Breaking with tradition

Today we planted the first potatoes.  No big deal, it's already the April 24th.  Yes, big deal as the St Glace haven't passed.  There is a tradition in these here parts than no outdoor planting should be done before the 11th, 12th & 13th May - and the passing of  the Ice Saints.  Imagine my shock when our head gardener a.k.a Papy Bob - father in law, announced that the spuds were going in - today!  Crazy hey!  I haven't done anything this wild in years! it almost feels illegal.

In Bloom - finally!

But this year we have a lot of potatoes to plant.  My neighbor, who in the past has done a veggi garden, doesn't have time this year and so has offered it to us.  Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth we accepted - with a little bartering off course.  There was absolutely no need, she didn't want any 'rent' but well it seemed kinda fun, an 'all she can eat' exchange for lending us the land.   This means extra work, so we've roped the kids in to help.

So while they planted, I weeded and finished the afternoon of with a little crafting and a cuppa.  Now off to face the mounds of laundry I've been ignoring all day before they topple over and bury someone alive.  Or maybe make another cup of tea and enjoy a few Yarn Along posts!

sweet heart pattern here

Yarn Along - Getting moving

Oh Tino, my dear little Tino.  The only one around here that ever asks me to knit/crochet things for him, and then actually consents to wearing them.  Last weekend he wanted slippers, so I made him these .  Apart from looking a little 'girly' they didn't stay on, so I added the little bands  

now they say on just fine and look more 'boyish', don't you think!

For the past week or so I've been reading Run Like a Mother - How to Get Moving and Not Lose Your Family, Job or Sanity.  Written with much humor, yet offering a serious approach to training and simple running objectives for busy mothers - if you reach point B in 15 minutes try reaching it in 12 on the next run.  It's right up my street, no point extolling to me the virtues of knowing my VO2 max and body fat percentage. It's not that I don't care I just don't want to take it that seriously.  I just like running, enjoying the scenery and completing  the odd few races.  But as Richi so recently pointed out, I have a 23K Cross coming up in 10 weeks 'so a little less reading and a lot more action, please.'

My ripple continues along, and is still small enough to carry around for a spot of crochet here and there...

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along this week.

Yarn Along - QUACK!

"And who's been sitting on my knitting bag" boomed mama bear
"Not me, I just ate the porridge" replied Goldilocks, "think it might have been Tino!"

Oh no, my lovely knitpro's!

No panic.  One of the advantages of having a s.i.l, (who knits), as a neighbor is that a replacement 3.5 mm circular needle can be found in an instant.  Can't reveal much more of this project as it is a gift for someone special.
We will be spending Easter weekend at yet another ice-hockey tournament with Rémi, so I'm going to need a few things up my sleeve to entertain Tino, who's not in the slightest bit interested in watching or playing hockey.  I saw this wonderful little project last week and it's just the ticket, Tino really likes 'duckies'

attention: crochet 'ponds' are not always what they seem...

... they are also clever little bags for carrying these...

as illustrated by pen in cute duckie butt, these are in fact finger puppets.

Five little ducks went swimming one day

Over the pond and far away

Mummy duck said

"Quack Quack Quack Quack"

And only four little ducks came back

And so on an so forth until all the duckies go far away.  Don't worry one big QUACK QUACK from mother brings them all swimming right back!  Just need to make 3 more before this weekend.

Been doing a little sewing also, we're going to go into full production this afternoon to make these Heirloom Easter Eggs for teachers gifts.  With almost 100 kids in the school we figured the teachers will be receiving quite enough chocolate.

Still going through a 'dry' period on the reading front.  And still haven't decided on which camera to buy.  Got a bit carried away, and kept telling myself that if I just add 100€ more, 100€ more...I could get an even better model!  But that's the beauty of  the internet, you can brows (dream) without some salesperson breathing down your neck.  Anyway, I brought myself back to reality and I'm now down to two choices - Nikon d3200 or Canon 1100d.

Linking up with Ginny and Tami today.

Yarn Along & Stash Bustin

Linking up with both Ginny and Tricia this week

Two very quick, stash bustin projects, have recently come off the needles.  

Firstly I made myself this monday's cowl with the left over yarn from Rémi's hot water bottle cozy.  The twisted purl pattern gives a lovely 'basket like' texture.  It's knit in one long rectangular piece and then folded over and held in place with a button - slipped on and off over the head.  The hardest part was finding a button!  Despite rummaging through my s.i.l's extensive collection I didn't find anything I liked and so ended up buying this 'clip', bit of a shame really as it takes away from the 'stash only' element of things.

Secondly, I made this oddment:-

A nose warmer, kindly modeled by Bolt the dog.  It was requested by a friend for her mother's 80th birthday!!! I suggested she might prefer a day at the spa or even some talc, but she had her mind set on this!

In fact it was a great hit here (will let you know what the birthday girl though when I get some feed back) Richard (who never want's anything knit) and the boys have put in order for pig, mice and elephant models!! Might have started something here, who 'nose'!

So instant gratification projects aside for a moment, an on to my ripple.  I anticipated 30 balls for this blanket and still have 25+ left!! taking it nice and s-l-o-w-l-y, but as they say 'it's the journey not the destination'.     Whilst each completed ripple procures quite a sense of gratification, it definitely is  an exersise in endurance. 

Look, no ends!! I'm being very disciplined and sewing them every few rows!

My mind is a little preoccupied with plans for the new chicken coop and the veggie garden at the moment so I'm not in the 'reading-a-whole-book' kinda mood, but luckily I've received my copy of Taproot with it's wonderful collection of dream themed articles.  Throughly enjoying it as usual.
No doubt after todays yarn along I'll have a big long list of book ideas (and knitting projects) to tempt me.
Looks like the weather man was wrong and we are getting sunshine instead of snow here today -YAY!

Happy Wednesday all.

Yarn Along & Camera Advice please!

Finished Tino's second sock, got a big 'feet up' of approval from him, but we are experiencing a slight saggy sock problem.  After a few hours of wearing they tend get all loose and won't stay up, which he doesn't like!
I think maybe I should have done the entire leg section in rib, might have made them tighter.

Knitted up this cowl super quick, with the remaining Noro yarn from my Shalom, as a wee  gift for a friend. Whilst I was making my Shalom, she commented that the yarn was her colour, so I was jolly happy when I'd finished it and realized that I bought one whole skein to much. I knew just what to do with it.

 I'm happy to say it was well received.

Bit off a little more that I could chew here, when I cast on these socks from Marigold's Loft.  The pattern is easy to follow and Natalie has included an excellent photo tutorial, but I'd just forgotten how long 'man sized' socks take to make.  These were intended as a birthday present for this coming weekend but there's no way they will be finished in time, so plan B gift has been bought and these will be put away for christmas.

Now if you don't mind me asking, I'd like a spot of camera advice. At the moment I have a little compact Olympus, which I'm very happy with but I'd like to get myself and SLR.  I'v been looking at the Nikon d3000/d3100 which are about my budget (400€) but would welcome any other suggestions.
Years ago in uni I had this Nikon FG.  It's broken now but the 'problem' with it was that it was all manual.  This worked fine for me at the time, as the pictures I need to take were 'still life' type but now I'm needing it as a family camera - autofocus- as kids and 'still' don't go too well.

As a word in it's defense, I think it is far more attractive than what seems to be on the market these days.  I like the metal and heavy duty plastic and the big knobs!  Everything now seem so flimsy, 100% plastic and stream lined. Sort of  like cars!  I love the old white walls with curves and chrome.

Elba Island, Italy, where everyone had one of these two seater, 3 wheel  beauties.
Built for comfort not speed!

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along this week.

Always getting under my feet!

What ever I was doing, one thing was for sure, Oban would be under my feet whilst I was doing it!
Yesterday we buried her ashes under the house.  With more than 2 meters of snow still on the ground, which will remain frozen well into late march, we had no possibility of burying her body in the garden.  
Behind our cellar, we have an approximately 80 cm high space running under the entire house to permit access to the pipes etc if needed.  Here the earth is very compact but due to the insulation from the house above, it doesn't freeze.

So Oban's final resting place is right where she loved to be, always under our feet!!

Thank you, friends, for all your lovely words of sympathy, on my last two posts.

Yarn Along & Remembering Oban

I don't have a whole lot to show on the knitting front, finished one of Tino's socks and cast on the second.  I bought this yarn as a 'test' for another project and while I love the colour and most importantly Tino loves his 'sock', this is way too orange for my future project.  My ripple continues to make progress but it is going to be sometime before I get this finished,  each row has over 200 stitches and takes quite sometime to complete.

 
As those of you that saw my previous post know, Oban, our beautiful dog, died on saturday.  Inspired by my kids, and Ines's (a sweet friend in Rémi's class) artistic celebrations of Oban, Richard and I worked together to create our own little memorial.

It wasn't my intention, but upon seeing my felt and paper cord bunting, a friend said it reminded him of Tibetan prayer flags.
Slowly reading Mere Christianity - C.S Lewis.

artwork by Tino, Rémi & Ines

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along, and hope I have more success today in leaving comments.  Yesterday I was unable to leave messages on a few blogs including Lori's and Natalie's.