Some fab photos

Daughter R is a budding photographer and takes great photos of her sister A. Here is a sample...

The Birthday Blanket

So now I can blog about the Afghan.  It has finally arrived at its destination, and I can relate the saga - which will be boring to most of you. :-)

It was my Mother's 70th birthday recently and her friends threw her a surprise party. They were kind enough to get in touch to let me know what they were planning even though I couldn't be there. But they did inspire me to get to work on making something to mark her 70th.

I spent ages trying to decide what to do, a throw, a scarf, a shawl, cushion covers, hat and gloves, etc.?  I have been in a bit of a crochet mode lately, so quite wanted to crochet something and settled on the idea of crocheting an afghan out of 70 squares.

I then spent ages looking at my pattern books and online to decide if I shoudl do lots of different squares, or all the same pattern, and if so which pattern, and how big, and what colour. So I finally decided on the Afghan Square, just becauss I like it, and the criss cross pattern looks nice on a big something. It is from an old Leisure arts pattern, which is a 63 square heirloom afghan.

Then began the saga of the yarns. I bought some King Cole Homespun thinking the wool content would be nice and ordered some , blue, green and cream. But at the same time I started ordering some Robin Bonny Babe Aran in pink  and green.  I started with the homespun, but it didn't look like my mother's sort of thing, and there wasn't enough anyway as with chunky yarns, the meterage is less. I was only getting 2 and half squares per skein.

So I started on the Robin in green and that really worked. The squares were lovely, the yarn was soft and yet still washable - which I think my mother would like. :-)    So then I searched local yarn shops to find some other colours. I had already bought the pink, but changed my mind about pink and green. Mum's friend had told me her living room was blue and so I decided to go with a blue. I went on ebay to find some Bonny Babe Aran in Cream, which came with no problems. And then I found what is called Madonna Blue, which I thought would be be lovely.    I ordered it and started making green squares in earnest. about 8 days later, the blue still hadn't arrived so I contacted the seller, who offered to send another one, which had a watermark, at a discount. I agreed to that.

But in the mean time, I was spending a lot of time online, wondering if I should go with the slate blue as I couldn't find anybody else selling Madonna blue. I had already gone through one 400 gm ball of the green, and knew I would need more blue if I was to do 35 squares. I spent a couple of weeks, wondering if I should get the slate blue, and waiting for the madonna blue. When it finally came, I didn't like it! I then spent another few days making squares with this madonna blue, showing people and saying I didn't like it, before I finally gave in and bought the Slate blue. And of course, the Slate looked lovely with the green and that is what I should have gone with in the first place. So I hadn't left myself much time at all to finish this thing.

I spent a lot of time on Ravelry and You tube, learning flat braid joining, which is fab. And the deadline for posting was getting closer. The party they had planned was for May 6th, and her birthday is May 9th. I really wanted her to have something to open at the party that was from me. I planned to leave 10 days for posting. But of course, it was 7 days in the end because I didn't finish in time. And it is a bit smaller than I would have wanted, had I had the time. But I got it in the post on April 30th, on the way to dropping C off at Scout camp.  It cost £40 to send to America via airmail, Global economy. And then the waiting began. It didn't arrive for the party by the 6th. But I held out hopes for the 9th. Still didn't arrive. By the 11th I was getting a bit worried. Finally popped into the Post Office to see what to do, (having lost the receipt in all the hubbub of posting and getting C to camp) and they weren't much help. But this morning I woke up to an email saying it had finally arrived - 3 weeks exactly- and that she loves it!

 
All in all a very boring story, but I don't think any project has occupied my mind so much. It took me ages to decide on project, then pattern, then colours, then mix ups with yarn and posting, - which means it has turned into a bit of a saga.  I really wanted this to be special for my mum. Having said that, I should have started it earlier. It isn't like a 70th birthday sneaks up on you. :-) I did have plenty of warning, I just started late.

But now I have plenty of yarn for other things. M wants me to do her something with the pink and cream that I didn't use. So now I can spend several weeks deciding what to do for her.

EEEEk!

Eeeek! for so many reasons. Ok, so I am really having to curb my desire to buy yarn. I sit and look at patterns, and yarn, and just want to gobble it all up. 15 year old R has said she actually wants me to knit her something, Owls, which can be found on Ravelry or here and I just want to get started. But of, course, I have several other things that I shuold be doing/finishing, and I also want to do some summery stuff, work with cotton and bamboo and linen for a while as long as the weather inspires me.

Eeeek! also because of the ongoing election stuff. Of course, my personal Eeeek! does not have to do with wanting GB out, or thinking they should all hurry up, or being dismayed at the fact that it is taking a while to sort out any coalition. My Eeeek! is with the pathetic media coverage. I am sick of people saying GB should get out, when there is as yet nobody in a position to replace him. I am sick of reporters giving us all their interpretations rather than the NEWS. Why isn't it called OPINIONS rather than NEWS anymore? I am sick of people assuming that Nick Clegg is giving his party away whatever he chooses. And I am sick of news that isn't news, but just fillers because there really isn't that much to report at the moment. Maybe if we lived in a country that trusted its leaders a bit more, the leaders would meet our higher standards, instead of living in a country where we automatically criticize, and so bring everybody down to the lower standard of trying to keep us happy. Or maybe I just need to drink more gin.

I am rather comforted by the fact that politicians are talking to each other, having to negotiate, and taking the time to try to make the right decision. It may be the only thing I am optimistic about, and I know it won't last long. :-o

And now for a happy Eeeek! I have finished a few things. Been inspired by the weather to make things in cotton for the baby. And here they are.

The photo isn't that good. It actually looks really sweet, if a bit 1970's which I like. ;-) It is the Ruffle hat, crocheted in Sirdar Calico.

And this a cardy that I started before baby was born, thinking I had plenty of time. Fogot about it for a while, and then realized that she is nearly 7 months old and I had better finish it. Left off the pockets, as I cannot for the life of me fathom why babies need pockets. And left off the flowers I was going to crochet, as she has a habit of grabbing things on her clothes and eating them. Why go to the bother of flowers that are only going to get sucked. :-)  And the buttons are a boring brown, because they were in my sewing box and didn't cost me a penny. A practical garment that can get messy without me caring too much. All in all a nice cotton cardy for sunny weather. So come on sunny weather.

And since waiting around for sunny weather may take longer than waiting for a coalition government, here is a little warm bonnet, although only in acrylic, that I have made up. It doesn't fit very well, but I like the stitch, called Peacock stitch in the crochet book I have. I think I will have to play around with it a bit, and see if I can come up with a nice pattern. I keep thinking I would like to write up patterns for some of the things I crochet, but I never get around to it. I shall try to do it as I make another summer halter top for M, in some Louisa Harding cotton that I have from a trip to Shipston last year. Hey Martine, comment please on the name of that lovely shop?!


Happy Eeeeek day!

People are Stupid :-(

That's about the extent of my ability to analyze election results this morning...except for people in Brighton Pavilion. :-) Well done them!

Election day!

Wonder what kind of world we will wake up to tomorrow. Will have to spend the night listening to Radio 4 - this is the first time since giving up telly I wish we had it!
I really hope our Lib Dem MP John Leech gets re-elected. He is a good man, and has helped us out quite a bit. I am not a diehard Lib Dem supporter, but I really like him. Good Luck!

Gladys Reunited by Sandi Toksvig

A review for Women unbound. Sort of.

Read this a few weeks ago, but haven't had time to blog recently -which is a shame, because I do think a lot, and wish I could record my thoughts. However, it is hard to write when one is lactating, gardening, cooking, falling down the stairs, driving, reading, knitting, crocheting, playing games and visiting. :-) So life isn't boring, just my blog is. :-)

I absolutely love this book by Sandi Toksvig. I haven't got time to write all the reasons I like it, but here is a bit of info. It is part travel diary, part nostalgia holiday, part cultural observation. Sandi Toksvig spent part of her childhood in the States, and this book is about her going back to find a group of women with whom she had been close in high school. It is lighthearted in parts, and can be read to just pass the time.

It is also about her search for her own identity; Danish? American? British? And this is the part that meant a lot to me. I have now spent half my life in America, and half in England. I feel fundamentally American, and yet not all. I am brash, loud, direct, confident, and fat, which means I am very American. I am also apologetic yet superior, which means I am British. :-)

At the end of the book, Sandi applies for her British passport. And although I haven't the time or energy to write more of a review, it has inspired me to do the same. :-)

So I have actually been knitting...

Just to prove that I still have been knitting, in between reading and taking care of kids, and enjoying the sunshine, and all sorts of things....

This the Autumn Leaves pattern done on 3.25 mm needles for newborn. One of C's Scouts leaders is expecting imminently and I hope she likes this. I am actually quite proud of it, in spite of getting my YOs wrong. Although when I look on Ravelry at the other finished products, I am not the only one. So maybe they are not wrong so much as emphasized. After all, there are many ways to do just about everything. I was worried about it being too big, and since I used Patons Cotton Washed Haze, I wanted it to fit in the finer weather, but now I think it may be a bit small. It definitely won't fit for long, so let's hope it is a small baby.


I have also used the same yarn to do a neck shawl (ok it's a scarf really) to sell raffle tix to fundraise for the boy's Scout Jamboree in 2011. (I do have a photo, but I can't find the camera and it doesn't have any batteries because the very expensive lithium ones I bought got used by C and M and a neighbourhood friend to make a video.) We need £250 by the end of this month. Then we need to get the rest of the £2000. So far we have about £58. :-)  At least we have started. If only I could get sponsered for each raised point in my blood pressure...