Misty Mountain

Hearts, Flowers, Mandala and My Most Favourite Crochet Sweater Ever!

Daffodils, daffodils and more daffodils!  It is my firm opinion that there can never be enough daffodils, just as there can never be enough snowdrops, only they're on the iPad so I couldn't upload them for this post.

It has been a weird couple of months, I ended up spending more time in London at the start of the year than I ever expected and then there was a travel embargo... Yay \o/!!  Nobody happier than me!  Unfortunately I couldn't embrace the time at home as I wanted because after a visit to the folks I returned with what a friend of mine called "the proper flu".  Well this was proper alright, I was off work for 3 weeks.  3weeks!!  I haven't been off work sick for 3 weeks for years.  I felt so bad I couldn't even crochet, must have been bad.  Anyway it is on the wane now thank-goodness.

It was Mum's birthday in February, what do you get for the lady well on into her nineties?  I genuinely had no idea so I made this...

And told Dad to put it in the middle of the dining room table with a vase of flowers on it.  He did.  It looked okay.  Job done.  February was also Valentine's Day so I made a flower heart for himself...

  I added a little wooden sign to it...

He liked it and hung it on the "death riding a motorcycle" on the shelves above his desk.  I'm calling it a win!

I also made some Mother's Day mandalas but put them in the post without photographing them so there are no pictures sadly.

However, the really big win on the crochet front so far this year is my absolutely favourite sweater.  At the start of the year I was trawling through some of my favourite blogs and came across this post from Vanessa.  I decided I wanted to make the sweater, so a bit more trawling back through her archives brought me to the pattern.  Oh dear!  As with a lot of the best crochet patterns out there it was Japanese and of course designed to fit someone a quarter my size, but I was determined.  I found a moderately priced yarn that I knew I could wear comfortably next to my skin (I didn't want to risk expensive yarn on a pattern I wasn't sure I could make work) and sat down to do some serious swatching and the accompanying maths.  It took me an hour or so but eventually I had the maths done and I got started.  It was always going to be a long project.  I prefer to crochet in the round, in 3D and this pattern was 2D and more like a knitting pattern, where you make the flat pieces and then join them together.  It took longer than I would normally ever take to make a garment but the result was soooooo worth it.

I love that neckline! :)

And finally, here it is, full on...

I had to lengthen, and widen it and then I had to make the collar fit my additional dimensions but it was all worth it and I now have a lovely sweater that has already been worn several times. 

I intend to make another in pink and try and get it more lacy, a bigger hook and a lot more maths in my future, I guess!

 Love O. xx

Winter Festival 2014

You know the holiday time is almost over when you find you're down to the last 2 luxury face wipes in the packet.  I had to add a drop of water to the luxury body wash himself bought me to use over the holidays in the shower this morning in order to make it last for the final three days.

It has been a good Winter Festival.  Starting with the Winter Solstice.

I wore my Winter Solsice Poncho, which I love to bits

We made one of the best Christmas dinners we've made for years.  Everything worked and tasted delicious and there were no left overs, nothing to throw away.

We spent quiet evenings by candlelight

With excellent drinks

Rose Petal Martini complete with dried edible rose petal! And himself able to drink properly for the first time for years which meant he could really enjoy the scotch I bought him and we had a splendid bottle of Running Duck red with our Christmas lunch.

We managed to make both sitting rooms look festive.  The Christmas tree always goes into the more formal sitting room so that it is out of the way of the dog and where more room can be made for it, but that always used to mean that the dog den, where we probably spend most of our time looked a little neglected so it gets the wreath and the bunting and once again I made a twig tree.

We tried to be sensible with presents this year.  Not sure we entirely managed it.  Yes that is a retro style pink radio in the first picture on this post and my new PIP Studio rucksack has been peeping into some of the crochet pictures I took for the crochet round up.

And speaking of round ups...

I'm not a great one for looking back, it tends to lead to looking back in anger and I'd really rather not but 2014 was an odd kind of year.

On the home front for us it was quite definitely the "year of the garden."  We bought this house partly because of the garden, all the trees and fruit bushes and green was the perfect balm after life in the centre of the city surrounded by nothing but bricks and neglected council trees.  But those tress and fruit bushes had become a serious problem over the years.  They were old to start with and the maintenance factor was just too high.  The idea of trying to do anything in the garden was fraught with difficulty for both of us, because just clearing the ground to be able to actually do anything resulted in two worn out middle aged hippies with chronically bad backs.  So after a couple of days wrestling with the strimmer and the branch loppers resulted in himself being flat on his back for a week I decided it was time to call in the cavalry and engage a gardener.  Best. Decision. Ever.  I had the money from last years bonus to be able to spend a few bob getting the garden into something we could manage and it was worth every penny.  It's sleeping now of course...

But it is no longer overgrown.  The path is visible and useable all the way to the top.  There is new trellis replacing the tress that had to be cut down and the bushes that we removed.  The green house has been repaired and the old shed repainted and all the borders cleared so that we can plant things.  I can stroll all the way up to the newly planted meadow at the top without having to fight my way like Livingstone through the jungle.  I love it so much!

I guess for this to be the first part of a complete round up I must mention the job.  2014 was in the end a year of tremendous change.  We moved offices in London to two grand new buildings within a short stroll of each other in Kensington and whilst the main building may have a fabulour restaurant, a bar and an indoor garden complete with swing the new IT building has the most fabulous art deco loos.  They are actually listed and cannot be changed in any way!

It's not a grat picture but I think you get the idea.

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that the last 3 years at work have been far from easy.  The change of ownership of the company resulted in some changes in IT that have left most of the old legacy IT folks, myself included, feeling very battered and left some of us, again myself in particular, asking some very hard questions.  Like 'is it time to perhaps move on.'  Despite the fact that it was lovely to hear many of my colleagues from the business side telling me to please just hang on in there, and things would change, I admit I came very close to putting the house on the market and seeking employment (including significant salary drop) elsewhere.  Well two weeks before the holiday I was glad I'd stuck it out.  Changes were made at the top of IT that resulted in a lot of us heading into Christmas with much lighter hearts and a great deal more optimism about the future.  Let's hope it stays that way for a while.

On a personal note 2014 was the year of a realisation that I never expected in a million years.  A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, a much younger me went through an experience I would never wish on anyone ever in a million years.  I dealt with it as best I could at the time, but I have always known that it was a big contributory factor to a lot of stuff in my life, including the breakdown of my first marriage.  I have also always known, that had what happened to me happened, say at work, I would have handled it a lot better than I did.  The fact that it all happened in a religious/church environment put everything in a different context and left me floundering.  It is strange how totally unrelated yet similar events trigger realisations that suddenly bring a level of clarity and release you never expected.  One evening after watching the news about yet another round of trials of old men on trial for sexual misconduct with young women I suddenly turned to himself and said.  "It's only just occured to me that I could go to the police about what happened at church all those years ago."  Himself grinned and replied "I wondered when you'd realise."  He then asked if I wanted to.  I don't, of course, but just knowing that I could, that men are going to prison for doing far less than what happened to me at the hands of a so called christian man, in a so called christian setting has made a boat load of difference.  I was abused by a man who should have known better and it wasn't all my fault, the way I was lead to believe it was at the time.  I truly was innocent.  I might have been a married woman, but I was innocent in so many ways and he was the sinner, the one doing wrong, the one who many years later was punished in a way, kind of, but not enough, never enough.  But... the best revenge is to live well and oh boy do I live well and I have done it all my own way, on my own nickel with himself beside me every step.  Life is pretty good here in the delapidated old farm house, half way up a mountain in the middle of rural Wales.

Well that was all a bit cathartic and probably needed saying so I will be back tomorrow with the rest of 2014 and my thoughts on the biggest happiest event of the year along with my thoughts on the world of crochet blogging and other... stuff!

Love O. xx

Knitting in the sun! Oh and a bit of Madrid too!

This was the part of the garden I was sitting facing for most of the day today.  We got up early and took Phaolin out for a walk before it got too hot.  Sadly we didnt get up quite early enough to head for the sea, so that will have to wait until tomorrow morning.  Then when we got back I made the first jug of Pimms of the Summer.

We were out of cucumbers, well we needed the little we had for the salad for lunch, but we did have orange apple and mint so I chopped those up and dumped them in and... delicious.

Earlier this week I was in Madrid for work.  I love Madrid, not quite as much as I love Rome, but it is a truly splendid city.  We were staying at the Hotel Hospes in the centre of Madrid.  A five star boutique hotel that deserved every one of it's five stars.  I swear I could move to Madrid just for the food!  

This was my room

My bathroom had a double corner bath, a waterfall shower and two sinks and it was so quiet, even with the french doors open it was hard to remember that I was in the middle of a busy city.

We dined at the terrace restaurant here on Monday night.

You know that building used to be the post office!!  Now it is a centre for the arts.  The Palacio de Cibeles Restaurant is on the sixth floor terrace and well worth a visit if you get the opportunity.

I did get chance for a good walk into the centre on Monday evening before dinner and of course, some shopping.  I bought two new fans, a pink one and a yellow one, and some lovely spanish yarn.  Then I had a wander round my favourite plaza.

Then I looked at my watch and realised there was no way I was going to make it back in time for dinner if I walked... so I got a cab.

We drank Mojitos in the terrace bar before dinner.  Fabulous Mojitos!  And here is the view from the Palacio de Cibeles Restaurant, as night fell.

I will admit that one of the things I really enjoyed was grabbing a vew moments to myself, ordering a glass of wine and sitting on the terrace with my crochet.

On the second night we went to Meson Txistu a basque style terrace restaurant and a regular haunt of Real Madrid footballers and Rafael Nadal.  Sadly he wasnt there on Tuesday night and my pictures all include my colleagues and so are not for this blog.

It was a good conference, good to meet up with old colleagues, many of whom I have known for well over ten years.  We worked hard, I know that sounds surprising looking at the venue and hearing about the restaurants but we didn't finish until well after seven on Tuesday evening and I had to leave before we were done on Wednesday to catch my flight.  I arrived home at close to midnight on Wednesday and have to admit to being extremely tired.

Probably explains why I was content to sit in the garden and knit baby shoes today.

And now I am off to finish a cardigan.  O. xx

Sunshine weekend, The Ashes, bunting triangles and a blanket

So it was another week of blisteringly hot weather!  Whilst I am not quite ready for it to be Autumn yet there were a couple of days this week when I wouldn't have minded it being a few degrees cooler.  I find the heat very draining and so good intentions to 'get stuff done' fall by the wayside in a puddle of melting ambition and depleted energy and at times a feeling of being almost ill.  I do not do well in the heat it seems.

The work week was busy as ever, and I am still getting used to not having to look over my shoulder anymore after what happened a few weeks ago. Now I just think that it's sad that a person's major contribution to other people's job satisfaction is to leave, but it is oddly satisfying when other colleagues go out of their way to tell me how much they value what I do and that it was only a matter of time before things swung around again.  I don't expect the current peace to last but it is extremely good to not be feeling on edge and worried all the time.

Life has it's ups and downs and this last few weeks have been specially down for one of my closest and oldest friends.  I can't say that other folks problems don't affect me because when it's someone I care deeply about they do.  I wish there was a way to fix everything for everyone, but sadly I have no magic wand, just an available ear, the capacity and strength to ask the hard questions and the offer of a place to run to should it become necessary.  

So it has been a contemplative week, reflective and strangely peacful here on Misty Mountain...

at the house in the trees.  I always think the contrast between our rampant over grown trees and my neighbours well manicured lawns is oddly amusing.

The weekend has actually been very restful despite the heat.  Helped of course by the start of the second test of The Ashes series on Thursday.  My enjoyment of cricket is one of the few things I share with my Father, so it is always cool fun to call him at close of play, or lunch or tea to discuss the day's cricketing events.  Helped of course by the fact that several of the current team's stars are Yorkshire men!  Saturday was truly glorious and I shared a couple of excited enthusiastic calls with Dad where we talked about Yorkshire vs Australia and the fact that Joe Root doesn't look old enough to be out of short trousers let alone scoring a hundred and eighty at Lords!

This morning we did our usual hot Sunday thing of getting up early and heading out to the beach with Phaolin so he could have a good walk before it got too hot for him to want to do any more than make a den in the shady bushes in the garden and lie in it for the rest of the day trying to keep cool.

This morning we went the other way, from the car park and along the pier to the newly painted lighthouse...

Looking very smart and rather sparkly in the morning sun.

There were a few more clouds in the view looking over the Gower this weekend. 

And a little boy who has limited patience with all this view gazing lark and who is raring to get on with HIS walk along the beach.

So we put cameras/iPhones away and headed off for a stroll in my case, run and bound in Phaolin's case along the beach.  There was much sniffing, some paddling and of course lots and lots of hole digging.  (We gave up on the garden years ago when we realised Phaolin wasn't ever going to stop digging large holes in everything he could dig holes in including lawns, flower beds, herb gardens and shrubbery.)  Malamutes are world champion diggers and the beach is the perfect place for Phaolin to get the days digging requirement out of his system!

After the beach we strolled past Shoreline, the rather grand caravan park hidden down by the beach behind the pickle factory.  Yes I do mean the pickle factory, Parsons Pickles of Burry Port to be exact.  Seriously good pickles if you like pickles, which I do.  Walking past the really quite lovely static caravans at Shoreline always makes me wonder... should we invest in one, would it be worth it. We had a caravan at Swithland Woods when we lived in Leicestershire and it made for some great memories... or would it just be another overhead I can do without in these days of tenuous job security at best?

Anyway after the beach and the dunes and the caravans we walked back across the park past the pretty coloured houses to the car.

And home for a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea for breakfast before it got too hot!  And another day of cricket watching and crocheting.

And speaking of crocheting I promised a propoer 'ta-dah' post for Tara's blanket so...

After the girl's (Tara and her girlfriend) had been home at Christmas and showed us all the pictures and plans for their new house in Brussells himself asked if I would crochet them a blanket so he could take it as a housewarming present when he went over.  Yes, I said, of course, no problem, crocheting blankets is what I do!  So I looked at the various pictures we had of the house and the new furniture and realised everything was very modern and... white... Well I could make a white blanket but the practicalities of using it and constantly washing it made it seem pointless.  The only colour I had to go on was the rusty orange of the draft stopper they had asked for for Christmas.  I thought about making something like a Flowers in the Snow blanket but that requires a variety of bright colours set off by the white border and I wasnt sure that a rainbow of bright colours was really the way to go.  Bright colours in large varieties did not really seem to be the girls thing.  So on a trip to Cardiff with a friend earlier in the year I took a punt and bought some Rowan baby merino silk dk in cantaloupe, strawberry and sunshine.  The strawberry and cantaloupe were the colours of the Christmas draft stopper. Then I decided on Lucy's Interlocking Ripple pattern and got to work.

Here is the result!

I was so happy with the way this came out.  Here it is on our bed!

And a close up of the white border.

Himself took the blanket with him when he went to Belgium at the start of the month.  I will admit that I was vrey nervous as to how it would be received.  I am very aware that not everyone likes hand made things, many people consider them a cheap alternative when you can't affford to buy something rather than the labour of love they actually are. So I was really chuffed to receive a very enthusiastic thank-you phone call after he had handed it over, pointing out that the colours I had been so concerned about toned in perfectly with the natural wooden floors throughout the house.  But what really had me dancing with glee was when the girls called the other week and talked about how lovely it was to sit side by side on their new couch late in the evening watching TV snuggled together under their handmade blanket!  I was just so pleased!!  I have since received a lovely thank-you card so I am pretty sure my work is well appreciated.  It's kind of a good thing seeing as I have already made their Christmas presents for this year!

And one final picture of the blanket all folded up ready to head to its new and very appreciateve home.

The other thing I managed to get done was my Yarndale bunting.  I only did a few triangles because I had real problems with the tension but I was rather pleased with how they came out.

I need to get them in the post this week now there is an address to send them to.  Not going to bother to try and personalise them. I am sure I'll have better things to do that weekend than spend time trying to spot one of my triangles amidst the thousands that will be fluttering at the Yarndale venue.  I am strangely looking forward to my solo visit back to the Dales.  It's been years!  I will stop off at the folks on the way and then head off to Skipton on the Friday.  I'm staying at the the Woolly Sheep.  I really couldn't resist, although its actually a pub and I'm a bit concerned about how good the accomodation will actually be, but I figured I'm going for the event and to see the Dales again not to spend hours in my room!

Well the weekend is nearly over so I'm going finish off my weekend jug of Pimms.

And settle down for a bit more hooky time before bed.  So I'll leave you with another picture from our morning walk.

 O. xx

Nothing but blue skies...

What glorious weather!!  So much to post about and yet so little time to actually post about it all. Splendid weekend, England going okay in the Ashes and something happened at work a week ago that has made life much improved, for now anyway and I finally finished Tara's blanket but I think it deserves a post all to itself because I really am very please with the way it came out.

The above was taken yesterday morning on our walk.  We left it too late, my fault entirely, and by the time we were halfway along our usual walk on the coastal path it was far too hot for Phaolin so we turned around and came back.

A very hot dog, just before we turned around and headed back.

Needless to say I spent the rest of the day with my lovely crochet, in front of the Ashes.  Got a bit worried there for a while but the latter end of the day picked up tremendously.

And so, not wanting to make the same mistake as yesteday we were up at 6am today and by 7 we were on our way to the sea for an early morning walk in the cool(er) part of the day.

We parked the car and headed towards the marina... I didn't have my camera with me so these pictures were all taken with my iPhone!

Which looked really lovely and sparkly in the early morning sun.

Round the marina and down on to the beach where Phaolin wasted no time in finding a 'paddling pool' to cool his hot doggy paws.

The tide was out so we didn't go right down to the sea, it wasn't really necessary when there were plenty of pools and channels for Phaolin to play in.

Because it was so early we had the beach mainly to ourselves...

It really was a beautiful morning...

The view across the bay to the Gower Peninsula...

Back towards the lighthouse and pier at Burry Port...

And further round you can just see the taller masts from the marina...

Finally it was time for a drink and to turn round and head back along the coastal path towards the car.

A quick look back towards the Gower...

And then it was back to the car and home for breakfast in the garden with an early treat of one of the classic tastes of Summer...

And a brand new crochet project - well 2 actually... aren't those colours absolutely yummy!

O. xx

Alone...

Bought these to cheer myself up while himself is away.  He left early this morning to visit family.  By the time I sat down to start work at 9.30 I had a load in the washing machine, the dishwasher on, the dogs walked, one side of the kitchen completely cleaned and I'd painted a wall!  Funny how much you get done when the other half isn't around.  No doubt he would say exactly the same about me...Once I'd done the necessary for work I cleaned the small sitting room.  Now I ache, in a good way, and I'm exhausted, so I'm sitting down with a glass of white Zinfandel writing this journal entry. 
Tomorrow I plan to do the second coat of paint on the wall, finish the kitchen, clean the big sitting room and the bedroom and sort out the last of my yarn stash.  This is the yarn hiding behind the rocking chair in the small sitting room.  On Wednesday I shall be a lady of leisure.  *chuckles*After last week it is so nice to get back to domesticity.  I really am not cut out for this high flying career lark, I'd much rather stay home and keep house.  *sigh*  However, the mortgage has to be paid and sadly there is no wage for housekeeping in one's own house.  Anyway, time to play EQ II for a while, then I shall go crochet while I watch TV.

Home again, home again jiggetty jig...

So, it's been a while.  Too long, considering I was supposed to be updating this blog at least once a week.  Ho hum.  Anyway, I've been away.  Work, of the kind that I do for money to pay the mortgage and buy the yarn suddenly got kinda hectic and I had to go to New York for the week last week and it required a fair bit of preparation so sadly the blog got neglected.  Still I'm back now and just becasue I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been creating.  Oh no! 

Remember this?  My Mini Mochi hat.  Well I decided that it was the perfect thing to take to New York with me provided it had a...

Matching scarf and hand warmers...

 

I love it, I really do.  So have another picture of it.

  

The ensemble got worn in NYC and complimented especially when I visited the lovely lovely ladies at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio on West 15th.  I had a wonderful couple of hours in there and bought a lot of lovely lovely yarn.  So much I had to go and buy an additional hold all for travelling home!

Anyway I will take pictures of all my NYC fibre booty later...

For now I have started work on a bit of stash busting, kinda...

I am calling this my Purple Haze Sunset Blanket

Thirty five identical squares with a four row border.  I am aiming for at leat five squares a day then the thing will be complete in a week or so.  Sadly I have to visit the smoke again next week which will put paid to a couple of days hooking.

 
 
 So there we have it, all the recent hooky goodness.  If the baby blanket ever gets finished I post pictures of that too.

Love O. xxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Domesticity

Aaaaah... there is nothing more satisfying than a pile of finished ironing!  I know many people hate ironing and try hard to avoid it but I do enjoy my Monday morning spent removing creases from or putting them into the previous weeks laundry.  I find neat piles of well pressed clothes fill me with a strange sense of accomplishment and glee, knowing I can put them away and that when I next want a t-shirt or some clean jim jams there they are waiting for me all clean and pressed and crease free!  Nuts innit.

So with the ironing out of the way I actually have to do some work this afternoon, which means it will be this evening before I can get back to the monster ripple.  So no pictures until later in the week.

I am probably going to have to leave for the funeral tomorrow morning now as they are predicting heavy snow and blizzard conditions for SW Wales tomorrow afternoon and into Wednesday morning.  *sigh*  I really do wish this weather would just go away.  It's beginning to annoy me now, beautiful though it makes things look, it's very frustrating when you actually have to do something.  Ah well, it will be all over on Thursday.

And here is my lovely new pin cushion that himself got me for Christmas.

Bye for now, O. xxx 

Late evening post...

Today was a strange day really.  Work was all fits and starts and I suddenly had a conference call at 7pm which threw me a little on a Friday.  No idea why, it just did.

I'm posting this from my 'other computer.'  Still getting the stupid error message on the usual one, so switched to the games machine in the hopes that the other modem and isp provider works better!  So far so good and fingers crossed for future workingness.

In terms of craftly creativity today was quite good.

I don't think I've mentioned yet that I have decided to restore my old pine rocking chair that resides in The Conservatory.  It got paint on it when himself's alcoholic half brother was doing some work for us in the previous house, and then Cloud chewed odd bits of the bottom of it when he was a puppy.  Anyway, I don't want to paint it because is it really is lovely pine so I decided I am gonna sand down the chewed bits, when we get a decent day and add some extra bits to make it comfortable.  So I trotted off to that veritable Aladins cave of useful house type items the other day and bought some cushion innards and a seat pad.

A few days ago I started making a cover for the back...

Oh and there is my lovely new jug and vase and watering can!  Anyway, back to the crochet... The ripple pattern came from the usual place here at attic24.  I liked it because it was a gentle ripple rather than one with sharp points.  

 Anyway, today I finished it.  Here it is on the soon to be lovingly restored roching chair in The Conservatory.

 And here it is again with the watering can and matching planter I bought for my friend for her birthday present.

The seat pad will eventually be covered with crochet hexagons and I have nearly completed the first of the crochet cushion covers.  So hopefully there will be a pretty and comfy rocking chair for me to sit in to knit and crochet, in The Conservatory in the Summer.