Matilda's new friend

Meet Hazel, she is a speckledy hybrid. She's not old enough yet to lay eggs, I reckon we have about another month to wait to see what colour she produces. I think it might be a dark brown. You can tell by looking at her comb how near to laying age she is. Hers isn't very obvious at the moment, it needs to grow larger and become redder.     

She is incredibly cute and cuddly and just wants to sit on my knee and have a stroke, something Amber and Matilda never did. When I let her out of her run she jumps up onto my shoulder and sits there for a little while until her balance goes and she struggles to hold on. Matilda isn't very keen on the newbie, but she has perked up. She is eating and drinking again, if only to stop Hazel from having anything. She is still missing Amber and spends a lot of the day standing quietly in a corner, but hopefully the youngster's antics will keep her occupied.

At the minute Matilda is trying to express her position in the pecking order and Hazel is most definitely at the bottom! It seems quite brutal at times but Hazel has learnt quickly to stay out of her way. She runs to me for protection and hides behind my legs. But Matilda better watch out because when Hazel matures she will be bigger than Matilda and then we will see who rules the roost! I'm hoping that in a few days time they will both have settled down and become the best of friends.

Bye for now, I will be back soon with more Tales from the coop. 

New project

Before I reveal my new venture, I must show you my latest finished items. I made this scarf a couple of weeks ago and I'm very pleased with it. It's lovely and snuggly to wear and I finished it just in time for the cold weather that we are all experiencing. Another winter warmer I made last week were these mittens. I was surprised at how easy they were to make. They are knitted on four needles so no sewing up involved - always a bonus. There are plenty of free patterns on the web for mittens it's  just a matter of finding a pattern that suits you.   

I made them with the Rowan creative focus that I bought a few weeks ago, it was meant to be used to crochet a pair of mary jane slippers but I changed my mind at the last minute. The wool is nice and warm just right for mittens. I'm ridiculously proud of them and show them to anyone who shows the slightest interest, even shopkeepers. I fancy making another pair now but with a fair isle type pattern. Watch this space. 

Anyway onto my new project. Look at this lovely yarn. It's Rowan handknit cotton, It comes in a fantastic range of colours and is nice to work with. I get so excited when my wool order arrives. I'm like a kid with new toys. I pace backwards and forwards to the window watching for the postie and can't settle to anything in case I miss him. It arrived on Thursday and I have been busy with it ever since. Do you want to see what I have made?...

these African flower hexagons. Aren't they beautiful?

I'm going to make a throw for the spare bed, it'll be a big project as I've calculated that 270 hexagons will be needed. I've made 23 so far.

The pattern can be found on  Heidi bears blog. She does a very good tutorial, it's incredibly easy to follow even for a beginner like me. It's going to look fabulous when it's finished ( fingers crossed).

A quick update on Matilda, she is much the same as she was, still eating and drinking only minute amounts. She definitely doesn't want to come out now in the snow, I lifted her out onto the grass this morning and she dashed back inside, don't blame her really. Must go now as I've got a friend coming this afternoon and I'm teaching her to crochet, it's catching isn't it?

Ripple Blanket - Hurrah!

What do you think of it? Isn't it gorgeous? I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago but have been unable to load the photos AGAIN.( Hubby and I are really getting frustrated with Blogger now and are thinking of changing to a new one, maybe Wordpress.) Anyway back to the blanket, I used a mix of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino and Millamia merino. It is wonderfully soft , scrummie and drapey.

I used Geo's bed to photograph it flat as it fits his bed, but he was told that under no circumstances was it his, it's all mine. I love, love, love it.    

                                                                               BOO

What do think of these crazy characters? I made them for Geo's xmas stocking. I got the pattern from this website and it was really easy to follow, I'm quite proud of them. The only problem  is that I couldn't get hold of any 6mm safety eyes so I stitched on tiny black beads instead but they are coming loose now so I will have to sort that out. It actually makes them look more boggle eyed than they were supposed to.

Last weekend we were going to stay with friends and I wanted to take them a jar of my homemade chilli jelly. My mind whirring as usual I wanted to crochet a cover to make it a bit more special. So I adapted a couple of patterns. The circular top came from the cute and easy crochet book by Nikki Trench and the trim was from Attic 24's candle holder trim.

I think it looks quite good for a first attempt.( I'm really getting the hang of this crochet lark now.) My friend seemed pleased with it anyway.

Changing the tone now, we have had quite a sad week this week. Amber our beautiful hen died last Friday. I was away from the house for an hour and they were in the garden when they were attacked by an escaped dog! We have had them 3 years and dogs go past the garden all the time without any hassle, but new people had moved into the village and obviously hadn't secured their dog properly. At first I thought a fox had had Matilda as she was missing and her feathers were everywhere, but she turned up later from behind the playhouse absolutely terrified. Poor Amber didn't have any injuries but was in a state of shock and was gasping for breath. She didn't make it and died a few hours later. 

Poor Matilda is completely heartbroken and missing Amber. She is barely eating and drinking and didn't come out of her nestbox for the first three days. She now ventures into the garden for supervised wanderings but she doesn't do a lot, she just stands and looks wistful. It's very sad to see her like this, they both used to be so full of energy and run to greet you as soon as you opened the door (usually just begging for food). I might try and get a friend for her next week but for now I'll just try and nurse her back to health.

Thanks for visiting and I'll be back soon with details of my new project.

Knitting again

I'm slowly getting back to normal after my operation. I can do basic things now like getting washed and dressed and light household duties, but I am unable to do heavy lifting and as I've just found out I can't chop up root vegetables for lunch, it's surprising how much pressure you have to apply to the task. So hubby was dragged away from the ironing( I can't do that  either, yippee) to tackle the veg. He's been fantastic these last few weeks taking care of everything, including the animals ( which he isn't keen on) and then going to work. So a big, big thankyou to him. Mustn't forget to say thankyou to Geo who has also helped in his own way by making the batter for the yorkshire puds for lunch.

I can now also manage a little light knitting, I'm so excited I have really missed my yarny projects. The problem now is that I have too many projects lined up as I've spent the last few weeks admiring other peoples handiwork on various blogs and knitting websites and I want them all now!

The picture above is my new scarf I'm working on with my new Alpaca wool. I've unashamedly copied the idea from Little cotton rabbits blog, the pattern can be found here. It's just an easy moss stitch pattern but that's all I wanted to get me back into it. I used a 4mm needle and cast on 31 stitches as my wool isn't a chuncky wool, but I think it looks ok. It's going to be really snuggly soft when it's finished. 

We had a real heavy hoar frost this morning so I ventured out into the garden to take a few shots. I don't clear the garden before winter as I like to leave the seed heads for the birds and also to get beautiful images like these when they are covered in ice crystals.

 

The garden seems so still and magical when it's frosty. The summer flowers I took photos off on my last post haven't made it, but I knew that would happen, still you can't have everything.

The chickens aren't keen on this cold weather. They look out of their cage on a morning and go back to bed, it's far too cold for them. When it's like this they get a nice warming bowl of porridge and extra corn as a treat. Matilda had run off at this point to the refuge of her nice cosy nest to lay today's eggy offering but Amber was happy to follow me round the garden pecking at the frozen ground hopefully.   

Summer Flowers?

I'm sooo bored at the minute as I have to rest my hand. I was doing ok and actually attempted a small bit of crochet but I've suffered a setback and have to be really careful with it. It's so frustrating because to fill my time I browse other peoples blogs and admire all their beautiful creations and I'm so jealous as I just want to get on with mine. Anyway enough moaning, as it was a nice day today and those horrendous gales had died down I ventured into the garden for some fresh air. I was amazed at what is actually still flowering out there! It is January and this rose is in full bloom, a bit raggy granted but it has been battered by 70mph winds.  

This calendula is doing well and even has more buds to come

and in the greenhouse this scented Pelagonium is still flowering it's little heart out and smelling fantastic as well.

On another note, my new wool arrived to day, it's Rowan Creative Focus Worsted for a new project (when I get round to it) which I will tell you about at a later date. I ordered it from Deramores online shop, which I have just discovered. It's a really good service it turns up the next day if you order before 3pm. I'm really pleased with them and would certainly recommend them.

Anyway I'm going to attempt to publish this post and see if it works this time.

An apology.

For some reason when I wrote the last post I had terrible trouble getting it to upload, so there are photos missing and it may not make much sense. So I apologise for this and hope the next post will be better.

Some finished items...

Today I thought I would show you some of the projects I finished last year but didn't get chance to post, plus it gives me a chance to use my new camera.Talking of the camera the first thing to show you is the case I made for it out of scrap wool. It's small enough to fit in my handbag and this will stop it getting scratched. It looks much better with the camera in it but for obvious reasons you won't get to see that image.

The following photos are of the ripple blanket I made for George (little T, he doesn't like being called that anymore!). He requested a blanket at the beginning of December when he saw my ripple blanket. So always keen to start something new before finishing something old (and because I can't resist buying more yarn) we chose and ordered the wool together straight away. It took about three weeks to make and he's really pleased with it. I used Stylecraft Special DK for this, it's certainly the best acrylic yarn I've used, it's very soft and there is a fantastic range of colours. 

One of the colours that George chose was a greenish colour which I didn't think it would work with the others but he was insistent and surprisingly it looks quite good.

This scarf I finished ages ago, it's made with the Angel wool I got for my birthday from my friends. It's a really delicate pattern which I thought would work well with the wool. The pattern was fairly easy to follow but it was quite slow as the wool is very fine and fluffy but the result is beautiful. I can't remember where I got the pattern from but it was somewhere on the internet.

The next two cushions I made earlier in the year. I just had a sudden urge to re-cover the cushion pads that I already had and came up with these designs. They are made with a mix of Stylecraft and Boyes acrylic yarn and they live in the spare bedroom. My mind is already thinking ahead to what else I can make for that room. 

I haven't given up on knitting completely, I have just finished two pair of socks. the first pair is made with Regia wool and is self striping.

I made a flap heel on this pair as it's quite easy to do but they never sit properly on my foot, they always seem too baggy around the heel. 

But with this pair I trawled the internet and looked through books to find a pattern for a short row heel that was easy to follow. This method gives the same heel as shop bought socks which I find more comfortable. 

The wool I used for this pair is Madeline Tosh sock wool that I bought from Loop when I went to London in November for the Country Living fair. It's 100% Merino and it's gorgeous to work with. Now I've got the hang of knitting in the round I just love making socks. I've got two more skeins of sock wool ready to crack on with.

That's the last of my makes but I want to show you what Hubby and George made for my xmas stocking. Aren't they great ? They are made from polymer clay with tiny mosaic tiles embedded in them.

They are very easy to work with as they are quite chunky and they have allowed me to crochet whilst I've got my bandage on! Something I'm sure I'm not supposed to do. Something I can do of course is buy more wool.

I bought this yesterday, I think I'm going to make a scarf with it, it is wonderfully soft.

I have also ordered some more wool which I'm expecting to arrive tomorrow so I might be back to show you that. I can't do much at the moment so my blog may get updated more often, although this post has literally taken me all day to do and now I'm worn out. Bye for now.