A hooky first!

Wooooo hoooooo!!!!! I am soooo excited! After several months, I have just finished crocheting the last of 168 granny squares for my very first proper delicious hooky blanket! It is simply amazing how working with such gorgeous colours lifts the soul!

Working on the final few squares:

The whole 168 granny squares just waiting for the ends to be weaved in, then I can join them all together:

Originally I thought that 10 squares x 12 rows (a total of 120 squares) would be a perfect size, but soon realised that would be a bit on the mean side, and to be a decent snuggly sofa blanket,  I needed to make it at least 12 x 14. Amazingly that small increase needed an additional 48 squares!

When all the granny squares have been joined together, I am going to add a border, which I have never attempted before. I think I will go for quite a simple one this time, and although I have been researching various ways to do it, am feeling less than confident! I think that as the squares look so good, I am worrying about ruining the blanket at the last hurdle!

Anyway, all being well, I am hoping to get my 'Very First Proper Delicious Hooky Blanket' finished in the next couple of months. As soon as I do, I will post my very first official 'Whooooo Hoooooo Moment'!!!!

Watch this space my lovelies! xxxxxxx

Happy happy joy joy!

Ooooooh! I am soooo pleased with this lovely colour filled granny heart bunting! It has taken me a week or two to complete, but crocheting with these deliciously yummy colours has really lifted my spirits. In fact, the amount of energy and happiness I got from hooking these hearts in such lovely colours was just extraordinary.

I got the pattern from the very talented Bunny Mummy, although I did make it slightly differently (wrong actually!) as the patterns are written in US terms, and I made a mistake with the UK double treble, adding in an extra stitch! Oh well, it didn't seem to matter!

I do need to give it a bit of a iron, but I was so keen to see it up that I got a bit carried away. Not like me!!!

Crochet bunting and more....

Well, at last I seen to have more or less got the hang of this crochet thing, although I haven't yet finished my russian dolls - I have made all 4 but seem to have lost one of the faces! I think the embroidering of the eyes and mouth is putting me off a little, but that's the beauty of crochet - I can have several projects on the go, and pick them up as and when I am in the mood for them.

I have been particularly enthusiastic on the bunting making front, deciding that as I have Irish ancestors from the early 1800s, it would be just churlish not to celebrate St Patrick's day in an appropriate crochety way! I am rather pleased with it, and it didn't take too long. The fact that I made it at 2am in bed, is neither here nor there!

..and in it's St Patrick's day position, along with some heart bunting. I liked the hearts so much that I just couldn't take them down!

 My next project was to attempt a daffodil, following a pattern written by the lovely Lucy on her blog attic 24.  To be honest, I thought it was a little beyond my capabilities, so I was more than a little delighted at the result!

And finally, last night I finished my first Christmas decoration of the year ....I know, it's a bit early, but sooooo pleased with it! I just hope I get the enthusiasm to make some more before December, as it did take me a stupidly long time to complete.

Hope you like these and perhaps get inspired to do some hookying yourselves! Thank you for looking!

♥ ♥ ♥

A happy hooky holiday!

What a wonderful surprise I had the other day! It was a spectacularly warm and sunny day, and I returned from work with the intention of having a less freezing/wet/windy/foggy walk than usual with my lovely dog. I must admit walking the dog every day has been somewhat of a challenge this winter as the weather has been simply awful, but she enjoys it so much, and I always feel so good when I get home....anyway, I digress!

I got in to a message from my darling daughter - she had popped up to Wowo campsite at a farm near the Bluebell Railway, to stay in a shepherd's hut, and asked if I would like to join her. Well, having made pies for 6 hours, and looking forward to my 'weekend' -  a couple of days of nothing, I had to think about it. For a millisecond!! So, around two hours later, the dog was walked, I had asked my neighbour to look after her and my chickens for a day or two, I was packed and winging my way to another adventure.

Packing was....well....different! My major decision wasn't what clothes to take (none - just what I was wearing plus undies and socks!) but what colour wools to pack! A relaxing couple of hours crocheting was definitely on the agenda, and I couldn't seem to make my mind up what I would make. I am halfway through making a set of Russian dolls, but thought something a little simpler would be better, so packed lots of reds and pinks to make roses for a summery flowery wreath I have in mind. Plus, I couldn't resist it -I took my half made Russian dolls!

I may re-make the second one as it looks a bit teeny...I will see how I feel when all four are done.

I arrived at my destination, and although it had been 8 months since we stayed in the shepherd's hut, it felt like I had never left it! We decided to have a meal in a local pub, then came back and wiled away the evening relaxing and basking in the warmth of the log burner, and even managed to crochet a few teeny flowers for the spring tree, by candlelight.

In the morning when I woke, I was greeted with a freshly cooked bacon and egg sandwich brekky, and we ate outside by the stream. Astonishing to think of the howling gales and driving rain we had encountered here last June - it was really mild and the sky was so blue - and it's only February!

We found a sunny spot in the field, and took our wool with us and set up for a day finishing the crocheted twigs. We had been given a wide necked bottle for the display at the pub the previous night, and my daughter made a little cover for it, which looked very cute.  The day was completely idyllic, and the time flew past. Before we knew it, the sun was going down and it was getting chilly again.

So we returned to the warmth of our little hut, and apart from a quick dash to the compost loo, we were toasty warm again! In the evening, we popped out for a delicious takeway curry, then sadly, after a lovely evening, tucked up in bed for our final sleep in the hut. We did have our lovely twigs to enjoy for the evening though.

The next morning we left to return home, but gave our flowers to the lovely lady who runs the campsite. They were always intended for her, but we enjoyed both the making and looking at them too for a while! 

Bye for now Wowo, bye shepherd's hut, bye sunshine, bye stream, bye twigs.

Bye compost loo!!!

We'll be back xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A very strange day indeed!

Life has been somewhat full on over the last couple of weeks, culminating in an extremely challenging evening last night, so this morning, when I woke up, I decided  to cheer myself up by treating myself to a couple more chickens. Now most of my 6 chickens are rescues of some sort, either end of lay free range girls, or ex battery hens. They are also all knocking on a bit, and as most of my chooks seem to be heading for the 'henopause'  egg laying has become a rather hit and miss affair recently!

Firstly I had to decide whether to go to a poultry seller with many different varieties of chickens (mmm - tempting!) or whether to go locally for the much cheaper option. I decided to discuss it with my daughter, but it was a bit early, so thought I would wait an hour or two. So I walked the dog and popped into the farm shop over the road for some veg. I was 11p short, but as I work in their garden centre during the summer and they know me, they said I could drop it in later.

I contacted my daughter to see if she would come chicken buying with me, and we opted for the local option, and she and her partner picked me up. They wanted to visit the farm shop on the way, and I said I wanted to pay the  owed 11p so went in with them. That was when it all went a bit weird!

I came out with a new part time job. As a pie maker.

Hahahahahahahaha! How random was that?

We than went to buy the chickens, which I was treated to, and so I would like to introduce you to them. Meet Pudding and Pie!

What a strange day this has been. I have to keep reminding myself I am now a pie maker!!!

Getting to Hampton Court flower show

A  friend treated me to a ticket to Hampton Court flower show this week - and as always, the day was eventful! How we manage it, I have no idea, but every single time we go out, something happens!

The plan was that we travelled by train - she would leave from Brighton, and I would pick up the same train a couple of stops on. Simples. Or so you would think!!

I got up early, cleaned the chooks out, walked the dog, showered, changed (what do you wear in this changeable weather?) and drove to the station. Luckily I managed to park, which meant I was rather early, but already I could feel the excitement of a rare day out beginning to kick in! I was there, it was almost 10am, and the train would be there at 10.34. Perfick. 

Having already purchased a ticket, I managed to negotiate the new automated barriers and arrived safely on the platform. Then there was an automated announcement over the tannoy something like  "STOP VANDALISING THIS STATION....SECURITY IS ON IT'S WAY" and the maintenance men who were employed to take down advertising boards and put up new ones just yelled a few choice comments back at the speakers!

I wandered back off the platform to find a coffee, which was in a little van outside the station, but decided that at that price, I would leave it and grab one later, maybe on the train. I returned to the platform to see maintenance replacing a broken bin liner holder. They had to snip off a large plastic tie, which I noticed they threw on the floor, rather than in a bin!

Then one of the earlier trains was cancelled....and another....and then one came backwards through the station........things obviously were not quite right! Never mind.... my train is ok. Then my phone rang. My friend said she was on the train, which was still in Brighton station and it was absolutely packed. Their driver said there had been a breakdown at our station.

So another announcement at my end: " I AM SORRY TO REPORT THAT THE 10.34 TO LONDON VICTORIA HAS BEEN DELAYED. APPARENTLY THIS IS DUE TO A BREAKDOWN ON OUR STATION, BUT I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING, CAN YOU?"  Ha ha ha - that was funny.

Anyway, time went on and a train going in the wrong direction stopped at out platform, which was a bit odd! I decided to get a coffee from the van, but apparently they had no water!!!  There were a few tense people on the platform and the most helpful staff member trying to sort it all and giving out compensation forms, despite being almost completely devoid of any information from Brighton. So I managed to tell them (via info from my friend) where the train had actually broken down. My friend kept in touch, and eventually, about 40 mins later, said she was on her way. I told the station man and a few other people not in earshot, and there was another announcement:

" WE ARE SORRY FOR THE DELAY TO THE 10.34 TO VICTORIA, BUT THERE IS A LADY ON THE PLATFORM WHO HAS A FRIEND ON THAT TRAIN, AND APPARENTLY THEY ARE NOW ON THEIR WAY"  Ha ha ha !!!!! That really made me giggle.

We had arranged that when the train pulled in, she would wave out of the window, but I knew the train was packed and I also knew from previous experience where the train would stop, so........the train pulled in.....no sight of her so on I jumped! The phone rang and I told her I was on, so I battled through the heaving carriages, past the coffee trolley...until all of a sudden I saw all these people waving at me and calling out my name!!! Ha ha ha! What a welcome! Hilarious!  Not only had my friend been relaying the story to the people she was delayed with in her carriage, but also some passengers from my station had got on directly into her carriage and knew what was going on and told her where I was!!!! Ha ha ha! We had such a great journey, with some incredibly entertaining people, but because of the delays the train ended at Croydon, and my goodness, there were literally hundreds of people trying to get on the  train to Clapham Junction. I had to suck my tummy in to get on and many were left behind!

Once at the Junction, and getting on the sedate and empty Hampton Court train, peace and sanity reigned supreme.

So a little delayed, but perfectly happy, we travelled onwards to the flower show........

(to be continued in a new post!)

My day off

Well, today is my one day off this week and I wanted to do something really lovely. What I really wanted was to be whisked off to Paris for a champagne lunch, but that clearly wasn't about to happen.

I did have a bit of a lie in this morning, until 9ish. That was nice as I was awake, so really able to enjoy just admiring the wonderful views from my loft bedroom windows and daydreaming, rather than having to be up and about early cleaning the chickens, feeding the dog etc before work.

So, after I surfaced, I thought before I did anything, I would check on my dog-walking phone. This is my old flip up mobile which I replaced before Christmas with an all singing, all dancing, oh so very easily breakable touchscreen beauty. I didn't want to take it out on dog walks in case I fell over and broke it (I have fallen several times!), so had the genius idea to get a pay and go sim for my solid as a rock old phone, and take it with me in case of an emergency.

Well, that was all well and good in theory, but the problem was I kept forgetting to take it out with me. Also, if I was wearing leggings, not jeans, I often had no pockets, the end result of which was that I only ever took it out on a couple of occasions, the last of which was the day before yesterday. I forgot it was in my jeans and put them and the phone through a 30 degree washing cycle. My phone was now very clean and smelling of summer meadows, but sadly, no longer working.


My ever patient neighbour very kindly took the phone to bits for me yesterday and I had it drying out in my loft bedroom, as it is warm up there. So, when I got up this morning and saw the screen had dried out, I put it all back together....nothing. Plugged the charger in.....nothing. Luckily I have another spare phone somewhere, so decided to charge that to see if the sim was still working. I was looking for the phone under the stairs, when I came across my penguin steamer and remembered that the freezer needed defrosting, so for some obscure reason got completely diverted and started emptying the freezer. By the time I had finished defrosting it, walked the dog and hoovered right through the house, most of the day had gone, and I still haven't found the spare phone!


Oh well. Change of plan. It will have to be a champagne supper in Paris instead!











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