Poorly Blogger

I have been a very poor blogger of late.  I know this and I'm NOT going to apologise the way other bloggers do.  I'm just going to explain that over the next few weeks my posts will be few and far between.  As you are probably aware, my health has been deteriorating of late and I have been waiting for surgery, to hopefully relieve some of my worst symptoms.  I FINALLY have a date for that operation.  The 3rd of October.  Having a date is wonderful, I just wish it happened before Summer was over, however, it does means that I should have an okish Christmas this year.

Until my operation I am not going to beat myself up trying to blog about everything.  I'm not going to be able to.  The main block for my blogging is the photography aspect.  I usually like to post pretty photos of nicely finished things, and photography is the most physical thing I do - ridiculous I know, but true.

I'm also slacking off on the blocking stages of finished projects, as that is pretty physical too, crawling around the floor pinning out errant edges is not my idea of fun at the moment.

I'm still knitting away, but it is all fairly undramatic progress at the moment.

I did cast on a Spectra by Stephen West the other day.  I'm using my Countess Ablaze Count Cashmerino Sock in Grey Skies Over Manchester, that I shared with you earlier in the month.

I added a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock, to the mix, that I picked up cheaply from Hejhog.

I haven't taken a photo of yet ;-)

I normally avoid intarsia like the plague, but this is nice crisp intarsia that only involves one twist of yarn,every now and again, in a nice straight line.  It is mildly annoying but I can tolerate it for the lovely pattern.

I cast on the Spectra because I had finished the Wingspan.  It is lovely and sproingy, but it does need blocking to crisp out the points.  I really enjoyed knitting it and I love how it looks and drapes.  I am very tempted to cast on another just for me, using some of my yarn from stash.  I shall have to debate which is the right yarn to use, whilst I knit Spectra.

My hexipuffs are also stacking up.  I think I have about 10 now.  I know it isn't a huge mountain, but I am enjoying the lack of pressure I have put on myself with these little knitting gems.  I will finish when I have enough.  I don't have an end date or a final size I want to get too, I'm just knitting them for fun.  It's  quite liberating and revisiting old sock yarn projects is lovely.  I have so many beautiful sock yarn odds and ends, that make perfect little hexipuffs, and knitting with them again is a dream.  Next time I have the right light for my phone camera I will snap a few of my favourite ones to share.

I've also been trucking along with Maplewing.  I'm past the change over from the big pattern repeats at the edges, and I'm now onto the smaller repeats section, which is easier to memorise.  This section is going much faster because of the shrinking of the number of stitches and the easier to remember pattern.  I may actually finish this pattern one day - a while ago, I wasn't so sure!

As I have a large aversion to posting, without including photos, I will include a couple that I took in the garden a few weeks ago.

© Chrissy Fletcher, 2012 - Lavender Flower

© Chrissy Fletcher, 2012 - Tiny Yellow Flower

© Chrissy Fletcher, 2012 - Aquilegia

I hope you like them.  I want some yarn in the same colour as the aguilegia, if you spot it, let me know, though I think BabyLongLegs may have some that is pretty close.

So, until I feel like posting again, so long!

Pretty Flower in My Hair

I'm not joining in with WIP Wednesday this week, because I want to share my latest sewing project.  I'm quite proud of it too.  Here it is, do you like it?

It is a pretty flower.  I made it using this tutorial from over at Sew Ritzy Titzy.  If you "Like" me on Facebook you may have already seen this tutorial pop up in my feed, as I have a Posterous account which I have hooked up to Facebook.  I post a few links during the week of tutorials I have come across that interest me and I might one day want to make.  I also have my Posterous page embedded in this blog on the My Inspiration page.  Essentially this account enables me to find tutorials I liked from last year when I want them, and also to share these goodies with you lovely people, if you are so interested.

Anyway back to the flower.

Do you recognise those fabrics?  Yes they are the ones I used for my clutch purse that I put together for the wedding I'm going to at the weekend.

I have had such fun putting together outfits and accessories for this wedding.  I spent all of today making jewellery too, which I'll take photos of next week for you to see.  I don't normally wear much red so it has been fun making things to match what I'm wearing over the wedding weekend.  I shall feel very well put together (for a change).

The tutorial suggests using a button for the centre of the flower, and I think that would have looked better than my circle of fabric with stuffing in the centre, but I didn't have a suitable button in my stash.  The stuffed fabric looks ok, but if next time I go to a haberdashery I see a suitable button I will replace the centre, as it will make it flatter.

I'm quite proud of how I made these petals.  I ironed each one so that the seams were pressed open and all other creases were removed, so they were made into little cones.  The petal tips pull forwards because the seam allowance on one side of the cone makes it shorter than the other.  When I matched up the bottom of each side of the cone to make the running stitch along the bottom,  this pulled the un-seamed side of the petal upwards.  I love how this works, but it has made me think again about making a tailor's ham, as that would have made ironing tiny cones much easier.

I sewed a couple of hair clips on the back of the flower to hold it in place on my hair.  I haven't decided what style I will go for, probably just all hanging down, but I think the flower will pretty things up whatever style I go for.

I have been knitting this week, as well as all this accessory making, but you will have to wait until next week to see my progress in that field.

Spring Photos

As everyone has been so lovely about my rubbish health this week, I thought I would reward you with the cute and/or pretty photos I took last weekend when the sun was shining.  They do not fit in with any photo challenges at all.  In fact I am way behind on my WPC 2011, but I do intend to catch up.  My aim is to have 52 photos at the end of the year that I can make into a photo book to sum up my progress over this year.  So as I intend to have 52 photos for that, I will have to catch up smartish when I'm up and moving again.

Until I have less pain and more strength, these photos will have to hold you, and I have to say I am slightly proud of them.  My photography is still improving with each batch I take.  It is so rewarding to be able to see my progress so clearly, just from practising.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Daisy

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Dandelion

Not bad for two weeds are they?  I love the sunny yellow in both flowers.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Orange Tulip

This tulip is the single flower of this type, that is hidden underneath our apple tree.  All the other tulips we have are bright red and yellow.  I love this one blended flower that we have.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Apple Blossom

Speaking of apple trees, our cooking apple tree is really well established.  It was part of the orchard that our street was built on, in the 1930s.  Nearly all the gardens have at least one fruit tree still in place.  We have this apple tree and four damson trees.  We also have an eating apple tree that was planted by the previous owners on a dwarf stock, so it is tiny.  We usually have about three apples in total from that tree.  The cooking apple tree, showers our lawn with enormous fruits for about a month.  We don't bake sadly.

This year our eating apple tree is full of blossom, so we are hoping to have slightly more apples from it.  As this photo was taken last weekend, you can imagine how beautiful the trees look this weekend.  I wish I had the strength to take the camera out, but I don't, so you shall have to imagine it's delicate flowers instead.  They really are beautiful.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Bleeding Hearts

I love the Bleeding Heart plant.  Every year it appears for a brief spell of colour and beauty.  Then it disappears into insignificance again.  We have a white version that comes up in a few weeks, after this one starts to die away again.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Fat Cat

You can see our sea of yellow and red tulips in the background of this photo, but mainly what you can see is my fat cat, lazing around as usual.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - Parsley waving like a Royal Cat

I really enjoyed taking these photos of my cat as we both lazed around on the grass.  I must have taken dozens of photos that I whittled down to three.

© 2011, Chrissy Fletcher - What does Parsley Spy?

This has to be my favourite photo of all.  I love the way the shadows fall on her coat and how her eye glints in the grass.  I've always struggled to take photos of my black and white cat, as her features were often hidden by poor lighting, but reading and learning about the different settings on my camera has meant I've been able to get some really nice ones of her lately.  As she's so lazy, she's a great model!

So there you have it, some more photos from this beginner, that I hope you like.  Oh by the way, all the plants in our garden were put in by the previous owners before we moved in, 6 years ago.  My poor OH spends most of the nice weather wrestling with it to stop it taking over completely.  Maybe one day we'll put in some nice low maintenance shrubs, but until then, I get some pretty flowers to photograph.

Oh and for the record, the hayfever has been bashed into submission by the antihistamines and my head no longer feels like it is about to explode.  My pain today is more of the usual kind from having so many chores to do last week.  Just four more sleeps until the surgery!!!  Oh and I get to take a mobile phone into the hospital so I can hopefully update my Facebook page if nothing else to let you know how I'm doing.  You can follow my Facebook page by either clicking the "LIKE" button on the right hand side of my blog, or by just looking at my page, which can be found here.  However, If you click the "LIKE" button you will receive updates made on my Facebook page, which includes when blog entries are put up and tweets, in your newsfeed.

Hope to be back and blogging soon!  Thanks again for all your well wishes and support, it really does mean and awful lot.