Verb: pootle
poo-t(u)l To move in a leisurely unhurried way,
with no real purpose


Friday 25 April 2014

Things - some random, some not..

 
And so, look who got the Spring blanket .
 
 
She stayed tucked up in it all morning on her bed at Nursery. 
Mostly just her nose was poking out but every now and again she would look
up at one of the children passing and she looked as though she was wearing a
 little bonnet with a bobbly edge ... very funny.

 
Whilst things have been super busy at work after the long weekend,
on the crafty front all is calm and restful.
Spring blanket and egg cosies finished, I have returned to the lovely sea of green bobbles
 that is my second JuJu Loops bobbly wrap, and I am very nearly there.


I just cannot tell you enough how much easier and how much more pleasurable
this one has been to make simply because of my stitch markers.
 I really was such a plonker to not have read the pattern properly first time round.
But .. lesson now learnt.

 

I so enjoyed reading Annies post earlier this week that was about nothing other than random facts.
Check it out if you haven't already seen it, and all the comments that followed.
 It made me laugh aloud, and so following her lead, here are 6 bits of 
Friday randomness from me ..
 
 
1.This week I discovered that little Lindt bunnies fit perfectly into the egg tray in my fridge.
 
 
2. When I was 13 my Dad, being the local clergyman, came to my school to do school assemblies.
One time he turned up and in his briefcase was my Guinea Pig, Nutty.
He then proceeded to ask me to come down to the stage - INFRONT OF ALL THE SCHOOL
  and help him ..  I know ! I WAS 13 FOR GOODNESS SAKE ! 
I can't actually remember what the assembly was about or quite why he felt the need to bring my guinea pig with him - but there you go. It stays with me !
But that was not all ...when the time came to sing the hymn obviously nobody sang it
except MY DAD !
Very loudly , and very happily.
 Good times, love you Dad x
 
3. We have sticky buds all over our house.
The sticky bud season is back.
Now I love a conker tree as much as everyone else - but man, do those sticky buds get everywhere !
They are in the hall, on the bottom of our shoes, on the bottom of our socks, on the dogs and cats paws, on our bed, in the laundry basket, on the sofa .. you get the picture.
Bring on the conkers.
 
4. Twenty five minutes on the Cross Trainer burns approximately 250 calories, which equates to one medium sized Lindt bunny.
 
5. Cliff Richard came to tea at our house.
It was when I was about 12 and he had come to give a concert at my Dads church, so naturally, what with being British and all , he came for tea first.
Mum made some biscuits for tea and to this day they are known in our family as Cliff Richard biscuits. They are extremely yummy - and have their rightful place in Beths My Own Bake Off Blog.
He was very nice, wore a full length fur coat and asked for Sweetex in his tea.
 
 
6. When we were selling our last house Channel 4 rang up and asked if our house
could go on Location, Location, Location.
Lots of cleaning followed but it was all very exciting and I met the lovely Phil Spencer who smelt quite gorgeous. He wore a bright pink knitted waistcoat.
Its quite odd sitting in your lounge watching your lounge on the telly , with your cat asleep on the sofa.
 
 
Have a lovely , if maybe a bit wet, weekend.

Saturday 19 April 2014

Spring Blanket

 
Oh phew, oh phew
... and breathe ...
... and relax....
 the randomness is done !
 

And, after all my worrying, it really didn't end up having to be that random at all, quite possibly because I very un-randomly and probably rather predictably made the same number of squares of each colour plus one extra pink one to make the numbers work.
 

It was very much a get down on the carpet and just go for it moment.
I started top left and worked my way down one row, up the next and so on following
the colour pattern pink, green, cream, grey and look what happened...
a pattern developed..
yay for patterns and symmetry and all things ordered.


And so with a little pinning...
 


... and stitching...

 
 and the adding of a double crochet border ,
finished off with bobbles..
 
 
the Spring blanket is complete.
And I really am rather taken with it.
 

 
I am also surprised by how much this small blanket has shown me .
Firstly that I'm loving the combination of colours and should quite possibly extend
my colour boundaries a bit more often .
 

Secondly that having thought knitting in garter stitch was just for making endless
teddy bear scarves when learning to knit, that its actually a lovely textured
stitch which I have fallen in love with.
 


And lastly that I think I may now have a bit of a thing for bobbles again as I adore the edging of this blanket that just sort of evolved as I went along.
Needless to say, in my head, I am already planning the next patchwork blanket.
 
 
This week seems to have whizzed by with preparations for a houseful this weekend.
Of course an Easter tree was needed and this was
definitely easier said than done.
Who'd have thought that trying to find branches with the right amount of
hangy bits would prove to be so challenging.
Anyway, got there in the end after a fair bit of foraging in the hedgerows
and the eggs and rabbits are now well and truly hung.
 
 
 
You might notice that underneath the vase is a Mandala .. my first !
As you will all fully understand, despite there being a million and one other things to be done it was absolutely vital this week that one needed to be made.
Having been following Chrissies Mand-a-Long I have been thinking I should give it a go and whilst not fully embracing the colourful patterned variety I thoroughly enjoyed working on this very simple version and then adding a bobbly border in keeping with a bit of an Easter egg theme.

 
Of course one thing led to another and the next thing you know 4 more have been made.
Oh Chrissie - what have you started ?
 

These 4 are soon to be packaged up and sent off to Skipton as a Birthday present
 for my bestest friend . I hope you like them Jane xxx and that they will find
 a home in your beautiful Narrowboat Emily.




And so from now until Monday its pretty much going to be all about chocolate, cakes,
chocolate, and just that little bit more cake.
Beth is home from Uni and the oven has been on pretty much since she walked
through the door.
Diets are out of the window for the foreseeable future.
If you get a chance drop in to Beths scrummy Blog  .... My Own Bake Off.
 

 


Here's wishing you all a very relaxing and a very chocolaty Easter weekend.
 



Sunday 13 April 2014

Ribbons and shoes ...

 
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a bit of a one for ribbons and bows.
Always have been ... probably always will be.
 

Standing in front of a display of ribbons quite definitely makes my heart beat that
 little bit faster and like a child in a sweet shop I can never walk away without
having made a couple of small purchases.



( Yes, I even had a Pinterest board devoted entirely to ribbons )
 
In the 80's I was never without a large Madonna bow in my hair and even
had one as part of my veil on my wedding day.
 
 
In the 90's my three beautiful girls (for as long as they would let me ) would have a ribbon
 tied in their hair to match what they were wearing.
I found the rebellion for 'no ribbons' kicked in at about aged 6 !
 


And then last year I came up with a little idea that allowed me to indulge in not
 only my love of ribbons but of shoes too - perfect !
So the other day when a very exciting box came through the post there was
 nothing for it but to do it again...
 
 
The shoes ? Converse, denim blue.
 
 
The ribbon ? Blue spotty Grosgrain.
 


Lovely from the front, lovely from the back ....
but there is a little strip of canvas covering the back seam that is
 just crying out for a certain something .

 
First I stitched a piece of ribbon directly on to the fabric of the shoe,
making sure it was firmly attached,
 

and then I finished off with a small bow, also stitched in place.


 Ta-dah !
 Summer shoes with a bit of a unique pootle added.
 

 

On the yarn front I'm pleased to report that after a couple more
evenings spent knitting this week


the squares are all finished and ready to be stitched together....
bit nervous ... as there could be a bit of randomness needed , not my forte,
trying hard not to let the panic sink in !
 
 
I'll let you know how I get on.

Sunday 6 April 2014

Pretty pastels ...

 
Having so enjoyed working with the soft pink and green on my egg cosies last week I
 suddenly had a real urge to start something else with a similar colour scheme.
A quick dip into Pinterest found these three heavenly pictures ...

 
 
 
 

 
( ... adore this picture - how cool to be able to get away with wearing something like this ! )
 

... and that was it - the seed was sown, and my mind was made up.
 
A little spring coloured patchwork blanket was quite definitely needed.
( a new project however was not, having three on the go already -
but hey, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. )
 
 
A rummage through the wool stash turned up some rather scrummy
Sirdar Baby Bamboo in cream, pink and green and I was off...
 
 
 
I ordered some of the same wool in a soft grey to add a bit of depth and I think the
colours all sit perfectly together.
Nothing too complicated, just squares of garter stitch.
I am quite in love...
 
 
Something about this colour combination makes me think of sweet shops, fairy tales, 
sticks of rock and of course, mini eggs !
 
 

What's not to love ?
 
 
I'm not yet sure how I will place the squares when I have enough to start sewing them together, and I have to confess to being a little nervous about this what with my neatness and symmetry obsession - but I'm sure all will become clear as it happens.

 
I have a few more squares to go yet, its not going to be a big blanket, I think I will aim
for a lap size square.
 
 

After a week off from work its all back to normal from 7:00am tomorrow morning,
and I have to confess to just wanting to stay right here on my sofa and knit ...
and how perfectly do these little badges sum that up ?

 


The other thing that has been calling me this week is the book I am reading at the moment - its got me gripped, I'm having to make myself put it down other wise nothing would get done. 
I have now read several of JoJo Moyes books and I can honestly say that I have felt
like this about every one.
I love her style of writing and each of her books have been quite different in their themes and characters.
 

 The first one I read was Me before You, and it completely blew me away.
The research and detail she puts into her stories is so thorough that you cannot help but get totally engrossed in what she has written.


The Girl You Left Behind opened my eyes to things I had never even considered before.
It was quite breath taking.
With all of her books I find myself still thinking about them for a long time after having read them -  the ultimate sign of a good book I think.
 
 
Just a quick note to say it has been lovely to have lots of you following me on Facebook for those smaller Pootles that don't quite justify a whole post to themselves. If you would like to do this just click on the icon up on the right hand side bar and this will take you to my Just Pootling page.


 Have a good week everyone.