Ta - dah!

Not only a Ta - dah but my one hundredth post! I thought I would have got fed up with this blogging lark long before now, so I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd reached 99 posts. It seems fitting that number 100 should coincide with a show and tell moment.
No, not the baby blanket but the cushion / pillow cover.

Last weekend I needed a break from 2" squares, so cracked on with the pillow cover. I had to wait until yesterday to get some buttons for it but it's now finished and looks fab! Although the woman in the wool shop said "what is it?" in an oh-my-god-that's-so-ugly-what-the-hell-is-it tone of voice... she didn't win any points there!
It is, however, my favourite haberdashers/wool shop and they now have the most fabulous range of buttons. Just look at the size of their button wall!!

But back to my ta-dah moment. Naturally I've taken far too many photos which means there's also far too much choice in what to show! And yes, some photos show the wrong side. All the rows were worked from one side only but strangely, I also really like the texture of the wrong side. I think I mentioned way back that what I don't like with crochet is the "garter stitch" effect of working from alternate sides. Anyway, back to the photos - are you ready??...

This is the little flap that tucks inside that I'll stitch the buttons to.

I chose 2 sets of buttons - functional on one side of the cover and decorative on the other.

This is the "closed" end - a row of double crochet worked through both layers from the wrong side.

Enough? Ok!

The Cathedral also had a bit of a ta-dah recently when they revealed the shiny new lead on the roof. We had a sunny day this week and it looked lovely -

This is the East end. The West end  didn't need repairs so still has its weather look -

You cn just see the lovely sun dial at the top of the wall at the right hand side. 

Well that's all for now - hope you like all the pillow cover photos. Till next time, Tina x

Is it a blanket, is it a bag?...

No - it's a cushion cover! If you've read about my Rippling Clusters Blanket, especially on Ravelry,  you'll know my original attempt went wrong. Recently,  I got it out again and began to turn it into a bag. That went wrong too! So I'm now thinking about a cushion/pillow cover.

Many years ago, I made this patchwork cover for a small feather pillow. It lives on the bed and supports the small of my back when reading. Then I grab it and fling it out the floor!
After years of grabbing and flinging the corners are threadbare and there's a rip on the back.

I keep meaning to repair it but then I thought maybe a crochet cover?  Would my blanket/bag piece be the right size??
No...its too wide but with a bit of work I can adjust it and it might look quite effective.
A few more straight rows. Maybe a line of simple grannies, or even the Circle of Friends block I saw last week.

Will it work do you think? I quite like it. I mustn't spend too much time on it at the moment though - I need to get cracking with the baby blanket.  I've taken to making batches of one colourway of squares at a time. I've made 67 so far and I'm hoping 108 (12 x 9 squares) will be enough for a reasonable size pram blanket. I'll make a few more later today. 

On a completely different subject, I went for a really good country walk with a couple of friends yesterday. It was across farmers fields, footpaths, and quiet country lanes. It was so quiet with no traffic sounds! And views were stunning.  We came across a lovely patch of bluebells - real English bluebells in a really deep blue. When I looked at my photos later,I realised I hadn't taken many pics of them - only 4 or 5, and no close-ups.

It was very steep in places - this road had a sign that said 1:5, although you can't tell how steep it is from the photo below. The banks both sides are covered in wild garlic that was only just coming into flower - imagine what it will look like carpeted in white once in full bloom.

Going downhill was VERY hard on the knees and we knew we'd eventually have an uphill climb to match. When it came, I'm sure it was even steeper and was just a muddy path. Again, you can't see the gradient in the photo below but believe me, it was steep!

My knees really hurt afterwards - still do today. But it was worth it though as the scenery really was quite something. We were surprised at the lack of wildlife - apart from hearing a bit of bird song, all we were saw were a few farm animals, including some sheep with fabulous curly horns!

        

Look at this gorgeous fresh green leave (beech?), nestled next to last year's much bigger brother!

This last one is my favourite shot though. I could have stood there for hours, watching the shadows play across the landscape. Breathtaking.