New things - Five on Friday

Hello, I hope you are well. Today I'm joining with 'Five on Friday' and I thought I'd show you 5 new things that are 'happening' here at home.

Spring Flowering Muscari Armeniacum 

One - New life. M planted up my bulbs which were a Christmas present from family. I notice on the label that it warns against eating the bulbs! To be honest it hadn't crossed my mind and I can't help wondering at the 'Nanny State' sometimes. Surely those likely to be at risk, are the least likely to read the warnings anyway?
The photo looks promising, and like all bulbs there's something special about seeing their flowers opening to the sun.

Two - New on my blog. This weekend I finally got round to launching - 'Weekend Stitches' on my blog. This is something I've thought about doing for a while now and I'm hoping this will be the first of many. The squares themselves will feature many different patterns and when joined, will make a sampler blanket.

                                            

Three - New book to read. Top of the book pile at the moment is the next book on the reading challenge. I bought this book from the CO-OP, one of their 2 for £5 deals last year. It's still not been read, so fits in with the 2018 Debbie Macomber book bucket list challenge - Read a book you already own, but haven't read.

                                             

Four - New book club read. Also on the pile is The Girl Before by JP Delaney, this one is for the book club. Peter James describes it as 'a wonderful portrayal of psychological obsession at its creepy best'. I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to it, I read a book once that left me feeling sick inside for days. It was called - Behind Closed Doors by B A Paris. 

I wonder if I'm too sensitive but then again, apart from the book being disturbing, I thought the main (male) character was sick. I would say, why do people read these books, but that would sound stupid, as I did. A friend asked me why I finished it but surely that's the point of  a 'gripping psychological thriller' isn't it, it grips you! You can't put it down. 

New - resting places. My precious boy QT, utterly adorable. As usual, he's relaxing and totally taking it easy. I love it when cats stretch out their front legs, they are totally at rest.

Unless of course someone keeps pointing the flash in your eyes, oops! Sorry lad. The flash was off but the camera runs through meter readings before each shot.

Thank you for visiting, do let me know if you've read any of these books and if you find learning new things, strangely exciting!
I'm off to read other Five on Friday posts.
Have a lovely weekend, Cx

Fast Blog

Weekend Stitches - Double Crochet (uk)

Hello, welcome to 'Weekend Stitches'. I hope that you are well.

Often when people learn to crochet, they enter into the world of Granny Squares with gusto, they crochet squares, blankets for babies, for themselves and for their pets, you get the idea. They may try a circle and round and round they go. They battle the treble crochet stitch, slip knots, chains and changing colour, sewing in ends, maybe buy a set of nice crochet hooks and hunt down some new yarn like so and so has. But there are so many more beautiful stitches that can be equally enjoyable to crochet. Personally I'd like to learn some more crochet stitches and thought that I'd share them with you. If you'd like to 'have a go' at learning new stitches too, please grab your hook and yarn and have a try.
Please do leave a comment if you have a question and I'll try and help.

Terminology - I'm working in UK terminology. I'll try and list the US terminology too.

Double Crochet (Lime) 

To start off, I'm crocheting with a basic stitch, dc (double crochet) this is sc (single crochet) in the US. This is the simplest stitch. I've added a few variants further down, so you can consider the different textures, the different techniques provide.

Uses - You can use this stitch for many projects including washcloths and dishcloths also amigurumi crochet.

Using a 4mm crochet hook and dk yarn, I began with a slip knot and made a chain of 40 + 1 stitches. The extra stitch is for a turning chain and raises the height of the first stitch. I'm going to be crocheting a series of squares with different stitch techniques, a sort of sampler of squares. I'd like them all to be the same size as eventually, I'm going to sew them together as a permanent reminder.

 

I'm crocheting 10 rows in the same colour. In the photograph above, you'll see the row of V's along the top, it's these stitches that I'll be working in. With Granny Squares, you'll have pushed your hook into these and the chain space between stitches. In this instance there are no spaces, instead there should be a neat and densely packed rows of stitches.

Once the chain has been made, insert the hook in the 2nd loop under both parts of the V stitch, yarn over hook, grab yarn (turn your hook down to hold fast the yarn) and pull through loop. With 2 loops on your hook, yarn over hook, grab the yarn with your hook and pull the yarn through both stitches. You'll be left with 1 loop on your hook.

Continue this to complete the first row.
I've called these 2 parts of the V - front and back. The front loop closest to you, the back loop furthest from you.

When you've reached the end of the row, chain one and turn. When counting your stitches, do not count the loop on the hook. Your next stitch goes where my needle (above) is positioned, stitch number 2. If you have the same number of stitches as me in your chain, you will have 40 'V' stitches each and every row.

My thoughts on this stitch. It is simple and quick, the stitches and rows are densely spaced.
Be sure to chain 1 at the end of the row and put your hook into the second stitch (above) shown, otherwise you'll be losing a stitch each row.

Back Loop Double Crochet (Cheviot)

Once I crocheted 10 rows of dc in lime I changed colour, but this time I crocheted 10 rows of dc into the back part of the V stitch only (as above).



You'll notice that the cheviot (grey tweed) section instantly looks different to the lime green. There are raised bumps to the front of the crochet rows.

                   

Front Loop Double Crochet (Gold)

For the gold section, I went on to crochet 10 rows of dc into the front of the V stitch only (as above).

Materials used

Jarol Heritage DK, Wool Rich 100g, 55% wool, 25% Acrylic, 20% Nylon.

Shade - Lime (137),
Gold (140)

Jarol Heritage Tweed DK 50% Wool 20% Premium Acrylic 25% Nylon 5% Viscose 
Shade - Cheviot (02)

Hook - 4mm

Next time, I'll show you the completed Front Loop Double Crochet section and the Back & Front Loop Double Crochet section.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment.
Thank you for visiting, do let me know if you've tried these stitches.
Cx

Family walk, half-term Five on Friday

Hello, it's Friday, half-term and a sunny day, time to put on shoes, wrap up warm and head out for a walk. I'm joining 'Five on Friday' with 5 groups of photos from our walk. Do shout if you've been here before or recognise any plants (especially the yellow ones in my garden please). Unfortunately the flora and fauna are lacking at this time of year. Later in spring time through to summer there's an abundance of wildlife, birds, dragon flies, and beautiful pyramid orchids.   

One - Opening the gate, we head into Rimac a Natural England Conservation area, it's lovely and peaceful here. In the summer families bring children often with fishing nets. A few years ago, schools would bring children to 'experience' nature. I have to say, that I like it here. If you walk straight ahead, you will arrive at the sea, but it is a long walk. 

The hill on the right has been sign posted - Do not enter the grasses, birds nesting. In fact, on the level you should keep to the path due to ground nesting. Though I understand that we should protect the environment, it's difficult dragging children away from electronics only to restrict them again. 

We follow the path round to the patch of water on the left.

You can just see a raised platform with benches.

Schools would flock here to 'Discover the amazing wildlife found in the Rimac pond: water scorpions, dragonfly nymphs and more' with help from Natural England Conservation.


Two - There are information signs and sadly an abandoned education hut in the car park, which provided fun indoor activities for both school and holiday learning. I hadn't realised the hut was no longer in use,  Roger - one of the staff worked tirelessly, to see the hut was adequate with a heat stove and learning materials.

  Three - Climbing the top of the steps, we survey the area.

Four - Before descending for some family photos.

You should just see the sea in the distance.

Five - Plantlife.

The plants have yet to show except for thistles and grasses.

So back at home before we go in for a cuppa, I snap the first signs of colour from my garden.

Winter Aconites

Tete a tete

Snowdrops

Thank you for joining me on my walk, I hope to return in the summer when there's more to see.

Fast Blog

Valentines Day

Hello there, Happy Valentines wishes to you all. With pancake day the previous day and half-term this week, it's a busy week for many. We somehow forgot to make pancakes, so we'll catch up and eat ours on Saturday. Lemon and sugar are my favourite toppings, followed closely by maple syrup, but the teens like the chocolate flavours. We did however, make a white chocolate cheesecake for today as teen 1 was entertaining, with 'add your own toppings' pizza for lunch and fish & chips for dinner.  

At lunchtime I was given some flowers from M, a miniature rose pot plant - I'm hoping I don't kill this one. 

On the needles at the moment - the next pair of socks. King Cole self patterning 4ply sock yarn, I think this yarn is discontinued as it was purchased a long time ago. King Cole have introduced a whole new colour range since choosing this one. I knitted a pair a few years ago using a turquoise self patterning yarn.

On the hook at the moment - some crocheted bunting. Having finished crocheting a blanket, I had a small yarn stash. I've been wanting to crochet some bunting for a while and found this pattern by Nicki Trench, it's called Knickerbockerglory Bunting (Moorland style colours). It starts at the top and decreases down to a point and is in dc. I'm going to fit these bunting flags in between some sock knitting. The bunting will be hung up on family celebrations.

Today I had an appointment with the dietitian, in theory it should be the last one as I sort out the last few issues on my own. The above cards were purchased from the stand at the 'Friends of the hospital' cafe, a bargain at only 30p each. The top ones are National Geographic and they're all good quality, very pleased.

I've been experimenting with the flapjacks again. This one is chewy and chocolatey and has sunflower seeds in. With the butter, sugar, syrup mixture nicely melted, when I stirred in the oats, seeds and then 2 pkts of chocolate chips, they melted too! I had visions of the chocolate chips eventually setting hard as chips once more. Next time, I'll try stirring them in after everything has been mixed and slightly cooled before baking. I'm happy with the chewy part, 15 ish mins baking time avoids the hard crunch. 

                              

A while ago, I said I'd report back on the 2018 Book Bucket List Challenge. Working through in no particular order, the first book ticked off my list is 'Debbie Macomber Merry and Bright' with the -

Read a book that you can finish in a day. I had a day free a while ago and managed to finish it. It wasn't a thick book so it was never going to take long to read it anyway. It's sad that I've seemed to have forgotten the gist of the story, so I've been trying to refresh my memory. Oh yes, computer dating and office romance, well it's a cute story with Christmas thrown in to the mix. Mine was a Christmas present from M which I was pleased about. I was going to borrow it from the library. If you're not a fan of this author maybe this one won't be your style. It flows gently along and is predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.

On this day, when the nation is contemplating love and what it means to themselves, I'll leave you with a thought about love and what - 'love itself' means.



Have a good week
Cx

Socks - January 2018

Hello there, my socks are finished! I may not have met January with a big finish but I'm claiming a January finish anyway. These are the first ones finished this year - I know that doesn't make sense, but... This pair was started way back in the summer, I wrote about them here and here previously.

These are for M (husband), though I quite like them myself - the colour blue, green, cream and grey are pleasing and soothing. Green remains a favourite colour of mine, though I often choose reds, purples and pinks. I purchased this yarn in a wool shop, which is always a bonus, as you can 'look and feel' before you buy.

If you've been following for a while, you'll see that I unpicked one of the socks as it wasn't matching its partner at all well. So it's been a learning experience in planning ahead. On the whole, I've enjoyed knitting them. Previously I've knitted on dpps and using 2 short circular needles. The 2 needles made a lot of sense at the time, as one knits the front and the other the back part with the heel. The  pattern for this is included in Debbie Macomber's fiction book 'A Good Yarn'. Her book is part of The Blossom Street series and is based loosely around a knitting shop, highly recommended.

All things considered, I prefer the short circular needle for knitting socks. You do have to use dpps for the first 2 rows, heels and toes, but it's still quick, or can be if you stick with it of course. At some point I'd like to try knitting 2 pairs at once, I can't quite visualise the process at the moment so for now I'll carry on as I have been.

The materials and pattern I used were - 4 ply Rico Superba Harmony yarn here. The pattern, I found on Winwick Mum's blog and later purchased her book. She leads you through the pattern, fully photographed with detailed instructions in 3 methods of knitting. Magic loop, short circular needle and double pointed pins. I vaguely remember starting with 3 mm needles before changing to the 2.5 mm. Her blog contains links to information, to help you. 

Have you tried knitting 2 socks at once? What colours do you like or tend to plump for? How are your craft related new year resolutions going?