Muddy strawberries and little pots of lovely

My small attempt to bring a little bit of summer to my soggy neck of the woods...

...and proof that, despite all the rain, some things are managing to survive in my allotment:

(ha ha - look - it's actually sunny in this photo.  That was in the bright spell we had from 4.00 - 4.15 a week ago yesterday.)

I love these little jugs of flowers that are gently shedding their petals all over my house, they cheer me up a bit when all I really want to do is hide my head under a duvet and sob 'where, oh where is the sun???'

Strawberries help a bit too, especially when they're served with a vast mound of cream with icing sugar and vanilla.  These babies, however, were presented with a side serving of mud, courtesy of small, who mistook the trug for a bucket and helpfully emptied a trowelful of earth into it:

They actually tasted amazing once I'd thoroughly washed them and cut the wildlife out of them.

And here's a peek at something else that's been making me smile when I see it:

...it's not middle's drunken-looking teddy (ah, he does love that bear - aka 'smelly ted' - he's lost almost all his stuffing, has more repairs round his bottom than actual fabric, and stinks like something you might find if you were to have a rummage around at the bottom of a wheelie bin, but he's as much a member of the family as middle himself).  

Can you see what's just behind the much-repaired bear's bum?  Eeeeeeee - it's an in-use all star blanket!!! More on that when we get our next five-minute sunny slot so I can take some photos. x

PS - Just to say that I'm sorry I've been so rubbish at commenting on blogs lately - I can't leave comments from my phone (which is how I read a lot of blogs), trying to comment from mr n's ipad makes me want to weep with frustration, and the laptop usually has a small boy attached to it.  I do read all your lovely blogs and I am constantly inspired by what I see and read, so thank you x

oooops (or: granny ripple blanket ta-dah)

Well hello peeps - I'm ba-ack!  It was touch and go for a while there - I wasn't sure I'd survive the demands of the enormous piles of washing/mounds of dirty dishes/hordes of fighting children/days at work - but I did.  Phew.  Now, does anyone know why it is that all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, life can just go up a notch in the crazy stakes?  There hasn't been any big event or occurrence to have caused the unusual levels of busy-ness that I've been experiencing lately, but crikey - life really has been crackers.  Anyhoo, I'm aiming to just get through this next week (am working five days - oh em gee - I know I used to do that all the time, but that was in the days before I had three small people to coordinate too) and then I'm hoping life will just slow down a touch.  Please...
The few weeks since my last post have seen the following things happen:
✪ middle has lost a tooth (don't underestimate the importance of this event in the life of a six-year-old!)
✪ big has been on his first ever overnight trip with school - I didn't cry *proud of self*
✪ small has made the jump into big girl pants full time (though I'm now thinking that I'm not sure which is worse - changing nappies or endlessly traipsing potties full of poo to the toilet for disposal...)
✪ we have decided, after spending months teetering on the fence of indecision, that we are not going to move house and we are, instead, going to extend (oh yes, excitement in my neck of the woods is reaching almost unbearable levels).  Expect to be bored with updates on a regular basis...  Edit: yes, Fee, full commitment is required now!
✪ we've seen the Olympic torch (note to self: next time I think 'oh, it's so early on a Sunday morning, it'll be very crowded, I won't bother having a shower or brushing my teeth until we get home again, we'll never see anyone we know'.  Think again...  And of the four people we saw that we knew, one is a news reader on our local BBC news and therefore doesn't even get out of bed without a full face of make-up and a pair of shades on...)
✪ I've redecorated the boys' bedroom - floor to ceiling - spanking new wall colour (Farrow and Ball 'borrowed light', if you're interested) new light shade, new curtains, new bedding - the works.  I nearly killed myself twice - once when moving their bunk beds from one side of the room to the other (I just about burst everything in my entire body shifting that beast) - and the other time when their solid wood wardrobe nearly toppled over and flattened me (Mr N would have been a bit surprised to come home to find only hands and feet sticking out from underneath the wardrobe - a la wicked witch of the west.)
✪ we have invented a rather thrilling new game (I say 'invented' - you'll probably say 'pah - my family's been playing this tired old game for literally ever' when I tell you what it is - but for the moment, we are thrilled at our originality).  The game starts with one member of the family saying a category - eg dogs - then everyone has to decide what dog they would be if they were, indeed, of the canine persuasion.  (Without a doubt, we are: Afghan; Westie, whippet, labrador, border terrier).  The game is more 'hilarious' if you decide as a group what one member of the family would be - 'you'd be a bloodhound'.  'Ha ha!'  'Nooooo - that's not fair, I haven't got droopy eyes, you idiot.  Anyway, you'd be a greyhound, you skinny dork'.  'No I wouldn't - I'd be a border collie'.  'You wouldn't - everyone loves border collies - nobody loves you...' etc etc ad nauseum.
Hours of fun, I tell you...
On the crochet front, I've been a busy old bee, but for the moment I'm just going to show you this:

Ta-dah!!!

My lovely friend had her baby and so the blanket was duly edged in navy and sent off to keep him (Bertie) warm and cosy (and I bet he's had a lot of use from it in this cruddy weather we've been having lately).  Ooh, that reminds me - something else that's had a lot of use lately is my new wellies - thank you all for your suggestions for resolving my wellie crisis - I am now the proud owner of a lovely pair of black Hunters with a gusset.  Gussets - the best friend of ladies with walkers' calves (and ladies with bladder problems too, I should think, but that's a whole other gusset issue altogether...) x

Pants: the revenge

Apologies for the slight disappearing act - I've been hidden under a pile of 'big guwl pants'.  My very grown-up two-year-old has decided that she doesn't want to wear nappies any more, she wants to wear big girl's pants.  Fairenoughski, you might say, but the only drawback is that she doesn't actually have a clue about the whole 'wee in the potty, not your trousers' business and so, after five hundred changes of clothes, two miraculous wees on target and one poo that prompted the comment 'look mummy, it's like a snake!  I made a wiggly worm' we gave up on knickers and have reverted to good old nappies.  Much of the past couple of days has been spent in the following way: daughter strips completely (why??), sits on the potty, gets up after two nanoseconds, tells me she's done a wee, I look, tell her that no, she hasn't done a wee, she sits down again, gets up after two nanoseconds, tells me she's done a wee, I look, tell her that no, she hasn't done a wee, she sits down, gets up again after....  You get the idea.  When we actually ran out of clean trousers to put her in, we put a hold on baby-led potty training.
In between bouts of toilet-related fun, I've been trying (and mostly failing) to get some time in at the allotment between downpours.  Everything seems to be going berserk at the moment - everything needs planting/pricking out/staking/weeding (lordy, the weeds are sprouting like mad) all at once, and it's been rather tricksy to get anything actually done because it's been so blooming wet!  My assistant didn't mind the rain though:

All great fun, until she splashed a bit over-enthusiastically and got mud in her wellies.  Then we had to go home.
I've also been experiencing a bit of crochet-fest lately.  The squares for my all star blanket are piling up nicely:

I also felt the need to make some granny squares (or 'stash-busters' as I like to call them):

I've made twelve of these now and am currently joining them to make the front of a cushion.  I'm thinking of backing it in some lovely brushed cotton that I've got, but I'm a bit puzzled about how to join fabric and crochet - does anyone have any suggestions?
And finally, the boys wanted me to photograph this for you all to look at:

It's a good job I took this photo when I did - a split second after I took it middle aka 'Captain Clumsy' knocked the table and all the soldiers fell over, prompting the sort of heated discussion that only two brothers can have.  (Gaaaah - is it me, or do all brothers argue all the time?  Please say that it's normal, or I might have to take myself off to my bedroom for a weep).
And then, because I'd taken a picture of the boys' toys, baby (who I really feel needs to be re-christened.  I'm thinking Foghorn Lil might be a good name, but maybe I'll just call her 'small') wanted me to take a photo of what she was playing with:

So there you have it - life in my neck of the woods.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for your comments on my last post and to my new followers and I'm sorry I haven't had much of a chance to get round to replying or visiting you - I'm planning a bit of a blog-blitz tomorrow to rectify that, but in the meantime, thank you so much for visiting me - it's so brilliant to know that you're all out there! x

Flowers and stars

Well, spring has well and truly been springing all over the place round these parts, as you can see from the lovely little daffodils tenaciously clinging to life in my front garden (as previously mentioned, this is just about the only place in the vicinity of my house that is safe from uber-violent footballing activity, although I have noticed recently that the two hooligans have taken to playing the odd game/wrestling match on the front grass - an unwelcome and soon-to-be-quelled occurrence).  I have especially noticed the recent springy-activity on the 'A' road back from my local John Lewis - this is a well-trodden route for me and is therefore a barometer of the changing seasons - if it all looks a bit misty green, as it does at the moment, it's definitely spring (if it's white, it's probably winter and if it's wet and grey it's almost any time of the year.)
In a pleasing coincidence of life imitating art (or, in this case, nature) the floral theme has been continued on the domestic-front too - my 'baby' has had a birthday party, though not an actual birthday, confusingly.  Unbelievably, she will be two in a couple of weeks, but as we'll be in Turkey (our first, ever foreign holiday as a family - all five of us are counting down the sleeps til we'll be on a plane) on her actual birthday, and as my mum is visiting us for a few days, we thought we'd have a little tea party for her royal highness this week.  I was lax and forgot to take a pictures of the cake,which was pink with Smarties on - I surprised myself with how girly I made it, but she loved it.  I did, however, take some photos of more cake-related goings-on that took place recently:

A large bowl of icing and a very muddy elbow - it would appear that some things are worth coming in from playing football for.

 Looking at this photo I notice two things: 1) I'm a stingy sprinkler - this is something I will be rectifying asap; 2) just look at the size of the blob of icing middle has put on his cupcake (top right of the picture)...

I may have neglected to take any cakey photos, but I have taken some of her big present from me and Mr N, which I secretly feel I may have bought as much for me as for her:

It's floral.  It's got stripes.  It's got gingham.  It's a wigwam.  I think I might move into it.

And can you see the little porcelain tea sets set up inside?  One of them is a Cath K one that my mum got her for her bday, and the other is mine from when I was a similar age to my baby girl.  I even have the original box still (deep down I know that very soon I am going to be heart broken when one of my oafish boys breaks the box/smashes a cup.  Maybe I should hide it away again for another thirty-five years, just to be on the safe side.)  I can't explain the thrill of excitement I got, laying all this out with my girl because I know how much fun I had doing this and I can't believe I get to do it all again with her.  (Let's face it, I still do it for real - a stripy tablecloth, a nice bit of cake and my Pip crockery - nothing's changed!)

This is my set - it's vintage dahling.

 And this is me taking a photo at the exact moment middle decided it would be a good idea to jump on my back and cling to me, koala-style.

 And this is the Cath K set.  Just look at teddy bear in the background - he must be a boy - look at the way he's sitting...

And finally, after getting as far as I can for the moment with my granny ripple blanket:

here is my latest wip:

It's my all star blanket, which I have just started making for middle after a tough process of negotiation over the Rico Creative Cotton colour chart - him: 'I want that one (orange), that one (red), that one (black), that one (grey) and that one (green)'.  Me: 'hmmmmm.....' x

Granny ripple blanket

A very lovely and very old (by 'old' I mean that I've known her for ever, not that she's geriatric) friend of mine is having a baby in May.  This is a) very exciting and b) will hopefully quell these bloomin' broody urges that have been sneaking up on me lately - Mr N's tittering nervously to himself as I type that, whilst simultaneously Googling vasectomy clinics.  It took me about three years of constant badgering to wear him down to agreeing to have a third child - and as for four - what am I talking about?  I must be completely crackers - having a fourth child would send me completely and irrevocably over the edge...  Maybe it's just one of those things that never entirely goes away - maybe there's always a tiny little part of my subconscious brain that will always have thoughts of having another baby no matter how much I can rationalise the utter madness of the idea.  What do you think? 
Anyhoo, as this friend is such a gem I've been feeling a certain amount of pressure to come up with the perfect present for her baby, so the past few weeks have seen a fair amount of chin stroking and uncharacteristic mulling over of things and a number of fruitless trips to my LYS (aka John Lewis).   I finally found just the yarn I was looking for last week - it's Debbie Bliss Eco Baby organic cotton, which is a new yarn to me and I'm pleased I've discovered it because it's just beautiful - it feels like a dream when it's made up - just the sort of thing you'd want to be cuddled up in if you were a small, new person.  I already knew the pattern I wanted to use - granny ripple (which I found at the LazyHobbyHopper blog) and so as soon as I had the yarn, I could get cracking - hurrah, for I've been at a right crochet impasse recently. 
Here's a little peek at it so far:

And with that, I'm off to tuck myself up in bed with my hot water bottle, my hook and a nice bit of Radio Four.  It's middle aged rock n roll, baby. x
PS - there's still time to enter my giveaway, if you haven't done so yet!

The gubbins post

So today I present you with a random collection of things.
❄ random thing one: these hyacinths smell a bit lush, sitting on my sitting room windowsill.  I've gone a bit bulb-crazy, actually - we've got a little pot of daffodils that middle brought back from school to raise money for Macmillan and a pot of narcissi that called out to me from the shelves of Waitrose as I was doing a quick sweep for weekend rations on Friday.
❄ random thing two: I've sorted out my bunting.  aaaaahh - sigh.  It's so much more Zen now:

❄ random thing three: I love this little jug, which a very lovely friend gave me for my birthday.  I've put it on the radiator cover in the hall where I can see it every time I come in the house - though this is does qualify as pure madness - it's almost crying out for some clumsy dervish to whirl past it and knock it off:

❄ random thing four: I'm at a slight loss with my crochet projects at the moment.  I am desperate to start the starry blanket for my boy, but I still haven't located the elusive, perfect yarn - grrrr.  I'm also mulling over a ripply blanket in pinks, greens and creams for the sitting room and am thinking about using Drops cotton light - has anyone used this?  What's it like?  For the moment, until I can finally start my next big, 'proper' project, I've been fiddling away making some little hearts:

I have plans for turning these into a garland to hang on an old mirror that I'm going to paint white and hang in my newly-redecorated-yet-mysteriously-already-grubby hallway.
I've also been messing about with some little bits with a vague idea of making a hangy thing for my beautiful nephew, who I'm going to visit in a couple of weeks - the added boon is that his mum and dad (my lovely brother) will be there too.

❄ random thing five: I've been given two awards recently - the Versatile Blogger from The Craft Giraffe - thank you so much, Niamh; and Liebster Blog from Chaos, Kids, Crochet and Cake - thank you Sandra!
And with that I bid you adieu - here's hoping we don't all disappear under a snow drift... x

New books

Oh-kaaay, so it's not, strictly, a book, but I wanted to sneak this in as it's my latest 'make' and I'm really pleased with it.  It's made from some lovely old fabric that my gran gave me - it feels like a linen/cotton blend, though I can't be sure - and I've had to patch it together as there were only strips of it left, but I deliberately made the joins visible because I think that they somehow enhance the look and 'old' feel of it.  And how could I resist adding a big, bright pink satin ribbon bow?  Subtle.

And now on to the booky bit hinted at in the title.
I went on a bit of an Amazon spending splurge over Christmas and thought I'd share my spoils with you.  The first book, Stitch With Love, I bought after seeing on Homebird's lovely blog, here. 

It is my mission for 2012 to learn to embroider and obviously, before I actually got on with any real, actual embroidery, I simply had to buy a book to gaze at first.  And embroidery hoops, fabric and a veritable rainbow of thread...so now I'm all set - just need to get my act together and get on with it now.
The second book I actually bought a while ago after an exciting discovery on Pinterest (oh Pinterest, how I love thee so, even though you suck me in and make hours of my life disappear before my very eyes.)  You may remember that I made a Little Boy Blue Granny Squares blanket for my big boy recently - well, in the interests of fairness and a peaceful life, I also have to make one for my baby boy - obvs.  I had it in my head that I wanted to make a starry blanket, but couldn't find a pattern for a star in a square that I liked.  So I was more than a little excited (some might say tragically excited, in fact) when I found this here.  Just what I'd been looking for!

The book is called Crocheted Gifts: Irresistible Projects To Make And Give and I have to say, I probably wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't been so in love with the blanket - a lot of the things in it aren't my normal style, but I'm glad I've got it nonetheless.  I am absolutely, one hundred percent, prime-time in lurve (name that film) with this pattern, but gawd I'm struggling to find yarn!  I want something fairly light (my Rico blankets are actually quite heavy beasties), I much prefer natural fibres to man-made, I can't spend a fortune, and I want grey, denim blue, cream and possibly a red.  Any suggestions??
And the final book is this:

There are some great things in this book, but why do so many crochet books use really dodgy colour combinations??  I don't get it - do the authors not read blogs?  Do they not cruise Pinterest for hours on end?  What's the deal with the fuddy-duddy styling?  Erk. 

That said, this above is lovely - and as for this:

there's not a chance I won't be making a load of these for a bit of spring-y, Easter-y accessorising! x
PS - I'm approaching some landmarks in my little blog - it's nearly my 'first birthday', I'm nearly at my hundredth post, and I've nearly got a hundred followers.  In honour of this bit of blog-related excitement, I'm planning a bit of a giveaway when I hit the first milestone, whichever that may be!

Bunting ta-dah!

The sun came out for about half a nanosecond today, creating this beautiful shadow in my sitting room.  I was laughing to myself thinking 'only a blogger would be doing this' as I clambered around in our big bay window, camera in hand, bum in the air, with the bin men outside looking at me like I was a complete mentalist.  As if...
So, in a giddy fit of activity, I bring you my third ta-dah of the year so far (if I continue at this rate, my entire house will soon be just one enormous mass of yarn, with tunnels running through it so that the kids can get out the door to school - much like the inside of a crochet-obsessed hamster's cage, I suspect.  Except, perhaps, without the poo all over the floor.)  So, with that picture in your mind, I present you with my Attic 24-inspired bunting.  Ta-dah:

I've said it before, I'll say it again: I don't mind a bit of wonkiness every now and then.

 Elegantly, temporarily held up with drawing pins (can you spot it?) until I find the perfect thing with which to hang it.

 So, there are two things about this bunting:

1) I am squirmingly irritated by the fact that it's not exactly the same width as the bay, despite the fact that I measured it.  I should have twigged beforehand really, but of course, when I hung it it stretched and so is all loopy.  This is annoying me immensely, but at the moment the annoyance isn't outweighing the fact that I simply can't be a*sed to get it all down, remove a flag and re-do the end bit.  In fact, looking at it as I type, I think I'll need to remove two flags,  Anyway, at the moment, laziness wins out.

2) You see the flag with the little blue flower on it?  Shall I tell you why the little blue flower is on it?  It's because my ever-present crochet-assistant-slash-tidy-upper decided to help me by relocating three of the unattached flags.  Eventually, after much searching and a slightly sniffy text to Mr N (where I may or may not have questioned whether he was responsible for the disappearance of said crocheted articles) I found them.   In the kitchen bin.  Oh how I laughed.  Ha ha ha.  I fair nearly split my sides when I discovered that one of them had a little blob of unidentified, yet highly staining, food on it.  Hee hee hee, said I.

Oh, and after that little outburst, I should point out that I do, actually LOVE it!  It's very pleasing and speedy to make up and the possibilities for a bit of adornment are endless.  I highly recommend it for a bit of happy hooky time.  

And finally, here's a thing I've decided to do with my projects from now on:

This book is my crochet/recipe/ideas/general gubbins bible and if I ever lost it, I would be bereft.  It goes everywhere with me and has pages and pages of stuff in it.  Anyway, as of now it also has little snips of the yarn used for my different projects too, so that if I ever want to know what yarn I have used previously I have the details at my fingertips.  Handy, eh? x

Granny squares blanket ta-dah!

My hook has been fairly flying the past few days and I have now finished my third blanket, which I have named little boy blue granny squares blanket (not the catchiest name, granted; and actually, does a blanket really need a name?)  Anyway, that's what I think when I look at it, and so as this is my little slice of life, that's what it shall hereto be known as...

I took advantage of a lovely sunny moment this afternoon when baby n was asleep and the boring jobs were done and school wasn't quite over, and I crawled around on my sitting room floor taking pictures of a blanket.  I would never tell anyone I actually know in real life that I take pictures of blankets while contorting myself into strange positions - they'd just think that was weird - but somehow I know that you know where I'm coming from with the weirdy picture-taking thing.  Ah (happy sigh) isn't blogland brilliant? 

I must point out that this blanket is a collaborative effort and my mum made the majority of the squares, while I just did the glory-grabbing finishing off bits.  Thanks mum!  It's made using six colours of Rico Creative Cotton and is seven squares by ten.  I joined it using double crochet on the right side and put two rows of granny along the edges and I love it!  I'm so pleased with it, it's turned out exactly how I pictured it and my grown-up baby boy has had it wrapped round him every moment he's been at home since I finished it.  He's slept in it like a cocoon, he's watched tele underneath it, he's even eaten his meals with it wrapped round his legs like a little old granny going on a train journey.  And the first morning after I finished it, I came down to find this.  'Look at my den, mummy':

I resisted the urge to flip it over so that the right side was upwards and I left it waiting upside down for him all day.  I'm self-restraint personified, me. x