Today's post

will be brought to you mostly by the colours pink and .green.

Been a rough week healthwise, but never mind - more ooman today thankfully (have been doing Olympic worthy sleeping and it seems to have helped).

The crochet throw thingy is growing slowly but surely - more slowly than surely I think. I am really enjoying it - no need to look at a pattern, no need to jot anything down as I go, just round and round, finish, start another. Bliss.

I joined most of the ones I had finished and couldn't work out quite why it looked such a pitiful piece of messy tat:

Surely this was how I did it before? But no - I have crocheted them but just a single chain running like a - well, like a running stitch. Yuk.

So I unpicked this lot - thankfully it just pulls out easily - and started again, this time with a treble crochet.

I think it's a treble anyway - the idea was to have the deep pink joining all the hexagons and showing on the top of the seam, as a raised pink row.

I know it isn't perfect but I am really pleased with bit - miles to go still! The chunk that's complete (and ends sewn in on the reverse) is about a cushion size. So if I get really bored I can at least make it into a garden cushion ;-)

Even the scary dayglo PINK is bearable in small amounts:

Considering this is so cheap I think it looks pretty decent.

Knitting wise, the grey cardi of despair and swearing continues. Once again I came unstuck trying to follow the chart and instructions from the pattern, I think I tried 4 or 5 times to knit a front and gave up, went back to 'my' written out version and that's been much better.
I really like the pattern itself, and love the waist shaping (done by decreases and increases on the fronts and back, not in the side seam) but bloody Nora it's a pain in the derriere. Plus this happened on the back:

A chuffing great ruffle. I don't mind ruffles, in fact I rather LIKE  ruffles - but there wasn't a ruffle in sight in the pattern! Hopefully it will smooth out when blocked and worn.

Hmmmm. I know the trailing vine pattern is going to open when blocked, but I really do hope it looks better finished than it does at the moment. Back, one front, one sleeve finished so far. Hmmmm ....

It has rained here every day and every night for AGES AND AGES AND AGES. So I haven't been any further than the bin for a while - haven't been out of the gate since Tuesday (not sure if that's because I have felt so ill, or if I have felt so ill BECAUSE I haven't been outside). Managed to grab 15 minutes last night when it stopped raining to plant out some more bits, including cabbage seedlings and some parsnip seeds.

I have things potted inside, the spider plant spiderling and the Mexican Hat plants are still alive. I also planted some lemon pips in the vain hope that they might sprout:

I don't have many rooms, so not many windows - so the poor living room windowsill is now a mix of 'nice' things and plantpots.
This beauty has just started flowering:

Pink and green, perfect.
My mum has my nan's old flowering cactus and it is an absolute beast of a plant, seriously huge! This is only small, but it flowers beautifully every year.

I bought a few of these, and a longer multi-tiered version instead of a hanging basket by the front door. Haven't tried them before and I need to buy some plants to go in, but hopefully they will look nice against the walls. I am running out of ground space so thought I would start going upwards!

And something nice to end with for today, the blossom tree of unknown heritage is still in full bloom - it's such a shame that the weather's been manly as I think it's just about past it's best now and will start to drop soon. Usually I manage to get more 'outside' time with it by now, and get to smell it properly. So I cheated and brought some inside:

I doubt it will last long in here but it is so pretty, such delicate shades of pink (and green). Must take some close up photos and try painting one day ....

Enjoy the weekend.