Day Trip

 

As the summer holidays drew to a close, I must admit I think we were all looking forward to getting back to school and restoring some sort of routine back in to the house.  Andy has been promoted at work and is now working a different shift pattern, which means that he will now work some weekends.  I'm not complaining though as this time last year, he was 3 weeks in to a 2 month detachment.  What this does mean is that it is even more important to grab family time as and when we can.  We did exactly that last week before term started and set off for Sherwood Forest which is about 50mins from where we live.  We first went back in April when Andy had returned from another 2 months away and just loved it, it is so beautiful, you can see more pictures from that visit here.   After a forest walk, picnic lunch which gave me time for a spot of crochet, we then moved on to Clumber Park.  Oh my goodness, it is the most stunning place full of woodland walks, lakes and vista' s, I truely could imagine Mr Darcy emerging from the water and it is definitely on the To Do list to go again in half term!!

Talking of crochet, I think this is my new addiction... I am however being very good and limiting it to the evenings, where rather appropriately there has been a slight nip in the air.  I am already envisaging myself snuggled under my lap blanket.  When I purchased the yarn a few weeks back, as you know I had no idea how to crochet, however after a quick lesson from Mum I had soon made my first Granny square, which she reliably told me was a good thing to start with.  I also decided to keep it simple, with solid blocks of colour with a natural white border.....

 

It is extremely satisfying seeing my little stacks of squares growing but I think I probably should have sewn in the ends as I went along, maybe next time! It's been quite a learning curve and to start with I struggled holding my original metal hook as it hurt my hands, an ongoing issue resulting from too many hours spent hand stitching and working on the computer.  Whilst on holiday though, I found a Prym hook with a soft thick handle which is extremely comfortable to hold, but since being home and reading various crochet blogs I have seen the Clover Amour hooks.....sigh....I think they'll be going on my Christmas list for sure!  After my decision to add the natural white border it was pretty obvious that  didn't have enough yarn, so I placed my second order, oh and you'll never guess what happened...this gorgeous lot found its way into my basket....

...... theres some more of the blanket colours, plus some vanilla, orange, olive and teal, I'm thinking a crochet cushion for my conservatory, oh and remember when I went to get my crochet hook whilst on holiday, well the wool shop was having a sale and this beatiful yarn came home with me....well it would have been wrong not to, don't you think.....it's going to be a neck warmer, well eventually!

So I think it is safe to say that not only am I addicted to fabric, floss and felt, it would seem that I am now adding yarn to the list too, oh dear!