Sunflower

This sunflower grew up by itself, probably from a seed in the bird seed feeder and is just on the cusp of flowering. It's amazing watching it slowly unfurl and form.


Other than that nothing too dramatic to report. Lots of knitting, bits and pieces of crochet, some interesting reading including New Grub Street by George Gissing, which is a fascinating portrait of Victorian London life and the first emergence of the mass media and modern age.

I do wish it would stop being so grey and make up its mind, either get the rain over with or go away and let us have some sunshine!

A new ambition

Today we visited our neighbour Jane's allotment, where they were having an open day. Jane herself was jubilant as she had won the allotments' "best newcomer" award and seeing all the beautiful plants growing on the allotments has inspired me. Next year I intend to try my hand at growing courgettes. I am fascinated by the way they emerge from the plant, with their beautiful flowers perched on the end. The colour contrasts of all the greens and the bright yellow of the flowers are quietly lovely.


In the meantime our self seeded tomatoes are thriving and starting to produce actual tomatoes. We thought we had two, but looking closely at the photos I've taken I think we've got three. Not a lot yet, but give it time!Apart from that it's been a quiet weekend; bit dull... not feeling great. Been playing around with the crochet still.

Edited to add: just went out for another look at our plants and there are loads more tomatoes beginning to form!

A quiet afternoon on the sofa

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Originally uploaded by foggyknitter

Elijah and Poppy have a quiet chat on the sofa this afternoon, before Elijah leaves us for his new home.

Finishing things

This weekend has been one of finishing things, first yesterday my forest canopy shawl, which I finished knitting quite a while ago, but hadn't got around to blocking. I'm so happy I bothered to wash it and hang it out to dry because the increase in size was incredible, it's now a wonderful big snuggly shawl. Perfect for during a heat wave - as ever my timing is impeccable. However, it will be nice for the autumn.

Secondly I finished a toy elephant for friends who are expecting their first baby (this is just a quickly taken photo this evening, I'll get a better one tomorrow in the daylight. I'm still debating whether to make him a little scarf or waistcoat or jacket or something.
Now I'm doing some Innocent Smoothie hats for their big knit and I've even crocheted a flower to go on top of one of them using a pattern from a cool crochet blog Attic 24. The hats make a good chance to get creative and try different designs, patterns, colourwork, embroidery etc. and it's all for a good cause.

A little bit sad

I've been feeling a little bit sad today, couldn't work out why, then realised that today would have been Amy's 27th birthday. I hadn't forgotten her birthday, it just took a while for my feeling of sadness and this fact to match up - not that I'm ever slow on the uptake or anything! Still miss you Amy, hope they have good birthday parties with Jesus.

Trying to keep the old pecker up and all that, but tired from my weekend, in spite of its peacefulness. Sometimes it really sucks having a condition that makes even a phone call tiring.

Back to blanket edging now, that's more fun than the blanket itself.

Peaceful weekends

This weekend has been lovely, peaceful, quiet, social, but not in an overwhelming way. Yesterday I spent the morning watching Time Team on More4 and knitting; they make a good combination and enable me to engage with history (my main academic love) in a way that my brain can cope with. I also like the programme's good humour, lightheartedness and the willingness of the archaeologists to enjoy a joke.

In the afternoon, after posting a birthday present to a dear friend, I went to knitting group in central Croydon. We meet on the first Saturday of the month in Cafe Nero in the Allders end of George St, near the George St tram stop and opposite 'The George' pub, from 2.30. Yesterday afternoon's meeting was lovely, sociable and relaxed and the combination of air conditioning and iced drinks made a welcome relief to the sheer heat of recent days. If anyone reading this lives in/near Croydon and feels like joining us you would be welcome, we also meet on the third Thursday of the month from 6pm, generally in Cafe Aroma in High St. Although we're called "Croydon knitting group" other portable crafts are very welcome, we have done knitting, crochet, spinning, tatting and cross stitch at meetings between us so far. Naturally some crafts are always going to be more difficult to do out and about - bit hard to heave a pottery wheel down to a coffee shop! If you want more information feel free to email croydonknittinggroup@googlemail.com

Today I haven't done anything in particular, listened to Gardener's Question Time on BBC Radio 4 and then to the Classic Serial - P.G. Wodehouse is perfect for a Sunday afternoon, particularly when it stars Martin Jarvis and Patricia Hodge. As ever with Wodehouse I struggled a little to keep up with who all everyone was, particularly among the younger set; I tend to find it works best simply to listen/read on and go with the flow of the story, it's just as enjoyable as understanding what exactly is going on and infinitely less mentally taxing! The only pity about Wodehouse dramatised is that one misses out on the sheer creativity and wit of his prose in his descriptions of people, places and what have you.

Alas despite all this I still haven't managed to finish knitting this blanket for SANDS, I'm not far off, just need to persist. I have garter stitch fatigue! So I'll get on with knitting it while hoping it starts to rain before plant watering time! (There are some promising clouds up there... anyone know a rain dance?!)

New skills

Of late I have been expanding my skills base, branching into sewing and crochet. It is important at this point to say that knitting will always be my first love and my main craft, but it is nice to be able to learn new skills and expand the range of creative possibilities, particularly as these three crafts compliment one another well.

This week I completed my first sewing project (beyond my practice straight lines!) and made a draw-string bag. The fabric is "Lucy's farm" in Liberty Tana Lawn and is utterly utterly gorgeous, so much lovely detail and a good balance between real style and good fun. Even better, I got it on sale! The lining is simply some very plain pale blue poly-cotton from our local department store's haberdashery department. It has wobbles in places, but overall I'm very pleased with it.