The finished granny blanket

Finally found time to take some pics, bit of a grey day but at least it isn't raining, for once.  We've had floods the past few weeks round here and never-ending rain.  Back to work today, and it was dry ... Typical!

Here's the stats:
64 granny squares, joined -as-you-go.  Total size 115cm square  (45 inches)
Yarn -same acrylic I used for the ripple, left over colours from the ripple plus a couple of new ones, pink and turquoise.  8 colours, 600g in total.

I made all the squares up to the last round, then joined them using the colour of the second round one row of squares at a time.  Bordered with a simple shell edging  ie (US) 5DC, Skip 2, SC, Skip 2 repeated

It has seen some use and has kept its shape and washed well.  I am a little disappointed it has gone a bit flat. The blanket I'm working on now is 30% wool so I will be interested to see if it keeps its bounce.

And just cos they are so cute, here's a picture of the chickens we have staying at the moment....

Still Here!

Just a few things I have been working on:

Finished - granny squares blanket, lap sized.

Cowls, three or four, various yarn all from this lace pattern http://marthastewart.lionbrand.com/patterns/L10159.html

Amigurumi bunny for a new baby, I enjoyed making it so much I made two!  

Shirts, one fitted in a stretchy fabric, the other a light cotton in more of a smock style

Started -  vertical stripe blanket, this one in a wool mix, so much more bounce than the acrylic.

Just a taster of the granny squares, finished picture to follow

Finished

One double quilt top, a present in greens, golds and reds for my mother. The pattern is simple, a square-in-square, but the sheer size was very daunting. One hundred and sixty five of them!

Binding and backing, then quilting, still quite a lot of work to do.

There was a stage where I wasn't sure about the colour scheme and the fabric, but together I like it and I hope she does too.

Linking up to Amanda Jean at finish it up Friday

They don't call it rocket for nothing

The first seedlings of this year's crop are pushing through all over, the fastest of which is always the rocket. Here are the seeds planted exactly two weeks ago, next to lettuce planted at exactly the same time.

This will be ready just in time to replace last year's rocket, which we are still eating (albeit after a period of inactivity in the coldest weather). It is absolutely the best thing to eat in bacon sandwiches by the way - forget BLT, try BLR, delicious!

Elsewhere in the garden, lime green is dominant. I love that my garden goes though distinct changes over the seasons, first early spring with yellows and pale blues, then it moves to this brighter phase, beautiful as a foil to the other colours emerging, the oranges and reds. I could (and do!) spend hours poking about in the borders, spotting the tiny details that make up the whole. The whole is not perfect, definitely not a show garden, but made up of such fantastic cameo performances, changing all the time.

Mothers' day in the Rusty household

Being elder child's birthday last Sunday, this obviously took precedence over the somewhat arbitrary modern custom that is Mothers' Day. The children decided to celebrate a week later instead, so yesterday was my day for tea and toast in bed, my choice of what to do for the day and Sunday roast cooked by teenagers with a little help from their dad.

My choice of activity was an afternoon at the allotment - family weeding you might call it.

A job shared is a job halved, or in this case quartered. We got a lot done, and the weather couldn't have been nicer.

In other news a little crafting has been going on.

Crochet heart bunting for the birthday girl

Instructions from Marie at Marie's Making


Lace trim on some cheap cotton pillowcases, hand sewn in less that an hour, so pleased with this:)

And wherever I am taking pictures, a cat always appears!

Tromboncini

Is my husband's favourite Italian word. And here are the first home grown tromboncini of the year, I inherited them on my allotment, the previous owner had planted them around the compost bin. I rarely pick flowers for inside, they look so lovely in situ, but these will be appreciated much more on my windowsill.

And elsewhere on the allotment, all is very weedy. I know, I know, I've left it very late ( again!) to get on top of the weeds and get planting. But when it comes down to it, I am not an all-weather gardener and that is that. So when the weather tempts me outside it is already too late to get on top of everything. So like last year, and the year before, I will be weeding and planting as I go. Oh well, there are worse crimes...

So I cleared and sowed my first bed of the year. You can just read the label, it says 'carrots'

And a little snapshot of a couple of other beds. Not the worst ones!

Black currants. Just looking at the bushes with their tiny buds makes me remember the juicy berries we had last year.

Asparagus - this will be year 2 for the asparagus, so hopefully we should have some spears to eat this year. It is difficult soil here for this crop, heavy clay, but here's hoping I put enough grit in for the plants to thrive.

And new life, amazing how this has sprouted since I last inspected it, only a week or so ago. Won't be long till we can start picking :)

Finished!

Finally the
Ripple
Is
Done

Well the dog likes it! .....