Crochet Picnic Blanket -Ta-dah!

It would appear that if you want it to rain for a prolonged period of time, the thing to do is crochet yourself a picnic blanket!

After finally finishing said blanket, I was over the moon at the thought of being able to use it at my earliest opportunity – and then the heavens opened and every chance I get, rain beats me to it!

But alas, I did manage to find a reasonably pleasant day when the grass was dry and got a few shots of the blanket laid out in all it’s glory, unfortunately the pictures were taken in my back garden when I would have loved them to be of some sunny outing, but I’m sure when the time comes, I will seize it with both hands and plan a great day out, picnic blanket in tow!

Until I can manage to get some half decent shots of the blanket and myself the chance to write a decent round up of how it did it, I will leave you with these few simple shots, taking them was a challenge in itself with the girlies trying to get into shot every time!!! I thought I would one on just so they think they succeeded (which they always do!!!!)

Be back soon, xx

  

Nearly there!

I’ve reached that stage with my current piece of work I’m crocheting where I can finally see the end in sight, I know it will only be a few more days, a week or 2 at most and I will finally be sewing in that last end and snipping off the last thread when I can finally stop all work and say ‘I’ve finished – hurrah’

Oddly though I’m beginning to slow down and take my time, knowing that it will all be over. It’s much like when you’ve been out for a gruelling run, the journey hasn’t been easy and at times you’ve wanted to give up or questioned why you even started and then suddenly you see the finishing point and you know you’re gonna make it, that actually it was quite a ride and you begin to settle down into it and enjoy it at a leisurely pace, thoughts of all the struggles gone in a whisper.

Or when you’re reading an epic novel which took you ages to get into and understand the plot and an age to get to know the characters without having to re-read the last chapter to remind yourself and then suddenly you’ve only a few chapters to go and you realised you’re not ready to leave these people and their lives, that you want to hold on that little while longer and you begin to savour every word, well that’s how I feel right now.

This blanket has really been a while in the making, I think I actually started way back at the start of last year in fact, I can argue that life got a little bit in the way because at one point life really didn’t have much opportunity in it for me to even lift my hook, let alone finish this blanket, but it’s true what they say, time really does fly.

 Here I am, my all consuming baby girl on the brink of turning 2 and fast becoming so independent – her favourite saying right now being ‘I do it!’ to testify to this fact. Increasing my working hours from part time to full time. A house move that I thought would cause me such upheaval and months of unrest is now a distance memory and thankfully an easy transition. And finally my eldest daughter, fast becoming a young lady in front of my eyes took to the relocation, new school and friends so easily and so well that I don’t know why I ever fretted so much like I did – kids really are so very resilient!

So here I am, finally able to slip back to a way of life I enjoy so very much – gardening, reading, days out with the family, crocheting, baking and even a return to Blogland.

And much like finishing a good read or getting to the end of that long run, the excitement is always to find new books, or a new route (with maybe less hills) or beginning to dream of that next project, all good things come to an end, but when one door closes, another one opens.

So I will enjoy getting to the end of my blanket, I will dream of the day when I fold it up and take it with us on our next outing and I will quietly gloat at what I have achieved while we sit and eat our first picnic on it, any takers on who will be the first to spill juice all over it??

Granny Squares

What a difference a week makes, I think I blinked and Summer was over. I sure sign colder weather is on the way is when I finally relented and switch the heating on. I've also had to dig out some fluffy socks to keep my feet warm and the slow cooker has even made a few appearances in this last couple of weeks!

One thing I did think was fast disappearing was night feeds, but it would appear that after sleeping through from about 9 weeks, my daughter has suddenly decided that she wants to wake for a feed not once but twice in the night.  I am quite literally feeling like I could fall asleep standing up. I suppose my smug smile needed wiping off my face for all the times I happily told anyone and everyone that I was getting a full nights sleep and what an easy baby I have. Now, don't get me wrong, an easy, wonderful and happy baby she is and she's probably just going through a growth spurt and hopefully (with fingers crossed) she will soon start sleeping through again!

A result of feeling a little dozy these last few nights has meant that hook and yarn have rarely seen the light of day.  My stack of granny squares has not been greatly increased and they sit there looking hopeful at me from the bureau. 

In a bid to try and cast out the 'dead on my feet' feeling, I have been donning the baby papoose and setting out with baby and dog for some lovely long walks. The sky is looking a lot more grey and gloomy these days and rain showers can be seen in small pockets moving across the hills, it's often a race to get back indoors before being soaked to the skin with these passing downpours!

I have found a little energy to try and continue with my own challenge of making something from 'The Great British Bake Off" programme. I am such a huge fan of this series and admire the contestants for putting themselves through the pressure of baking such amazing cakes, breads and biscuits etc all the time being filmed while also being under the intense scrutiny of Paul and Mary. I love to bake, I spend a huge amount of time in the kitchen looking for things I can make. I love to read food blogs and enjoy looking at a recipe book as much as I do reading a good novel. However, I could never imagine having the amount of bravery it must take to appear on that show, quite simply, I would break under the pressure, especially with Paul Hollywood's steely blue eyes staring critically at anything I managed to cook!!

So, in moderately less pressurised surrounding, (my own kitchen) I set about making something from this weeks show and tried my hands at Macron's!! I searched the Internet and found this recipe which didn't look too tricky to follow. I must admit that I tried unsuccessfully on 2 occasions before I made a batch I was happy with. They were lovely, if maybe a little on the big side, more Grande Four then Petit Four! My hubby and eldest daughter demolished them in no time. I imagine they would make a lovely present all boxed up and tied with ribbon, must make a note of that for Christmas maybe (oh, how even more depressing thinking of the C word already!!!)

My baby girl is getting a little older now (a whole 14 weeks now) and she enjoys spending short periods of time sat in her bouncy chair playing with her toys. At this stage she loves looking at black and white objects and can literally shake with excitement at her Lamaze toy. It's amazing how something so small can have so many things. Our front room is fast looking like an aisle of Toys R Us. As much as tripping over brightly coloured toys all day fights with my urge to have it all tidied away, I do love to watch her giddy with pleasure over all these things, it's worth all the sleepless night and messy house - honest xx

Wishing you all a hooky full, sunshiny warm, relaxingly chilled week. 

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.