frayed at the edge

Tractors and snow .......

....... what more could a girl want?  (apart from George Clooney).  When I went out for my walk yesterday, this little tractor was sitting across the road

 

I walked on up the road, pausing to take a photo of the frozen ponds

 

and an arty shot of a snowy fence

 

I heard a chug chug chug behind me, and there was the little tractor chugging up the hill.  As I didn't know the driver, I waited until he had passed me before I took the photo

 

then there was another chug chug chug, and a matching tractor appeared, driven by our neighbour BillytheFarmer

 

I walked on up past  the church, to where I could see over the valley

 

I wonder why this one field was still green

 

of course on the way back down the hill I had to take photos of my favourite view

 

and then a last photo of fences in the snow

 

I have finished knitting the ball end sweater, and have started making it up (sewing in all those ends is a pain in the wherever!).  Malcolm wasn't available to model for me this morning, so I just had to drape it over the back of the couch

 

we were a reduced company at patch'n'chat this afternoon, because of the weather.  However, there was still plenty of chatting and a delicious spicy fruit dumpling for our Friday cuppa

 

the forecast for the weekend is for cold weather, with the possibility of some more snow, so I don't think we will be going far!  Whether you are chilly in the Northern Hemisphere, or enjoying warm weather in the Southern one, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

More stripes than a zebra!

As usual on a Thurday morning, we headed into Hawick for a cuppa in the Pickled Orange coffee shop.  Malcolm then headed off home, while I headed for the dreaded dentist.  As I was a bit early. I walked along to the cauld, hoping to see a heron.  No herons, only a few ducks and a couple of seagulls!

 

these stems of dogwood(?) provided a bright splash of colour

 

this beautiful building has been lying empty since we moved here, slowly rotting away

 

then I could put it off no longer and had to head to the torture chamber dentist.It was every bit as bad as I feared it would be - I could feel a tear trickle down my cheek ....... and that was when he was administering the painkilling injection!  After 45 minutes I staggered out of the chair to face further pain, as I paid another instalment of the bill!  However, that is all the prep done for the crown, and I go back in two weeks time to have it fitted

 

back home I headed out to the studio for a relaxing afternoon cutting out the rest of the hexies for the outer border of Mrs Billings.  I cut them out in batches, and filled each little bag with the hexies needed to make a pyramid.  By the end of the afternoon, I had them all organised, ready for the next sewing session

 

to finish ....... we have stripes, lots of stripes!!  Poor Malcolm was made to stand in the garden, draped in the front of the ball end sweater, and an almost finished sleeve.  I love it - I just hope Fraser's Dad does too!!

Blowing the cobwebs away

I haven't been doing much walking recently, so I decided to head up the road past the church before lunch.  It was rather chilly, with the wind making it feel even colder.  So I wrapped up well and set off.  As soon as I was out on the road, I had to stop to take a photo of some sheepies tucking into hay

 

I had only gone a few yards further when there was another stop to capture the donkey-owning neighbours' snowdrops

 

however I then managed to walk quite a bit further before encountering these sheepies

 

over the years that we have been here, this old tree has lost all but one little branch, but it is still alive

 

I still see a monster when I look at it!

 

of course on the way back home I had to stop again to admire my favourite view

 

I had taken a little bag with me to collect some bits and pieces, and back home I made a little still life on one of Malcolm's many wooden plates/bowls

 

to finish ...... I made a good start to the ball end sweater last night.  The photo doesn't do the colours justice - I could do with wearing my sunglasses while knitting!

An amazing bargain!

When we were in the local DIY store recently, we noticed two solid wood bath panels lying on a trolley, with stickers on them saying that they had been reduced from£65 to £5 each!  I immediately claimed the oak one, which is now a very stylish shelf in my studio

 

Malcolm claimed the other one, which is beautiful tongue and groove pine ....... no doubt some marvellous construction will appear from the garage - perhaps a piece of garden furniture?  I have pinched stolen acquired one of Malcolm's driftwood trees, to display little bits and bobs on (it's on the much less stylish shelf, made from the top of an ancient old computer desk)

 

at the weekend I reorganised my quilts and wallhangings that are stored in the lower level of the studio, using two portable clothes rails

 

When Stuart and Alison visited at Christmas, Stuart said that he had a bit of an odd request for me from his friend Fraser.  Fraser's Dad has taken up archeology in his retirement, so Fraser thought it would be fun to give his Dad a "ball end"  sweater, as worn by the late Mick Aston when he appeared on Time Team.  

photo from Wikipedia

 

Always happy to accept a challenge, I tracked down some cheap and cheerful yarn, which arrived today.   It will be fun knitting in random stripes

 

when I was ordering the yarn, I hadn't enough in my basket to qualify for free p&p, so I added a ball of sock wool to the order.  As you can see, it co-ordinate nicely with my footstool!

 

Little Monsters

Several weeks ago, I received an email from Imogen, who is a Publicity and Marketing Assistant with the Quarto Publishing Group.  She asked if I would like a copy of "Monster Knits for Little Monsters" to review.  Of course I said yes please, and the book duly arrived.  It is written by Nuriya Khegay, an expert knitwear designer originally from Kazakhstan, but now based in New York.  I am sure her fun designs will persuade the most reluctant of hat-wearers to put one on! (photos used with permission)

 

as I have only had the book for a few days, I haven't yet tried out any of the patterns, but they look well written, with clear instructions for three sizes : 6-12 months, 12-24 months and 2-3 years.  There is a very comprehensive section at the back, which takes you through from casting on to making up, with excellent diagrams of each stage.It was hard to pick a hat to share with you, as they are all very cute, but I eventually settled on this cuddly koala (the pattern also has matching mitts and leg warmers!)

 

but not only are the patterns gorgeous, there are also wonderful illustrations on each page - here are just a few of them (I could quite happily have taken photos of every page to share with you!)

 

as there is still a week to go umtil Christmas, you could knit a hat for the Little Monster* in your life ...... but if you don't have time, then you could knit them for next year.  I have to say at this point that other than the copy of the book, I haven't received any payment for writing this review.

For those of you who like the technical info, the book is published in the UK by Apple Press, IBSN978-1-84543-559-2.

 

*perhaps we could ask Nuriya to produce some patterns for Big Monsters too!

 

Neat and tidy!

Last night I gave my knitting basket a long overdue tidy, as I was sure that the contents were breeding and spilling over on to the floor!  It took some time, but eventually everything was replaced in a neat and tidy way (maybe I should have tidied my sewing as well!)

 

I chose this UFO to finish, as there isn't much left to do - a cover for a little hot water bottle, designed by the delightful Kate

 

the Friday cakes were delicious .......

 

....... so delicious that some people may have had two!!

 

the weather is still damp and dreary, so let's have some more colourful photos from our holiday - this time from the Rhododendron Gardens

 

 

we will be busy over the weekend with the last of the preparations for the Craft Fair - but no doubt we will fit in a scone!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

A finish!

Because I haven't done much knitting recently, I kept forgetting to take progress photos of my scarf, so we go straight to the finish!!

 

what's that you're saying, you can't quite see what it says on my teeshirt?

 

this morning I got out my Cuttlebug and cut some butterflies

 

which I used to make pictures for next week's Craft Fair

 

I cut two of each butterfly, embossing the top ones

 

next I looked out these blank cards (is there no end to this stash!!??)

 

I made these two cards

 

but I decided they needed a little extra something, and added pretty heart-shaped buttons

 

by the end of the afternoon I had made ten cards

 

now that I have finished my scarf, I will have to investigate the UFOs in my knitting basket and finish them before starting something new!

Frustration and desperation!

I have been working on the next border for Mrs Billings, piecing the strips on the machine as I really don't like hand piecing!

 

but I just couldn't get the corners to fit.  I found the diagrams on the pattern sheet confusing, and no matter how may times I unpicked and restitched , I just couldn't get it to go together

 

so I did what any sensible person would do ...... I gave up and cut strips of a patterned fabric to the correct size

  

then added the next border

 

I then skipped ahead and cut the background squares for border 9

 

I have still been stitching away on the pyramids for the outer border, and have done just over half of them (I need 100!).  But I have run out of hexagons, so I am going to applique the hexagon flowers for border 9 on to their background squares, so that I can retrieve the hexagons from them to reuse

 

I realised this morning that I haven't shown you the knitting that I did on holiday.  It has still to be blocked, but it looks rather fetching wrapped round my mannequin.  The yarn is a beautiful mix of alpaca and silk - I think it will be very cosy

 

I haven't done any knitting in the evenings for quite some time, so I have decided to divide my evening up and spend some time sewing, then some time knitting.  I know I should finish the UFOs in my knitting basket, but I thought I would ease myself back into the routine with something simple, so chose one of the scarf patterns I bought at Bendigo Mill, and dug out a nice blue yarn from my stash

 

I have started feeding the birds again, which of course also means that I am taking photos of them again

 

the weather has been somewhat dreich, and the sheep in the field across the road didn't look very happy this morning

 

to finish .......I may have mentioned once or twice before that I don't like cats ........ but even I couldn't resist taking a photo of these two!!

 

Which is my best side?

I had some help with the photos of my knitting progress, but the vain little bear just couldn't decide which was his best side

 

we were in Jedburgh this morning, and I didn't really intend to take photos ......... but I had to take some shots to show off the blue sky

 

back home, the filtering of the sloe gin goes on - it is a slow job

 

I have been doing more work on Mrs Billings, prepping large amounts of hexies

 

I popped a penny on top of one of the hexies to let you see how small they are

 

 

there were lots of sparrows in the garden this afternoon, with several of them drinking from the birdbath

 

every so often when we are out and about, Malcolm will issue a command to take a photo of something he has spotted ....... so, to finish, we have today's command

Rock star!

We were in Berwick again today (I'll tell you why at the end!).  These are the last photos I took as we crossed the old bridge on our way back to the car, but they deserve star billing

 

we were so engrossed watching the seal, which seemed to be responding to our voices, that we forgot that we were running late for getting back to the car.  We were somewhat worried when we saw an official looking car parked in front of ours, but fortunately it turned out to be a Coastguard car, rather than a traffic warden, so we didn't get a parking ticket for being 15 minutes past our allotted parking time!  So, back to the beginning of our day out.  We started with a cuppa (you of course knew that!) and a lemon and poppy seed muffin

 

then we walked down to the river, making a slight detour to snap these lobster pots

 

what a wonderful front door - but the building seems to be unoccupied

 

it is such a shame that this magnificent building is slowly rotting away

 

a reminder of the town's turbulent past

 

we walked along the breakwater to the lighthouse, having duly noted this stern warning

 

we thought the sign on the lighthouse would tell us its history, so we were surprised to see this

 

mindful of the warning notice, we managed to not trip over this large rusty ring

 

we had a detour to collect driftwood and sea glass

 

we admired these details on a building .......

 

which sadly is empty and delapidated

 

I'll save the rest of the photos for tomorrow, so that I can show you my accidental fabric purchases

 

I love fabric that has text on it

 

you may have thought that the red and white check fabric was a bit boring - but look at it opened out!

 

when we got home, there was a parcel for me

 

oh dear, another accidental purchase - when I saw Kate's latest design I somehow clicked my mouse several times and bought a kit!

 

so, why have we been visiting Berwick so often?  We are buying a little holiday home there!!  I didn't want to say anything until the process was well under way, but we have now signed the first lot of paperwork, and we should complete the purchase at the end of June.