As spring sprung I seem to have need of an injection of colour into my life. Perhaps it was a knee jerk reaction against the really long winter we in the UK endured, perhaps it was the loss of Roger. What I do know is that the colours are eye searingly bright.

In no particular order,

I was incredibly lucky during the sales, well alright then tenacious! I did keep going back again and again, but on one trip I found two packs of colourscape chunky for just £30.00 each which is an incredible discount because they should sell for £130.00 Of course I immediately told Diane because I know how she likes a bargain and at some stage later as I was admiring her Valour she reminded me that I had some colourscape in my stash. And that was all the encouragement I needed and quickly cast on.

Today I finished my Valour by Sarah Hatton and this is a photo of it blocking in the sun. I am feeling slightly nervous and am hoping there are no naughty birds around today. These aren’t the best photo’s, the bright colours don’t work against a green background. I am sure there will be more photo’s of Valour once it is dry.


These socks are knit in Wollmeise 80/20 in colourway Grapes for Sheri. I originally started to knit a vanilla sock pattern a 60 stitch 2.5 mm needle and the pooling was in a straight line, not even a slight swirl around the sock, I didn’t like it at all. So I started to knit my fall back pattern which I love called Wildflower socks by Fawn Pea and sure enough the yarn started to behave beautifully. It obviously wanted to be a very pretty sock and I love the way you could almost pick the daisy’s on the lawn.

These socks are knitted from Babylonglegs Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn in colourway Blue Banana. I loved the yarn but am very disappointed with how the colours fell. If you look at the heel and turn of the heel you can see how pretty the yarn is. In another life I would have pulled them back and changed the pattern but I just carried on knitting. I am not even sure why. I may frog them.

Whatever happens to them they are going in my sock stash. I don’t need to add to the circulating pairs of socks that I currently have on the go. But I may need socks later on in life and be uncomfortable knitting them, which is a horrible thought, but it could happen, I needed a plan. And the plan that came up was to have a sock stash and to knit extra pairs. I think that my socks will wear out at a maximum rate of three pairs per year, bearing in mind I am still wearing the first pair I knitted some four years ago. I have had to mend the odd pair of socks that have been made with wool that simply wasn’t strong enough, but from that I have learn’t the lesson on what to look for in sock yarn or equally as important what not to wear when wearing delicate socks. Walking boots can tear a heel apart in seconds whilst soft Ecco sandals with their padded straps are quite happy to partner a deliciously soft pair of delectable socks.

So I will need to knit approximately 120 pairs, some of which will be circulated quite quickly and some will be stored carefully to be used on a needs must basis. It makes me feel more comfortable that I have a plan rather than worrying that I may have cold feet later on in life. Having warm feet makes me feel happy. Being wrapped in wool makes me feel warm and happy.

On a trip to Stitch Perfect which is based in the Custard Factory in Birmingham I became entranced with Fleece Artist Trail Socks in colourway Hercules and realised it was much too pretty to make into socks. So I searched Ravelry and found this very pretty pattern called Willow Cowl by Amelia Lyon. It is very clever the way Amelia has designed the cowl so that the cowl flops down on itself in concentric circles.

I really love it, so simple but so effective.

And there is picot edging too, whats not to love.

And it keeps me warm, it’s proving very useful when I am wandering around in a tshirt before the heat of the day, it keeps me warm enough without having to resort to finding a cardigan. I have another skein of this colourway, it is very tempting to make a hat, you won’t be missing me in a crowd this winter.

Florence, our tabby and white moggy of this parish left a really big suprise for us this morning.

“What was it?” I hear you cry.

“Was it another Pigeon, all plucked and ready for the oven”

“No thankfully she hasn’t repeated that particular performance, downy feathers whipping around your ankles at six in the morning is quite unnerving” “I’ll give you a hint, it was bigger”

“Was it that Magpie you told me about?”

“No it wasn’t a Magpie”

“Was it a squirrel?”

“No think Bigger”

I can hear the pause in the conversation and even I didn’t think she would be able to achieve this..

Hubby was greeted with an almost fully grown rabbit this morning, deposited in the middle of the kitchen floor. I’d say it was a good three pound in weight wearing an adult coat but still having that look of youth about it.

I’m not sure if she has been really lucky and has picked up road kill but from the look of it it didn’t appear to have been hit by a vehicle but you never know. Having been bought up on wild rabbit I was quite tempted to skin it, but I will wait and see to see if she brings another one home, it was certainly a fresh kill.

And I’ll say something about her, she must really love us a lot to have brought this bunny home, its a good five minutes walk to where the bunnies roam, so to drag it back would have taken some serious effort from what is quite a small moggie and then to get the damn thing through the cat flap, that, I would have paid good money to see.

I love our slimming world chats, it makes you realise you are human.

One lady was saying that she had bought her husband a box of chocs for his birthday, but she kept dipping into them, so she had asked her hubby to hide them as ‘the children’ kept taking them..

So he did, he hid them.

As soon as he left for work she started to play a game of hide and seek that he didn’t even know he was playing! Her next comment was “He hadn’t hidden them very well either”

The room was rocking with laughter, I could barely breath.

I love those girls.

How time does creep by, it is truly shocking. Well 45 here I am, am I grown up, I’m not sure. I can’t climb castle walls as I once did, or run or dance or play like I used to. What do I miss the most, long summers where everyone was out to play at the same time. Or long summer terms at Junior school where we swam, learnt maths and played rounders, they were good times. A long time ago I was a parent helper in the local junior school and just before it closed down forever the teacher knowing my love of rounders organised a final game with her class for me, it was great fun.

Well my birthday, it went on for days, which was wonderful. Firstly,


Noelle came by the day before with such wonderful flowers all from her own garden. They were gorgeous.

and that night, the day before my birthday I was trying to finish of Miss Felicity’s hat. Which I did.

Notice the perfect joins at the crown. I was best pleased with those.

On my birthday we ventured off to pastures new, Hardwick Hall, as recommended to us by Lucy Worsley Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces was her favourite National Trust House whilst she was giving us a talk at Kenilworth Castle called “If Rooms could talk”, which was wonderful. I digress, Bess started to build this house in 1590 after the death of her fourth husband Lord Shrewsbury. She was in her early sixties and one of the richest people in England.


“Hi honey, I’m home..”


hubby and I and the views from Hardwick Hall.

Bess loved leaving her stamp all over the house with magnificent statues, this one was on the roof,

and tapestries. Although the 6th Duke, known as the Bachelor Duke who furnished the house as it is today, used tapestries as wall paper and filled the house with furniture and portraits.

The High Great Chamber, so huge that they say a roomy five bedroomed house could easily fit into it.

The work is stunning and the frieze was most probably modelled by Abraham Smith and his assistants. The theme is the forest, with the court of Diana prominent on the north side amid attendant deer, lions, elephants, camels and other animals. The court of Diana, the virgin goddess and huntress is probably a deliberate allusion to Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.

Why such expense? Well Bess was aiming at putting her granddaughter Arbella Stuart on the throne. Some thought that her right to succession through her father, Charles Stuart, was stronger as she had been born in England than that of her cousin James. But alas it was not to be, perhaps as Bess was by this point too old to plot.

The Long Gallery, measuring 51 metres long and 8 metres high, varying from 6.7 to 12 metres in width is the largest (although not the longest) of surviving Elizabethan long gallery’s. And the only one to retain both of its original tapestries and many of its original pictures.

The attic was open whilst we were there and we gaily climbed the steps to the top of the house. Interestingly the floor of the attic was made of stone, perhaps as a fire break, I can imagine fire being quite a problem in those days. The view from the attic.

I love this pile of mattresses. I wonder which noble person would have slept on them. In those days the Upper Servants had their own well furnished rooms, mostly in the Old Hall, the lower servants bedded down more indiscriminately, on landings, on the main staircase, outside Bess’s bedchamber door, in the scullery, off the pantry and the hall, or in the porters lodge and the turrets around the entrance court. Often with only a straw mattress which could be rolled up and stowed away if they were lucky.

And Hardwick house from the back.

We then hurried to Matlock to find a yarn shop called The Compleat Knit, it was a wonderful knitting shop, I could have spent a few happy hours there unearthing all of its treasures.

Happily I found some Lantern Moon double points and some gorgeous Cashmere with which to amuse myself this winter.

We headed home through Leicester and rang son no.2 to see if he wanted to come out to dinner but he was cramming for an exam the next morning so we took ourselves off to Yo Sushi and a good time was had by all.

The next morning, whilst quietly chatting to Sir Lancelot I told him of my dilemma at not having a doll big enough to model Miss Kitty’s new dress and hat on. Now you know Sir Lancelot is a very kind Lion and he is also very greedy and is rather partial to bacon sandwiches, especially if the fat on the bacon is crispy. And quick as a flash Sir Lancelot said, “Well, I would love to model it for you, but at the moment I feel quite faint with hunger, I am sure a bacon sandwich would help” And so it was the bacon sizzled under the grill and a sandwich was made with just the right amount of HP Sauce and after a quick wash Sir Lancelot put on Kitty’s new hat and dress.

Sir Lancelot thought things through and decided that he liked the dress, especially the colours that were used, but next time,

he would quite like a hole for his tail.

I especially liked the top stitching on the dress, it didn’t frighten me as much as when I made my hat and it really finishes the dress off. The button holes were terrifying, but turned out well and

I love the gently scalloped edge.

I went to knitting and met up with Carie and Kitty who loved the dress,

and a piccie of gentle moments with Mum.

And then there were the presents from my knitting group.

A beautiful chocolate cake with handmade roses from Cynthia,

and yes it tasted as good as it looks.

There were gorgeous stocks, smellies from Lush (oooh nice) and a project bag from Diane, a very pretty rose bush and wine from Sheila and lots of cards, one signed from all of the girls, I loved them all.

A beautiful photograph of Kitty my God Daughter, modeling her christening bracelet and Easter present. Carie took over a hundred photos before she got the shot she was looking for.

And lastly I must show you this card from son no.2. I laughed like a drain when I read it.

And that is it,, three days of partying, and I am pretty knackered, grateful for such wonderful family and friends but absolutely shattered.

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday that although a local agricultural show was on the call of a beautiful garden and cream teas proved too great.

And so it was we arrived at Packwood House and gently strolled around its beautiful grounds.

The garden is famous for its representation of the Sermon on the Mount. With a magnificent Yew known as the Master. Flanking it are a dozen yews said to represent the disciples and beneath them is the multitude, yews replacing an orchard in the 19th century.

We climbed the spiral mount to The Master and

viewed the gardens from this vantage point.

It gave me the shivers walking amongst such large and beautiful trees, they had such a presence about them, a very calm and large presence, so difficult to describe.

There was a little sock knitting underneath the canopy of the yews. These particular yews were castellated which we thought was great fun.

The same yews from a distance.

We saw geese and goslings munching grass.

And the same goslings having been led to the lake for a much needed drink.

We then saw inside Packwood House which was beautiful but very dark, so the photo’s are not stunning.

Although I do have to show you some brown delft tiles I spotted over a fireplace.
And then it was time for tea and as Packwood house has limited catering facilities, something to do with Graham Baron Ash’s wishes not to have restaurant/cafe in the house – too many sticky fingers! We headed over to Baddesley Clinton just in time for a cream tea which was delightful. Sadly we didn’t have time to explore but there is always another day.

Do you remember Snake who I made in the depths of winter and who has been doing a wonderful job keeping our hallway toasty warm. Well, a good friend of mine liked him so much she started to link my blog to others who were looking for a pattern to make a snake to keep their homes nice and warm. It was a terrible winter and everyone was looking for ways to keep the chill out.

And so it was that I thought that my good pal might actually like a snake of her own. She might not, but I got the feeling she was quite taken with my little project so I said to myself I would make her one just as soon as I had a spare moment. That moment came and I rummaged through my stash to find colours that I thought might suit her home and came up with these.

and cut them up into rectangles. I studied the rectangles and came up with this design which I thought was very snake like. It would mean it would be a slimmer snake though, but I think my snake was very wide, possibly a little too wide.. sssshhh, he might hear!

I was very pleased with the way the top came together,

and this is it with the head fabric attached.

I made the bottom of the snake with the bits that were left over and it came together very nicely too.

All trimmed and ready to sew up.

Sewn up ready to stuff. Which again I used the stuffing from pillows that were bought specially for the job.

And then I left him for weeks because I went on holiday and then side tracked myself, as a crafter it is easy to do! But the hiss from his bright red tongue got louder and louder and I just had to finish him off.

And here he is Slim Snake!

“What big blue eyes you have Slim Snake”

“All the better to see you with,” he hissed.

Big Snake came over to say hi and to pass on his considerable wisdom about the insulating abilities of a snake and what the two legs and four (especially pussy cats) like about warm rooms to live in. Slim Snake nodded sagely and said he would do his very best to keep those pesky draughts out and promised to send Big Snake a post card just as soon as he had settled in.

And without further ado Slim Snake rolled himself up in brown paper and went to live in his new home.

I have had a message to say that he has settled in very nicely and has a nice little spot just by the living room door.

As we had been over to see an exhibition in a museum in Nuneaton, I realised that we were not very far from son no.2 “Shall we go and see him,” I said. Which it was agreed we should and we then decided to ring him to tell him we were half an hour off. He told me to go and look for a yarn shop to give him enough time to tidy up, to which I replied that I had just done that.

We arrived and found a freshly showered son with clean clothes on. Although his room was very lived in, I was extremely pleased to find his white board filled with mathematical equations. Although quite simple in nature it proves he is working for his exams and I for one am very pleased.

So we took him to nearest Toby for a cheap but nutritious meal of meat and veg, which he followed with a fruit crumble and custard. And then we took photos on hubby’s iphone. On seeing the next few photo’s one can only wonder as to how this boy got into University with parents such as this. Let us just hope his professors weren’t watching!

You may notice that Mandycharlie finds it a struggle to dress herself correctly. Fortunately I had only been like this for a few minutes before hubby noticed. (but to be honest that was more luck than judgement as he would never have noticed if he hadn’t been photographing us)

I look down, “oops”

And start to re button up.. I then, misaligne it again before getting it right, at which point…

Son no.2 starts making Coochy, Coochy, Coo noises as if talking to a small child, whilst making sarcastic comments about not being able to do my cardi up and whether I might need some help? I think my expression says it all.

Sorted, one more shot for the camera. Just a note to say my friends know I am quite a hefty gal, 5ft 10″ in her socks and built for comfort not speed. This boy makes me look small, I must have fed the boy well whilst he was growing. Mind you we have often thought it would be better to buy our own cow just because of the quantity of milk he can drink in a day.

Hubby pretending to be a used car salesperson.. Why are men so funny about showing emotion?

A nice manly hug, laughing at each other.

On a very windy Sunday, far to windy to go to the plot, hubby and I set forth to go and visit the quilts at Malvern. We had a marvelous time, here are a few of our favourite quilts.

I like this because of its simplicity and the way that although there are many different fabrics used the centre of the squares and the corners of the squares are all the same which seems to bring the whole quilt together.

This amused us very much.

The little fishes

and little shrimps..

A scary lion ready to pounce as you walked around the corner.

The work on this was just flabbergasting.

A closeup, can you imagine just how much thread was used.

A very nice traditional quilt.

And one for a girl – and yes all the dolls came out of their beds to play with. (I was wearing white gloves so I gave one a little tug and was rewarded with a doll, whilst I let out a silly giggle)

Can you imagine having that for a quilt as a little girl…, it would be wonderful.. (this is a not so subtle hint that Carie should get her sewing machine out and make one immediately, if not sooner for Kitty, I’ll help if you want, but I think she would love one)

And one for a boy. Yeeeooowwww, (doing airplane impersonations)

It was fun.

I thought I would have eggs for breakfast today, and chose two of the larger eggs that have just been laid. And found, not one, but two double yolkers.. To have a hen that lays double yolkers is a prize indeed.

To answer Carie’s question about the colour of the eggs. And this is going to amuse non hen keepers. As a general guide the colour of your eggs is determined by the colour of the hens earlobes, seriously, they have really cute earlobes. So, you could have a white hen but if she has brown earlobes she will lay brown eggs. You could have a brown hen that has white earlobes so she lays white eggs. As it is our White Stars are pure white with the most delicate white earlobes which is why we are getting our pretty white eggs.

Here is a photograph of a cockerel. Can you see his earlobe to the right of his eye, that’s right the tufty patch that looks about the same size as his eye, that is his earlobe. And as you can see if he was a girl he would lay very nice brown eggs. There are exceptions to this rule but generally that is the way it works out.

We started to keep chickens over eight years ago, mainly for their eggs but also to add a pretty addition to the garden, such as it is, it is very small. When we began keeping chickens all those years ago we chose a mix of chickens, some that we knew would lay very regularly, over three hundred eggs per year and some that would lay only about two hundred but were completely irresistible, such as my Buff Orpington, who I adored because of her sturdy yet cuddly build and quiet chirruping when she was deep in conversation. We kept our first chickens for many years, even when they weren’t laying and were costing us quite a lot of personal energy let alone hard earned pennies to keep them.

Then we had Black Rocks which is a commercial trademarked name (but which the industry instantly recognises) which are Rhode Rocks. They laid well, well over three hundred eggs per year each and laid well for three years, but then we were left with hens that either didn’t lay or were destroying the eggs that were laid. It was time to say goodbye. I know that sounds very heartless, but it is a necessary evil if you are keeping hens mainly for their eggs.

At that point, late last autumn, we weren’t sure if we needed or wanted any more hens, one boy was off to University and the other is hardly ever home. And so we talked and talked and really couldn’t make our mind up as to whether we wanted more hens. So we left it in limbo.

I then started to buy eggs from the supermarket. And even if I bought eggs that were the freshest in date that was available, free range and organic they were pretty nasty compared to a freshly laid egg. To the point that we almost stopped eating eggs!

A few weeks ago, with hubby in tow, I was again looking for the freshest eggs that were available and said to hubby “look these eggs are over £3.00 for a dozen, how much does it cost us for a sack of grain?” “Well, just over £7.00” “Really?!,” (enough to feed three hens for weeks) “forget that then, we are going to buy some hens I am so sick of these eggs”, to which hubby agreed.

And with that we ventured forth to the Domestic Fowl Trust at Honeybourne and on the journey chatted away as to what we were looking for, I said that this time I would like white hens. To my delight they had three White Stars, which were clearly laying as not only were their combs full and bright red, which is a clear indication that they are starting to lay, they had already laid five eggs in their viewing pen.

White Stars are a quite a slim bird bred just for egg laying they are a Leghorn hybrid, which means they are they won’t eat as much as an Orpington to lay eggs, so are much cheaper to keep. They are very nervous and flighty compared to some of the older style hens so possibly not suitable for a new hen keeper, with only three hens they will quickly get to know us so they shouldn’t be as flighty as if there were in a huge flock, but they are so pretty and what is more they lay between 300 and 340 eggs per year, each! The sad part about this is that they will wear themselves out quite quickly, three years will be their limit, but on the other hand, we should be getting eggs right through until the darkest days of winter.

They came home with us as did their newly laid eggs, which was a lovely treat. We let them settle in their hen house for a day with food and water before letting them out the next day. We let them out on their second day and remembering they are barn raised hens who haven’t seen daylight before, they were very cautious and only came out for half an hour to feed and water. But it was okay because they still had food and water in their hen house.

Day three, they weren’t coming out either, so I investigated if everything was okay for them and with the noise that I was making at the end of their run they came out. My camera was ready..

Hens that are really not sure,

an hour or so later I gave them some outer leaves of a cabbage I was preparing and they looked at it, and looked at me as if to say, “what’s that?” I am sure they will enjoy learning all their is to know about being a chicken.

“Well this is very interesting”

An egg laid in completely the wrong place, we have since taught them to lay in the egg box. And you may be asking how does one teach a hen where to lay, well normally they like to lay where it is dark and secure, but because these hens didn’t know any better because they are barn raised, any place that is dark is okay, such as the hen house, which was difficult as hubby had to crawl into the hen house to retrieve the eggs. But along with that the hen house has an egg laying area which is even darker and more secure so we just left an egg there. And sure enough the hens found it and started to lay their clutch of eggs with the egg that was already there. Simples….

But it is all worth it, look at such a perfectly white almost porcelain egg.

The hens are laying well, their eggs are starting to increase in size, hubby was quite excited today as one egg was a full sized egg. And as for me, well I love the eggs, but I have also missed the hens chirruping along with their triumphant calls as to when they have laid an egg.

Chick chick chick chicken lay a little egg for me,
chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken I want one for my tea…