A Grey Day

Today the weather has been grey and rainy.  And I have had a more fragile little boy to entertain who is pushing through about 7 teeth in one go!  I can't really complain, given that he has a generally joyful disposition, but somehow that makes it even more of a challenge when he's grumpy!

In keeping with the colour of the day, I was wearing my lovely grey aran, made for me a few years ago by my Mum.

I unpacked three boxes in our conservatory today, leaving two left, but it's freed up quite a lot of space, and there you can see how a nice "new" (to us!) chair fits in the newly vacated corner. Lovely.

I've now finished my grey tank top, and am just weaving in the last few ends (a job that always takes far longer than you estimate).

The centre of the "V" neck was a real pain to knit, as, no matter how carefully I tried to carry out the instructions given, it never seemed to look quite right... Oh well- I think I got there (or thereabouts) in the end.

I also lengthened it.  Having knitted it all up, I measured it up against myself, and I thought it was too short.  I really dislike tops that are too short, so I undid the tops of the shoulders, and elongated the top section (rather than undo to below the "V"- I wasn't sure if I could face that!)

I will now have to wait a few weeks to try it on, as I'm not going to risk stretching it this side of the baby arriving!

This afternoon saw baking time, with a carrot cake on the menu for my lovely husband's birthday tomorrow.  It is his favourite cake, and apart from this one, he's not really a cake eater.  In fact, I don't know why I don't bake it more often- it's not difficult! Perhaps having it once a year keeps it special.  I used this recipe from BBC Good Food.  We've not tasted it yet, but it smells fabulous, and, of course is completed with the delicious cream-cheese icing!

This evening I've been making a birthday present for my Nanna.  I bought a beautiful cross-stitched sampler at Oxfam when I was Christmas shopping, and earmarked it for this project...

I chose a cornflower blue fabric for the backing- another freecycle bargain- a pair of childrens' curtains that I picked up a while back, that wouldn't fit any of our windows, but which are in very good condition, with lovely colourful material! 

I didn’t have any cushion pads of the correct dimensions, so I used a spare pillowcase, and filled it with some soft-toy stuffing I had handy (having once ordered far too much for a small project!), then sewed it up, and- voila! A cushion of precisely the right size!

I’ve enjoyed using some of the 'fancier’ features of my sewing machine- such as blanket stitch and the button hole setting on this project.

All in all, a productive evening- even more satisfying that I was able to make a lovely personal Birthday present without having to spend lots of money.  Right.  Need to get it wrapped up and ready to send first thing tomorrow with a home-made card.

I hope you have had a lovely start to the week.  

An ordinary day full of lovely things.

I spent today with my Mum, and the day was filled with fairly ordinary, but really quite lovely things...

This morning we went to the market.  Look at all of this lovely fruit and veg we got!

I love going up to the market- partly for the enthusiastic and character-ful market vendors (one calls everyone "Bubba" which just makes me smile!), and partly because it's such good value!

It was a fairly clear and blowy day, so the washing got to hang in the garden for a while and now smells amazing!

Having admired my lovely knitting yarns sitting on the windowsill for a few days (c/o freecycle!) I took one ball into a local knitting shop to ask if they had any idea what the weight of the yarn was (as the writing was all in German).  These particular ones are 3-ply.  So, what- I ask myself should I make with them....?!

A friend who I had a lovely catch-up with yesterday had mentioned a crochet blanket, and it got me to thinking... So, today I thought I might like to try a Granny-square (a nice manageable starting point!)

I don't find crochet super-easy yet.  I'm quite practised at my knitting, but much more of a novice at crochet.  Still, not too bad for starters.  I found a beautiful pattern for various crochet squares made into a fabulous blanket here.

My Mum has been putting the finishing touches onto a blanket for the bump...

I finished a sudoku I'd been working on for a while (although only for very brief periods of time at a go- I'm not that bad!)

I enjoyed watching my son dig for worms in the garden...

And I used some stale bread to make Olive-oil garlic bread, to go with avocado and mozzarella.  A yummy side to our family favourite- Spag bol!

A fairly ordinary, but rather fun day.
I hope you have a lovely weekend, and a nice lie-in (...?)

Reuse, Reduce, Freecycle

Have you discovered Freecycle? If so, isn't it great? If not, then take a look.  Oxford's is definitely one of the best and busiest Freecycle communities around, and last night I picked up a real treat!  Having given away lots on Freecycle over the years, I thought I'd post in case anyone had unwanted yarn/sewing or knitting bits and bobs.  One kind lady emailed me saying she had a few bits if I fancied coming to pick them up...

That was rather an understatement....

What a treat! So many projects I can do with these.

So, thank you to my kind Freecycler, and now some fun to be had....