Rainbow Ripple

Well after yesterday's grey and drizzly start it did brighten up later and so did my spirits as I shrugged off the first cold I have had in years with a bit of Rainbow Ripple magic!

As you can see my Rainbow Ripple blanket is growing! I must confess it would grow much faster if I didn't keep succumbing to the temptation to try different colour combinations, doing, undoing and redoing a few rows until I get a combination I like!! Well I've given up on that now, and on my apparent need for symmetry, and have decided to just let it evolve in its own randomly glorious way!

I confess to be totally addicted to rippling now tho'! This is the first time I've done ripples, inspired by the talented Lucy at Attic 24 whose wonderful tutorial I followed to get me going. You can find it here. The thing is, patterns are all well and good and I've got lots of beautiful, inspiring crochet books but my dear mum Margaret taught me by showing me how to do it. So, although I can follow quite complex patterns, especially in knitting, with crochet my first instinct when learning or trying something new is I have to see it, then translate it into the language of a pattern. Which is why I so love tutorials like Lucy's on Attic 24.

The first couple of rows were a bit tricky but only because of the need to count chains and work the pattern out - and working the first row of trebles etc into a row of chain stitches is always a bit fiddly! But then, once the foundation rows were in place, I was off! There is something very therapeutic about watching those glorious waves of colour appear..........

Rainy Days and Mondays

Yep, I know it's Tuesday but it feels like Monday because of the bank holiday and it is raining.......... but that's ok 'cos the garden really needs it. The soil was bone dry when we were gardening over the weekend and we have been saving our waste water for several weeks now to water all our precious cuttings and seedlings etc. The conservatory becomes our greenhouse in the winter, providing a home for all the geraniums we bring in to overwinter - and they continue to flower until we put them out again!

The conservatory is my favourite place to be all year round. A bit too early to be putting these out just yet we think. Still a chance of frost. But P, my other half, took his precious seedlings out of the conservatory yesterday and planted them in not-so-straight rows in the vegetable plot. And I planted my new early flowering Dutch honeysuckle to climb along the wooden fencing near the patio so hopefully next year we'll not only have the sight but the fragrance of lots of beautiful honeysuckle flowers as we sit out. It's too small yet to take any piccies of but I'll be sure to get some once it gets established and especially when it flowers.

There are some other new additions too, like the new pink Magnolia to replace the cream one that died so mysteriously a few months ago........ To be honest it was already ailing by then, having not taken at all to being moved to a different part of the garden the year before. Hopefully this one will like where it is and thrive 'cos I do love Magnolia!

And then I planted up these

little pots of loveliness...

Well, they will be when they've grown a bit more! Two pots of the prettiest little Violas which I just think are always so adorable.......


And two red terracotta pots with Blue Marguerites which will look lovely in a few weeks time, sitting on the front step on either side of the door.

No gardening today after all, partly because of the rain but also because I've started with my first cold for several years which came as a real surprise......... Oh well, no worries, it's only a cold - and an excuse, as if I needed one, to take it easy...............

So......

time for a cup of tea (I am SO enjoying using my tea service again! Not to be 'posh' or anything - just because I love the look and feel of  it!) and a scone and jam! Now let's not get into the scon or scone pronunciation debate nor the one about whether it's jam first then cream or t'other way around......!
As you can see I deftly avoided the issue by having marg not cream which means it has to go on before the jam!  And after tea & scone, which is my lunch by the way, what else could there be to occupy a wet and dreary afternoon but a bit of Happy Hooky! Ooooh and the very wonderful Attic 24 is back online again today after some techie issues over the weekend......

Now which one shall I choose......................?

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Easter Saturday and the weather was just too lovely to stay indoors hooking, so off we went to the  Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the hope of seeing woods full of bluebells. The park was really busy, everyone having the same idea obviously! All sorts of lovely people out enjoying the Spring sunshine and the beautiful scenery. We did find bluebells but not as many as we had hoped - maybe we're a week early. Which is ok, 'cos now we'll just have to go back again!

They do look beautiful even if they are not yet as abundant as we have seen them in previous years. Our timing may just be a bit off......




Nonetheless, it was a lovely day and there is always lots to see. We are used to the sculptures everywhere now and there were a few 'interesting' new ones - which I foolishly did not photograph!  But for me it is the landscape and the animals which always take centre stage - and I did photograph them!

 Aren't they just too gorgeous! I often photograph these beauties, usually while they are moving around which can sometimes make getting a shot a bit tricky - but not today! They obviously decided it was chill out time for them too!

 This fella did show a bit more interest in what was going on, but not enough to stir his stumps!

 Well, I eventually tore myself away and we continued to amble around enjoying the scenery and the day. If you haven't been to YSP I can really recommend it - and the kids just love finding the sculptures, most of which are huge and can be climbed on and explored! I'll have to take some pics of the best ones on our next visit!



Anyway, on our return home it was time for a cup of tea, of course, and some hooky!

This is one of my oh-so-nearly-finished projects that I have PROMISED I'll finish before starting anything new - and I broke that promise yesterday when I succumbed to the temptation of a box full of colour-popping new yarns and started my Rainbow Ripple blanket! Ta-dah!!

I love to have several things on the go at once tho', then I pick up whatever I fancy as the mood takes me, knitting or hooky. And they all do get finished, I just work on several at once. Anyway, the sun has gone and it's nearly time for tea again! But just enough time for a bit of hooky first! Now which one shall I choose........???????

Easter Weekend

What a wonderful Easter weekend, full of sunshine and lots of opportunities for hooky bliss! Despite having lots of knitting and crochet projects on the go at the moment, and having PROMISED not to start anything new until I have finished them, I simply could not resist the lovely new coloured yarns I recently ordered which were just sitting there in my new box, tempting me! So, I gave in...... and started my Rainbow Ripple baby blanket, inspired by so many others like the beautiful ones on Annie's Place and by the wonderful Lucy at Attic 24 who is a complete inspiration! Check her out if you have not already done so!

So yesterday, while my man was out sailing and I had the day all to myself, I took my box of rainbow goodies into the warmth of the conservatory (my favourite place to sit) and started........

And before I knew it.......

A Rainbow Ripple blanket was born!









In no time at all my knees were covered by waves of gorgeous colour.

Time to stop for tea! A couple of days ago, when drinking tea out of mugs with a friend, we were debating whether tea really does taste better from a china cup. And, not for the first time, I remembered the beautiful Royal Doulton tea service my brother Jeff had given us as a wedding present in 1977! I thought it was SO beautiful, delicate and fragile and I LOVED using it for a few years. And then life got very busy when the boys came along - no time for afternoon tea and precious, fragile things were put away.... A few house moves followed and my Royal Doulton tea service has now spent most of it's life - and mine! - in a box in the loft! Well, no more!

Yesterday I went up, got it out, washed it and put it lovingly in a kitchen cupboard so that I can use it every day. What a shame to have things we love so much that we don't use them! And I personally think without question tea DOES taste better, and I drink more of it, when it's in a china cup. I very rarely eat cake but this was a multiple celebration - Easter hols, the creation of a Rainbow Ripple blanket and the second coming of my beautiful china tea service! The cake, a delicious Bakewell made by my good friend June, was delicious. What a blissful way to spend an afternoon! And after tea.......more Happy Hooky!