Busy times

this past week we have been busy here at Chateau de la Ruche. Lots of gardening, trips to the lake and to the local garden centre and brocante. We’ve had two birthdays, visitors, bbq. It’s been fun.

The weather has finally cooled down enough that’s its pleasant to be out in the garden without breaking out in an instant sweat!  The new gravel was put down yesterday afternoon so now covering the work that was undertaken to put in the new fosse (Septic tank). Once the grass had grown back it will look as good as new. The back borders have been replanted, and apart from one which still has some temporary pipework in look good. Again once these fill out they should look great.



Peter and the boys have been fishing the lake, catching Rudd, their biggest todate, landed is 12”.  Of course bigger ones have got away!!!

The photos are in no particular order as I struggle to do this post on my iPhone. Blogger is struggling to cope with a 3g connection. The photos are crazy there are duplicates, and the spacing is bad, apologies but I can’t get to them to sort! 

2 Aug have logged on to home pc and now all tidy again

the fish went back in the lake after measuring 

Sweet treats

Jess and I spent the morning baking today.  She loves to help and today was chuffed when she managed to cut and line the tins with baking parchment all be herself.  She likes to help weigh out the ingredients too, though that does get a bit messy.  I actually think she spills the sugar on purpose.  We made a Coffee & Walnut sponge cake, Peanut Butter cookies, Oat and Sultana cookies, and Snickerdoodles (double batch).  The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off at points.  Not to be left out Peter made a batch of Rice Krispy toffee and marshmallow treats. 

Jess went home with a share of all the cookies and treats, she told me she was going to hide them so that her daddy didn't eat them all!  The rest are packed in the car for our trip.

Whilst I'm waiting on Laurie trying his sweater vest and deciding if he wants another, I have started a Sonnensegel Scarf.  The mohair element has been languishing in my stash for goodness knows how long (never knew what to use it for), and actually thinking about it the 4ply yarn may have been there nearly as long too .  Anyway, I now have a use for it all, I've admired this scarf/shawl for a while, having seen them on Instagram.  It's also very portable right now, so ideal for sticking in my bag.

We got quite excited earlier, at least a dozen drops of rain fell, its looking like our 80% chance of a storm this evening has passed us by and no more rain in the forecast.  Poor garden

Wishing you all a great weekend whatever you are doing

Hot off the needles

I went to bed with two rows left to knit and the sew up to do. I know if I stayed up I would be burning the midnight oil.  Our neighbour woke me at 6:30, they have a gravel drive and he obviously forgot something and came roaring back in to get it, then roared out again, so I decided just to get up and finish.  So here it is

The pattern came from Sirdar Secret Garden Aran Knits and the yarn used was Sirdar Denim, with an oddment of navy for the contrast.  I love an aran knit, works up so quickly.  I was asked how I knit so fast.  I don't think I do.  Due to the heat, I've honestly not done much else other than sit and knit, occasionally read, so house and garden work have been neglected. Yesterday was cooler, so I did help hubby clean the car and also did some weeding.

Thank you for all the kind messages about leaving Facebook, please know that nothing that was said was aimed at me.  It's just the whole thing really, the hate against race, brexit, adverts and just the general negativity.  I can honestly say I am not missing IT, though I do miss the interaction with like minded knitters plus its giving me much more time to knit.  It also means I am spending some of the lost time, back here on the blog as a forum for my knits.  Whilst its not generating the views it did when I shared it to Facebook, its was always more for me as a record anyway.

So what to do next?  Possibly another sweater vest, I want to see how this one goes down before doing another, also the eldest grandson may want one.  I have my ten stitch blanket to finish but to be honest it's just too warm for doing that right now

Maybe something for me.  I need to go through my stash and patterns and see what I fancy.

Plans for today? - need to go and do some shopping, visit the in laws and have a tidy round.  Enjoy your day whatever you are doing

Other ways to connect with me are Instagram - grannysworld_sue or email suespe@hotmail.com
Bye for now Sue

Progress

We have woken to a cooler day, in fact at some point in the night I was actually chilly would you believe, enough to pull a sheet over!  Hopefully the day will be more manageable. We are going to watch the smallest grandchildren do a fancy dress sponsored toddle around the local park. Should be cute.

Work is progressing well on the sweater vest, it’s aran weight so knitting up nice and fast. I’m using Sirdar Denim it’s been in my stash for years, I bought a whole pack at a show, and was down to the last 4 100 gram balls, I may use two!

Enjoy your Day wherever you are whatever you do

Sue

Filling the days

I honestly didn't think I'd be longing for grey skies and rain.  It's been so hot again today, 22C at 10am.  We had planned to go for a walk but decided it was just too hot.  So I found a shady spot and finished off my third baby cardigan - I used a basic top down for this, using up some oddments for the stripes

I've now started on some sweater vests/tank/slipover whatever you want to call them for Laurie for the autumn.  Now they don't wear school uniform it can be hard going on their clothes.  Laurie loves to dress up and puts together some amazing outfits when he has a mind to. This is an aran weight yarn - Sirdar Denim with some oddment of navy - lost the band - for the edging

Whilst we are having a hard time keeping the plants alive with the heat we still have plenty of colour.  One thing I was really pleased to find when we moved in was a hibiscus bush.  This is now on flower

This coral pink rose was also in the garden so seems to be well established and not feeling too stressed by the heat

This climber - Claire Austin - was a bare rooted rose that went in in the spring, it's getting watered as often as we can, finally in flower but was slow to get going

Earlier in the week we visited Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, they had some amazing flowers in their perennial walk.  This is the look I'd like to achieve on a smaller scale in my garden.  Once the weather cools down and we get some rain, it's been over 12 weeks since we saw any, then I will purchase some more plants and get them in for this autumn and next summer

Time for another cool drink me thinks, just checked the temperature, its 7:30pm and 29C, good luck with sleeping tonight

Facebook no more

Today, I made a decision to remove myself and the Granny's world page from Facebook.  After opening up this morning and seeing all the hate filled posts from a so called friend and all the negativity in general I asked myself "why am I here".  Yes there are aspects of it I will miss but to be honest Instagram serves me much better.  I feel bad about my Granny's World page, I have made some good acquaintances on there, but then, there have been some really random 'page likes' from men that I'm sure have absolutely no interest in knitting and gardening.  That made me feel uncomfortable.  So there you have it I am Facebook free.

So let me show you what I've been knitting.  Both patterns are from Pekapeka patterns and are available free of charge on Ravelry.  The short sleeved one is Puerperium cardigan.  Both are newborn size.

I cast on another last night using the Hundreds cardigan - again Pekapeka, but instead of the little spots I will be doing stripes.  Photos to follow.

So if you were a Granny's World facebook follower and you happen to read my blog or follow me on Instagram, then apologies for not saying goodbye.  If you want to stay in touch then leave a comment and I'll contact you

Warm for the time of year

Here in the uk we are experiencing some unusually warm weather. For the last month the temperatures have been up in the late 20s early 30 degrees centigrade. Whilst it’s great to see the sun every day, I actually long for a drop or two of rain for our poor garden. As lots of the plants are new they are struggling hard to stay upright. Don’t ask about the new bit of lawn we set!

We have taken advantage of the good weather and have had a couple of trips to the coast and a walk around Grafham Water. We’ve also been out on our bikes and a few walks locally and attended the local Armed Forces Day parade. But mostly we have sat in the shade staying cool with a long drink (or two) and a book or two, and in my case some knitting. The forecast is for it to continue well into next week with tomorrow topping 28C, phew

Here are a few photos from our recent trips out

Wishing all my US readers a very happy 4th July, have fun