September Picnic's

September Picnic

The first week of school passed very quickly. My eldest daughter is loving her new school and has made friends with lots of girls in her class. You can't imagine what a relief it was to hear that she is enjoying herself.

The weekend was here before we knew it and Sunday turned out to be better than expected. I packed us up a quick picnic and headed to the local park. I love eating outdoors, it's so much more relaxed. As a kid I always thought picnics were a real treat, but in theory, it's a lot easier than preparing a meal that is eaten indoor. There is no washing up involved, not setting the table, no clearing away and tackling the kitchen mess afterwards. 

The picnic was a simple affair, sandwiches, fruit, crisp and homemade chocolate and banana bread. A sign that the weather is cooling though was that I also brought a flask of tea and not the usual bottles of squash that has been the norm until now. 

Because it was Sunday, the park was full of football matches and so while hubby, eldest daughter and our dog, Sasha watched the game, I could spend a bit of time relaxing and doing a spot of crochet. I'm currently on with a project designed to use up some of my yarn stash. I've an assortment of balls of wool of different sizes that on their own wouldn't be enough to complete an item, so instead, I'm doing granny squares, in single block colours, making as many as each ball of wool will allow. 

It's a great little project to take out and about with me. I'm going to join the squares together at the end, instead of joining as I go, that way, I won't have to take the blanket out and about with me. So currently, my change bag that I take everywhere with me now holds the usual nappies, wipes, change of clothes, bibs, spare dummies, sun hat, purse, phone, crochet hook, ball of wool and scissors. It is fit for bursting and nothing can ever be found in a hurry. There has been more times then I care to mention when the bag has been in danger of being up ended and all the contents thrown out when I have lost something.

I'm not sure what the finished blanket will be used for. I think it would be nice to be used as a picnic blanket. All the current blankets we take with us when we do picnic, are all quite small. I hope I have enough wool to make a pretty decent size one so that we can all sit comfortably on it as well as the food, drinks and usually Sasha who likes to spread out right in the middle!!

I imagine this blanket will take me some time as my baby girl needs my attention more at the moment. For such a little thing, she's certainly nosey and wanted to be sat on my lap watching all that was going on around her. Her blanket that I made her is a hit, we've noticed that she likes to hold things in her hands as a kind of comforter when she's tired and this blanket is one of her favourites. 

After a while, once the football matches had finished and we were all eaten up, we took a walk along the hedgerows. This time of year blackberries are ready for picking and after the year we have had with early rain then lots of sunshine the blackberries have done really well. We collected so many and our intention is to turn it all into jam once we have collected enough. It's certainly a sign autumn is on the way when I start thinking of making jam. I'm already beginning to think starting this blanket now will be just at the right time as it will keep me warm as the nights begin to draw in and the evenings get colder.

Now, I'm off to see if I've unpacked my jam pan!!! Will be back soon.