Books and Clay

Decided to try another seahorse but using 4 ply wool instead of cotton.  It was much nicer to work and being multicoloured gives it a lovely blend of colour with beads for the eyes.  It's currently en route to Australia.

The one advantage of moving house is you find things you had forgotten about or filed away out of sight.  I came across a book of modern crocheted scarves and decided to make one though unfortunately for me, my aunt declared it wasn't a "proper" scarf due to the abundance of gaps and it's failure to keep you warm!  Made with four ply yarn and mostly chains, it was a nice pattern once the first row had been worked and blocking it finished it nicely.

I'm missing my allotment so much I suppose it was only a matter of time before I crocheted some vegetables!  I made these to practice crocheting amigurumi which I need to perfect before I start making Claude the octopus.  I also need to practice getting the amount of stuffing right.  Stalks and leaves were fiddely but they turned out ok.  Only other colour of wool I have is bright pink so who knows what will be next!

Have to say I'm chuffed with this.  Pattern is my own using stitches and knowledge picked up from projects I've done.  Sourcing beads during lockdown was problematic but these work well enough with it.  Discovered I quite like working with cotton, rarely splits unlike wool and stitches are more obvious.  Guessing I'll be in debt to DMC for a long time. 😆

This is my first attempt at amigurumi.  It was part of a kit from Aldi so the yarn isn't the best splitting easily.  The pattern had the head sewn in the middle which is wrong for seahorses.  Next time, I'll use a smaller hook as the stitches aren't close enough and more stuffing in the neck area.  Not bad for a first attempt though. 😁

Came across this jug cover which was fairly straightforward to make.  Making the jug itself was a first for me and I think next time, I'll add the handle on separately as it's a little off centre even though it's where the pattern said to put it.  Photo was taken before it's been blocked.

With shops shut and deliveries taking days and weeks, gifts were a bit of a problem. A bit of searching and experimenting lead to me crocheting mug cosies.  Both of these are a little different in the pattern.  Sourcing buttons involved a two week hunt and I have enough buttons to last a very long time!

Having moved 500 miles south just a few weeks before the Covid-19 lock down started, I found myself with not much to do after work since the majority of my stuff is in storage.  So after ordering a new crochet hook with interchangeable hooks and a few balls of cotton, I started crocheting again.  So first up are flowers.  I'm missing my allotment quite a lot so started making these flowers with a view to creating a flower picture.  These daisies and petals are the practice pieces.  I have only four colours to use for this project at the moment - red, green, white and yellow - all DMC Petra 5.

Mushrooms - I love them so when I stumbled across a "grow your own" kit from the Espresso Mushroom Company last autumn I thought I would give it a try.  We are a nation of coffee drinkers with over 70 million cups of coffee drunk every day in the UK apparently so instead of discarding the grounds, they are recycled and used to grow mushrooms.  Coffee grounds are collected from cafes around Brighton on a specially adapted bike diverting them from landfill.  During their growth, mushrooms break down the coffee waste and averts greenhouse gas emissions that occurs when untreated coffee grounds biodegrade. They are nature’s recyclers! Each Kitchen Garden contains coffee from 100 espressos and after they've finished growing, you are left with some lovely mushroom-enriched soil enhancer compost. So how did it go?  Well, I only actually got to eat two at a time on average in the end!   The first cycle died, the second produced two very la...

Spring is finally here, I hope anyway!  The last week or so has been warm, well in double figures anyway which is an improvement.  The overwintering onions and garlic are beginning to swell now which is great as I was worried that four months of gales and rain may have killed them.  I've had to redig some of the areas that were dug in winter due to the thistles coming through (amongst other things) from the plot next to me.  It's not been worked since I've been there and I'm finding I'm having to redig the same bit every weekend so I reckon these areas will remain bare for another year.  The bulbs put on a bonny show: However, I do have some potatoes coming through, not the earlies strangely enough but at least something is growing!  I've planted some more onions and shallots as I didn't have enough last year so if the overwintering ones survive, I shall be sorted for the winter.  Believe it or not, the kale was still growing when I dug th...

I started woodcarving classes in October 2012 with a view of doing something different and I find it very therapeutic albeit there are times I'm not able to do much as I still have wrist problems and find it difficult to hold the tools.  I decided to carve a seahorse and the tutor decided it should be two seahorses with seashells.  Unfortunately, Mike (the tutor) died last February but Arthur stepped in and took the class over so the carving is finally finished.  The classes run between October and March each year and below are some photos showing it at different stages. The wood used is lime which is nice and soft to carve.  Seahorse number one (top left) was mainly carved by Mike and I was working on the top right seashell when he died: Seahorse number two is away to be carved and have some scales - he lost some soon after ! Last week, the carving was oiled with lemon oil and was taken off the MDF backing board - this is the before and after: ...

In order to try and make it easier to post more often, I downloaded the Blogger app to my phone but because I have the account linked to other email provider other than gmail, my phone refuses to recognise my account!  So for now, apologies for the lack of updates, I'll just have to try and log into the PC more often.   I have been quite busy recently with work and various groups I'm part of through Church.  I'm currently the Presbytery Elder for our Church and that frequently clashes with Rotary.  I sit on the Ministries and Appriasal Committee and through it, I have visited some other Churches/Kirk Sessions recently which has been interesting.  The bathroom is finally finished.  I had the vinyl laid in January and what a difference it's made.  I didn't realise you could hate a room so much.  The next room on the list is the bedroom though after the trauma of the bathroom walls, I might have to bite the bullet and get someone to do it fo...

I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Aberdeen a couple of days ago.   It was an excellent performance and the first time I seen it on stage after I kept on missing previous tours.  No, I did not dress up as I spent the day wandering around Aberdeen and would have raised a few eyebrows (and been a bit chilly!) but others did in a variety of costumes. Over the last week or so, I've noticed that the cactus below has begun to flower and it has four buds growing with another three looking possible so (drum roll) here is The Little Shop of Horrors plant: Quite a mouthful to say but I cannot think of a more apt name for it!  I am really pleased with it, I certainly didn't expect four buds to appear so fingers crossed they all blossom. Plot update : I'm waiting for the weather to improve before digging up the remaining potatoes.  Something (a slug I suspect) is munching their way through my courgettes so I'm not too impressed particularly as I've not had a "g...

While I've been digging up the odd potato and onion, I've now harvested all the onions and around half of the potatoes: The yellow things are courgettes.  Courgette Number One has produced three so far and Courgette Number Two has produced one (some have been eaten by something).  Not quite the glut I was expecting but still lovely.  Next year, I'll have to grow more onions as these will be lucky to see me into November! There's no way at the moment that I can eat all the food that the plot can produce so I'm going to grow flowers and have started my herb garden.  I picked up a couple of roses for a good price: Strawberries are finally in.  After a few days of heavy rain, I spent the morning digging a patch for them and they're doing quite well (they're in the front of the photo): On another note, I'm on holiday at the moment and have decided to finally bite the bullet and paint the bathroom.  It should have been done a couple of m...

Proof that Mother Nature bounces back.  This is Courgette Number One which I thought had died but no, it has at least thirteen courgettes appearing (you can see a couple of the flowers and a few tiny yellow courgettes). Hopefully Courgette Number Two will bounce back too after being battered by torrential rain as I have a recipe for chocolate and courgette cake that I am desperate to make....!

A couple of Saturdays ago, I went up a couple of hills near Auchterhouse.  This photo is taken from the top of Craigowl and looks over to Dundee (you can just about see the two bridges).  It was hot especially coming back down when the heat hit in waves but the views were worth it: The sunny spell we're having is also having a great effect on the cacti.  This is one of the newer ones that's only had a couple of flowers over the last couple of years so I'm well chuffed. :) I'm hoping that this one below will repeat it's fantastic show of flowers from last year.  It reminds me of the Little Shop of Horrors plant....  

I love kale but I must admit I'm having trouble keeping up with eating the stuff!  All three are kale plus some parsley. :) Kale, chives, peas and courgettes (the yellow ones).  I doubt I'll get anymore courgettes as they were battered by heavy rain: So the digging continues....   

This was the condition of the plot when I got the keys (well, except the one to into it!).  I then started the "race against time" to get the better half planted up. A fellow plot holder gave me some unwanted seed potatoes so they, along with some onions, are planted below.  The leeks were replanted from elsewhere and died soon after. The current state of the plot - about 3/4 of the plot has been dug  only thanks to the rain as the ground is rock solid.  Bring on the rain!  The kale are under the fleece and green protector which I was given from another plot holder who is sadly giving his up this year.  He also gave me parsley, lots of it, plus some strawberry plants for next year.

It's 18 months since I last posted so I obviously broke that New Year's resolution!  Of course, in that time, Blogger has changed and moved some of the settings etc so I'm trying to figure out where things are. Life has been a bit hectic since my last post plus the PC slowly died (again) but it's now up and running.  It always seems to die at the most inconvenient time e.g. trying to order a bathroom suite! So quick update on life in the last 18 months: I originally created this blog to show many of my weird and wonderful pottery creations.  I stopped pottery about four years ago as I had other commitments that clashed and when I could return, I discovered that the classes ceased.   Hopefully, I can take it up in the future if it returns. Thanks to a wrist problem, I haven't crocheted for at least a year.  I actually miss it especially during the winter months as that's when I tend to do most of the work.  I'm hoping to...

Well, my resolution for this year obviously has to be to update the blog at least more than once a year! I'm suffering at the moment with tenosynovitis in my wrist so I'll be updating it bit by bit as typing is difficult, as is writing, reading, cleaning, cooking, washing the car etc or basically anything the wrist objects to doing really. Driving isn't too bad though cycling is out as I can't brake let alone hold the handle. It's quite annoying as the weather's been ok for cycling too. I'm waiting to start physiotherapy in 3 weeks time though. I decided to replace my car in the autumn as the foam gasket leaked (more like gushed really) which meant the floor of the car was constantly soaking particulary after any amount of rain. The garage did try to sort it but some water was still getting through so thought I'd better bite the bullet and get a new one. I've got a brand new Corsa which had to be built as there were none left in stock so it...