floor

I've got a shiny new hall floor. Here's the before photo, complete with dust, splinters and broken tiles:

and now look at it! Pretty fantastic isn't it.

Must try not to ruin the effect by parking my bike on it and leaving loads of shoes lying about.

I finished off my back-tack projects last week and they are all posted off. I took a few photos of the items I made but they came out really badly out of focus. I will post them on the back-tack site but I'm not very happy with them. I hope my swap partner Murali likes what I have made for her.

november

Christmas has come early in my house. My Christmas cactus is in full flower.

No time to write any more now - have to get dressed up warm and go out to watch fireworks!!

new

Lots of new things around here. I have a wireless mouse which means I can switch off the over-sensitive touch pad on my laptop which was driving me mad, and I have a small table from a junk shop to put my laptop on.

Also I have a enormous new tv. Im very lucky!

Picked these fungi in the forest in Sweden a few months ago. We dried some of them and brought them home to England.

Aren't they cute?

half-finished

Lots of projects - all half-finished. I ran out of supplies for a few of them and unfortunately the ceiling fell down in my local needlework shop. I think they have it sorted now so I can go tomorrow and buy beads, crochet cotton, Danish flower threads and double-pointed needles.

I really need to finish stuff before my week off from work in November so I can concentrate on putting down a new wooden floor in my hall and finishing off all the half-finished diy jobs around here!

This is my front garden. No flowers visible at the moment as it's moving into autumn and I haven't got around to planting any winter pansies yet. Another job for my week off - its going to be busy.

grey

Its a grey, cloudy day here today so I feel like looking at a sunny picture. This was taken at the opera house in Uppsala on my recent holiday. The whole design of the building was very Swedish; clean lines and blocks of colour, and there were 360 degree views of the city from this gallery. Unfortuately I didnt go there to listen to any opera. Maybe next time. I have started on my back-tack knitting project after a trip to my lys in Shoreham yesterday. Also I have ordered 2 beautiful books from La Croix et La Maniere. Hope they get here soon - I cant wait.

socks

Finished my first pair of socks (we wont mention the brown socks started somewhere around 1978 but never finished). I cast these on very tightly and after a couple of rows had some problems moving the stitches along the needle. Ripped and restared more loosely and now they are v baggy! They are more like slipper socks and are very warm being made of Rowan Tapestry which is mostly wool. I like them!

Em is feeling better today. She had to stay in all yesterday and was very cross about it!

back-tack

I am taking part in the back-tack swop. It's the first time I have done one of these. Haven't decided what to make yet but whatever it is will be a secret so wont be appearing here until later. Im also busy making stuff for our Christmas craft fair at work. This is the second year we have held a fair raising money for Water Aid. I am planning to make some small items like hair bands with crochet flowers and maybe some gloves or something if I have time.

Em went outside this morning and came back dribbling. I was worried she had something stuck in her throat so we rushed off to see the vet. She is fine now but still dribbling a bit. The vet thinks she probably licked a frog and it tasted bad. Silly old cat.

shoes

I had a shoppping trip to Brighton yesterday. I just finished reading Atonement by Ian McEwan and loved it so I wanted to buy the dvd. Saved myself £20 by shopping around so I felt completely justified in spending £120 on shoes!! Chunky Fly sandals and Rocket Dog boots.

The photo is detail from a building near my brother's house in Uppsala, Sweden. I never got around to blogging about my recent trip there but have been saving up this photo. It looks like an iced cake. I love the flowers.

busy..

..finishing off my crocheted bag. I was so disappointed in the bag when it was finished, it really wasnt how I imagined it and so there are still 2 ends to sew in. I think the blue looks quite harsh so its destined to stay inside the house and become my knitting bag - containing half a sock, but more on that later. Em was wondering what the fuss was about.

Last weekend I drove to North Wales to camp with some friends, build fires and climb Snowdon. Sarah organised the trip, and she was right; there was no rain left in the sky by saturday. Perfect camping and walking weather and the views from the top were incredible.

beach

The Riviera? No, Worthing on the only sunny day in the last couple of weeks. The umbrellas would suggest a typical British summer day with sunshine and ice-cold wind! But it was warm enough for icecreams.

I had a lovely day today. Em decided to sleep on my lap for the first time since she was a kitten, so I sat and crocheted all afternoon. I finished off all the squares for my bag - there are 16 of them. Now I just need to crochet them together.

Yesterday I went to a friend's wedding over in Arundel. It was a lovely day - we sat out on the terrace overlooking the castle and drank a few glasses of Pimms. Pink roses from the table decorations - now on my fireplace.

baby jumper

I finished this little baby jumper last week... not sure what happened to blogging between then and now! Things have been busy here with a wedding party for my brother and his wife, and trying to keep control of my allotment and garden. There's another wedding tomorrow too, the allotment girlies have been embroidering some serviettes for the happy couple. Just finished at the last minute, and discovered we have been working to different thread counts. Oh well. The jumper is from Special Knits by Debbie Bliss. Good fun to knit, especially the patterened band. I cheated a bit and just used 2 colours. Debbie's version is much more complicated and beautiful. The colours look very washed out in the photo - really must make more effort with the camera. The recipient doesnt know whether she is having a girl or boy... obviously Im hoping its a girl or its back to the knitting shop for me. Em is doing a lot of lounging at the moment. She had a cat sitter last week and was fed far too many biscuits :-)

finished

Hooray the tablecloth is finished and hanging on the line. I'm sort of happy with it. Wish I had totally planned the pattern before I started and not just found the centre and got stitching. I hope Ted and Eliz will like it anyway.

I found a half finished, forgotton crochet project earlier today. Its a bag made from crocheted squares. I started it on the train to Liverpool a few weeks ago and have done 9 out of 16 squares so far. The yarn is variagated blue and green cotton called Eko. It looks very cute but I dont have a photo yet.

Instead here is a pic of a cushion cover I finished a while ago. The pattern is from Erika Knight's Essential Crochet - one of my favourite books.

harvest lunch

We dug up some spuds today at the allotment. Also picked some courgettes, broad beans and carrots and then cooked them all with a roast chicken for lunch. Blackberry and strawberry crumble cake for pudding. Very yummy. The tablecloth is almost finished. Can't wait to wash it and see what it looks like all lovely and ironed and clean. Em likes sitting on it so its a bit grubby. Its also grubby from me sewing it with sticky chocolate cake fingers! I'm already thinking about the next project. Definitely knitting - I've had enough sewing to last me a while. I have about 10 things queued on Ravelry but I might ignore those and make a cardigan for my friends little girl. Not much time for gardening today, but I did manage to cut the grass. This is my back garden a few weeks ago. Please ignore the piles of rubbish :-)

wireless

I ordered wireless internet... cant wait until it gets here. Hopefully it should make the whole process easier. At the moment the last thing I want to do when I get home after sitting all day in front of a screen is to set up my laptop!

Yesterday was allotment day. I have had a plot with some friends for 4 years. This year we have taken on a second plot. Here is how it looked a couple of weeks ago...

It's a meadow!!

To be honest, it doesnt look a whole lot better now, but we will be there on Sunday with our strimmer.

It comes with a free shed :-)

tablecloth

Here it is then I had some problems with the photo - I just have a point and click digital camera and I think it was on the wrong setting for close ups. Never mind, you can see the general idea.

The pattern is adapted from a Hardanger embroidery book I inherited from my great aunt Dorothy. I sort of made it up and took bits from different patterns in the book as I went along. I think you can tell that if you see the whole thing!

making things....

.... that includes knitting, crochet and sewing!

I'm working on a tablecloth at the moment. It was for my brother's wedding but he went and got married too quick so I'm sewing madly to get it finished in time for the party. Show you a photo next time.

In the meantime here is a pic of em. She doesn't like posing for photos :-(