Tidy up for winter coming

Just spent most of the day tidying up the garage so that I can put the swing and table and chairs away until next year as I don't think there are going to be many more days for sitting out and relaxing and actually I haven't really done a lot of that anyway this year. I am someone who really dreads winter I honestly do I just hate the dark nights I strongly dislike driving in the dark and I really, really do not like being cold I just dread closing the blinds at 5 o'clock because it is so dark outside. On the plus side..no actually I can't think of anything to put on that side. I was born in November and my sister was born in April. Every year on our birthdays my mum always let us have a birthday party (I know that's common now..but I go back a few years and birthday parties were few and far between.) I digress. My sister was always allowed to go outside at her party with her friends because the weather was always reasonably good but mine November in Scotland..no chance. I always said that when I grew up I was going to change my birthday to June and guess what..it's still November you can't beat nature.

I do like sitting in the house watching the snow fall and I really love Christmas and my little grand-daughter is going to be a 19 months old this year and I know she will be so excited because all her aunties get excited and they are way older than 19 months.

I have taken lots of pictures of my strawberries that I grew for the first time this year and lots of pictures from my garden I just love flowers. I am going to talk nice to Emma my daughter and see if she will put some on this blog for me as I have no clue how to do it. I was very pleased with the strawberries and I am going to give it another go next year as I did get quite a few berries and felt quite pleased with myself. I am hoping next year the numbers will double we shall see.

As usual I have been busy knitting many, many things I am just about to start a custom order for one of my circular shawls and I am also knitting quite a few arans this year they are getting very popular again and they are also very good for keeping you warm.

Just off to have a quick cup of tea before I settle down to my knitting again.

Hi one and all I have been awol for a few months as life has been pretty hectic. I don't even know where to start. In April my daughter Anne her husband Christian and baby Holly bought a new house which was exciting for everyone. They should have moved in early April but then the guy who was selling the house changed the moving date by 4 weeks so they all moved in with me and my other two daughters Angela and Emma. They had to put a lot of stuff in storage but as with any young child there is always lots of things you need to travel with. We were kind of bursting at the seams for a few weeks but it was also good fun and thankfully we all got on ok. I did find it hard to keep up with my excercise regime however so that went out the door.

No sooner had we moved out the daughter and son-in-law than I started decorating two rooms for the wedding. My daughter Michelle was getting married on 31st July and 3 of her friends were going to be staying with us as well. The decorating was quite extensive and I'm not too sure when I realised it just wasn't going to be done on time but realise I did. Michelle lives in London so she didn't really know how far I'd gone with the decorating which was probably a blessing in disguise. Emma my youngest daughter was having one of the rooms and she wanted to decorate it herself. She fancied a vintage theme. It took some time for her to find the right paper and carpet..and so far she hasn't found the right furniture but she's working on it.

When Michelle arrived home a few days before the wedding she was a bit surprised there was an empty room and she wondered where her visitors would be staying. Indeed they stayed in a blow up bed and a z-bed in my front room. It was very cosy. Thankfully they all saw the funny side of it.

The wedding was a great day the sun shone..eventually, the food was good the

wine even better and the dancing was spectacular everyone had a fantastic time and there were many sore heads in the morning.

That just about brings be up to date with where I have been and what I have been doing. Oh! and I am going to be a granny for the second time next February.

Thankfully I am feeling much better have got rid of my flu and back on my feet. I have just finished knitting this cardigan I have gone for a three quarter sleeve as it is obviously for summer and I added some big navy buttons to give it a nautical look what do you think? All opinions welcome.

II have been inspired to knit these little Mary Jane style baby shoes by my little grand-daughter Holly. Holly is nearly 10months old and she isn't walking yet so she isn't in shoes but because we have had such along cold winter I have been knitting bottees and shoes for her because although her mum dressed her in tights her little feet were still cold so granny has knitted many colours of baby shoes for her they look so cute when she has them on.

And so to the strawberries which I have to say seem to be surviving very well considering the weather we have had. Again today we have had sunshine but apparently we have rain forecast for the next few days and over the week-end but I am very confident. My biggest concern now are the cats that seem to come out of nowhere and belong to nobody but love my garden I do not know why because I shout and rant at them to leave and they don't take a blind bit of notice so if anyone has any ideas of how to painlessly keep cats out of my garden I would appreciate all suggestions.

My daughter Michelle is coming home at the week-end with her fiance Olly they get married in July hence the keep fit regime I am putting myself through although I did get time out when I had flu. We are going shopping for bridesmaid dresses this Saturday. Michelles's 3 sisters and 2 friends are her bridesmaids. All five bridesmaids are lovely girls but this will be the second time we have attempted to get dresses not easy with five girls who all have different tastes are obviously all different ages and different sizes. Wish me luck I will obviously let you know how things go.

Haven't managed to do much lately have been floored by the dreaded flu but hopefully next week I will be up on my feet again. I have been looking at strawberries out of conservatory window and fingers crossed even although we have had loads more snow and frosty mornings they look ok. Have also contemplated growing potatoes in a bag this year haven't done that before either but why not in for a penny in for a pound it just depends on how much time I have. My married daughter, husband and grand-daughter(Holly she is just so gorgeous) have sold their flat and are moving soon only problem is they haven't found a new house yet and they have to leave their flat on April 9th quite soon so fingers crossed or they will have to move in with me not such a bad thing but I know they would rather have their own place. One of my other daughters Michelle is getting married on July 31st so there is quite a lot going on in our house at the moment. Of course there is weight to be lost for this wedding and I had started a regime of doing the tread mill for 40 minutes and then the power plate(I actually do not know what this does I am being guided by yet another daughter Angela who has lost about two and a half stone so she obviously knows what she's doing) and lastly I have just bought a dance hula hoop and can I just say for anyone who would like to change shape and have a laugh at the same time please try this. It's a bit like the one we had when we were children but it has weights in it and it is easier to keep up. My youngest daughter Emma put me onto this as she was doing the Pussycat dolls fitness video but being 50 something I declined to join in. Who knows if the weight will shift but I am enjoying myself trying. Hopefully back to fitness routine next week at the moment I could hardly lift hoop. If anyone has any ideas on how to lose weight painlessly please forward all ideas to me. Thank you

Fun in the sun

Well I have planted the strawberries. I was assured they could be planted straight away and I am a bit concerned I know it looks sunny in the pics and it was, at least when I was taking the pics but then it turned very cold and the following morning it was very frosty and I have to say there have been a few frosty mornings since. I even took advice from garden centre and bought strawberry compost which hopefully will give them a fighting chance. The planter is very decorative and I can picture the stawberries cascading over the top and tumbling down the sides. My plan B is if the strawberries don't grow I can always use the planter for my flowers which I'm sure will look equally nice ...only they won't be strawberries. I was also told by garden centre to protect them from birds by covering them with some sort of netting which I am working on. Let me know if you have any advice for me all comments very much appreciated.

The Box

Well great excitement here the strawberries have arrived although feeling a bit anxious as it is very frosty outside but have been assured that strawberries are winter hardy and that they can survive up to -6. Have not opened box yet have been staring at it all day but will attempt to open it tonight and plant tomorrow once I have assembled planter which looks very nice. I do sometimes get carried away when I watch gardening programmes like qvc and ideal world they make it look so simple and I think why not I'll give it a bash so wish me luck I mean how hard can it be I'm hoping the hardest part will be keeping the birds from eating them . I will keep everyone informed of their progress.

I have just finished knitting a shawl which I am going to put up on my etsy site soon I have pinned it out and have been stretching it for a couple of days . I have knitted it from an old pattern that used to be my mums you can't better the old Shetland shawl patterns. I knit it in a modern 2ply wool in white which can be machine washed and is more practical . I think the original wool was prone to shrink and it was never white but more a cream colour. I still have my own daughters original shawl and she is now 33.

EDIT- Just listed the shawl on Etsy, check it out here!

I do!

I came across this on my daughters blog, she had posted it a little while ago

She found it on a photographer called Ben Phillips website.

His brother in law asked him to take pictures of him and his girlfriend on their way to work without her noticing

The pictures tell the rest of the story!

As it is nearly Valentines Day I thought I would share this with you. Hope you enjoy as much as I did. Let me know what you think.