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

A Farewell To My Summer Garden

It is sad to see the end of my summer garden.  Knowing that from here on in there will only be grey as I look out my kitchen window.  But some of the flowers and plants are giving quite a grand farewell.  How brave they are to bare their heads during the early frosts and the pounding rain.

The ever reliable nasturtiums that always add wild colour to my garden in late summer and to the salad bowl too.  And I'm not the only one to love them.  They are great to attract butterflies and bees to the garden.

I really love the colour of these dwarf lupins.  Even the little furry seed pods are very attractive.  I took some of the seeds this year and put them under our laurel hedge and I hope that they will add some colour to it next year.

I love the way that these ganzias are the colour of fire.  They are reluctant little flowers as they only like to open in the warm weather.  I think that this year they just got tired of waiting and finally despite the cold they flowered in all their glory.

This poor little lone geranium flower is all that is left on the plants that flowered all summer long.

My elderberries have finally ripened.  One month late.  I was beginning to think that these little black beauties would just fall from the tree still red as often happens if the summer has been too wet or cold as it was this summer.  I must have a jam making day soon.  They make wonderful elderberry jelly.

The Japanese maple that sits just outside my kitchen window in all its golden glory is very slowly turning red. Worryingly I must move this tree next year in order to build my studio.  I'm hoping that it will survive the move.  Would you know what is the best time to move it?  Winter or early spring?

And finally the tree at the end of my garden.  I can never remember the name of it but as my mother gave it to us when we first moved in here, we call it Ma's tree.  It is wonderful and changes colour throughout the seasons.  In spring it has vibrant red berries and soft yellow leave in the summer that slowly turn green and then to deep red in the autumn.  Fantastic display.
Well thanks for taking the time to visit my garden with me.
Rosie xx

The Summer Garden

Despite the bad weather, our garden seems to be finally blooming and coming into it's own.  Here are a few of the gorgeous sights in it at the moment.

This is called the Blue Rose for some very odd reason. I got this as a birthday present from my mother a few years ago.  It was badly affected when I neglected and I was not sure if it would be able to recover.  I was so glad to see these, the first blooms on it for three years

These blackberries here were the first things that we planted in the garden when we moved in and a few years ago I planted a climbing rose close by.  Now they are closely intertwined and support each other well.
This year hopefully there seems to be a bumper crop of blackberries on the way for jam making season.  Beautiful with apples from a neighbours orchard.  Yummmmmmm

This little burst of orange gorgeousness was given to me by my sister-in-law.  It will grow absolutely anywhere and the plant doubles in size  in the matter of weeks.  It's brilliant for corners of the garden where nothing else wants to live.  I found that it thrives under trees.  The flowers themselves are on long stems and last ages as cut flowers in the house.

A beautiful visitor today which sadly has now become a rare sight.

The Garden, Moe the Cat and Dog Poo

The Bank Holiday weekend saw us working very hard on the jungle that once was.  The improvement is immense.  I started to potter away at it but being such a weakling I was getting nowhere fast.  The Hubbie stepped in and with brute force and a lot of sweat he had it cleared in a few hours.  It was amazing to see the top layer come out like a layer of deep pile carpet.  Unfortunately the roots of more wicked weeds lay beneath which had to be cleared out also.  And if you have ever seen your hard work suffer from the abominable and loathsome Horsetail weed, then you will understand what I mean.



Our cat Moe was quite annoyed that we were digging in her toilet.  Now she has nowhere to hide her furry little bottom when she does her business.  She cried continuously and when I wasn't paying any attention to her she climbed onto my shoulders when I was bending down and proceeded to yell in her piercing cat tones directly in my ear. Even though I hate to make an animal unhappy, I would prefer to have my garden back and so she will just have to find a bush to hide behind.



The dog Molly prefers the open lawn where she poo's to her hearts content.  She's not at all shy and looks directly at you when she's messing up our grass, like a child proud of what she can do on the potty.
Believe me when I say that Molly's follies aren't always that easy to clear up. I know,  I learned this the hard way, when I was trying to discreetly fling a not too solid one over our hedge and into the field beside our house.  But instead of it taking to the air as expected, it slid right off the shovel and landed onto my freshly washed hair and down the back of my brand new, and now favourite, ladylike blouse.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this.
The smell followed me for days after!!

My Poor Neglected Garden

Believe it or not there was flowers here in these beds once!

The part of the hose that has been neglected the most over the past few years while I've been ill is my garden.  Now instead of flowers there is scutch grass and instead of roses there is bindweed. I used to say that it wasn't overgrown but just an intentional display of native Irish wildflowers.  But this year, we have decided to tackle it as a family.  My kids miss having a pretty garden to look at and they have vowed to help me regularly with it.  The hubbie will probably be doing all the heavy clearing, while I get the joy of replanting it again.

Wish me luck with this one!