Nice things from today, and checking my gauge.

Today has been sunny.

That meant I could hang my washing outside... and it actually dried. So lovely!

I have started a new knitting project... Always nice! This time a Zipped gilet for Elysée from Debbie Bliss' book "Essential Kids".

Not only this, but I also checked my gauge! For the first time ever before embarking on a project, I took inspiration from Fay's blog and thought I would just be good and knit a tension square. And. Lo and behold I am a loose knitter! So I adjusted down my needle size, and am now happily ensconced in the project.  Had I not checked, I'd have made a gilet considerably larger than necessary!

My little pile of crocheted Granny squares is steadily growing.  It makes for a nice thing to do when one only has a little time to spare... The basic Granny square pattern says "you might also want to block the granny square"... Does anyone out there know what this means?

Last night I made chocolate soufflé.  Again- thank you BBC Good Food for an amazing recipe!  I read the comments and reviews below the recipe before starting, and decided to reduce the cooking time as a few people said it was a little dry.  That was definitely a good move, and the resulting dessert was wonderful- nicely risen but that little bit gooey inside.  Perfect!

I hope your day has also been a lovely one.

C x 

Mud and Crafts.

I laughed when I read Fay's blog post a few days back, documenting Flo's taste of mud in the garden.  E is a big fan of mud.  His current favourite thing to do in the garden (when not chasing or playing ball with the cat) is to dig for worms.  Failing that he will aim to mix mud and water in whatever suitable container he can find, and drink as much of it as possible before being stopped by my husband or myself!  As you can see, today he was rather a state after a short while in the garden.

I am so thankful for our garden though.  I love that he's old enough to be able to play in the garden (and that he enjoys doing it), and that he wants to do it at any given opportunity.  I was raised by parents who were always championing the benefits of fresh air, and I've become one of them myself now!

In our garden we have some beautiful daffodils starting to blow their trumpets.

And the promise of many more to come! (Thank you Mummy for planting last summer whilst I was feeling grotty!)

I made another carrot cake today from the same lovely recipe.  Except this time I added sultanas too.  Good move. It tastes great!

I've been doing a little more on the crochet Granny squares, am progressing on the cabled cardi and am eagerly anticipating an evening of crafting and fun with two good friends. Lovely.

I hope your weekend is going well.

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 (...?)

It's in the bag...

For a friend's birthday recently, I decided to embark upon my first crochet project... A lovely little Clutch Bag ( "In Bloom"- The Happy Hooker).

It proved a fun and very doable first project, although I had to try the flowers a few times until I got it right...

I lined the inside with some red floral fabric I had in my material box

Much fun for a first project, and a nice little gift....