Phew, storm Ciaran.

I've started and I am enjoying this design once again, it's almost to the armhole shaping, I find it an easy pattern, I don't need to keep checking on what comes next. Being Aran, which is a thicker yarn for me, it does knit up quickly. Being so wet and windy outside, I have plenty of craft time.

These are my evening knitting, Grace is always on my lap, so I use double pointed needles which are shorter, I have made the top of the sock much longer, I do love the contrast colour, it goes well with the colours in the main yarn. Being 3ply, I have loads left over and another 100grm ball. I am playing with this design, the purple sections are using 4ply, I did not have any other 3ply, it looks to be working are the 3 areas are all places which get most wear. 

Hubby managed a second go and took off the top of the Magnolia tree, it looks terrible at the moment, but next spring it will vigorously grow back, all the leaves have been shredded and are in a black dustbin for leaf mulch. The logs are put in a pile at the side of the greenhouse, near the door for bugs. The left side of the tree needs to be done, once finished both mulch dustbins will be full. 

This side is bare, all the plants have gone from the bed, wooden furniture is in the garage, we moved the Olive tree to shelter from the wind. All this area will be dug out and replaced with paving, it will become our seating area. Just the three smaller pots to move, up by the greenhouse, once work starts. The levels are up and down with the removal of the decking, we popped a few bits of grass where we walk.

I got some radiator foil stuff, you should pop it behind the radiator, but this is for my greenhouse, I don't normally use any type of insulation, we don't normally get the heavy frost and snow along the south coast. Last year my bougainvillea struggled, it did not die, but it was not as strong in the summer, so I have popped some behind my top shelf to protect it and a couple of other plants, I have also wrapped the pot in some fleece, everything together should work enough

Wednesday night was very wet, the winds were not as bad as we feared, the garden greenhouse and house were fine in the morning, I am glad hubby sorted the Magnolia tree, it's leaves are huge and hardly any have dropped, our soil is saturated, I would not want to risk loosing it in a storm. Thursday was not as bad as expected,  but we did not go out at all, hubby cooked our main meal for mid day, I went to Pilates,  it was dry, breezy and cold. A day for knitting, I'm enjoying my different projects,  I am planning to start my Christmas blanket, 48 small squares, should be fun.

Our part of the south coast is often protected from the worse of the weather by Isle of Wight, again this was the case, locally there were some wind damage to buildings, roads remained open, schools were shut to ensure the safety of children. We have not heard of any flooding, and the promised dryish day today will help. This morning it is calm and sunny outside, time to pick up leaves blown about and pop to town.

Boredom....

 .....is a terrible thing, as is our local craft shop face book page, Sarah the owner knows just what she is doing, this Christmas blanket comes as a pack in a box, knitted in DK, I'm bored, I don't need it, but it's something to do, I'm sure the little ones will love it. Sarah ordered 4 packs and whilst unpacking her order, she has already sold 3. 

Just being nosey, seeing what else was in the order, Sarah got these out, Aran yarn, I loved making my 2 chunky cardigans, and thought it would be good to have another. Everything has been added to my stash list, not the planned start to November. 

I have done more on my socks, I do love the feel of 3ply, and if everything goes well, I might make another pair, they do not grow as fast as my other socks, but with all this rain I do have plenty of time to craft. 

I am going to start my cardigan before finishing the socks, I love the colour of the yarn, I decided to make this one shorter, I do love the two I made from the design shown above, but a shorter one is a nice change. I am finding myself keeping really warm at the moment, I wear my normal light jumpers, which I wear through out the year, I pop an Aran cardigan over the top and it's really snug. 

I popped into town on Monday to get our fruit and veg, I did have a look around, as I am stumped on what to get hubby for Christmas, yes I know it's only November, but I do like to get things sorted before the stampede which is the run up to Christmas. We have set a £25 limit on gifts to each other, and my problem there is nothing he wants, and I can't think of anything he would use and enjoy. For a change the morning was dry, the bus journey home long as the traffic was backed up again, we sat for ages waiting to get past the closed lane, but for once there were people working. 

Tuesday we had a birthday in sign group, so it was more of a social morning, hubby spent the time outside, he has cut back our side flower bed, and dug out the salvias, they were too big. Hubby also started in the Magnolia tree, its a big job, he has filled one dustbin with shredded leaves, hopefully we will get another dry spell to get the tree finished, just a small bed to dig out and we are ready for landscaper.

Yesterday I did something very different, Sarah at our craft shop is struggling as the shop is busy, she does not want to take anyone on as she knows there won't be enough work for 3 people in January. So I am volunteering for a couple days a week to help out, just for 8 weeks, I know enough about most of her products to help customers, I had loads of fun with like minded ladies of all ages. Just 4 hours for my first time, I'm in all day on Saturday as Liz, her right hand lady is having a day off, it did not feel like work at all, so much fun.

We have got through the night loads of rain from storm Ciaran, we are still on an amber alert of wind, going to be a bumpy day.

October round up

I have had an expensive month, mostly on bulbs, a few plants, and packets of seeds, the creation of the new flower bed took the most of the cost, I can't wait until next spring. I have changed a title on my stash spend list from glass to other crafts, I popped the lino cutting kit and some more blades cost there. 

I did buy some new knickers and some socks, I dislike scruffy underwear, a trip to M&S, hubby got some vest, he's beginning to feel the cold, shorts are now packed away until next year. Heating is not on everyday, we have been boosting for an hour on colder evenings. 

We saved loads in the garden refit by recycling so much from the decking, the top soil was a necessary expensive purchase, as were the bulbs. So far we have spent under £400, which is brilliant. 

Our trip back to Somerset incurred more takeaways than normal, we ate 'out' three days in a row, I had saved for our lunches out. I was good a ignored Christmas items for sale.

No food waste, we having been purchasing the special diet foods for Molly and George, both have issues with dairy, and Molly has problems with soya, but I always give mum the bits not eaten to take home. 

My weight is still the same, my steps are showing lower, but I was without my fitbit for 5 days, so I am looking at my weekly totals this month, which shows I average 6,000 steps every day. 

Spooky night

 I'm not big on Halloween, I have had my ceramic pots for years, this year I made 2 pumpkins in needle felting and another 4 knitted, the bowl I got last year for 50p in a sale. The cat I recently made, these are for Will, George and Molly to enjoy, we ensure the front of the house is dark, so we don't get any knocks on the door, we don't have any young children in our street.

Halloween is not so huge here in our part of UK, on local social media pages there have been loads of messages suggesting you don't knock on doors without decorations showing. As we are now considered older, people stay away from our home.

Mummy took the little ones to another party on Friday afternoon, Will went with them, loads of things to make as well as a disco. George preferred this party as it was daylight and not so many older ones around, Molly was happy as it was not so loud, she wanted to wear a dress rather than a Halloween costume, George loves his costume. My title comes from Will, for years he would call Halloween spooky night. 

Saturday daughter came with her two youngest children, they play well together inside, it was far to wet to go outside to play and the garden around the house is not a safe place for them, they were bored at home and asked to come here. It's always nice to catch up with them. They loved my knitted pumpkins, Molly helped hubby fill the bird feeders, mummy enjoyed some rich fruit cake. Later a lovely restful evening, knitting my socks whilst watching Strickly. 

The rain has been non stop, I can't remember it being this wet before, I've had to cover so many pots to keep the rain out, I'm worried about my bulbs rotting. We have just come through another yellow rain warning, high tide on Saturday came very close to our castle walls, again much higher that we have seen before. There is no let up in our forecast, it's promised to rain every day next week. BUT, we are dry and safe, unlike so many around the country. 

Fireworks have started,  Saturday night was very noisy,  we don't live close to any displays, these were in one of the big houses behind us, we will be having a few late nights until they are all finished, Grace my old cat hates them, Purdy slept through them.

Sunday another very wet day, we only had an hour without rain, it poured all morning, non stop heavy rain. A day at home, hubby cooked a lovely roast beef lunch, with plenty left over. It felt too dark to do much crafting, I spent time sorting out my unfinished projects, luckily I don't have too many.

There are many mixed feelings in our village at this time, a fantastic local bakery has taken over our closed bakery premises and everyone is very happy, their brand is well know and loved locally, only 2 empty shops in our precinct now, which is great news for local businesses. 

People are not happy with our county highways department, they have decided to change the main road from a dual carriage to a single lane and a bus lane, worked started this week and it is causing huge delays as the volume of traffic build up. People are asking why the decision was made to do this and who thought it would work, it is a busy road to our local town and the motorway junction. We often travel by bus, and have never had issues with the flow of traffic, even at busy times, so I can't see any benefits to the huge cost of this change. Our local councillor stated, they had to do the work as if they did not the government would take back the money, surly they could have just improved the road surface and leave well alone, a couple of years ago they made a bus lane on another road going to the same area, within 6 months it had been put back to it's original use because of the chaos the changes caused. 

The middle east scares me, so many people dead, so much destruction, as with wars in eastern Europe and Africa. Another mass shooting in America, when is it ever going to end, how can anyone have such a disregard for another life, our world can be a sad place.