Getting Lost

There is something to be said about getting lost every once in a while. We all have routines in our lives ... paths, roads and routes that we take all the time to get to work, the shops, the kids to school etc. But its good to go out and get lost once in a while don't you think? Whether we live in the urban jungle or amongst fields and trees in the countryside there is always beauty to be found, sometimes it all takes is a quick a wander off your usual beaten track.

I have lived in my town for 9 months now, but haven't really explored my local area too much, I'm always hurrying off to get to somewhere else.  So the other day I decided to put on my boots and take a wander from my own front door.

I found meadows surrounded by trees......and even a bit of blue sky look :)

There are dangers to be associated with heading out of your comfort zone though, look at the size of this giant stinging nettle behind me .... walkers beware ;)

You also have to not be afraid of the weather.  We are experiencing the wettest summer I can remember so if you're worried about getting wet there isn't much hope that you'll be getting far!

If you're super lucky you might stumble across the green man, hanging out protecting the woodland..... can you see him?

I found beautiful lakes I didn't know were just round the corner from my flat

fabulous bugs

and mesmerising patterns in nature.

All this and I was only out for 40 minutes, I can't wait to get out again for a longer walk.   So go on, go out and get lost for a while, I dare you ........ 

Getting Closer

I'm going to set myself a little challenge of trying to blog once a week. And who knows once I get back in the habit it might end up being more frequent than that. But I figure once a week will be achievable even in the busiest of weeks.

Thought I'd pop by this week with a crochet update. This cushion I'm working on seems to have been in the making forever and a day, but I have been enjoying every minute and the end is in sight.

I'm blocking the squares (I'm using an old rubber bath mat to stretch them on, the only thing i had handy at the time!) and there are only a couple more rounds to go to finish the back piece that I have been working on.  I can't wait to see this when it's finished it will be my first completed crochet project of any size.  I'm sure it won't be anywhere near perfect but it will be mine :)

Tempus fugit

I just can't believe how quickly this year is disappearing and how little time I've had for blogging.  We have had so much rain here this summer so far, it's not been great for getting out and about at the weekends.  But I have been getting my fresh air another way.

Meet Naz, Amos and Rosie.

One of my friends was struck down with a nasty illness which attacks the nervous system.  She ended up in hospital for a few weeks and has had to begin relearning how to walk, feed herself etc.  A very sad story as she is only 22 years old.  She lives with her Gran and Grandad and owns Naz this beautiful Husky.  Gran and Grandad have been struggling to take him out as he's a bit of a handful, and so I'm on dog walking duties.  Amos and Rosie are Naz's friends and if I can rope a friend into coming out with me all 3 doggies get to walk with us :)

If I lived in a bigger place I'd love a dog just like Nazrei :)

Godrevy

I really am turning in to a bad blogger aren't I? I must make the time to get back here more often. I love posting but it's the same old thing  ... time just keeps disappearing and weeks have flown by before I know it. Can hardly believe that we are half way through the year already.

I'm enjoying a few days off work at the moment which is nice. Am off to see my family for a couple of days and when I get back I'm hoping that weather will be dry enough for me to get out for some walking. We've had what seems like nothing but rain these last few weeks. So to encourage the sunshine to make an appearance again I thought I'd post some pictures from a weekend away in Cornwall earlier this year.

Check out all the seals lying on the beach, not a particularly clear shot as I had to have my little camera on maximum zoom which makes images a bit shaky but worth posting nonetheless I thought.

Cameron the Caterpillar

My addition to the Knit Corsham, yarnbombing event is complete. Meet Cameron :)

He's now at home on the wishing tree in the precinct in the town centre.

Good job caterpillars don't mind the rain, it's going to be another soggy week here by all accounts.

Needles are out

Turns out I'm not too late to join in the knitted fun that's going on in Corsham at the moment.  Needles were busy yesterday.....am almost ready to take my piece to the high street :)

My town has been yarnbombed

Yarnbombing......I'd heard of this phenomenon on the internet, but hadn't thought too much about it.  Imagine my surprise when it happened in my town this weekend :)

Posts, benches and trees have all be covered with lots of knitted and crocheted loveliness.  More items are being added all the time, people have seen what is happening and have come to the town to add their own pieces to this street art, amazing I love it!

You can find out more and see more pictures on the facebook page here.  If only I'd found out this was happening before now I would have made something and joined in the fun :)

Perfect Weekend

It's been a while since I posted here I know. Things have been hectic at work and at home and I just haven't had the time to keep up with everything.

We've been enjoying a long weekend here in the UK in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee.  As is usual for a bank holiday the weather has been pretty awful, but spirits have been high and I have had one of those perfect weekends that come along once in a while.

There has been time spent with family, my brother and nephew working hard preparing a barbecue....

Time spent with friends, eating, drinking and sat around the brazier chatting the night away......

And some me time out in the great British countryside, wandering to my hearts content.  (I managed to twist my ankle pretty painfully down a rabbit hole a couple of weeks ago so today has been the first time I've been able to get out for a while, which made it even more wonderful despite the rain).

Nothing can beat the great British summer complete with soggy feet and rain splattered trousers, lol.

Hope you have all been having some perfect weekends of your own, I'll get round to catching up on some blog reading soon :) x

Friends

Do you remember way back here, me telling you about a cross stitch project that I had started as a surprise for a friend?  Well I've decided to get it back out of hibernation and for a bit of a break from crochet have started working on it again.

The reason that it was in hibernation in the first place is that the friend that it was originally meant for has dropped off the face of the earth.  In this day and age, friends get spread far and wide across the globe, so it's not easy just to drop by and check someone is ok when they are half a world away.  I really hope that she is ok, I've tried everything I can to try and contact her but so far no response.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will pop back up and I can still send the gift, but if not I'm sure it will get used for something.

The crochet is still progressing by the way. I have probably about 10 rounds to go before the back is finished, but as the piece grows the rounds take longer and longer to complete but hopefully it won't be too long before it's done :)

Osmington Mills

You might remember a few posts ago I shared some pictures of Portland that I took on a weekend away a couple of months back.  That same weekend I also went on another walk round the coast and countryside near Osmington Mills.

If you look back at the Portland pictures you'll be able to see that the Saturday was for the most part grey and overcast ... well what a difference a day makes, check out the blue skies that kept me company on my Sunday walk.  I had felt a bit ill on the Saturday night and didn't get much sleep, I had pretty much resolved to just drive straight home on Sunday morning, but when I opened the curtains to find blue skies and sunshine I had to stay and walk some more :)

It's nice revisiting these photos now a few weeks have gone by, reminds me of what an amazing weekend I had .... and just what an amazing year I have had in general.  Of course I love being with family and friends but I'm getting more confident in my navigation skills and I love spending time out walking on my own, me, fresh air and whatever wonders mother nature decides that she will share with me.

Messing around in my messy bedroom

I'm having a few problems with my internet connection at the moment, which is making it a pain to get things uploaded.  So in the meantime just for fun and to keep things ticking over here, this is a quick picture taken the other day while messing around with the camera settings on my mobile phone.

Crochet continues

I still haven't managed to block the waterlily squares but progress is being made on the cushion back.  You can see the difference in colour between the dye lots of the yarn, but it isn't bothering me as much as I thought it might.

I'm getting excited by the prospect that my first proper crochet project night actually get finished in the not too distant future....fingers crossed.

Waterlily cushion

My first crochet project seems to be a long time in the making but it's finally getting there.  I really enjoy sitting with yarn and hook, but somehow I just haven't found the time to concentrate on it for any length of time.  But not to worry, working in fits and starts does lead to results eventually and all my waterlily squares for a cushion front are now finished.

I need to make myself a board or something so I can get the squares blocked before they are joined together, but if you can ignore the curly edges and all the loose ends I think you can get the idea of what this will look like.

I spent a while thinking about what I wanted to do for the back of the cushion, and have finally settled on the idea of making one crocheted piece.  There is a way to go to make it big enough but it's a nice thing to work on while sat in front of the TV.

One lesson learned though is think a project through to the end before you start.  To make the back I needed to get another skein of yarn.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a skein from the same dye batch ... it's been quite a few months since I bought the original one ..... you can probably see that the top one is slightly darker than the bottom, but I don't think it's going to matter too much for the back.  Something to think about for next time though.

I already have the next few crochet projects planned out, but I'm determined to finish one thing at a time .... for a change ;)

Portland

Time for another out and about post. I took a trip down to the Dorset coast, actually it was the weekend before Easter so quite a few weeks ago now.  I stayed in a lovely little b&b and did plenty of walking.  Saturday saw me walking round Portland, just outside Weymouth.  It was an overcast day but I had an amazing time in the sea air none the less. 

A few photos from my walk

Self Pay It Forward - Part Two

Now that I know it's arrived at its new home safe and sound I can tell you about the little picture that I recently finished, the second gift for one of the people that were kind enough to comment on my 'Self' post back in January.  You can read all about the little dragon that is safe guarding the names of the people that commented and sent me their details back here.

This time round the dragon gave me Celia to make something for.  You can visit Celia's blog here.  Having found Celia on facebook a few weeks back I found out that she has a birthday in August just like me.  That triggered the idea for the gift that I made her.

I found a little cross stitch pattern in the book I mentioned back here for a native american birth totem.

I really like how this turned out.  The colours are lovely and it didn't take too long to stitch up ... probably because I was enjoying it so much.  It's nice to have another finished project to add to the list too, there don't seem to have been many so far this year, but life is all about balance and I'm having fun doing lots of different things at the moment so not enough hours in the day to spend on craft as I would like.

Now it's time for me to go off and find out who the dragon is going to choose next.......

Blue and Green

We've been having a lot of rain here over the last couple of weeks, not that I mind, I love the rain infact.  It makes the world all lovely and fresh and clean again.  I haven't been out with my camera over the last couple of weeks though, other things have kept me occupied and distracted, so here instead for anyone out there that might be getting fed up of the grey skies are a few blue and green pictures that I took on a walk out in the local countryside a few weeks back.