Another beautiful day

.It's gorgeous here, I'm home, the washing needed doing and I needed to see the dr. Most of the washing was dried outside yesterday, the first of today's is on the line I don't think it will take long to dry, it can then be put back in the cases ready to take back to the van.

Mr B wasn't feeling to well on Friday, he slept for just over 3 hrs in the chair woke up, and went to bed about 8pmish he slept again until about 6am so I think he was over tired. He's been working quite a bit in the garden, in the sun, he can normally take it being dark haired, well he's grey now. Perhaps he spent to long in it.

My Cupcake stripe blanket is coming along nicely it's about 3' long now, I can't show a photo it's back at the van but I'll be getting back to it when I'm there. I've made a large wool basket that I've also forgot to take a photo of but its not quite finished yet. Whilst at home I've pushed my crocheting boundaries a little further, I searched YouTube for tutorials and found this

As you can see this version  is made by Tasha at Of Crochet & Life blog, I love her colours, pop over to her blog you won't be disappointed.

This is my effort, this is as far as the video takes you, as its my first go I'm using an odd ball of wool find in my stash with a size 4 hook. When I master it I'm going to try a finer wool.

I followed the YouTube tutorial by Bellacoco, she is brilliant, unfortunately I couldn't go any further.....this was where her video and others end but I couldn't figure out how to carry on. My brain which is foggy most days went on a real pea souper and I couldn't carry on. After a frantic message to my lovely friend Heather of Sewthis'n'that she's coming tomorrow to lead me through the darkness of a crochet pattern lol. She's amazingly talented and I'm really looking forward to having a catch up with her.

It looks like Missy will have to have a visit to her least favourite place, the vets, she's driving herself and me crazy with scratching, I keep them up to date with flea treatment and know she doesn't have visitors. Last time they gave her a steroid shot and medication and it soon calmed down, bless her I'm trying to see if it's a food she's allergic to, I can see we're going to end up with tests to see what it is that's irritating her. 

Well the Drs appointment has drawn near so I'll be back when Heather has been to share more progress.

Enjoy the sunshine

Peg x

Happy Monday

Hello Ladies, well haven't we been blessed with beautiful weather? Being fair skinned I have to be careful, I don't go the lovely brown Mr. B does I can give lobsters a run for their money in the bright red stakes. If I'm daft enough to ignore common sense I then suffer sore, painful burning which progresses to peeling. So although I like to see the good weather it's done from under the umbrella which is over the outside table. We've been really lucky in that there has been a refreshing breeze accompanying the sunshine. Apart from coming in for a scrumptious roast beef lunch cooked by Mr B I've sat outside under the umbrella crocheting my latest blanket. I did make another Granny blanket that was finished on Friday. The border does lay flat when it's put on a flat surface.

This is was made with Stylecraft Special DK in various colours with a 4 row border plus a scalloped  stitch finishing edge. The cream borders makes the other colours 'pop'.

Yesterday, Saturday, I started another blanket, I decided to use the Cupcake blanket pattern by Lucy at Attic24 blog but using pale cream on the treble rows and various colours on the treble cluster rows  instead of her variation of colours.

This is the blanket earlier today with 16 rows completed, the basket is one I made quite some time ago.

The colours I'm using for the stripes, the repeating alternative stripe is of course cream. I have completed more stripes as you can see. I've put it away for now my hands are hurting and need a rest.

The doglets have needed cooling off several times today bless them, they've had several spritzing with cool water, which they don't mind, I also kept their bandanas wet with cold water. 

We've come inside now, I thought it was going to rain but the wind appears to have blown the rain clouds over. It has cooled down nicely now though. 

Right, now I'm going to have a cuppa and a dish of refreshing mixed salad.

Enjoy your day

Xx

More like September!

Well I think the weather has decided we've had enough summer, it's not exactly cold but it is very windy and overcast.

All's well here, we went to my cousins evening wedding reception on Saturday and had a great time catching up with cousins, Aunts and Uncles, a great night was had by all, we came home pleasantly tired, Sunday we came back here to our hideaway, I get very tired driving nowadays so today will be a chill day and a hooky day. I have another granny square blanket on the go that I'm hoping to finish and have some granny squares I want to join up into a blanket. I also have some quilt as you go blocks that need putting together I've brought the backing fabric from home and hope to get that done this week.

Here's what I was doing last week before we went home, this is  small blanket, I made the squares a long time ago so decided to put them together and made the border with a variegated blue and cream wool. 

This is a large granny square blanket I made using wool that was given free with a crochet magazine, I ran out but found a seller on eBay who was selling the wool at a reasonable price.

Lastly, I enjoyed making my ripple blanket designed by Lucy at Attic24 blog but decided I wanted to use more pastel colours. This was worked in Stylecrafts special DK, I love working with this wool, the best thing is I've found a local supplier here who sells Stylecraft so will replace what I've used on this. It will save on postage. Last week I bought some 500gm balls in cream and muted pink for another blanket I have planned

A few years ago I didn't have a clue how to crochet but watching YouTube and reading blog tutorials I have been able to grasp how it should be done. A huge thank you to those ladies who share their skills freely. The soldier you see in the background is a biscuit pot but Mr B uses it for his chocolate stash lol, I'm not a big fan of chocolate except I like drinking chocolate, so he gets to eat it all himself. I prefer sweets, it's nice and peaceful here, Mr B is quietly snoring away, my 4 legged babies snoring away too so I have it in Dolby surround sound lol.

We will be going into town later or tomorrow, last year Mr B bought me a ladies 3 wheel bike so I could get around without the car, I did enjoy it but sadly as my hips have worsened I can no longer use it so I sold it to one of the fishermen on here who uses it to take his fishing tackle to the lake for a days fishing. It has a basket on the front and a large basket for shopping etc on the back. He's near the fields so it saves him having to make several journeys to carry his fishing tackle. When his daughter visits she uses it to do the big shop in town for them.

I have a Mercury Prism small scooter down here but I can't use it to ride along the sea front with Mr B, it will get me to town and back but any shopping adds weight and I'm always concerned it will run out before I get home so I'm going to buy the next mobility scooter up which is the shop rider scooter. It has a range of approximately 15-20 miles on a full charge. I still have my large one at home which will do 35 miles on a full charge but it's to big to bring in the car and it won't fit into the storage shed so I keep that for home. Nipping up to town etc can be quite expensive so leaving the car and using the scooter will save some money and they are so popular over here because it's so flat. There's not only disabled people use them able bodied do also because it saves looking for parking especially in the holiday season and it saves on fuel. There are some great sights, one chap has one of the newer ones which has 3 wheels and handle bars, he has a box on the back where his two Border terriers sit their little heads just above his lol. My dogs will happily ride on the foot plate between my feet and when I had a little Pug girl on foster she used to ride in the front basket. 

Well it's back to my hooking, have a great day

Hugs

Peg xx

A Year Gone By......

Oh my goodness I didn't realise it was so long since I wrote on my blog, to anyone whose continued to check on my page thank you and I apologise for being absent so long.

Briefly on the health front I continued to have problems then in December last year I had a mammogram which caused concern. It showed a mass again and an isolated lump so I was recalled to have scans and biopsies, however I'm really grateful to say they proved to be scar tissue and a blood clot. I take aspirin daily so they said this will break the clot up and it has, the first time I was pleased to hear I'd got a blood clot :) I didn't need to see them again until May this year unless there were problems.

The only problem I've had is a lot of pain under my arm and on my side due to them cutting the nerves when they removed the affected lymphnodes, it could go on for years but as long as it's not the cancer back I'll put up with it. When I went in May they were pleased with my progress and I don't need to go again until my mammogram in December and if alls well I'll not see them until  May 2017 for the annual check up. Big sigh of relief, 

Mr B had to take full retirement last year due to his health, he was hoping to carry on until July this year which would have given him 40 yrs at the school, from when it was first built and he was the last original member of staff. His health is improving well now, I think retiring suits him well, he really disliked being off work. He's more chilled now, the new headmaster (only there 3yrs) had upset a lot of staff who felt they couldn't work with him anymore. This year is the first time in all the years it's been open that they didn't get a good Ofsted result which I honestly think I'd down to the moral of the teachers it isn't good working in that atmosphere.

We've been able to spend more time here at our hideaway, the site opened second week of March and we came down. I've been home several times to check on the house, had Drs appointments and to check on the post, I spend a few days there then come back. Mr. B stays here to look after his garden, he's has a small greenhouse here with his toms and cucumbers in and has other veg in the garden and pots so they need looking after. We've been sat on the veranda in the sunshine, well I sit under the umbrella I burn otherwise. It's now absolutely throwing it down with rain, mind you it will save him having to water his plants :).

On the craft front I've made some lap quilts, I have about 8 that need backing and finishing, I've also made several crochet blankets and have brought a large amount of my wool stash here instead of buying more. I enjoy working with Stylecraft wool and a local warehouse has started selling it so I have to admit I have bought some.

Well I think that's all for now, I'll put photos on of my latest makes in my next post.

Thank you for visiting 

Peg X