Bits and Pieces

Life seems to have been very 'bitty' over the past few days, so this post is about bits and pieces of the last week.

I showed you the yarn that appeared on Saturday:

Well. Post haste, the lighter coloured grey has been turned into this:

This is for my wonderful FIL. Over the past few years he has had numerous operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. He has not an ounce of spare flesh on him. Even though he is in Texas, he is very cold at night and hadn't been able to find a hat that didn't come off. Hence...a knitted balaclava. The merino wool is buttery soft and the garter stitch is bouncy and stretchy, so hopefully he will find it useful. It will be put in the post tomorrow.

Now that the nights start so early, we like a candle burning. For years I have used apple and cinnamon scented ones at this time of year:

It brings back lots of memories. In the background are some warm fairy cakes I made after supper.

Atos was a street dog in Romania before he was rescued. He had to forage for food to survive. Though he now lives in the lap of luxury, old habits die hard:

Supper was what I think of 'pretend real cooking'. This comprises a selection of prepackaged foods:

Then real food is added. In this case, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, yellow peppers, fresh tomatoes:

Then add the pesto and salami and boil the pasta:

Bit of grated mozzarella on top and voila - pretend real food in just 20 minutes:

Talking of food...we got our usual online Sainsbury's shop delivered. Whoops. A little confusion. We wanted 6 cans of Heinz tomato soup - the ultimate comfort food. It transpires, however that we ordered 6 packs of 4! Note that in addition to the stacked cans, there are some still plastic wrapped on the top shelf:

Tomorrow's supper will be a black eyed bean and root vegetable stew with crispy baked dumplings:

Finally, there is truth in the phrase that opposites attract:

Fully restored

Well hello again! It's good to be back and cleared of that pesky and painful ear infection. It has laid me low, but saw some knitting and crochet, but sadly of the flitting-from-one-project-to-another-and-accomplishing-little kind. Given that Christmas is (eek) 26 days away, I could have done with being a bit more productive.

On our used for everything except dining table, I have 2 organiser bins of joy:

One contains recently completed bears, including an outfit waiting for a body:

And one is for bunnies, like this cutie that I finished last night:

This morning when I emerged, there was a parcel. Parcels are always good, but take note of the sender's address and you will understand my delight:

The contents were some beautifully soft pure merino wool, for requested hats and wristies. The colour doesn't make my heart sing, but it's what people I love have chosen:

A huge ball of acrylic and wool Aran, for bears and bunnies. The colour is a perfect 'Oats so simple'!:

And finally, a ball of claret. My bears wearing Hogwart's scarves are popular and I need to make more Gryffindor scarves:

I need to sit down with my diary and make some kind of timetable for myself. Not only have I got Christmas to sort out, but the craft shop that sells my toys needs more stock. What a very fortunate position to find myself in.

Normal service will resume shortly

I have had a really painful ear infection this past week. It's something to which I am, unfortunately, susceptible. The meds are finally taking effect, so I hope to be back with you by the weekend.

In the interim, a very happy Thanksgiving to you all, tomorrow. I certainly have got a lot of things to be thankful for.

Thinking INSIDE the box...

I love Stylecraft Special DK. It feels nice, it works up beautifully and the colours are fabulous! However, I do NOT like the way it goes all wibbly (technical term) towards the end of the ball. I think this happens because it is manufactured into a very loose ball, so that it looks bigger and you think you are getting an even better bargain for your money. However, what you end up with is this kind of mess:

I have tried wrapping them up like this, but it makes it difficult to find the end each time:

So, I have tried making them into balls, which look pretty, but tend to end up with their ends tangled:

I was making a cup of tea this morning, and, going into a kitchen cupboard, genius (excuse excessive modesty) struck:

We get eggs each week from Fin's school, as part of the students' Enterprise scheme. Normally, we send the empty cartons back, but for some reason I had kept the last 4 boxes.

Now this is where my Bipolar slightly weird way of looking at life kicks in. I immediately knew they would solve a problem:

How good is this? They are neat, can be colour coded (OCD) and stacked on each other. I feel very pleased that thinking outside of the box led me to thinking inside the box.

The Blanket of Gloom...

I've made several moaning comments about The Blanket of Gloom that I have been working on for my sister:

The muted colours really did not do it for me, but I know they are more to her taste. Well...apparently, she said to Ma that she had loads of throws and blankets (though nothing of the crocheted variety), that what she would really like from me is another slouch hat. I made her one last year, and made one for Fin a week ago:

So, I get to make her something that she really wants, and I can transform The Blanket of Gloom into The Blanket of Happy by working lots of cheerful colours into it. It will be perfect to cover the sofa in the sitting room that is colonised by the livestock, when we have 2 legged visitors.

So, happy for me and for my lovely sister.

The Lone Star State

In the summer, Fin went to Texas to visit family. Although I was not then in a wheelchair, we knew I couldn't make the journey.

However, in the run up to the departure date, I started making presents. This was about 4 months after I learned how to crochet.

This blog is just to show some pictures and to demonstrate that crochet is simple to pick up, but oh so satisfying. I have got a lot to learn yet, but am enjoying what I have mastered so far:

Little owls for Fin's cousin who is a school librarian. Grey and black are the school colours.

Little crochet hearts. Both these patterns are from BunnyMummy's blog.

A blanket for my SIL, using Stylecraft Special DK.

A bag for another SIL, using an Attic24 blog pattern. Again, Stylecraft Special DK.

A pure wool blanket for my MIL using autumn colours, made from Drops Karisma.

A blanket for my FIL and his wife. Just by adding dark blue and turquoise to the colour palette, it turned from autumn to Mexican!

A fair bit of booty. The rabbits were from a Little Cotton Rabbits pattern. The bear and elephant sneaked into the picture, though they didn't go to Texas.

This made a little boy in Reading very happy.

When I am knitting, that is what I like best. When I am crocheting, that is what I like best. I guess I am very lucky!

A drum roll, please...

So yesterday I said that my Brown and Brights blanket should be ready by the weekend.

Well, I got around to weaving in all the ends. Fortunately, I had done all the sunburst centres as I went along:

Then, watching rubbish but compelling reality tv about Britain's biggest families (imagine having 16 children - eek), before I knew it, I had crocheted all the squares together:

Next, I did a border. Two rows of treble, and one row of single crochet:

And the blanket was finished... Ta dah...

I am very happy with the finished result. Normally, I would not favour brown but

a) it is a good foil for the bright colours

b)  the blanket is for my 6 year old grandson to cuddle under with his daddy. Adored Grandson is partial to a milk shake or hot chocolate, so the background colour is very practical.

I now have a bit more hope that I can finish the Blanket of Gloom and mum's blanket before Christmas.