Need to Knit

A Scooby-snack of knitted triangles. Looks quite yummy, I reckon!

I've been knitting these all weekend in a gloriously mindless way as I watch ridiculously awful TV (which is something I need to do quite regularly to be honest, especially when the weather's pants). Any crime dramas, law dramas or old films - we're not talking quality here - you will find me snuggled up on the sofa with a hot cup of tea and some knitting. A whole day can go by without me really noticing; as long as I'm knitting I'm quite happy. Often I stay in my pyjamas...but I do brush my teeth.

The only time I got fidgety today was when the sun came out, so I went outside and pottered in the newly cleared greenhouse. I prayed the neighbours weren't looking out of their windows due to the pyjama thing and it being 3pm. The smell of 'May' outside was quite lovely though - grassy, fresh and almost like summer. Then a bank of grey clouds appeared overhead and I heard my knitting calling. As I wandered back to my sofa-nest I stuck the kettle on and wiped down a surface in the kitchen, but very half-heartedly. I'm not kidding anyone...I'm being wonderfully lazy.

On a whim I thought I'd make a blanket out of knitted triangles. No more thought to it than that! I'm using left over cottons but they're different weights, sheens and textures. The gauge is different for each one so I'll have a challenge putting them all together at the end without 'wonkiness'. But that's what happens when you start a project with no plan and no real thought for the finished article.

Sometimes, you just need to knit.

There was a lovely find in the bag full of assorted cottons though...

...two crochet mandalas I made a while back after reading a lovely post on Attic24. I loved making them and ended up with four - two of which I gave to a friend. I'd forgotten where the remaining two were, so it was lovely to come across them again.

The little blue poppy, also found in the bag, reminds me of a pansy...and I'd just bought some for our outdoor windowsills.

Isn't this pansy an amazing colour? It's almost lion-like. I've planted it with a tumbling tomato. I'm not sure if this will work for either plant but I'll find out in the next couple of months.

Again this year, we sought out the cheapest plants because they are devilishly expensive when you're not a good gardener like me. I always buy plants 'in need,' and I got three trays of strikingly coloured pansies for £3, purely because the garden centre thought they looked a little weedy. They look fine to me and I still have loads left to plant elsewhere.

They're all quite vibrant colours and make a lovely table decoration when you're eating breakfast!

We're eating outside as much as possible at the moment, mostly because the Musician Husband would probably never see the light of day if I didn't insist he venture out. Almost all of the work he does with music is indoors - it's the nature of the job - but I do worry he'll have brittle bones by his next birthday so I force him out into the sun at the start of the day. We have tea, coffee, orange juice (Berocca if there was wine the night before) and poached eggs on toast. Absolutely lovely!

Food is definitely on my mind (more than usual) at the moment because I've started swimming again and it leaves me absolutely ravenous. This summer I have a charity swim in Loch Lomond (The Monster Swim at Loch Ness isn't happening this year which is a shame). I'm finding the training harder this time as I've decided to change from breast stroke to front crawl - which I can't currently do without going into acute heart failure. It's all in the technique I'm told but I'm just not getting it. I can swim miles using breast stroke but only one length with front crawl!!

I could stick with breast stroke but I'm very slow, which is fine in the pool but not when you take part in swimming events. I really can't have a repeat of last year's events where I had my own personal safety canoe because I'm right at the back on my own (way out on my own I have to say, way, way out). There's nothing more embarrassing than hauling your copious wetsuit-clad body through the water in front of a bright, slim young healthy child on a canoe who keeps asking if you're alright. I just can't do it again this year, so front crawl has to be mastered.

The Musician Husband is helping big time again with water themed snacks (I always have a banana and peanut butter & jam sandwiches).