A fresh new blog

I have decided to start a new blog and will be posting in it from now on.Hope you will pop over there and visit from time to time. please go tp www.rowenberrystitches.blogspot.com ...X

knitting

Have been a busy bunny since getting back from our trip to Amsterdam, where the weather was great. I have knitted a bag from old plastic supermarket bags, a large mohair wrap, mohair scarf, blanket for Kate xmas, pics coming after santa has been,and am doing a shoulder cover up fo my mum, ist just started. So long way to go there. Rosie has been poorly, on my birthday i found lump on her leg, so we were very worried. Had it removed and she has now had the stitches out, non cancerous thank goodness. Taking a bit of time to heal, so at night or if we leave her she has to wear the lampshade round her neck!!! Hopefully if will be better fully next week so we can go back to walking at the beach. We have had to stick to short walk in the woods as shes wearing a rather fetching plastic bootie that i made from a strong carrier bag and duct tape and garden twine. She has been such a good girl through all this, unlike Penny who chewed at her paws when we were out this week, blood all over the spare bed, bad girl! Had to put her paws in salt water then spray on Tea tree oil, had to put the lampshade on her next time we went out. This has not been a great time and im going to celebrate my birthday another day since i had such a rotten one. Lewis and Lisa have been painting at their house, chose a lovely teal colour for one wall in their bedroom, its beautiful! Next week will have seen me 1yr at my job, gosh thats gone past quickly. Well, cant sit at the computer all day, knitting to be done xxxxxxxx

Hello again. I havent been a very good blogger, but the above pic shows that I have been a busy bunny.I have made these two bags, one is for a christmas gift, so if you are looking Becky, look away now!! The dark one is a larger version of my first bag but the second one i made myself. I have yet to line it but thats easy enough. What I really wanted is to make an adjustable leather strap that can swop between various bags but I cannot come accross the mateials needed, so if anyone knows where I can get these, please jump in and let me know. I also would worry of the the bag not being strong enough to take any weight where i would attatch the d-rings at the side. so if anyone has any ideas please pass it along.The wool came from Kingcraig Fabrics of Brora, Sutherland. They have a lovely selection of coned wool.The toggle buttons on the dark bag are from Bellandbellissimo on e-bay uk. I am addicted to felting now.I have started another bag already. I also have knitted a shawl for my friend, Lindas xmas, pic comming later.looking forward to Amsterdam and Delft, hope the weather will be good.We have a cat comming to the garden, it seems someone has put it out, I dont understand how someone can throw out an animal, if they can no longer afford to keep them there are chariteis that will take in unwanted pets, so throwing them out is unacceptable. she/he is very timid but knows now that i put the food under the garden bench for it and now is waiting each night for me and getting a bit braver, comes for the food before i close the garage door! The hedgehogs are also comming and having their food too.Thats all for now...xxxx

The joy of Felting

As you can see I have discovered Felting...and I am a big fan. It only took one project to get me hooked..if only the wool werent so expensive!!!As you can see i made this cute little bag and now have my eyes firmly set on a larger bag. I also got new wool to make up those little neck warmers i made last week, this time the wool is softer and not as bulky, but just as cosy.
Back to work today after having last weekend off. Boy was it warm in there today.Must go now, my knitting awaits XX

Id like to share my new found pattern for this beautiful neck warmer. Its fast to knit up and uses about 100gms , so its cheaper than making a scarf. Firstly, its not my pattern it belongs to this lovely guy in one of the above pics, who you can visit to see the original, go to www.yarnballboogie.co/?=124 He used a different yarn from me, must have been thicker as he only cast on 14 sts. His fulll pattern, plus others that he has go to www.ravelry.com I have used a yarn from Twilleys which was 100% wool, its gauge is 10sts over 14 rows so iguess its chunky,but that doesnt matter for this scarf.I have used size 10mm needles casting on 20 sts and its knitted in a brioche rib, which have various ideas on how to do them, this is what I used, sl 1,*yf, (ie, bring the yarn to the front of the work)sl 1,k2tog follow from*to the end, then purl 1 the last stitch. at the right length for you, mine was 25ins, knit two rows, then put in 3 buttonholes and then knit 3 rows. All done!! These can be made in an afternoon, the buttons are from "belloandbellissimo" at ebay.co.uk, who have a nice range of buttons from Italy.
Good news too, we are going to Amsterdam next month yippee!! I love Amsterdam ,its a city i never tire of, plus we are going to take the train to Delft, havent been there before so I am really looking forward to our little holiday.

it's been ages!

Here I am again after such a long time. Dont really have any excuse not to have writtenI have been watching all your blogs though.
The first photo is of my sons new decking area it looks great!
Then here we are on holiday, we had a lovely time, the photos are of horses on the shore at sunset on De Haan beach, the giant turtle is on Neiwport beach and the lovely tram we used every day to get about which runs the whole length of the Belgain coast from De Panne to Knocke. All of this is in Belgium by the way. It was vey hot there, sunny every day too, we also took the train up to Antwerp , one of my favorite cities. Luckily they had a market on the day we went. Discovered something called Wasabi peanuts, they knock your socks off when you bite them, they arent going to last long, i wish id bought more of them at the time. They taste like you have taken a bite of really hot mustard !

Have any of you been watching the tennis? Had the roof on centre court last night for a really long match in which the Scot, Andy Murray won!


Have booked to go away in Novenmber in time fir the christmas market in Lille We are going to stay in St Omer France, been there before its a lovely little town with two market squares and cafe/bars dotted round them, very continental, even in winter people sit outside at tables, we arent quite that mad!

Soory to hear of Merries little dog passing away, its not a nice feeling coming home and theyre not there to greet you, chin up Merrie another one will come to you in time

Thats me for now, hugs ....XX

Well, ive not been on here much, been in facebook instead!. Here is a very old pic of me and a friend of mine taken in Ballater in 1999, cant believe it was so long ago, but it was. Not that either of us look any older, just wiser. I caught up with her on facebook this week, hence the digging through the photo albums searching for this pic.
I have been in my garden and are pleased to announce that we have a little visitor, a hedgehog, in fact i think there is more than one of them , so out i go each night with th edog food for them, anything they dont eat gets taken by the crows or magpies in the morning.
There was new beading mag out and i have got some good ideas from it, made a matching set of, latriat necklace, bracelet,, watch and earrings, will have to remember to take a pic.
Have no sound on my computer, turned out i need a new driver, many thanks to all that helped me out on www.freepchelp.co.uk otherwise i would have been at a loss.
Mum and Billy are off to climb more munroes this week, especially on May the 1st as he will be,.... wait for it....70!! Thanks to him for redoing the wall at the front of our house.
I fell over in the supermarket and have a bruise on my behind and on my elbow which is very sore. In to much of a hurry as usual.



This is a bit of fun, weve been in this station, is a work of art itsself.

All for now....Diane

This is us the last time we were in Amsterdam, this bar had lovely outside heaters to keep you warm, and we needed them.
Today when I got in from work only Rosie came dowstairs to greet me. This is very unusual, normally they both come charging down to say how much they have missed me and then Penny runs onto her bed, which then slides across the floor , with her on it, coming to rest against the very door in the kitchen where the treats are kept, clever move eh? But today, just Rosie, so I was worried and hurried upstairs to look fo her, couldnt see her, then noticed my ironing in a heap on the floor of the spare room and a big lump under the quilt, moving or rather "wagging", she had burrowed under the quilt but had gotten wound up in it and was stuck!So I undid the quilt from round her, and boy was she toastie!!! Next thing, shes dashing down the stairs to do the skidding across the floor trick to get her treat. Mad dog! So I had to go and remake the bed and pick up all the ironing.
My friend at work went to see Lionel Richie last week and said he was excellent, worth every penny, and they were expensive tickets, and sold out both nights too. A real showman, sang for 2 full hours.
A little snow fell yesterday, and the car had a frozen windscreen this morning, and the clocks went forward last night, so i lost an hours sleep.
We went out for the day on Thurs as it was our 16th anniversary. We went to a garden center that has a nice coffee shop and treated ourselves to scones and cakes. I had all good intentions of buying a new twister/stepper for myself to get fit, but gave in and bought a pewter bracelet instead. So much nicer that a bit of excersise equipment thats only going to gather dust when i realise im not cut out for it.
At least with this bracelet im going to remember that day each time i look at it.

All for now
later....Diane XXX

Last week it was lovely and sunny and I was in the garden, today it's snowy/sleety and guess what??? My heating has broken down !!! I cant believe this. We only had it serviced last Friday and now its not working. So on with another pair of socks and another cardigan, Stewart and Penny are hiding under a duvet on the sofa! We have a little oil heater but its not much use in the living room unless you happen to be sitting right on top of it, oh I wish i had a real fire....
So tonight we are having minced beef, mashed potatos, mashed swede, veggie mince for Stewart of course, that will warm us up.
A friend of mine is very sad right now. Last week her litlle dog died on her lap. Her other dog is crying too. Thay are going to the Dog Trust and have seen two pups, but they havent been vet checked yet and are too young, about 3 weeks, but if all goes ok they will take them both. I hope they get them so it cheers her and the other dog up.

Later... Diane

 

My son and his girlfriend went to a wedding yesterday, so we gave them a lift to the hotel. And since he was all dressed nice, something i rarely see, I took a photo. When i got home i decided to give it the Picassa treatment and made it black and white. Lisa has a lovely bright dress really summery but it still looks nice in black and white.

Have two new Polish words to learn this week, i will have to concentrate on learning them as i got mixed up today and forgot what goodbye was.

It was blowing a gale yesterday, luckily i had painted the tar onto the roof of the shed where it was leaking, i ended up not realising that id got tar on the ladder, then i put my hand right on it and while i was wiping it off got more on the ladder, then touched that with the other hand !! As long as it stops the rain from getting in then it was worth it, next time im wearing rubber gloves. I shpuld read what ive already written i said this earlier, must be an age thing

Thats all for now..later XXX

This is a collage i made from some pics of Lewis and Lisa

I had to paint tar onto my shed roof today as it had leaked over the winter months, hopefully its fixed now, if not i will get a lage can and go over the whole roof, i did end up with tar on me and the ladder!

Spring is here, crocus and snowdrops and birds building nests. The swans are at the river mouth, its the male from the last brood and he has another one with him, he was shooed away from the big family with him being a male, but now he seems to have got himself a mate.

I was up at a local hotel this week in the afternoon, its very residential there but when we got in the car i saw two deer in the little woods next to the car park, grazing away as if they were miles from the city. I tried to take a pic but only had my phone on me and they were well camoflaged it didnt come out.

Guess that all for now...

I have been having fun with Picasa, its great!!! It also makes emailing photos and importing photos so easy, wish i'd had it sooner.
My son and his girlfriend is home from his holiday in Berlin, he didnt know everything is closed on Sundays which meant the museums all had queues for miles, so they didnt stand for hours in the pouring rain. They enjoyed it very much and also went to the zoo, th eEuro sucks right now, only getting like for like in exchange, hope it improves by June when we go away, i've been holding off getting euros with the vain hope they will be better value later on.

It was so cold today, i hope it doesnt snow. We walked in the woods, rather than on thebeach, though i want to go to the beach tomorrow to see if there is any driftwood. I have a large pile drying out in the living room but could do with some shorter pieces

I must start on my crafts again i have been lazy and not done much. I made a necklace for a friend who is having a bithday and a bear for Becky, and I forgot to take pics again!

Later....x

• Here are my two dogs, enjoying the life of Riley on our bed, guess it must feel nicer than their own bed, as they ar on there more often that not, except when the sun is shining through the patio doors, cause thats where Penny lies, right little sun worshiper she is. Sad day yesterday, when I went into work they told me that one of the residents in my wing had died. She was a nice lady, and at least she didnt suffer. One of the perils of working in a care home i guess.


• Its finally light in the mornings now, I am so glad the dark mornings are gone for the time being.


• I have been learning some Polish phrases, I don't know much yet, but when I was at the Post Office i realised the guy was Polish, so I said Good Morning in Polish and he knew what I said !!!! Malwena at my work is teaching me, i have a new word to learn this week, its Goodbye. Next week im going to have her teach me a phrase, something useful.

• 
  
  This is a frame I made from driftwood found at the beach last week. i think it came out quite nice as did the photo of my son. Lisa had taken the photo when they were on holiday,

• I used Picassa to turn it into a black and white photo which I thought looked better in the frame.
• These are the fantastic icicles that hung from the roof this winter, cant say ive ever seen them so long, that was the only highlight of the winter.Our car is sick, its been to the garage and now needs a new clutch, which is far less expensive that having to buy a new car so im not really complaining. The chap that owns the garage we use is very nice and as were keeping the car till it draws its last breath, i dont really mind spending on it to keep it going. The roads here are in an awfull state, potholes everywhere, its like driving a slalom course just going along the road, we really shouldnt have to be weaving in and out to avoid them, its time this Mickey Mouse council of ours got them fixed.
• I am officially off probation at work, i got a letter telling me about it last week, so im pleased. I really enjoy working there. I have been learning some Polish, as two girls i work with are from Poland, so far I can say, Good morning, how are you and thank you. I will no doubt get some more phrases tomorrow to practise in the week. One girl, Malwina, is getting married in August, so I have been making her a present. Its a watch of pearls and crystals. It looks quite weddingish, i will have to take a pic of it before i give it away.
• Lewis and Lisa are away to Berlin in a couple of weeks for a few days. I quite fancy going there too, so i hope they take lots of pics to encourage me to book a hol there.
• I have started exersising, i hate that word, the thought of it makes me feel tired. But, as i can no longer hide the excess wobbly stuff under wooly jumpers, i thought id best make the effort. I have a stepper thing so i put on some music and managed almost 15mins before collapsing in a heap. Day two wasnt any easier, but im not going to give up, wont be long before my holiday is here and i want to fit into my clothes, not spill out over them, lol.
• Thats all for now.

We still have snow here and im sick of it. The pavements are like sheets of ice, im beginning to wonder just what we pay the council for, certainly not to clear the roads, have seen the gritter twice in all this time,grrr!

Rosie seems to enjoy being on our bed more and more these days, even taken to snuggling my teddy bear.

This is a super pic of a puffin i saw on Picassa, they live down on the coast by Stonehaven but ive never seen a live one, only a dead one washed up on the beach, speaking of the beach, a dead baby seal was lying on the beach this morning, still had its baby fur.

Still looking to contact an old friend, Lourdes Mills nee Saez, she was married to Frank who was in the airforce, last known address was Great Falls Montana, they had two children, Sarah and Alexander, anyone know where she is or does she have a blog?

I have now been in my new job 3 mths. Was back to see friends in the shop this week, but i dont miss it.

Later....xx

As you can see my garden is covered in the white stuff. Im worried I'll not make it to work tomorrow as i will be leaving before the gritters come. I am going to wear my boots and carry my work shoes just in case i do have to walk I thought id lost these pics when my computer went down but some were on my camera, though i stupidly forget to rotate them before posting them, you'll just have to turn your head sideways instead.

These are things i made for Kate for xmas and her birthday this month. I wish id made duplicates for me!! I will dig out the patterns and do them for myself sometime.

The snow was so thick that we couldnt get the car out of the drive the other morning so the dogs got a short walk round the block then we got the shovel and dug round the car and waited for the traffic to die down and then went and got the papers. I got an extra pint of milk and a loaf today just in case. The gritter finally came about 10am so at least there is grit under the snow.

Luckily we didnt have a hospital appointment this week as wed not have made it. Im thinking of leaving the heating on overnight as its so cold, i will see if its icy before i go to bed. Rather have a higher heating bill than a burst pipe.

Later...xxx Diane

Someone once sent me this in an email but its lost now , but i looked on the web for it and id like to share it with you, as its very true, you only get one ride on the merry-go-round, dont waste it.

Dust if you must,
but wouldn't it be better to paint a picture,
or write a letter,
bake a cake,
or plant a seed.
Ponder the difference between want and need.

Dust if you must,
but there is not much time,
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb!
Music to hear,
and books to read,
friends to cherish
and life to lead.

Dust if you must,
but the world's out there
with the sun in your eyes,
the wind in your hair,
a flutter of snow,
a shower of rain,
this day will not come round again.

Dust if you must,
but bear in mind,
old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go,
and go you must,
you, yourself, will make more dust!
*unknown

Diane

poofcat.com
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Well, it's been a while since i posted. Things are finally getting a bit better computer wise, miss the fact that i dont have some pics, but there you go.

Have now booked our holiday. With Stewart being up and down to the hospital for a year now, our plans were kind of put on hold.However, the new ferry is coming into service so soon we'll be able to get to europe overnight again. We are going away in June, I emailed the hotel we like in De Haan and he has a room for us, which is good to hear as some hotels were full. We are going to be there the weekend they hold the "Beer Festival". it's in Middlekerk this year, same place we first found out about it. Belgian beers look, and can taste weird, some are a very odd colour, ive seen bright red beers, goodness knows what they taste like. Beer is a big thing in Belguim, they brew a lot of it there. There are lots of fields full of Hops in the summer time, just like in Kent on the south coast of England. So we will go up to Ghent for the day also and go to Brugge, i never tire of going there.

I have been in my job over 2mths now, in fact my probation period is up on the 16th Feb, that has come round fast. I really like my job, best move I made.

Finished a present for kate, have taken a pic but wont post till after her b/day. Havent done anything else, have yet to paint the saltbox house i got for xmas, just cant decide what colour to go for...blue or red?

The dogs are fine, they were alone a long time on Thurs when we went to the hospital but were good girls. Thay are booked ito the kennels for June, they love going there, they get all excited in the car and are dragging us ito the kennel door, its the only time Penny tries to get out of the car before i tell her she can. At least they like going, its awful if they dont and you have to drag them in. Stewart alway bemoans that they dont look back at him once they get inside, but im glad they go right in with out looking back, after all , it's their holiday too LOL

Anyone had probs with Glitter Graphics? That may have been where i got my virus and Im a bit wary of going back on, but i need graphics, so i may not have much choice, unless anyone knows of another site ?

Guess that all for now....later...Diane

Happy New Year !!! No quite so for me, our computer broke down and sadly the hard drive was wiped so I lost all my stuff, and yes it serves me right for not backing stuff up on a disc. Its not like discs cost a lot but you know how it is, you will do it later, well my later came and now im sorry, so you have stuff you dont want to lose, you know what you ought to be doing!!! That aside, we had a good xmas, lunch at my parents was lovely, great turkey and all the trimmings. New Year was quiet, didnt even stay up to see it in, this computer problem was getting to me by then as id not been able to use it since xmas eve. Had to use the library to send emails! So now I dont have any photos to post either, and thats annoyed me as i took some of the prim stuff i made for my friend. Hope everyone had a good xmas... later. Diane