Life's little mysteries

1. Why does my Hp inkjet use more yellow ink than any other - including black?  I don't print lots of colour photos - nearly all my printing is text only, and I certainly don't prints endless photos of yellow things, so why?
(And why does the local shop never have the yellow cartridges?)

2. Why don't most stationery shops no longer sell packets of plain postcards ('people don't use them anymore') or OHP transparencies ('people have computerised projectors now').  Well, I'm a people and I want both those items.  Thank goodness for the internet and Amazon where both are available but it would be hard luck if I couldn't wait to have them delivered.  I was surprised that even the Malvern stationers couldn't oblige, one of the best things about living here is that many of the shops are still delightfully old-fashioned (Brays still have wooden till boxes where you write the invoice on the top, and at Francis they write your order out in an ledger book)

Pondering the above, I made a trip to Staples for the printer cartridge (another mystery, why are these so expensive) without hope that they would have either of the other items.  They didn't, of course, but I thought my nice, newly-painted office deserved some new bright stationery and succumbed to these magazine racks and a storage box ready for the new tax year, as well as some other little items like double sided tape and some bits and pieces for the postcard swap.  

I couldn't resist these little bulldog clips - perfect for my system of clipping my weekly paperwork together to stop things going astray.  The little clock and rack of hooks I found in a local garden centre.

The weather is beautiful today so I did make a start on the garden - sorting out the compost bin ,so you wouldn't want pictures of that.  Next door are having a new ensuite fitted and their driveway and our little cul-de-sac is crowded with vans, so getting out is almost impossible without asking for them all to move.  Fortunately, I shopped yesterday and M can wait until next week for her prescription. Hope you all have this wonderful weather - time to get our new parking permit for the Hills carparks and get up there walking.  If only H's dizziness would go away!

Lots of excitement yesterday as the first of the postcards from the postcard swap started dropping through letterboxes.  Have a look here  to see what we've all been up to.

Here's the one I received from Lesley at Printed Material.  My theme is water and she's picked on the famous Malvern Water - the plant where the most famous brand was bottled has recently closed down though there are rumors that it will be taken on by a local firm.  Water is still being bottled at Holywell.  If you're local you can collect your own from one of the wells or standpipes - and we get to walk on the beautiful Malvern Hills too! 

Today being Mothering Sunday, I did my motherly duty and drove over to daughter's house to check on cat as daughter is away.  Cat was very pleased to see me and daughter had left flowers and card for me.  Came back to find H moving M's furniture around (again) to try and counter complaints about the light getting into her eyes.  Having moved chair, television, footstool and side table into at least 10 different configurations, we landed up as usual back where we started with further complaint about the lateness of lunch (haven't yet found a way to cook lunch and move furniture at the same time but I'm working on it!).  Needless to say it didn't do much for H's dizziness which is no better for taking the tablets the Dr prescribed.  We're now hoping a trip to the cardiac clinic will come up with some answer as it's becoming very debilitating and stops him driving. 

I've ordered some sample pots from Little Greene in the hope that we can agree on a colour to paint our bedroom which is the other room on the top floor of the house.  It's currently the pale green we inherited when we bought the house which is OK but a bit grubby.  Like my office it has a lot of cupboards (but no shelves, mercifully) which could either match the walls or the woodwork.  I quite like decorating, as long as I haven't got a deadline,  my father was a painter and decorator (and a plumber, small builder and Jack of all trades) and I earnt pocket money during my teenage years doing undercoats and base coats and scraping wallpaper off walls.  Now when I paint I hear his voice in my ear constantly - don't stretch the paint, careful how you cut round that window, don't drip on the floors!  I've got a bit out of practice recently, but I still make very little mess on the floor or myself - H on the other hand cannot be let near a paint brush unless everything is covered in dust sheets and he's covered in old clothes.

Must get my next couple of postcards done before I start any decorating - the fortnightly posting deadlines will creep up on me otherwise!

It's pouring with rain here today, so I thought you might prefer some photos of my activities last week instead.  On a trip up to my friend's farm with my camera,  I caught lots of curious faces:

 

What do you suppose she's looking at?  Must be us we're so photogenic...

 Just look at our beautiful eyelashes.

No, she's looking at me

'Cos I've got a secret

 But she might be looking at my lamb.....

Or me!

Other members of the farm were also eager to be photographed - can you see the other pair of eyes in the second version of this photo? 

But some were much too superior to bother moving from their preferred spot.

My friend, Marion, and I had a great lunch in a Tenbury pub and visited Burford House

We didn't buy anything in the house, though we saw plenty we would have liked to buy.  It's worth a trip if you're in the area - there's a good cafe and a garden centre too.    I drove home via Worcester and had a cup of tea with daughter - H is more or less housebound at present as he has the awful dizziness back again, so I didn't have to worry about M for once.

On Friday, daughter and I went to the show at the NEC and spent a happy few hours pottering around - with frequent stops for food and coffee.  We particularly liked the knitted display rising funds for the RNLI.  It represents a coastal cliff and beach and you can walk through under the sea.  Apparently 2000 knitters have taken part knitting anything from squares for the sea and the cliff to fish, seagulls, jelly fish and even a sea monster.  I'm afraid the photo isn't brilliant as I was using my phone, but there are some better ones here

We managed to find Joanna (http://www.thingshandmade.blogspot.com/) who is taking part in the postcard swap. She was helping on a friend's stall.  Friday is the day for posting our first efforts and I have now got mine finished- some people have done lots in advance, but I'm relieved to have the first one ready.  We'll be posting what we receive on this blog, so can't wait to see what everyone's been up to.

This week is not to be filled with outings and jollities - I've been cleaning carpets yesterday and this morning, H has a Dr's appointment later in the week to try again to get something done about the dizziness, and M's new glasses are coming on Thursday.  Still I should get some knitting done, and then there's the next postcard to think about - they're fortnightly now so must get into the swing.  (And there's the small problem of the neglected garden to consider too.)

You know it's spring when....

When you look ou the velux window and you see......

I counted seventeen altogether -  did they all take a day off work, I wonder.  Can't imagine they're all retired

So what do you think?

I've painted and sanded and painted and touched up the edges and now my room is open for business again at last. 

The original woodwork wasn't brilliantly finished so the paint took better in some places than others - hence the sanding etc.  I tried using soft clear wax on the surfaces which get more use and then sanded and painted again as Annie Sloan recommends - it did improve the surfaces which were very rough in places.

The blue is James 108 from the Little Greene Paint Company - it's slightly darker than it looks on the picture, more the colour of Wedgwood pottery.  The room looks much larger than it did - it's actually about 7 ft by 14ft but the shelving narrows it.  I had a real sort out - the shelves were packed before, but it won't stay this tidy!  My stash of wool lives in the cupboards under the window, but my sewing materials are in the utility room downstairs  - this room really needs a  larger work table to take advantage of the light under the velux window.  A trip to Ikea is indicated I think.

I've put a tutorial for the log cabin throw on a separate page  - it isn't finished yet but I'll post the rest as soon as I can.   For the people who asked about the Squggle Throw, it's very simple.   You'll need about 9 balls of each colour of a super chunky which knits to a 9.5 stitches and 12 rows tension on size 10 needles. (Sirdar Squiggle, Big Softie, Denim Ultra, and King Cole and Twilleys do similar so there's a big choice in all sorts of yarn).   Cast on 30 stitches and, in moss stitch, knit 42 rows to make a square, change colour and repeat.  Knit four square to make a strip and cast off.  Knit three strips - or more if you want a larger throw, and sew together.  It's very warm and cuddly.

Weather's wonderful here - hope you're having a great weekend.

This and that

As promised, photos of the rest of my stash busting activities - my total output for the year so far!  First a really snuggly lap blanket knitted in Sirdar Squiggle super chunky - a very fast knit on size 10 needles.

A new great-nephew arrived a week ago - he was born in the Middle East where his parents are teachers (fortunately, not in area of unrest).  I shall keep this in hand until they visit in the summer when he'll probably need a few woollies!  I've now got some thin cotton yarn to knit a little slipover more suitable for their weather.

And last but by no means least, baby E for whom I made a lot of clothes last year, has just celebrated her first birthday and this doggy person is waiting to be packed and sent.

He's knitted in Sirdar Snowflake and is very soft and cuddly - I wonder what she'll call him, we've named him Woof!

It's been a busy week - another trip to Opthamology but now M doesn't have to go back until November,  a trip to Cardiff with daughter (no photos, but we had a great day catching up with a city where we lived for 15 years in the eighties and nineties), and at last I've started transforming my little office shelving and cupboards from this:

To this:

Something I've been wanting to do for about two years.  I'm using Annie Sloan paint on the woodwork and it's realy nice to use.  I like the green wall but I can't match it so I'm probably going to paint the walls blue - I'll keep you up to date, it's going to take me a few days and two coats on everything.

Three people have asked me about the pattern for the logcabin throw.  There are several patterns online, but I'll do a tutorial and post it as soon as I can.   I'm also hoping to knit a few throws for sale as I've also had enquiries about that and some baby items both knitted and sewn.   I'm still working on some sewn quilts and throws - I find it more difficult to get a good session on those but I keep trying!

Had the details today for the postcard swap I've joined - sounds really exciting.  Must get the room sorted so I've got somewhere to work on it.  Must stop now as I'm late with the lunch - big problem......

All square

one

two

four

many*

Here's the first of my stash busting knitting projects completed in the internetless weeks of February. (or the broadbean wilderness as we are now calling it, thanks to Jayne's comment on my last post!)

You may remember if you've been visiting here for a while that I knitted a lot of baby clothes last year, and I also inherited  all my late sister's stash.  This left me with lots of single balls and part balls and insufficient quantity to make any garment - lots of different creams for a start and a lot of mauve which my sister loved.  When I saw this log cabin pattern it was immediately familiar - my mother used to knit similar squares when I was a child, and it seemed ideal as the centre square is only 15 stitches and 30 rows, so you can use up   quite small quantities of yarn  It's very easy to knit (all in garter stitch) so a good thing to take to hospital appointments as you can't lose track of the pattern and even on the last rectangle you only have 90 stitches to deal with.

The photos don't really do it justice as the light wasn't brilliant.  The turquoise - a bamboo wool mix with a lovely sheen, lifts it.  There are sixteen squares and each took a couple of evenings knitting - the whole thing took two evenings to sew in the ends and another to piece together.  It's double knit on size 4 needles but would work just as well in thinner or thicker yarn.  It's very heavy and as nearly all the yarns are part wool with cashmere, microfibre or bamboo, it's very warm.  The finished size is roughly 5ft square.

I've got three other things to sew up, so more to come.   Hope it's warmer where you are, it's bitterly cold here. Another hospital trip tomorrow ......

*in deference to Terry Pratchett - the way trolls count, apparently.