Next Steps

The last week has been full of the usual ups and downs of family life. Thinking about it, I can't actually remember much of it, except for A Lot of Extra Things to do with the fact that Little Man's off to Secondary School in September. There have been forms, more forms, emails, trial mornings, trial days, meetings, more meetings, uniform buying, and even uniform labelling - go me! organised! His transition, as a child on the autistic-spectrum has been very well managed, I really can't fault either school, but boy is it time-consuming! Despite all this Big School related activity I still simply cannot believe that my boy, my baby, my first-born, is about to finish his time at Primary School. It can't be possible. Surely it was only yesterday that he was dragged forth, 15 days late, into this world, with the hugest widest eyes I have ever seen, eyes that flitted back and forth between his Daddy and I, back and forth, back and forth, for an eternity it seemed, taking it all in, committing every little detail to his amazing brainier-than-brainy brain. He is ready, I know he is, even with the Asperger's and the anxiety, I know he has grown out of Primary School. I know he is ready for this next step. But still ........

And so, I find myself having not blogged for over a week now. Tut tut, that will not do, no not at all. Pull yourself together woman and get blogging!

The only way I can remember what else I've actually done with my week (apart from watch Wimbledon that is ....)  is to look at the stuff lying around the house, and the photos on my camera :) So without further ado, here's what I've been up to in the last week....

I've started a poncho from the Drops Design  Raspberry Smoothie pattern (its free, thankyou Drops Design :)

But I'm very sorry Drops, I am not using your recommended yarn, because I bought some James C Brett marble chunky ....

.... which is gorgeous colours, but, try as I might, I cannot make myself love it. Serves me right I suppose. The colour changing of this yarn is so clever, it's done (I think) by twisting two biggish strands of differing colours, each of which changes colour at a separate point, and gradually. Maybe that's how all colour-changing/self-striping yarn works, but the two strand business confuses me. I struggle to see the stitch definition and just end up in a huffy puffy fuzzy mess.

I do love the colours though ....

It has worked up brilliantly quickly, I was thinking "autumn" when I started it - hence the colour choice - but for once I may finish something early, miracles really do happen :) I'll blog about it again come autumn, hopefully you'll all have forgotten about it by then, and I can pretend to be fabulously ready for the start of a new season ;)

So what else.... I've been running up a quick pencil case type thingy whilst flicking through my new Simply Crochet magazine. Well, the pattern was a sort of made up one, not from the magazine, and the two activities of crocheting and magazine-flicking-through were not exactly simultaneous (or simultaneous at all in fact), but the photo of it all together looked rather lovely I thought..... cover-girl-lady looks very happy, doesn't she - that's how crochet makes me feel too :)

The pencil case thingy (very vague, I know) is for a stationery swap that I'm participating in. I've made it to fit a set of lovely colouring pencils, but whilst it looks rather lovely (if I do say so myself) it's totally impractical due its flap closing design, all the pencils can easily fall out. However tarting it up any more than I already have (photos coming to a blog post near you soon) will make it be sent out eeeeeeven later than it already is. And I'm guessing that the recipient won't exactly be stuffing it in a school-bag or similar, so maybe it will actually be quite perfect :)

And whilst on the subject of stationery swap, I've also made a fabric cover for a notebook. Here are a couple of photos of it so far .... laying out supplies .... ooh goody I do like choosing fabric, with buttons and ribbons to match .......

..... making a little patch pocket for the front ...

 ... attaching the pocket to the unfinished sleeve ...

... again completion photos coming soon! These fabric covers are fairly sraightforward to make, a great use of smallish pieces of fabric, and they make a simple notebook look really really special. I'll be making some as teacher presents for the end of term I think.

And finally. I really hope you're still reading as I have some Very Exciting News ..... I've decided to bite the bullet and see if I can sell some of my craft stuff. This idea has been knocking round my head for a while now, and in the last couple of weeks two different people have suggested it to me in all seriousness. Honestly my head is buzzing with ideas, I am having to do a brain-dump each night to get any sleep at all! So exciting! I know it'll be hard work, I'm not in it to make mega-bucks, but even just making enough to fund my craft-supply-addiction (most-notably yarn it has to be said) would be just fine by me.

If anyone has any advice or tips, dos or don'ts, please feel free to share :) And I'll raise a glass to our collective success - cheers!!

Strawberry Fields

Another weekend has come and gone. I'm sure they get faster as I get older. This one has been full of fun as usual, lots of little bits and bobs combined to make a lovely weekend.

Yesterday Little Man was computering as normal, and Little Miss was at a Big Brownie Birthday Bash (or something) all day, an event celebrating the 100 years of the Brownies.

Little Tomboy and I decided to have an afternoon together, just the two of us, something that rarely happens. She was more or less in charge of the afternoon, and the first thing she asked to do was for us to go on a wander with my new camera so she could learn how to use it. I must say, I am really really impressed with the photos she took. She's only 6, and although there were a few problems with her use of the focusing button, she took some really great pictures. We went around the field and the wildflower area for a bit, and she took all of these brilliant photos all by herself ....

When we got home she wandered round the house taking random pictures .....

Aren't they great ? Considering she can hardly hold the camera, despite it being small for an SLR it's pretty heavy - at least for a 6 year old. And I really think she has framed them all quite well (in my totally novice opinion).

But my favourite one that she took is this one .....

.... isn't it a great snapshot of day to day life ... can you see the Jif and the sun-screen and the lunchboxes ?

Next thing to do on our day was go to the cafe for juice and cake ....

And then we somehow ended up in a wool shop !?! How surprising !! I was requested to buy this monstrosity to make into gloves for her ....

If you're thinking "oh that doesn't look that bad", well trust me, it is. The picture does not nearly reflect the garish neon glow-in-the-dark orangeyness properly. But I suppose at the end of the day its still wool, right ?? I did buy some other wool that actually is Nice, but more about that another time.

Just over the road from the cafe and woolshop is a really rather fabulous Pick-Your-Own place called Gray's Farm. They have acres and acres and acres of all sorts of fruit and veg - broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach, sweetcorn, raspberries, redcurrants .... the list goes on and on ...

... and yet more wildflowers (yes, I am totally addicted to photos of wildflowers) ...

And of course they grow strawberries. Flipping billions of them it seems. Strawberry picking is practically mandatory when you are there already and its a hot sunny day, don't you think ? We picked up a punnet ....

... looked for the strawberry patch (that makes it sound small, it's huuuuuuuuuge) ...

.... oooooo look! Can you see them! I can see them! .....

"Can I eat one Mummy ?" ....

Of course you can Little Tomboy! We did sample a few - just to make sure they tasted ok you see...

We got a great haul to take home for tea.... and don't forget the cream .....

Strawberry picking was something I always wanted to do when I was little, it seemed like something the Famous Five or the Secret Seven would do, and I was Desperate to be just like them. I soooooo love it that I can finally get to do it, and give my children (hopefully) happy memories of strawberry-picking in the sun :)

Mostly Mini Mandalas

Crochetland and Blogland are both alive with the sound of crocheters hooking mandalas, it seems to be utterly infectious, and I too have been caught up in the madness. My first mandala was made from one of Wink's patterns featured in Simply Crochet last year. The link to buy the pattern, "Petals to Picots Mandala" is here. Like many, I'd never even heard of mandalas back then, but now every self-respecting hooker has made one, or at least thought about making one :)

My colour choices weren't the best but I had zero stash. (How in heaven's name has my stash grown so big since then ???) Anyway. Of course once you have made a mandala there is then a minor mystery - what do you do with it ? Well, let's face it, they're just doilies with a superiority complex, and this mandala now sits on my wicker table with a bowl of crochet "stuff" on top of it....

I did at some point make another one of Wink's mandalas, again from an issue of Simply Crochet, but - the poor thing - I had completely forgotten about it until today when I was rummaging around for something else, and out it popped. When I made it I hated the colours. But looking at it now I have no idea why I didn't like it. The colours are flippin brilliant - fiery and fiesta-ish .......

Yes, yes, I know its not a mandala in the traditional sense (is there a traditional sense ?) but it really was described as a mandala. Honestly.
After making those two mandalas, life continued in its normal mandala-free way, until recently when Lucy of Attic24 blogged her request for mandalas for Yarndale. You can read Lucy's post here. Once again I was in the mandala-zone and HAD to make a mandala to send off to Lucy - I mean it would have been rude not to.
I used Lucy's own mandala pattern, and I deliberately used totally random bits from my oddments stash, you know those really teeny weeny balls of wool that are really only good for one round of one small granny or flower. I keep mine all on clothes pegs to prevent carnage in the oddment bowl.....

As I was saying my Yarndale mandala is really random colour-wise, and has turned out super-zingy and I LOVE it!!!

.... I know it isn't a perfect circle, but that's just fine with me, I am just soooo happy with the colours, nothing could make me not LOVE this mandala :)   After that there was no going back and my hooky fingers were itching to make some more.....

And so I give you my genius idea of making mini mandalas to remind me of the projects I've finished.

I used Lucy's mandala pattern again, but stopped after 7 rounds, thereby keeping my mandalas mini-sized :) Here are the ones I've made so far ....

Can you spot which projects they're for ?

So far there are mini-mandalas for the three baby blankets - Harrison's Baby Blanket, Jacob's Baby Blanket and Jasper's Baby Blanket....

... for two lots of bunting - Blue Birthday Bunting and British Bunting ...

... and for Little Miss' Bright Bag and Mum's Monochrome Cushion ...

I could just look at all this colour all day long, I'm love Love LOVING it ..... 

Isn't it just FAB-U-LOUS .... :)

Every time I finish a project, I'll make a mini-mandala, in the colours that I used for that project. Next job is to make a display board for them. Busy busy busy :)

A Visit to the Vyne

Our National Trust passes really are a gift that keep on giving. We receive them every Christmas from my parents, and as its usually too cold and dark for long days out at that time of year, the passes sit in the kitchen promising lots of adventures just as soon as the days get a bit brighter and the sun a little warmer.

Not only that, every 3 months a National Trust magazine plops through my letterbox......

... lots of lovely pictures to look at, and the most recent one had a great feature on one of my favourite NT properties - Mount Stewart, in N. Ireland ... I grew up close by, visited a lot as a child, and take my own Little People there when we visit on holidays. It makes me sooooo happy to see them doing exactly what I did as a child :)

Once April has passed, and the weather is a bit more friendly, most properties are properly open and we can use the passes quite regularly, each time remembering back to opening the card containing them on Christmas Day.

For Father's Day we decided to use our passes to visit The Vyne, which is a fairly small NT property about 30 minutes drive away, which, for some reason we rarely visit. I don't really know why we don't go more often, as we do really enjoy our visits there. Or maybe that's exactly why we enjoy it so much ? Who knows.

The weather was rather pleasant - a lot cooler than the hot humid days we've had of late, but perfect for tree climbing, scenic-view viewing, nature-discovering and general running about.

The NT do this great thing where they encourage children to do outdoorsy stuff - "50 Things to do before you are 11 3/4". Its been on the go for several years now, but every year we have to get new booklets and start ticking things off all over again :)

Today's main objective was to do Number 1 - "Climb a tree". Now I think about it we never really get much past number 1 as they love to climb trees so much .... Little Tomboy is the best at this, she is fearless and determined ....

The Vyne has a lovely little orchard and vegetable garden, along with a chicken run .....  this one was digging for victory. Or maybe just worms ....

Little Man and I did a bit of vegetable spotting ...

 .... and fruit spotting ....

.... under this chap's watchful eye ... love those socks ...

Little Man has a bit of a thing for snail shells - look at this beauty ....

Much hilarity as Little Miss has a go pedalling on a tractor waaaaay too small for her long legs ....

A dazzling array of wonderful flowers .....

All that fresh air seems to draw the Little People to the sweety stand ..... and how sweet it was ....

Candy Floss on a stick! Please Mummy please can we have some ...

... look, it was bigger than their heads ....

Somewhat less messy carrot cake and tea for the Big People .....

And a rather fabulous natural play area for the Little People ..... tunnels, hillocks, bamboos ....

... and some unusual sculptures .... is it a bird? a kettle ? a Viking hat ? Viking Hat we decided.

We ambled on and did some random nature-spotting ..... Little Man spotted the mushrooms ....

.... and he spotted this furry little guy ....

... and just what are these two up to ....

... sycamore helicopters ....

There's a beautiful lake ........

... with some amazing weeping willows on its banks ....

We especially liked this one as the path went under its canopy so we could see the reflection on the water ....

There were some rather wacky trees ....

.... and lovely spots to sit down and rest awhile...

 ..... finally it was back to the entrance where we noticed the artwork that we hadn't spotted earlier .....

... and the plants for sale that had also gone unnoticed ....

... but, luckily for my bank account, the "Garden Shed" where you pay was closed already. And so it was off to the car to head home.

I've said it before, I know, but I do love that a simple walk in the fresh air, absorbing all the wonders of nature, can be enough for my Little People. To see them running about, exclaiming at new discoveries, using their imaginations and playing together makes me so happy :)