Midsummer medley - but where on earth is the sun?

Sorry it has been so long since my last post - I just don't seem to be doing very much that is blog-worthy apart from my running which is going on here.

 
In the last couple of months we've had Daisy and Fred's birthdays.  Daisy was very lucky and her birthday was on the last weekend of May when the weather was glorious but I don't think the sun has shone for more than half an hour since then :-(  My parents needed house-sitters that weekend so we took two of Daisy's friends with us for a sleepover and they had a fabulous time cooking, playing rounders and messing about in a huge paddling pool - and decorating Daisy's birthday cakes..........

Fred's birthday was just over a week later - and fairly wet - but we persuaded him that you could still eat ice-cream on days when the sun wasn't shining (!) and took him to a local ice-cream parlour where we all indulged in giant sundaes.

For his party we had three friends round and they played Monopoly

which they really enjoyed - particularly Fred who has only recently discovered Monopoly and absolutely loves playing

this is him when he's winning!!

Daisy made Fred the most amazing dinosaur birthday cake without any help at all - and it tasted as delicious as it looked.

But I can't believe my baby is now 10!

As far as crafting is concerned I seem to have hit a real brick wall.  I don't want to knit, I don't want to sew and I don't want to crochet.  It is most unusual but I find I'm quite happy to sit and watch telly in the evenings with idle hands which would have driven me to distraction previously.  Maybe it's because I'm so focused on my running and can't manage to have more than one interest at a time or maybe it's as my mother suggests and I'm just tired from running and need a rest?

The garden is growing nicely - as are the weeds, but the weather hasn't been good enough to spend any time out there lately which is a shame.  Plants I've grown have started to flower and the veg are growing but there are a lot of seedlings that need planting out.

So, not much news but I thought I ought to pop in and say hello!

Lucy x

Making Spring - despite the weather!

Phew! That was a long break between posts - sorry about that.

I just haven't been very creative lately as I have been far more interested in my running than anything else - a major shock to the system I can tell you! I can now run for 3.5 miles without stopping which is truly incredible.

But I got something in the post recently that not only needs to be shared with you all but also helped inspire me to be a bit creative again.......

I was out in the greenhouse sowing seeds when the parcel arrived which was very appropriate..........

and I knew I was in for a treat when I spotted this little lady on the outside of the box...........

and this beautifully wrapped parcel inside...........

which contained all sorts of garden-y treats and treasures from lovely Julie!

sorry for the awful photo, I've lost my camera and had to use my phone - but can you see all the super packets of seeds, the copper labels and wooden labels, the notebook and scissors, the seeds from Julie's own garden and most excitingly of all my very own LCR hedgehog and special seedling-covered phone case!

There were a lot of excited squeals as I discovered each treasure and Fred and Dot were lurking, hoping to snaffle the hedgehog and phone case but I fended them off!  They are MINE!

Every time I use my phone case it makes me smile and my hedgehog is sitting on the kitchen work top with a collection of toadstool houses, looking very much at home.

Thank you so much Julie - the parcel was simply delightful and greatly brightened a very soggy day!

And the seedlings on the phone case have helped me push a creative idea that has been slowly germinating into fruition..........

I have my winter quilt (designed by Syko) on my kitchen wall, but I decided I needed to be able to change it with the seasons.  Therefore a Spring quilt was urgently needed but I couldn't quite get the design to work in my head.  Then a very simple plan came to me and I finally got myself sorted to put it into practice yesterday afternoon.

It is inspired by my seedlings in the greenhouse, by Julie's phone cover, by simple raindrop quilts that I think I have seen on Syko's blog (with an umbrella, if I'm remembering correctly) and by this gorgeous book that we gave Dot for her second birthday...........

I currently have the quilt in progress pinned to my winter quilt so I can see it. I've had to fold it up a bit in the middle as it was out of proportion but I am just going to have a seam there and hope it looks artistic!  I plan to add about a 2 inch border of patchwork in various fabrics that I have pulled out of my "green" box.  So it will be a very simple quilt - but already it is making me happy :-)

I just wish some of the seedlings in the greenhouse were as healthy looking - most are growing very well but some are shrivelling up and dying and I don't know why.  Hopefully enough will survive so I can start to plant these rather bare beds..........

Garden Plans - Update

Thank you all for your comments on my last post - the overwhelming advice was that I should let the allotment go and focus on the garden at home so this is what I have decided to do.  I have already told friends and family that I am leaving my allotment and I just need to get my sheds cleared and a few plants dug up before I let the committee know.

I still feel regret at the end of an era but that is unsurprising as I don't really like making decisions or change.

But you should see the effect focusing on our own garden has had!

We cleared the lawn and chopped back all the climbing plants from our garden and those clambering over the fence from next door, we gradually got rid of all the rubbish and junk that had accumulated and the children were very helpful digging big holes to sit in............

Our fabulous next door neighbour Malcolm rebuilt our greenhouse which was falling down, put up a screen for the bins and built decking to cover the drains, then created kits for us to build our own raised beds - complete with illustrated instructions IKEA-style!

Mr Locket then spent the entire day on Saturday painting the fences, sheds and walls while the children and I spent the day with my mum and dad while our friend Stuart very kindly re-wired our downstairs electrics.

Then on Sunday the whole family worked really hard painting

and building the raised beds

and transporting gravel from the drive to the garden in every available vessel they could find

as well as dressing themselves up in the weed-membrane and putting on a fashion show!

Until we went from this

to this

and this

to this

I am ashamed that it had got so bad but I am totally delighted with how it looks now and how it is going to look once we have vegetables and flowers growing.  Everyone else is really pleased too and as we walked to school this morning Fred was telling me how nice our garden was and how he was going to tell his friends.

Now I need to get digging and start sowing my seeds - and I think I will have 3 quite eager little helpers which will be fantastic.  It's like the old days when we all used to be enthusiastic about the allotment but on a much more manageable scale.

Garden Makeover

Our back garden has been untouched since we got our allotment in May 2006 - so that is six years of neglect.  And it really shows.

The trampoline has completely killed the lawn.  The climbing roses have gone wild with 12 foot demon-stems shooting out through the trees, the honeysuckle has tried to choke a small apple tree and the escapee bunny rabbit has eaten pretty much everything that shows any sign of being green and leafy.

And worst of all the garden has become a dumping ground for various broken down or redundant items like our old tumble dryer, the children's outgrown slide and our cracked roof box as well as multiple chipped, cracked or broken plant pots.  In fact it closely resembled the local demolition yard.

I have taken plenty of "before" photos but I am far too ashamed to show them here.

But finally we have a plan.

The lawn has been destroyed and we either need to completely re-turf it or remove it altogether and we have decided to go with the latter option.

The garden isn't huge, and even with digging up the lawn we will only have a growing area of about 7 metres by 4 but the plan is to have a curving gravel path to the shed/playhouse with two large beds either side that we are going to grow as an ornamental kitchen garden - a mix of flowers and vegetables and fruit.

We have gone back in time by ordering the lovely Geoff Hamilton's old TV series - Cottage Gardens, Paradise Gardens and The Ornamental Kitchen Garden on DVD - programmes that were last shown in the 1990s and were our very first inspiration to garden when we were newly married.  The poor little Lockets are completely fed up with us watching episodes back to back but they are so gentle and charming - and very inspirational.

But the biggest questions is do I give up the allotment?

I have been struggling to keep up with the work up there for the last couple of years - especially when I was unwell.  I had let another lady use part of it last year but she has now left so I have the whole plot to look after and it is huge.

When we first got the allotment the children were much younger and used to love coming up there for the day because a lot of my friends took allotments on the same block so there was a gang of about 9 children happily playing good old fashioned outdoor games for hours on end.

Now, apart from Dot who is quite keen, we have to cajole and occasionally insist that the children come with us and it is rarely worth the effort because they are unhappy there and just want to go home again.

Obviously I could go on my own or with Dot but that excludes the other children and means that I don't get Mr Locket's help too.  And really I need all the help I can get.

When I think about the allotment I feel overwhelmed and burdened because I know that to do it properly I really need to start all over again and really "bottom it" - the paths need clearing, the borders with my neighbours need sorting, the compost heap needs to be cleared of nettles - all before I start to try to dig the beds.

So the answer would be to let it go.

But I am worried that if I do I will regret it.  The waiting list for an allotment is so long that I wouldn't get one back again and certainly not one on the same block as my friends so if I let it go then that's it for good.

But maybe I need to accept that I am not really a passionate gardener. I like gardening and I love growing vegetables but I am definitely a fair-weather-gardener and as we have to drive 2 miles to the allotment I can't easily pop there for 5 minutes in the evening to pick a crop of peas for supper for example and I often end up with unharvested crops that go to seed.  And what I really like doing is sitting in the garden with my knitting or a book!  If we leave the allotment and concentrate on the garden at home I will be able to have somewhere really nice for the whole family to enjoy on a daily, hourly basis without constantly having the guilt of knowing I'm not looking after the allotment OR the garden properly.  Another consideration is the fact that all three children seem to be quite enthusiastic about the garden project and have been out helping us this weekend - something they haven't done for ages.

Sorry, I'm going on - but I am trying to work out what to do.

Part of me wants to just let go of the allotment and breathe a sigh of relief and move on and part of me is terrified of letting go.

What would you do?

Half Term Knitting

Michaela posted the other day about having a Work In Progress Week where she is going to tackle her many different projects over the half term break.

This made me think about my WIP or NLIP (no longer in process) knitting projects and I worked out that I had 3 first socks on the needles

 Filey, Broad Ripple and a newly cast on Monkey,

 2 dormant second socks - Embossed Leaves and Autumn Leaves - one part knitted and one frogged because it got all tangled (and I had only done the ribbing so it was easier to start again)

and four odd socks that have been in the sock basket and in daily wear for the last couple of years (we don't mind odd socks in this family).  A plain DK sock, a circle sock, a 9-5 and a plain 4ply. When I thought about knitting their partners I realised I was actually feeling quite enthusiastic about it!  So much time has passed since I knit the first sock that knitting a second will almost be like tackling a whole new project - the yarn will feel new and interesting and so will the pattern.

So what I should be doing this half term is casting on those second socks and tackling a bit of each project each day rather than pushing ahead with the two newest socks - but I bet you can guess what I'd rather do.

And at the same time I am steadily unravelling this scarf..............

I always loved the wool (a prize from Moogsmum in Michaela's diet raffle a few years ago) but never really liked the finished scarf partly because of the way the colours pooled (although I didn't know that was what it was called at the time) but mostly because of the mistake in the middle and the fact that it didn't "wear" nicely - I prefer longer triangles like hitchhiker or baktus where you can wrap them round your neck.

I think the colours will look much better in a pair of socks, don't you?

P.S I meant to show you my Valentine's messages from Mr Locket because I wanted to keep a record of them as they made me laugh!

Mr Locket clearly knows a bit about recycling too.

And this was the parting message at the very back of the card............

:o)

Is it February already?

Well January went quite quickly which is always good as it is never a really great month.  I'm not all that keen on February either but I do find this time of year much easier now that I have a job to give me structure and keep me occupied.

I don't have much news.................. I've been knitting and have finally finished my "Christmas" socks - which ended up so huge that Mr Locket was the lucky beneficiary.

I've also finished my green hitchhiker scarf and I absolutely love it.  Fred has christened it the "Dinosaur tail scarf".

It is so warm and snuggly and so very difficult to photograph............

these pictures made me smile as they show how totally inept I am with my camera.  But I quite liked them because you could see enough of me to know that it was me but not quite enough for me to start analysing and criticising and objecting to what I saw.  Unfortunately the green scarf doesn't go with my pinky/orange dress but I wasn't prepared to go and have a complete change of clothes in order to photograph the scarf.

I have started another hitchhiker as it is a great telly watching project - totally mindless but interesting enough to want to actually do it.  This time it is in a ball of Regia World College Colour in 6ply.

And I have started a new pair of red socks using the Filey pattern - but unfortunately you can't see the design on the socks (again because of my dodgy camera skills)

The pattern tells you to use lots of stitch markers that probably aren't really necessary but I like having them there as Moogsmum made them for me a couple of years ago :o)


My only other news is that I have discovered a rather surprising new hobby - well it is very surprising to me - and pretty much everyone who knows me too!

Hope you are all well and enjoying the snow (if you have any) or the sun (if you have that instead)!

Lucy x

Knitting and reading

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2012 will be fantastic for you all!

I love knitting............. and I love reading.......... but often find myself frustrated when doing one because I want to be doing the other too.  So I had a lovely time in November and December sitting at the kitchen table with my Gentle Art of Domesticity open in front of me while I happily knitted away.  Here was a book that would kindly stay open for me releasing both hands to knit.  But normal books aren't so co-operative.  Then my mum bought my dad a Kindle for his birthday so I tested it for knitting and reading ability and found it to be very user-friendly.  

So with my Christmas bonus from work I bought my own Kindle earlier this month and have been knitting and reading quite contentedly - until I get so absorbed in the book that the knitting falls by the wayside - or find I'm not all that hooked on the book and would rather knit.

So far I have re-read Twilight which was ok - less good than the first time I read it, read The Island (finally!) which I loved and I'm currently reading One Day - which I'm just not getting into as quickly as I thought I would.  In an attempt to educate myself I have also downloaded A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations as I have never actually read any Dickens.  

And so far I have knitted more of my Christmas socks (ok, so they are late), a cover for my Kindle, some mittens for a friend's 50th birthday present (that I forgot to photograph before I gave them her to her on our walk this morning), a mitten for me - that I have frogged and started again because it was too big, and part of a Hitchhiker in dk wool.

I still prefer real books and could never imagine my house ever not looking like this

 (Dot's wall)

(the sitting room "wall" that is actually a bookshelf built into the space between two rooms)

but I do love the multi-tasking made possible by my Kindle.

I have also been playing with paper after finding this fabulous book

Just look at the pages inside:

It has 32 cut out models to make and the paper is really good quality.  I saw it in my local Dunelm Mill for £15 but found it on Amazon for £10 instead and I'm really pleased with it.

I need to invest in a proper cutting knife rather than scissors but had fun last week making a toaster - that actually moves up and down (albeit rather stiffly)

and this tortoise.

If I hurry up and get the washing up* done quickly I should have time to do some more tonight with Fred before I cook the childrens' supper :o)

*whoops! I've just revealed that I still have last night's washing up to do - so why am I blogging??!