At Last!

Finally, I’ve got round to taking and uploading some photos of what I have been up to in the past month or so!

We’ve been in the new house for about 7 weeks.

The back bedroom, which still needs photographing, has been given a new look with a fresh coat of paint on all the walls. I’m sorry to say we didn’t strip the wallpaper, that will have to wait until we get round to doing it again one day. However, I’ve painted over the floral pattern (I’m sure it’s lovely to some, but to my taste? Not so much) and the places where the previous owners’ cats scratched up the wallpaper. It’s not perfect, but it’s much more “us”. We have a nice new wooden curtain pole which needs to go up, and some rather nice curtains too. The new bed comes a week on Saturday, and once that’s in I’ll share photos. we must buy a lampshade!

The shed, which also needs photographing, has been given a couple of coats of Cuprinol Ducksback and is now reddish brown rather than grey. I’m pleased with it, and it’s hopefully not going to let water in any more. Though having moved the massive log pile from the side of it and cleared all of the brambles and mud will have helped. (I didn’t do that, Fiancé did.)

Anyway, this is the house.

There are lots of rose bushes in the front garden – they’re still flowering (in November!) but once they’re done flowering I will cut them back hard to try to get them into more even shapes and sizes. They are lovely though, lots of pretty colours!

The big window there in the garage is over a second sink with cupboards and drainer. This will, when I get it tidy and clean (and spider free), be my dying area. I’ll put the steamer out there (there’s power and water!) and the washer and dryer are both there, so I can do felting out there too! I’ll probably see about getting Fiancé to build me a bench to work on too at some point, and we’re going to put more shelves and hooks and a washing line up there too.

At the moment that area is also home to my new wormery.

I love worms. They’re one of the most amazing creatures ever. These worms are specially selected for wormeries. I’ve settled them in with the starter worm bedding, some treats (yes, you can get worm treats, how amazing is that) and some anti-acid pellets (too much acid upsets them!)
Anyway, they’re not trying to escape so I hope that’s a good sign.
We also have two large compost bins. We got the sort with bases because next door tell us that there might be rats (I figure; we’re in the country – there probably are rats, so we’ll try not to attract them)

This morning I saw some sort of hawk in the back garden! It was about the size of a pigeon, but dark brown with almost black wings, head and back. It was beautiful. I didn’t get the camera in time to take a photo I’m afraid.
There’s so much wildlife around here though, it’s fantastic!

I like my new home a lot, and I know I’m going to be happy here

New Sweater

So, After almost 3 years of having the yarn, I’ve finally finished my green sweater! It was originally going to be but I didn’t like the finished item – I think it was the wrong yarn choice, as well as pilot error (PEBNAY – Problem Exists Between Needle and Yarn).

So I decided on a simple raglan cardigan, trying on as I went. And here’s the result:




Before weaving in the ends!


Pattern: My Own Design (I might publish it as I’ve kept notes, but it needs test-knitting first!)
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha (40% Silk, 30% Wool, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon) in Emerald (105)
Needles: 4.5mm circs & dpns
Modifications: N/A
Verdict: The yarn is lush, lovely to knit with. It’s a bit slubby but that adds to the charm I think. The cables pop really nicely in this yarn and colour. I’m quite pleased with it. It’s very warm so I haven’t had chance to wear it.