mostly, I have been crocheting...

Actually, mostly I've been at work! But in between, I've been on a bit of a mission... My friend's baby is due in about a months time, but she's been having a bit of a rough time, had to leave work early and its looking very likely that this little person wont wait until the official due date! So I had a few evenings of mad square-making before getting to this...

You'll have to excuse the dingy colours, I just can't get a decent photo in my house because the rooms are never properly light at the moment and its been way too miserable to take photos outside. I love this bit of making a blanket and spent some time fiddling around with the layout. 

I usually leave a longish tail on each square and use that to join them but this time I'd been very disciplined and sewed all the ends in as I went along. So this time I decided to crochet them all together with a contrasting colour and actually, I really liked the end result...

Then came the tricky business of a border... I always stress over this a bit, mainly because you can't tell if it looks ok til you've done it! Originally I thought I'd go for quite a wide border and try to incorporate most of the colours...

I faffed about with the first row, first a row of trebles in every stitch, then 3 treble clusters, then clusters with spaces... After several lots of unravelling, I settled for three rows of 2 treble clusters, then a solid trebles row. I was going to do a fancy border after a dc row in the bright red, but then I kind of liked it with just that plain edge so, suddenly I was finished!!

Its a bit wiggly round the edges, mainly because I don't do the whole blocking/pressing thing with blankets, but I quite like it that way and I think they feel squishier and nicer somehow...

I hope my friend likes it!

I've also managed to finish a little thing thats been hanging around years! To be honest I'd forgotten about it, then found it when I was having a bit of a sort out. Can you spot it on my bed...? (in the awful dark, fuzzy photo!)

I think I made this little piece of lacework (think it has a proper name but can't remember it!) shortly after teaching myself to crochet again two or three years ago. It was supposed to be square but my tension was obviously off a bit. I'd made the cushion and the base cover from an old jumper but had never got around to attaching the crochet.

Silly really, it didn't take long to stitch on the crochet, add a few buttons...

...and I tucked in a little lavender bag, the plan being that it'll sit on my bed and help me sleep (ha ha!!!). It's not my favourite thing ever, don't really think the essentially monochrome look is for me, but there is a certain satisfaction in ticking another 'thing done' off the list :-) And it smells lovely!

Now I'm back to knitting... I'm making a poncho for a friend who has to spend much of her time in a wheelchair and thought a poncho would be an easy. cosy thing to put on and off.

Its dead easy - basically like knitting two small blankets, joining at the shoulders and adding a collar, but they are seriously long rows!! Getting there, I'm probably two thirds of the way up the back now. The yarn is Stylecraft aran, acrylic and wool mix and its really soft and lovely to knit with. Need to get it finished while the weather's still cold!!

Apart from all that...

I've had another trip to London, to a meeting at a venue practically under Tower Bridge - great view!

You can walk across the high walkways, where there is apparently an exhibition but I missed the last entrance by about a milisecond!

Quite imposing up close! Will have to save the exhibition for another time. Instead, although it was bitterly cold, I had a nice walk along the south bank of the Thames, under the bridges and through all the modern glass fronted office buildings...

I really love walking through London and I am definitely getting better at doing this on my own!!

Last weekend my eldest son was 24, can't quite believe that, it still seems amazing to me that these lovely men have appeared where my babies were 5 minutes ago! We had a lovely day out at the zoo. Although, I've always had slightly mixed feelings about zoos, Ben has loved seeing the animals, right from a small boy - think his favourites are the big cats - and this zoo seems to have happy, healthy animals and a big part in the breeding programmes that seem to be essential for preserving some of the animals that used to be prevalent in the wild.

This family of lions look and behave just like giant versions of your household moggie, basically pretty lazy and laid back...

They are seriously impressive beasts...

but I think I still love the giraffe the best...

We had a fun time, but why oh why can I still not manage to get a decent shot of my sons at the same time...!?!

Love them to bits!

That's about me done, til next time then...

Sx