Aren't Giveaways Just Great?

In October last year I won Jo's giveaway of a packet of Mini Munch cucumber seeds. Jo writes The Good Life blog where she has recently shown us the start of her mini munch cucumber harvest. We planted our seeds in the greenhouse and are now starting to harvest the cucumbers. Thanks again Jo for having the giveaway.

Yesterday I received a lovely parcel of goodies from Una. I was the winner of Una's recent birthday giveaway on her Great Balls of Wool blog; something I never expected! There's a 50g ball of Jaeger Spiral-spun pure wool in a gorgeous heather shade, a Cath Kidston notebook, buttons covered with Fair Trade fabric, a cute owl keyring from Oxfam (supporting independent artisans in India) and a very useful button tin. It came in this lovely cotton bag, too. I can think of lots of ways to use it! Thank you very much Una and I hope you have (or possibly already have had) a great 60th birthday.

I should think about having another giveaway, I suppose. Just not sure what to offer as a prize! Here's a picture of one of the flower beds that I snapped very quickly at the weekend. Even though we haven't had good weather this summer, it's still possible to tell that the season is moving on and heading, eventually, into Autumn.

Bye for now.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Welcome back and a special welcome to some new followers. It's been a bit of a hectic week. Problems with broadband and problems with drains. All sorted now, thankfully.

I forgot to show you my second dishcloth that I made recently (pattern here). Here it is with our new, very miniature, rose. More about roses later.


Our neighbour does a bit of farming and for the past few weeks the field beside us has become the 'maternity field'. This was the first calf to be born. The picture was taken the day after it was born.

Mummy cow kept a close watch on her new baby.

In another field close by is the boy I would be pretty sure is the daddy!

Anyway, back to the garden now. The husband made this willow construction months ago (see here) for growing sweet pea. We've had such awful weather this summer with so much wind and rain. In fact, it is now official that we've had the coldest July in twenty years. The result is a slightly skewed willow frame and sweet peas that haven't quite reached their full potential. But they're not bad!

This is inside the frame where there are poppies growing as well.

This rose was planted last year and isn't doing too badly. A lot of the roses in the garden haven't done well at all this year.

This rose seems to do very well every year.

The first of the tomatoes this year. There is going to be a really big crop but that's because they're in the greenhouse. They are very slow to ripen so I pick them as soon as they show signs of starting to ripen and bring them into the house. For some reason they then ripen almost overnight.

Some of the blackcurrants that have been picked. I have washed and frozen over twenty two pounds so far and there's more to come! Later in the year I'll make blackcurrant cordial and probably some jelly too.

The strawberries weren't as good as we'd hoped because of the bad weather. We managed to get plenty to eat with ice-cream but not enough to freeze any.

I've finished crocheting the king sized blanket and have started sewing in the ends. It's therapeutic!

Did any of you spot my deliberate mistake in my last post about the sea glass shawl? I said the shawl is made up of three rows of motifs but it is actually constructed using four rows. The first has ten motifs, then nine, eight and finally seven, making a total of thirty four motifs. Also, I mentioned in the comments that I am using a 3.5 mm hook. Well, yes, I am. When I checked the pattern again (after having made fourteen motifs) I discovered that I should have been using a 3.25 mm hook. To be honest, I think the 3.5 mm hook is perfect so I'm glad I made that mistake! I've now finished the first two rows and am really loving it. Thanks for your lovely comments about the shawl, by the way.

Well, that's it for now. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. I have some news about giveaways that I've won but that will wait for another time.

My Crocheted Top

I decided to crochet myself a summery top. The pattern was actually free because I bought some (a lot of) yarn to make a blanket. I couldn't wait to get started. Look, I even used the correct yarn called for by the pattern!

Do you like the tiny bunch of tiny wild flowers in the tiny pink vase?

Before we go any further, let me assure you that at no time did I intend to wear this top as it is worn by the model.

The pattern worked up so quickly. The back was done in no time.

And here it is, finished and being modelled by me. Sorry, the pattern model was unavailable.

I just knew that yarn would be a perfect match for this scarf.

Some of these foxgloves are actually taller than me. I had to crop the picture because I didn't dare let you see any more of me!

As usual, I had to make the top longer than what was specified in the pattern. Especially the sleeves. My arms are of simian proportions.

Here's a better picture of the wee wild flowers.

This was the first of the sweet pea to be cut.

I've been able to cut lots more since then. The sweet pea was late starting to flower but going well now.

This is just a bunch of flowers cut from the garden. They are sitting out in the garage hence the random items in the background like a toolbox!

All the best everyone.

The Garden

I've been taking some pictures in the garden over the past month. Some of the flowers are already past now; like this laburnum.

There has been great growth on the holly with it flowering really well. Hopefully this means there will be lots of berries later in the year.

This rhododendron flowers quite late in the year.

The baby birch trees are still coming on well. Remember the husband built this stone edifice? For some reason it collapsed but has been rebuilt.

I love to see broom flowering.

We had a great display of alliums this year; this is just a few of them.

The black elder had just started flowering in this picture. I'm hoping to pick the flowers very soon to make pink elderflower cordial, like last year.

Lots of purple flowers.

A few new plants for the front doorstep.

The husband made this wind chime!

These shells were collected while we were on holiday.

Very rustic!

The wild flower bed just started to bloom.

Lots of the herbs have flowered too.

Gorgeous irises this year.

And we're still having another great display of poppies.

The fruit and vegetables are progressing nicely. Here's just one picture of some of the potatoes flowering. We've started eating the potatoes already. Just scrubbed and boiled in their skins. Delicious! As are the strawberries.

That was a very quick overview of the garden over the past few weeks. Of course, it is constantly changing.

All the best for now. Hope to be back soon with more crochet; thanks for all your lovely comments about the crocheted shawl.