June was worth writing about.....

.......but I just didn't. Guess nothing was amazingly, instantly, worthy of sharing. But there was a mix of highs, lows and just the normal plodding along.

M's Creative Computing Club moved into its very own premises and we had helped where we could with the building refurbishment to get it lab ready for classes (hubby far more useful than me). We were invited to the Grand Opening event, lots of people there and all saying lovely things about M and I even saw a couple of people I know. So very proud of M and Daughter too and all they've achieved so far, although I've a feeling there will be bigger dreams M wants to achieve. He was also honored by a BAFTA award for best UK mentor to young games designers! WOW

We've had the usual coffee morning and I've attended my monthly craft day where I've taken this black knitting for quite some time, well I finally finished the knitting (but sewn together in July).

With Daughter E has been doing uni visits. Some have needed sleepovers with friends nearby and that often means sleepover here too for O. R and Tilly like to spend their daytime here but we can't have the dog overnight so we take them home mid-evening.

I needed a third op for bladder cancer, thankfully this closer look found nothing that needed removal but they took biopsies anyway and they gave clear results. 😀

I've been playing with boro/shakio visible mending. This is a very old (and comfy) tshirt I sleep in.

Also in my bid to save throwing stuff into landfill I made some kitchen scrubbies from double thickness old towelling and the netting bag that satsumas come in. They seem to work quite well and regularly get thrown into the dishwasher so no chance of getting smelly.

SERV as a charity mostly using bike riders, have now decided all their riders need to be advanced level, so Hubby is now doing advanced rider lessons. Apparently he has a few minor bad habits that need correcting hahaha

Now summer events for SERV are in full swing I'm often alone at weekends when he's standing in a field/fete/supermarket entrance and some of Fridays when he's out filling the van or setting up mostly with M&S (not the store) hard working local volunteers and friends. Along with others he does talks and attends presentations too.

Daughter had 10 days at Kentwell, so we go into child+dog care mode. Daughter started the first four days with O as E was staying with friends. On the Monday Hubby took E to Kentwell and brought O back to stay with us. Meanwhile the whole time R and Tilly were picked up every morning and taken home every evening, and some days she was working at Red Rose Theatre so Hubby was constant transport and I was constant cook. Love having them here. Discovered our garden isn't totally dog-proof as she got out twice! Tilly likes a lot of attention

I had a lovely catchup lunch with friends made some 23 years ago when we did the art A level course. Two students and the teacher.
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So, what's been going on here......

And in no particular order, some of the stuff that's kept us busy.....

Finally finished knitting this jumper (ongoing project most of the winter) which was a prototype to get a top-down pattern that's my size. I like baggy but not hanging off my shoulders or sleeves for an orangutan. Neck is too wide but great with a shirt under.

Corrected the neck and knitted another. 

My friend has just bought a beech hut so I made her a present. This is a doormat made from ties and t-shirt. The ties were taken apart and the outer fabric cut into strips and twisted into cord. The cords were then finger crocheted into chains to make them wider. The chains were then hand stitched together. The outer border is a single crochet chain of t-shirt yarn. It's very wonky but my friend was thrilled to receive it.

More upcycling. This stripey top used to be a jumper but it had a very low v-neck and wearing something else underneath made it a bit snug so I never wore it. By adding the collar and front panel cut from another top I rarely wore it's now a lightweight cardigan/jacket which I think will be ideal for my holidays, although I keep wearing it now anyway.

A pretend black layer stitched underneath meant I could open the sides of this top layer. Making it looser and longer (but not warmer) all because I love the sleeves

Hubby and I went with Daughter for a pub night were she was Tudor busking. The chef at the community owned pub Daughter knows from Kentwell so they both thought they'd give a Tudor night a try and he cooked pottage too. Only a small audience but really appreciative and Daughter kept us all entertained with stories, descriptions, a rude song and of course her magnificent musical talent. 

R had managed to fit in a ride on the back of Hubby's blood bike. She'd love to go out with him lots more but never enough opportunities. 

Our beautiful girls have had another birthday! Sweet 16  :-)

R and friends have gone to Comic-Con again this year and were busy making their costumes. Kodama is the character name if that means anything to you. 

Daughter and E were going to Kentwell Through The Ages as visitors and I invited myself along. Beautiful weather, hot, sunny with a gentle breeze. Daughter knows so many participants so it was lots of stopping for long chats that she would never get the chance to do when she is her normal Tudor self. E was taking the opportunity to play with a retro film camera. I was so pleased at the end of our busy day that I'd walked around for nearly 7 miles (according to my phone app), the most I've done since damaging my knee, so I'm considering myself mended (although I'll still keep on with the physio).

Daughter came over to sort out all the camping kit needed (as it's mostly stored in our shed) and O decided he wanted to make the cat-cakes he'd read about on the Internet. Took him ages to find it, then announcing he must save it as a word file for next time, turns out it wasn't a receipe he'd just read a description of "fluffy white cake with whiskers painted on and shards of chocolate for ears, they were yummy" So I found him all the ingredients for the vegan sponge and suggested we could improvise as I didn't have any chocolate. Half the batch had chocolate digestive ears and vegan biscuits for the others and amazingly I found a very small tube of black icing that hadn't dried up. O used to be a very enthusiastic cook but recently he seems to come up with ideas, make a half hearted start then walk off leaving me to it. So I made these and Daughter and I decorated them together.

And last but definitely not least, I've had my 6 month post-op CT Scan with results of internal scar all healed and clear with no signs of cancer! Blood test showed no decrease in kidney function, in fact a slight increase! 

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Knitting......

Finished knitting this tunic last night, then today was so lovely and sunny and warm that I couldn't keep it on beyond lunch time 😂😎😅

Picture my Friday to Sunday.....

               

For Michelle

Click click click.....

There's been a bit of knitting lately.

My latest is this cushion cover, no pattern just played with an idea and really pleased at the end result.

O had a sleepover which he hasn't managed for a very long time. Daughter and M took themselves out on a date night,  probably only the second time since O's birth. The children came here knowing that they could be picked up for home late or sleep here. In the end the girls went home and as O had already decided what we were having for breakfast and that he was going to text his mum to come and get him after breakfast,  he stayed. Good as gold as they say and I got my extra cuddle in bed from 6:15 till 7am when we got up leaving granddad for his lie-in.

Term restarted for our art group but we have lost the use of the hall attached to the church that we've always used, apparently it is going to be a coffee shop! We have now the use of the small room within the church but if anything else is using the main hall we can't use the small room as we then wouldn't have access to the kitchen or toilets without walking through the hall. ...so first one was at Sue's house and the second one is tomorrow so I'll let you know what the little room is like.

Trish who hosts her craft group each month held the January one at her house with shared lunch. This was postponed from our Christmas lunch. I think there were eight of us there, all busy and all very chatty.  Trish produced a couple of quiz sheets to keep us amused straight after lunch. Sue had asked me about the baby ball I'd previously knitted and could I show her next time how it's done, so I've told her to knit the six rectangle/tubes needed and then I'll show her how to put them together. So now I'm knitting 12 rectangle/tubes so I can have one ball finished and one to demo on rather than doing her's for her. Also as I was still working on my cushion cover Joan was fascinated mainly because there are seven bobbins of wool hanging. She wants me to get her started on one next time we meet too, so I've told her what she needs to bring and now I've started another one so I can show her how to carry the wools across the back each time. I'm so much better at doing for others to watch rather than explaining.

We've been quite rubbish at housework for some time now, it's always a case of we see something needs doing one of us will do it, like when the sun shines we notice what furniture needs dusting.  But we are both guilty of not noticing as much as we should,  I'm usually in the bathroom without my glasses on, that sort of thing. So as well as the see-it-do-it we are starting a plan to focus on just one room each week to have a thorough clean and sort. So far so good.

Hubby also has some more diy house changes afoot, and I can't put him off any longer as he always needs a project. I'll report on progress of course.

Meanwhile I'll get back to knitting 😊
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A big behind....

...on this blog!

There's been no more DIY disruptions to report on as our next door neighbours have had a new drive laid so Hubby had been there for some of the digging out prep and helping to load the skip. He really can't sit still.

For me there's been lots of creating recently with knitting and crochet and sewing. BFriendM has a big birthday today and I've made her three handbags to go with the handbag organiser. Couldn't post photos of them before in case she saw and spoilt the surprise.

I was really pleased with them' just wish I was a better photographer ;o)

FriendT had her monthly crafters gathering at the 'busy bungalow' where it's mostly chat and some crafting but lots of swapping knowledge and ideas. Last time I swapped my baby ball pattern with FriendP's scarf pattern (that she designed herself).

I do have 'blocking' issues though as the edges roll even after wet blocking twice (second time in case I hadn't rinsed it enough and added some softener. I've tried steam blocking once before and managed to flatten what I'd knitted completely as I haven't got a decent steam iron so won't do it that way again. I'm really happy using the cheapest acrylic yarn I can find if it's not for clothes, which is probably part of the problem but there must be a solution so any suggestions gratefully received.

 

Last week also saw me reliving my motorbike terrors, when R went on her maiden ride with Granddad! She used Daughter's crash helmet and bought her own leather jacket off ebay. I waved them off through gritted teeth.

 

 She loved it! E wants to ride too, so fingers crossed we get another sunny day when she has the time.

 

Did hear this week that our gardener has finally decided to retire at the end of this year (he's 72) so I guess I'll have to do a bit more out there as Hubby hates the general keeping tidy jobs and only enjoys all the big stuff, whereas my favourite bit out there is just to sit back and admire everyone else's hard work hahahaha

 

Yesterday we joined BFriendM's family to celebrate her birthday. So special being included as family. Today I'm meeting up with a friend from my youth (yes that long ago) and we managed to find each other on facebook and meet up for the first time nearly four years ago and this is our earliest opportunity to do it again.

 

My diary seems quite full from now till the end of the year so from a big behind to plenty in-front.....or is that just me!!!

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Testing the memory.....

Seems ages since I've written, probably because I still can't get blogger to work on my playbook and the phone is just a tad too small to make it comfortable....so I've given in and now on the pc at a desk rather than curled up on the sofa! Hopefully I can remember back to what's been happening!

Hubby has had a lot of on-call nights for the blood running volunteering he does for SERV Suffolk and Cambridge, he's done a few late night call-outs but mostly it's just on standby. He's also had another full training day with them which I think happens yearly.

Hubby has also continued with the "getting our trees into good order" project. If you look carefully you can see two men up very high into our beech tree (top monkey is hubby). This tree is under preservation order so lopping has to be done discretely (*wink*)! 

On the third Thursday of every month my neighbour holds a crafters gathering. This time I took along the baby ugg-style-boots and ball I'm making for my friend's first grandchild due imminently.

That night was also our art night and I'm attempting to paint some tshirts with products I used to sell but are now about 30 years old....amazed they hadn't dried up completely! The painted designs will hopefully cover up the greasy marks that won't wash out, so if the painting works I've upcycled some tshirts if it doesn't I haven't lost anything as they'd have hit the bin anyway. So if you never see a finished photo on here you'll know why ;o)

FriendsA&K made a flying visit as K had an appointment at my local hospital and live an hour's drive away. So I made them lunch which was nothing compared to what they had brought with as my belated birthday present.....a huge sponge cake and two large foil trays, one with Dauphinoise Potato and the other with Jugged Hare. Hubby and I had half that night for dinner and froze the rest for another night. Neither of us had eaten jugged hare before and it was delicious, probably due to the amount of red wine it was cooked in!

Last weekend we took advantage of the surprisingly warm-for-September weather and joined Daughter and children for a walk by the River Orwell. Unfortunately the walk started badly when O knocked himself on the car and hurt his tummy and then ended abruptly when it started raining, but it was lovely to get out even for a short while and the cars were parked at the Suffolk Food Hall so O got a quick bounce on their outside giant inflatable pillow and then all inside to choose nice things to take home for lunch.

(O holding his waistband away from his sore tummy but he soon forgot about it)

On Monday BFriendM and I enjoyed a spa day, we had bought it months ago when it was on special offer but found it really hard to fit in a day we could both do, so this was finally the day. We spent the whole time there in our swimsuits covered by towelling robes and made good use of the pool, sauna, steam room(too hot for me), jacuzzi, aromatherapy room(neither of us could feel the point of this one) and sun loungers, add to that the luxury of a facial each, teas and coffees and a lunch. Felt really spoilt and both agreed we must look out for future offers. Sadly Hubby didn't have the same sort of day as he had a funeral to attend of someone he had known for a long time at bowling.

Tuesday evening BFriendM and I ate out again, this time at the Mexican Chiquito as I had a £10 voucher. Should have been three of us but FriendH couldn't make it. And Wednesday night I ate out with BFriendM yet again with our usual Wednesday gang at our usual table in our usual pub in Felixstowe.

Wednesday afternoon we had O here while the girls went sailing for the first time, he has a cold and he's too young for the sailing so would have to hang around a lot and he was definitely not in the mood. He spent lots of time making drinks for himself and tea for us, I'm only allowed to pour the boiling water and he has to do the rest himself.

Thursday Daughter popped over so that Hubby could fix E's laptop which was misbehaving which he did by just giving it evil looks I think. So E spent the rest of the time on her laptop! When R arrived she was a few pages into a new book that she needs to read for a book club they are about to join. She snuggled down into her Granddad's side and read, we hardly got a word out of her, she read, and left here with just a few pages left to read less than three hours after she'd started! O wanted to do any science in a jar, so Daughter popped out to buy cream (and cakes for afternoon tea) then showed O how to make butter in a jar (she had to do most of the shaking) and I showed him how to make a tornado in a jar. And last night I went to the theatre as previously blogged.

Phew, think that's about it and a busy few days ahead so must get back here more often!
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Better fit....

Pleased to say the second cardigan knitted for little O has worked with all my guessing adjustments to the pattern, plus I used wool that was already here :-)

All I needed to buy was buttons but the weather was foul and everyday stuff got in the way of me getting into town......so I made them! Denim from old jeans and those old fashioned curtain rings (there were still a few sitting in the button tin from way back when).

Hopefully he'll come over today for Hubby's birthday but they've all got colds and no car.

Next knitting challenge is to sort out a little project E started some time ago. Monster slippers, she has done half of one but found it tricky and lost interest a bit so asked Grandma to finish them for her.
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My way (#10)....

Over the years I seem to have developed some very definite ways of doing things and usually it's for a very good reason, so I thought I'd share. 

This one is my NEW way! I've been a knitter for as long as I can remember, my mum taught me when I was a young child and of course back then we only had straight needles either single or double pointed. Many years later I discovered circular needles for knitting in the round (did they come across from Europe?) and now I've just realised that using circular needles even for flat work is so much easier, no dropping stitches in storage, no long ends poking me in the chest, no need for a big bag as they just curl up into your ongoing work.

And for this little jumper I'm using double-knit doubled up, so pulling two strands from two balls together and this time I thought to put each ball into a sandwich bag tied loosely at the top and they don't tangle at all......now why didn't I think of that before ;-)

What's your way?
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Made with love....

3am this morning I finally finished making this jacket and went to bed....it's a late birthday present for my darling Daughter and I gave it to her when they came over for lunch.

She thought I'd bought it and was surprised when I took photos when she tried it on! Then she realised that I'd made it specially and was even more thrilled.

So, now they have declared us in drought and it hasn't stopped raining, by that rule and the fact that Daughter now has the warmest knitted jacket we are bound to have a heatwave in the next few days!
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Pretending it was Sunday...

Yesterday was Thursday of course, but for us it was Easter Sunday.

R & E were away last weekend so we had delayed our usual Easter stuff until yesterday. All the paints were out to decorate the 30 hard boiled eggs and 30 polystyrene egg shapes I had ready and I'd brought back some little kits I'd found in Florida that were for dye dipping eggs and sponge painting and they were moderately successful. The girls also asked for my coloured permanent marker pens so they could draw freehand on the eggs too. I then added to those with the sparkly polystyrene eggs from previous years (about 8 of them left) plus the two egg shapes that Daughter had felted and the 6 fabric eggs I had made and sent Hubby and M out with a carrier bag each to hide them all around the garden.....it was raining by then!!!

Children don't care if it's raining of course and they had a great time egg hunting. O had such fun that he even made E re-hide some eggs quite a few times so he could carry on searching!

Meanwhile I had the excuse of not to go out in the rain as I was cooking ;o)

When the children came in they found little cardboard nests for them on the table, each one filled with a home-made hollow egg of mini-eggs and two little golden chocolate rabbits and a knitted chicken that laid mini eggs too (that caused lots of excited giggles). Plus they each had a squishy, stretchy, rubber chick that lit up and flashed when bounced. They all seemed totally happy with their goodies.

Dinner was the full leg of lamb roast and it was really yummy, even if I say so myself.
Had to keep reminding myself it wasn't a Sunday!
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