30 July 2014

Knitting - WIPs on Wednesday


I have had a request for knitted flowers.  Having never knitted flowers other than embellishments this is a first for me.  I am making up samples so that the recipient can decide which they prefer.  I was amazed how many flower patterns there are out there.  I found some great patterns on ODDknits today, which I have printed off and plan to make an example of each.

The samples below were found on Ravelry.




Currently they are on bamboo sticks.  But I have ordered some covered wires so that they can be positioned.  The centres are from a necklace I bought in the charity shop for £1, they would need to be sorted to remove the hole but as a sample they are fine. So if you know anywhere to buy beads with just one hole let me know.




My other WIP is obvious, details of pattern below




The ten stitch is still languishing in my basket.  So thats it for today

29 July 2014

A bit of elbow grease

Remember the little stash of goodies we bought back from France


On Sunday I spent an hour and a half working on the pans, this was the result, not the best but a whole lot better than they were.  I also used some Hammerite paint and redid the handles.  I guess a few more going over with the Brasso and some scotchbrite should do the trick



Sunday afternoon, I picked a few flowers from the garden


Did a bit of border tidying.  The grass is starting to lose its colour in the heat.  26C again today, this week was supposed to be cooler




Trimmed the leaves of the ripening tomatoes




Finished off a couple of projects

Lion Brand - Bunny Blanket Buddy, using 3 strands DK held together
Laurie's striped sweater
Cast on a new project from the new Love Knitting for Baby magazine. I will share the photos tomorrow.

Bye for now...

26 July 2014

Family - 2

Today we wish Laurie a happy birthday  
2 today.  

What can I say about Laurie?  

He's a happy, rough and tumble, independent little boy.  
His vocabulary well beyond his tender age 
and most importantly he makes us laugh with the things he comes out with.

Have a wonderful day and see you soon

Love Granny & Pops (Popsy)




love those curls

24 July 2014

Knitting - some holiday knitting

I just realised I've not shown you what I knitted whilst on holiday.  In-between all that walking and sightseeing I did manage to get some knitting done.

Dress and matching hat for Jessica, I was down to the last few inches of the main colour on this one, quite scary, hence it got a flower rather than the matching bow.




Pattern is by Angela Turner - from Love Knitting for Baby June issue and the hat is another Fun in the Sun, also by Angela Turner
Yarn - Rico Design Essential Cotton DK

The next is a sweater for Laurie, I'm using just a basic pattern and adding the stripe pattern.  The sleeves will have stripes around the cuffs too.  It is further along than this but this was the post holiday stage.

Yarn - Sirdar Denim Tweed with some Sirdar Snuggly for the stripes


23 July 2014

Holiday - Caunes Minervois

As previously mentioned Caunes was our base for this holiday this year.  We decided to go "in town" for a change. What we didn't anticipate about  living in a medieval town was that the houses would be so dark.  Those streets may look quaint but they don't let in much light.  You also don't get much in the way of garden, if any.



and when it rains the alleyways become rivers



This is the house across the alley, you have to get on with your neighbours, they are close at hand






This area is famous for its red/pink marble and there are lots of examples around the town

















There are a number of good restaurants and we enjoyed an amazing meal at the La Marbrerie  we went for the menu Cathare - 7 courses, could hardly move when we were done.  We also ate at the La Mangeorie on the two Sundays we were there, they do a set meal with music, well worth a visit.  People just turn up and play, turns into a real jam session.





There is also a Tapas bar by the abbey, they also have live music but the night we planned to go it was full and also because it is open air, is only open if the weather is good.  We did manage a beer or two there one afternoon.



Another thing about old stone houses is they attract visitors, meet the Languedoc scorpion, apparently not poisonous but gives you a nasty nip! The one in the jar fell out of Peter's book onto his lap.  Think it was the fastest he moved all holiday. The other one got crushed underfoot, which is how I came to notice him in the first place.



So that was our holiday.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about it.  If you missed any installments then check out the links below.

Another visit to France, Walking, Canal due Midi, Markets, Carcassonne, Lastours & Minerve

Until next time