Yummy Crochet!!

Dont you just want to dive into this!
This big basket of yarn has brought me a lot of pleasure of the last few weeks.  The bright colours have cheered me in the most stressful of times and just the thought of sitting down to crochet with it was like an instant sedative.
A couple of months ago I decided to buy an Attic 24 pack of mixed Stylecraft yarn for a blanket for Benny the studio. (Work on Benny has been severely held up due to turf!!! Very frustrating indeed).  I don't normally ike using acrylics but I wanted something that would be tough and durable and easy to wash as it was going to be used as a throw for the kids couch in my studio.  I must say this has totally won me over.  it is so easy to work with and soft to the touch.

I have not altogether stuck to Lucy's pattern and changed some of the colours and removed others that were in the pack to suit the studio when its finished.  The only mistake that I made is that I think that I may have made it a bit too long!!  I decided to make it 300 sts on the foundation chain as I need it too cover the couch.  Ehh but too much there Rosie!  Now the blanket measures a whopping 2,5m.  Hence the reason I could only get some if it in the picture!!  But I'm thinking now that in the winter I can always bring it into the house and use it on one of the kids beds to keep them nice and snug.
 For such a plain pattern it is totally addictive.  I can never wait to chose the next colour and I love seeing all the different combinations coming together.  I quite often have wrecked the heads of the family asking "what colour will come next?".  I think that they are just picking the first one that their hands land on at this stage, just to shut me up!!!

Over the last few evenings I have noticed how the nights are closing in faster and faster.  After such a long winter, it has seemed like the summer months have just not lasted long enough.  It saddens me to see the long nights returning so quickly after the glorious weather that we've been having.  I have loved this hot weather this year.  It happens so rarely here in Ireland unfortunately.  So I just couldn't understand why my kids hated it so much.  They hid in the house and cried that it was too hot to venture outside until the evening.  What?? I remember hot summers as a child where my parents would bring us swimming every day whether that was to the coast or to the nearest river or lake.  We were all good swimmers at very young ages so that was the one passtime that we all did together.  Fun times.

One other thing that I've loved most about this summer is that my garden has blossomed brilliantly and the bees and butterflies have been attracted by all of the different smells and colours.  Just sitting in the garden stitching and listening the the hum of the bees busying themselves has been pure heaven.  The unmistakable perfume of the sweet peas wafting through the breeze.

The white sweet peas here are a perennial plant and are unperfumed but are perfect for cutting.  They are more robust then the perfumed ones and last longer when brought into the house.  I like to mix them with the pretty, delicate blooms of regular ones.  It has brought me so much pleasure to bring in posies of flowers from my own garden and display them on the kitchen table or windowsill.  They have been often given as gifts too to family and friends when we visit, tied with pretty ribbons and wrapped in pretty tissue paper.

My other favourite in the garden has to be my lupins.  I have quite a few of them in quite an array of colours.  I love how the blooms last so long on them and they just keep flowering all summer long.  I have sat for long periods just watching how perfectly designed that the individual flowers are to accommodate the bees in their job collecting pollen.  As the bee lands on the bottom lip of the flower, that is the darker pink triangle at the bottom, the whole bloom opens out to reveal the golden treasure inside.  The bees finally hurry off home with their legs and tummy covered in a thick fur of sweet pollen.  Isn't nature magical?

Anyway must pop off for now.  Chat you all soon.  I have something very beautiful to show you.
Rosie xx