T for Table, and Tuesday.

In honour of T on Tuesday here is my fruit infuser bottle in action. The frozen gel thing is attached to the infuser bit here, but I can just as easily add a few icecubes instead. I didn't know why I wanted one, the fruit in a glass works fine, but this is portable. I took it with me to Slimming World, and could take it out to dog shows, in the car, or anywhere really. It is quite heavy as it holds 900ml, nearly 2 pints.

Both the bottle and insulating sleeve are marked with reminders of when to hydrate. I love that it comes in purple and other colours.

I am joining in with Elizabeth and Bleubeard and the T on Tuesday folks for a mad catch up which includes beverages. I actually managed to get round everyone who visited me last week and a few more, pretty good for me. Not sure how it will go this week!

I bought four more plants in an effort to make the garden nice and ones I hope will stand up to the dogs, here's Luna sniffing one of the new plants I just planted and it is called Blue Hobbit and is an Eryngium which I will never remember, I might remember the Blue Hobbit bit! I also planted Viola Freckles, Penstemon Pinocolada Violet, and on a previous day Astilbe Heart and Soul and never heard of most of them before. It promptly turned to moonsoon conditions after this so I think I can safely say they are watered in.

The Astilbe (Heart and Soul) is the pointy one with pink flowers, at least the tops are still pink. I freed the Acer from it's pot with my son's help this year which is why it doesn't look great. It suffered from being so pot bound that normally all the leaves would fall off by now, but next year it should do better. 

 I bought this pretty small Acer recently, it suffered an unwanted pruning but has grown back a branch where one was lopped off, dog or son I don't know. The cone was left by the Water men when they repaired a damaged drain cover, I put it where the dogs are digging a tunnel, they already dug up a new plant I foolishly planted there. I have relocated it now and hope it will grow and isn't in shock. The marigolds are the best ever since I decided to plant them in the tubs.

Bertie likes these little chairs, he also likes the big ones! Little people will get to use them at the weekend.

I bought some cheap cut to size roller blinds for the summerhouse to keep it cooler when the sun is right on it on hot days and to protect the chairs, Luna and Bertie "helped" to measure and cut.

Richard put the blinds up for me, just one to go but it had a damaged bit so I am trying to get another. I bought solar lights too, thinking if I had enough of them it would be bright enough to crochet in the dark. I think that was wishful thinking but they look pretty. 

The old rose bush is happy, never had so many roses, this is just one side. It is 12 years old now.

Luna on our walk this evening, she has got very bold or very naughty depending how you look at it (very confident?) since Bertie arrived, between the three of them the walk was "interesting". I kept these two on leads past the hedge they both dived into last time and stayed in there for ages, then let them off. Then Sooty was miles behind sniffing, we were halfway up the field. I stopped Bertie going down a rabbit hole and Luna vanished into the hedge again! I put them both back on the lead, retraced our steps to go get Sooty then realised I had dropped the bag of poo, so we went halfway back and found it and turned round to meet poor old Sooty then onwards. I let Luna off again, she did go into a hedge but came quicky out then went the way she knows not to go towards the stile that goes to the road - but did come back, then vanished into the hedge next to the road even though I said no. Came out covered in sticky buds as you can see and went right on the lead! Both she and Bertie rolled, not sure what in, but it could be bath day tomorrow and she and Sooty both need a trim now it has turned hot again from being like Winter for a few days!

Luna seems to be happy again, we had a blip last week as she attacked Sooty a few times and the last time was pretty vicious. I got inadvertently bitten getting her off, and I did give her a small tap on the nose which had a bad effect, I also did as advised and shut her in the downstairs loo for a few minutes as a naughty room. She got very jumpy and worried around me after that, we had a bad training session the next day and she was car sick going home which she never is after training, but I think all is well again now. I will never know the abuse she suffered in her previous life, she needs to know she can't hurt Sooty but how to do it so I don't make her scared of me? 

Anyway I had her name down for agility training for months and got the call that she can start next week, and was discussing it with the training lady who advised me to shut them out of the kitchen when I prepare their meals and then put Sooty in a seperate room to eat so he feels safe and they don't try and steal his food. A couple of times Luna attacked him when he was in the living room and they were in the kitchen and I called him out for his food - she wouldn't let him pass. So he got scared of coming out when I called, it was fine when he was already in the kitchen, except Bertie would grumble and growl at him. Once I worked out how to do as advised, the first time I messed it up, all has been fine and no more attacks. They weren't all about food, one time the two dogs were in the summerhouse with me and Sooty just came out and stood up to look in the pond and Luna rushed out and went for him, another time I was eating in the dining room, she was under the table and Bertie in the room and Sooty came in and that was the most vicious attack.

Please excuse Bertie, he never kept still enough for a photo until this one!

I couldn't see what I took but there was an amazing sunset going on here as we walked round the last field.

I waited for the dark to see all the lights on, the two butterfly sets are from Sainsburys, but one I paid full price for and today went back and they were in the sale, should have taken one back and got a refund and bought two in the sale but I didn't think of it. The round globes across the door are from Amazon, they are nowhere near as bright as the butterflies. I also bought some stick ones and hanging single ones to put in the garden where the spotlight doesn't reach, and only one of those is working and it was when I brought it indoors when I got home. I will give the others another day to charge, but the butterflies worked tonight so I can see some going back - one is damaged so will be for sure.

All three of the dogs love it in the summerhouse, when I tried to lock up just now I couldn't because when I managed to get one out the other went back in! 

Oh the table - I nearly forgot! I decided that a small table would be nice, and lots were advertised secondhand but already gone. Then I saw this one, the right colour too and only £3 and I drove all the way to Shepton Mallet to get it, about an hours drive each way. It has a shelf, which is a bit out of shape so I am standing things on it to try and flatten it but I'm not worried about that. My sat nav wouldn't recognise the address from home or postcode, I had to drive to Shepton then stop in a car park and try again, and it finally found it! What is going on, that isn't the first time.

You might remember the Persian Tiles blanket (a Jane Crow design) from a long time ago, I was so near the end but stopped to make Frida's flowers also stopped to make Last Dance on the beach blanket, then I went on to do other things and never got back to it until now. I decided I will finish it before starting on the next project or another WIP that needs finishing. I have one half finished hexagon to finish and ends to sew on on all 16 - started Monday and only completed 3 so far! There are a lot of ends and I want them secure. Then it's ready to block, join and do the border. Problem is I cannot find my blocking board and I have been looking and looking - what have I done with it? I am also wondering if I can make the blanket bigger as I have lots of reds and orange left but I worry I might not have enough blues to do that.

Next week my 5 year old grandson will be staying with me on his own for the first time, think I will be busy? I am already planning the week, got to work round his bedtimes and some commitments I have, but there are a few things going on that we could go to, and walking the dogs, working on his memory book of his grampy (I really need to clear the craft room enough to do that, I also have to blitz the house before the weekend), the whole family will be here for the weekend then they will leave Kenny with me, returning to take him camping with his uncle.

I didn't tell you before but it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I went into Bath with Richard and he went off to do his thing and I went to Debenhams because I had a couple of vouchers (coupons) to use. I had no idea of the effect it would have, the last time I was there with Shaun, he was pretty sick and had to sit down a lot and he was telling me to buy all the clothes I showed him and I was crying then. Well as I went up the escalators it all came back and I ended up sobbing in the toilets, it was pretty awful and I couldn't look at clothes properly. I bought some chopping boards in the end. I don't know if that will happen again.

It's Tuesday so it must be time for T on Tuesday.

On Tuesdays a bunch of folks get together to share their beverages and views of the world and this all happens at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's blog. I missed last week, it was Wednesday by the time I would have posted which is a day too late! I know it is Monday, so do you but I see the T post is there so here goes!

See my peppermint tea in place as usual and viewed from my crochet chair! I knocked it over last week when full, and that is a pint of hot tea that went over my WIPs, and the carpet (who cares about the carpet)!

I bought a blocking board for the Pesian Tiles blanket, but have only used it on Dance in the Sea, here it is blocking 7 squares at once. I had to post to find out which holes in the board to use, couldn't work out how to block a 19cm square! Someone said these are no good for the Persian Tiles, so I might have to get some foam mats and blocking pins. The sides of my squares seem to bend in (liek they are too stretched) but straighten out when it relaxes. I wonder if I need some blocking wires to stop the bending.

This is the week 2 square of Dance in the Sea CAL. I hadn't done star stitch before and really enjoyed it, I had to go up two hook sizes to get the square the right size but as this was suggested in the video I did it right away. I love how bulky and soft this square is, it would make a warm blanket on its own.

This is the week 3 square and I adore this colour. The square was quite tricky and I had a bad start, frogged and tried again, frogged and tried again then got it! I took it to the hospital while I sat with hubby as he had his treatment, and I couldn't access the video because the wifi signal is non existent in the oncology suite. He had been going for blood tests and treatment on his own before he had a spell in hospital, but he went for blood tests on his own and came back wiped out and in a terrible state, so I went with him. He said he would have been fine on his own that day, but he forgot that I took over when we got there and sat in a car park for half an hour waiting for a space, so he would have been late and stressed if he was on his own. As it was the blood form had not been filled in correctly and they had to ask for two more tests before he could start his treatment so we were there a few hours.  I am pretty happy with my week 3 square, but......

 ......when I made my second square of week 3 I realised there was just one stitch I had done slightly wrong and now my bobbles are better defined. So I have to decide if I leave the first square or frog it and redo it.
Underneath you can see a few of the Persian Tiles which have moved on and I am doing two rows on each before the next now. The next row involves a hook change - then there is only one row left! I seem to have a lot of yarn left, hope it goes into the border.

 More Persian tiles, I still have to sew in all those ends!

Someone posted about storing their squares in the bags you get with bedding, those clear ones with zips. Great idea but I didn't have any, however I spotted some on the B&M website so made my second ever visit to that store to get some. I really thought they were square in the photo, but I guess they will do.

Looks a bit empty here, but it now has the blocked squares in it, and will soon have more!

 I printed off one of the pattern sheets and cut the title out to use in the spine of my display book.

These are the Scheepjes scissors that came with the deluxe kit, along with the lovely beach bag, some stitch markers and a sachet of Eucalan, which is an intriguing substance that I had never heard of before. It was invented by an Australian woman to address the problems of washing during drought. You soak your hand made knitted or crocheted goods in it and you don't rinse. If you use the washing machine you put it on a rinse only programme and put it in the conditioner bit I think. It is made of lanolin and natural oils and is available in lavender to deter moths, and other scents. Of course if you are allergic to lanolin it isn't a lot of use to you and I hope I'm not. Anyway some folk are soaking their squares in Eucalan before blocking, but as I only have the one tiny sachet I have only used water. I might invest in a bottle.

I ordered a couple of new books, this one is called Crochet Geometry by https://wordery.com/shannon-mullett-bowlsby-author and has some really unusual and lovely patterns in it. I first saw it on Twitter and was intrigued, googled it to find more images and bought it from Wordery. It took a while but it is worth it. I have so many patterns and books, not sure when I will get to it but I hope to make something soon.

I started this post last week, since then hubby has been in hospital but only for one night, has come home with more tablets so he will rattle, but he is home and not too bad thankfully. I took him in Sunday lunchtime, spent 4 hours sitting in A&E (emergency room) before they decided to keep him for a night or two, luckily it was only one night in the end. I got a little crochet done but was fetching and carrying. We are both on antibiotics now, I have a foot infection possibly cellulitis, I wore my Mary Janes Friday and only walked from the car park to the hairdressers but one of them rubbed and made a hole and by this morning it was swollen, hot and throbbing so I guess I should be sitting with it up higher than my head really! I will I promise!

T for Tuesday - zzzzzzzzzz

As you can see I missed last week, and haven't posted anything since the last T day!

What a difference in the weather from last week, this morning it snowballed, really! Look - little balls of snow! They were soft when you stood on them. So no sitting in the garden crocheting this week, I've been inside bundled up with the heating on instead! We did have a little sunshine, but it was still very cold outside.

Last night I made a mug of peppermint tea and sat down in my recliner to do a little crochet before bed - then I fell asleep and woke up (to a cold mug of tea) after having a nightmare still in the chair at 2 a.m. Alfie dog also woke, and stood up all distressed trying to work out where he was, after having a nightmare at the same time. I hope it wasn't the same nightmare! What do dogs have nightmares about I wonder?

So here I am again, sitting in the recliner before bed with my crochet and favourite mug of peppermint tea (well I will be in a minute after I post this, and my tea is cooling down to drinkable temperature hopefully and not cold like last night), trying not to fall asleep before bed! If you want to find out more about this weekly event hop over to Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place.

Here are the views from my recliner, complete with bits on the carpet from grandson's recent activities that you can read about at the bottom of this post!

 I have got further on my Persian Tiles blanket, the remaining 15 tiles are coming along nicely. I really thought that by last Wednesday I would have completely finished them all ready for joining and end sewing, well that didn't happen!

 The reason I hoped to finish was the Scheepjes Dance in the Sea CAL started on Wednesday last week when they released the first pattern for the first squares to be made. Tomorrow the second pattern will be released. So I am trying to finish my 4th square tonight. I realised - after someone else also noticed it on their squares - that my border is the wrong side facing, so on the 3rd and 4th squares I did it without turning to get the border the right side. I might have to redo the first two borders now!

 Hopefully Alfie won't have nightmares tonight, here he is settled in and wearing his jumper.

Sooty's in the other bed, at least I hope he is and that he's not pinched my chair as he often does!

I joined the Facebook page for the Last Dance in the Sea CAL, I might have mentioned that last time, and after seeing someone posting a project book filled with prints and yarn samples I remembered I had some similar books and it was really a good idea so....

Here it is, I need to print off something to go in the spine bit, probably the top of the page with the CAL name.

I inserted the info sheet that came with the kit...

and a couple of pages printed from Marinke Slumps' blog from a post created by her sister, and this one shows the blanket I am making and the yarn samples. This is a good idea to identify the yarns if the last bit has lost the yarn band! I also added the hints and tips sheet with the reference square we created first, then the first pattern. Tomorrow I can add the second. This will keep my patterns nice and clean and neat and I will always know where they are.

The reason last week was missed was that my hubby was unwell at the weekend and I took him to A&E (emergency room) on Monday morning and they kept him in from Monday to Saturday in isolation treating him for an infection. I found it really strange that we had to put on a disposable yellow plastic apron when we went in to visit him, what does that do? It doesn't cover a lot of your clothes really, and what about handbags, coats if you take them off etc? On leaving the room you had to dispose of the apron and use the hand gel outside - except I am allergic to the hand gel, so they said wash your hands. The only place to wash my hands was in his room. My eldest son and his little family visited at the weekend which made hubby determined to be discharged, and he was finally on Saturday, after being declared "safe" and not likely to infect anyone on Friday ("you don't need to wear the aprons now" - we were sat there with them on), and being converted to oral antibiotics.  He is very weak and has lost weight, and was given the news that the cancer is still growing although it hasn't spread to anywhere else. We are waiting at this time to hear if he is suitable to go on any cancer research trials in Oxford, I so hope that he is. It has given us a little hope for the future, our little grandson feels the same love for my hubby as hubby feels for him, and he said his granddad is his best friend and his favourite. It could be very tough on him to lose his granddad when he is only just coming up to 4 years old in May. This was him posing with a "get well" card he made for his friend who has scarlet fever, Kenny has just recovered from Chickenpox himself. He was in trouble when he added more bits to this card because he used the child friendly scissors to cut a hole in the heel of his sock - while he was still wearing it! Then he kept insisting to his daddy that it was an accident - scissors were confiscated, even plastic ones! He looks so innocent doesn't he! This is a rare photo of him smiling nicely!