Going into April

I have a few projects that are almost finished, a baby cardigan that needs buttons, a cardigan for Bonnie that needs the button bands picking up and knitting and a pair of socks that are at the point of doing the toe decreases.  All so close yet not fully finished.   Is it just me, or does anyone else get something almost done and then sort of looses momentum?  

Last week was a busy one, I was on nanny duty for four days and two visits to the vets with Millie and Molly, they were due jabs and a check-up, all ok with Molly, Millie, not so good, we are waiting for thyroid blood test results, hopefully they will be back sometime this week and I will give you an update next time.  So, not much time for stitching or knitting this past week, just the odd hour here and there.  I'm still working on my stick6in23 piece and loving it, I'm on track to get this one finished perhaps this coming weekend.  

And, talking of Stick6in23, I collected my first finish for this SAL from the framers on Saturday.

Finished as another box frame. I love how it came out.  I used my local needlework shop again, Betty Stitch Kit in Quarry Bank. 

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The weather was mostly wet all last week so I didn't manage to get out for a decent walk, other than when I was collecting the kids, but I managed to persuade Mark to come walking along another section of the Stourbridge canal with me last Saturday.  Our starting point was a ten minute drive away at Stourton, walking back towards where I'd started out from on my last walk.

The weather was quite nice we did have a little bit of rain along the way, but it lasted a few minutes, not enough to put us off

If anyone is up for a challenge this wreck is up for sale, £250, serious offers only, so the notice said

🤣🤣

Loved these houses backing onto the canal, I would love to sit out there in the Summer

After an hour we were back at the bridge where the canal splits again, ahead to Amblecote, and to the right Stourbridge and the Bonded Warehouse, (where I started last time).  We had been walking for about an hour to this point so decided to turn and walk back to where we had left the car.  I'm really enjoying discovering these local canal walks, I find it strange that you can't really work out where you are, it feels like you are in the middle of the countryside, yet you know that a town or a main road it not very far away.  As we drove home we tried to work out where we had walked in relation to the road and even though at one point you could see across the fields you would never have known there was such a lovely peaceful walk to be had.

Mark doesn't really see the point in walking for the sake of it but he must have enjoyed it because he suggested taking the other route towards Wolverhampton this Saturday, we weren't able to do it though because I had plans to take these two rascals on an easter trail with Joanne

We did find the Easter Bunny at the end, but Jacob refused to have his photo taken with him, lol

I've not long got home from my aqua class, I'm really enjoying these classes, at first I wasn't sure I would but they have now become something that I do twice a week, and I feel better for getting out of the house, having some routine and of course the exercise.  As it's another beautiful day today my afternoon job is to clean out the summer house and perhaps even sit in there for a while later.  It gets really warm in there late afternoon so I may take my stitching and have an hour later.

If I don't pop back before next weekend I hope you have a lovely Easter!

-X-

A crochet finish

 Last week was a bit of a write-off.  I had some sort of allergic reaction which caused puffiness all around my eyes and my left cheek.  No idea what caused it, I hadn't used anything new or different nor had I eaten anything that I haven't eaten before.  I ended up going to the docs because the pharmacist at the chemist was useless, he kept trying to sell me eye drops and telling me to moisturise!  Doc was very thorough but as mystified as I was as to the cause, she recommended taking piriton for a few days and if things didn't improve, or got worse to go back.  I felt a bit rough anyway but taking the piriton too wiped me out most days.  Happy to say I feel much better now.

As you can see I finished my Crofter blanket, It's only been waiting in the wings since 2018!!

  It's actually been finished for a couple of weeks but it's only been this past week that I managed to get round to sewing in the ends.

Still not sure what I'm doing with it, It may come in handy in the summer for when the kids are playing in the garden so i'll put it away for now and see if it gets any use in the summer.

I'll leave it there for today and sign off with some photos of another lovely canal walk I did the previous week,  another section of the Stourbridge canal, (No. 2), starting at the Bonded Warehouse and heading towards Kinver. I didn't do the whole walk, although I would like to soon as it was very picturesque.

Enjoy your week and I'll see you soon

-X-

Come walk with me and finishing a couple of ornaments

I have to be in the mood to take on the ornament fully finishing process, no matter how many times I do it I still don't find it easy, so best not leave it until I have more than a couple to do.

If you recall I wrongly thought I was stitching on 32 count for my January ornament, the one on the left, and It was larger than I wanted so for February's ornament I found some polka dot linen in my stash that I knew for certain was 32 count.  I am much happier with this one.  I shamelessly copied the lovely Carol, of Stitching Dreams and omitted the section he was standing on  so that it would fit into the oval shape.  If I stitch any more from that booklet I will definitely be doing the same again, they look so much better and the process is easier.

Both are from book No.80 of The Prairie Schooler Old World Santas.

(That red bow looks quite bright in the photo, it's really not the bright, must be the light today)

I can't call myself British if I don't mention the weather and seeing as It was the main topic in the news I have to show you what greeted me when I opened the curtains last Thursday morning, yes we had some more snow.  What a pretty sight, unfortunately it didn't last, by mid afternoon it was all gone, I've never seen snow disappear so fast, lol.

Since then we have has a mixed bag of rain, sun and wind.  It was dry on Saturday morning though so I went for another jaunt along the canal, this time taking the opposite direction to the one I shared in my last post.  This one is the Dudley No 1 canal which is on the opposite side of the road to the Stourbridge canal walk I did last week.  

I did a bit of reading after last weeks walk, as you do, and thought I'd share a bit of history of this particular section of the canal

There was an original plan in 1775 for a single canal but that bill was opposed and so the the project was split in two and resubmitted to Parliament and were authorised separately.  They were opened in 1779 and following a joint restoration project between Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Society and the British Waterways Board, were reopened in 1967

My walk started at the end of the Dudley No. 1 Canal and is the boundary to the Stourbridge Canal. 

There are eight locks on this section, (there were originally nine) but locally are still called the nine locks.

I was very happy to see this fella sitting on the wall at the start of the locks

At the top of the locks looking back

Still walking along the canal, there is a good view here of part of our huge local shopping centre.  Built on what was farmland The Merry Hill Centre has around 200 shops, a retail park, food court and cinema as well as the usual fast food places and 10,000 parking spaces!  I avoid going unless absolutely necessary but unfortunately all the bigger stores moved here from surrounding towns so sometimes you have no choice.  

The building work started here in 1985 and 1990, despite local protesting over building work being carried out on green space instead of the adjacent former Round Oak Steel Works site.   Since then there have been several extensions and alterations.  In the beginning we thought it was great, there was even a monorail! (which went bust many years ago and was dismantled), but it has been the downfall of all the surrounding towns as no shops want to go to the small towns anymore, if you want anything you have no choice but to brave it.

At little further along is the Marina or the Waterfront as it's now called.  There are some pubs and restaurants along here, there used to be a couple of night clubs too, not sure if they are still there today.  

There is a lot of office space. The West Midlands Ambulance headquarters and control room are here, also HMRC (the Tax Office) and Black Country Radio, as to what else is there and what they do in all those offices I have no idea.

This area used to be The Round Oak Steel Works and was founded in 1857 by Lord Ward.  

During the Industrial Revolution the majority of iron-making in the world was carried out within 20 miles of The Round Oak and It was the first in the UK to be converted to natural gas supplied for the North Sea.  The History of The Round Oak steel works is a story all of it's own, I don't know a lot about it but I remember when it closed in 1982 and the affect it had on the area, so many people lost jobs, it was a sad time.

The steel works made use of the canal that ran though it, I'm sure it looks a lot prettier now than it did back then.

Not such a picturesque walk now we're are past the marina.  The land behind the fence is also where the steel works used to be and is undeveloped but has been left like a wasteland.

I only went a little further over that bridge, there wasn't another person in sight and I started to feel a little bit vulnerable, also it had started to drizzle, so I decided to turn back.  I remembered to bring some bread for the wildlife this time, not so much on this section but this little fella made me laugh.

He deserved a treat after that :-)

I hope you enjoyed walking with me and weren't too bored with the little potted history.  Where we live is full of interesting things if we take the time to investigate, don't you think?

-X-

So far this week

I finally finished the socks I cast on at Christmas.  I've lost the ball band but I'm fairly sure the yarn is a sock set from West Green Loft Yarns.   I've noticed that the previous socks I've knitted have started to feel a little loose so I went down to 68 stitches for these and the fit seem much better.  I don't think I could get away with 64 stitches, they might be a little tight to get on but I will wear these for a while and see how they feel and perhaps try a 64 stitch sock at some point for comparison.

I spent most of Saturday in the garden, the weather forecast said that this week was going to turn colder and I wanted to do one last tidy up of the leaves before the garden waste collection today.   There are lots of things coming up, the daffs are almost there and the tulips shouldn't be too far behind.  At least now the last of the leaves are cleared we will be able to see them better

Yesterday was forecast to be the best day of the week so I decided to go for a walk, it's been ages since I got out for a decent walk, I chose a canal walk that is near to where my eldest daughter lives and about ten minutes drive from me.

I didn't think there would be so much wildlife on the water and I regretted not taking something for them.

It was quite chilly despite that lovely blue sky and those fluffy clouds, a perfect day for a walk.

I walked further than I intended as I took a wrong turn and ended up on a different section of the canal and had to re-trace my steps to get back to where I should have been.  Oh well, It boosted my step count for the day!

Today the weather couldn't be more different, we have some snow.  Now don't laugh, this is as much snow as we've had this year, I doubt it will get any worse, it's already turned to sleet.

Today I've done my usual Wednesday morning aqua fit class and a pile of ironing so I think I've earned a couple of house sitting with my stitching, It's too horrible out there to do anything else.

Tomorrow I have a hair appointment and Friday Is sewing day and then It will be the weekend again, these weeks keep rolling by don't they.

Enjoy the rest of your week

-X-