Allotment update

I thought I'd share a few more before and after photos of the allotment as it's been I while.  These were taken a few weeks ago when the weather was still quite good for the time of year.  This morning we had our first mild frost, Winter is certainly aproaching now.

You might remember that the pond was in quite a sorry state, I emptied all the water out in the Summer and left it to dry out completely.  It was very stained and would have been almost imposible to get clean so I added a pond liner.

Bonnie and Jacob helped me forage for the stones in the wood near where they live and we added them around the edge together with the branches and logs which were some that were dropped off along with the woodchip at the allotment for all of us to use.

There is only one oxygenating  plant in there at the moment, It was too late in the season and there were not many available.  Next Spring I plan on adding more to the pond and also planting around the edge to soften the look a bit.

I'm glad I have these photos to look back on to remind me that I am making progress.  Some of the other plot holders have come and said how well I'm doing and the last time Mark popped down he said he couldn't beleive it was the same plot we came to see back in June.  

There is still a lot to do but that's mainly clearing the top end of weeds, something that will be better to do in the Winter, as long as we don't get too much rain.  When Spring arrives I'm hoping that everything will be ready to start planting.

Although I didn't take the plot on until June I've still had success with growing some things.

Broccoli did really well

Sweetcorn was amazing - and loads of apples

I grew four huge pumpkins

I also did really well with peppers and tomatoes and should get at least another couple romanesco cauliflowers this week - this is one I picked today.

It's not something I've tried before but I'm chuffed that I've actually grown one, lol and I can't wait to try it!

There were a couple of successful flowers too, my teddy sunflowers lasted for months and the cosmos and zinias put on a good show considering I only paid a couple £'s for them.

In October one of the committee members, Sam, organized a seed swap day which was really good, not everyone turned up which was a shame, but there was enough of us to make it a lovely day.  Of course there was tea, coffee and cake too, we all contributed, Sam made jacket potatoes and chilli for everyone.  

Sam works really hard for the committee, harder than most of them.  She applied for a £20,000 lottery grant towards the cost of replacing our boundary fence a while ago and we found out last week that it had been granted. 

In the Summer someone, a woman, was seen walking around the plots with bags going from plot to plot.  Someone walking along the lane alongside the allotments confronted her as he didn't recognise her and she scarpered over the fence at the bottom end where it is lower.  Apparantly a few people had some things taken and polly tunnels were opened, so this new higher fence Is essential really, not only for our safety but also because It's dishartening to have things you have grown stolen - I don't think people grow things because It is cheaper, - lets face it the 5p veg will be available in most supermarkets soon - 

but there is a certain satisfaction in eating something you've grown plus, and it's a big plus for me,  it has the bonus of not having been sprayed with goodness knows what - But that's a whole other topic isn't it!

Hope you have a good weekend

-X-

October sock knitting and more stitching

 October went out and November arrived, and both days were lovely and sunny and bright - a welcome change from all the wind and rain we've had recently.

I didn't decorate for Halloween and we didn't get any trick or treaters, I saw some of the kids going out but it seems to be an unwritten rule that they only call on houses with visible decorations.  There are only a couple of families with school age children in our street and think they all get together and do their trick or treating further into the estate.

I suppose that makes me sound like a miserable so-and-so, lol, but celebrating Halloween is a relatively recent thing here in the UK.  We never did it when I was growing up; we tended to celebrate Bonfire Night instead.  

I remember how much fun I had making a Guy Fawkes with my friends.  We'd use old clothes and stuff them with newspaper, then make a head using a balloon with a pair of tights pulled over. lol.  Once our creation was finished, we'd take it down to the local paper shop and sit outside with our Guy Fawkes and asked everyone who passed by, "Penny for the Guy?"

The money we collected, and we always did quite well because we timed it for when people would be coming home from work, would go towards buying fireworks.  We'd also spend weeks gathering bits of wood, ready to build a bonfire on the spare ground at the end of the road to light on, or as close as possible to Bonfire Night on 5th November.

A Health & Safety nightmare now of course, both building and having a bonfire and children sitting outside a shop asking "Penny for the Guy"  Oh how did we survive, lol.

On Bonfire Night for some reason we always had jacket potatoes and groaty pudding, (or groaty dick as it was more comonally called), to eat around the bonfire.  

I think I much prefer how we used celebrated Bonfire Night in the UK rather than the adopted Halloween which is just too commercialised now.

Anyway, I went off on a bit of a tanget there. I came here to share my October socks and a stitching update.

I managed to complete two pairs of socks last month.  

This pair for Mark in the Starling colourway from West Yorkshire Spinners

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And this pair for me using, Opal yarn, but unfortunatly I've lost the ball band for this on so I can't tell you the colourway.

Although I prefer knitting with Opal sock yarn over WYS I really do like the Starling colourway I knitted for Mark, I sort of wish I'd done those for myself, lol.  But, there may be enough left over to make myself a shorty pair perhaps, watch this space.

I've been keeping my stitching bag by the sofa thinking that It might encourage me to stitch a bit more, and It has and I've been enjoying working on North Pole again.

I'm glad to have found my stitching mojo again as I want to make Freddie his first Christmas ornament in the next few weeks.

Hope are all well and are all set to enjoy November

-X-

Summer knitting and Christmas stitching

 It's been a few weeks, things have been busy and to be honest, I just lost my blogging interest for a while so as well as not posting I also haven't been reading any of my usual blogs, I'll catch up with all your happenings as soon as I can.  

As we are fast aproaching the end of October, (how did that happen!)  I thought I'd pop in and share a knitting finish from early September.  It's a tee, so I won't be wearing it anytime soon as the weather has really turned this last week, but It'll keep.

This is the Prospect Tee by Tori Yu

I used Drops Safran, a 4ply yarn that I'd never used before and It was so nice to knit with.  I was worried it might over stretch being a cotton yarn, and it did grow a bit, an inch or so, but not overly much so thats good to know for another time.

It was an interesting construction and one I hadn't done before but It came out so neat and I loved working it.  

The back is worked first, you knit so far down and then you pick up stitches and work down the front.  As with anything new I thought it looked complicated, but the instuctions were clear and I didn't have any problems.

I don't enjoy picking up stitches but I think i've made a pretty neat job on all the picked up stitches this time....even if i do say so myself, ha ha

I have plans, and the yarn, to make at least another two of these Prospect tees over the Winter so that they will be ready and waiting to wear in the Spring and Summer.

I've mentioned a few times that I haven't felt the urge to stitch latley but last Sunday I was booked onto a stitchy retreat day.  I took along my Kathy Barrick North Pole Santa but also some sock knitting incase I wasn't feeling the stitching.  I didn't touch my knitting all day, I was enjoying stitching again 😁

This had been sat in my bag since May, which was the last time I worked on him at the last stitchy day.

And after last Sunday's stitching..

Not a huge amount of progress as the day also included chatting and eating too, lol.  But progress none the less, and he has been worked on this last week too, so perhaps my stitching mojo is returning at long last!

I will share last weeks Santa progress at the end of the month along with another couple of knitting finishes.

Hope you are all well

-X-

What I'm watching

I don't really watch much TV. Our TV goes off on Sunday night when Mark goes to bed and doesen't get switched back on until Friday evening when he comes home.  If I do watch anything, I usually just catch-up on my laptop. 

But then one of my daughters mentioned that James Blunt was going to be on the new series of  Celebrity Triators.  He's my all-time favourite singer/songwriter, so I thought I'd give it a watch.  I'd never watched any of the previous series so didn't really know what to expect, but I loved it!  

Poor Richard E Grant though!  He obviously thought he'd try a double bluff and get an "I'm Sparticus" response from the rest of them when he come out and said he was a traitor.  I do hope he survives as I think he's a lovely genuine person. 

I'm looking forward to watching the third episode tomorrow night.  

in the meantime I've been catching up on the previous Celebrity Traitors series.

-X-

More socks for the box

 Looks like Blogger has sorted the problem with posts not updating, for the time being at least.  I don't think It's the first time It's happened though.   Lets hope It's not some recurring problem that will see more people giving up on Blogger.

Anyway... I finished another pair of socks for Mark to add to my box of socks.  These are giving a real Autumn feel with the green, brown and oranges.

As you can see they are not matching.  I did try, but after winding off a load of yarn I still couldn't find the match.  I don't think Mark will even notice to be honest so I'm not going to let It bother me 😃

I haven't cast on another pair of socks just yet because I've been trying to get my Prospect Tee finished.  Happy to say that I did that yesterday and It's now on the blocking mats.  I will post a photo when It's dry, which, seeing as the weather has turned might be a few days.

I've given myself permission to sit and cast on something new this afternoon while watching the second series of The Crow Girl.  

Has anyone watched The Crow Girl?  I watched the first series on channel 5 a few weeks ago, but series two is on Paramount, so I've had to sign up afor a fee month's trial to watch it.

It's so good!  I can highly recommend giving it a watch if you haven't already.

-X-

Two trips

 I recently had a lovely day in London with my eldest daughter, Jenny, along with Arty and Bonnie.  The kids had wanted to go for a while and neither Jenny or myself need much pursueding to visit London, we both love it. 

We had an early start, catching the 7.30am train into Marylebone, which gave us plenty of time to make the most of the day.  As it was the first time either Bonnie or Arty had been to Londone, we didn't pre-book any attractions, Instead, we thought it would be nice to take things as they came, walk around and see some of the more famous sights.

Bonnie had mentioned seeing Buckingham Palace, so we took the tube straight out of Marylebone station and arrived in time to see the Changing of the Guard.  It was so busy though, and I think the crowds were a bit overwhelming for her.  fortunately we managed to get both of them to the front of the railings at one point, and the guards came right up in front of them.  They absolutely loved and made up for having to battle our way to the front.

We also spent some time in the Lego shop, where they each chose a set ot take home.  After that, the rest of the day was spent walking around Londone and taking in some of the main sights.  In hind sight, I think it might have been better to have booked at least one attraction to visit, just to give the day a bit more structure and break up all the walking.

These are some of the photos from our day

They are still both a bit too young to fully appriciate the history and significance of many of London's landmarks, but they certainly enjoyed the experience of exploring the city.  Riding on the underground was an adventure for them, (and me, I always enjoy it) and of course seeing Big Ben, and London Bridge.  It was lovely to see Big Ben all clean and shiny now, the last time I visited it was covered in scaffolding.

By the time we finally headed home we were all exhausted.  We didn't get back until just after midnight, but luckily we had a direct rain, both children completely crashed out almost as soon as we set off and slept all the way back.

It was a long and tiring day, but enjoyable, and hopefully the first of many London trips for both of them.

Last weekend Mark was working so I went away for a few days.  Things have been so busy latley that I needed some time just for me, and I haven't seen the sea all Summer.  Living in the middle of England means that we do live a fair way from any coastal town so it's a lovely treat to be by a beach and the sea.

Can you guess where I went?

I've visited many times now but I never get tired of going, It was of course Llandudno in North Wales.

I stayed in a lovely little B&B very near the pier, and the weather was dry and bright, not rainy like predicted.

I didn't do a lot, these few days were all about having a rest, I walked, read my book, bought some more books, (oops) and knit while watching tv in the evening.  It was just what I needed.

I did venture out one evening, there was a charity Harley Davidson bike ride along the pier and around town.  The bikes were all lit up and some of the riders where dressed up too.  It was lovely too see, although much fewer than the 150 riders the advert said there would be.  Still it was fun.  No photos i'm afraid, for some reason they all turned out blurry, (user error).

I had a little walk along the pier afterwards, I wouldn't normally venture out alone when It was dark but It was mostly families around after the bike ride, I felt safe enough for an hour, and I was back in my room by 9pm.

We should have been going away again this week, but someone left it too late to book time off work - lets just say there were a few words!

 

-X-

**I have no idea what going on with blogger, the blogs i visit most are in my sidebar but that's not updating and neither is the reading list.  Is anyone else having problems, and have you managed to fix it?

Knitting my sock stash

 In January I set myself a goal to knit a pair of socks each month throughout the year.  The idea was to fill a box with hand knitted socks for both myself and Mark for Christmas.

We are now in the middle of August and I've just recently finished my eighth pair.  I could choose to miss knitting a pair this month but I decided to cast another pair on this weekend and if life gets too busy towards Christmas I'll still be on track.

These are the latest two pairs finished

A pair for me....

And a pair for Mark.

And all the ones I've knitted so far this year.

It's going to be a tight fit, but I think I should manage to get them all in.

I wanted to try and knit all the socks from stash this year, and I'm happy to say that I have acheived that, so far at least.  I've only purchased one ball of sock yarn this year so I haven't been adding anymore to stash either.

I didn't think to take a photo of my commercial sock yarn stash back in January...But this is how it's looking at the moment.

It makes me happy to be using what I have and seeing less on this shelf.  The shelf is only one ball deep but there is still a fair bit to choose from; and certainly enough to keep me going until the end of the year.  There are also some part balls of solids in there too that I can use for cuffs, heels and toes if I choose to.

I find that the older I'm getting the less I want, of anything, not just yarn, and having a large stash of yarn, or any crafting supplies, is not something that bothers me anymore.  I love to look at yarn and enjoy a browse at yarn festivals and yarn shops, but I think I would much rather be in a position of finding a pattern I would like to knit and then shopping for the yarn, you know, like it used to be before there was so much yarny temptation on social media, lol.

Of course I will still sometimes get tempted along the way, but I would still like to keep to a sensible amount.  

I do have a reasonable amount of hand-dyed yarn - not a huge stash by any means, but enough to have some options.  Most of it is single skeins that I bought because I loved the colourway at the time, while some were gifts.

I could use some of them for socks, and there are definitely a few that I will.  But others are far too pretty to be hidden inside shoes!  So, I've been thinking about pairing some of the skeins together and using them to knit a few Tee's for next Summer - I think that would be a lovely way to make use of those special yarns and getting to enjoy the colours - Watch this space 😉

-x-