Scavenger Hunt

Sunday 24 October 2010

Time for a Rest

Waay....... Half Term has arrived.

I've been under the weather this week, not really bad but not great.
Anyhoo I woke up Friday morning with very little voice.
It was very quiet at the Butterfly Garden as I was just producing squeaks and odd sounds.
I'm pleased to report it's nearly back to normal now!

DD has had her ACTUAL Silver D of E Expedition.
They stayed for 3 nights and walked for 4 days through the Brecon Beacons and came out of the other side unscathed other than a few blisters. They left just as the first frosts of the Autumn fell. This was the moon (taken here) on their second night.
I dropped her off with the humungous pack and she set off in the minibus with 11 others. She was cold at night but has really enjoyed herself ~ being voted best navigator by her peers. They encountered several groups of soldiers and walked about 45km in total. I am tremendously proud of her.
No rest for the wicked ~ she was up and out this morning helping the cadets at the Stroud Half Marathon.

I've been busy with the Squeaky Blanket ~ I've now run out of yarn (there's no way it can be called wool!!!!) so I'll need to get some more when I'm next in Stroud.
My Herdwick Jacket progress is also good.
I wrapped the shoulder seems and joined them with a 3 needle cast off but because the right side is reverse stocking stitch the seem is coming out in ordinary stocking stitch and I'm not sure I can live with that.
I consulted with my knitting pal M and she thinks it will be better with a graft to the seam so I shall try that instead.
No Purple Cardi to show (I really do HATE sewing buttons on!) but I will endeavour to make myself do them this week!
I am slowing down this week just pottering around.
I hope you have a great one.
Bye for now..... Clicky Needles.

Monday 18 October 2010

Oh Dear! cast on something new.

Hello.
I didn't get my post done yesterday ~ this being for purely selfish reasons.
I have started this jacket.
The wool is so lurvely to knit with I didn't want to stop to blog!!
The wool for this was a bargainous £1.20 from our favourite on-line yarn shop Kemps ~ it's called Nature's Way by Stylecraft and 100 per cent undyed virgin wool, the colourway Herdwick. I was very torn that I should be buying Cotswold but decided that this colour was a bit nicer although......................
How do you know about these bargains I hear you ask.
The answer is very simple. During the last Butterfly Group Meeting a very naughty enabler sat next next to me and tempted me for a full 2 hours telling me how cheap it was.
Yes she was right ~ it was.
I did mange to resist until Sunday night before ordering but then caved in.

The Crochet *squeak* Blanket is carrying on nicely, about half way up DS's bed.
The cherry tree has now completely changed colour and dropped most of it's leaves but what were remaining on the tree on Sunday were looking glorious.
I 'hovered' up the ones on the lawn with the lawnmower and gave the grass a cut too, which has carried on growing despite the cooler weather.
This poppy has just popped up a few new buds.
I had to wash the car on Sunday, after being stalked around Tesco's car park by one of the washers. He walked the whole length of the car park to ask me!
I took this to be a big hint and finally got to it myself.

DD is off on Wednesday night for the ACTUAL D of E Silver Expedition so we'll be needing more Kendal Mint Cake and Mars ~ and let's hope it's not too cold at night time!
She's really busy at the moment she's joined a ladies football team
and the Army Cadet Force.

Still not sewn those buttons on the purple cardi ~ not my favourite job.....still, maybe next week.
Have a good time whatever you get up to.
Bye Clicky Needles.

Sunday 10 October 2010

A Double Ta-Dah!!!!!!!

Hello All.
As promised a Ta-dah.
The first one being the Grey Jacket that I mentioned last week.
It was really quick, easy and cheap coming in at £10.00.
Here it is ~ made in Stylecraft Chunky which is very warm in fact a bit too warm at the moment. I intend to wear it with a kilt pin to fasten it ~ which also gives it a better shape.
I've had a fairly quiet weekend ~ we packed DD off on another Duke of Edinburgh's practice expedition in the Black Mountains in South Wales. Her pack was very, very heavy ~ we did warn her not to fall over incase she ended up like an upside down tortoise unable to move.
Of course every trek needs food so amongst other things (copious amounts of Mars) she had some ration pack meals and Kendal Mint Cake.
She arrived back today very muddy but in one piece.

As I wandered past Shaws the Drapers in Stroud on Friday I was strangely drawn in through the door because they have a small amount of yarn. If I'm honest it's not even nice yarn but it's yarn all the same and sometimes you just have to look.
They had there Marriner Double Knit Acrylic and I have to sadly admit I loved the colours and at a Big Billy Bargain at £1.50 for 150g obviously had to buy.
The weather on Saturday didn't quite hit the 21 degrees that the weather man had promised (very grey, cloudy and boring all day) so I set about making this whilst watching the Commonwealth Games. The only problem is that I have made one squeak that put my teeth on edge and brought me out in a sweat ~ I kid you not ~ I really hate the sound ~ can't do polystyrene either!
I was hoping it could be a camping blanket and might go on DS's bed if he needed it ~ but he says it's just for His Bed.
Another Big Billy Bargain in Shaws was a jute shopping bag for 25p ~ so I couldn't pass that up either, so it's a project bag for the blanket.
After finishing my Grey Jacket and Purple Cardi ~ got to get the buttons on the Purple Cardi yet so you'll have to wait for piccys ~ I fancied something totally different.
So here it is ~ called a Baktus it's just a triangular scarf made with sock yarn. I've had this Araucania Sock Yarn for ages ~ one of the reasons being that it needs to be handwashed and is not machine washable like other sock yarns.
How do I know this? because I felted these little beauties ~ which took ages to knit because of the lace pattern ~ THE FIRST TIME THEY WERE WASHED.
So there were two lessons learnt that day
1. I don't like making lace socks.
2. Handwash specialist dyed and produced yarn.
Hah! I hear you thinking where is the other Ta-Dah. Well here it is ~ as today DID reach the 20 or so degrees predicted I tackled the front garden.
Remember how it looked?
Well, I think it's a lot better now.

I've dug up load of old big grasses and divided some others and planted them in drifts ~ it was amazing how many self seeded bits there were.
Last piccy ~ I've rambled on forever today ~ a sunrise one day last week. Despite the fact it should have been 'shepherds warning' the day turned out well.
Hope your days are good whatever you're up to.
Bye for now......... Clicky Needles.


Sunday 3 October 2010

Rain, rain, rain.

Hello!
I had the BEST day on Friday.
After doing the food shopping (boo) and running some errands I gave Lucy at Along Came Polly (my local yarn shop) a call. She's not long taken over the shop and I knew she had received a yarn order that time and customers weren't letting her get on the shelves.
So I went and gave her a hand. This is me sitting amongst all the lovely yarn.
Ahhhh heaven.
We had a super time talking yarn and yarny things and making the place look really pretty and colourful.
The rain came down and down and we were inside surrounded by yummy yarnyness.

On the way to the shop I had much childish fun seeing if I could make the H U G E puddles on the roads splash all the way over the top of the car.
Yep it worked.
I did think about getting the pedestrians too but decided that might be a bit mean.

The postie bought me a nice pressie this week from Amazon ~ isn't it good when they do that?
A lot of the patterns are made in one piece seamless construction.
A few nice things in it ~ I like these two.
This pink cardi is made from cuff to cuff and then the bottom is made upwards in one piece and added on. I'm not sure that I'd do the flower bit at the bottom and I'd possibly make the collar a bit smaller but on the whole I like it!
Whilst I was doing the shopping I got these lovely Gladioli ~ they were in the bargain bucket for £1.00. I've not been buying flowers lately as we've been trying the save money for the French house but for a £1.00 you can't really go wrong.
I had a potter around the garden on Saturday ~ did some dead heading and tidying up ~ the Sargentii Cherry is starting to change it's leaves to red.
This morning as the weather was yukky and wet again we decided to do the only thing you can ~ light the woodburner and make chocolate brownies. They are disappearing fast.
I've finished a Grey Cardi ~ which is blocking as I type and the Purple Cardi has the bottom of one arm to go ~ so expect a double ta-dah next week!!!!!
Hope the weather is good for you this week.
Clicky Needles.