Stash, start and prickly

Colours for Will's ripple blanket. 

I have done the first level with each colour,

 I wanted it to look softer than just shades of blue

I have done some of my 2nd sock

I am truly excited by these buds, 

this cactus has never flowered in all the years I have had it. 

Sunday, we had a lazy day at home, I did some housework whilst hubby did the ironing, after a brunch, poached eggs on toast, we spent time together in the garden. Hubby is not a gardener, but he is good following instructions, firstly he cut back all the ivy coming over the fence from next door, neither of us like the plants over the top of the fence. He then had a huge tidy of his garage, I pottered, planting a big pot and adding a few plants to gaps in the garden. I also took away all the protection, the plants are now big enough to survive the cats and pigeons. My shed was almost empty so I swept the floor, and did a tidy around, I also pulled my tulips bulbs out of the dried compost and stored them with two amaryllis bulbs, I normally do not store bulbs, but the tulips were so beautiful I would love them to grow again next year. I also pottered in the greenhouse for an hour.

I did start Wills ripple blanket, I like the colours and I'm pleased my daughter loves them as well. I have not done much to my socks, but I do plan to do more later in the week.
Monday morning Will arrived for the day, we walked to the park, he now knows the way, he played lovely with a little girl, they ran around together. Will is now saying words, hubby was over joyed when he called him Grancha (Welsh for grand dad), but Will's favorite word is tractor!
Today is sign class, it's the last class and we have exam's which is going to be interesting. Next week is our last meeting this term and we are all going out for afternoon tea, where we will get our results.

Local fun

Our castle grounds were busy

 Something for everyone

 My friend with me on a walk around

 Outside the walls

 The Gala was all around the castle grounds

 Loads of people came out to watch the parade

 Loads of houses decorated

 7 dwarfs with their waistcoats. 

It was a fun afternoon, we waited in the street for the parade, which was mainly of local school children and groups, scouts, brownies ect. It was fun to see everyone dressed up, the school children did 'once upon a time' and did loads of different stories. There were some old cars, and two fire engines, which Will loved. We then followed them to the castle grounds.
Lots of things going on inside the grounds of the castle, a main ring for performers and loads of charity stalls, selling cakes, plants ect.
The fun fair outside was in two half's, the children's ride on a different side to the main fair.
The local church inside the grounds set up a BBQ, they were very busy, most of us preferred to buy food from them, rather than the commercial vans.
We stayed a couple of hours, Will was getting fed up being in his pushchair, it was too busy to let him run about, but as we walked home, there were still loads of people making their way to the grounds.
It been years since we went to such a family event, it was much bigger than I expected, and brought back memories of my village fete and the numerous school fete we attended when our girls were growing up. 
Daughter and Will stayed the afternoon, I put The Wiggles on TV for Will to dance along with, another grand son loving this great DVD, which we purchased for Josh.
Later we found a film, had a take away and enjoyed a lovely glass of red wine.
Today I have a bit of housework, followed by an hour in the garden and no plans for this afternoon, sounds perfect.

Fruity post

Fruit bushes all in a row

Blackcurrants, Blueberries and gooseberries, all full of fruit

Strawberries, Raspberries and Blackberries

Outside tomato

Pepper and tomato in greenhouse

Growing nicely Cucumbers

Salad bed

Cut flower bed

The last two days I have been able to work in my garden, what ever my neighbour did to cause the stench of the last 14 days is gone, it was cat related and horrible, we could not open our windows, knowing the woman, she will have something else to do, she is not the sort to make our lives easy.
Friday I put the blackcurrant bush and the two blueberry bushes into newer bigger pots, in each case the plant came out of the old pot with all the soil compact, they were not quiet pot bound, I added loads of new compost in both pots (the two blueberry plants are now in one pot), without knocking off any berries and after a good watering all three plants look good. I did the same for my rhubarb at the bottom of the garden, it's a new plant so we are not cutting any stalks, but it has plenty of room to grow, I also added loads of manure.
I hope to be able to harvest my first cucumber this coming week, the lower one is almost ready. Tomatoes are forming on both plants, the hanging bush in the greenhouse is full of tiny fruits.
I have already had some cut flowers from my cutting bed, just a small bunch, but enough to bring a smile. My flowers given to me last week are still blooming.
Today is our Gala, there will be a parade through our streets, everyone ending up at the castle for a fun family day. Mummy is bringing Will to spend the day together, I hope to have photo's next time. Later hubby and I will have a takeaway, with a glass of wine, we had planned a BBQ, but cancelled it because of the smell in our garden.

And the winner is............

My 1st sock to the new pair is finished 

 2nd sock started

 both finished socks on stretcher

 Toes

 Tops

 Heals

I managed to finish my sock, it does have a couple of issues, but on the whole it's much better than the grey sock. I am finding these very quick to knit, but I'm still not enjoying the double ended needles, I am knitting much tighter and there are less dropped stitches.
I have been looking on you-tube at the magic loop, where you knit both socks at the same time, I am thinking I might try this on my next pair. I have got the sock bug as Jo said I would, I am even thinking of joining in the sock line at Yarndale, the next pair could be for the line.
I was looking at my stash of wool, which last month I sorted and gave loads away for a charity knit. Since then I have yarn for 2 jumpers for Will, yarn for 4 pairs of socks, and tomorrow I should receive an order for wool to crochet another ripple blanket for Will. He is not liking his quilt at night, but when he sleeps over here he loves the soft crochet ripple blanket I made for his cot, so I hope to get one done quickly.
I have another 4 bags cut out on my table, which I hope to sew later, each bag already has an owner. These bags are so simple to make, our DIL loved the beagle bag.
I have sorted my giveaway and the winner is blog Cottontail farm, I'm sorry I don't know your name, either pop me an email, the link is in my profile, or pop your full name and address in a separate comment, which I won't publish.