52 weeks of happy - 20/52 and 21/52

I never got around to doing last week's '52 weeks' post, so here's a double dose.

lots and lots of photographs (over 400) ordered and printed off - we are not good at doing this. Then I thought how much I love to look at photo albums at my parent's house and realised I should be making albums for my children to look at.

pink rhubarb with Greek yogurt. Just a pity rhubarb makes your teeth feel furry.

flowers in the front garden - I particularly love Aquilegia.

rescuing a baby bird on the school run one morning. There was a dead fledgling and a live one on the pavement and a bird in the tree making a fuss. I quickly googled what to do and the website I came across said to quickly scoop it up and put in back into the tree. Apparently birds do not have a good sense of smell, so the fact I'd touched it shouldn't matter to it's parents. I don't know if I did the right thing, but I couldn't just leave it on the pavement.

getting out on my bike, in particular cycling to the gym. It takes the same amount of time as driving and there's no need to do any cardio when I get there, which is always a bonus.

a beautiful, huge, horse chestnut tree we see on our walk to school.

anticipating being on that beach again, next week. Wish hard for some dry weather for us, won't you?

-----xxx-----

Truthfully, these have been a hard couple of weeks for me. May used to be one of my favourite months. Now it is my least favourite, containing, as it does, the anniversaries of my Granddad's and brother's deaths. I carry on trying to notice the small pleasures in life but it hardly makes a dent sometimes. 

A trip to Saltaire

I think I first heard about Saltaire on LittleTinBird's blog and I put it on the list of places to visit one day. On Bank Holiday Monday (6th May) we packed a picnic and headed there for the day. It was a good place to go as far as holiday traffic was concerned - evidently Bradford is not a popular Bank Holiday destination!

We first had a look around the village, a delightful place full of pretty terraces set out in a grid pattern. There are small 2-up, 2-downs for the mill workers and larger terraced houses for the more important people.

the almshouses

After a quick walk around the village we headed just over the river Aire for our picnic. It was a beautiful sunny day, so the park was fairly busy, but there was plenty of space to set up camp and, after eating, the children ran races and explored the park a little.

Then we went to have a look around the mill, in particular, the book shop. My children don't have to be asked twice if they'd like a new book. The book shop was fabulous and had this little reading corner in the children's section.

And lots of other interesting things to look at.

I don't have to be asked twice if I'd like a cup of coffee, so we all had a drink while looking at our new books

And then we went home where it was hot enough to get the paddling pool out and play with the hose pipe.

A lovely day out - I'm already planning a return visit in the Summer holidays.

You can read more about Saltaire here and here.

52 weeks of happy - 19/52

Very late this time because I just can't make my mind up whether I want to keep blogging or not. Then I read through my previous '52 weeks' posts and quite enjoyed looking back on them, so I'll carry on for now.

Tulips

Planting up some pots and generally tidying up the garden

Blue, blue skies and a few days, over the Bank Holiday weekend, that held real warmth

A Bank Holiday trip to Saltaire

x

52 weeks of happy - 18/52

Goodies from Australia

A day in the Lake District. The clouds may have been on the floor when we arrived, but there was a break in the weather that allowed us to walk up the hill behind my MiL's house to enjoy the view of Windermere.

Chevron stripes. The cream is staying.

A new fridge-freezer and the large cardboard box it came in. Our 11 year old fridge broke at the beginning of April. 4 weeks and 4 repair visits later it was time to admit defeat - it was beyond mending. The new fridge was delivered on a day when there was no school (staff training) and the children had friends round to play. The delivery men were about to make off with the cardboard box and I said 'no, we'll keep that!'. I cut a door in it and it kept the children entertained for hours and it's still in the garden now. There's magic in a cardboard box when you're a child, isn't there?

How to :: block a doily

I've had a few people over on Instagram asking how to block a doily, so I thought I'd write a how-to for anyone who might be interested. 

It is my opinion that blocking a doily is pretty much essential. Doilies can look disappointing when they're finished - all uneven and a bit saggy - blocking is what transforms them into a thing of beauty. 

So, gather together the things you need for blocking. I use an ironing board covered with a large, thick piece of cardboard,

a blocking guide covered with cling film,

pins and spray starch.

Dampen your doily as this helps with easing it into shape. I just hold mine under the tap for a few seconds and them roll them in a towel to remove any excess water. It is probably fair to say that the fresh-off-the-hook doily didn't look quite this bad, but I forgot to take a photograph of it.

Put the cardboard on the ironing board, the blocking guide on the cardboard and the cling film on top of that, then start pinning the doily out starting in the centre and working outwards.

I use blocking guides printed from the internet. Obviously you will need a guide with the right number of spokes for your particular doily. This is a six sectioned doily so I used a 12 point guide - always better to have too many spokes than too few, I reckon. I always use the circular guides, but this is just my preference.

Gently ease the doily into shape pinning as you go. With this doily I was able to remove some the pins, so it ended up pretty much only being pinned around the edges. You might think that the doily will never lie flat, but it will if you're patient. The cathedral window doily was a nightmare to pin out, but I got there in the end. When you're satisfied with the shape of your doily, spray with starch and leave to dry.

When the doily is dry, carefully remove the pins, stand back and admire.

52 weeks of happy - 17/52

1. The tree outside my house

2. Indulging in chocolate and coconut cake at the weekend

3. A pot of primroses that have flowered despite being neglected for two years at least

4. Playing with yarn and trying to decide whether the cream should be in or out

Off the hook :: Spring blanket

Yes, I know I missed my arbitrary deadline of the end of March for finishing this blanket. A shortage of yarn is to blame. A couple of generous bloggers offered to post me a ball of the walnut yarn I needed, but my sister had a ball knocking about, she said. In the end, we were both too busy/otherwise engaged to meet up and I ordered a ball from the internet (along with some other yarn, to justify paying postage, you understand) and cracked on.

I made 216 granny squares (a 12x18 rectangle) because I had got fed up by then and also because that made the blanket single bed sized. 

I am really pleased with the lacy border which is 6 rounds of granny square clusters followed by an adapted version of an edging pattern in the Kyuuto 'Lacy Crochet' book (which I blogged about here). It took some frogging and before I finally got it right though. Most of my blankets have very plain borders so it was nice to do something different.

I love the finished blanket, but I can't say I loved making it. I don't think I'll ever join as I go again unless the last round of each square is the same colour. I've written before about how I struggled with choosing the colours for adjoining squares, not wanting them to look too similar. I do know, though, that it would have been just as difficult to try and satisfactorily arrange 216 squares after they've all been made. And, anyway, it's how it looks as a whole that matters.

Of course, I must credit CocoRose with the inspiration behind this blanket. I absolutely loved her Evening Sun blanket - you can clearly see the similarities.

The blanket's was claimed immediately by #2. 'Isn't it a bit pink for you?' I asked. 'No', he says, 'I like pink'. And so, instead of looking pretty, draped over the arm of a sofa, the blanket has spent its time being dragged around the house and being used to make a den. But that's what they're for, I guess.

Hook :: 4.5mm
Yarn :: Stylecraft special dk. 
Colours :: Saffron, Aspen, Pomegranate, Pale Rose, Meadow, Walnut (3 balls of walnut, 2 of the others)
Pattern :: circle in a square granny
Border :: adapted from 'Braid 2: Edging' from Kyuuto! Lacy Crochet

So, there you have it. Now I get to play with the Amy Butler yarn I bought in the January sales. No granny squares this time though - too many ends to weave in.