I feel the need.. for speed..

Which justifies a New Project Alert before the neck-down chevron rib top is finished - haha!

You see we are attending a(nother) wedding in August - this time for the actual daytime ceremony as well as the evening party. And everyone knows that a girl needs new clothes for such an event!

Well there are 3 girls in our household, so I'm buying new outfits for both DDs (matching - so sweet!) and part buying, part making new items for myself. (I did ask DH too but he's not really into new clothes and has a very nice suit already - see, I'm not being mean.)

I have a great linen skirt and co-ordinating top for the day - but it's crying out for matching heeled sandals and a pretty lacy bolero with beaded edges. I'm investigating sources for the sandals (involving lots of shoe shopping - fab!) and have started on the Summer Wedding Bolero.

It involves an easy lace stitch pattern, a small quantity of crisp white mercerised DK-weight cotton, some matching beads for a crochet edging, and a pretty clasp - oh and a pattern created (following swatching of course) from my Knitware Sweaters program.

So with 2 months before the wedding, why the need for speed? Well I need a black one for the evening party too.. ;-)

Discovery and other fruits

I've made a discovery whilst knitting away at my sleeveless neck-down summer top - Midriff Island.
It's similar to Sleeve Island, but involves one continuous tube of magic double rib. Why magic? Because it starts to look like it might be long enough, so I try it on (long live neck-down garments!) only to find that it has shrunk as it stretched around my (not so small) torso and is actually a long way from "decent" let alone "finished". Ho hum.
** One more row; repeat from ** ad infinitum...

On the beading front, I've made several new necklaces and earrings for myself, and started gathering supplies to fulfill my mum's request. There are far too many photos to add here, so I'm adding a link to the Galleries section in the right-hand bar.
I've made some green beaded stretchy jewellery for eldest DD's school sports day stall, and also finished crocheting the summer tote bag.
I decided to make a plaited strap, which I've sewn to the bag edges and left a small tassel dangling down from each lower corner in true 70s style. ;-)


As for the other fruits - tenuous link there - our courgette plants have their first flower!
I've never grown courgettes before but love eating them, so this was an exciting find.
I directed the whole family outside at breakfast-time to inspect it, and DH thinks it looks quite prehistoric - I tend to agree.

What a fantastic weekend!

I don't usually work Fridays, so I spent the day relaxing at home, crocheting and beading in the sunshine. I really needed some time out, so decided I would do nothing more strenuous than transfer washing from the machine to the clothes line and then to the ironing pile - where it still is...

The resulting items are for my DDs' school sports day; they have been asked to take in things to sell on their team colour's stall. I decided to crochet a purse and bag, and make 4 strung beaded necklaces in each colour – red and green for my DDs. I've used the plastic beads and elastic beading cord for the necklaces, and painted over the knotted end with clear nail varnish to make them more secure.

I found a ball of tomato red Patons mercerised cotton DK which I've used for the purse, and an odd ball of grass green Rowan Summer Tweed which is now becoming a dinky little shoulder bag.

Back to the weekend activities – we spent three afternoons and evenings body boarding in the sea, which led me to the conclusion that I have to buy a wetsuit. I'm totally amazed – I never thought I would want to get one myself! Yesterday I even swam in the sea (wearing my bikini – brave but cold!) – which I haven't done for around 25 years!

The lasting picture of the weekend in my mind has to be from Friday evening at Perranporth – unfortunately we didn't have a camera with us, but imagine this if you will: me and DH having a drink of Jack Daniels and coke from The Watering Hole, relaxing on the sand in the warm early evening glow of a fabulous sunset, listening to a couple strumming guitars gently, watching my kids playing happily on the beach and a horse dancing around in the waves at the edge of the sea… Just what the doctor ordered. ☺

Testing times

There has been a distinct lack of activity here on the blog for a while now, but I wanted to let you know that I'm still around.

We're having a particularly stressful time right now, involving house sales and purchases as well as fairly major family-related problems which are currently being sorted out.

With all this going on, I've felt quite depressed and exhausted a lot of the time, and simply haven't had the enthusiasm to update the blog. Migraines with disturbed vision and daily bouts of acid indigestion have indicated the extent of my worries; thankfully these have been helped recently by a little progress in matters and an encouraging message from afar. We do seem to be over the worst now (hopefully) and I'm sure things will work out fine, but we're still in the process at the moment.

I have been doing a little knitting - the top-down summer top from Rebecca magazine that I had to frog several times has now thankfully made it to around 75% complete. However I've found that when I knit I still run through problems in my head and don't feel relaxed.

Instead I've been beading as it absorbs my attention more, which is what I need at the moment. I've made a few more necklaces and been asked by various relatives to re-thread broken ones - even my dear mom has asked me to make her a pair of earrings, which quite astounded me as she's not really into crafts.

Hopefully soon things round here will return to a state more akin to normality (whatever that is) and I'll be up and running again with lots of pics.