Autumn days

 

Last night, so pretty, big skies with no interruptions here 

Last of the raspberries and strawberries from the potager made a couple of pots of jam today

Autumnal views, leaves are slowly starting to carpet the woods.  The lake surface has a coating too. Soon the leaf clearance will start in earnest, fortunately we will be home by then!

Working in the gardens this afternoon as the weather was fine, cutting and strimming grass, weeding borders in preparation of this weekend’s guests. 

This week we have been clearing cupboards, sorting and planning.  Lists are getting ticked.  More to do. Finally work will start on the family side of the chateau over autumn/winter months.  It’s hoped that all the messy jobs will be done before Christmas! But like all diy jobs they always take much longer than you expect.

The new series of Chateau DIY started on Monday - it’s on for six weeks, every weekday afternoon, channel 4 at 4pm.  It’s available on catch-up.  Our family will be featuring again, 28 September, 4th, 14th, 25-27 October. 

Trellis socks

 

This weekend I finally got round to finishing my Lazy Sunday socks. The pattern was by Sarah Dennis which was published in a copy of the Simply knitting magazine a few years ago. 

The yarn was from Cruellas in Nelson, New Zealand - Spritzer hand dyed 4ply . A souvenir from our trip early last year. It seems like a lifetime ago.

I have now cast on another honeycomb cushion, using aran weight yarn in beige as previous cushions but with a multi coloured yarn for the accent colour. Photos when I have a bit more knit.

Allotting time

 

Exciting times, we have got ourselves an allotment plot, actually half a plot, that’s all that was available. As you can see it’s a bit on the wild side, so half a plot will be fine for now.  Our youngest daughter and her family will be working it with us in their spare time, though we will certainly have plenty to fill our winter months to get it ready.  We take it over at the end of the month so watch this space for updates 

Walking through the week

Hi Sunday - I have tried to write this post several times this week but blogger keeps messing about.  My photos are in reverse order again which really messes up what I planned to say. But never mind you can always start at the bottom and work backwards.  

We’ve walked a lot this week and haven’t really been in much which is fine my me.  I do have some ironing to catch up on and a new pair of socks on the needles plus I’ve sorted yarn for another Honeycomb cushion. The garden is starting to wind down a bit so plenty of dead heading to do. We cut back all the lavender at the front of the house last week which was a major task, I felt bad for the bees but most of it was finished.  Anyway enough here is our week

We will start with today Sunday - we walked today 9.4 miles from St Ives along the Ouse Valley way and local footpaths via Brownhill Staunch crossing the river and back to St Ives via Holywell.

Chair for one overlooking the river

Calf crèche 

Saturday pm - 5.5 mile walk around the meadows, being nosey and looking into all the back gardens of the posh houses in Hemingford Abbots. I was good and didn’t take any photos of their lovely gardens and riverside moorings!!

Friday and Saturday am - we had new doors fitted, of course the afters are showing before the before!

Afters - only 4 years in the waiting - looking smart

Before - I had hated the front of the house from day one but have had to be patient, knowing I would wear him down eventually. In fact rotten frames won the day! And my refusal to paint, I knew he never would!!

Thursday we had a sort out and cleared the areas in preparation for the work to be done on Friday , short walk around the village 2.8 miles

Wednesday - another beautiful day we did a 5.7 mile walk and then I went and gave blood, always feels good to help where I can

Tuesday - 11.5 miles walked today - Sheringham to Cromer and back along the beach then a drive home via the coast road with fish and chips in Hunstanton as the sun went down

Monday we spent helping out Rachel with her garden and a trip to the tip

Knitting this week has seen me finish this sweater for Gus.