New things

...there have been a lot of new things for me lately.

S and I finally took the plunge and bought a place together... so a new home, a new area and a new person to live with...a new commute to work too!

In the mad rush of doing everything - getting used to travelling around a new area, unpacking, cleaning, buying furniture...well as you can imagine there just hasn't been time for much else, least of all blogging!

 We moved in mid-June so we are still very much in the settling in phase. We have a lot more space then either of us had before, which is lovely. We are very lucky. I have huge plans...well, too many plans really!

We've both spent months dreaming about this - we actually started the process in February, but it all got rather complicated and stressful, especially in the last few weeks. I've spent ages leafing through interior design books and home magazines, day dreaming - one of my favourite activities!

There are just too many things to buy and do, and we can't do them all at once! Never mind though, I love that we now have the time to plan at our leisure!

 

Slowly getting back to normal

It feels like life is slowly settling down again this week (though perhaps I shouldn't speak too soon!). Problems seem to be resolving themselves one by one - I hope it lasts! Thank you so much to the people who commented on my last post - it's nice to see that some of you feel the same sometimes.

I had some time today to play with my new camera - I'm still figuring out all the settings!

I loved photographing these - I think they are Gerberas? I always gravitate towards them at my local supermarket - love the colours.

I also remembered to photograph one of my recent completed projects - a shawl!

Sorry the photos don't give much idea of what the shawl is like - I don't have anyone to photograph me actually wearing it! It's the Cameo shawl - you can find the pattern here.

I feel good that I have managed to finish something. I really must be more disciplined about my makes...I just get frustrated with all the half finished projects lying around...it doesn't make me feel any better!

Learning something new

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a lovely weekend.

I've been very lucky this weekend to have been given a new digital camera! Since starting blogging, I've become more and more interested in photography, and less and less happy with the quality of my own photos. For a while now I've been wanting to get a more professional camera so that I can learn how to take better photographs. I've just been using the camera on my phone for the past couple of years, but the more I compared my own photos to other people's the more I could see my existing camera wasn't delivering the kind of results I wanted, especially in low light. 

So, lucky me, I have been given a second hand, but in good condition camera, and I've been practicing  with it today, learning how all the manual focus and exposure settings work and trying to take good (not dark, blurry or over-exposed!) photos! I'm happy with the small degree of success I've had so far. These pictures were all taken today.

My first crafting picture with my new camera is of the components of a crochet flower garland that I have been working on this weekend. This has been a really, really fun project to work on!

I've chosen a selection of bright, very well saturated colours for this project, which I think match the colour scheme in my living room, where I hope the garland will go.

Hope you all have a great week!

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Happy things

Enjoying having colour in my home at the moment. When I saw these orange roses in a shop I knew they would look brilliant in my turquoise vase..

Single blooms in bright vases look pretty next to my Chagal picture...

Enjoying some stripey crochet - my current work in progress!

Happy weekend all!

This week

This week has been so windy and wild and wet. It's been all about trying to stay warm and keep the spirits up. Luckily for me my are isn't near any rivers so we haven't experienced any flooding. 

I've been cosying up on the sofa with knitting, hot water bottles and lots of cups of tea!

One of the hyacinths is now blooming- the white one.  The pink is lagging behind rather and is still refusing to come out and say hello.  Well maybe this will be the week.

I've spent a lot of the last few weeks, when I've had craft time, browsing for a knitted shawl pattern. I'd really like to knit a triangular shawl, but I need something simple to start with. Does anyone have any ideas?  

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Colour wheel

Thank heavens it February at last! I don't know about you, but for me, it felt like January was going on forever! I do and I don't like January. I like the post-Christmas feel of a fresh start at the beginning of the month, but by the end I am definitely ready for spring. And this year the weather has been so awful here - even by January standards. Heaps of rain and really cold, though not cold enough for snow.

I'm still working on my crochet blanket - the same one that I've been working on for months. The last couple of weeks have made me desperate to finish it. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but my flat does not have central heating - just those little electric fan heaters in the living and bedrooms. So, the last week or so, it has been freezing, and especially fridge like in the bedroom! So I really want my new blanket finished so that I have a nice big blanket for my bed. 

I've had a lot of fun playing with the colours for this blanket - each square has 3 different colours in it, plus the white that I'm using for the borders. Sometimes I struggle to come up with different combinations of colours that don't use the same colours over and over again. So, I've been trying to mentally match the colours I have in my stash to the colour wheel to help me see combinations that work well together. You can see my colour wheel above - it has just about all the colours I've been using for this blanket.

I probably don't have those colours arranged in exactly the right order, but that's how they flow to me.

Here are a few of the colour combinations that I've found and really liked. I think these are all variants of split-complementary colour combinations. This is where you have two complementary colours (opposite each other on the colour wheel) and then have a second, analogous shade for one of the colours.

You can find some great tips about colour combinations on this blog.

This last colour combination below is an analogous scheme really I think.

 

Well, apart from that the waiting for spring continues! I've been buying flowers to try and cheer myself up during the grim-ness of these final months of winter. Roses again!

I've also treated myself to two pots of hyacinths - one pink and one white, though now I taken the tags out I can't remember which is which. It'll be a nice surprise! All I have to do now is wait for them to bloom, while I carry on waiting for spring!

 

Waiting and wishing for spring...

...with roses

......bright yarn

 

....cosy moss stitch...

..............and crochet!

August

Hello everyone, and a big hello to my lovely new followers - I hope you will stop by often! 

 August has been a happy month.

There has been much snapping of pictures of flowers and other pretty (and yummy in the case of the choccies) things:

There has also, as always been much crafty crochet goodness:

I've had so much fun inventing some new patterns for myself and sharing them with you. Hopefully more of that soon! I've also enjoyed playing with varying colour moods - brights, pastels and one colour crochet, and I've loved all of them! I think the one colour theme will be something I will continue for some time - I still have those cushion covers to finish!

See you again soon

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Pink & red

 Pink and red blooms in a hanging basket - they look very striking against the blue tiled wall.

A red phone-box behind a bed of pink and red flowers - looking comically as if it's trying to hide behind a tree!

A single red rose and fallen petal.

Gorgeous vibrant pink blooms along the river.

Hope you've had a lovely weekend.

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July!!

Hi everyone, I'm happy to be able to share a mosaic of the month with you again!

July has felt like a happy, colourful sort of month - especially the last couple of weeks and I am sooo grateful for that! I hope you have all had a lovely month too - see you in August!