Grrr decorating

3 days of wallpaper stripping, sanding, filling, more sanding, cleaning up after all this and cleaning walls and we are ready to paint - which will have to wait for tomorrow now as we have lost the use of every part of our bodies!!!!

So in the morning we have to masking tape round the windows and pull back the carpet from skirting board....then off we go!!!

Some holiday eh?!

But will definately be worth it when it's finished!

Bolton Abbey

Last sunday was our twin neice and nephew's 7th birthday -every year we all go to Bolton Abbey. This year it rained, then got hot, then rained, then hot (you see the pattern!!) But we didn't care....

And as you can see the kids were in the water anway!!

Poor Darren trying to eat his lunch with a captive audience - note only the middle dog is ours!!!

Lady was constantly in the water - she loves swimming!!

Our neice nearly went in head first!!!!

Isn't this lovely....

You can just see the priory....we stayed by the water side though.

We all had a lovely day and were exhausted.....until next years party!!!

My new crochet bag

So it is my first attempt at the crochet as found here: http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/crochet-bag.html It's a great pattern...however, I wouldn't recommend starting it whilst tired and doing a night shift...I'd taken DK and a 4mm hook rather than Aran and a 4mm hook. I didn't even notice that the bottom wasn't flat until I started work on it post-work and after sleep...as I'd done so much I decided to continue anyway. The result is a lovely bright bag with a cone base rather than a flat base. But as it's for me and my wool - we don't care!!! And as you can see, when it's full you wouldn't even know what the base looks like!

So this is the start of a new bag. I'm using DK and 4mm hook still but I added more tbr's into the foundation chain to make it lie flat...so far so good!!

Thanks Lucy for a lovely pattern!!!

P.S the photos don't do the colours justice - I've just taken them and it's quite dark. Figured if I didn't do it now...I'd forget especially as we're decorating as of tomorrow!

Harry Potter

We went out for lunch today and then onto the cinema to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - WOW!!!

I'm really glad we went to see it and grateful that Darren came with me, I'm more into Harry Potter than he is.

I loved it when Dumbledore picked up a copy of a UK women's magazine cos he wanted the knitting pattern from it!!!!

Obviously I don't want to spoil it for anyone - but the ending was so moving and sad. And as for Snape...just when you think you have him figured out.......

Go see it everyone!!!

In memory of all who fought and died

Taken from Virgin media:

'Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier of the First World War, who has died at the age of 111.

Mr Patch, known as the Last Tommy, passed away peacefully just before 9am at Fletcher House nursing home in Wells, Somerset.

He had become Britain's oldest man when another veteran of the war, Henry Allingham, died a week ago on July 18, aged 113.

The only remaining known British-born veteran of the First World War is now Claude Choules, 108, who served in the Royal Navy and now lives in Perth, Australia.

Mr Patch, a machine-gunner, served in the trenches as a private from June to September 1917 and fought in the battle of Passchendaele in which more than 70,000 British troops died. He was born on June 17 1898 and grew up in Combe Down, near Bath.'

We heard this on the news on our way home from the Royal Armouries museum in Leeds. Each visit I am moved and appalled by what countless men and women have done throughout time and that we still fight wars and each other on the streets. Will it ever end?

I say thank you to all who fought for mine and others freedom but the cost is always too high.

Why the chicken ACTUALLY crossed the road !!!

My dad just emailed me this - love it!!

Double click on it to open to a better size.

HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We both finished today for 2 weeks off work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No we're not going anywhere, we'll be having some days out but we NEED to decorate and finish the garden (surprise surprise!!)

We've had tins of paint piled up for 2 years...yes you read correctly!!! 2 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!

I want us to start with the lounge and make our way into the dining room and kitchen.

Then we have our bedroom, the spare room (my study) and the stair case/small landing to do. These are not priority this time but I'd love downstairs to be done.

Hopefully it'll rain all 2 weeks then Darren won't want to go out and we can get it done!! Keep fingers crossed for me please!!

Who are Loving Hands?

I have been asked by a few people about the charity I knit for...it is called Loving Hands and they collect and distribute to various other charities. We are from all over the UK and even abroad.

Their website is http://www.lovinghands.org.uk/index.html

Their email - charityknitters@yahoo.co.uk

The address to send anything to is:
Loving Hands Charity Knitting Group,
18 Clentry Crescent,
Kelty,
Fife,
KY4 0LG,
Scotland

Thanks

My challenge....

I'll be making toys and hats and scarves as usual. I collect for our local shoebox appeal, but this has given me ideas of what to collect.

In fact I rescued some new toys at work yesterday which were going to be thrown out. I also saw that Asda are selling 2 smartprice toothbrushes for 10p and toothpaste for 17p so come pay day I'll start stocking up. If I spent a couple of quid per month, I'll have loads bought!

Autumn Loving Hands Challenge

Taken from Loving Hands website and forum:

AUTUMN CHALLENGES 2009 19TH JULY TO 17TH OCTOBER, 2009

So here we are - time to launch our new challenges to run from today (19th July) through to Saturday 17th October. I have had some lovely feedback from the last challenges and requests for our next ones so it has been hard to choose again what we will ask you to do but here goes - hope you all approve of my choices :0)

This challenge will once again be in four parts - feel free to do any or all of them or even just continue with items from our wish lists - there is no pressure to do the challenge items if you don’t like challenges :0)

Part 1. We felt that the gents miss out a lot when we are making things - there are not as many patterns for mens garments and we tend to make ladies tops etc so I thought it would be nice to make the men folk our priority for Blythswood this challenge. You could make anything from hats, gloves and socks to jumpers, waistcoats and cardigans. There are lots of nice slipover patterns and I am sure a lot of you are dedicated sock knitters and would love a chance to show us what you can do. I got the idea for this one from our own dear Granny Do who has made some lovely waistcoats which are lined in beautiful silky lining fabric - they are ever so good Do and I know you are going to share your pattern with Suzanne so she can make some too. Stitchers could make waistcoats like Do or maybe fleece fabric could be turned into warm scarves or hats. As you have done so well in this challenge I think you can easily manage 500 items for men in this challenge :0)

Part 2. An old chestnut again but we are sending them out as fast as we get them in these days - we need more boobs girls! As well as keeping Tommee Tippee going for the baby shows and raising lots of money for cancer research we get lots of requests from individual midwives and hospitals as well so this is an ideal chance for the new members to get involved in a ‘boob job’ - you may have seen the amazing fair isle ones done by the St Mary’s Church group the other day so you will see as far as colours are concerned - anything goes. You can still send them in ready to be stuffed and Kelly will happily finish them off at this end. I would love to have 500 of these as well - they are quick and easy to do and with so many new members I am sure we will reach this target no problem :0)

Part 3. Blythswood’s Shoe Boxes. The reason we do the shoe boxes for Blythswood is because they make them for all ages from babies to old folk so nobody misses out. I am not expecting anyone to fill an entire shoebox themselves but if you are sending in other items you could maybe pop in an item or two to be included in the boxes. The ages range from babies, children, teens, men, young woman, older woman. Scotia Aid tell me that Blythswood kindly transport their items to Serbia in exchange for the Scotia Aid team checking their shoe boxes every year. Last year Frances tells me she checked over 2000 boxes and that the age group that were very low in numbers were teenage boys. Hopefully we will manage to fill quite a few for teenage boys this year to help with those targets. The check list of suggested items is below:-

Toiletries (no talcum powder)
Soap
Shampoo
Face cloths
Wipes
Deodorant
Moisturising Cream
Comb/brush
Sanitary Products
Shaving Foam/razors
Toothbrush/toothpaste

Clothes
Underwear/socks/tights
Hat/scarf Gloves/mitts
T shirts/jumpers/pyjamas/shirts etc

Miscellaneous
New Make Up
Sewing Equipment
Household Candles
Screwdrivers/Pliers
Kitchen Utensils
Stationery Pens/pencils/sharpeners
Notepads/colouring books
Rulers/rubbers
Small toys
Sweets (no chocolate or any other food - no loose sweets, lollies or undated bags of sweets). Best before date no earlier than March 2010.

Age range.
Baby boy/girl
3-7
8-12
Teen
Adult
Elderly

We will be collecting boxes here and wrapping them in Christmas paper ready to have a packing day closer to the time for collection.

Part 4. Emma at Algerian Action tells me that a lot of children over there have to spend months at a time in hospital and away from their families. Most childrens wards have very little in the way of toys so Emma would like to give them boxes of toys for each ward. She has asked if members could maybe knit, crochet or sew toys for the children to play with. I had a thought that as a team effort we could also make some of the Noahs Ark or Farmyard sets that are available. I know I have the Alan Dart Noahs Ark pattern here and have just ordered the Knitted Farmyard book - we could each make one or two bits from each fo these and get a few ready that way. Other ideas could be topsy turvey dolls, juggling balls, skittles, dolls with clothes you can change etc. Of course there is nothing wrong with a good old fashioned rag doll or teddy bear either. :0) Again I won’t put a number on these - just let us try to give Emma a good selection of toys for the children to play with while they are away from their families.

So there you are girls and guys - your new challenges. I hope none of you are disappointed and that I have given you plenty of choice here. Looking forward to hearing what you all think of these choices. Get those needles clicking and lets make this challenge as good as the last :0)

Lady's new blanket

Well Lady likes her new blanket!!

Yep - another hat

I frogged a UFO this morning, it was a teddy, I'd made the body and head but the wool was so awful to knit with that I gave up...one of the small balls has been turned into a cute hat for Buffalo.

Now I'll have to think what to do with the rest of it (I've got nearly 100g - the hat didn't take much). Probably a scarf...it is very soft and yummy!!

A UFO is now a FO

This is an Erika Knight crochet blanket pattern - I've decided that as I'll be making it FOREVER - I'll leave it the size it is and it can be another pet blanket - so I've just trimmed rather than sew in threads (Lady and Charlie won't mind and the ends will be fine when washed) and I don't need to block it!!

Another project done!!! Yippee!!!

And here is the hat to match!

Now what shall I make??

I got my latest Knit today magazine which had a free baby clothes booklet and there are some toys in the magazine. I think I'll go have a read and see what I think.

Of course what I also need to do is go through my UFO's and make them FO's but not sure I can be bothered yet!!! (I've found some forgotten WIP's...naughty!)

The great thing about baby clothes is that they are made so quickly!

WOW - Mexico is reading me!!

Wow! I've just seen that my blog has been visited by someone in Mexico and they translated it!! Hello Mexico!!!!

Hello everyone who visits me and takes time out of their busy lives to read me!!!!

So cool - I feel about 12 writing this!!!! Little things please me lol.

It is amazing that we can read about peoples lives all over the world...and how we get to their blogs can be like a trail of breadcrumbs...I read A's blog and find B's blog, leave a comment on B's blog and C reads it and then comments on my blog...etc etc

I read blogs from as far as Australia, USA and New Zealand and they read mine..wow! At first I was impressed that others in the UK read it! It's such a great way of sharing interests and learning about cultures and ways of life! I hope it never ends!

Thanks again everyone!

Matching cardigan!

So here is the finished cardigan to go with the green bootees and mittens. I'm going to cast on a hat that was with the cardigan pattern. I love the simplicity of this pattern but that it looks quite complex...
Because he is due in November it's a perfect time for getting nice warm winter knits!!! My mum is also making him stuff (not sure what she's made though, I've seen a blanket, think she's keeping it secret...???) so he'll have loads of things!

Lawn has been mown!!

Just wanted to share the fact that when I got home from work last night, Darren proudly told me that he had mown the lawn and trimmed it back!! I can now see the gravelled gap between the lawn and our fence!!!!!

Bootees/mittens and jumper

Do you remember these bootees? I know it's been a while...well I was making a jumper to match...

...and here it is!!! I love the buttons , hope you can make them out, if not, they are white with blue sail boats on them.

Then I made another set but in green (the blue and green are leftover from the ripple blanket).

Last night I started a green cardigan...I love the pattern but I thought I had lost it, just imagine my giddiness when I found it!!! But you'll have to wait and see.....

What I did yesterday in the garden...

Ok so here is the garden so far...this is the area in the back which is our grave yard for old pets...

This was over-run with weeds and needed the gravel leveling out. I also put the fence post back up in front.

Yes I'm waiting for Darren to cut our jungle, I mean lawn!!

Carnations and ivy...

I pulled out weeds and moss from most of the flags stones and scrubbed them down but I couldn't get the ones in front of the garage...stubborn things!! Darren I need you!!!

2 clematus just waiting to climb!!

Sorry about the wierd angle, my neighbour came to her window and I didn't want her to think I was taking her photo!!!

As soon as Charlie saw me coming....

....he posed!!!

I had to scrape out loads of moss and weeds from the round flags and from the gravel, still more to do but I could barely move by this point!!

I'd like another hanging basket frame putting on the other side of the door.

The front looks much more welcoming now!

I've decided we need big plant pots along the fence and one in the top corner, I want the small planters along the drive and the wall, these blend in too much.

I'm chuffed with the look so far but I need more plants...in pots and hanging baskets. Darren likes what I've done so far and I think it has inspired him to help me finish it.

Thanks everyone for your advice - it really motivated me to get started!!

Gardening help needed...

Ok this is our badly neglected garden. We have a semi with a lawn/patio/decking area at the back.

Possible rockery area? It's partially gravelled not grassed in this corner...has a few pets buried here so I don't want to dig down!!

There is a gap between the lawn and neighbours fence on the right which is gravelled...just needs the grass trimming back! Could possibly be re soiled and put plants here...

A flagged ares in front of the garage where the rabbit and guinea pig live...

That's our back door....and the gate to the front ....

Daren's sculpting studio (garage)...

Down the side of the house it is gravelled but needs either more to top it up or a new drive way (I think we'll top up as it'll be cheaper!)

The front...2 conifers which need trimming (no idea what to do really) and the plants are wild poppies which are taking over! Plus a few weeds....

OK so I need help...any advice is greatly appreciated. I want a low budget low maintenence garden but I want plants. Was thinking of a feature pot in the middle of the front centre flags. Some nice pots around the front fence area and it front of the house...maybe either side of front door. Hanging baskets. Pots in the back. Rockery area?

Which plants are the best? I have a lavender and conifer plant in the back which are just about still alive but everything else has died of taken over by weeds.

Pansies always seem to die fast...thoughts anyone???