keeps eyeing it suspiciously. I get the feeling I may have wasted my money. It still looks cute though and I am very tempted to make a round crochet blanket to go in it.

So that's all for today but I am really excited to show you photos of my new crochet project. I am loving making it and it has grown considerably over the last few days. I will be working on this new project alongside the hexagon blanket as I really don't want to shelve that blanket and then forget about it. Hope you are having a great week. Take care. x

Circles Scarf

I kind of figured that if I started making a scarf, the weather would turn. And that's exactly what's happened. It's still not that warm - only 13 degrees C - but we have had the most incredible sunshine today. I've been out in the garden making the most of it and doing a couple of hours of weeding.

Anyway, back to the crochet. This was the mini project I mentioned in my previous post. I started it on Wednesday and finished it on Thursday, it was that quick and very easy to do.

I got the pattern from an old crochet magazine that my Mum gave me but I have just had a look at Ravelry and it is on there, for a price.

Once I had completed the first row of circles I cast off and started a new row of half circles. These were then joined to the first row as I completed each circle, if that makes sense.

And here's a photo of the finished article again. This was made using a linen blend yarn which I got at a greatly reduced price from Kemps Wool. It's a wonderful colour, a really rich mustard. The yarn split quite a lot which is probably why it was so greatly reduced, but it felt so so soft once made up.

I really enjoyed making this scarf as it was so quick and simple and a lovely break from making big blankets. I think I might have enough yarn to make another one, which is just as well as this scarf is a gift for a lovely friend who gave me some physio treatment for my shoulder. My shoulder was quite painful a few weeks ago and had restricted movement, but the physio exercises my friend gave me have really helped and my shoulder is almost back to normal. I really hope she likes the scarf.

I also have some chunky wool which I think would work quite well with this pattern - I may try using an oversized crochet hook to see what kind of effect that will give. I have also started another blanket (how many blankets does one household need?!) which I will tell you about shortly. I have not touched it today so I am getting withdrawal symptoms from it - must have a little crochet before I start cooking dinner.

 Have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to. x

A little catch up

And yet again I am behind with blog posts. So many photos, so much that we have done and not a lot of time/enthusiasm to upload all the photos and sling a few words on the screen to explain what's been going on in our little world. Sorry bout that, will try to do a few mini blog posts in a row to get back on track.

Well now, I'm having to go way back to Mother's Day here (I know) to show you what I got (read as what I ordered for myself once my lovely hard working husband asked me what I wanted). So I had a quick think about what I wanted and remembered seeing these incredibly stylish cushion covers over on this blog. I loved them so much and made a mental note to put them at the top of my list of things I would love to buy. My memory isn't good at all but I sure did remember these beauties and promptly placed an order before heading off to HK. The cushion covers arrived whilst we were away so I had a lovely surprise when I got back.

This one just looks fab on my Eames rocker. Love it. The cushions are made of such good quality, heavy cotton and they have a cute black label on the side.  I would definitely recommend them - other designs are available, I especially love the Octons design.

My husband was busy a couple of weeks ago in the kitchen - no, not cooking but ripping off wall tiles and filling in holes. Since then, he has fitted a stainless steel splashback for the hob and we have all the wall tiles bought and ready to fit. We're getting there, slow but steady.

Once the tiles are up, I can finishing painting the cabinets (just a couple of bits here and there to paint) then do the final layer of wax, paint the walls, ceiling, radiator and fit the new floor. Phew, tired just thinking about it. Will be good once it's done though. Might even crack open some bubbly and do a proper photo shoot. Or maybe not!

E has also been busy in the kitchen. She decided she would like to make some red velvet cupcakes. I was there for guidance purposes only, it was her doing the baking and me just showing her where we kept everything. Note to self, move all the baking ingredients to a lower shelf so she can reach it all next time. E is really starting to enjoy independence in the kitchen, just having the confidence to have a go and see what happens. She still likes me to be there just in case though. :)

So, that's what was going on in my house 2 weeks ago! More recent activities like finishing the striped baby blanket and starting a new mini crochet project will be coming soon. Hopefully.

Anyway, is anyone interested in seeing some photos of our trip to the Warner Bros Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter? It's the one in Watford, UK as opposed to Florida! We had the best time but I don't want to bore you or spoil it for you if you have already planned to go. Let me know if you're interested.  Laters. xx

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