I'm sorry, but I just can't

I've tried, goodness knows I've tried. This isn't my first attempt. Those who know me from last year's Etsy retreat will have seen it all before. I just can't. mix. colours. Randomness makes me anxious; I can't relax without harmony - it is all just too distressing.


I got all the way through one set of colours (17 stripes!) with an increasing sense of the wrongness of it all, and then I had to rip it all out. There was nothing else I could do. The idea of spending the best part of a year (judging by my previous ripple marathon) making something that I just couldn't stand the sight of was too much for me. It had to go. The middle one helped with the frogging - she really loved seeing how the stitches came apart: "it's like magic Mummy!".
Then, I put the colours in a more harmonious order, and I have to agree - it is like magic!

Close up on the week

I've joined a new flickr group founded by the magnificent Abi. Called day2day, it's purpose is to find the beauty in the ordinary, and learn about your camera at the same time. This week I have been concentrating on using my new macro lens, and photographing from my collection of thread and yarn. I have really enjoyed playing with light, as well as experimenting with depth of field. Next week food, I think.

Summertime, and the cooking is easy

My favourite salad for my favourite time of year. So easy and quick to put together, even with the obligatory child helper.


Very little cooking and a little light opening of tins. Perfect.

Drum roll please...

I pulled a name out of a hat last night while in the Etsy UK friday night chat. Regular readers among you may recognise the hat from the last time I did this.


And the winner is.....


The wonderful Kezzaroo - goodies in the post to you.

Thanks for all the lovely comments everyone, I wish you could all have won.

And now I am one

I missed my blogiversary by a few days this week. It was on the 17th May, but I've been so busy with:

1. crafting
2. children
   
3. arsing around

that I forgot all about it. Oops.

As is traditional at these times, I will be holding a giveaway. Simply leave me a comment before the end of the day on Friday 23 May (midnight GMT) and I'll do the put-all-the-names-in-a-hat-and-pull-one-out thing. Just to make sure that this fulfills my need for external validation, tell me your favourite thing I have blogged about. The (possibly lucky, depending on your perspective) winner will get a little handmade something in the post.


And in case you don't believe me, here is proof of number 1 on the above list. A half-knitted clapotis. See - it's not all about the arsing around!

Where does the time go?

Number One was eight this week. I can't quite believe it - looking back it feels like 10 minutes since she was born. Apart from my grey hairs and wrinkles that is.

We took some friends to the cinema and then came home for a party tea (complete with cake she had decorated herself - where does she get that from I wonder!). The weather was perfect - just 4 days after the garden had been under 3 inches of snow they all ate ice cream outside.

Happy birthday my love.

And the beat goes on

The Crafting 365 challenge continues. I hit a bit of a sticky patch there for a while around the new year, but things are picking up now. I'm finally getting round to tackling the huge pile of WIPs I have knocking around. It feels good to be finishing things for a change.

The end of an era

Ten months almost to the day.

1.8 kg (4 lbs) of yarn, equating to about 3.7 km (2 miles) in length.

16 colours with five repeats.

38,400 stitches in 160 rows.

And I'm done.

Mmmmm, coffee

I have a new coffee machine. It is spectacular, beautiful, and perfectly formed. It also makes incredibly good coffee. There is one small downside (well, two actually). Firstly, I have the shakes from drinking so much of the stuff. And, yes I know that I could drink decaff, and I HAVE BEEN, but I'm telling you now, without reservation, it makes. no. difference. It all gives me the shakes. Decaff is a conspiracy.

Oh, and secondly, I have lost a big old chunk of my social life. I can't go out for coffee with the other mums from school. I just can't bring myself to pay overinflated coffee shop prices for a drink that is crap in comparison to what I could make at home. OK, so I could get a peppermint tea or something, but then really, what's the point? In the days B.N. (before nespresso) I could quite happily sit in a cafe for hours, wittering away with my friends, (or at least until Golden Boy had thrown himself to the floor in desparation). Now I try to persuade them to come to my house. I don't even care about the extra washing up.

And, to make matters worse, I'm not even remotely concerned that there is no photo in this post. I might start getting worried about myself soon.

The heady scent of (temporary) freedom

Today I had a chance to get into town by myself for a few hours. I took it and ran. Off to Marylebone High Street, with a wander around here, here, and here; and a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon here. I did mean to take a photo before I had eaten it, but somehow my appetite got the better of me.


And who could fail to have their spirits lifted when eating next to a rooftop garden complete with daffodil-munching cow?

Perfect.